When was the last time your website was updated?
I’m not necessarily talking about the last full redesign.
I’m thinking more of the last time you updated things like:
- Images, Graphics, Photos
- Copy
- Video
- And more…
These items can make a website looked really dated and stagnant…if they’re not updated.
And you don’t necessarily need to update the entire website every six months or every year, but the individual pieces often need updating fairly often…with a few exceptions.
Here are a few tips for keeping your website from appearing stagnant to visitors.
Homepage + Product Pages
A big one to keep an eye on is the copy for your homepage and your product or services page. Anywhere you’re describing what you’re selling is something that’s often fluid.
Think about your sales process. Over time, you hone in on a style and language for selling to your customer. It changes and improves over time and that should be reflected on your website both in the copy and imagery.
Images might need to change. Your product may undergo changes and you want the images to always be updated to reflect that.
The copy that sells should also be updated. Change wording that confuses the customer. Talk to your sales people to see what the latest language should reflect.
Your customer might also change a bit. You might have stock photography on these pages to make the customer feel at home. If your target customer changes or if you want to reflect them in a better way then look at updating the photography.
Gimmicks
I call them gimmicks. Sarah might not like that word, but I’ll use it anyway.
I consider a gimmick something on the site that moves to grab your attention. Maybe it’s a collection of images that slide in a unique way or some kind of animation on the page.
It could be on any page on the site and they can usually look great, but you also run the risk of them quickly becoming outdated.
Someone might come to the site in a year or two and think that the site must be stagnant because that animation that was so popular a couple years ago is on your site.
These things can be great, but keep on eye on them. You might need to change them more often than if you don’t have them at all on the site.
About Page
The about page can go stagnant really quick. If your business has gone through any changes you’ll want to make sure the about page reflects those changes.
When team members come and go you’ll want to get things updated.
If your company changes course a little bit you’ll want to update.
New office location. New expansion. Anything like that should be updated.
Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
You have to be careful with these. If you’re having good luck with SEO then you don’t want to change too much, but it’s also easy to overlook these areas because they’re kind of behind the scenes.
Look at the tab on your browser…
The words in the tab are the title tag for the page. So if you open your company’s homepage or about page you’ll see the title tag. You can also hover your cursor over the tab and a bubble should appear with the full title tag.
One thing I’ve seen once in a while is that a company moves from one city to a nearby city and they don’t update the title tag. Or they drop one of their services (or add a service) and it’s not reflected in the title tag.
Little Details
Little details like the copyright date in the footer are important to update. Obviously make sure phone numbers and contact information are updated.
Also look at things like a blog or news section. When was the last time the content there was updated? There’s nothing that makes a website look stagnant quite like a blog that hasn’t had a new post in two years.
Look at any social media buttons or embedded objects. I’ve been on a few websites that have embedded their Twitter feedback, but the company hasn’t used Twitter in a few years.
Or I’ve clicked on a Pinterest button to follow the company, but the profile either hasn’t been updated in years or the company has stopped using the profile and has deleted it.
Conclusion
A website can get stagnant sooner than you think. We’re often so busy working in our businesses, making clients happy and doing all kinds of things that months and even years go by before we realize that our site is way outdated.
But if your site is your online salesperson you want it to have all the latest information, imagery and everything to make sure visitors think you’re an active business looking for new customers.
Setup a reminder on your calendar to review your website every six months. Set aside an hour. It’s a good habit to get into and it should be enough to keep your site looking fresh and alive.
