You need a code update – what does this mean?
If you have had your website for longer than a few years (or if your website developer used old school coding), you might be using an outdated website. This means that, like everything else in the technology world, you have what amounts to the first iPhone created, rather than the new, fancy, updated functionality of the iPhone 4S.
Why should you care?
1. Security
We all hear about computer viruses and how they usually are generated online and then somehow end up downloaded onto your computers desktop or laptop, wreaking havoc and costly repair bills. If you are a business, you are even more of a target for these hackers. You want to protect your customers (even more so if they are buying off your site itself), and your business from these threats. Each time a content management system is updated, much like your operating system on your computer, it almost always comes with an update for security reasons. These include patches where they have found holes or back doors into the system – meaning your website. It is important to keep up on these updates, but sometimes they can be confusing or cause other issues on the website – that is why it is extremely important to have someone maintaining your website and updating the firewalls and security settings on your platforms to keep you and your customers safe.
2. Search Results
If you want to be found, read on.
Online activity has evolved, it has become more social, and more and more websites are being published daily. This means that the little search engines we talk about, like Google, have more and more information to ‘crawl’ and find. If your website is not updated regularly, it can lose search ranking just because nothing on it is considered relevant due to time stamping and refreshing of the content. Having fantastic content is great – but only useful if your target audience can find you.
3. Reduce glitches on your website
As stated earlier, the codes used to write and develop websites are technology driven, so they are not static, but dynamic in nature. As more websites are created and the way we as users engage with those websites changes, there are different things that need to be updated on your website to keep it working at it’s best. In the last few years, great leaps have been made with CSS3 and HTML5 which means that the coding on your website (although unseen by most) can be set out in a more simple manner to alleviate the bugs that earlier coding work arounds might be causing.
Besides that – these new coding versions have made it so that the website can be laid out in new and aesthetically pleasing ways so that you have a site that people enjoy looking at, rather than come away feeling that they need to visit the opthalmologist.
4. Increase Functionality
So maybe you love your website design and maybe you haven’t had any issues with glitches. Maybe you are also super socially savvy and have installed a blog to work around the time stamps (a great idea – good for you!). Does your website allow you to post a podcast? Does it have social buttons (the ones that link to your company profiles on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn – if you don’t have these profiles, click here – we can help)? Do you have the ability to easily embed a YouTube video onto your website? Do you have a blog installed? Do you have the ability to share to social media from your blog? There are lots of new functionality items that can be added to your website now, that were never imagined before.
If you aren’t sure if you need a coding update, call us – we’d love to peek behind your website’s curtain and tell you how the insides are working, or where improvements can be made. Contact us at 775-322-3663 today!
