How important is it to maintain your website?

Has your site got the “M” factor?

One of the main issues that seem to be causing a bit of a stir at the minute is that the problem of maintaining websites. So what is the “M” factor?

This is one of the most important factors that will need to be implemented in order to have an excellent website. The “M” factor is a Maintainer – someone who is going to be responsible for carrying out site maintenance just like a display garden for instance needs someone, a gardener to keep that all in order.

Yes, someone such as, Brick Technology can go and create an amazing website capable of fulfilling your every need. It could have been designed perfectly down to the last shade of blue on there! This is all well and good, but what people do not realise is that this is only the beginning. The real work comes when you are handed over the website, because it requires more than just a quick once over every now and again to make it work.

For example, it is like going and buying the world’s greatest car, it has that special feel to it and is just simply perfect to your personal specification and requirement, but! There is no point in handing you the keys to this car if you don’t know how to drive it! This is exactly the same with a website. It takes time to really understand what is needed to make it work, properly setting out organised and defined tasks that need to be followed through on a regular basis! For example having someone who is responsible for keeping your sites content up to date, news feeds active and bursting with new information.

Keeping content fresh and up to date can really help in so many ways. Having a news feed is a good idea, but and it is a big but! It is only good if that news feed is put to good use, is active and updated on a daily or at most weekly basis.

There is nothing worse than going onto a site where it says “Latest News” and the most relevant news piece is months behind. It makes you look like an amateur, like you haven’t been doing anything within your business, it looks unprofessional, when in more cases than not it is likely you have done loads such as charity events, maybe a job vacancy you had has been filled, and maybe someone is leaving your business and you want to wish them well, let people know they are no longer with you.

It is making visitors to your sight stop! In order for them to take the time to read these news items, ultimately spending valuable time on your website – clicking the embedded links to other pages on your website. It is important for them to feel involved, and to be able to interact. This helps their overall experience as well as building a strong relationship with them. The better experience that you provide for them the more chance they are to come back therefore maintaining the stream of visitors to your site as well as helping you to target more visitor interest too.

An easy way to ensure that your website is doing exactly what you want it to do and is clear and easy to use by your target market, would be to put yourself inside the shoes of the type of person you want to be using your site. Take a step back, and go through the site as if you were that person. Make notes about what you liked, maybe there is something you didn’t like or something that you found which didn’t work. Do this on a regular basis and get some other people to go through it too. Gain feedback and react upon it.

Does your site really have the “M” factor after all? If not then you need to fix this problem fast! Assign designated roles to people who may help you and ensure that your website isn’t like a new car left on the driveway because you can’t drive!