How To Update Your Website In 5 Easy Steps

In the digital world, websites really are the new shopfront of your business. Having a great website that captivates your customers is key! You need to ensure that your website reflects your brand’s personality, tone and most importantly, your target audience. Many businesses fall into the trap of launching their website and failing to refresh and update the content. But the real question is, how often should you update your website?

Let’s say your e-commerce website was built in 2018 and you’re constantly updating your product listings – surely that’s enough? In today’s competitive digital landscape, unfortunately not! Keeping your products and services up to date is one thing, but now it’s just as important to keep on top of the look, UX and functionality of your website. Read on to find out more about keeping your website up to date in the digital age.

1. Responsive Websites

A few years ago, people knew about responsive web design but it certainly wasn’t as important as it is today. So what is a responsive website? Essentially, it allows content and elements to be scaled up or down depending on the screen it is being displayed on. This is especially helpful in today’s world as 54.8% of website visits are made on a mobile device. This means websites are being viewed on so many different screen sizes, where one design wouldn’t be suitable for all screen sizes.

With this in mind, it is vital your website is able to accommodate mobile users. If your website isn’t responsive, you are missing out on huge volumes of traffic! Not only this, but you will likely see a high bounce rate as your site won’t be easy to navigate. It’s time for a refresh if you don’t have a responsive website.

2. Improve Your SEO

To maintain high rankings on search engines you need to consider how SEO friendly your website is. Major changes to Google’s algorithm can affect your website rankings so it is important to update your website regularly in line with the new demands they have set out. Newer content also tends to be favoured over old content, so if you haven’t updated your copy in years, your website rankings will inevitably be suffering.

3. Refresh Your Design

Just like fashion trends, website design trends tend to age very quickly. Your website can fall by the wayside if you don’t refresh and update its design regularly. From fonts, to colours and website layout, design preferences tend to go in and out of fashion. A few years ago having lots of fancy imagery and graphics was the norm, but more recently, we are seeing a more simple and streamlined website design trend being favoured, with colours being used to navigate the user experience.

4. Fix Slow Loading Speeds

More often than not older websites have a slower load speed. With our fast-paced modern lives, we don’t like waiting around for things; that explains why slow load speeds are the number one cause for a high bounce rate. Many factors impact website load speed whether that is broken resources like JavaScript and CSS, or you’ve got some necessarily large image and video files on your site.

As a whole, in today’s modern world as WiFi is quicker, devices have speedier processors and web browsers can rapidly display a page; websites need to load in milliseconds to keep our user’s attention. Sometimes a website refresh and declutter can fix your slow load speed.

5. Learn From Competitors’ Sites

It’s never a good sign if your competitors have a better, slicker and more modern site than you do. If you can see your digital footprint getting smaller as your competitors improve their website, it’s time for an update. Making a great first impression is key so regularly investing in your website will help you see great long term results.

At Frogspark we are experts in all things web design! In fact we have won awards for what we do, so if you are looking to update your website you’ve come to the right place! From ecommerce to business websites, we have you covered. Get in touch with us today.