How to Keep Your Website up to Date

By Brynne Adamson

One of the first things people search for when trying to get to know an unfamiliar business is the business's website. In fact, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center, "Roughly eight-in-ten Americans are now online shoppers, with 15% of Americans buying online on a weekly basis." So having a website that's up to date and easy for people to navigate is extremely important.

Below are nine tips on how to keep your website up to date. We suggest you do a checkup each month to see how well your website is doing.

1. Check if all hyperlinks and buttons work

Hyperlinks denote that something is important in a text, causing readers to re-read a sentence to determine the hyperlink's importance, according to a study called "The impact of hyperlinks on reading text." So if a reader takes the time to go over a sentence again and tries to click on the important word, only to find that the hyperlink doesn't work, they're going to trust your website less because you wasted their time.

The same goes for buttons. Being taken to an "error" or "404" page after clicking a button can make a reader feel distrust for a brand that they don't really know yet. This is why double checking your hyperlinks and buttons to see if they work is so important. Make sure they link to where they're supposed to link, so readers don't feel lost while trying to navigate your website.

2. Have an updated design

If a customer thinks your website is outdated, they're most likely going to move on to another site that looks more trustworthy. According to a study by authors Kairi Fimberg and Sonia Sousa, "Website design has a powerful impact on users' trust perceptions. Professional design, primarily visual aspects, is responsible for creating a positive user first impression." Thus, having a professional-looking site can draw in more customers.

Additionally, make sure your website has plenty of white space and is easy to scan for important information. Don't use a lot of pop-ups. Design for trust rather than being flashy.

3. Clean up your homepage to match your current brand

Make sure your homepage is keeping up with the changes of your brand. If you have new management or a new mission statement, make sure your homepage gets updated, too. You can also change your color scheme to more closely match the direction your brand is headed.

If your homepage bombards your customers with too much information, then you have a problem. You want to create a homepage that has enough content to make customers curious about your product but not too much content that they don't know where to start their search. You could also see what trends are happening with other websites or brands and follow suit.

A good home page could include:

An updated logo

What your brand is all about (mission statement, services, tagline)

A clean navigation menu and footer
Scannable content with readable typography
Multimedia elements (pictures, videos, a map), so long as your website load time doesn't go down too much
Your social media links
Links or calls to action that keep customers on your site for longer
Reviews
Information about your team or company founder(s)

4. Add more recent pictures, videos and reviews

Having updated media elements like pictures or videos shows your customers that you're constantly trying to improve your company and that you care about the upkeep of your brand. You could also post pictures of how you're engaged with clients on social media, which lets other customers know what you're up to.

Updated reviews tell customers that your online reputation is still good and trustworthy. "Roughly two-thirds (67%) of weekly online shoppers say they nearly always read customer reviews before buying new items," according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.

The pandemic has only accelerated shopping behavior to move online and mobile. Look at each page of your site on your cell phone. If it seems clunky or inconvenient, trust me it won't be for your guests; they will just shop elsewhere.

5. Make sure it's mobile friendly

Smartphones are used almost as much as computers are when it comes to shopping. According to a previously mentioned survey from the Pew Research Center, "51% of Americans have bought something using a cellphone." So if your website is glitchy or difficult to navigate on a phone, you've already lost a large chunk of potential customers.

6. Have a call to action on every page

Even if it's just a button, having a call to action on every page encourages customers to go further into your site and eventually make a purchase. Calls to action also helps customers to know what you're trying to sell and to know what they should do next, increasing the level of user-friendliness for your site.

7. Look at what your competition is doing

Understand the websites your competitors have by looking at what kind of messages your competitors convey and who their target audiences are. See if your own messages could be improved upon. Make it clear to your audience on your website why your services better match their needs, or you could appeal to an audience your competitors don't have covered.

8. Optimize your SEO

While optimizing SEO can have a number of factors, some of the big things you can do, according to New York Times best selling author Neil Patel, are:

Incorporate more keywords without stuffing your website
Have quality content
Answer customer questions
Get rid of duplicate content
Have a clear meta title
Keep your meta description under 160 characters
Have headers, subheaders and lists for easier reader navigation

9. Add engaging content to your website

Adding engaging content helps you to not only build trust with your customers but to build trust with Google. If Google sees you and your website as a source of expertise, your rankings and traffic are going to improve.

You can be seen as an expert by providing original content that isn't full of fluff. You can also have content that allows a customer to do an action or to think about what you said. Additionally, you'll need to have pictures, diagrams or graphs to keep your customers engaged with what they're reading.

In Conclusion

We hope you will be able to implement these tips into your own website, so you can increase your monthly organic traffic, rise above your competitors and draw in more customers who will be able to see your brand as trustworthy. If you feel overwhelmed by all of them, try each tip one at a time, day by day.

Resources

Pew Research Center | Online Shopping

Hyperlink Study

Kairi Fimberg and Sonia Sousa Study

Pew Research Center | Reviews and Ratings