What is the Real Lifecycle of a Website?

Does your website have a “final” version?

It shouldn’t.

A website is like a garden: there’s always something to work on. The real lifecycle of a website requires periodic and dedicated pruning, weeding, and cultivating to make it work best. Simple practices like linking relevant articles, updating online catalogs and updating content can help not only your SEO ranking, but show users that you have a dedication to your business and your customers.

Changes shouldn’t be made at random, however. Instead, take the time and follow the simple lifecycle for a website to ensure success.

1. Analysis – Visit your site like you’re a first-time viewer. What are you there for? Can you easily find the information you need? Does your site load quickly? How does it look? With these questions in mind, decide what updates and improvements you need to make. Create a map of what the website will look like, a list of what needs to be done and steps showing how to get it done.
2. Content Design and Creation – Prepare your updates. News articles need writing, pictures need taking and pages need designing. If needed, there are professional content developers like VistaComm who can write relevant, industry-specific content for your site.
3. Implementation – Post your content online, making sure all the pieces fit and support each other. Get your developer or content management system to test all your links, pages and options. Make sure your site loads quickly and your changes look great on all devices. Ensure that there are no issues for visitors to your site.
4. Optimization –Where do you appear on search results? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking is an ongoing process, with regular changes to requirements and strategies needed to stay relevant. Is any of your content out of date? Do you have new services or products to offer? Websites should be frequently updated to keep them interesting and fresh.

The lifecycle above is just a rough framework and you’ll find yourself jumping around from step to step throughout the process until your site is ready to launch.

But the launch of a website is not the end—it’s just the end of the beginning. Once your website is up and running, the process starts all over again. Where are people going, where are they not going? What needs to be massaged along, what is doing great on its own? All these questions and more should be asked as often as possible to keep your website healthy and growing.

Originally Published Here: What is the Real Lifecycle of a Website?