This is the second of a 2-part blog post series. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, feel free to go back and start here.
In our last blog post, we covered the reasons why creating fresh content on a regular basis is so important to your website’s search engine rankings. Now it’s time to go over some ways you can do that — and it’s easier than you might think. Yeah, it takes a little work, but with the right planning and dedication, you can keep your site functioning as a powerful marketing tool for your business.
First, a note about quality
Updating your website with fresh content is not only about getting visitors to your site —it’s about getting the right kind of visitors. So the quantity of your new content is not as important as its quality. You need to update regularly, but you can keep it short… as long as you keep your content standards high.
Google uses algorithms to determine the quality and relevance of web copy, and will downgrade the rankings of sites that are artificially stuffed with low-quality content. So strive to update your site often with reliable, valuable information for your audience — original content as much as possible — and you’ll be rewarded with higher rankings.
Consider a blog
One of the easiest and most effective ways to update your site’s content is through a blog, like this one. Blogs can provide the right venue for keyword-rich content, with articles, tips, events, news, and commentary that’s meaningful to your audience. What’s more, readers can comment on your blog posts, which count as updates to your site. Blogging is extra work, but it doesn’t have to be hard. You can write short posts, work them into a schedule, and share the burden with co-workers or even subcontractors.
Add pages that beg to be updated
Sometimes, our clients resist adding time-sensitive pages to their sites for fear that they won’t have the time to maintain them, and within a few months their site will appear outdated. But what better motivation for keeping it updated? Stop the worrying and start a plan for generating content!
Before you sweat this too much, remember that change can come slowly. If your site is on the WordPress platform, it can easily be built onto over time. Add one type of time-sensitive page and see if you can handle reasonable updates to it. If so, try adding another. Keep posts short, recruit staff to contribute, and if you can’t do it all in-house, hire a marketing team (like Stride) to help.
There are many types of pages you can add. A news page can list brief company announcements. An industry news page can provide quick tidbits like current trends, national news, or links to longer articles. Is your organization busy with various events? List them on an events or calendar page. And a careers page is a great addition to your site not just for recruitment, but for adding plenty of relevant keywords as well.
Social media
Often a company’s Facebook or LinkedIn page is where the real action happens, with content added daily or weekly. If that sounds like your business, make the most of it! Add a social media feed to your home page, which automatically copies your posts to your web site. This showcases your activity and search engines count it as fresh content.
Your home page
Speaking of your home page, this is a critical page to keep updated, since search engines give it a lot of importance. Review it regularly for updating opportunities. If you’re on WordPress, your homepage may be updated automatically with plug-ins that pull new content from elsewhere on the site, such as post headlines and teaser copy.
Testimonials
Great businesses tend to have great word of mouth. Do you get thank-you emails, letters, or texts from time to time? If so, let the world know about them! Recent testimonials are an easy way to add to your website content. Always ask your clients if it’s okay to use their quotes and names on your website.
Other opportunities
Lastly, run through your whole site every once in a while to look for opportunities for content updates. Check staff bio pages — has anyone’s resumé changed? Have you added capabilities, projects, clients? Not only can these types of updates improve your search rankings, but they’ll add to your credibility and user experience as well.
It’s easier than you may think to improve your search engine rankings. Just stay fresh… and you’ll stay competitive.
