Signs Your Website Needs Updating
Your website is often the first impression your potential customers have of your business. The internet is constantly changing and it is important to keep up with new trends and technologies. When your website is new and fresh, it is exciting and you expect to use that site for at least a few years. However, sooner than you expect your website can get out dated and this can hurt your credibility with consumers. How do you know if your website needs to be updated? Here are a few things to look for:
- High Bounce Rate
A website’s bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who only view one page before leaving the site. A bounce rate that increases over time is often a sign of low levels of engagement and it may even indicate that your visitors don’t find your website content interesting or relevant. - Out-of-date Blog
Your website should give you the ability to publish content, articles, videos, infographics, photos and any other sort of content any time you like. A blog can do all these functions for you. However, you simply cannot start blogging and then just stop after posting a handful of entries. If someone visits your blog and sees that the most recent post was from over a year ago, it looks as if you neglected a part of your website. A blog that is consistently updated will make your business look active and it may even help lend you credibility with your users. - Dated Keyword Strategies
Ideally, keywords that appear on your website should be checked each month to ensure that they still match the search terms that people predominantly use to search for what you sell. This will assure that potential customers can easily find your website and will increase your chances of increasing your sales. If a customer types in your company’s name in Google, your website should come up on the first page of results. If your search engine rankings are low, this could mean it is time for an update. - Broken Links
When you redesign your website it gives you a chance to fix all the things that aren’t currently working. If you have links on your website that are broken it can result in poor search engine results. External link building is an important part of optimizing a website to improve your search engine results. If someone is viewing your website and runs into error pages, it can be a real turn off. - Your Site is Between 3-5 Years Old
This may not seem like a very long time frame, but as we stated earlier, the internet is constantly changing. Over time you need to re-evaluate your SEO to make sure you are being as effective as you can be. An out-of-date copyright year may also turn customers away because they may get the impression that your business is no longer operational. - The Copyright Year is Not Current
If your copyright year in your footer is out-of-date, you are signaling to every person that visits your website that it has not been updated for however long. If you don’t update your copyright year, potential customers will get the wrong impression and they will more than likely leave your site.
If your website has at least one of these characteristics, it may be a good idea to invest some time in updating your site. Whether your site is in need of a few updates or an entire make over, the process of updating can be time consuming. It is important to keep in mind an unattractive, out-of-date website reflects poorly on your brand and having a strong online presence is no longer optional.
If you are a vendor of BMT Micro, an analysis of your current website and ways to improve is currently available with our Marketing Analysis. The Marketing Analysis also includes SEO and Social Media performance, Digital Reputation Management results, Target Market, what your competitors are doing, and ways to improve Advertising and Branding. If you would like to learn more about the services we offer, please contact our Marketing Specialist via email at leah@bmtmicro.com for more information.
