How do you update your site? - 8 ideas

• Firstly, the updated site is positively perceived by search engines. If something is happening on this site, it is a sign that someone is still making an effort to ensure that the service is at the highest level.
• Secondly, users also like updated and modern websites. They know that from time to time you can find something new on the site, so they are happy to visit it again.
• Thirdly, modernization or renewal means changes that usually bring something new - some kind of additional value. For example, they increase the level of online business, offer new (or better) products, valuable blog articles, etc.

However, it is worth noting that the problem of updating the site sometimes occurs due to the platform on which the site is based.

Currently a very popular solution is a content management system called WordPress. We can say that it is built as if from building blocks - you can add or subtract something to such a site at any time. Usually in a pretty simple way. Our blog, among others, is based on this system.

If your site is not based on WordPress, but on some niche system (or no system at all), stumbling blocks may arise due to the less intuitive process of updating such a site from the contractor's point of view.

I would also add that we get orders to update the site quite often. This is the natural order of things as the Internet is constantly evolving and in many ways it is necessary to keep up with the times. The thing is that it is worth defining exactly what the modernization should be.

If we want to change something, then at a certain angle, there is always an incentive to do it:

• Tired of light hair color? Then we want to darken it.
• Is your car no longer in service? Let's then replace it with another one more suitable for our lifestyle.
• Are your running shoes very worn? Then it's worth looking for new ones.

I mean, if we want to change something in your life, there must be a reason for it.Therefore, a message like "good morning, I want to change the site" (and that's all) is too small for a potential contractor. It would be nice to specify:

• if there are any features currently missing from the site, that would be useful and worth implementing,
• are there elements in the current version that should be removed,
• maybe something just doesn't work or doesn't work the way you expect, so that would be nice update the system,
• how competitors work, whether their sites are developing, what innovations they have introduced recently.

The more information the contractor has in advance, the shorter and more efficient the entire requirements and pricing process works. This saves time for both the contractor and the customer. In addition, it is more likely that the requirements and recommendations will be 100% clear, so that the final product will be maximally adapted to a specific customer.

However, I understand that sometimes someone may feel that it is worth updating the site, but they themselves do not know why. This is understandable, so below you will find a list of eight examples of questions that are usually worth updating on the site.

Why update your site? - 8 examples of elements to change

1. Editing the search method on the site

The importance of the search engine on the site is something that Internet owners regularly learn about shops.

These days, it's no longer just a box with buttons. Enhancements such as suggesting phrases or filtering results are becoming more common.

If your site has a search engine , I can confidently recommend my text on the topic: How should a search engine work and look on a site?

2 .Adding a blog

If search engine bots are more favorable to rich sites with lots of valuable content, how can we modernize like a company website?

After all, no one is going to force text into the "Contact us" or it makes no sense to expand the offer pages with extra text that no one will read anyway.

You need to act in another way, namely: enter a blog.

A guide for one of your products? Boasting an interesting example from practice? A comprehensive A to Z article explaining some extremely important issue in your industry?

You can find lots of topics for blog posts.

The more valuable text your domain has, the better it looks and users, and search engines. By blogging, you won't notice any difference at first, but after a few months of success it will start to pay off.

For For more information, see this text: Is blogging a business necessity these days?

3. Moving to Responsive

It makes sense to update your site to make it look as good as possible on mobile devices.

Smartphones and tablets are an integral part of our lives - we use them every day, including when browsing the web .

Responsiveness has been the absolute standard for several years, but despite this, you can still find sites that which you need to "compress" on mobile phones to see anything on them.

If applicable to your site, believe me - it's time to change something.

4. Making Visual Matters More Inviting

As the saying goes, "you eat with your eyes". The same saying can be applied to websites. If a site is not visually appealing to us, then it is of little interest.

Refreshing colors, changing fonts, swapping elements, generally "beautifying" the presentation of content - it's all in greatly improves our experience of the site.

5. Adding so-called whitespace characters

The term whitespace refers to empty (not necessarily white - contrary to the original name), free space around various elements.

Space between lines of text, margins separating image from content, free space around button - these are all considered spaces.

The question is why is this so important? Is it really important?

Yes.

Free space is the lot of modern design. Giving a kind of "breathing", the appearance of the site wins significantly in elegance and ease of use. Now is not the time when we tried to cram as much information as possible into as little space as possible. Nowadays, everything should have a purpose, meaning and proper placement.

Therefore, if you are planning to update your site, adding spaces would be a great idea.

If I haven't convinced you yet, here is an interesting text on the subject (along with a number of ready-made examples): White space - a few words about empty spaces on websites.

6. Troubleshooting

If your site has bugs, it is simply reprehensible not to update it.

These could be, for example, errors in contact details or spelling errors in texts.

This also includes SEO and usability issues such as broken links on the site.

If you are aware of bugs on your site, don't wait for changes, but implement them as soon as possible. You don't want subsequent users to discover them.

7. converting stock photos to real ones

It's a good idea to update your site by changing the images and photos featured on the site.

By this I mean, for example, the photos used on the site. If it's full of stock (i.e., freely available, used after purchasing a license) images, it creates an increasingly bad impression for users.

Many stock images are repeated on different sites. Moreover, many of them just look artificial. The characters in such photographs are too perfect, they have perfect smiles, facial expressions, the background is exaggeratedly well-groomed.

Obviously, idealized images are not well received by users. If you can, it's best to replace them with images from your own photo shoot.

Of course I don't mean take some photos with your mobile phone and upload them to the Internet. Absolutely not. I mean a professional photo session with a photographer, but not so "smeared". It is important to show the truth. Moreover, such photos will be unique and available only on your site.

8. Updating Information

As they say, outdated information is the last thing.

Did something you wrote about in your blog post change in the last year? Have you changed your company headquarters and it is located in a different location? The person who appears on your site on the "Team" subpage hasn't worked for your company for a long time?

I don't think it needs further development. As with item six in this list, there is no need to wait to change the above information.

As are you updating your site? - a summary of the text

Sometimes it happens that we subconsciously feel that this or that site is in some- that is unfinished. There is something wrong with it, it seems so dated, so out of date.

The above list is intended to point you to potential paths that will lead to your site taking on new life.

I hope that the tips in this article will be useful to you.