Websites are like a beautiful head of hair.
When taken care of, they are both practical and effective in communicating something unique about you. But when left unattended to, they can be a stinky, tangled mess that nobody wants to get close to.
Here are two ways to avoid being the digital equivalent of Phil ‘Tandy’ Miller in Last Man on Earth.
1. Keep your site’s design and user experience updated
Many business owners think because they paid someone to design and build a great site years ago, that they’d never have to do it again.
Unfortunately, this is the same rational used by the guy sporting a glorious mullet: “I got the best haircut of my life 1987, so why would I need another one?”
Cultural evolution, technology (i.e. touchscreen use tablets, phones, and laptops), and search engine companies demand that your website have updated functionality and design. The industry collects more user data than ever and they use this to decide whether or not your site gets the web-traffic you want.
But most importantly, you need to update your site so that it doesn’t repel the users you are already attracting. You don’t want a loyal customer to visit your site to find it hard to get information, think the design is dated, and then leave with digital dandruff all over themselves…right into the arms of a competitor who’s site and user experience is better.
2. Update your content based on user data and best practices for SEO
If you go out and get a haircut and then decide to stop combing your hair until your next haircut, you’ll be in a similar problem as we wrote about above. You may even be tempted to blame the hairstylist for what’s going on as a result of your lack of personal grooming.
To avoid website bedhead, you’ve got to pay attention to your content.
You need to be creating new content to show search engines that your site is active. Search engine companies want to give attention to sites users engage with and spend time on. If your content doesn’t ever change then users won’t care to spend time on your site…because they’ve seen it all. Here are a few ways you can keep fresh content on your page:
1. Write on your blog
Do a blog series on your most popular products. Write about what users are saying about your products. Write about how people are using your products. Write about your products are making people’s lives better. The list could go on. Start with this question, “What topic(s) do my users care the most about?”
2. Create video content
The average user stays on a site without video for about 44 seconds. When a site has video, users stay for over 4 minutes. Video content isn’t as easy as sitting down at a computer and typing out a few hundred words. But it will pay off when done well.
3. Add Case Studies
People relate with stories. Interview happy clients and share their real photos. Give your site’s visitors every chance to identify themselves with past users of your product and/or services.
If you were to style your hair one way, and gets tons of compliments on it wouldn’t you want to keep doing it like that? Do the same thing with your site. When you analyze the content people are connecting with, do more of it. You may be surprised what it is. It may not even be what you like the best, but you are not the target of your site. Your users are. If you really love your combover, but people tell you would look great with a shaved head, you should listen to them.
I could show you site after site where business owners have finely groomed website mullets, unsightly digital dandruff, or content combovers. It’s an epidemic. The bummer of it all is that most business owners just don’t know.
We love helping business owners transform their sites and brand. We love seeing businesses thrive and implement next-level digital strategy. If you want to have us come along and give you feedback on your website, we’d love to help.
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