Website Maintenance – The Key to Being Relevant on the Web
While traveling in Italy this autumn, I saw beautiful things about this historical country and the harmful impact neglect can have on its ancient structures. One of the most common jobs in Italy is the care and maintenance of its art, architecture, and books. In the modern business world, at the center of the success of a Web strategy is the regular maintenance of your site.
Today, it’s no longer enough to design your website and publish it on the Web as a non-manned site for prospective clients to locate you. People who know what they want will look for up-to-date and relevant information or switch to the following website that will likely be your competition. Search engines are also clued into the reality that an inactive webpage will likely be non-relevant and lower its ranking on search engine results.
Maintenance of websites involves three core components:
Content
Design
Features
Content
When it comes to the Web, content is the king. Creating websites is so crucial that we suggest working with a professional to make the initial text. Maintain your website’s freshness through ongoing updates, company news, or a blog for your company, as well as a newsletter, and, if suitable, developing your brand’s message using online services like Google Place pages, Manta business listings, LinkedIn Company Profiles as well as other such services.
Design
Good content can’t be a substitute for a lousy presentation. Businesses like 3M, Apple, Google, and GE all recognize the importance of good product design. The same is true for your website. A great design will last for three years but should be maintained to keep up with the ever-changing Web technologies and the ever-changing demands of your business. We’ve all encountered websites with the proprietor imposing new content onto an older style. The result isn’t pretty.
Features
Additionally, users of websites are increasingly looking for elements that will make it easier for them to locate the information they require or to communicate with your business. Based on the objectives of your website, the features may include conversion points, such as contact forms, formation request forms, or premium-quality content downloads. Other options include site-wide and personalized search (e.g., search for products and articles search) online databases, log-in for ‘client discussion forums, blog sites, wikis, etc.
Many of these features are offered as part of a management system, a software tool that aids in automatizing the process of managing websites. Sometimes, a website’s more complex or unique features require a custom-built part by a Web developer. Like any computer program, the software for your website must be regularly updated to fix any bugs or security updates and ensure your website is kept up to date with the ever-changing face of Web technology.
Conclusions
A successful web presence is similar to composing the notes of a symphony. It requires good quality content, well-thought-out design, and useful features to offer an experience on the internet that will keep current customers, provide leads to your sales team, and serve as an effective sales tool to turn potential clients into customers. You can make it yourself or employ a professional web design firm to ensure your website is maintained.
