Is Your Website Working?
For your car to operate effectively, it needs regular maintenance. Not because technology has changed but general wear and tear. Well, your website needs a regular grease and oil change as things change!
I read recently that when consumers went to Google to look for information on plasma TVs and ended up at the manufacturer’s website they had links to TV models that were no longer being produced. How does that make them look?
I even had cause to look at my old club’s website. We sold this business 3 years ago and according to the site, we still own the business! How does this make the business look?
‘Website maintenance’, as defined on the Guerilla Marketing website last month, is the art and science of keeping a website current in both technology and content; assuring proper functionality; confirming accuracy of copy; correcting broken links and images; and performing an overall assessment of the site to make sure it still reflects your company properly.
They went on to suggest some things you should check:
- Any date sensitive content – for example, an announcement of an upcoming event (after the date passes, it should no longer be ‘upcoming’) or a deadline.
- Functional elements of your website – such as contact us forms, e-commerce and databases. You need to check these to make sure they are functioning properly.
- External links (links to other sites) on your site – these often change and Google doesn’t like links that go nowhere. Check each to make sure the site you are linking to is still live and that the link location is still correct.
- Review all of the pages on your site – check all of the links in the navigation bar(s), make sure the structural elements appear correctly on all pages.
- Check for images which are not displaying correctly or the dreaded ‘red x’.
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.