As I have said before, just like a business in the real world, successful websites need to constantly evolve. They need ongoing tweaks to get the perfect balance of search engine results and information to attract new customers.

There are several things that should be added, changed, and monitored regularly to get the best out of your website, especially information relating to your products or services. Other things like news, contact information, staff, and even copyright dates should also be updated as frequently as possible.

With so much competition online and in the economy as it is, you can't take the risk that a visitor may see out-of-date information, such as 'news' from 3 years ago or a site copyright of 2010, causing them to think you have closed, and move on to one of your competitors.

Such regular tweaking can result in high ongoing expenses when you have to pay a designer for each change, or a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company thousands of dollars a month to keep you high in the search results.

Of course, if your business changes often, this becomes cost prohibitive very quickly, and so many businesses simply stop updating. The site gets further and further out of date, and they slide down the search results. This can only hurt the business over time, especially with so many people searching online.

Because of the
tools built into our
sites and the support we
offer for free, our clients have
much lower ongoing monthly fees.

A situation we see frequently is where business owners say their initial website cost was reasonable, but now they are paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month to be found or to make changes to their site.

This was why we developed the WebUpdate system back in 2002, so that our clients could bypass the high ongoing costs and update their sites themselves, easily and quickly, from anywhere.

We also built in many features as standard: automated Search Engine Optimization tools, visitor statistics, photo and video galleries, blogs, and bulk email broadcast.

This brings me to the bottom line: 'apples to oranges.'

Apples: Because most other web designers are simply reselling free software, like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc., they can seem like a better deal initially. However, you need to ask about ongoing fees for maintenance, security updates and SEO once the site has been created.

Oranges: Our sites are created custom for each client, with higher security, so in some cases they cost a little more up front. However, because of the tools built into our sites and the support we offer for free, our clients have much lower ongoing monthly fees. This means that our clients can use their sites to their maximum potential without breaking the bank.

If you have concerns with your web presence reaching your widest customer base, now is the time to look into our WebUpdate system sites. Not open source, our sites take advantage of advanced SEO, social, and responsive features to give your business the best competitive edge online.

Terry Young is the founder and CEO of Internet Marketing and Design. Since 1997,
his computer programming and graphic design knowledge have kept his company
at the forefront of the latest technology in web development.