The beginning of the New Year is a great time to examine and update your website!  Keeping your website updated will ensure your current customers that you stay informed of current trends and important updates.  And, more importantly, improve your website’s Search Engine Optimization, page speed and so much more!  Here are a few easy ways to update your website for the new year.

Change Copyright Year In Website Footer

The very first thing you should do is update your copyright year in your footer.  Sometimes this can be overlooked and forgotten because it’s tucked in your footer and out of sight.  Changing your copyright year to the current year shows visitors that your website is up-to-date and safe.  If your website is displaying an old copyright year, users may feel your site is outdated and not trustworthy.  

If you have a WordPress website, you can read How To Change The Copyright Footer On Your WordPress Website, and it will outline the steps to take to change your copyright year.

Update Any Pricing Information

Update any pricing information that may change for the new year.  This is especially important if you are a service provider and have increased your fees/rates.   Or, if you have a shop and have decided for the new year to increase your prices. 

Update Old Blog Posts

Next, it is important to update any old blog posts that you have on your website.  Updating old blog posts is a great way to up your SEO game and increase your website traffic.

First, work through your high-performing blog posts.  Then revisit the blog posts that had the worst performance later and update those.  You can take a look at your Google Analytics to find out which ones you should visit first. And, if you have not yet added Google Analytics to your website, you can read How To Add Google Analytics To Your Website to guide you.

 Here are items you should check for when updating old blog posts.

Keywords

By adding trendy keywords, your SEO will improve.  There may be more trending keywords that will work for your old blog posts than the ones that you have used.

Links

Check for any old links that may need to be updated.  If they are no longer valid, delete them.

Old Images

Update older images with newer, trendy images.  Make sure your old blog posts include a pin-worthy image (1000×1500) for users to share.  Place this pin image near the top of your blog posts.  If you have blog posts that have not been updated in years, then your pin image may not be the correct size.  This can increase your website traffic tremendously. 

Extend The Blog Posts Length

Add more information to extend the length of your blog posts. Maybe years before, your blog posts were not as informative as they should have been.  Edit those and add more information that you may not have included before.

Remove Spammy Comments

Make sure to remove any “spammy” comments.  These can cause a user to see the website as not safe with no security measures in place.  They may be enjoying your blog post only to scroll to the bottom to see 35 spammy comments and all your credibility goes out the window.

Call-To-Actions

Update any call-to-actions that you may have.  Or, if you do not have CTA’s, then add them!  CTA’s are an excellent way to build your email list.  Or, maybe you recently created a digital product.  Add that to your older blog posts to see more sales!

Update Website Design

Lastly, maybe consider updating your website design. Is your current website design functional and up to date?  Is it more than five years old?  Do you feel it’s boring?  

It may be time to take a look at your design to see if you need a more current design.  There are a few reasons why a website design refresh may be something you need to consider. 

1.   If your brand has changed in the last five years, then make sure your design reflects those changes. 

2.   Your website should be mobile-friendly! Eighty percent of internet users visit websites on their mobile devices. Having a website that looks great on mobile can improve your user’s experience.  And an excellent user experience means returning customers. Source:  https://techjury.net)

3.   Updating to a new design can also improve your page load and website speed, which is so important for retaining users on your website.  If your design is old and outdated, it could cause serious issues with your website speed.

4.   If your bounce rate is high, users are not sticking around.  This could mean that your navigation is not user-friendly or the content is outdated.  This may mean it’s time for a new website design! 

Kadence WordPress Themes

If you are considering a new design, then let me introduce you to two of my Kadence WordPress Templates. I offer blog themes as well as premium themes. If you are unsure of which theme you need, check out The Difference Between a Blog Theme and a Premium Theme.

1.   Kadence WordPress themes offer their Kadence Block Builder. This allows you to create stunning, fast-loading pages with ease and no coding required. Tweak your design and edit each screen size from tablet to mobile.

2.   Choose from the 900+ different Google fonts with complete typography control. Change the colors to your own brand style without editing any code.

3.   You are welcome to use the images that come with my demo themes or with a few simple clicks, you can swap out those images for your own.

4. With Kadence’s Library Block Collection, create new pages with ease using premade blocks!

Even if you do not feel you need a new design, please make these easy edits to your website for the new year.  You will be glad you did!

How often do you update your website?  What items do you look at when upgrading for the new year? Let me know in the comments!