Your relationship with your website is not unlike your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Sometimes we think everything is perfect, just the way it is. Sometimes we feel like something’s missing. Or things just aren’t going as well as they could be. For your relationship, the solution may be quite complicated. But for your website, what you probably need to do is update it!
Valentine’s Day is as good a time as any to give your website a little extra love! Updating your website has many benefits for both you and your site visitors. Typically, an update of content, SEO, and/or security and plug-ins will fix some of the many problems websites face, such as:
- Low traffic
- Low conversions
- Low ranking in the search engines
- Low loading speed or functional performance
Update Your Website Content
Your content is the soul of your website. Without it, those who visit will not understand who you are and what your business does. It’s not unlike the Valentine you give to your special one. The written words in the valentine communicate the message even more personally than the box of candy.
There is also someone else out there who loves your updated content by the name of Google. Sites that update and/or add content regularly (like a blog) are indexed as more authoritative than those that don’t. Adding a blog to your website can be particularly impactful and help you be found more easily in the search engines.
Most businesses put up a website and let it sit untouched for several years. They forget that as business changes, so should your website content. Google is hungry to index fresh content, so take a good, hard look at your website. It might be time for a website update or a Valentine’s Day treat like:
- A new page of content to complete any missing information on your website.
- A new blog post or the start of a blog, to help you be found in multiple ways online
- An original industry-appropriate infographic to illustrate your process or missIon
- Updated headlines with new or improved SEO words (see below)
- Some new images for an updated look, or replace stock photos with a custom photo shoot of your facility/people
- A new case study or testimony from a faithful client
Critical Website Updates
Take time with your beloved website this Valentine’s Day to appreciate its fine qualities. However, its ok, even on Valentine’s Day, to make sure there’s no “dealbreakers” in this relationship. Check to make sure those “must haves” are still there or you’ll need to update your website right away! Check for:
- Proper grammar and spelling
- Up-to-date service and product information, including operating hours, etc. that may have changed with COVID, etc.
- Easy navigation, based on today’s customer needs and how they use websites
- Call to action on every page so people know the next step
- Benefit-focused content that appeals to the reader
- Fast loading pages that will not deter website visitors
Those Three Special Words—Search Engine Optimization
Finally, no Valentine’s Day is complete without picking out those special words for your loved one. In the case of your website, give it the words that it needs—keywords for search engine optimization.
Using SEO keywords correctly in your website content will increase your website traffic and raise your Google ranking as a result. For your website, this translates to the structure of each website page and the keywords chosen and used on each page for higher rankings.
How do you find and use these keywords? It’s best to find a marketing specialist to help you make the best decisions on keywords and a professional website content writer to make sure those words are used for ultimate performance throughout your site.
Doing it yourself? Here’s some tips to do it right:
- Use a keyword tool like Google keyword tool or semrush to find the best industry keywords for your site. Look for one with medium competitiveness, where you really can gain ground in the search engines.
- Check your content for keyword usage, especially in H1 headlines.
- Incorporate keywords in a natural way that will not disrupt the reader. Don’t overstuff your content with keywords.
- Don’t forget to include keywords in your title tags and meta descriptions
Update Your Website for Safety and Security
In any lasting relationship there’s an element of trust and safety involved. Same with your website. On the back end of your site you should have all plug-ins and security features regularly updated. Doing so will keep your data free from cybercrime and your website continuing to operate quickly, with no glitches or error messages.
- Keep https and SSL up-to-date
- Regularly install software and plug-in updates on the site
- Choose a challenging password
- Backup your website
- Know who has access (password) to your site at all times.
Like any relationship where there’s give and take, your website deserves some love from you too so it can give back with better traffic, more conversions, and higher rankings in the search engines. Show your website you care by updating it this Valentine’s Day. Just don’t forget your real valentine or you’ll have more time to spend with your website than you bargained for!
At Big Ideas Writing, we can update your site with fresh content and imaginative solutions to achieve the results you want. Contact Karen Dix at karen@bigideaswriting.com to discuss your needs.
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