Now that your business has a website, it may surprise you to learn that it needs to be maintained. Think of it as a shopfront or an office in the main street of the CBD. You’ve built your virtual premises and invested good money in it. Now you need to keep its appearance up to date, stay ahead of the game with your search engine rankings and continue to employ any technology updates that will stand you out above your competitors.
Stay ahead of your competitors – be better
Regularly check up on your competitors’ websites to see what they’re doing and then do it better.
- Keep your content fresh and inviting.
- Make sure all information is always up to date and relevant to your business and what your customers need from you.
- Announce industry developments, news items and legislation changes that may affect your customers’ needs.
- Talk to the customer, not about your business. Address the visitor’s pain points and offer a solution. It’s all about the benefits, not the features.
- Remove any mention of promotions, sales or special offers after the expiry date.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – be found
It’s critical that you keep on top of your SEO so that your business’s website maintains high rankings on Google and other search engines.
- Regular additions of content in the form of blog posts, informative keyword articles, press releases and testimonials will tell search engines that your site is active and therefore deserving of more frequent indexing.
- Ensuring adequate concentration of SEO keywords in all content will make your website more attractive to Google for the terms for which your prospects are searching.
- Whenever you add pages, these should be optimised for the search engines as well
Unless you maintain your SEO, your search engine rankings will slip. Google’s algorithms change with monotonous regularity. Staying abreast of latest developments through your web designer will ensure that you continue to be found at the top of the search results.
Updates in technology – be up to date
On the Internet, advances in technology seem to occur at lightning speed. What was all the rage just a year ago may be completely redundant now.
- Consult your web designer roughly every three to six months to ensure your online presence is still serving your business’s needs.
- Understand that the sooner you adapt new technology, the more effective your online presence will be.
- An example of outdated technology is a flash website which, if not opened on the right browser, or if opened on a mobile phone, cannot be viewed.
The better you maintain your online presence, the greater will be the return on investment in your business’s website.
