It’s one thing to have a website that’s not as functional and visually appealing as a competitor’s, but it’s quite another to have a website that is just plain inaccurate (you can’t “set it and forget it”). Simple but important updates can be easily overlooked, and there’s no time like now to review your site to ensure essential details are correct.
Important Website Information to Review
Essential Contact Information
- Have you added or closed a location or has your business moved to a new address? Has a phone or fax number changed?
- Are your email address links up to date and are contact form notifications directed to the right people? If not, prospective customers are being ignored.
Staff Profiles
- Does your website reflect staff attrition and employee turnover? This one can be particularly embarrassing if key new hires have not been added or former employees are still displayed (especially in the event of loss of life or if an employee termination was messy).
- If your website includes team member bios, are they current? Be sure details like years of service, education & certification, and professional accomplishments are up to date.
Times and Dates
- Have hours of operation changed? This can be very frustrating to customers who show up to a “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign and can mean loss of business from customers who think you’re closed when you’re not.
- Do you have old event calendars listed? Take ’em down.
- Is your website’s copyright line up to date? This is an easy one to miss. Often located in the footer (page bottom), a current copyright line is an easy way to help demonstrate that you’re paying attention to your website.
Prices and Sales
- If you publish product and service prices on your website, be sure they are what you plan to charge. This can be easy to forget if your business doesn’t accept online sales. One good example is an online restaurant menu.
- Price promotions and sales are great, but make sure they are wiped from the face of your website when they’re done (including images, PDFs, printable coupons, etc.). Be sure expiration dates are provided in a clear manner.
Social Media
Social media cleanup warrants an entirely separate post, but as it pertains to your website:
- Use the most current icons, or badges, as links to your social media properties (Tip: Twitter is a bird profile now, not a lowercase “t”).
- Make sure basic contact information and brand identity elements are accurate on your social media channels.
Tips for Staying on Top of Website Content
- Set a monthly reminder on your calendar. In addition to checking the essential website content, use it as an opportunity to test your website’s contact form, run a site backup and update plugins if your site is WordPress based.
- If you don’t need one more thing to do, assign this important detail to someone on your team who has the bandwidth and acumen to tackle it. Or consider delegating your website to an external third party; you will find it to be a worthy investment.
