There are a myriad of reasons these websites have fallen on hard times. A company or organization may have shuttered its doors, or downsized and is unable to create new content on a consistent basis.
Plus, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest in website design and technology, especially if your organization can only commit the time and money to upgrade its website every couple of years.
An outdated website with no new content can be devastating for an organization that is trying to grow and outduel competitors to gain new visitors and engage customers.
(Read another one of our blog articles, “5 common web design flaws and how to fix them,” for some insight into some design and usability issues that can affect a site’s performance.)
With all that being said, here are a few ways to ensure that you can strengthen your website and ensure that it remains “today’s news.”
Your visitors don't want yesterday's news. Make sure your website has
up-to-date design and new content. 
Whether it's outdated information in a blog post, obsolete data on your About page, or inaccurate descriptions of your services, old content is damaging to your website and your reputation.
Consumers will assume that you don't care enough to keep your site updated, so they'll bounce from your site to your competitor’s.
Intechnic suggests performing regular content audits to identify expired or irrelevant information on your site. Populate a spreadsheet with data from the website, including page IDs, dates of publication, meta descriptions, and more. Go through each element piece-by-piece to find pages that require updating or removal so you stay relevant.
Online authority is almost like currency in today's marketing landscape. The more you have, the more valuable your business becomes. You can establish authority in a number of ways, but the most effective is to provide relevant, cutting-edge, up-to-date content.
You'll attract inbound links because other companies and individuals find value in what you say, and consumers will view your word as gold when you cite figures or relay complex information.
Failing to update your website can leave your content feeling stale and inconsequential. Your audience will wonder why you're behind the times and question your ability to provide relevant products or services. Plus, inbound links will dry up.
You know that your search engine rankings directly impact your website traffic and ROI. Search engines prioritize content based on relevance. If your page hasn't been updated in two years, the search engine will knock it down behind newer content, leaving your page to disappear from the first few search engine results pages.
While search rankings aren't the only consideration when it comes to online marketing, a page’s rank is a critical factor. Organic traffic is inexpensive to generate and endlessly valuable because consumers are actively searching for the content you dish up.
"Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games" - Babe Ruth.
And yesterday's web design doesn't win today's visitors.
Have you ever visited a website and wondered if it was created in 1997?
Web design trends have changed significantly over the years, incorporating new elements while discarding others. For instance, responsive design has become the standard over the past few years.
If you don't update your web design periodically, users will become frustrated with your site and go elsewhere. New visitors will wonder why you're so far behind the times and question your ability to meet their needs.
You don't want your website to fade into obscurity. Instead, you want to keep it updated and relevant. If you're not sure whether your business's site is outdated, contact us to discuss your specific needs. We would be happy to help.
If you’d like to learn more about a website design process that is structured to consistently upgrade your website and make sure its content and functionality are up-to-date based on user data, download our free growth-driven design eBook.
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