Updating a website is often perceived as an expensive and complicated process with unclear returns of investments. However, with the right approach, marketing becomes a long-term investment rather than an expense.
With extensive experience in website revamps, here are insights on how to update your website efficiently, even on a limited budget.
Why Updating Your Website Matters
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) overlook website updates, leading to outdated information and missed opportunities.
A static website can make a business appear smaller or less credible than it actually is.
A modern, well-maintained website should actively support sales and customer acquisition through dynamic elements such as customer reviews, case studies, and interactive tools like chatbots.
10 Common Mistakes in Website Updates
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is treating their website as a static brochure rather than a business tool.
Simply launching a site and expecting customers to find it organically is not enough. Instead, websites should communicate a company’s value, mission, and competitive edge while engaging visitors effectively.
- Ignoring Website Performance – A slow or unoptimized website can drive visitors away and hurt search rankings.
- Lack of Clear Navigation – If users can’t find what they need quickly, they will leave and look elsewhere.
- Failing to Update Content – Outdated information, broken links, and old blog posts make a website look neglected.
- Overloading with Features – Too many animations, pop-ups, or complex layouts can confuse users and slow down performance. Less is more!
- Not Optimizing for Mobile – With most traffic coming from mobile devices, a non-responsive website can lose potential customers.
- Ignoring SEO Best Practices – Without a proper SEO strategy, even the best-looking website may not attract visitors in search engines.
- Skipping Security Updates – Failing to keep the website secure can lead to data breaches and trust issues.
- Not Showcasing Social Proof – Customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies build trust and credibility.
- Neglecting Conversion Optimization – A website should guide visitors toward a clear goal, whether it’s making a purchase, filling out a form, or contacting the business.
- Redesigning Without User Feedback – Making changes without considering user experience and behavior can lead to wasted efforts.
Five Cost-Effective Ways to Update Your Website
Here are five key areas for improving a website without breaking the bank:
- Showcase customer testimonials
- Make the website structure clearer
- Optimize website speed
- Build a brand
- Update key landing pages
1. Showcase Customer Testimonials
Customer feedback is one of the most powerful trust-building elements on a website.
Displaying testimonials, reviews, and success stories can significantly influence purchasing decisions.
In other words, add social proof in all forms across your own website. Use review widgets on landing pages, create a dedicated references landing page, and a whole section for case stories.
The typical customer journey leads to a purchase if the brand has been able to convince the site visitors with relatable website content.
Adding social proof to relevant pages is a proven strategy to increase conversions.
- More sales with social proof
- 40.000 € increase in sales pipeline
- 38,5% increase in conversion in purchase path
Tips to Incorporate Customer Voices:
- Make collecting feedback a continuous process.
- Keep testimonial sections and logos up to date.
- Regularly publish case studies.
- Utilize review automation tools like Trustmary.
Not sure if this accurately reflects current trends?
Have a look at expert interviews we did on how they read reviews before buying:
2. Make the Website Structure Clearer
A cluttered website can confuse visitors and hinder conversions. That translates to a poor user experience.
Simplifying navigation and structuring content logically helps users find relevant information quickly.
It’ll increase the likeliness that visitors interact with your site, which will result in you ranking higher on search engines thanks to all the nice user retention metrics.
Ways to Make Website Structure Clearer
- Clearly communicate what your company offers and for whom. (=Define your ideal customer profile and target audience first!)
- Use keyword research to help name menu items
- Ensure relevant pages are easily accessible (for humans and search engines)
- Create a user friendly menu
Word of caution: When you’re making changes to your website structure, navigation, and menu, remember to include all stakeholders in the conversation early on.
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is that they’re already in the technical execution part when a relevant stakeholder questions the whole restructure.
This becomes very expensive very fast.
Include your search engine optimization specialist early on in the process. They might even need to take the lead on the project.
3. Optimize Website Speed
Website speed impacts user experience and search engine rankings. Slow-loading pages can lead to lost customers and lower engagement rates.
Who would enjoy browsing a slow website? No one, that’s who.
Easy ways to boost website speed:
- Use free tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify issues in loading speed.
- Ensure plugins are up to date and not slowing down the site.
- Compress images and remove unnecessary multimedia elements.
- Fix broken links
4. Build a Brand
Generic messaging and visual elements fail to make a lasting impression.
Refine your brand messaging and visual identity to stand out. Most importantly, it should reflect your current brand identity.
Potential clients should be able to
Steps to Strengthen Brand Individuality
- Ensure branding is consistent across the website pages
- Use high-quality, unique images instead of stock photos
- Highlight what sets your business apart with clear messaging and compelling visuals
- Create evergreen content that remains relevant over time, spend time and energy to make these align with your brand
5. Update Key Landing Pages
If a full website overhaul isn’t feasible, focusing on high-traffic pages can yield significant results.
The homepage, service pages, and contact pages should always be up to date and reflect your current brand identity – and include as much customer voice as possible.
Prioritize these essential pages:
- Homepage
- Key service/product pages
- Testimonials and case studies
- Contact page
- Pricing page (if applicable)
- All pages with high organic traffic
Check the Following Details for Key Landing Pages
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Fix broken links (internal and external!)
- Target keywords are used in headings and in copy
- Ensure the pages load quickly
- Make sure users can find the page in a logical place
SEO Point of View for Website Content Updates
Every company wants to be found on search engine results pages for relevant keywords.
If you already have a website but need an update process or are planning to revamp your site, here are a few concrete things where to start.
- Conduct keyword research (use keyword tools, or use data from your customer meeting recordings)
- Create a content strategy for target keywords
- Create high quality content that targets specific themes
- Set a content updating process for the most valuable content
- Link existing content to new content, and vice versa
- Make sure your customer voice is visible everywhere
Tools for Tracking Web Pages’ Performance
Here are some of the tools I’ve used to track how website content performs in search engines.
- Google search console
- Google Analytics (user engagement metrics)
- Semrush / Ahrefs
- User experience: Hotjar
- On-page surveys for self-attribution
- User testing and target audience interviews
These won’t necessarily lead you to do better SEO, but they’re a way to track performance, especially how it changes after you update website.
Questions to Answer Before You Update Website
If your website already has organic traffic, make sure you’re answering these questions before making any changes.
- What is the goal for your website content?
- Have you done an extensive keyword research?
- Have you done a competitor analysis?
- How are you performing in search engines for the most relevant keywords?
- Have you done a content audit for your existing content?
- How much of the existing content are you planning to keep?
- Are you planning to remove outdated content?
- Are you planning to update the site’s visuals?
- Are there any backlinks for your current media files?
- What are your user engagement metrics currently like?
The worst-case scenario in website updates is that you worsen your search visibility.
Website Updates Can Be Affordable and Impactful
Website improvements don’t have to be expensive to be effective. By making strategic updates, businesses can enhance their digital presence and drive growth without overspending.
The key is to align website updates with business goals and continuously measure their impact.
Yeah, that sounded like a bunch of fluff. Let’s try again.
When you have a clear goal for your website, and how you plan to update website content, you’ll be able to create a sustainable website and content strategy that helps you sell more.
The easiest way to update your website? Add a review widget featuring all your customer testimonials and reviews.
This can be done in less than ten minutes, and completely without coding.
Erica Ylimaki
Erica Ylimäki is a Growth Marketer at Trustmary. She is an expert in how to grow the organic traffic of a business with effective SEO strategies, and how to utilize reviews on different CMS and platforms.