ATILUS - Web Design | Internet Marketing

Does your website need its diaper changed?

Just like you mow your lawn, cut your hair, and change the oil in your car, your website needs maintenance work done too. You wouldn’t let your child sit for weeks around in its own waste, would you? So why let your website sit with old design, outdated content, and lacking all of the modern amenities that make the web so attractive and popular?

A website should be fresh for many reasons. Fresh, regularly updated content will naturally optimize your web site for search engines and, furthermore, it engages new browsers and keeps old browsers interested and returning.

These are the steps to change your websites dirty diaper:

Change the diaper: A good way to clean up your site is to begin reading your site page by page and removing any and all content that no longer applies, or is no longer relevant or current. Just by simply removing unnecessary content you will give your site a surprisingly new look. But don’t stop there, now you need to replace that content with current content that will inspire sales, provoke thought, gain interest, or whatever it is that you are striving to achieve.

Shower the Site: Take a look at your site. Do you like it? Does it make you want to stick around and read more, transact business, etc? If you aren’t happy on your site how can you expect anyone else to be? Perhaps it is time for a site redesign. Is your site easy to navigate through? Do your current color schemes and designs convey professionalism, credibility and are they reflective of your goals? Are your images loading properly? Once you’ve addressed some of these questions, among many others, have a professional take a look at your site to see if there are any other issues or concerns to be seriously considered that you might have overlooked or not even realized.

Dress your Site: Now that the site has fresh content for your browsers viewing pleasure, is navigational, and aesthetically pleasing start thinking about new features you could possibly integrate to enhance the experience for your browsers. Do you have something to say? Start a blog. Do you want your members to be able to communicate? Perhaps its time to start your own “community” with some web 2.0 social networking capabilities. On a much simpler scale, are you able to get into the back end of your site and make content changes or do you need to pay a professional to do it? Perhaps it is time to integrate a Content Management System, so that your site can be easily manipulated by you at any time without supervision or payment to a professional.

Now is the time to take a long hard look at your site and decide for yourself, does your website need a diaper change?

If you have any questions or comments, I love to hear from our readers and will promptly respond.

I’m not you, you know?

All too often in business, and in every aspect of life for that matter, we forget that people are not in our own heads. Sometimes in conversation you start a sentence in your head and finish the same sentence out aloud confusing your surrounding audience. The same has and continues to happen with the content contained within web sites.

When creating content for your website, you are writing it for other people to read. May sound simple, but that concept is often forgotten when content is created. We are not in your head, we don’t have the knowledge you have, we haven’t experienced what you’ve experienced, and it is dangerous to assume we have.

The level at which you need to convey your message may depend on your target audience. For instance, if you are motorcycle parts wholesaler to motorcycle dealerships, then it would be okay to use field specific jargon. But only if you feel it is safe to assume that they will meet you at that intellectual level.

However, if you are a local lawn care provider with a website for the purpose of gaining local residential business, it would be dangerous to assume your browsers will understand you when you say things like ‘Turf managers are increasingly using humic acid products and biostimulants as supplements to their fertility and integrated pest management programs.’

Huh? Exactly. I won’t be referencing this particular site for obvious reasons.

And I rest my case.

If you have any questions or comments, I love to hear from our readers and will promptly respond.