The importance of up-to-date websites
The importance of up-to-date websites
The importance of up-to-date websites
As of December 2009, there were 234 million websites and 1.73 billion users worldwide, with almost 300 million users in the USA alone (1). You can see just by those numbers the vast amount of information that is available. Is your information out there in that huge landscape?
Are you introducing your products or services, offering them for sale, offering advice to others for free or for a fee, or in other ways conducting business on the Internet? If so, then your website is your catalog, the online version of the good old bound stack of paper that used to get mailed to homes and was most likely used to support a chair or table suffering from a broken leg. Now, websites can not end up under a chair or table leg, but they can suffer the electronic equivalent - being ignored and passed over by potential customers and information seekers.
If you remember, the paper catalogs we used to get were most often updated according to season / holiday or other important events throughout the year. You can see where I am going with this. How often is your website updated? Has it been updated at all since you (or your web design company) put it online? You will be surprised how many sites are out there now, in 2010, that are still showing sale specials and promtions from years ago, there are even event sites with calendars that have not been updated since 2007. And those sites are still active, just not being maintained. Their owners may have forgotten about them because they never got a response throught them, or they simply did not track the origins of inquiries and sales. Or, they do not want to spend any money on advertising in these financially challenging times, although that is the wrong thing to do. Or, and more than likely the case in over 50 percent of the "dead" websites, the owner does not know how to update the site, the web designer skipped town or is out of business.
But picture for a moment the user that searches for a product or service that you offer, and finally, after a long walk down then information super-highway, he comes to your site, looking to rest his weary fingertips and eyes and instead soak in the availabiltiy of the information he searched for. Is your site welcoming, pleasant to the eyes and senses, does it pass the "first impression" test, is the information easily accessible or is it just another rundown "once upon a time it was great" stop on the road?
If you answered yes to the latter, you should sit back and reevaluate your website:
When was the last time the site was updated?
Is all the contact information correct?
Are all products and services you offer mentioned and shown / described?
Is there a way for users to interact with you?
How easily can the site be navigated?
Does it still honestly represent your business and its values
and (a tell-tale sign, but mostly overlooked) the (c) copyright notice
So, you realize that there are things that need to be done to your site, but you do not have the time or resources to do it yourself? Seek the advice of a web designer that offers a complete evaluation of your site. Do not run into creating a completely new site until you figure out that there is no other option and the existing site can not be salvaged. And most of all, do not spend thousands of dollars. There are reputable companies that will do these tasks for you and charge you maybe a couple hundred dollars.
So, take a couple hours out of your busy day, check your website and make it a welcoming, friendly stop for the travellers on the information super-highway.
Stay tuned for more great articles and advice abput small business websites, their marketing and integration and more.
(1) Royal Pingdom
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