There's no set timetable for how often you should update or add website content.

Certain pages (like a blog) might need frequent updates, while others (like a Contact page) may be more static. However, keeping your website up to date makes good business sense from a digital marketing and user experience perspective.

Sometimes updating content is crucial because you have new information to share.

For example, it's especially important to update an ecommerce website when you have new products, or if there are changes to pricing for your services. Giving potential customers accurate information makes your business and your brand more trustworthy and lets them know they can always visit your website for current business details.

As a busy entrepreneur, you may not have extra time for non-essential website edits or a large-scale revamp of your current website design. In cases like this, website analytics can make an updating strategy more efficient. Analytics can show you which areas of your website aren’t performing as well as you’d like and might need some tweaks. 

Website updates and your overall website content strategy go hand-in-hand. You'll want to make sure any copy refreshes follow your website's search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and continue to incorporate any keywords you've found that make sense for your business.

Analytics can help inform changes to your content strategy as you're doing website updates. Doing a deep dive into your website traffic can give you insights into what's working. You can look for patterns—for example, blogs structured like a list might perform better, or headings that pose a question may generate more traffic—and adjust your writing accordingly. 

On the flipside, analytics can also give you new content directions to explore. For example, maybe visitors are reaching your website by searching for unique keywords you haven't been using. These can then be incorporated into existing copy to boost your website’s visibility in search. Or, if visitors are coming to your website through your social media, you could share more content to your target audience on those channels.

Determining how often you should redesign your website is a much bigger decision. Generally, business owners only do a website redesign at times of major change—like if they're moving locations (or opening a different location), going through a rebrand, launching a new suite of products, or announcing a major new project.

Website redesigns are time consuming and often involve a strategy audit and overhaul as well as branding updates. A redesign will require the help of a developer and/or freelance, meaning it might need to be included in budget planning decisions.