Staying On Top of the Search Engines
When was the last time you looked at your business' website? I mean, really looked at it. Since you had it built, or built it yourself, have you updated it? Are you keeping up with technology or are you convinced your business is different and doesn't need all those bells and whistles? UK Web hosting provider Streamline.net's latest "Small Business Bytes Survey" has revealed some discouraging information.
"Despite two thirds of those surveyed having had a business website for 2 years or more, only 1 in 10 firms made updates on a daily basis."
That is a pretty sad statistics for the small business owner and their online presence. This means that most small business owners aren't taking full advantage of the Internet or the opportunities it provides. Even sadder still are these additional survey findings:
- 1 in 4 companies admit to updating their websites on a monthly basis,
- over half (54 per cent) admitted to making technical tweaks only 'infrequently,'
If you are a small business website owner, you need to update your website with new content on a regular basis. Though you may feel that once you get your site up and running, that is the end of your job and now "they" will come, this is not necessarily the case. To maintain a strong web presence you need to give the Google web bots something new to search. Stale content is the number one worst marketing faux pas'. When was the last time you made a content or even a technical tweak?
You don't need to update your website every day, but getting into the habit of making frequent changes is a best practice. Even just a minor update is better than no update at all. Don't get left in the dust of your competition. Hire outside help, if you don't have the time or willpower to make these revisions.
If you don't know what to change, ask your customers for their input. Put up a survey; find out what they want to know and how your business can help them achieve their dreams and goals. Do your own web search. Find pertinent information you can share, learn a new technique and share some how tos with your visitors.
If you have a blog site, start a new discussion with your customers. Look for topics that interest them and then help them find the answers they seek.
There are many ways to keep your content fresh and the bots visiting your website. These are just a few that quickly come to mind. I hope you will take advantage of this information and outwit your lazy competition!
© Copyright 2010 Ginger Marks
Ginger Marks is the founder of the DocUmeant Family of Companies, We Make YOU Look GOOD! For more information, visit http://www.documeantdesigns.com/. Her 2010 annual edition of Holiday Marketing Guide, Your business-marketing calendar of ideas is now available at http://www.HolidayMarketingGuide.com.