Times may be tough, but – as they say on Broadway – the show must go on. This show, of course, is the one you put on for potential clients every day when they visit your website.
Whether you’re thriving or hurting during the COVID-19 crisis, you must remember that thousands of people remain furloughed or laid off due to the virus, which means more people are surfing the web than ever before. The chances of someone finding your website have never been greater, so it’s as good a time as any to ensure your website is up to snuff.
How Often Should a Website be Updated?
Joseph Tyburski, the senior web designer at Compulse Integrated Marketing, claims that the “general rule of thumb is [that you want to update your website] every 3-4 years. Since browsers, code, and search engines are ever-changing, this timeframe allows a business to stay relatively modern.”
These ever-changing web developments may seem like useless jargon to some, but make no mistake: ignoring the delicacies that are part of a website’s backend could be hurting your company’s potential. Areas such as SEO are dependent on modern web designs, and search engines (Google, in particular) will penalize you for not keeping up with the times.
If you haven’t redesigned your site since 2016, it would be wise to have a team of professionals take a look at your current situation. “To get the best results, you want to hire people you can trust to do the job,” Tyburski explains. “Unless the business owner has a background in design, development, SEO, copywriting, marketing, etc, it’s better to hire a company to handle all of that.”
What Type of Website do You Need?
Your company’s needs dictate the scale by which your site must operate. For some businesses, a simple blog or small business package (SBP) will suffice, while other companies would be best served purchasing a custom website specifically designed and developed around their goals. Each option has benefits that may or may not matter to you:
- Blogs are simple web platforms made for you to share your voice. If pushing content and making money through pledge-related platforms, like Patreon or Kickstarter, is your goal, a simple blog might be all you need.
- Small business packages are designed off templates with one goal in mind: speed. When you choose to have your website built as an SBP, you’re choosing a cookie-cutter design that is just as functional as a custom site. This is the perfect solution for some companies because it’s an affordable way to win search, look professional, and get up-and-running extremely quickly.
- Custom websites give you the ability to do anything you want on a website. Want to share videos? Easy. Sell content? You got it. Look and feel more original than your competitors? We can do that. Custom designs are just that – customized designs created to fit your needs. Whatever your vision is, a good designer and developer can make it happen. These sites are more expensive than SBPs, but they ensure you’ll get exactly what you want.
What About Domain Transfers?
Even if you love your current site, employing a company like Compulse to manage your domain is smart if you have a site you’re happy with but don’t want to handle the work that comes with it. Tyburski notes how “we normally only manage [a domain] if we buy the domain for them. A domain transfer would be warranted if the client already has a site that’s hosted by us but they purchased the domain themselves and just want us to manage everything for them.”
For more information on the services Compulse Integrated Marketing offers, visit www.compulse.com, or call 844-821-2154.