When you run a website, especially an e-commerce site where you want people to spend money, you need some degree of continuity on the site. You want to keep things the same as much as possible. The longer that you are in business on the site, the more loyal customers you will attract, and the more they will come back again and again. If you have a site that is selling ladies clothing, and you suddenly change and your product line books, you will confuse your customers, and also the ladies who have been buying clothing will mostly not buy from you anymore.
That said, you also need some changes to keep the site fresh and interesting! I know, I know… this seems to be in conflict with the previous paragraph, but in my experience, it is very true.
Think about this. If you went to a site a year ago and just looked at their goods, or even bought something, and then you went back again today and it was EXACTLY the same, how would you feel? Well, if it were me, I might wonder if the site was still in business. If you drive up to a store, you can look with your eyes and see if the doors are open, if there are customers inside, or if the lights are on in the store. On a website, you can’t be 100% certain that they are even still in business unless you see that the site is dynamic, that it changes and gets updated, etc. For example, if you go to the site on December 17 and it has a Christmas theme to the site, that would indicate that things are being updated and kept current. Somebody is keeping the site running. If you went there on January 19 and found a Christmas theme, you would probably wonder if the owner of the site is even still alive. If it were me, I probably would find another site to purchase from.
Because of this, I like to keep my sites fresh and keep them changing in subtle ways. I change the theme of my sites to fit in with current holidays. I change the colors of the site to a certain degree with the seasons. I keep new products coming on the site to show that new activity is ongoing on the site. This gives my customers confidence that I am open for business, the lights are on, and there are probably some other customers roaming the aisles in my virtual stores.
See what I mean? Don’t make massive or drastic changes suddenly, but make subtle changes that show activity. I know that whenever I make an update to the look on the site, I see a little bump in business on the site. It’s a smart way to do business!
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