We are often advocating to our customers the importance of keeping websites up to date. In a fast moving technology environment changes are constantly occurring.
The Stream Interactive website uses the same Content Management System tool developed for our customers over the past 20 years for its delivery, and we are in the process of integrating a whole lot of internal processes to make us more efficient, including Customer Relationship Management, Intranet, Project Management and much more.
These functions will be developed to run off our own streamSWEET platform. In upgrading our own internal processes and web systems we have embarked upon the same process that we encourage or clients to go through.
Why?
Its vital that the needs of online business systems and its websites are reviewed and update regularly to ensure that business needs are met.
We have updated our site to reflect our focus on bespoke business systems – not just websites, but fully customisable online business systems that can be adapted to any industry using a very broad variety of tools, utilising the power of SQL databases.
Keeping websites and supporting systems up to date, and refreshing content on a regular basis can:
- Keep branding relevant, and up to date,
- Ensure an online presence continues to offer your preferred product or services externally,
- Provides an opportunity to review internal web based business systems, and integrate additional functionality
- Keeps your audience informed,
- Keeps the format responsive for current devices and trends,
- Keeps Google search robots happy – they love new content!
Branding
Over time business branding trends change. Companies striving to get ahead realise that customers want to deal with suppliers that have a professional image in the hope that professional service follows. An initial perception of that brand on a website can be the difference…...
Products or services
Most companies have a core offering, or category of product that is important to them, supported by a number of other ancillary products. Our website is no different, it needs to place the emphasis on the products that are important to your business, both to improve search engine results and to drive traffic to the right areas of your website.
Integrate other systems
In a digital world there are thousands of solutions to a given online problem, a company can often utilise a number of specialist software providers to achieve business needs, however this can create disjointed internal process, with duplicated data across multiple platforms.
This is not always cost effective, and in reviewing our own website design Stream Interactive are building additional web based services that are integrated to include intranet, project management as well as some other new services that we will let you know about later.
Audience informed
If the website navigation is correct for the user, they will find the site easy to use and will be more likely to return, regardless of weather the visit is for a product purchase, internal usage, information, dashboard, or other purpose.
The real trick is to identify clearly what the audience is looking for, and structure the site to suit.
Responsiveness
Regardless of web services provided by a site they are all predominantly targeting people, in different places. There is growing trend for people to access web sites on the go, and devices change in size and shape over time.
A web site service needs to be tailored towards the predominant devices used, whilst maintaining an acceptable level of visual appeal and usability for any alternative devices.
Search robots
Google, as the market leading search engine, uses software to look at at hundreds of technical parameters when providing search responses. A part of the criteria is to rate how old content is, and give fresher content a preference over older content.