Should You Add a “What’s New” page to your website?
After visiting a number of sites, you may notice some web pages have a “What’s New” section. These sections are becoming increasingly popular because they’re an easy way to keep your website design fresh and informative. This keeps visitors interested in returning to see what is the latest new thing on your site.
It has been shown through traffic statistics that pages highlighting the newest content see increased traffic. Likely, it is due to returning visitors, but it’s an increase nonetheless.
Often, links to new site content are not enough. They need to be highlighted and clearly marked. You want to create an incentive to as large a percentage of visitors as possible to return. And, visitors love seeing “new” things.
Remember, just because traffic increases to your site, it doesn’t necessarily mean the number of unique visitors has increased. But, return visitors have their value, too! Marketing research has shown buying customers need at least 4 exposures to your content before they buy. So, the more incentives you offer visitors to view your content, the more likely you are to make a sale (or get an ad click, or make a referral, etc.)
What’s New for You?
How do you know if a “what’s new” section is for you? Consider the following “qualifications” for a good candidate for a “what’s new” section.
• Your content is regularly updated, changed, or altered in some way
• Your site has a very large number of unique pages
If your website only has a home page, perhaps a guestbook or feedback form, and a few small sub-pages, then a “what’s new” page is probably more trouble than it’s worth. It won’t offer any real incentive for your visitors to return.
What if you have a website with many pages or pages that are constantly updated? Well, a “what’s new” section should work well. You can announce these changes so visitors can head directly to the “newest” stuff you have. They avoid having to search through the site, or worse, giving up before finding your new content.
In the case of very large sites, you use a “what’s new” section to highlight popular sub-pages on your site. If anything, this offers a much easier navigation tool for your site. Simply change the name “what’s new” to something more practical, like “Popular Pages” or “Featured Pages”.
What to include.
In the “what’s new” section, you can write whatever you want. The important thing is to be sure whatever you say displays the latest updates, additions, features, or information offered by your site. You can count on visitors using the “what’s new” section as an aid for finding the most attractive content. So, include everything, but make it simple to use and view. For most visitors, they see it as just a quick way to “get there”.
Remeber the visitor.
Keep in mind, the purpose of a “what’s new” section is to make navigating your website easier for the visitors. Often, a visitor simply won’t use search if they don’t see what they want on a specific page (especially the home page). This is especially true for new visitors since they may assume you don’t have anything which interests them. Therefore, use “what’s new” as a tool to keep visitors satisfied and viewing your content.
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