How many times have you refreshed the graphics or content of your website? Might be twice or once or not even a single time. What is the purpose of your website? More often than not the answers to this question would be to sell products, to increase subscriptions, to generate leads or to make more money. All these answers are correct to an extent. But they are the result of what happens when the website does what it is supposed to do.
The basic purpose of the website is to connect with the people it is supposed to serve. There are approximately 125 million websites in the world competing for the attention of Internet users. If ones website doesnt connect with its targeted users, there will certainly be other websites that will connect. And at the end the website that connects will be the one which will succeed over others.
Many businesses are still hosting first generation sites that went up at the turn of the millennium. Likewise, majority of these sites are obsolete and old fashioned as per today standards. Internet savvy businesses will refresh the content of their websites on a regular basis. Outdated websites ought to have a very bad impression on its visitors. And if its a first time visitor, its likely that he might not return again to the site.
It takes a little dated information for visitors to conclude that they have hit a dead end. If one has sent an urgent invitation to a big deal client to attend an upcoming seminar and the client clicks on the invitation only to find that the event came and went a year ago, he is bound to feel annoyed and foolish. One has to ensure that such things do not happen at all because they will do a lot of damage. If something of this sort has happened it should be taken as a wakeup call. Thats because its the 21st century and the website can look like its 1999 year in the running.
One of the most important things to be taken care off is the frequency with which the site should be updated or changed. Consulting services may update sites quarterly or even annually. Ecommerce sites or research companies may require updates by the hour.
Inter-studios is of the opinion that whatever might be the needs, one can always find an appropriate and affordable off the shelf software and third party service providers to do the job. Putting a fresh skin on the old site without disrupting any functionality can also be a wise option.
It has also suggested few more ideas that can modernize a website without excessive costs like reducing the number of site pages. Focus has to be on redesigning the core 10 to 15 pages. The remaining popular or highly trafficked pages can be archived into Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word documents that are suitable for download.
Facelifting a website also requires capturing data basics, such as which sites and search engines visitors are clicking from or which pages get most visitors. This can be done with the help of pre-packaged software or a web services provider as it helps to capture detailed information about site visitors. Setting up an E-Mail program is another way to modernize a website. One can create an incentive for visitors to register or to provide their email addresses. Once the emails are in place, the website can start sending useful mailers. But it needs to be ensured that explicit permission has been taken from the recipient.
Creating an online reward for prized customers also helps. The best customers should be treated with perks or discounts. Another method to facelift a website is the speed with which it loads. Fancy graphics and animations can be obstacles in the path of getting to information. One has to make sure that the visitors can easily find what they are looking for. It is also very important to ensure visibility on search engines. Else the not so Web-savvy users might not be able to find the essential information they came looking for.
All of these ideas can help in updating the online presence of a website. But the most important thing is not to get lazy. Attention has to be paid whenever there is a shift in direction or a significant growth in business. All marketing and messaging must be seamless, consistent, uniform, multimedia and multi-channel.
ABOUT US Inter-studios is a leading multimedia and e-commerce solutions provider and is joint effort of the Inter Company Studios Inc, Planet Web Site Company SA and Systems Audit partners. Systems developed by Inter Studios go beyond simple websites and webpages. It develops everything related to web design, e-commerce, virtual catalogs, macromedia flash, web design in flash, internet advertising campaigns, e-books and also designs multimedia presentations.
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