Keep Your Web Site Fresh By Michelle

Keep Your Web Site Fresh

Ok, be honest…when was the last time your company’s Web site was updated? If the “last updated on…” sentence notates months long gone, it’s time to get things back on track.

The best way to keep a site fresh is to change content often. It’s a good idea to add something new every week if possible. The entire site doesn’t have to be rewritten, of course—just provide a bit of new information on a regular basis.

So what sort of content should you offer? Read on to find out how to keep your site visitors coming back for more.

Create a News section or What’s New page
A page dedicated to what’s happening with your business is crucial to keeping customers in the loop. Anything relevant to your business goes here, including employee acknowledgements and awards, a nod to your clients (they’ll appreciate the free publicity), or anything else that seems worthy of an announcement. Other ideas include:

Press releases – post any releases sent to the media on your site.

Events – hosting a workshop or attending a conference? This type of involvement shows that your company makes a continuous effort to stay active in and connected to its area of expertise.

Pictures – digital technology makes it simple to post recent pictures of your employees, store, or products.

Newsletters – do you publish a newsletter? Consider offering downloadable PDFs of past issues.

Add a blog
“Catch up…or catch you later” reads an article in Newsweek magazine in reference to business blogging. Publishing a blog is one way to promote your company without worrying that the media will misquote you or print incorrect information. You have total control over what’s posted and can edit anything at any time. Blog accounts often cost nothing—I love Blogger.com for an example of a free, easy-to-use blogging service.

Offer something for free
Who doesn’t like to get free stuff? Add value to your site by offering something your visitors can really use: information. You might consider offering a free report or article. If possible, change your freebies every so often, maybe once a month or so. Sharing knowledge helps build company credibility, too—a big plus for honing relationships with valued customers.


Get a facelift
A complete overhaul—reworking design, content, everything—might be worth considering, but only if there’s a problem with your current Web site that keeps visitors from delving deeper into it that or deters them from coming back (common culprits include poor navigation, poorly written copy, bad graphic design, slow download time, etc). Don’t just change your site because you’re bored with its visual appeal, but if you’ve just cause to make a big change (e.g., your scope of products/services have changed or your business name has been revised) it may be time to implement a new look.


When considering that a static site offers little value to return customers, suddenly setting aside some time to update doesn’t seem like such a burden. A site that displays regular activity shows that you care about maintaining your business, which may be just the thing to keep customers coming back to see what’s new with you on a regular basis.


Resources

Google to the rescue
Don’t have time to spend researching the latest news in your industry? Sign up for Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts). News and info relevant to your business is delivered straight to your inbox. Get an overview about how the service works here.


Really simple solutions
RSS documents (also called “feeds” or “web feeds”) are another way to have select content delivered directly to you, eliminating the need to check in with your favorite sites all the time.

Start your search for relevant feeds here:

Syndic8 - http://www.syndic8.com/
Feedster - http://www.feedster.com/