How Often Should Businesses Update Their Website Content?
It is common for businesses to create a website and keep it up for years without updating it. The design of the website slowly starts to look outdated, as more modern website designs and features become available. Content becomes outdated just as fast. Website visitors wonder if your business is still operational.
Updating website content is an important part of owning a website. Different parts of your website require updating at different times. Here is an overview.
Blog 2 to 4 Times a Week
To have the best search engine rankings and visitor engagement, you want to add new blog posts to your website as consistently and frequently as possible. If you can commit to writing only two blog posts a week, it is best to schedule two a week rather than four or six published in one week and none the next. SEO experts claim that blogs that post four times or more a week fare better than blogs that have less frequent posts.
Having regular blog posts on your website creates an expectation with readers. If they see that your site posts two informative blog posts a week, they might bookmark the page to check for the next post. In addition, you can share your website’s blog posts on your company’s social media accounts to increase the reach.
Update Contact Info and Staff Bios Immediately
Any time your company changes phone numbers, email addresses, or mailing addresses, it is critical that you update your website immediately to reflect the newest information. Can you imagine if a potential customer finds your website only to call the old phone number? You’ll likely lose the sale. And if a key staff member profiled on your website leaves, it is important to take down their bio ASAP.
Offer New Lead Magnets Quarterly
A lead magnet is what you give away to website visitors in exchange for their email addresses to build your email subscription list. It is typically a PDF guide or some other freebie. But even lead magnets grow stale and could benefit from updating on a quarterly basis. Perhaps the old topic doesn’t resonate well with website visitors, but a new one might catch their attention.
Plan an Annual Website Audit
As your business gets busier, you may not end up spending a lot of time navigating your own website. There’s a good chance that you won’t notice if something becomes outdated or if links in your navigation banner break. Plan an annual website audit to review the content, design, and functionality of your website. Even if your company doesn’t have the resources for a dedicated internal IT department, an annual website audit conducted by a marketing manager or co-founder can go through the website to review it.
Of course, you can choose to update your website more often. There is nothing with updating your website’s content more frequently. Just make sure to keep it current and relevant.
Melanie G. is a freelance writer and editor living in Tampa, Florida. She’s freelanced full-time since she left her writing job at Nielsen in 2012.
