How to Update a Website

Review your website’s content, design, and technical background

The first part of your website update should involve exploring your technical background, design, and content. This will be a general overview of everything you have on your website. A few of the areas you need to include in this step include:

• Visual content. Is your visual content fresh? Do the graphics show up well? Do they load quickly? Make sure your visual elements are still appealing to your visitors with a thorough website content update process.
• Design. Does it reflect your brand? Is it easy for people to navigate? Do you need to add new pages because your company has grown?
• Technical background. Is it easy for search engines to index your website? Does your website load well on mobile devices and desktop computers? Is the loading speed adequate?

As long as you keep these basic points in mind, you can get your website update off to a good start.

Learn from the competition

The next part of your website update involves looking at competitors. Specifically, you need to examine the competitors on search result pages that also rank for similar words and phrases.

Then, visit those websites and identify what they're doing better. While you don't want to copy your competitors, see if you can incorporate some elements into your website. You may be able to improve your search result rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

Perform A/B Testing

Once you have a few things you want to update on your website, you need to perform A/B testing. This means you'll compare two ideas to one another to see which ones work better.

As the name suggests, one will be option A and the other option B. Then, you need to have clear, objective metrics for how you will decide which option is better. Here are some of the metrics you may want to include:

• The amount of traffic each option gets
• The conversion rate of each option
• The feedback rating from customers of each option

Next, look at the metrics after a set amount of time. Make sure to incorporate the winning option into your website.

Review website design trends for inspiration

Business trends can change over time. Therefore, a critical part of your website update process is looking at different website design options. Even though your website design may have looked great 10 years ago, trends may have changed.

It's a good idea to reference different design websites to see what's trending. Doing so can significantly impact the design of your own website and make it as attractive as possible, which can help grab the attention of users immediately.

Because there's never a second chance to make a first impression, make a good impression by having a website design that's functional and visually appealing.

Obtain feedback

Ultimately, you're building a website for your audience and search engines. But how do you know what your audience wants? Sometimes, the best way is to ask them directly. That's where a customer survey can be helpful. Just as you probably collect feedback on your products and services, you also need to gather feedback on your website. That way, you can figure out what you're doing well and what needs to be changed.

If you want to craft a great customer survey, there are several tips to keep in mind. They include:

• Write short questions. You don't want your audience to get bored reading lengthy questions.
• Keep the survey short as well. You want people to finish the survey, but they may not do so if it's too long.
• Don’t create leading questions. Give the audience total freedom to pick the answer they want.
• Always thank your respondents at the end. Let survey respondents know that you value their time.

Use graphics

Another part of your website update process is creating striking graphics. There's a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure your graphics are trendy and captivating. You may want to look at social media accounts to see what's currently popular. If you can include those elements on your website, you'll have an easier time hooking your audience.

Optimize for SEO

One of the most important elements during the update process is search engine optimization (SEO). This strategy allows you to make your website as attractive as possible to search engines. Many people will find your website through a search engine since it’s the search engine’s job to display the most relevant results at the top of the list, which is where people will click. In fact, the #1 search result in Google gets about 32% of all clicks (via Backlinko).

Ensure your website is always optimized for SEO, and you should be able to drive more traffic to your website.

Update keywords

The top SEO results can change from time to time, and you need to ensure that your website is at the top of the list for the most relevant terms. That's where keyword research is essential.

If you're wondering how to do keyword research, plenty of tools can make the process easier. When you update your keywords, understand that there's a balance between the most relevant and competitive terms. You may have difficulty ranking for certain words if there are a lot of websites, particularly multinational corporations, competing for the same slots. Consider choosing target keywords that are less competitive but have a more defined user intent.

Create new content

In order to drive traffic to your website, you need to create new content. This can be in the form of blogs, whitepapers, press releases, product pages, and so forth.

As you create new content, don't forget to update the existing content on your website. For example, your company hours might change. Or, you may add some new phone numbers. Some outdated blog articles or pillar pages might also need to be updated with new information. Always make sure that the information on your website is accurate.

It's also good practice to appropriately tag all of your images and refresh them from time to time. This is important not only for your visitors but also for search engines.

Benefits of updating your website

Some of the most important benefits of updating your website include:

• Boosting search visibility. Updating your website shows search engines that your website is active, increasing your search visibility in return.
• Keeping up with trends. By updating your website, you can make sure the content is fresh and relevant for your visitors.
• Improving loading times. Regularly updating your website means you can easily identify and fix issues that may impact your website’s loading time.
• Ensuring mobile responsiveness. When you update your website, you can verify that it looks good on different devices and screens.

In addition to the benefits above, there are many other reasons to update your website, including:

Keyword traffic can change, and you need to refresh the content on your website to reflect that. Certain elements of your website, such as links, may break from time to time. You need to make sure they work; otherwise, they can impact your ranking on search engine results. You need to update your website based on the feedback you receive from your customers.

Update your website regularly to maximize traffic

In the end, you should update your website regularly if you want to drive as much traffic as possible and the right type of people to your website. If you're ready to get your business online, Mailchimp can help. There are plenty of tools to optimize your online presence. Check out some of the marketing tools we have available and maximize your website traffic today.