The following is an excerpt from the book Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online: How Women are Using the Internet to Grow their Business, Reach the Right Customers, and Make a Difference, by Monica S. Flores. Purchase the book online or at Amazon.

Tip 8. Maintain your Site: Update your Pages

As search engines visit your site, they check to see the ‘timestamp’ on your page. When a site is updated on a regular basis (at least every three months for static pages, with more dynamic pages updated weekly or monthly), the search engine assumes that the page is ‘relevant’ and the search directory add those links to the current set of pages. When your content is outdated, the search engine assumes (rightly) that the page is no longer relevant. You may see your page ranking drop at this point.

Some excellent ways to add additional pages to your website include: using blog software, adding RSS feeds, showing event calendar updates, using an image updater to add more timely content to your site, or publicizing alerts.

Blog entries provide “fodder” for search engines: when they are tagged and specific to your field expertise, and when they include a link back to your homepage, you have an instant “linkbait” system that adds value to your visitors and provides additional ways for potential customers to find you. For example, my blog publicizes other women in business, refers visitors to book reviews, and also directs clients to my marketing and web design company. I receive direct feedback and tips from readers, which encourages me to provide even more timely information on the blog, which then brings potential clients to my company. It’s a continuous cycle that benefits both my blog and my company.

RSS feeds export data from any of your other applications and “push the data” to another location. An example of this would be publicizing your latest blog posts in a sidebar of your coporate website. Any other kind of “feed” may also be helpful, such as adding randomizing images from your constantly uploaded stack of online photos, putting an event calendar with upcoming events on your site, providing a “news feed” with press releases from your company, or publicizing your latest newsletters, clients, or resource papers.

When you implement these routines into your standard business practice, you’ll find ways to incorporate timely “messaging” into your regular company procedures. For example, each month you might publish a ‘roundup’ of new events, papers, clients, or industry news, and then you may use this roundup to create an updated blog post and a news page for your website.

A Successful Woman's Handbook: Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online.

Print version through Amazon.com and also available as a downloadable E-book.
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