Secrets to a Sustainable Website: Keep it Evergreen
Websites are ecosystems that need continual updates (care) in order to remain relevant (sustainable) and convey the right messaging that supports an evolving brand. Content that consistently informs and educates is more likely to engage current visitors and attract new visitors to your site. Quality, on-brand content also helps inform search engines about your website and will result in higher placement in search engine results.
To keep a website evergreen, organizations should consistently focus on two key areas: content and design.
Content
Most website platforms make it easy to maintain content organized as blog posts or news articles, events, and more. Ensure that your website has fresh and relevant content by regularly updating your pages with new information in the suggested areas below:
Blogs: Curating a blog on your website is one of the most effective ways of organically increasing traffic flow and retention time on your website. Hosting blog posts from guest authors, who in turn promote your content on social media and link back to your site to promote their article, is a great way to grow your blog quickly, especially if you have limited resources to produce your own content.
Events: While events represent a single instance in time, one way to keep your content fresh is by keeping your calendar updated. If that is not possible, only feature upcoming events on your home page as they arise - rather than dedicating an entire page to events when that may not be the core focus of activity for the organization.
Social Media: Many website platforms offer social media plug-ins that can provide a view of your latest posts and videos that may not have made it to your blog or elsewhere on your website. For example, an organization might promote its latest podcast, which is usually hosted on external podcast platforms, on social media. That post, which is now appearing on your website, provides a clickable link to the last podcast.
Link Management: It is critical to periodically check your outbound links on your website to ensure they are still linked to the intended, reputable sites and not producing error messages upon user clicks.
Another reason to focus on adding quality content to your website is not only for search engine ranking purposes, but also because a website is an intangible asset that can add additional value to the business. When managed well, the value of your digital assets can favorably impact the company valuation when an owner decides to position the business for sale.
Design
A good designer must consider not only website aesthetics, but also mobile-friendly layouts, page loading speed, and website accessibility. If a company’s target audience covers multiple countries, a good design will also include language-based views.
Mobile Layout: With more than 50% of users accessing websites on mobile devices, it is essential to have a website that is optimized for mobile viewing. If website analytics indicate a drastic differences between desktop and mobile user on-page retention rates, an evaluation of the mobile layout design may be in order.
Aesthetics: Website design trends are continually evolving, and it's important to ensure that a website's design is modern and up-to-date. Website design should also be on-brand, which includes the consideration of aspects such as typography, layout styles, and color schemes.
Speed: Having a fast and responsive website is critical to the user experience - and slow loading times can result in higher user bounce rates. Most website platforms use a content delivery network to optimize loading speed, but designers should consider the number of plugins (less is more) and the size of and way in which your data (i.e., photos, videos, podcasts, etc.) are stored on your website. For example, videos and podcasts can be hosted on YouTube or Spotify, respectively, and image size can be reduced to improve speed loading time.
Accessibility: Best practices include ensuring a website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, by adhering to accessibility guidelines and making necessary adjustments.
Language Management: If a company’s target market covers multiple countries with different languages, consider offering multiple versions of your website in other languages. Many website platforms offer translation application integrations, but do have a native speaker review the automated translations prior to publishing content should a designer choose that route.
Audit and Improve
The assessment and update of an organization’s website should be a continuous process of reviewing analytics and performing regular maintenance.
Analytics: Leveraging tools like Google Analytics, monitor website performance and make content and design adjustments to improve website metrics such as bounce rate, conversion rate, and user engagement.
Maintenance: Continually check for broken links, perform software updates, and ensure that all website functionality is working correctly. Google Search Console is another tool that will monitor and inform website owners of page failures.
Reach out for a complimentary consultation if your company needs a website audit and customized design strategy tailored to your organization today!
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