Why You Should Update Your Website Regularly

Updating your website is important for a variety of reasons. Not only does updating a website increase website security and prevent hacking, but it can also help your internet marketing strategy and increase traffic to your website. This is why we suggest that businesses update their website regularly.

Updating a website can be done many ways. The three main ways are by:

1. Updating your website platform and security
2. Updating content
3. Updating the design and user-friendliness.

Updating Your Website – Security

One of the top reasons websites get hacked is because of vulnerabilities that arise due to an out of date website framework or plugin.

Choose a Secure Website Platform

Businesses should use a website framework that is secure. If you are using a platform that does not have a strong development community behind it, your website may be hacked without your knowledge. WordPress is one of the best and most secure website development platforms, continually releasing updates to stay on top of threats and vulnerabilities.

Keep Third Party Resources Up to Date

Websites also use plugins for additional functionality. There are many plugins available from developers all over the world. Hackers can occasionally find vulnerabilities within these plugins, which then grant them access to the website. Hackers will then target all websites that have this vulnerability. Plugin authors often release updates to fix these security issues, which is why it’s important to keep them updated. It’s also important to carefully choose the plugins installed on your website. Any plugin you integrate into your site should be checked to make sure the author is experienced and provides continuing support.

Choose a Company That Understands Website Security

Make sure the company hosting and/or developing your website understands the importance of website security. Many things can be configured wrong and compromise your website security, even when using the best website platform.

Updating Your Website – Content

Another important website update involves content. Updating website content can help increase search traffic and convert visitors into customers.

Useful Content Drives Brand Trust

It’s important that your content effectively communicate the benefits of your products and services to your target market. By providing useful content, you are demonstrating that your company is knowledgeable, which helps build trust. When your target market trusts you, they are more willing to buy your products and/or services – which is the ultimate goal of many websites.

Keyword Content Strategy

Another motivation for content creation is keyword targeting. The more pages you have on your website that talk about your products and services, the more likely you are to show up when people search for those services. For example, if your company provides A/C Repair, then you should have a page on your website dedicated to A/C Repair. Businesses can also use city specific pages to help them get found in particular city markets, such as Raleigh, Durham or Cary, NC.

Updating Your Website – Design

Many businesses focus solely on content and internet marketing, but don’t pay attention to the design and user-friendliness of their website. A poorly designed website with hard to use navigation bars, unpleasant colors, a non-responsive design, and a really long contact form can cause visitors to leave a website without giving the business a chance.

Responsive Web Design

30% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. This means that if your website is not designed with smartphones and tablets in mind, then you could miss out on roughly 30% of your potential leads. Responsively designed websites will automatically update to fit the screen size and resolution of the device being used. This gives visitors a better user experience, and increases the chances that they will buy your product or service.

Tailoring Design to the Customer

A website’s design should focus around the needs of the target customer. This involves providing easily accessible, engaging content that the ideal customer will find useful. It also means that the website is ultimately focused around converting those visitors into customers.

In Summary

By regularly updating your website, you can help prevent security threats to your website, increase traffic and conversion with updated content, and provide a user-friendly experience using the latest web technologies such as responsive web design.

Tags: Digital Marketing • Web Design