Tips & Tricks - Content Company: Hilary Marsh, content management workshops, Web writing seminars for internal and external sites

Tips & Tricks for Keeping Your Website Fresh, Relevant and Strategic

May 2005 tips:

Appoint an editor for your site. It needs to be someone's job to decide what content goes on the homepage, what the publishing schedule and rules will be. For a small site, it can be a small part of someone's complete job; a large site will need multiple editors.

Augment your website's content with email marketing. The content can't be useful if no one reads it.

Don't create a seasonal tie-in for no reason. If you do develop promotions, make sure they make sense for your organization and your goals.

April 2005 tips:

Don't assume you know what your customers want from you -- talk to them. Listen carefully to the language they use to describe your business's offerings, and then use those terms on your site.

Surf through your site monthly, looking for broken links, outdated information and opportunities to improve what's there.

If you plan to update content on a predefined schedule, make sure those content updates are someone's job, not something the person is expected to do in his or her spare time.

February 2005 tips:

If you want to boost your search engine rankings, piling on keywords in your site's meta tags will not help. After you identify the most likely keywords people will use to find your site, use those words and phrases in your site's content.

Talk to your customer service folks to find out what information they provide most often, and then put that information online. Most important: Have them track those requests for 2 - 4 weeks before you make the change, and then check back 2 - 4 weeks after the information is online.

If you're doing something that works -- increasing your online registrations, membership applications or product inquiries -- share that information in industry trade publications, reinforcing your leadership.

January 2005 tips:

Periodically review your competitors' websites. Make sure yours has a professional look, up-to-date content and intuitive navigation.

Start an email newsletter, so that when your site is updated, your customers know about it.

Keep your company leaders informed about how your organization is using the Web. Ask them to visit it, or print out the home page for them, so they can refer to it in discussions with employees and outside investors, customers and partners.

October 2004 tips:

Develop a bank of evergreen news articles to use in the event of a shortage of items for the site.

Create a standard way to collect feedback. Develop an autoresponder to let visitors know you've received the feedback, commit to responding within 48 hours, and keep a log of all feedback and responses. Use the feedback to evolve the site.

Plan for negative news coverage and respond honestly: When there is negative news coverage on your organization, write a press release responding to that coverage, and list the press release on the home page.

August 2004 tips:

Have a business friend pretend to be a customer. Peruse the site together, call the call center or help line to find out basic information. Take note of what worked well and what needs improvement.

Provide links on your home page to the most-viewed pages on the site.

Put your organization's most positive face forward: When there is positive news coverage, write a press release highlighting that coverage, and list the press release on the home page.

Please feel free to share your tips and tricks with us, and let us know whether you want your name and/or organization listed.