Nigel Wilkinson
Managing Director of Daneswood. Nigel has been in sales and marketing since the 1980's and run digital marketing agencies since 2000.
Keeping your website up to date is important for two reasons. One is so users can see the latest information, Christmas Opening Hours in the coming months, for example. Updating with news, events and staff changes encourages users to return, as they know they will get useful content and a good experience.
The other is because Google likes to see new content being added regularly and boosts your search rankings if you keep the site fresh.
This means that when you create your website, ensuring you have a Content Management System (CMS) in place, which you can use to make day-to-day changes, is vital. We heard a horror story recently where a prospective client has a staff member that wanted her name changed on the “Meet the Team” page. With no CMS, the company relied on their developer, who took three months to update her profile! That was three months of an unhappy team member complaining each week!
So, when you are developing a new website, an early question should be, “What will my website be built in? Does it have a CMS, and will I have access?”
WordPress is the most common website platform and has great CMS options. But please don’t assume that your web developer will give you access! Many developers lock web owners out so they don’t “break” the site. You may also find that some of the CMS options are more user-friendly than others.
We use Beaver Builder, which is a Visual Builder, allowing users to drag and drop content blogs or modules, such as text, headlines, images, videos, testimonials, galleries, sliders and loads more. In other WordPress CMS systems, it can be a challenge to change a text header!
Most platforms, such as Shopify, Magento, Craft etc., can all enable you to keep your website up to date and make simple changes, but don’t assume that you will be able to, as default. Always ask your agency what CMS system will be used, what training will be provided and what support you get.
And whilst updating your website is vital, please, please take care. If you’ve chosen your agency wisely, they will have spent time – which means your hard-earned money – mapping out the user journey and making the website look appealing to your target market. Adding in new content in wacky colours and huge fonts may grab attention but might not be in a positive way.
Make Home page changes with caution, and try to focus on updating blogs, case studies, recruitment etc., sections that will add value without negatively impacting the design layout.
If you want to know more about how a CMS system can help you add great content and improve your Google search rankings, please do give us a call.