“Keep your website updated” is advice everyone hears and almost no one gets specific about. Update how often? Updates to do what? Without real answers, updates slide to the bottom of the to-do list.
Content vs. Maintenance Updates
Content updates are what visitors see: office hours, staff listings, program details, seasonal messaging. Maintenance updates are what visitors never notice unless they fail: software versions, security patches, broken links, form functionality. Both are important.
Content Updates
Some content must change the moment things change. Rates, outage information, and emergency messaging fall here, and delays have real consequences for customers and trust. Beyond that, a monthly pass through the rest of the site catches less critical things: a staff member who left months ago still listed, a program that quietly ended, a phone number that changed. While these are not as urgent, left unattended, they will create problems over time.
Maintenance Updates
Platform updates, security patches, and broken link checks belong on a quarterly schedule at minimum. Waiting for a visible failure means your members find the problem first which is not what you want.
Annual
Take a deeper look. Check page load times, test the mobile experience on an actual phone, and check analytics to see what customers are using the site to do. A gap between what customers do and what the site is designed to do is a problem; it may be time for a redesign.
The Sign You’re Behind
If the only time anyone touches your website is to fix a problem, you’re probably behind the curve. None of the above recommendations require a large team or big budget, just a calendar reminder and someone accountable for it. Stay in front of the curve. Don’t let catching up becomes a project of its own.
Article provided by Donald Moore, President, Moore Tech Solutions, Inc. Moore Tech Solutions provides website design, SEO, and digital marketing services for utilities, including CSA and several member utilities.