Now Is a Good Time to Update Your Stale Website
Rather than "return to normal," be better!
Months of lock-down. Employee issues. Constantly changing guidelines. Refreshing your website may be way down on your To Do list, but prospective customers are coming back in droves and want to know if you’re still in business. Here’s a quick checklist for updating a stale website.
Photos
A quick way to brighten up an older website is to swap out the photos in your banner. Put in something topical or seasonal for a new look without redesigning the whole page. Don’t just settle for boring stock images. Taking your own photos can be great, as long as you crop and size them correctly. Set yourself a tickler on the calendar for the next time to change things up.
Blog
Nothing says “stale” like year-old blog posts. You could delete the page altogether so you don’t look so outdated, but good content with appropriate search terms will continue to boost your search engine visibility forever so you should keep it – and add to it. Once a month is fine – and you don’t have to write a novel. Make yourself a topic calendar so you’re never staring at an empty screen.
Mobile
Most websites are built today to look good whether on a desktop computer, a tablet, or on a mobile phone, but apparently, there are still a few that have not read the memo. People live on their phones – they just do – so your site really needs to be easy to read and navigate. Folks are clicking away from your teeny, weeny desktop version. Update now!
Style
Yes, website design goes out of style. Today’s trends are cleaner, simpler, with eye-grabbing graphics. You’ve seen the newest looks even if you haven’t thought about it so take a look at how your current design compares. It might be time for a change.
Copyright
Most websites these days have a bit of internal code that changes the copyright automatically, but if your site’s copyright is still from last year – or even longer – you are sending a bad impression to visitors. Change it manually or get the code for auto-update.
Function
Sometimes even if you don’t want to change, you have to do it anyway. As technology evolves, older functions are no longer supported and something on your site will break. Also, the older your platform version is, the more likely it will be hacked. Rather than “refreshing” your old site, you may need a rebuild, but your website will work and look better while being better protected.
Folks have a lot of pent-up need for products and services like yours following this pandemic year. Improving your website makes it easier for them to find you and affirm that you are the answer to their need. Maybe your website just needs a little light dusting to make it shine like new again. Or maybe it’s time to trade it in for a newer model.
Yes, this may be a busy time, but make the most of the moment! Contact us now to spruce up your website to take advantage of the hope and growth of a new season.
Photo by Pixaby from Pexels
This article is an update to “Is a Stale Website Rusting Your Reputation?” dated 1/20/2014.
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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