Tips to Improve an Existing Website

Improving an existing website is not an easy task. There are many pitfalls as well as ways to improve a website that many just simply do not consider. Many just push out a new layout and slap a new logo on a site and call it done. However, that is akin to painting a car without taking out any rusty spots. Sooner or later, those old faults will appear once again.

By taking great care, you can do a true improvement on your website, in some cases without dropping the cash or time required to do a full rebuild.

1. Make a presence on your website

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Making a presence on your website is far more than just publishing a new piece of content or product. It is everything from the day-to-day maintenance to going the extra mile to set your site apart. A good place to start is simply keeping a tight leash on spammers and replying to comments. But, to really improve your site and make the community feel welcome, it may take an extra bit of work. What that is really depends on your site’s purpose. For example, if your site publishes articles have more fun topics or interesting content to compliment your site’s main content. It is really up to you to figure out what works best for your site, as every site requires something slightly different.

2. Keep your site clean

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Thanks to the nature of the internet, things always are changing. Because of this, some of your past content may contain broken links, images, or just be incorrect after awhile. Having these broken and misleading articles makes your site look unprofessional which in turn makes readers less likely to return. Every so often, go through the archives in search of these loose threads. It does a great deal to make your website look more professional.

3. Improve content

Another point when it comes to content is not just cleaning old, out-of-date content, but in the creation of new content. By producing content that is of higher quality, more users will be kept who stumble upon your website. If an article you publish is wrought with typos, grammatical errors, and wrong information, no one will take your site seriously. Providing quality content is the best way to keep readers coming back for more.

4. Make intelligent use SEO

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Of course, how do you get the readers in the first place? Making use of search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the easiest ways to have prospective readers find your site. SEO is the use of keywords of phrases in content to rise up search results. However, search engines will kick out sites that push keywords and keyword phrases too heavily in content. Also, readers will not enjoy content that is wrought with keyword phrases, keywords and phrases can really break the flow of an article. Keeping the keyword density of two to three percent will usually keep your site out of the Google spam filter. In layman’s terms, for every hundred words, bring up your keyword two or three times. This will make your site appear higher in search results, give your writers a greater flexibility in writing your content, and content won’t be annoying to read.

5. Avoid unnecessary bandwidth intensive content

Although broadband internet is quickly becoming the standard connection method, using bandwidth intensive content can limit the number of users who can easily use your website. Remember, just because you’re using a powerful computer or internet connection doesn’t mean that your users are on state of the art hardware. Also, account for mobile devices which may have trouble rendering heavy size content or not supported technologies. By limiting the use of these bandwidth and memory intensive practices, you not only reduce the amount of bandwidth you need per page. But, you also make your site useable for many more readers.

6. Be timely

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Treat every piece of content or product as if it has a finite shelf life. This is because every piece of content does have a lifespan before it is rendered useless either by obscurity or the changing world. To allow consumers time to digest content, you may have to plan out content weeks or even months in advance for larger pieces. A good example of this is a large holiday shopping guide. It is useless the week of the holiday because there is no time to digest it and put it into use. Also, it cannot be used months in advance because something could change between publication and when the consumer would use the information. By timing your content properly and planning out major publications, you will gain readers by having timely and good content.

7. Provide a voice for your community

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Many webmasters may shutter at the thought of providing a voice to the community. Yes, they can often be loud and obnoxious. However, for a community to grow, feedback is required. Do not think of yourself as a dictator of your website. Think of yourself as king and the community are your advisers. Sometimes they give good advice, sometimes it isn’t as good. However, that feedback on content you produce and features they want is important to have. It allows you to better focus on what is driving traffic to your site. If you publish an article on a topic that your site doesn’t normally cover, for example, you may find that there was a previously unknown group that enjoys that subject. Which in time could be turned into either a new website or a branch on your current site. All they need is a way to let you know what they think, either via e-mail or even a comments section. Just be sure to have a bit of a thick skin when it comes to this feedback. Sometimes, people are just jerks.

8. Make use of social networks

Finally, I would like to touch on the use of social networking to find a new user base. Branching out into areas, such as Facebook or Stumbleupon, will allow you to find users who would most likely would have never found your site before. Social networks allow users to share the knowledge of your site either actively, by telling their friends directly and linking to a Facebook or Twitter feed, or passively, following someone on a social network has the chance to generate traffic. Providing an official method of following you on these networks is key for growing your user base in today’s internet.

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