Low Quality Websites Don’t Produce Revenues

Low quality, static websites don’t product revenues.  I’ve seen it and said it time and time again, yet for some reason business owners don’t want to believe it.  Trust me, it isn’t a way for marketers to just make money.  If we were after that, there’s plenty of easier ways out there.  When it comes to your website, you need to have a quality website that is updated regularly if you want it to produce revenue for you.
Just last week I was talking with a new SEO client about their website and blog.  They have a WordPress site, which means they have a blog built right into their website, but they have the blog “disabled” because they don’t see the value of adding content to their website.  So their website sits as a standard 5 page website with thin content.  Ranking a website like this is challenging even for the best SEO guru out there, and even once it is ranked, it isn’t going to convert well.
I was speaking at a conference with business owners and I asked a few of them what they look for when they shop online for a new product or service.  They look for a easy to use, quality website, they look for quality content on that website, and most of them said they look for a blog to see the last time it was updated.  If any of these three qualities is missing or lacking, they usually won’t do business with that company.  I follow the same process as well — and the blog is the first place I look.  If the blog hasn’t been updated in the last few weeks, I leave that website, no exceptions.  I want to do business with a company who appears to care about their business, and in 2012 a lot of people look to the blog to find businesses with owners and employees who are fully invested in the business.
Aside from working well for conversions, blogging and quality websites are a prerequisite for ranking well in search engines.  After the 2011 Panda update, websites need to have quality content that is up to date in order to rank in search engines.  No matter how many times I explain this, people still ignore the fact that it truly is a requirement for ranking well.  Yes, we can get you ranked without it, but you’re going to end up spending more money and wait much longer to get ranked.
I’m not sure why people think it’s enough to throw up a website, pay a small one time fee, and let it sit like a pile of old, dusty books.  If you want your website to look fresh, inviting, and produce money for you, it needs to be updated regularly — the content, images, layout, and blog.  I usually go through our website once per year and make major changes to reflect changes in our field and to freshen up the site, but I always post at least two to three times a month, and often times two to three times per week, to our blog.
I’ve learned from experience over the years that high quality, updated websites make far more money, and I hope that you as a business owner will come to accept that as well.