We are all proud of something: our citizenship, heritage, success, or family are all examples. If you are a business owner and you make a list of what within your business you are proud of, where does your website rank? Do you hesitate to give out your web address because you haven’t kept up with updates, style changes or even your product descriptions? Through our experience we have heard a multitude of excuses as to why you are no longer proud of your website-those excuses aren’t important right now. Right now we need to reinforce your commitment to it, and get you back to being that proud parent in the audience, while your website takes center stage.
Remember when your website first went live? You were ecstatic, woo hoo! Online storefront, shopping cart, contact us and more! Maybe you even created it yourself and learned a bit of Javascript or HTML, or maybe you hired a professional. Whatever the case, your website needs upkeep just like your car, your home, or your hair!
Your Customers Expect It
Your customers need you to keep your website fresh and updated with accurate product descriptions, prices, address and phone. And not just the site content needs updating but back end processes like accounting integration, automated marketing campaigns and support forums.
So how do you keep all this organized and on your task list without becoming overwhelmed? You use an outline to start with. If you have an IT guy or a web consultant that performs maintenance for you, provide them with a checklist they can scan each month or week to catch updates as they are necessary.
Here is an example table outline:
| Item to Update | Frequency | Notes |
| Mailing Address | Quarterly | Not likely to change unless a move is planned |
| Product Pricing | Monthly | Can make adjustments based on the market |
| Webform for Campaign | Weekly | Is your CRM accurately capturing the info |
| Employee Profiles | Quarterly | Depends on employee turnover |
Your website should reflect your brand, your style, your products and your customers. If you read our previous posts on brand strategy then you may have already begun with an overhaul of your website to align the images, content, fonts, colors and offerings to your new plan. Your website is an ongoing investment in your business, it is an integral part of your marketing strategy and for some of you it is the only way a customer can purchase your product or service. Don’t be afraid of this process, create your outline, assign the tasks and expect nothing less than follow through.
Caffeine provides website updates, maintenance, back end integrations, new website design and mobile/web app implementation. We are available for a free 30 minute consultation to discuss how you can be proud of your website again.