Your website is never finished but that’s okay.
Your website is an ongoing project since your content, search engine algorithms and customer’s needs are always changing.
The marketer’s old checklist when it came to launching a new website used to be: design and develop the site, provide the content, review the site, test for bugs, approve it and launch it. Then, the time would come a few years later when the team would start the next redesign project.
However, websites need to be viewed as the central hub of activity and an evolving part of the business. Here, at The Level, we work with clients to maintain and update their sites rather than creating a whole new redesign that doesn’t align with their goals.
Here are three reasons why your website is an ongoing project:
#1 – The content is always changing
Like your business, your content is always changing to meet your market and customer’s needs. This includes the content on your website and blog. There should be content on the website each step of the buyer’s journey: Discover, Explore, Buy and Engage.
Most importantly, the content is what keeps visitors from coming back to your website. The content can be entertaining or informative. But it needs to answer questions that your consumer’s may have – besides how to contact you.
#2 – Search engines love change
Search engines like Google love fresh, good quality content. Fresh content will not only keeps visitors from coming back to your website but also gets new visitors to come to your website. We’ve heard about Google’s Pigeon, Panda and Hummingbird, algorithms that have rocked the search engine world. However, these changes according to Google to enhance the user’s experience. The bottom line, keywords aren’t enough – you’ll need content that is relevant to your consumers for search engines to love your website.
#3 – Customers needs are always changing
Over 10 years ago, we couldn’t imagine having information at our fingertips within seconds. But now, as consumers we’re able to go through the entire buyer’s journey on our mobile phones or any device of choice. Speed plays an important role in the consumer’s changing needs. Also, tied to the speed of your website’s load time are retina displays and HD screens which have forced businesses to deliver high quality images and media on their sites. The rise of the internet of things coming really soon will also create changes that businesses will need to meet in order to satisfy their customer’s needs.
A website project can take a while to finish depending on the complexity and requirements of the site. Once it is done, it is easy for us to want to just push it to the side. However, the truth is, a website is never really finished. A website needs to always be evolving. By analyzing your analytics and feedback, you can effectively make changes that will save money in the long run.
