#1. Website Graveyard Syndrome…3 Ways to Revive Your Website

Once upon a time, either you, or someone you hired, built a website for your business. And for so many business owners, that was the last time they took a look at that website. Often, businesses have sites that meet an early grave. Just dead on the net, never to be revived again. Some business owners feel like they did all they needed to do by getting a website up. If someone asks, “Do you have a website?”, you can boldly answer, “Yes,” and give them your site. But having a website and benefiting from having a website are two different things. While updates keep your site interesting and current, they also help you look better to search engines and attract more visitors. Ultimately bringing you more business.

Here are three ways you can bring your site back to life.

1. Make sure your site is current and can compete with other websites today, especially your competitors. Is your site antiquated and stone cold? If a prospective client finds you online, would they want to do business with your company by the look of your site? If your site is out of date and hasn’t been touched in years, how does that speak to your business services or products? How does that speak to you as a business overall?Going online to check out a business is the absolute FIRST thing people are doing these days. And whether you we want to admit it or not, this is your first impression, and you (or your business) will be judged by the condition of your website. If people don’t like what they see, they will immediately leave, taking their judgement about you or your company with them.Something to consider:Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. Many things can contribute to your site’s bounce rate, but I guarantee you that an ugly, outdated site contributes to an increased bounce rate percentage.

1. Tell people what your business is up to. What events do you have coming up? What are some of your business’ wins and successes? Any other news on your business that may be of interest?Any and all of these things can be included by posting to your blog. Consumers want to know that your business is active and making moves. If something great happens for the business, that shows success. So share it! If you have upcoming events that you want consumers to know about, tell them. This communicates that you’re active and making moves. Document events that are relevant and of interest and showcase them on the site after they’ve past.Something to consider:If visitors do make it to your blog, and see that the last post was over a year ago, what message does that send? If you, personally can’t commit to the action of updating your users, get some help to handle it for you.

1. Learn to use your website so you have the power to quickly update and add content. Or, have someone on your team that can handle this for you. Many times business owners stall addressing their websites because their are high administrative costs with maintaining one. So get educated. If you have a web platform that doesn’t allow you to affect change, quickly, you should consider another content management system (CMS). My #1 CMS choice is WordPress, but there are others if this is not your preference. If you, the business owner, are able to upload new blog entries, update key areas of your site and keep things fresh, you’re way ahead of the game. If you don’t want to be bothered, I get it. Just make sure someone in your organization can do it. Don’t spend thousands of dollars on a website you have no hope and a prayer of updating. I’m not telling you to become a web programmer, but at the very least, you need to know how to log in and do the basics.

In conclusion, don’t leave your site cold, in it’s grave. Take your website into your hands and revive it back to life. Your website is your business card. So make sure it is updated with the right information…and then some.