One of the questions we have been asked more frequently is “How often do we need to update or refresh our website content?” The short answer, “As frequently as you can,” seems less than satisfying, but it’s true.
Search engine optimization is a continual process. Both viewers and search engines are attracted to new content—and they expect it—so it’s imperative to add and change content regularly: weekly for sure, even daily if your content is date-sensitive.
How frequently you change content is ultimately up to you. If you can’t do it often, do it smart. Make every content change worthwhile and always keep an eye on your target keywords: incorporate them to maintain or improve your search rankings and be careful you don’t inadvertently delete any when revising content.
Here are a few suggestions for keeping things fresh without too much hassle.
- Add new products & services. List and describe what’s new; give customers another reason to come see you and buy from you.
- Add a blog and include quick, useful content that’s relevant to visitors. (Worried about running short on blog topics? See below.)
- Keep up with the news. Announce in-house news about your products or people, post press releases, or link to articles about your company or your industry. Going to a trade show? Let people know to look for you there.
- Update the images on your site. The web is primarily a visual vehicle, so reward viewers with fresh and bright new images—photographs, infographics and illustrations are all great ways to catch the eye and let viewers know something’s new.
- Add videos. YouTube is not a passing fad—it’s the #2 search engine behind Google and boasts over a Billion unique per month. Give your customers how-to videos, show your products in action, include an interview with an interesting employee.
- Blow your horn with testimonials. Your customers’ words carry more weight than you may think. Keep testimonials up to date, especially as you add new products and services.
- Ask and answer questions. Pose a question of the day/week, or host an online “Ask the Expert” Q&A as a standing feature or periodically when you’ve got specials to promote. Better yet, make it a video featuring some man-on-the-street questions and in-house expert answers.
Running short on fresh topics or ideas?
Go to Google and start typing in a phrase related to your industry; see what comes up in the autocomplete. Ditto for YouTube. Or go to a Q&A site like Ask.com or Yahoo Answers to see what kinds of questions people are asking. (You might be surprised.) And then blog about it or incorporate it into your site.
Don’t just add new content, clean up the old.
Check any pages where dated material is likely to appear—like calendar listings or pages promoting limited-time offers—and do it weekly, if not daily. Nothing says stale like a date that has passed, and nothing irks a potential customer like a great deal that’s no longer being offered. Update those pages pronto.
Regularly search your site for words like new, latest, or this year’s model which can quickly make material seem dated. And watch out for superlatives. If you were ranked best or busiest or largest, make sure it’s still true and you can back it up with current data; if not, revise it, archive it or get rid of it altogether. Implying that old kudos are new risks damaging your credibility and reputation.
Keep Them Coming
Even if you can’t generate new content every day, please book time into each day to look at, think about, and strategize about your content. Many times a visitor will come back to your site before converting and becoming a customer. So keep them coming back with fresh content and you’ll be rewarded with a growing customer base.
