1 (Big) Step to Legitimize Your Small Business on the Web

When was the last time anything on your home page changed? As you probably already know, your home page is the most important page of your site.

Your homepage is the first impression that your clients get of you and your business. Changing it frequently tells your visitors that you are an active company. It will tell them the value that you give to your site and how you see your business.

Keep in mind that your website may be the most frequently viewed image of your business.

In this first article, we introduce you to the concept of web updates. In future entries, we will give you some questions to discover content for your website, what search engines think of web updates (they like them!), ways to regularly update your site, and the importance of having a social site.

Recently, I spoke with our president Brent Kobayashi about the concept of ‘updating a web site’. At Kobayashi Online, we encourage our clients to update their homepages frequently.

I asked Brent to define the expression ‘web updates’ for this blog post.

“Web updates are news and information as it relates to the company, and the industry the company is in. The content a small business should create to update their website does not need to be extensive, but it should be relevant to their target audiences.”

Brent believes that updating a website is very important, especially for a small business. According to him, it helps re-enforce the legitimacy of the company.

“One of the main battles for any small business is legitimacy.  Current dynamic content on a website home page is possibly the most effective way to show that a business is actively engaged as a business.”

How Often You Should Update

“Once per month is good. However, once per week is great” Brent says. “Once per week shouts to the world that your business is responsive, current, and has its processes in good order”.

At the same time, updating requires planning and maintenance because, as he says, “the only downside to regular updates is the need to keep it up”. To help with this, Brent recommends creating a marketing calendar and a few months’ worth of updates.

“If you are struggling to create content, consider hiring or outsourcing a marketing/communications coordinator.”

And of course, feel free to contact us at our Toronto office if you would like help updating your homepage.