The Top 7 Website Updates For 2021 To Make Your Website Perform Better
As your business evolves, your website should also. Worthwhile website updates generally come update two types. 1) behind the scenes updates focused more on functionality and security, and 2) front-facing physical updates that website visitors can see like wording and images.
In this article, we’ll cover our Top 7 Most Overlooked Website Updates including behind the scenes updates and front facing edits, including:
- Speed + Performance Updates
- Online Form CAPTCHA ‘Bot’ Spam Protection
- Customer Reviews Page
- Privacy Policy Page
- Updating Images
- Updating or Revising Your Services Page
- SEO Specific Content Updates
But first of all, let’s answer one of our most common questions regarding website updates…
How Often Should I Update My Website?
Well it depends on what “Updates” you’re referring to.
If you mean all of the technological “software” updates that keep everything functional (anti spam features, performance upgrades and the like), then you’re talking up to weekly! Our fully managed hosting takes care of these updates for you. We also sort out all of your day-to-day security and performance monitoring, backups and Google tracking.
Now, if you’re referring to the physical, on-the-page edits like new products, information or images, then the question of “How Often Should I Update My Website?” turns into “How Long is A Piece of String?” The regularity of your website updates depend on what type of website you have and how often things change in your business.
Example #1: Most online shopping carts would be adding new products more frequently than a plumber or electrician would need to update their price list or services.
Example #2: With our website, we update it at least fortnightly to aid in our Google ranking. Whether this be updating a existing page, uploading new client reviews of publishing a new blog article (like this one), we’re in our site often to continue growing our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google position.
Example #3: If you’re business, and therefore website don’t ‘change’ much over the period of a few years, it’s wise to review the overall look and feel of your website. Given how quickly technology changes, it’s very likely it’d be due for a bit of a makeover. The great news is, by investing in a WordPress website (by far our favourite website platform), your site can be quite easily and efficiently cloned onto a staging server (testing platform) so that any major design changes can be made without impacting your live website. This is exactly what we do as part of our website redesign service.
When is the Best Time to Redesign Your Website?
- When your offerings change considerably,
- Your target audience changes,
- Your site is looking tired / out of date, or
- There’s a lot of image and content updates required.
Click to read our 2017 blog, Is My Website Tax Deductible? to find out what you can claim.
Now let’s get back to the Top 7 Most Overlooked Website Updates!
Tip # 1 | Speed + Performance Updates
It’s no secret that the speed and performance of your website directly impacts your customer’s experience. As we’ve mentioned in our Blog about the importance of quality web design, your website is often the first thing prospective customers see. It takes less than half a second for them then just your entire business based on this first impression!
Your website holds the key to converting quality leads into profitable long-term business, so ensuring you’ve got the right website updates for top speed and performance is a vital ingredient in the recipe for success.
Tip # 2 | Online Form ReCAPTCHA ‘Bot’ Spam Protection
Are you sick of comment spam and spammy online form entries?
It’s a nuisance and time suck that can be avoided. Your online form is intended for serious enquiries. A simple Google reCaptcha code on your form helps filter out the bulk of those automated, bot-generated spam entries. Focus on all of those genuine enquiries vs all of that spam selling Crypto, Russian brides and enlargements 😉
Tip # 3 | Customer Reviews Page
When it comes to website updates, having a current and up to date reviews or testimonials page is exceptionally powerful. While you can have a great layout and smart, impactful content designed to convert traffic into potential customers, there’s nothing that builds trust quite like authentic customer reviews. Speaking of reviews, here are some of our happy website design client reviews..
“85% of people trust online reviews like a ‘thumbs up’ from a mate”
Tip # 4 | Privacy Policy Page
Today’s consumer is much more savvy when it comes to privacy and security. Having a Privacy Policy page on your website shows your potential customers that you take their privacy seriously (even if they don’t bother to read it). It’s also one of the many ranking factors that Google takes notice of. Ideally, your Privacy Policy appears and is linked to in your website footer on every page.
Tip # 5 | Updating Images
Suppose you’ve just started online dating, and you come across someone with a great profile picture. You start chatting and agree to meet them in person. Once you meet them, you realise their profile picture was clearly taken 10 years ago… Disappointing, right?
Well, it’s the same with your website updates! Keeping your images fresh and aligned with who you are, and what you’re currently offering helps manage expectations and avoids disappointment.
And, sometimes it just takes a few new images to breathe new life into a tired old website.
Tip # 6 | Updating or Revising Your Services Pages
As our motto suggests, at Web-Sta, we’re Focused On Growth. For many of our customers we help them start small, growing and evolving their website overtime. This way, everything stays up to date and current PLUS we’re contributing to their Google ranking on a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis. Google LOVES website that are updated regularly.
The regular reviewing and updating of your website can also save the embarrassment of appearing to offer something that’s no longer available. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve visited a website only to find the price list, service offerings or products to be totally out of date.
Tip # 7 | SEO Specific Content Updates
Our final recommendation for important website updates is the upgrading or revising of your website content, to be more SEO focused. SEO, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimisation, is the group of activities that helps contribute to your website’s rankability! Most SEO campaigns, focus on a handful of relevant keywords that your potential customers are searching for. In fact, SEO is one of the most powerful ways for a website to be seen on search engines like Google, helping attract and evoke genuine traffic and therefore quality leads.
And, because the rules of SEO are constantly changing, it’s essential to continuously update your content in order to gain the best leverage to benefit from a decent Google ranking! Our monthly custom SEO and content marketing offers just that.
Over To You
Failure to keep your website updated can cause back-end functionality issues as well as risk under-performance when it comes to attracting and appealing to your ideal target audience.
Regular website updates / edits are fundamental to a happy, healthy website that functions optimally and actual does what it’s mean to – attract prospective customers and elicit them to contact you.
If updating your own website is to daunting of a task, contact us here at Web-Sta and we’d be more than happy to have a look at your website to see what we’re working with.
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