Our third article in this series on website conversion strategies focuses on creating and maintaining visitors’ interest and motivation with updated content and design.

Imagine going into a physical store, checking out a display of products, and then having a salesperson tell you that those are last year’s models and are no longer available. That situation never occurs because, obviously, customers would leave immediately.

For many small business websites, though, stale content and outdated pages are quite common, and the negative effects of old content on website visitors are dramatic. If your website is not presenting fresh, current information to visitors, it’s not doing its job of converting them into prospects and customers.

Site Updates Have Far-Reaching Impact

It’s not just your customers who notice whether or not your site is current and regularly updated. Google and other search engines recognize and track changes in your website’s content. The more recent the information is on your site’s pages, the more relevant it appears to the search engines. Updated content can drastically improve your search engine rankings.

Small Changes Can Mean Big Results

Updating your website doesn’t necessarily mean doing a complete revamp of its content. Smaller, regular updates are very effective in keeping your site fresh, and are a cost-effective way to maintain its attractiveness and effectiveness. Try these tips:

• Work with your website designer to establish a regular schedule of site checks and updates. Weekly, monthly and seasonal updates help keep your website current and your customers motivated.
• Monitor your site’s analytics carefully and pay special attention to changes in bounce rates and time spent by visitors on your landing pages. An update to affected pages can often improve those numbers and better engage your visitors, boosting conversion rates.
• Look for reasons to update, like new product introductions, seasonal content, special sales and other changes in your business. Let your visitors know about these and you’ll improve conversion statistics through increased interest.
• Use time-limited special offers and website sales to introduce change on your website and entice visitors into making contact. Don’t modify these too frequently, though, or search engines may not consider them real updates.
• Remove outdated content quickly, replacing it with fresh, relevant information. As time passes and your products and services change, your website should always reflect your current strategies and focus. Change is important news, and always of interest to website visitors.
• Use updates to fine-tune your SEO strategies. As your web designer and SEO team work with you to improve your search engine results, regular site updates offer frequent opportunities to implement beneficial changes.

Make Every Website Update Count

You shouldn’t be making changes just to “churn” the website. Before you do anything, make sure that the updated content is designed to accomplish your goals of increasing visitor retention and conversion. Let your web design professionals help you determine which updates will provide a greater return on your investment.