7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help You Update Your Website

Virtual Assistant, Websites0 comments

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Why Updating Your Website is Crucial for Online Success, it’s essential to keep your website updated if  you want to drive more traffic to your site and rank highly in the search engines.  An out of date website looks unprofessional and can stop visitors from contacting you as they may think that you are no longer in business.

So here are 7 ways that a virtual assistant can help you to keep your website updated on WordPress.

Add latest news about your business. If you have a “latest news” section on your site, then a virtual assistant can keep this updated for you with any current offers or news about your business.   There’s nothing worse than seeing latest news on a website that’s over 6 months old!

Update web pages. If you make changes to your services or hire a new team member, then you’ll want to update your website as soon as possible.  Your web designer may be too busy to do such a small task straightaway, so this is where a VA can really help.  They can make quick changes to web pages or design new ones with text, images and links.

Format images. The images on your website should be of the highest quality and have “alt tags” on them for people who have images switched off by default.  A VA can do this for you and ensure that the alt tags are SEO friendly and the images link through to the appropriate pages on your website; this all helps with search engine ranking.

Check for broken links. Broken links can make your website  look very unprofessional.   A VA can check that all the links are working on your website – either manually or using a plugin that checks for broken links automatically.

Add social media links. If you are using social media to promote your business then you’ll want your website visitors to be able to connect with you.  A VA can add social media icons to your website that link through to your profiles, such as  Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.

Update copyright. A lot of people forget about this, but it’s a good idea to have a copyright date on your website and ensure that it’s current.  If it’s out of date, then your visitors may wonder if you’re still in business.  A VA can set this up so that the date automatically changes each year.

Add and update plugins. One of the great benefits of using WordPress for your website is the additional functionality that you can add with plugins.  A virtual assistant can suggest the plugins that you need for your website, such as social sharing, backup and caching –  and ensure they are updated as necessary.
 

Why updating your website is crucial for online success

Online marketing, Small business, Websites3 comments

A website can be a great way to communicate your products or services to your target market but it takes considerable planning and development to make your website truly effective.  However, the job doesn’t end with getting your site up and running; there’s the ongoing task of keeping it updated and maintained.

We all know about the necessities of regular maintenance.  This could be taking your car for an annual service, going to the gym every day or visiting the dentist for a check up!  Well the same thing goes for your website.  You might have spent a lot of money and effort creating it, but you’ll get no return on your investment unless you also spend time maintaining it.

Here are five reasons why maintaining your website is essential

• Adding fresh material regularly to your site will encourage visitors to keep coming back to see what’s new. This could be content such as blogs, latest news about your business or any upcoming events. Spending the time and resources to regularly update your site will help drive traffic to it and get it noticed by the search engines.

• Your website isn’t a printed brochure. Like all your marketing activities, it must evolve to meet the demands and needs of your target market.  This could involve adding functions such as a sign up form for your newsletter, video advertising, podcasts etc.  By using these different ways of communicating to your visitors, you help build a rapport with them which will encourage them to find out more about your products or services.

• Your website is only successful if people can find it on the search engines! Some search engines will not index your site unless your pages contain appropriate meta tags, well-structured content or error-free HTML code. This all requires ongoing supervision to ensure that your site remains visible on the listings.

• You should always keep an eye on your site to make sure that it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.  My website got hacked into a few months ago and instead of visitors seeing my lovely web pages, they got a black page with a message denouncing America! So keep a regular check on your site to ensure that all your files, folders and images are still intact, and your links are working properly.

• Regularly review the site statistics, ie how many people have visited the site, what pages they’ve viewed, and how long they’ve stayed. You can use tools such as Google Analytics to check what’s working and what’s not.  You can then make any necessary changes to improve traffic and visitor retention. Anyone who relies on their site for business purposes should monitor it daily or at least weekly.

If you’ve only got a small site for your business then maintenance should only take a few hours a month. However, this time is invaluable if you are going to use the site to sell your products and services. The success of any marketing activity relies on the amount of attention and resources that you put into it. A regularly updated website means you get the maximum return on your online investment.