How Often Should You Update Your Website?
Most of us have a general idea of when our car is due for an oil change (or we at least know we can rely on that little sticker in the corner of our windshield to remind us).
You know that regular maintenance is key for keeping your car in good shape. It’s a significant investment, so you want to make sure you take care of it.
Your website is the same way. Updating your website frequently is crucial to keeping it fresh and engaging to your customers.
So, how often should you update your website? And while we’re at it, what actually needs to be updated?
To answer these questions, we need to address a few different facets of your website: the design, the functionality, and the content.
Read on to get the scoop!
When to Update Your Website’s Design
This one’s pretty simple.
Ask yourself these questions:
Are you embarrassed to send people to your website?
Is your website more than three years old (ie: is it outdated in design, copy and/or platform)?
Does your website look questionable on mobile?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, it’s time for a redesign, friend!
Most experts agree that you should update your website every two to three years to keep it relevant and fresh for your customers. You didn’t set up your business and then just let it sit there. You’re making updates and changes and tweaking things all the time with your business so it grows, and your website, as your business’ online home base, is no different.
On top of that, because over half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s crucial for your website to be optimized for mobile viewing.
Beyond that, you need to be PROUD of your website. If you’re embarrassed to link to your website from your Instagram or add it to your business cards, that’s not doing you any good.
For more on this topic, check out our blog post: 4 Things Your Website Should Do (Besides Look Good!).
When to Update Your Website’s Functionality
Just like your car, you want to keep your website running smoothly.
There are website platforms out there that require monthly maintenance and updates to keep things functioning properly (looking at you, WordPress).
One of the many reasons we use (and LOVE) Squarespace is that it’s an all-in-one platform – meaning that all the features your website might need are already baked into the platform and don’t require extensive monitoring and updates like other platforms do.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t need to be checking under the hood to make sure that everything is working on your site, though!
Every month, we recommend you do a quick audit of your website to check on the following:
Are all your buttons and links working?
Is anything broken on your site (like any custom code, embedded links, or videos)?
Does anything look funky on mobile?
How are your analytics looking? (Analytics can help you identify pages on your website that aren’t performing well, indicating it may be time to adjust the copy or design!)
We offer ongoing website maintenance & support to our clients for only $95/month – an easy decision to have the peace of mind that basic website maintenance and checks are being taken care of for you.
Every six months, look for new features to improve the functionality of your website.
Website platforms (like Squarespace) are constantly changing and adding new features to make users’ lives easier.
Twice a year, spend some time catching up with what your website platform has been rolling out behind the scenes. Maybe there’s a new scheduling feature that makes booking appointments with you a breeze. You don’t want to miss out on anything that could make it easier for your customers to work with you!
When to Update Your Website’s Content
There are two good answers to this question:
1. When you have something worth updating.
Have you added a new service that you aren’t talking about on your website?
Did your prices increase in the new year?
Have you added new members to your team?
It’s time to update your content! Sometimes you just need to make some simple updates to your website, such as photos, statistics, pricing or your team’s info on your about page. Sometimes you need to add new pages or disable pages no longer applicable, and sometimes you just really need to do an entire website revamp because your copy, brand messaging, design, and/or platform are outdated and not performing well.
Keeping your website up-to-date and fresh shows customers that you’re active, professional, and worth trusting.
2. When you want to rank higher in the search results.
Is SEO (search engine optimization) a priority for you? Then you’ll want to implement content strategy on your website.
Why? Because Google loves websites that are updated frequently and consistently.
Plus, the more pages and content you have on your website, the more opportunities you have to rank for certain keywords and phrases on Google. When you add a new page or blog post to your website, it tells Google’s robots to index it. After a while, Google learns that it needs to index your website more often because you’re consistently adding fresh content.
Pro Tip: Google values consistency over quantity, so instead of churning out a ton of new blog content at once and then stopping, focus on creating a consistent blogging schedule that you can stick to over the long run.
We recommend blogging once or twice a week (we blog weekly!), but once every two weeks will do the trick, too. The most important thing is to choose a cadence you can repeat consistently. Start with what you know you can handle and do that consistently for a period of time, then you can always increase your posting frequency later.
For more tips on how to successfully implement a blogging strategy for SEO, check out this post – 4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog.
The Short Answer to How Often You Should Update Your Website
Unlike your car, your website doesn’t come with a sticker telling you exactly when to service it.
Here’s a quick, general “cheat sheet”, though:
Design
Every 2-3 years: Redesign your website
*This timeframe will vary by company based on various factors including: how much the business has changed, the website platform, the quality of the prior design, etc.
Functionality
Every month: Check all pages on your website (on both desktop and mobile) to ensure all links are working; Check website analytics
Every 6 months: Look for opportunities to add new, improved functionality to your website
Content
Every month (as needed): Update pricing, packages, statistics, team members, photos, etc.
Every 1-2 weeks: Post a new blog post
We hope this answered your questions about how often you should update your website. If you need help with your website or want to outsource your Squarespace website maintenance and updates, Schedule a Call with us!
More soon,
Mara
WEB DESIGNER + SEO SPECIALIST
P.S.
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