What's in your website?

Not so long ago we used to encounter a fair number of clients without websites. Yes, hard to believe, but these companies didn’t even have a registered domain name. Today, finding companies without a presence in cyberspace is rare. Even mom and pop shops have websites thanks to do-it-yourself software and tech savvy teenage relatives.

RWA applauds this movement toward more online marketing. Now, if we could just get this movement moving in the right direction.

As more and more companies get websites, fewer and fewer of them get what they should from their website company. Sadly, most companies don’t know that a large part of their website is missing. They’re just excited that they’re out there in the worldwide web and what a pretty site they have!

I confess that I too was once easily misled by websites. I was only attracted to the flashy ones, the ones with pretty moving pictures, cool graphics and lots of neat sound effects. I shunned the sites with too much text and boring, static pictures. Over the years I’ve discovered that websites are like dates – a lot of the attractive ones don’t have much substance once you get to know them.

So how do you know if your website is just another pretty face? Take a quick look under the hood with this easy tip. The only tool you need is an online connection. Go online and go to your website. At the menu bar at the top of your screen select View, then select View Source or just Source

What you see may look like a language out of Star Trek, but you’re actually looking at the coding for your website. A lot of it you won’t be able to decipher, but in plain English you can see some interesting things.

• Page titles: These begin with TITLE followed by a description of the page. Page titles are good things.
• Keywords: These should begin with “keywords” followed by a list of words or word groupings separated by commas. Keywords are also good things.
• Text: The content or text on your website should be readable even in this strange Vulcan language. Text is a very good thing.

If your website is lacking any of these things, your website may need a makeover. The good news is that unlike many people, websites can change.