With estimates cresting at one billion, the sheer number of websites throughout the world can make your little corner of cyberspace feel pretty insignificant. Take a random poll of your customers, prospects and co-workers and you’ll quickly find out the opposite is true. Or, try this: ignore maintaining your site’s content, with the exception of posting blog articles. It won’t take long to feel the sting of stagnant pages when prospects quickly bounce, or returning customers seek your more dynamic competitors.
More importantly, it will affect the way Google reviews your website. While new blog articles increase your page count and give users a reason to return to your website, if you don't have other ways to freshen up your content, you'll likely lose out in some organic search results.
Blogs are great ways to share information and can speak to your expertise as an industry thought leader. However, if search engines, like Google, index information about your site and their bots revisit a month later and nothing has changed other than blogs? —Buh-bye, SEO. You’ll be lost among the legions of links returned during a basic search.
There are several ways to keep your site content fresh that don’t require a huge time investment:
There’s no need to wait until you grab headlines to update your news page. Upcoming conference or event (like Experience Inbound 2016, for example)? Industry happenings? Achieve a corporate milestone? Community involvement? Introducing new employees? Broadcast it on your News page. A news section can be setup using a blog format, but generally the purpose of a news section is nowhere near as helpful or user-oriented as your blog.
Often overlooked but a key component in the entire site experience, switching out visuals is an easy way to breathe some life into your site (plus, images can be programmed to boost SEO). Embedded videos or a corporate YouTube channel or other embedded videos is a great showcase for product demos, capabilities and services, or short tutorials. Even something as simple as adding captions to your photos gives your users – and search engines – new content to digest.
Word of mouth is powerful. Client testimonials and case studies go a long way in selling your products or services (plus it’s fun to give yourself the occasional well-deserved pat on the back). Adding pages for testimonials and case studies, or interspersing them throughout your site, is a great way to leverage content that will grow as your business does.
The lifeblood of inbound marketing, downloadable content is industry-relevant and ideal for traffic building that translates to leads. White papers, eBooks, worksheets and other materials that make users willing to provide their contact information is a win-win. Additionally, once longer pieces are created, you have the opportunity to break down the information into shorter repurposed pieces for even more new content.
“It’s nice to put a face with a name.” Who hasn’t heard that at some point during their career? Consider adding pictures and brief profiles of your team to personalize site interaction (check out the group at the Weidert Group). As the business grows and the team continues to transition, new content follows.
Adding content is meaningless if it doesn’t add value for visitors—and that means thinking beyond the words on the page:
The dreaded “404 Page Not Found” message is one you never want to send. More precisely, it’s one you never want a customer or prospect to find and tell you about. Links break over time. That’s a fact. Periodically checking those that appear on your site using any of the available link checker programs keeps you ahead of the game.
When you launched your site, there were probably some features that limited time or money prohibited you from including. Have a look at the wish list as you consider content updates. It may spark ideas for adding something simple – like a FAQ section – or improving usability by increasing download speeds or updating third party software.
Websites analytics give you a black and white measure of success. Keeping track of bounce rates, visit times, and other tangible metrics that inform your decisions about what content is sticky, and what is letting users slide on by.
A website is a cost of entry for companies these days. How you choose to use this influential tool “beyond the blog” enlivens your content, your traffic and your business.
