Don’t Let Your Learning Centre Get Dusty: Why and How Often to Update
You’ve invested in creating a valuable Learning Centre on your website – fantastic!
But like a garden, it needs tending to stay vibrant and useful.
Updating content isn’t just about pleasing search engines (although it helps!), but importantly, it keeps your Learning Centre serving its true purpose: engaging and informing your buyers.
Why Updating Matters to Your Buyers
- Relevance is Key: Industries change, best practices shift, and technology evolves. Outdated content suggests you’re out of touch with current trends and solutions. Users expect the latest insights.
- Addresses Changing Needs: Your customer base isn’t static. New challenges arise over time. Freshening content ensures you’re addressing evolving pain points and providing solutions people are actively seeking.
- Keeps People Coming Back: A Learning Centre with the same old content becomes stagnant. Regular updates encourage return visits and create a sense that your brand is dynamic and invested in offering value.
Fresh Content, Happier Search Engines (Bonus!)
While user experience should be the primary motivator, it’s worth noting that search engines like Google reward fresh content.
Regular updates:
- Signal Activity: Search engines favour websites with ongoing content updates, indicating active, relevant resources.
- Help Target New Keywords: Updating old content allows you to incorporate new search terms, broadening the reach of your Learning Centre.
How Often is Often Enough? A Practical Guide
There’s no single perfect answer, but these guidelines will help you find the sweet spot:
- Evergreen Content: Foundational blog posts explaining core concepts might need infrequent updates (yearly or upon major industry changes).
- Time-Sensitive Topics: Content on new regulations, trends, or fast-changing technology may need more frequent revisions (quarterly or even monthly).
- News and Company Updates: Have a section dedicated to timely announcements, press releases, or product updates that naturally stay fresh.
- Resource Depth: Is your Learning Centre a few blog posts or a deep library? Larger centres might need more frequent micro-updates to keep things humming.
Tips for Sustainable Updates
- Create an Update Calendar: Set realistic goals for adding new content and revising existing pieces – a content spreadsheet might help, or there’s software out there that can help too.
- Repurpose Content: Turn a popular blog post into a video or pull infographic data from a whitepaper.
- Monitor Analytics: See what content gets the most traffic and engagement. Prioritise updates where they’ll have the most impact.
Let User Feedback Guide You
Include a way for users to suggest topics, rate content, or report issues with outdated information. This direct feedback loop ensures your updates are truly addressing audience needs.
The Takeaway
Your Learning Centre is a living, evolving resource.
Think of updates as an investment in ongoing engagement.
Your audience (and your bottom line) will thank you!