By Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned the importance of not having a static website for your business before. Fresh content is something that not only will get you picked up quicker by the search engines, but it will send a message to your clients and customers that your business is fresh and new. What I don’t believe I’ve mentioned before is that fresh content isn’t the only thing you need to be concerned about in order to make your website work for you. The following items are vital pieces of website maintenance that should be completed on a regular basis.

• Is your information up to date? Do you still have information on your website concerning your holiday specials? Have you added the new fax number? Things change. Make sure your website reflects that fact.
• Are your links all working? I repeat, things change. That means that the website you linked to eight months ago may have moved things around a bit. Don’t frustrate your website visitors by giving them dead links. Check them on a regular basis, update the ones that need it and delete the ones that don’t exist anymore.
• Are your images loading correctly and quickly? Broken image links are sad things. Pages that take forever to load due to huge image files are even sadder. A potential visitor may change their mind about visiting your site if it takes forever for your pages to load. Keeping your image files small and the links unbroken is just good website housekeeping.
• Are your keywords out of date? Have you checked to see if the keywords you originally chose for your site are still pulling traffic? I’ll say it again. Things change. Change your keywords to reflect that as well.
• Is it time for a makeover? Has your website looked the same since the day you created it? Sometimes just changing the layout or colors can make your site seem fresh and new. Other times an entire overhaul is called for. Does your site still look like an old Geo-cities homepage? Part of having a fresh, exciting website that visitors want to return to again and again is making sure it feels new. Maybe it’s time to install Wordpress?

Can you see how important keeping your website properly maintained is? The problem is that these items are also pretty time consuming. If you never seem to be able to get around to your website maintenance, this is the perfect thing to outsource to a virtual assistant. Keeping up with the maintenance of your website will give your visitors the feeling that you’re business is also up to date, cutting edge and on the ball. And wouldn’t you rather do business with someone like that?

If you have questions concerning virtual assistance or have an interest in working with a virtual assistant you can contact Tina Hilton or visit her business website for Clerical Advantage.