The importance of updating your website

Shannon McNamara
4 min readJan 10, 2018

First impressions is usually the influence that gives the biggest effect. With a business, this is your website! Your website is the poster child for your company. It is typically the first place your customers will visit to get an insight into your company and the services you can provide for them. In this case, it is extremely important to keep your website up-to-date and focus on the content that you are producing for your website.

So why should you update your website?

Content

Hot off the press content frames a trustworthy relationship with your clients and your new potential clients. It is extremely important to keep your content up to date as the content produced is what your clients have confidence in.

It is also suggested that modernised content aids to build domain authority.

Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.

Websites will promote you 24/7: No employee will — Paul Cookson

Security

One of the main reasons for updating your website is for security reasons. If your website is hacked, it is going to cause issues for both your business and your clients as vital information can be stolen. With security issues also comes a lack of trust between the business and the client.

The main reason for any website being hacked is the exposure in the platform. For example, If a vulnerability is found in a platform such as CMS Made Simple, then hackers will target these sites as they all share the same vulnerability.

A tip to ensure your website is secure is to carry out research about the platform you wish to use. Is it updated regularly? Does it provide security features?

Web developers at TheeDesign strongly recommend using Wordpress . Not only one of the easiest platforms to use, but it is one of the most secure sites for your business to be built on. It’s also updated frequently with the latest security features.

Mobile Friendly

This is not an option or a trend, it is an absolute must for your website! This allows users across several unique devices and platforms view your website with ease.

Smartphones and tablets are more of a common standard and will remain this way for a very long time! Optimising your website for your customers needs is vital.

The advantages of mobile friendly website include:

  1. You can reach more customers.
  2. If your website is not optimised, you can potentially loose out on revenue for your business. Do not frustrate potential customers.
  3. You company will be known as a modern more relevant company.
  4. As a business, your reputation is significant. Are you really going to let your reputation be ruined because your website is not optimised?

Outdated Themes

Retro may be a cool design trend to use but what is not cool is outdated technologies and it’s functionality. As the digital world is constantly changing and updating, what was awesome today maybe be not so awesome tomorrow. With this in mind you need to stand out from the crowd. Research trends, new technologies and search for inspiration for both your designs and functionality.

Also a few pointers to acknowledge is: Has your company changes its approaches and directions? If so, the driving force behind your website may not reflect your company and needs an immediate update.

Staying fresh and up-to-date is vital for your company. Clients first opinion of your website can have a great aftermath on your business.

Remember the key phrase: Your website is a poster child for you company.

Never let your website go stale, start this year off with an update to your website and maintain it. You never know who is watching your website and the benefit it may have for your company.

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Shannon McNamara

25, #Irish 🍀, Wordpress Enthusiast, Graphic Designer, Unicorn Developer🦄 #Creative 🎨, #backenddevelopment 💻 , #FlatDesign❤️