I’m an avid golfer and I’m fortunate to live in a place where I have access to great golf courses all year-round. However, during the colder winter months there is always a possibility of frost delays in the morning. Courses don’t usually let you play when there is frost on the ground because it’s bad for the turf when people are walking all over the frozen grass. It’s usually a minor setback and a small price to pay in order to be able to play golf in the winter.
When your website is frozen in time, however, it can be a major setback. You could be losing out on a lot of SEO potential without fresh content. Potential customers might be turned away by a dated site. Basically, you are missing out on great business opportunities if you let your website become stagnant.
I recently went through this experience myself. I write my own golf and travel blog and it had gotten seriously out-of-date. I originally built it on Tumblr because it was free and easy to use. I wasn’t intending for the site to grow as much as it did. Unfortunately, over time the Tumblr platform just couldn’t handle the amount of content, links and photos that I was posting. I eventually had to make a change.
It took a lot of work in my spare time to rebuild a new site on WordPress. I had to transfer all the old content over and rebuild each link one by one, in addition to updating the overall look and navigation presentation of the site itself. It was well worth the effort, though. I’ve already noticed a big spike in visitor activity and more social interaction because of the new site. I refused to let my website become frozen in time and it paid off.
Here are some tips to help you from letting your business website get outdated and ineffective:
1. Refresh Every Year
You don’t have to rebuild your site from scratch every year, but make it a point to go through it at least once a year. Update content, check all the links, remove outdated information, add any new relevant information and update graphics or imagery as needed to refresh the site as much as possible. If your site is old, it may be time to consider redoing it. If the platform is not mobile-friendly, it is definitely time to build a new site.
2. Add New Content Whenever Possible
If you have a blog, use it. Make sure you are posting new articles regularly and keep fresh content coming in. You will benefit greatly from the natural SEO boost that comes when you add content regularly to your site. If you don’t have a blog, add a blog page to your site and dedicate the resources needed to manage it. In fact, you can hire NextGear Marketing to run your blog. Our services are affordable and will take the stress of running a weekly blog out of your hands. By the way, if your web provider’s platform does not have a built-in blogging capabilities, that’s another sign you are probably due for a new website.
3. Focus on Search Engine Optimization
Older websites just aren’t optimized the way newer websites are. Even if you do no additional SEO beyond what’s already built-in, you will see an automatic boost in SEO by creating a new site on a modern hosting platform. However, you should never settle for the bare minimum. SEO should be a major priority. Whether you are building a new site or updating your current site, a thorough SEO review and strategic optimization should be top priorities.
4. Social Media Integration
The more your website is integrated with your social media pages, the better it will perform. Your site and your social media response will both benefit when they are working in harmony.
These are just a few of the ways to update your website and optimize it for better performance. Consumers are more savvy than ever and the technology continues to evolve daily. If you are not keeping up with the times, you are missing out on major business opportunities.
For a complimentary website content review or to discuss blog management services, contact NextGear Marketing today.
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