Customers that find outdated copy are quickly turned off and are less willing to purchase. Take a look at how you can identify and fix crusty content on your ecommerce site and keep your copywriting up to date.

Your web copy offends me.

Not because it’s crude or vulgar, because it’s old. It’s crusty.

For example, that events page from 2009 is crusty content. And that blog post from June 2010 at the top of your blog feed? Crusty content.

The moral of the story: this old content is turning me off from trusting your ecommerce site. Watch today’s video to find and fix your crusty content.

Happy selling!
-Matt Winn, Online Communications Specialist, Volusion

Here’s the transcript if you’d like to read along:

Hi everybody! My name is Matt and I’m an Online Communications Specialist here at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesday, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice.

Today we’re going to dig into a big pet peeve of mine, and that’s “crusty content.” We’ll discuss what crusty content is, how it’s hurting you, and how to fix it.

First, what is crusty content? Quite honestly, it’s a term I made up – but it refers to old, outdated content on your site or blog. For example, if a customer comes to your site and sees product descriptions, blog posts or content pages from 2010 or 2007, that would be deemed as crusty content. Think of it as the crust at the bottom of the pan that no one wants to eat – why would you serve this to your customers?

Next, how is crusty content hurting you? It’s essentially ruining your credibility. Again, if a customer comes to your site and sees very outdated content, they might wonder, “Is there anybody there?” “Are you still in business?” “Do you even care about your business?” Thus, keeping your content up to date will help you stay ahead of the curve and prove to customers that you’re a reliable source to buy from.

Third, where is your content the crustiest? Most likely your product descriptions are up to date since that’s text that is crucial to the buying process. On the other hand, think about the time you started that blog but quit after six months. Or how about that news page that hasn’t been updated since 2008? These places, including your “About Us” page, are likely ripe with crusty content and serve as a great place to start your find and fix.

So why haven’t you updated your crusty content? There are three likely reasons. First, you might just be lazy (and that’s okay). Two, you may not even know it’s there, so try performing an audit to find the crust. Three, it’s possible that you’re afraid of harmful SEO results on pages that have crusty content. Just remember that search engines love new content, so go ahead and make the update. And if you’re already ranking highly for a page with crusty content, simply keep your keywords and meta data and make appropriate changes.

Finally, how do you make crusty content uncrusty? It’s simple: find it and update it. Get back to that blog; start using your social media tools and revisit your content pages. Whatever it takes, make sure your content is up to date so your customers trust you and are more likely to buy from you.

Hopefully this is helpful and taking the crust off your content (and you start using the phrase). If you have any questions, we’re happy to help.

From me to you, happy selling!