Maintenance Plan, what’s that?
Without a regular mainteance plan, your website can become an albatross around your neck. Just like an expensive car, a website needs regular care and maintenance to continue to operate efficienlty, particularly if a group of individuals share responsibility for updating content.
Not worried about the content going stale? Well there are certain things out of your hands, such as programming, security updates and links that are perishable. Add to that--although you may take a vacation in July, web hackers won't. So, keeping your website properly maintained will encourage more of the people you want to visit and return and less of those that you don't. The following 15 Website Tune Up items are meant to be a starting point. The actual size and type of the website you manage, may require more maintenance. Need help getting this done? nxtConcepts is ready 24 x 7 and it would just take a call, email, or text to get started.
1-Review Domain Name Record
Outdated information could cause you to miss renewal notices. Verify that the contact names and addresses on your domain record are correct.
2-Update References to Time
“About Us” and other information about your organization on your site may contain specific time references such as "in business for 5 years". Make sure that it is up to date.
3-Update Copyrights
Update your copyright whenever you update your site’s content. Although you can simply use the date when the content was first created, it's better to identify both when it was created and when it was modified. This not only better protects your work, but also lets visitors know that your content is up to date. Here's an example:
Content created in 2002 and updated in 2003 and 2004: Copyright (c) 2002-2004 nxtConcepts, Ltd.
To find out more about copyrights, visit www.copyright.gov and www.whatiscopyright.org.
4-Review Compliance with Web and Mobile Standards for Accessibility and Browser Compatibility
Many sites fail to follow standards for accessibility and browser compatibility which can result in a poor user experience for visitors with vision problems or web browsers other than Internet Explorer-including mobile sites. Adherence to these standards will ensure that your site is user-friendly and displays properly in different browsers.
5-Evaluate Competition
Review competitor’s sites to track design and content changes. Keep a record of their sites by taking screen shots of primary pages. Is your website design and functionality keeping up?
6-Check Privacy Policy Compliance
Privacy continues to be a hot issue. Make sure your site’s privacy policy meets all applicable standards. For good general guidelines on privacy policies, visit www.consumerwebwatch.org .
7-Take a Comprehensive Site Inventory
Large stores keep track of their inventory – you should do the same with your site if it’s more than a couple of pages. An inventory allows you to manage your site effectively and serves as a starting point for redesigns. Keep a list of all current or planned pages on your site as a spreadsheet. Recommended items to track for each page are:
-Page Names (Home, “About us,” etc.)
-Filename and/or URL
-Originating Format (Word, Photoshop, etc.)
-Special Features (Flash, JavaScript, etc.)
-Responsible person (who creates or maintains page copy)
-Update Frequency (how often copy should be updated)
-Creation date (if available)
-Date of last update
8-Check Confirmation and Automated Messages
If you send automated messages from your registration, request, order, and other forms, check the content to ensure that it matches your current branding and marketing messages. These messages can be powerful sales and retention tools.
9-Check Site Search and Site Map pages
Ensure that your site search is working properly. Enter a few search terms that you are confident are included on pages within your site to confirm that the site search returns those pages in the results.
10-Check Listed E-mail Addresses
If your company has had any organizational changes recently, you could have invalid e-mail addresses on your site. Keep a list of all the e-mail addresses on your site and confirm that they're still active.
11-Review Visitor Statistics and 404 Errors
There’s an old saying, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” One of the benefits of the Internet is the ability to gather detailed data about your site, such as the number of visitors, where they came from, and what pages they visit. Interpreting this information will help you to identify ways to make your site better. Tracking 404 and other error codes will alert you to broken pages or features on your site.
12-Test Forms
If a “Contact us” or other forms are integral parts of your site, it’s critical that the forms work and be easy to use. Complete any forms on your site as if you were a visitor on your site and confirm that you receive the output in the expected way (via e-mail, as a file on your web server, etc.). Be sure to review your error messages too.
13-Check Search Engine Visibility
Search engines can be one of the most cost-effective sources for attracting visitors to your site. Rankings will change due to changes in the search engine ranking formulas and changes made by your competition to their sites.
Track your site's visibility on Google, MSN, and Yahoo by searching for your company name, products, and other relevant words and phrases.
14-Check for Broken Links
Broken links on your site, whether internal or external, look unprofessional and could cost you business.
15-Update Your Content, Even Just a Little
Search engines love regularly updated sites, giving them a few more “points” for ranking purposes. Visitors like fresh sites also.
For more information about website maintenance or a custom assessment, call 888-215-0820 or send us a note.
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