Website Redesigns and Updates

One of the most important things to think about when redesigning your website is redesign website without losing SEO.  There are many important factors to consider when upgrading your website or doing a complete site migration.

If you use a website development company without a track record of doing successful migrations, you could have a new website that looks great, but has lost a lot of its SEO value during the transition.

Website Redesign

At SEO Design Chicago we specialize in website redesign and website update services. Businesses will often need an old website updated to a new platform or need plugins or changes to specific pages. SEO Design Chicago can upgrade an existing website from Joomla, Drupl, HTML, or other interfaces to WordPress, Shopify, Magento or any platform you wish. We can help keep your content fresh on any platform, and give the website the upgrades you need.

Website Maintenance Services

Maintaining a website requires updating plugins for security vulnerabilities and to keep the website running as efficiently as possible. Website updates are important for when consumers are looking for you. Keeping the content fresh is key. Adding a new website update and a website redesign are the way to do it.

Website Updates

The longer it’s been since you last updated your website, the more you need to get someone working on that task immediately. You may not even realize how important website updates are. We are going to talk review that and more. You can make sure that your website is in the best possible shape, and it is getting you the best possible attention at the same time.

Be honest…

What does your website look like right now?
How long since you last updated it?
Has it been more than a week?
More than a month? More than a year?

Why You Need to Update

The number one reason you need website maintenance service is to update so people know you are still in business. When your website goes a long time without updates people start to wonder if the company is even still in business. How often has that happened when you’re scrolling around online? You go to a website because you’re looking for something in particular and you see that the last blog post was published three years ago. Or you see that the content on the home page references an event from six months ago as ‘coming soon.’ It makes you wonder if you’re really in the right place.

You want people to know that you are very much still around and that you’re still available to provide the same services that you were providing when you first started out. You also want to make sure that you’re telling them about anything new that you’re doing. After all, you definitely don’t want someone to get to your website and contact you about a service that you stopped offering several months ago or to see a price that you aren’t still honoring. Those things are going to make you appear very unprofessional and they’re going to lose you a customer.

Keeping your website updated means that you’re going to be offering only the most up-to-date information about outside events as well. For example, if you run a blog on your website that offers tech news or medical news you want to make sure you’re reporting the latest information. If the information available on your website is outdated and is actually false because of new information that’s been found or new research that’s been done it can damage your credibility and you’re not going to get the business you’re looking for.

Another important aspect of website upgrades is to keep your website running properly. Things like plugins can affect the way that your website operates and if you end up with security breaches it can affect the people who want to work with you. When any of these things start slowing your website down they can result in you going offline entirely. Or, even if you stay online, they could discourage people from visiting your website. Keeping things updated and upgraded means that you’re going to have fewer of these problems.

You also show up higher on search engine results if you’re updating your content frequently. Google and other search engines look at frequent updates as a sign that you’re offering better quality content and that you’re a source that people should be looking to for more information. That means you can get a few extra points and a bit of a boost in your rankings if you make sure you’re updating regularly, especially if you’re updating actual content and blog posts rather than just updating some plugins and other behind-the-scenes features.

48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business. (Blue Corona)

What You Need to Update

Are you ready to update but you’re not quite sure what you should be updating? Well then, you’re in the right place because we know what you need to be updating and how important it is to create the type of information that people can count on. Just make sure that you’re looking at each of these areas and not skipping around. If you have all of these things on your website, you should have all of them updated as frequently as possible (and definitely as soon as new information comes out.

Statistics & Research

Make sure these are updated as often as new research is done. You don’t want to have outdated statistics or be quoting research that has been disproved. Update your content to reflect the latest information that’s out there, including the statistics from the most recent year and research that shows the best of the best when it comes to things like medical and technology especially. These are areas that are changing the most rapidly and outdated information can be a problem for anyone who’s conducting research and finds your website.

Contact Information

If you move or if your phone number or email address changes you need to change it on your website immediately. Preferably remove the old information before it’s technically cut off and then update the new information immediately after it’s live. You should always have at least one or two ways for your clients and customers to reach you. That means if you’re changing over your phones and need to remove the phone number for a period of time you should at least have an email address and/or chat function for people to reach out to you.

Blog Posts

If you have a blog on your website it’s important that you update it routinely. You want to make sure that you people can look at your blog and see what it is that’s going on most recently. They should also be able to see when you last posted. Most blogs include a date by default, but you should add this in there if it’s not included for any reason. This shows people that you’re constantly updating and it lets them know that they can expect new information again in a few days.

Events/Promotions

If there are any kind of events or promotions listed on your website make sure that they are updated so that they reflect the latest things that your company is doing. If you’re listing an outdated promotion you may have to honor it just to keep your customers happy. The better way to take care of this problem, however, is to make sure that you remove any reference to events and promotions as soon as they’re over (unless it’s to tell people about the event that just happened).

Pricing/Services

Update your pricing and your services anytime you decide to change these things. You want to make sure that anywhere you have pricing listed on your own website or on any profiles outside of your website that you control, it’s accurate. You don’t want to have to honor a price that’s old and doesn’t reflect the new talents and abilities that you have. You also don’t want to advertise a service that you stopped offering. It’s going to draw in additional people, but those people aren’t going to want to work with you when they feel like you’re falsely advertising to them.

External Links

If you link out to other websites from your website you want to frequently check out the links. You want to be sure that you’re still linking to the sites and the articles that you think you are. You need to make sure that the articles are still there and that the links are still accurate. If any of the links are broken you’ll want to remove them immediately. Linking to bad sites or to things that aren’t even there can actually hurt your Google ranking and it can also cause problems for your customers at the same time.

Plugins and Security

This is the area that you definitely need to upgrade frequently that’s entirely outside of your own personal needs. This is about keeping the website itself running properly and keeping your customers and clients safe when they’re using your site. You want to make sure that you have the most up-to-date security software going on and the most up-to-date versions of all your plugins (which could also be a security concern). If you’re upgrading these things as soon as new versions come out or you’re at least looking for new versions every few months you’re going to be off to the best start.

When you work with a professional you can simply fill them in on any changes that need to be made and they can work on the updates for you. Hiring a professional also ensures that the copy on your website is written in a way that’s going to appeal to your target audience. After all, you’re hiring someone who takes care of things like content creation, copywriting and SEO for their living. They definitely have some experience and expertise that they can put to work on your website and with your services.

On top of all of this it can actually cost you less money to hire someone to do the job for you. It may seem like you’re putting out a lot of money upfront, because you have to pay for the services of the people who are doing the work, but you’re not going to have to do it yourself, which saves you time. You’re also going to get the services of a team that’s skilled in content and copywriting as well as SEO, so you’re getting optimization and more all at the same time. All of this is going to make it cheaper for you because you don’t have to try to do the work yourself and not get it done quite as well.

Website Formats

So, what format is your website designed in? Are you currently using a standard website platform that allows you to drag and drop content or to add text boxes and type everything in? If you are then great. You’ve got one of the simpler designs of websites to work on and you’re definitely going to have an easier time of getting all those updates and upgrades done. But you may not have all of the benefits of a fully coded site.

Some of the sites you might be using with more drag and drop features could include WordPress, Shopify and Magento. These will allow you to create a custom look, but without the need to learn a whole lot of specialized programming languages and more. They’re designed to make things easy on your customers and easy on you at the same time, which is great if you want to  get started right away and you’re not interested in getting too customized (these websites do have basic templates, after all). You’ll be able to get a great look with any of these, however.

When it comes to working with a professional team these are the types of website upgrades that are usually simple to do. That means you can sometimes get a little lower rate because you’re working with a simple software. On the other hand, if you’re looking to use a service that requires constant update through coding you’re going to have a much more detailed and intricate process. You’re going to have a whole lot more involved that you need to pay attention to and that can definitely mean hiring someone with even more skill.

Joomla, Drupl, HTML and more are some of the coding services that you might want to use when it comes to your website. If you are using any of these you need someone who has additional skills to work on any changes. That’s because they need to understand the coding languages and they definitely need to know what it’s going to take to replace content that’s already there. Of course, that’s going to be the easy part. If anything new needs to be added, that’s going to be the more complex part when it comes to coding. Luckily, there are teams out there that can get the job done for you, no matter how extensive or complex it is.

When it comes down to it, you want to make sure that you’re performing routine website upgrades and updates. You want to make sure that you have some great features available on your site and that people know they can come to you for absolutely anything. You want them to know that you are still there and that everything they see on your site is up-to-date. It’s a long process, but it’s definitely something that you’re going to see the benefit of in no time.

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