How to know if your website is out of date? Check out our free tip sheet.

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Key reasons to update your website.
Try some of these SEO tips before hiring an outside firm. It’s amazing how
much you can do yourself to ensure good search results.
1. Site structure afftects search results—You can improve search results,
increase functionality and reduce maintenance costs simply by updating your site’s
structure and technology. Do you still have tables on your site? Try divs instead;
divs make your site easier for search engines to crawl.
2. How fresh is your content? Is the first impression you’re making current and
relevant? Have you considered adding a content-management system, which
would allow you to keep your site timely and feed those search robots’ constant
craving for fresh text?
3. Your website is Flash-based—Search engines see all-Flash sites as a single
file, which limits your keywords, titles and descriptions to just one set, thereby
shooting your search rankings in the foot.
Is your site dated? Are your users confused or are they having an easy and
pleasurable time navigating around?
4. Your website is not optimized for mobile users—Some common issues are:
font size too big, too much content, slow-loading images, hard-to-find contact info.
5. Navigation is confusing to users—Does it take the reader more than three
clicks to find something? Good usability and interface are essential to keep the
viewer on the site—and to make them want to return!
6. Your website has not been updated in the last two years (here are three easy
clues)—It’s probably not browser-compatible with latest versions (have you
checked?). It’s probably too small (1,000 pixels wide is the new standard, not the
800 of two years ago). Your social media links are not integrated: Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, your blog, et cetera.
7. Your site no longer matches your business model—Your website needs to
evolve along with your business. To be used as an effective marketing tool, it has
to be ahead of, or at least current with, your current offering. If your site is behind
what you’re doing now, it is no longer benefiting your business.
For more information about these tips, and to schedule a Magnolias West
website/branding review, please get in touch today!
MagnoliasWest.com
Sue@MagnoliasWest.com 510 698-6245
ONE O F O U R U S E F U L T I P S H E E T S , F R E E F R OM MAGNOLIAS WEST