When was the last time you tested your website or spent some time blog testing?
Don’t know what I mean? Don’t know why it needs doing?
Well in its simplest form testing a website or blog testing means looking at everything again (every page, every post) and making sure everything does what you expect and that all the links work. It also means checking everything still goes where you want it to.
No need Dawn – my website’s fine. I don’t change things and I have a documented structure which shows exactly what I’m offering and what links to what.
Great – but I can’t be the only person in the world who changes her mind! Offering a service then deciding I’ll rewrite the page and offer something slightly different. Then, much later, finding obscure references to the old page buried in an old blog post…
There are tools to help you keep your website ship-shape with no broken links. But it’s not quite that simple. We also need to be sure that the visitor journey still makes sense – that where we lead our visitor to is the place we want them to go to now.
How Often do you Need to Test your Website?
Can I suggest scheduling a regular website testing task to review all the pages and posts on your site – even if it’s only once a year? More than that if (like me) you play with the content on your site.
At least make sure there are no broken links (plenty of options to check this – Google Webmaster Tools Crawl Errors springs to mind, but there are others).
Ideally you should also review your marketing plan (not got one – whole ‘nother blog post!) and make sure that your site reflects what you’re now focused on.
You could also ask someone else to test the site for you. Ask a friend/parent/child/colleague to try out everything on your site and see what happens. Fresh eyes do spot things we miss ourselves.
When did you last test your website. Me? well, I did a bit today (and fixed a few things)!
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