Remember that pride when you launched your new website?  How did it feel to have it all completed and ready to share with customers?  But, a website is never finished or completed: you need to stay committed to regularly updating it.

Here are 4 easy ways to update your website

They don’t need to take lots of time, but you do need to establish the habit of giving your website a little love.

1. Update your Information:  Each month, go through your website and identify any out of date information.  Are your prices still correct?  Do you list products and are they all still available? Are your events pages up to date? Visit each page and look for any required updates.
2. Social media: Many websites show a feed from Twitter, or from other social media channels.  Remember to use your social media accounts as this could be an automatic way to get some fresh content onto your website: the technology will just be doing this for you!  And if you struggle for time updating social media, try using Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to schedule a series of posts, at times when you know your customers are likely to have time to read them.
3. Testimonials: When did you last ask a customer for some feedback?  Perhaps you get regular comments from happy clients on your Facebook page, but you don’t do anything with them.  Refreshing quotes and testimonials on your website will help to keep it current and demonstrate that you still really care.  Show you’re valuing their feedback and it will leave a good impression on new visitors to your site.
4. Adding a blog: Many websites use a blog feature to show visitors that they add regular new content and this will give them a reason to keep coming back to your website.  Adding this kind of content also gives you something to mention on social media: it helps make your posts more interesting and that in turn drives more traffic to your website.  (Have you spotted yet: there’s a link between your social media efforts and your website. They help each other!)

Once you’ve added a blog, make sure that gets updated regularly.  It’s a visible way for people to spot if you haven’t updated your website for a while.  Think about writing a batch of blogs at the same time, choosing a time of day when you’re best at this type of task.  Then add them to your website one by one, over a series of weeks.

Not good at writing?  Blogs don’t all have to be written, you can also add useful pieces which are created with images, or perhaps a video ‘question and answer’ session, with you as the expert?

Schedule routine checks

Use a calendar on your computer or phone to send you a monthly reminder to update your website.  Choose a time and day when you’re less likely to be out at meetings, or working through your inbox. Whilst scheduling regular checks is useful, consider also asking someone else to do it who is less familiar with your business.  Their fresh pair of eyes could be invaluable.

Getting into the habit of updating your website will start to pay off: compare your statistics to really see the results.  And don’t get stuck for inspiration- half an hour browsing your competitors’ websites should give you plenty of inspiration!

But, if you really struggle with time or the technical side of updating your site, please get in touch