When Was Your Last Website Update?

For small business owners, updating your website’s probably not your first priority. I get it. I’m the same way. However, I’m here to remind you that updates are your friend for a number of reasons.

SEO

Let’s face it. Google’s the main game in town when it comes to being found in search. What does Google like? Current information, among other things. If there’s no new information on your site, it may slide in the SERPS until one day you wake up and realize you’re not on the first page anymore. If you want to have a better chance of top rankings, update your site regularly.

HUMANS

How do you feel when you visit a site that’s advertising a sale from 3 months ago? Does it give you the warm-fuzzies about that business? Chances are it doesn’t. If you’ve created a website with no dates, that’s fine. It probably won’t hurt you, but it may not help you either. If you want to stand out from the crowd, update your site regularly with useful information and perspectives. Chances are you’ll be one of the few in your industry who does.

CREATING CONTENT

Don’t worry so much about being a creator. Most of the topics you can think of have already been talked about elsewhere. Fortunately, your customers and prospects probably haven’t done much reading on those topics yet, so your information will still be new to them. Another thing you have going for you is your experience and perspective. You will likely convey the same information in a different way than your competition, and it might just strike a chord with your reader in a way that someone else’s article on the same topic didn’t. Being creative often just means being you.

FREQUENCY

So many people want to know what the “right” frequency is for posting new material. The short answer is it depends on who your target audience is. If you’re in the wine business, posting every 30 minutes about a different bottle of wine is going to overwhelm your audience. Similarly, posting once a week when you’re running an entertainment website isn’t going to be enough. Professionals can probably get away with once a month, or even once a quarter, as long as the information is solid and useful. Of course, keep in mind that if you’re going for some SEO frequency benefits, you’ll want to post more often than quarterly.

Your website is your digital storefront. Keeping it updated shouldn’t be considered a chore, but rather, a necessity. Be engaged with your website to be considered more relevant to the robots and humans who visit you online. If you’re not relevant, what are you?