Today I spent most of the day going over a client's real estate website - doing a "checkup."
I started with the tabs across the top - checking to see where each one went and if it matched the promise on the tab. Then I checked every link on the rotating header and in the sidebar blocks.
Most of them went where they belonged, but not all. One went to a "No longer available" message. None went to the newsletter that he's obviously paying for. I found that by looking at the site map.
Then I clicked every link in the body copy to make sure it went to the right place. (A couple did not.) After that I cut the copy from each page and pasted it into a word document... so I could highlight everything that needed to be changed or updated. I found a LOT of that.
Time flies, and most of us don't read our web pages very often. That makes it easy to forget to update numbers and statistics. Meanwhile, website visitors aren't interested in our predictions for what the market will bring in 2010.
Changes in laws and government programs also call for web page updates if you've mentioned them in your copy.
And I found something else that was troubling... My client doesn't do his own computer work, and apparently whoever does do it doesn't always think.
Where they used the first 50 words or so as a lead in to read the rest on another page, one paragraph made no sense at all. Of course, that really bothered me, because I wrote that copy.
It was a relief to click to the next page and see what had gone wrong: When they cut and pasted they had included the page header as if it was part of the first sentence. Apparently they didn't look at the result, because it was "Huh??"
On another page I found a title that didn't begin to match the content on 
the page. That's a common error and one that's easy to make when you're using a template to create new pages. I don't know how many times I've thought I was finished with a new page on my own site and had to go back to change the page title. But again - my client had paid someone to build those pages. They should have checked their work.
As I went through the pages I made notes, so when I was done there were 2 pages of "overview" along with suggestions for changes in the organization and new pages we need to add. For instance, I found a page titled "Testimonials" but no testimonials page!
I'm really hoping that when we get the copy changes made his "web guys" will be diligent in making the updates... and that they'll check to make sure their links are good and go to the right places. But I have a feeling I may be repeating the "checking" part of this process again at some later date.
So... have you checked your own site lately?
If not, there's no better time than now to do a checkup.
Why now? Because you can't do it yesterday.
Offering out-dated information or broken links can hurt your credibility and indicate that you don't pay attention to details. And that's no way to market yourself!
So if you don't have time, follow my client's lead and get someone else to do it for you. It really is important.
And now... I think I should go do some checking on my own sites...
Freaked out woman courtesy of Dreamstine Man yelling courtesy of Dreamstine.
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