Your website priority should always be about content, but not just any content… fresh content.  In 2017, the websites that get the most traffic are those where the content is constantly updated and original. Updating your website content is a vital aspect of search engine optimization (SEO). Essentially, without frequently updated content you are less likely to rank in search engine results.
The days of the basic one-page website layouts have expired. Today, the colourful, clickable, movable, interactive websites are what businesses are turning to – to engage an audience and at the least – invite them to stick around a little longer.

But being colourful, clickable and movable is simply not enough to get the attention of search engines. In fact, the secret to attracting more traffic is simply in creating and updating content. So before you consider a complete overhaul of your website, consider these tips to keep your content fresh.

 

ANALYTICS DON’T LIE

 

How are your bounce rates? If there is a lot of traffic coming to your site but bouncing quickly, your content isn’t making enough of an impact. If there isn’t a lot of traffic coming at all – perhaps the content is non-existent, or needs some immediate TLC. Check your analytics, whether it’s Google Analytics or something else, and figure out what people are doing on your site. What keywords are bringing in traffic from Google? What pages are visitors hanging around on a while and which pages are they bouncing from? Use this data to build a strategy for adding new and relevant content to your homepage.

 

GOOGLE REWARDS YOU

 

In order to remain a valuable tool to users, search engines needed a way to identify what pages are considered “good” and which ones are not.  Every single day search engines have ‘software bots’ that constantly search for sites with newly updated content. If a website is updated frequently, then search engines consider it a consistent source of new information and will move its listing up the search results ranking.  This is a BIG benefit as it will continue bringing more traffic to your website. Your prospective customers generally begin most purchases by typing a problem into a search engine. Therefore the best way to win the attention of a search engine is to provide fresh, relevant, engaging content on your site.

 

YOUR COMPETITION IS DOING IT

It’s not a secret that interactive, content-filled sites work. If you take a few minutes to creep your competitor’s website, chances are they too are on the same page. They’re blogging, creating how-to videos, tweeting, instagramming, updating their LinkedIn profiles and FAQ’s. Not only is it important to stay on track with them, but you can also follow their approaches as a guideline for what you should be doing. What type of website content are they sharing? What sorts of topics are they covering? Are they missing key approaches that you’re experts in? Are they discussing new trends you haven’t touched? Use this as a way to stay relevant, and position yourself as a relevant leader within your industry.

 

BLOGGING WORKS

 Starting a blog is the easiest way to continually add new content to your site. Blog about relevant popular topics related to your industry and keep a schedule that allows you to update weekly. The more frequently you blog, the more active your site becomes. And the more you share your blog (social media) the more attention it will get. It’s an inbound strategy that continues to show results, and the best way to keep you popular with SEO.

 

YOUR AUDIENCE WILL COME BACK

 Seeing consistent updates and changes such as news links, social posts and announcements shows that you continue to make progress.  Providing new content allows your business a better chance at engaging prospects into the sales funnel. A potential customer may not be ready the first time they land on your site, but by the second or third time they visit they may just be ready to contact you and talk business. If you keep providing them with an intriguing/educational experience, why wouldn’t they want to come back? At the end of the day, the more you update your website the more you will directly connect with your target audience.

Updating your content does not have to be hard. We suggest that you devote at least 30 minutes a week to updating your website. Spend some time and read it yourself. Is it engaging to you? Consider it like a shopping experience. If your favourite clothing store suddenly stopped selling new items and decided to forever keep the same clothes on display from now until eternity – how often would you continue to visit that store?

Once you adapt into a routine of updating your content on a frequent basis, you’ll start to see how it actually drives results and shows an overall increase in website visitors.