sparkieg
04-17-2008, 12:52 AM
I thought I would share this that I received from my host service. It's actually very good info for those of us that maintain our own websites.
Enjoy.
Don't Just Spring Clean the Garage...
It's spring, and that means that it's time to warm up your webmaster skills and bring new life to your site. It's spring cleaning time, so as you go about cleaning up, keep the following things in mind.
Content -
Your visitors come for the content. If your content is stale, it will not keep people or search engines coming back for more. Go through each page and see if the information has changed, or if there is a more clear way to convey your message. You may also want to think about consolidating or breaking up pages as appropriate so that the information is easy to digest.
Relevance -
You started your site for some reason, make sure that it still makes sense. For example, if you started your site to show the changes you've made to your new house, but over the last year you had to relocate, it's time to update the site to your current new house. It's also a good time to see if your interests have changed and maybe move your site in a new direction.
Users -
Put yourself in your user's shoes. Make a list of the things that you would want from a site such as yours. Make sure that the information is easily available. Make sure that it is easy to find and complete. Quality content will help you to get a better search engine rank as well.
Experience -
Make sure that it is easy to get around your site. Navigate through the site and note any pages that take a lot of clicks to reach or that are hard to find. Look at the colors and layout, make sure that the text is easy to read. It is often a good idea to have a friend look it over. Being less familiar with your site, they will often find problems that you've missed. By making it easy to find information, your visitors will return more often.
Enjoy.
Don't Just Spring Clean the Garage...
It's spring, and that means that it's time to warm up your webmaster skills and bring new life to your site. It's spring cleaning time, so as you go about cleaning up, keep the following things in mind.
Content -
Your visitors come for the content. If your content is stale, it will not keep people or search engines coming back for more. Go through each page and see if the information has changed, or if there is a more clear way to convey your message. You may also want to think about consolidating or breaking up pages as appropriate so that the information is easy to digest.
Relevance -
You started your site for some reason, make sure that it still makes sense. For example, if you started your site to show the changes you've made to your new house, but over the last year you had to relocate, it's time to update the site to your current new house. It's also a good time to see if your interests have changed and maybe move your site in a new direction.
Users -
Put yourself in your user's shoes. Make a list of the things that you would want from a site such as yours. Make sure that the information is easily available. Make sure that it is easy to find and complete. Quality content will help you to get a better search engine rank as well.
Experience -
Make sure that it is easy to get around your site. Navigate through the site and note any pages that take a lot of clicks to reach or that are hard to find. Look at the colors and layout, make sure that the text is easy to read. It is often a good idea to have a friend look it over. Being less familiar with your site, they will often find problems that you've missed. By making it easy to find information, your visitors will return more often.