Introduction

One of the frustrating things about having an easy to update website is that you have to update it! We all have frantic work schedules and although often you have all the tools at your disposal many sites fail to do even the most elementary of updates.

We thought that being the start of an exciting new year we could help you by identifying the 6 main areas that you need to cover off to ensure that your company website continues to present your business in a current light.
As always this is not about creating more work for your already overflowing diary so if you need help or would like us to execute any of the items mentioned please contact our sales team at sales@onlinenow.com.au.

Housekeeping areas

1. Review
2. Date change
3. Contact details
4. SEO tags and meta information
5. Content - About us
6. Promotions

1. Review

There are so many tools available to you today to asses your websites performance and it is critical that you stop (every now and then) and deduce this data. By utilising the built in system analytics, Adwords and Google Analytics you can start to ask yourself questions like;

• Where is my traffic coming from?
• When are they coming?
• What are they looking at?
• What aren’t they looking at?
• Where are my enquiries coming from?

Understanding your current website usage patterns will allow you to identify what is working and build on it. It is also the 1st step to your ‘Housekeeping’ so if you are having difficulty interpreting the data please contact us for help.

2. Date changes

Updating your site to present the current date sounds a bit like Website Management 101 but it is amazing how many sites copyright notice and other date related content is still celebrating the millennium!

Updating this for Online Now customers is easy! Firstly use your search feature to look for any previous dates throughout your site, this will return a list that you can filter through identifying the content that needs to be updated in the CMS.

To update your © notice go to the ‘Content’ tab and select ‘Manage Copyright Notice’. Then type the HTML symbol of ©

 
This will update your copyright notice that is located in the footer throughout your entire website.

3. Contact details

The start of the year is the perfect time look at your contact details to make sure that they are up to date and correct.  This applies not only to the ‘contact us’ page but also to forms, PDF’s, eNewsletters and website sections. They are all important communication tools for your prospects and incorrect details could cost you a sale!

As the market picks up again and staff start to jump around to ‘pre GFC’ levels it’s a good time to look at your data base accuracy. The Online Now Email Campaign Manager allows you to track failed sends. Do what we do here and call this ‘Failed’ list to see why this email (that once worked) is now failing. More often than not you will find that the employee has moved on, you can now update your records and begin your relationship with the new employee.

4. SEO tags and Meta information

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an incredibly important tool for promoting your website and constantly optimizing your SEO tags and meta information will ensure that you achieve better rankings.

It’s important that if you are not paying a professional to manage your SEO campaign for you that you have an effective program yourself, this would include regular revisions. Learn more about SEO here.

5. Content, Design and Layout

Content is the lifeblood of a website and having up to date relevant copy that still reflects your business is vital. The first step is read your site. Sounds simple? When was the last time you read the ‘about us’ page on your site. This is the first stop for the majority of your visitors and having it communicate a valid overview of your business is vital.
If you own an eCommerce site be sure to look through your catalogue/s and update new pricing, product codes, reference numbers, uses and stockists. Out of date commercial information cannot only damage your reputation but also your bank balance.

One of the negative effects of being able to update your own copy is that the site can slowly start to lose its shine.  Regular updates usually lead to little design errors and over time this can make your site look messy, it’s a good idea to have a designer ‘Spring clean’ your site from time to time.

6. Promotions

We have all seen out of date promotions on a site, “This Christmas” when it is February! Go through your site and make sure that all the promotions are current. You can even set your promotions to turn on and off so that this problem never occurs.

Another good idea is to create a promotional program that you can carry through all of your marketing initiatives. Look at the year and create 6 core promotions that can be communicated through your website, eNewsletter and by your sales team. This way you can date all activities and ensure that your core messages are significant.

7. Conclusion

As websites continue to play a more and more important role in companies communication strategies it’s vital that you keep it constant. This presents some serious time pressures on most businesses but failing to keep on top of it will in turn present a dated image to your prospects. Follow some of the hints in this blog to get you started and if you have any difficulties please don’t hesitate to contact us.