Regular website maintenance is an important aspect of owning an online business. Just like a house, your website needs an annual spring cleaning. Certain website maintenance tasks should be performed throughout the year to keep content relevant. Other tasks can be done once a year. You may be worried that website maintenance is costly, but there are many budget web design methods that can be employed to get the job done.
Here is a list of budget web design tips that will help you perform the regular website maintenance that every site needs. Budget Web Design Tip 1 Visit Competitor Sites The contents of your site should project the image that you want to promote. For example, if you have a fun website, you should have lively colors and graphics. If you have a website that is serious in tone, the look should reflect that. When performing any type of website maintenance, you should regularly check competitor sites to see what else is out there. While you're surfing the web, be sure to take notes on what you liked, what you didn't, and why.
Use these notes to develop an original site that stands out among the competition. Budget Web Design Tip 2 Analyze Your Website To properly perform website maintenance, you need to know what your website needs. To determine this, put yourself in your visitors' shoes. Look around. Do you see anything that's missing or can be approved upon? If so, determine how it can be changed. You may also want to consider having a trusted friend or family member look over your site.
Ask them to provide an honest assessment, and then use their opinions to better the site. Specific things you may want to ask them about include the site's look and feel, the ease of navigation, and the site content itself. Budget Web Design Tip 3 Update Your Content Refreshing content is the top reason to perform website maintenance. Keeping your news pieces and informational content fresh is important. If your web content is stale, visitors will search elsewhere for the things they need.
Studies show that sites that are updated regularly have more returning visitors and higher page views. Search engines will also give you more attention if you regularly update your pages with fresh content. Budget Web Design Tip 4 Learn New Design Skills Credible websites look professional. If you don't have the design know-how to perform website maintenance yourself, brush up on your skills. There are many free classes and low priced ebooks online that can teach you everything you need to know to redesign your website.
There are also many different tutorials that can take you through the process step by step. If you don't have time to learn as you go, you may also want to consider hiring a reasonable priced professional who can perform website maintenance and get the job done for you. Budget Web Design Tip 5 Track Your Results After you have completed the website maintenance and implemented a few changes, you will want to track the results of your efforts. Check the logs on your website to determine whether or not you had an increase in visitors or sales. If there are no changes after several months, you may want to consider stepping up your efforts.
Run back through the list of budget web design tips. Was there anything you missed? Was there anything that you could do better? If so, take the time to do it. Remember, profitable websites aren't started overnight. They take hard work, dedication, and continuing efforts to succeed.
Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses.
