Episode 114 - 6 Critical Website Maintenance Tasks Banks & Credit Unions Forget After Launch

A website launch is not the finish line. It is the starting point. In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Rebecca Gwaltney break down the most common website maintenance mistakes credit unions and community banks make after launch, and how those small oversights can quietly impact performance, SEO, and conversions over time.

Key Takeaways:

• 1. Your homepage needs ongoing attention, not a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Homepage messaging can quickly become outdated if it is not refreshed regularly. Rotating promotions, updating visuals, and using smart content based on user behavior can significantly improve engagement and conversions

• 2. Outdated content and broken paths hurt both SEO and user experience.  Stale product pages, expired promotions, and broken conversion paths can lead to lost leads and lower search rankings. Regular audits and simple testing processes help ensure your website continues to perform as intended.

• 3. Technical maintenance directly impacts performance and visibility.   Page speed, accessibility, and SEO require ongoing monitoring. Large images, missing updates, and lack of backlinks can slow your site down and reduce discoverability, making consistent maintenance essential for long-term success.

Transcription:

Meredith Olmstead:
Hi, there. I'm Meredith Olmstead, CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions. We are a digital marketing and sales consulting agency. We work exclusively with credit unions and community banks. I am here with Rebecca Gwaltney. Rebecca is one of our inbound marketing ... She's our manager, she's one of our strategists, but she really runs all of our implementation behind the scenes for all of our clients. And Rebecca really knows all the things that we get wrong, really, for clients, and we get right, but that a lot of our clients ... that we're kinda going back and fixing for clients. So say hi, Rebecca.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Hi, everybody. Excited to be here today.

Meredith Olmstead:
So we were talking about some of our recent website maintenance issues that we've been running into with some of our clients, and I was like, "Hey, Rebecca, why don't we hit Record on this?" Because this makes sense, because she's constantly running into some of the things that after we have created great websites for clients, that over time, sometimes we're asked to come back in and maintain those websites for clients. And then we also have clients who come in and we haven't maybe built their website, or their websites have been maintained elsewhere or they were built by somebody else, and we come in to help clean up messes for them. And so she put together a list of what she sees sometimes are some critical website maintenance mistakes that we seem to see over time after a new website launches, or after they've taken over after a client or after a credit union or a bank has taken over a new website and things have gone sideways.

So we're going to talk about six of those website maintenance issues that sometimes we see that can go wrong after a new website launches, so Rebecca, let's go ahead and start. What's the first one that you sometimes see that we often ... Now, these are things that can be easy, hopefully, to avoid, if you have either a good partner that you're working with who helps you avoid these mistakes, or you set up a good process internally to make sure you don't make these mistakes. So what's the first thing?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah, absolutely. So the first one is homepage message drift. So while it can sound confusing, I understand the full effort that not only the client goes through to get a website up and running with all the teams, all the different compliance teams, the imagery, the text, there's so much going on. As soon as you launch the webpage, you take an exhale and you're like, "We are done," but homepage message drift is one of the most common things. It's set up, it's done and forgotten, because it's not technically a product page, so we have some opportunities.

Make sure. You can set a calendar even to help you out. We want some seasonal promotions. So obviously you know when HELOCs are more popular, auto loans, mortgages, but create a rotating schedule that your staff can follow, so there's less of an overwhelmed feeling to keep it fresh, so you know at least quarterly or more often you'll have imagery and messages that are up-to-date.
Repromote your content. For me, this is a big one. So we help a lot with e-books or other content that our clients create. Once you launch a new website or even over time, your branding tends to either add a couple more elements that stand out, or the website could have a complete rebranding. So make sure all your content e-books are also updated, even your email campaigns. So we need to make sure that we repromote e-books and really put that brand through all the different elements.
And the last one that we have talked about before is smart content. So you have your homepage, but make sure you utilize your data and update it, whether they visited other pages based on age, location, if you have many branches throughout the state. There's a lot that you can do to keep it refreshed.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. So the idea is that when you say homepage drift, content drift, is that it just basically stays stagnant. So sometimes you'll see somebody launch a new website, and then six months later you'll go back to that website and, legit, the same exact content will be on the website's homepage. And you're like, "What happened?"

Rebecca Gwaltney:
No, no, no. It's a powerful page.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. You have to update that homepage. The other thing that we did notice, so you were saying that Kristen, one of our strategists, was pulling some results from the smart content, and was saying that we were seeing roughly a 30 to 40% lift in clickthroughs and submissions when you're using smart content. So if somebody had recently been on an auto loan page and then they came to the homepage, and you showed them auto loan content at the beginning of that or at the top of the homepage instead of whatever the default content was, they were like 30 to 40% more likely to click through on that content. So it's a huge win, really, to take the time to set up five or six different pieces of smart rotating content around high-priority products based on behavior, recent behavior of known contacts.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yes. Yeah. And this is great for homepage, but all product pages too. So, "Hey, we already know you have your auto loan. Get your next auto loan with us." Same increase, same bump.

Meredith Olmstead:
Or refinance, something. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So what's the second thing? I know when we're talking about outdated content, it's not just about outdated content on your homepage.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Right, yep, so this is a big one. So it is exactly what you said. It's outdated product and right information. So again, it's the set it and forget it mentality, whether it's promotional banners that are forgotten, disclosures that haven't been updated, all your loan pages. Products change and morph. You can get more in depth on that information. If you're not updating your website regularly with more valuable information for your members or customers, other banks and credit unions will be, and that will make you appear less in the search results. So it's a battle.

Meredith Olmstead:
It's an issue with demand authority, because recency of content is one of the factors that search results, including AI, use to value the quality of content on your website. So you have to be putting new content up on a regular basis, because recency shows that that content is refreshed. It's current, it's recent, and so it's just like the news. So if your last update for your content was two years ago or eighteen months or whatever, even six months, over time, all of those search engines, those bots, those AI-crawling, those language learning models, are going to realize that, "Hey, this is not recent content. Let's go find something better."

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Right, right, and we do have tricks for everybody. So it is one thing to say, "Oh, you have to go do this," but now we actually have some practical ways that we can share with everybody today. So asking your front-line staff what the most frequently asked questions are for the different loan products is huge, and updating them, keeping them fresh. FAQs are a great way to show at the top of search results or an AI learning language models, all that stuff. If you're in HubSpot, you can add rate-driven content within paragraphs or banners.

And then one thing I do see, credit unions and small community banks, they're really, really well known for all of their opportunities where they give back and support the local community. But once that page is set up, it's technically not updated as much as it should be. There could be member testimonials, sponsorship opportunities. It could be really fresh and thorough and just really help differentiate them among other banks and credit unions, so that's an opportunity.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah, putting together a process where you're capturing people's volunteering in a way that makes it front and center. So you're not just walking the walk, but you're talking that talk and really showcasing the impacts, the community impacts, that your institution and your people are having on the wider community around you. It's a huge differentiator for your community institution, absolutely. And that's a great way also to bring that recency of content, the recency of content up. And putting it on product pages, there's no reason why you couldn't do that, so absolutely.
Okay, broken conversion paths, that's another thing. And this is something interesting too, because a lot of this is tricky because if you can set up a good process or you have a good partner, these are a bit easier, but there's a lot of great tools out there that can also help automate some of this and find these broken conversions or these errors on your website. How do we help our clients to find errors like this?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Right. So we do have a product, Atris, technically, that we dive into for some of the back-end items, but this one's tricky too because there are the obvious ones, where there's bots that can scan your site and look for broken links. But at the same time, let's say your staff is in there creating new pages. They can duplicate forms that were meant for an auto loan page, so now the thank you message does not match with the new website that's been created. So now the thank you messages geared towards an auto loan are now showing up on a personal loan page or maybe a business checking account.
So there is some cleanup that needs to happen, and sometimes you can run those systems to help check. But I also think taking the time to go through and double-checking those processes yourself, because the more hands that are in the pot, the more issues that can come up.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. So just secret shopping anything that you're creating, and making sure that you're going through all of your conversion paths when you're creating a new landing page or a new sales conversion path and taking a fresh set of eyes, or even having an intern or somebody else who's even outside of marketing and saying, "Go here, go run a test conversion or a test application and let me know how that goes for you," is a great way to test a conversion path and make sure that it goes well.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah, definitely agreed.

Meredith Olmstead:
All right, a couple more. So that's three of some of the mistakes we see. What else do you see often?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yep, so stale SEO, we know that this is a huge part of new websites with us. So we do all the critical SEO research. We get the pages set up for success. But again, if it's not effective, if more sections aren't added, if it's not updated for long-tail keywords, which are changing, if local SEO isn't added as time goes on, these are areas where, when they lack, it affects their search ranking. And backlinks, unfortunately, this isn't something that we can help clients with, because it really takes, I don't know, a grassroots effort or the local touch, I would say, to build backlinks. Backlinks are very important also for domain authority. The more backlinks you have, the more quality backlinks ... which is a link to your website on other people's websites ... the more you can do that, the more valuable your site is.
So again, some suggestions for people, reaching out to partnerships or sponsors that you work with closely ... maybe you could each share each other a website link. Press or media coverage, any opportunities you have to share on local resources or community forums that are valuable. You don't want to be linked to a poor-quality website, necessarily. That would not help you out, but the more that you can network and develop ways to share your website link back and forth.

Meredith Olmstead:
So those really good, quality community organizations, those chambers of commerce and rotary clubs and ways you're actually really getting out there and networking within your local communities and doing really high-quality business development. Promoting local community events, which, I mean, most credit unions and community banks are already doing, but actually getting out there and saying, "Hey, out there on the digital space, can you list us on your website? Can we put our logo on your website? Can we give you a little bit of sponsorship?" Maybe you throw in an extra 500 or $1,000 to help them with their website promotion of the event that's coming up. Anything like that to help digitally promote the event as well as promoting it in person is a great way to help with your asset, with your website asset and your website placement online.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Right, right. One more thing too, Meredith. I know when I was with my past credit union for 13 years, as all community banks and credit unions, you always have these relationships with organizations serving the underserved in your community. So even if it's not your website link, if it's free calculators, free templates, free budgeting information, free e-books, those are other links that can also work.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah, because they come to your URL. So even if it's not coming to your homepage and just promoting you as a business, it's still promoting some piece of content or something else that you're sharing. Absolutely.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Definitely.

Meredith Olmstead:
So blogs, any kind of backlink to any part of your website, would be useful. So a last couple of things that we also want to make sure, these are more like housekeeping things for a website that can be very, very detrimental to the speed of your website, to how it loads, and to just some of the issues around compliance. So first thing, accessibility and compliance spot checks, and this again is key. You can come up with the types of tools and the checks, and just really figuring out a way where, maybe on a quarterly basis, you're doing some process or working with a partner that helps you make sure that your ADA compliance and your other kinds of accessibility are still working well with your website. How have you seen that work best for our clients?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Our clients typically either do a full year, so like a yearly review with certain other companies or organizations. People have done quarterly checks as well. Once those are done, we are a hands-on to be able to help correct some of the issues if they come across them. And it's funny because what happens at launch, again, is not what they see at month three, six, nine, or twelve. So while we do our best and we are ADA compliant at launch, again, different things change over time and more hands are in the pot and things need to be edited, updated, and monitored. So definitely part of the routine maintenance.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah, and there's always human error. So I know one of the things, the last thing we talked about is page speed loading. And as you're adding more and more to your website, it gets slower and slower in terms of how fast it loads, which can then negatively impact your domain authority over time. A lot of that can have to do with the size of images that are being loaded onto your website. So when we build websites, we typically always include the maximum size and the ideal size that works best for each of the places where you can put an image on your website. That helps with human error, so that when you go in as a staffer at a credit union or a bank and they want to replace an image, it will show you that the ideal size for the image would be 250x475 or something-like-that pixels, and it would be no larger than, and it would tell you the file size.

But there's no one there telling that person individually, making sure that they actually only upload the exact right size and the exact right pixel image, so that they could make a mistake and upload something that's much larger. There are, again, ways. Some good content management systems will compress for you. They might give you an error if something is too large. But again, you want to make sure that you're running checks, speed checks on pages on a quarterly basis and looking for these low, like these lagging pages, so that you can go in and maybe pull down and compress or make some of those images, those files smaller, and so you can fix some of those load times.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah. No, I totally agree. And HubSpot, we're lucky. We can organize files, organize the image section by size, so we can see what the top 20 largest images are so we can make edits and update those. Again, it's the more people in your department. So let's say somebody uploads a large image for an email, it's not on a website page, but then somebody else uses that image for a blog header or a landing page, so things can morph. And whether it's a big size for something, "Oh, it's not going to affect my website," now it really is, down the road. So just things to keep aware of.

Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Rebecca. These are great tips. Hopefully this has helped some of you out there when you're thinking about maintaining your website for search and for everything else out there, once you get a new website launched. If you're interested in learning more about digital marketing or sales for your credit union or community bank, please visit us at figrow.com. We have lots of other great podcasts, blogs, case studies, so we would love for you to come over and follow us. So otherwise, let's just all get out there and make it happen.