In today’s digital age, every business requires a good website to reflect its offering. However, it’s entirely up to you and your requirements for how passive or active a tool it becomes.

One of the common misconceptions we hear when speaking to new clients is the idea that keeping a website up to date is a barrier, and therefore, it’s better to stick with your old site rather than invest in a new one.

While it’s true that an active website can deliver much more return on investment than a passive one, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still invest in a new site, regardless of how much time you have or don’t have for content. After all, a modern, well-designed website will still create a much better impression of your business than a tired, out-of-date one.

Below we take a look at how passive and active websites can deliver great benefits for your business.

Passive Websites

A passive website is a great way to showcase your business offering, be present online, and stand your ground in the competitive landscape.

If you know that you won’t maintain or update your new website regularly, it’s important to address this upfront. A good web designer or agency will be able to factor this into the design and develop creative ways to ensure the new site stays fresh and delivers for your business, even if you don’t touch it for a long time.

An important part of creating a passive website is ensuring the content you create upfront is solid, descriptive, relevant and informative, summing up your business and offering and how you differentiate from your competitors. Investing in this at the beginning will reduce the need for you to revisit it at a later date.

Another important thing to note is that, while you might not plan on using your website as a tool to generate new leads or enquiries, it still represents your business online and is quite often the first contact point a new customer has with you. A poorly considered site has the potential to put off new customers or make them question your legitimacy. Therefore, it’s still essential that you invest time and money to ensure that your website accurately and positively represents your business.

Active Websites

An active website is created with content in mind; they’re designed to be constantly updated with new and exciting content to help guide users through the purchasing journey, funnelling them towards conversion. Active sites can be a hub for both new and existing customers; they work to pull or push potential clients through the sales funnel, with the ultimate goal being to generate new or repeat business.

An active website can also be an important part of a broader marketing strategy and can be integral to other key marketing activities such as search marketing, paid advertising, social media and email marketing, amongst others.

If you plan on using your website as an active marketing tool, we recommend making this clear during the initial stages of the build. A good web designer or agency can help make this process easier and more efficient by customising the site’s admin area to suit your needs. They can also incorporate creative elements such as a modular builder, which will give your team greater freedom and flexibility to quickly pull together new pages, updates or creative landing pages.

Whether you’re looking for a passive or active website or are still not sure, our team would be happy to discuss any ideas you may have about your new website.