Managing your website

No matter how detailed your website is, it still needs management.

Staying on top of the search engines is the minimal type of management for an information only site but also applies to all sites. Monitoring your traffic, supplementing your site with up to date and changing information, and ensuring your links stay linked are some ways to stay on top of the search.

If you are collecting email information and providing an email address for customers to contact you with, you should consider your website as department of your business. Data collected needs to be monitored and utilized, whether it is a newsletter to be sent out to email participants or analysis of data for that marketing campaign. Emails and any identifiable customer data collected need to be protected and managed.

If you use the web to sell your product, then consider your online store to be a separate branch of your business; just like any other separate physical location. Your website then needs to be staffed, so that you are prepared to deliver the same superior customer service that you provide at your physical locations. In talking to business owners I often hear stories about websites set up to sell products that went undelivered with sales lost because management wasn't positioned to fill the orders.

Whatever the scope of your website; be sure your company protocols include your website management.