As 2010 begins, it’s a great time to check your website to make sure everything works and is up-to-date.

Here are the 8-Points to Check:

1. Make sure your copyright is current. Change all the © 2009 at the bottom of your web pages to © 2010. All copyright symbols should be followed by the year, your company name, followed by “All rights reserved.” For example, mine reads: © 2010 Just A Minute, LLC. All rights reserved.

2. Check for any dead links. No one likes to get that dreaded “404” message when they click on a link from your site. You can go through each page and click on each link. Or you can do it the easy way: go to http://www.dead-links.com/ and get a full report of all dead links on your site.

3. Check all your pictures. Make sure all pictures have an active link (no white boxes with red x’s in them). If you should see a white box where a picture should be, be sure the link to the picture is actually on your server. If not upload that picture. If the picture is there, then make sure the link is spelled correctly. In addition, be sure all your picture have alt tags. This will help with search engine optimization.

4. Check your opt-in forms. The best way to do this is to get a new email address from hotmail or gmail (most autoresponders don’t allow the same email to subscribe more than once, and you probably are already subscribed with your current email address). You should receive an email shortly. Make sure it doesn’t go into your “junk” email. If it does, check your autoresponder message with a spam filter and correct it if necessary.

5. Test all your order forms. Be sure to go past the place where you put your credit card information. You may have to ask your merchant provider for a Test credit card number you can use. If that’s not available, then you may need to use a card that is not on file with your merchant account. Paypal wont’ allow you to use your own Paypal account, so you may have to ask a friend to purchase the product and then give them a full refund. This way you can be sure that the purchase process works all the way through to the “thank you” page or if the product is a digital download, you can make sure that works, too.

6. Check your privacy statement and legal disclaimers to make sure they are up to date. If you don’t have them yet, now is a good time to add them. It’s the law.

7. Check your server speed. This is a really fun and eye-opening test. Type this into your browser: http://www.hostpulse.com/hosting/networktools/speedtest.asp then type in your URL into the box and press “go.” You will get the results in a minute or two. If your site is listed too far down on the list, call your host and ask them to test their speed and correct any problems there may be.

8. Be sure you have an analytics on your website. I like to use google analytics….and it’s free. Go to http://www.google.com/analytics . And here’s the important part….use it to analyze your site. You may be leaving money on the table.

Now your website is in great shape to make 2010 your best year ever!

Until next time,
Linda Allen