In the digital world, every company has a website that needs updating from time to time. The question is why? After all, there is already a proven site on which time, effort and money have been spent, it brings conversions and suits users. The main reason is hacking of sites associated with vulnerabilities of an outdated platform or plugins.
Updating your website improves security and reduces the chance of a hack. Modern design and the use of new technologies helps to improve the position of the site and increase its attractiveness, helps to update the digital marketing strategy and leads to an increase in traffic.
The website update consists of the following components:
1. Updating the platform, plugins, structure.
The structure of a business website should be thought out and convenient enough to help the user find the information he needs. Usually, when creating a structure, certain generally accepted standards apply, which are used by most sites. Compliance with these standards affects not only user behavior, but also the indexing of a site by search engines.
Plugins are designed for various functions such as calling or chatting, they are gaining popularity and are used on most sites. In addition to additional functionality, plugins can make the site vulnerable. That is why developers from time to time send updates to fix vulnerabilities and fix security problems. Plugins should be updated at regular intervals. When integrating to the site, plugins should be carefully selected by studying information about the developer and the availability of updates, technical support.
Server update. The server has its own software, which guarantees the smooth operation of the sites hosted on it. As the requirements for protecting user data grow to close all vulnerabilities, servers, as well as the software of computers and smartphones, are regularly updated. After some global server updates, technical problems arise with sites that were developed a long time ago and on old platforms with a high rate of vulnerability to hacking and data leakage. The site is blocked for security reasons, since the technology on which it was created does not meet modern data protection requirements.
Choose a website development company that puts security first.
2. Content update.
Content is the backbone of any website. It plays a key role for search engines. Since Google's algorithms are regularly updated, it is necessary to follow the innovations and update the content in order not to lose positions in the search. Improving search performance and increasing website traffic leads to conversions.
When updating content, consider:
- Description of products or services. A detailed description of the characteristics of the goods, services and goods of the company, the procedure for placing an order, delivery conditions, methods of communication are mandatory elements on the site.
- Key queries. Content should include keywords that allow users to find a product or service. With quality content, the chances of finding yourself in the top positions in the search increase.
- The content should have optimal uniqueness. If the site has a blog, you need to monitor the uniqueness of the articles and the selection of pictures. Descriptions and texts completely identical with other sites will not improve, and in some cases will negatively affect the site's position in the search results.
- Selection of images. Photos and images on the site must be of good quality and at the same time small in size so as not to slow down the loading speed. Website loading can be accelerated by converting images to the modern WebP format, which allows you to reduce the size without visible quality loss.
- Search. It is important to set up smart site search correctly, this will significantly reduce bounce rates and increase the number of orders for your online store. (Read more about Search in our Blog)
3. Design update.
The design must be periodically updated, no matter how familiar the design of the current site is.
Since design is the face of the site, an attractive design should not only delight the eyes of visitors, but also emphasize in the right place, motivate the user to click on the right buttons and lead to a purchase. The new appearance of the site will not only delight regular customers but also attract new ones. Like visual advertising, design tends to become boring over time. User requests are growing and the marketing techniques that were used 3 years ago when creating a website are no longer working so effectively, they stop clinging to users, seem familiar and boring.
New trends appear almost every year, this does not mean that it is necessary to redesign every time. Market research, monitoring of competitors' sites will help to be in trend, to understand what innovations in a niche need to be applied to attract customers. It is not necessary to change the entire site at the same time, you can improve the most visited pages, when expanding the range, you can update the view of the catalog, product cards, the type of slider with promotions, etc.
How to understand that the site needs updating:
- decreased download speed;
- the time of users on the site decreases;
- the number of orders decreases;
- the number of visitors is falling;
- bounce rate grows - users leave the site from the first page;
- errors occur in the site;
- elements load slowly - images, plugins, etc.
To maintain the image of a modern site, it is enough to redesign the site at least once every 3 years. This figure is optimal, given the speed of emergence of new technologies and new trends in the construction of user interfaces.
With years of experience, knowledge and skills, Dream Line Web Studio uses the latest technologies to update websites, including optimizing security features, content, design and anything that is critical to performance.
We empower websites with our website redesign and development services.
