Seven New Year’s Resolutions for Your Site

By David Cummings

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 11:30am

Although we wish adding a CMS would solve all website problems, it’s just not the case. Since the new year is a great time to revisit your image and revise your goals, we wanted to suggest a few ways to improve any website in 2007.

1. Make it standards compliant
   Making your website W3C compliant is a basic necessity for all good websites. The new year is a great time to trim some of your excess code by moving to a standards-compliant CSS-based layout. You’ll increase your search visibility, make your site easier to maintain, and you’ll impress all your peers. It’s also a first step toward making your site accessible.
   
   

2. Make it accessible for persons with disabilities
   We’re starting to sound like a broken record here, but this is important! Adding alternate text to any non-textual elements, providing access keys, and creating text-only and large print options are some great ways to show you care. Just imagine if your building didn’t have access ramps!

3. Update it on a daily basis
   Updating your site on a daily basis is a great way to show that you and your business are always coming up with new, innovative ideas. Consistently having fresh content will keep prospective clients coming back to your site often.

4. Improve your search engine optimization
   Search engines are key in driving traffic to your site, and there’s a lot you can do to improve your ranking: content metadata, search engine friendly URLs, site maps, and frequently updated content are some steps you can take this year.

5. Add an RSS feed of new content
   With your new resolve to keep your content fresh and updated, adding an RSS feed is a great way to keep clients, prospective customers, and staff aware of new additions to your site.

6. Add an alphabetical site index
   Most sites already have a site map, but adding an alphabetical site index is a great way to provide visitors simple navigation when searching for a specific page, and it serves as a one-stop-shop for everything on your site.

7. Add a search feature
   There are basically two types of site visitors: those who like to browse around to find what they’re looking for, and those who’d rather hit the search button. Providing a search feature is a great way to avoid frustrating a large section of your audience.

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