If You Build It, They Won’t Come! (Sites must be worked, SEO and updated)

Well, this isn’t exactly how the quote in the movie goes. In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character hears a voice in his Iowa corn fields that says, “If you build it, they will come.” He takes this to mean if he cuts down his corn and builds a baseball field, then people will come from all over the country and pay to watch a baseball game from an era when times were simpler. It’s a great film, but this ain’t baseball and it’s definitely not the movies!

So many people have a “set it and forget it” mentality, especially for their business’s website. Technology moves so fast today. The shelf life of a website is about 3-5 years—maybe even less. So what can be done so your business can thrive through your website?

Set It and Reset It

Have you ever been to a house that was built in the 70s and it still has the same shag carpet and appliances from the day it was built? Sure it’s a cool retro look, but the refrigerator is falling apart and a beanbag chair isn’t the best if you want it to look professional. Your website is the same way. It needs to be updated with the times. Your website is a reflection of your business. If your website is out of style, people will make the same assumptions about your business.

Your website must be updated on a regular basis so that it still functions as it should. Basic web standards are changing as fast as technology. If your source code isn’t up to date, your website may be slow to load, which could drive away users and impact your ranking in the Google search results.

And if your website isn’t mobile friendly, you could be cutting your online traffic in half. More than 50% of all worldwide online traffic is generated though mobile devices. People are spending an average of two hours online on their smartphones per day. This is twice as long as desktop computers.

SEO is Key

What is SEO? We answer this question in another blog here.

The point of SEO is to show that your site has valuable resources and to rank high in search results. Why? Throughout the world, there are hundreds of thousands of websites created every day. Hundreds of blogs are posted and there are millions of Google searches. With so many websites out there, even Google has a hard time sorting out all the data. You have to stand out in a very large crowd.

Make your site easy to read—to Google that is. Google gives priority to updated websites where the content and code are maintained. You can also take the time to optimize “meta tags” which are tags that aren’t seen by site visitors, but are read by search engines. These tags give search engines text descriptions of images.

Target keywords are another key part of good SEO. Information retrieval systems rely on keywords so it can identify, organize and store data. So when you type in a particular keyword, the system can access a database where all the information about this keyword is stored so you can get immediate results. If you want a particular keyword to rank highly, you need to have a lot of content containing this keyword.

Takeaway

A lot of small business owners want to set it and forget it. But you can’t do that with your website. Your website needs to change with the times and web trends. Your website may be the only interaction a customer will have with your business.

If you need help on your website, Tommy House Studios is here to help your business. We specialize in website design. THS also offers services in social media and SEO and we are dedicated to you, the customer, with a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. You can contact us to discuss your specific needs and to receive a free quote. Call us at 877-246-1315 or email us and let us help your business.