The Real Cost of not Updating your Website

So you have a website, job done right? Wrong.

Sorry to break it to you but a website is never really done...

Your website is a part of an ever-moving, ever-changing engine that requires care, maintenance, attention and upgrading in order to stay relevant, found and secure.

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What do we mean by "updating"?

By updates we mean updating your content, continually improving the user experience, and ensuring that your website is always accurately reflecting your business. If there are changes in your services, your team, your location, your industry - update your website!

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Why should you update your website regularly?

• Maintain a competitive edge
• Stay relevant
• Increase visibility
• Protect your reputation
• Website security
• Customer sense of security

While regular website maintenance seems like an extra expense, what business owners fail to realise is the real cost of neglecting the upkeep of a website.

Website visitors expect fresh content and a modern design which will only reflect poorly on a business if their website is outdated or neglected. By investing in regular website maintenance, businesses will create an overall better experience for their customers, as well as ensure their website is always secure and up-to-date.

A website is a reflection of you and your business so if this is not taken care of, then potential customers will get the sense that you won't care about them enough either (which isn't true!)

This is especially important for e-commerce businesses where you can face significant losses in website traffic, search engine rankings and customer trust if your website is performing poorly, loading slowly, or if you have incorrect quantities of stock and insecure transactions.

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Ultimately, not updating your website could cost you time, money and potential customers.

A large part of the reason we have websites in the first place is so that people can find us and learn about us and our business while they decide if they want to work with/ buy from us or not. If they have a poor user experience where things don't load, the last blog post was from 3 years ago, it is word-heavy with small hard-to-read fonts in a dated style - chances of them choosing us over our competitors are low...

If we do all this work to have a website and direct people to it - make sure you're directing them somewhere nice and inviting! Despite what you're putting out on social media or within your networking communities - people who are considering working with you - will Google you! Make sure you're proud of what they'll find.

Furthermore, if your website does not feature fresh content, search engine rankings will drop and you will forfeit potential views from organic searches from your target audience. Taking all these costs together, it's clear that failing to update your website regularly results in a much higher financial cost than what is initially apparent.

Like anything in the modern digital world, website security can rapidly become outdated. Keeping a website updated regularly is one of the essential ways to protect it from malicious threats. Unfortunately, not updating websites puts them at risk of hackers stealing website data and customer information, as well as making them vulnerable to viruses and malware.

These risks increase exponentially without regular website updates, potentially leading to website malfunctions or complete shutdowns in the most severe of circumstances. Website owners must remain diligent in their website maintenance and consistently update information to ensure their website is safe from attack.

Overall the real and hidden costs of not updating your website is in how people respond to your website. Keeping in mind that your website is a reflection of you and your business, you want to have the best version out there possible!

In this fast-paced digital world - don't let your website be left behind!

If you're looking to get up to speed on the latest trends, technologies and strategies for success online, talk to us about your website today.

We'll help make sure you have the most successful site possible!

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