4 reasons your website's never finished
29th April 2013
posted 29th April 2013
Many businesses make the mistake to assume that once their website is online that it is finished.
In reality the most successful business online are those who understand that a website is never finished. Here are 4 reasons you should never consider your website finished.
1.Your business is always changing – Every business changes over time. New products and services mean that the information you communicate and the way you interact with your customers is always changing. Your website should evolve to reflect these changes to maintain a clear and coherent message.
2.Website feedback – The ultimate test for your website is when it is released into the wild and real customers start interacting with it. Even with the best market research, most websites require changes based on feedback from real users. This process is ongoing and you should always review and amend your website after launch and after any major changes.
3. Google doesn’t like websites which don’t change – One of the first concerns people have when coming to us to build their website is if it will rank on page one of Google. A well designed and optimised website will stand a good change of ranking highly, however over time if your website never changes Google may start to demote it. Why? There are thousands if not millions of websites which are online but the businesses which put them there no longer exist. (A website I built when I was 16 is still online today!) Google cannot know if these businesses are still up and running so it uses the proxy of how recently the website was updated. Recently updated sites tend to be more relevant to searchers so Google will rank them more highly.
4. People’s tastes change – Like fashion on the high street, trends change on the web. At one point it was all the rage to have a flash website, nowadays its seen as a little old hat and also not compatible with the latest phones and tablet PCs. Ignoring trends can mean overtime fewer people will visit your website and those who do will spend less time there.
Your website is a powerful tool for marketing your business. For best results allocate time and ideally a budget to keeping the website current.