How healthy is your website?
People are often blocked from reading your website because of simple technical issues.
Is your website search-engine friendly?
Does it work in all current browsers?
Are all the links on your website working?
You need to be sure your website is not frustrating your readers. Here's how you can do your own 'health check' on your website:
Is your website code compliant? The World Wide Web Consortium sets standards for web code, in order to be accessible to all browsers now and in the future.
Try this test. Go to W3C Validator
Paste in the URL of a page from your website (eg: http://www.kitka.com.au/index.html)
Does the Validator find errors? If so, your site might not display properly in some browsers. (Note: there are some common items that generate errors, such as any Flash animations.)
Are your website links all working? If you have lots of links, it's hard to keep up with their state of health. You can check to see how many of them are broken at LinkChecker.
Is your website browser-friendly? How does your website look in other browsers? You might get a surprise when you see your website on someone else's computer. See how it looks using other browsers at BrowserCam.
Is your website accessible? Could some of your clients be sight-impaired? There are now new ways of 'reading' websites, like text-to-speech readers. Do you want to hear what your website sounds like to those people? Road-test a reader like those from Jaws, BrowseAloud, ReadPlease or NextUp, or if you use a Mac, VoiceOver is built in to the OSX operating system.
You also need to regularly check your site traffic statistics to find out who has been through your front door and what they looked at when they got there! Your web hosting company should provide this information.
The good thing is, that you can keep changing and improving your website all the time.
If you think your website could use a bit of help, Email me for a quote.