Unfortunately there is no one answer fits all, or a simple formulae to help calculate the optimum number. Each website is unique and the number and amount of changes you should perform depends on the purpose of your website, your business and your target market.

It is safe to say that all websites need to be kept up to date with fresh and relevant content and that the positive impact of doing this will affect not only site visitors and website outcomes but will also improve your website ranking in search engines.

Your website is a fantastic tool that can be used to communicate up to date information about your business services and products with your clients and potential clients. A device which if used properly can give your users a positive experience which can be converted to sales. If you’re website contains information that is six months old and is out of date, it may very well be losing you business.

Keeping your website fresh doesn’t have to be a time consuming process. After all, we all have our own work to get through, but it is important to value your website, see it as an important marketing tool for your business and give it the time and effort so it can give you the returns you are after. Your website is like a plant, give it some water, food or a new pot and it will flourish. Give it attention and the more chance it will succeed.
 

Why update?

You need more convincing, we understand. Here’s why you should update your website frequently:

• Change affects your ranking in search engines. Search engines are interested in websites that are up to date. If you’ve updated your website recently, they’ll give you a thumbs up. This helps them weed out websites that are old and irrelevant.
• It shows that you are active. Your communication is current and relevant therefore making the users experience a positive one.
• Internet users want information quickly and generally leave very little time for you to convince them you are the business for them. They will spend even less time on a website which they have been to before and hasn’t changed and even give them a negative experience.
• Websites are a versatile tool in communicating with your client, make the most of it!
   

What to update

We’re certainly not saying you should change your website design as often as possible. Your online presence should have a design that properly reflects your brand at this time and it should progress with your business. Your online face needs to build recognition and rapport with your current and potential clients. It’s the content of the website that should be continually revised and made current. Quite simply, the text and images that make up the body of each page. Here are some areas which you could concentrate on:

• Page Text
  • The text on your page has a significant effect on search engine find-ability. Make sure your keywords are used throughout the text and change regularly
• Images and Video
  • Images and video have a significant visual impact so are a great way to show visitors that the page has been updated and therefore that you are keeping it up to date.
• News items
  • For obvious reasons, if you’re latest news item is from October 2008, your validity in the current market is questionable; will they be confident that you still open for business? Will they think you simply haven’t had any success in the past two years? The same rule applies to an “Our Team” page.
• Social media
  • If you are active on one or more social media networks, link them into your website so that whenever you update those, your website gets updated too. For example, a Twitter feed can be added to your website which shows visitors what your saying without having to access Twitter themselves.

Tips for updating your website

• Update your home page with new text
• If you have a “News” page, keep it up to date!
• Change header images to show your visitors that you are paying attention
• If you are active on Twitter, have a feed installed on your website