Without doubt having a beautiful shiny new website can have a fantastic impact on a business’ online performance. We’re capable of and would love to supply you with one, as would all web developers, with many recommending that you replace or carry out a large refurbishment on your current website every 12-18 months.
But is this really necessary?
In our opinion, no. There is no reason why a well maintained, high quality website needs to be replaced every year. In fact, a much more realistic time scale would be every 2 – 4 years, as long as you are in a good starting place, and follow a few simple ‘Housekeeping’ measures to keep things running smoothly.
Let’s discuss further.
Starting point:
If you haven’t had a new website since circa 2014 or earlier then yes, you probably do require a new website soon, especially if your existing site is not mobile-friendly. But once you have a new website it is important that you ensure a number of features are included within the structure to ensure some degree of longevity:
– Your website needs to be mobile friendly
– You should include high quality, unique content and pictures
– The site must be user-friendly
– You should constantly work on your SEO performance to ensure that you have a good number or visits, positive bounce rate and a strong organic performance
Once you are comfortable that you have a website that includes all of these essential elements, it is then all about good housekeeping and maintenance. This is what will provide you with website longevity – and potentially save you thousands of pounds – by allowing you to keep a website for up to four years as opposed to one!
The practice of good website housekeeping:
These steps are actually very simple, and quite easy to achieve, yet somehow it’s often the basics that people forget, so do so at your peril – for these housekeeping tips will help keep your website relevant, fresh and help it to have a much longer lifespan.
– Regularly update your content – focus on a couple of pages or key areas – ensure the information you are providing is relevant, up to date and accurate.
– Update your images – as above, change things up every so often – new images capture attention and re spark interest, as well as stopping the website from looking old and dated.
– Write blog posts and news articles – up to date relevant posts help to encourage user engagement, allow opportunities for new imagery and produce a following to help you maintain regular visitors who are not bored of seeing the same old content.
– Also look to develop – Always look to build on your current website to ensure that it is as user-friendly, informative and detailed as possible. For example, build a ‘Help’ section, an ‘FAQ’ area, or anything else along these lines, as this shows your visitors that the website is continuously developing, whilst the changes will also help it to gain SEO momentum.
If you have any questions about your website and its current performance or would like any help or support maintaining, improving or replacing your website get in touch with us on 0845 582 3545, or complete our online enquiry form here.
