End of the year maintenance

It's the end of the year, and do you know where your web site is? Is some of your content outdated, or worse, not showing up at all? Making an annual assessment of your site is a great idea, and here are a few suggestions on what to look for.

1. Is your "About Us" page updated?
Have you been in business for 8 years for the last 3 years? Check on how current this page is. Update any time sensitive items and any services you may or may no longer provide.

2. Are your contact forms working properly?
Make sure that when a customer wants to contact you, messages get to the correct person. Be sure that a form, whose recipient may not always be obvious, is sending messages to your current sales person and not the one who left six months ago.

3. If you have other email addresses or contact information on your web site, are they correct?
Review all your published contact information. Nothing can turn a potential customer away faster than not being able to contact you.

4. Do all your links work -- both within your site and especially those that link off site?
When you're linking to content that you don't control, it's critical to review those links regularly to make sure they're still valid. Check all links, even the ones within your site, to make sure that your customers are getting to the correct place. There is a free online tool to check them here.

5. Check your WHOIS record.
This record is used by your registrar to contact you in case your domain (web site address) is about to expire, or for other important notices. Check yours at Network Solutions.

6. Do an overall review of your web site.
Check photos and see if they're still current and representative of your business. Are any graphics dated? Should you update any content? Do your pages load fast enough or are they slow?

This sort of review should be done yearly at a minimum. Some items can be checked quickly, and others may take some time, depending on the scale of your site. But in the long run, the advantages of a well-maintained website make it worth your time and effort.