Running Your Small Business & Web Site Maintenance Text Size:

After you have your company Web site up and running you will need to maintain it. Whether you take the time to regularly update and maintain your site yourself or seek the services of a professional Web development company to do it for you, always remember that maintenance is a vital part of being successful on the Internet.

You want to make sure that your homepage is up-to-date and provides your visitors with the information that they need so you don't lose any potential customers. An outdated Web site will get few if any visitors because it will be ranked so low, if at all, on search engines that potential customers may never know it exists.

A successful Web site requires ongoing maintenance so it can attract additional potential customers, expand your customer base, and generate revenue for your business. Think of your company Web site as a work in progress that is never completely finished.

Your company site will continue to grow. Not only will you need to continually add new content but you will also need to update old content. Try to avoid using any "under construction" text on your site.

Some of the items that you will need to maintain and update are:

• Text revisions
• Addition of new and deletion of old graphics
• Navigational changes
• Page design changes
• Addition of new pages and deletion of old pages
• Links to new pages from existing pages
• Checking for any broken links
• Contact information updates
• Updates to shipping charges and delivery estimates if you sell products online

Establish a Maintenance Plan

Establish a maintenance plan for keeping your site current. Some things that you may want to include in the plan are:

• Establish a routine for updating the site
• Procedure for submitting information for the site
• Automated current date insertion when a page on your site is updated so users know how current the information is
• Establish a site review process
• Set a time limit for responding to site inquiries
• Include site backup schedule and procedures
• If more than one person has access to the server, establish version control procedures so that the most current version of the site the one that is updated

Keep Visitors Coming Back

Remember that the main goal of maintaining your company Web site is to keep your current customers coming back and to attract new customers. Keep track of your visitors' activity on your Web site with Web site traffic analysis and statistics, which are offered by Web hosting companies. You can use these to improve the features and pages that are visited the most.

You can increase site traffic by creating a forum that allows your visitors to interact with each other or an e-newsletter that contains helpful tips related to your business. Also, you may want to provide a feedback form or a virtual suggestion box where visitors have the opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions for your site.

Related Resources on Lawyers.com ^sm