According to Business Link in a report
published recently, Britain’s small businesses
are failing to get the most out of their on-line presence.
Research by BT Openworld shows that
a quarter of small firms are at risk of losing clients
by relying on out of date web sites. The most common
areas of neglect being news, services information and
up to date contact details.
Many businesses are “concerned”
about the costs of investing in their web site as they
are unlikely to see a quick return on their on-line
investment. However competitive firms are only a click
away, so businesses need to maintain a strong internet
presence.
ags provides many of their clients
with regular and up to date web content through their
e-news service and on-line fact sheets, and news. Businesses
have to realise that a year in real time equals anywhere
from four to twelve months in “web time”,
meaning that time moves much faster on-line than off.
That said, the content of your web site can become outdated
very quickly.
These are the 5 key disadvantages
to not keeping a business web site up to date:
1. New visitors will recognise
old content.
There is something about stale content,
a savvy web user can recognise it at first glance. If
visitors to your web site perceive that the content
is not fresh, they may look at it once, but it is unlikely
that they will bookmark it, and even more unlikely that
they will return again. It’s like the difference
between a brochure and a newspaper, a client may pick
up a brochure and read through it once, they may even
save the brochure, but they will not be pulling it out
once a month to read through it again, and after a period
of time will even forget they have it.
A newspaper, no matter how small
always has fresh content, so that if someone picks it
up and likes what they read, they will likely pick up
another copy at a later date. Web sites are like that,
visitors will quickly perceive whether it’s brochure
or a newspaper and will treat it as such.
2. Returning visitors will
not come back again.
When a potential client visits your
site and likes your content they may bookmark it and
return another time to see what's new. If after several
months, however, there is no new content, they will
assume that it is not going to change and will stop
checking your site. It is returning visitors, who are
most likely to become your clients, not only do they
like what you have to say, but they are interested enough
to keep in touch. In this way your web site acts as
a networking tool to business contacts you may never
have actually talked to.
3. Other sites may not link
to you.
Getting linked to other similar sites
is a good way to get visitors to your site but another
little known fact is that links to your site can dramatically
improve your search engine ranking. Getting quality
sites to link to you is difficult when your site is
not kept updated. A good webmaster does not link to
every site that comes along and asks for a link, only
those that will offer some valuable information to their
customers.
4. Search engines will not
index you as often.
This will not help if you don’t
update more than once a month but if you do, Google
and other search engines may index your site several
times a month. This gives your site a definite advantage
because when you make changes these may be reflected
in the next week instead of the next month. This also
makes your site seem fresher and more up to date. Web
users may notice the new content in the search engine
and visit your site.
5. The competition will
have the advantage.
This point is very simple, by not
updating your site regularly you are giving your competition
that do, the advantage.
How can ags help you with
web marketing?
If you want an e-marketing campaign
designed exclusively for you that meets your marketing
objectives and will appeal to your target audience we
can help.
ags specialise in handling web management
programmes for small to medium sized businesses.
Through a team of experienced copy
writers and designers your business can benefit from:
Benefits led copy, written expertly
for you by our in-house copywriters.
Professional and cost effective
e-campaigns that exploit the strengths of the internet.
