Spring Ahead With a Fresh Look

Day one of daylight savings means you moved your clocks ahead by an hour and switched the batteries in your fire alarms. At least that's what happens in my house. It also means that you've got a good cleaning on your mind, renewed enthusiasm at work and at play, and a fresh look at life - and this goes for your website too!

Here are five quick steps to make sure your website doesn't look like the last vestige of winter:

1. Double check the "In the News" section of your site and move everything older than two weeks to your "archive" page. (1-A - create an "archive" page if you don't have one)

2. Read through EVERY page of your site to ensure accuracy, clarity, and consistency. If your website is anything like most it wasn't created in a single day by a single author which means the tone and consistency throughout may be slightly different. Check for spelling and grammatical errors too. (My biggest challenge.)

3. Click through every page and every link. Some links may be broken or no longer be available and this is a huge pet peeve for me and many others. There's nothing worse than not being able to access what you want.

4. Changed your logo lately? Then you better make sure the old version has been completely removed and the updated version everywhere it needs to be.

5. Changed staff or leadership lately? Update the "Contact" or "Board" page. Chances are you'll need to.

In our quest to stay on top of technology we often forget to do those things that matter most so take some time to walk through your site and make sure your house is in order. Your clients, members, and visitors will appreciate your efforts.

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of www.public-domain-photos.com

Cornerstone Communication

Don't let a fear of the past or a fear of technology keep your organization from moving forward with its communication initiatives.

I was recently asked to share my thoughts as to whether or not contemporary communication tools (Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare) are just fads destined to fade away or realistic replacements to the old ways of communicating (telephone, email, newsletter). My response even surprised me.

During the interview, I repeatedly found myself referring to what I was calling an organizations' cornerstone communication pathway, which is the method of communication preferred most by its respective community. For example, some organization’s members prefer to receive their news via newsletter mailed to their doorstep. Before I realized what I was saying, it occurred to me that I was actually restating what I’ve been told over and over again: “don’t abandon your old way of communicating but at the same time don’t be afraid to experiment with emerging technologies.”

There is no real way of knowing what communication tool will be here tomorrow. This doesn’t mean we have to a) rush right in to the newest fad or b) be so paralyzed by fear that we fail to experiment with emerging technologies. Find comfort in what works best for your organization and slowly test and implement additional methods and you may soon uncover that another cornerstone of communication lies right beneath the surface.

Photo credit: This image was borrowed from http://www.senate.michigan.gov/Virtualtour/statecapitol.htm. The cornerstone featured in this photo was used to construct the third State Capitol and contained historical documents and memorials.