Updating your web content: Why regular changes make sense (bonus tip inside!)

Your customers live on the internet (almost literally).

A lot of businesses have moved from small localities to become geographically independent online. People source their news from apps rather than subscribing to newspapers. Dating happens online and hearts are exchanged on the screen even before people step foot into cafes and meet face-to-face. Mothers pin recipes to their Pinterest boards, rather than handing family recipe books down generations. Music is streamed and those who still use CDs and cassettes are frequently heard saying ‘Back in my day…’.

Essentially, your presence on the internet matters. New competitors are cropping up every day – and while staying relevant and standing out might be difficult, with a few good steps, it’s definitely possible.

Your website can be one of the most effective mediums to stay ahead of the competition. Updating it regularly with fresh content is an effective marketing technique – especially since search engines like Google approve of it.

With any business that’s online, there are three stakeholders involved:

• Your business
• Your customers
• Google (yes, really)

Your website is your first pitch on the Internet. It helps to build your identity, your audience, and your reputation.

With that in mind, here is why you need to update your website regularly from the perspective of the involved stakeholders:

Your audience

We believe you have something new to offer. You believe it too. Now, it’s time to make your audience believe it as well. Regularly updating your content is the best way to do it.

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When you are just starting out, regularly posting content on your website is like hooting your horn consistently to draw attention to yourself. It’s absolutely vital if you want to get your name out.

Further on, when you have a loyal audience base- no matter how small or large- it’s your duty to add value to their experience through the content that you post. They will be looking at you, expecting you to deliver what you promised when you started.

This is also the best way to keep people coming back for more. When they know you might have something new and useful for them, they are a lot likely to keep checking in.

Your business

Building on the last point, when you keep audiences engaged, you set the stage for your business to take off as well. Eventually, people come to trust you and what you have to offer. This trust goes a long way in forging strong business-client relationships.

All the content that you post will be marketing for your business. You don’t want that marketing to be non-existent or shabby, do you? Keep updating content then and make it as high-quality as possible.

What counts as content from marketing POV? Everything.

1. 1. The original blog posts that you make
   2. The people who you work with
   3. The brands and people that you endorse
   4. Other people’s/ company’s content that you share
   5. Comments on forums or other blogs
   6. Changes to the website design for greater user experience

When you update and post content regularly, it shows that your business is alive. Who would like to buy from a clothing trend whose last post was about ‘The Fall Trends of 2017’? No one.

Regular updates signal that your business is still relevant and in the game and increases trust among clients which pulls in new business on the regular.

Another reason why updates to your content are desirable is that when you keep posting strong and valuable content, it helps to establish you as an authority in your domain.

People turn to you for how-tos and advice and to know what is new in the industry. They become willing to buy from you or to pay for your services. In the beginning, you’ll have to write a lot (preferably in-depth articles that spark new conversations) and comment on other’s blogs to get noticed – but it’s well worth the effort.

Google and search engines

Think of it this way. Your game on the Internet might be to best the best online yoga class teacher or be the indisputable authority in the Astronomy blogosphere. Google – the Internet’s most popular search engine – has to stay in the game too.

Google’s game is to be the No. 1 search engine. For that, it has to be uber-helpful present the best results for whatever people search. You can help Google stay in its game by updating amazing, this-blows-people’s-minds content – so that your site ranks well in Google’s searches and is easy for relevant audiences to find.

All search engines use web crawlers to scour websites on the Internet. Then, they index the sites based on a number of factors. These include how many times the website is updated, strength of the incoming traffic, how SEO friendly the website is, and so on..

Every time there is any change in any of these factors, the crawlers reassess your ranking. Anyone commenting on your blog post counts as a positive change which will be noticed by the crawlers. This means that with consistent improvement in all of the above factors, you can improve your ranking on Google and other search engines.

You can influence one of the factors easily by updating your content and writing engaging blog posts – helping your business and your rankings. After all, websites which are updated regularly are also crawled more regularly.

Regular updates help you emerge as an authority. Google loves these authority websites and gives them a higher ranking as a gold star.

Bonus tip: How often should you update your website

This will depend on the type of product/service/platform that you own.

If you have a personal blog featuring your essays/ poetry, or a blog that deals with any of your fascinations or interests – the answer is ‘Whatever works for you’.

Gretchen Rubin (author of best-selling book, The Happiness Project) says that she finds great joy in updating her blog daily. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits posts around 5 times a month, on any date that’s suitable for him. It is entirely your call.

Then there are platforms that write content along:

• • sports

• • fashion

• • tech
  • news

• • business

• • finance

If you’re one of these, update as frequently as possible! These content channels need to be updated multiple times during the day, in fact. The faster you can deliver the hottest news, the more traffic you will drive in.

Next, we have businesses where once you set up the website with product details, there is little else to do. For the sake of your business and rankings, however, you still have to update the website on the regular. With a little bit of creativity in your blog, you can get ahead in this game. Posting three times a week is sufficient here.

For example:

• If you are a business selling chemical-free beauty products, you can write about the harmful effects of chemical-based products, how they aren’t healthy w.r.t each body part, the benefits of organic products as supported by scientific research and traditional teachings.
• If you are a law firm, you can explain laws that affect your core clientele in detail, and how they relate to everyday life. When the government makes amendments to a law, you can shed light on its past and latest version.

However, keep your content as simple and interesting as possible – people will get bored if you explain The Minimum Wages Act using legal jargon. Weave a story and appeal to people’s emotions – so that it grabs their attention.

• e-commerce websites can also maintain their blogs by posting customer reviews, giving information about season discounts and sales, tell customers how to use their products through videos, and writing about industry related topics

In conclusion, regular updates to your website is a great content marketing strategy and one of the best ways to grow your business. The key takeaways:

1. 1. Updating content on your website is great for your audience, your business, and your search engine rankings. 
   2. Your audience benefits from the valuable content that you provide and trusts you more.
   3. This, in turn, benefits your business because people will purchase from you and employ your services more.
   4. Google and other search engines will see how your website is getting traffic and will be impressed by the quality of your content. You will receive a good ranking (maybe even the 1st).
   5. Personal blogs or normal websites can be updated depending on the individual.
   6. Websites dealing with trending topics- fashion, sports, tech, news etc.- should update as many times as possible in a day.
   7. Business blogs are best updated thrice a week.
   8. E-commerce stores can update twice or thrice a week.

Now go and get updating! Tell us if we missed something. Email to us contact@contentninja.in.