Best practices: Keeping your site up-to-date

Almost all of the sites we build utilise a content management system (CMS) allowing our clients to keep their sites up-to-date themselves. Over the years we’ve observed how our clients do this and some of the common mistakes that are made. Using this information we’ve compiled this short best practice guide to keeping your site up-to-date.

1. Use descriptive link text

When calling the user to action in copy, don’t fall into the trap of using the all too common ‘click here’ call to action e.g. ”Click here to download our latest press release”. Instead try something more descriptive such as “Download our latest press release”.

This allows users scanning the page for links to immediately know where the link goes without having to read the surrounding text. It is also an important tool for search engines in calculating what the page being linked to is about.

2. Add image ‘alt’ text

All of the images on your site that portray information to the user should have ‘Alt’ text entered. ‘Alt text’ or ‘alternative text’ is invisible to most users of the web, but search engines and users accessing your site through assistive technology (e.g. a visually impaired user) will use it to determine what the image is communicating. Alt text will also be displayed if the image could not be loaded for some reason.

3. Use headings correctly

In HTML you have six levels of headings available to you (H1-H6), which are used to represent the page’s structure. To a user, heading tags are visually differentiated from the main body text to allow them to see that it is important and to help them understand the text following. Headings aid users to scan the content of your pages to find the information they want.

Only use heading tags where it makes sense, using descriptive and succinct copy that summarises the content.

You must not use headers out of order;

<h3>Heading 1</h3>
<h1>Heading 2</h1>
<h2>Heading</h2>

You can use multiple H2 – H6 on your page;

<h1>Title of blog post</h1>
<h2>Sub-header 1</h2>
<h2>Sub header 2</h2>
<h3>Sub-sub header</h3>
<h2>Sub header 3</h2>

4. Writing for the web

Writing for the web isn’t as straightforward as just re-purposing copy written for print. It’s a medium on its own and needs careful consideration to make it as digestible as possible for your users. Here are just a few quick points you can follow to help improve your copy;

• Keep it simple.
• Summarise content at the beginning, this allows users to immediately work out whether the information is relevant to them.
• Make text easy to scan as your users won’t have time to read everything. Use headings to structure page content.
• Cross-link your content. If making reference to information elsewhere on the web make sure you link to that content so the user can easily find out more.
• Proof-read your copy. Sounds like a simple one, but well-written spelling-mistake free content will serve as a good impression to your users and is also favoured by search engines.

Fresh, regularly updated content is always important in ensuring your site ranks highly in search engines as well as encouraging repeat visits from your users.

5. Text alignment, colour and size

We’ve carefully designed the text on our sites to be as readable as possible. While we offer tools to clients enabling them to change text alignment, colour and size - this should only be done in exceptional circumstances. Ensuring consistency between all pages will make the user’s experience much more pleasant.

6. Embedding the right size content

Nothing looks more unprofessional than content that doesn’t quite fit. When embedding content (e.g. from YouTube) onto your website consider the space available for it on the page and resize it accordingly.

7. File sizes

When building our sites we take great care in ensuring it loads as quickly as possible for your visitors. When adding new content to your site (video/images etc) try to ensure that it is as optimised as much as possible.

8. Check for broken links

Sounds like an obvious one, but how often do you check the content that was posted a year ago? Although you might not be looking at it, your users will be. Try to periodically check that the links in articles to websites, documents or images on the web are still active. If not, it might be worth removing them and letting the users know why they aren’t there anymore. Otherwise you might find that users won’t continue to visit other content on your site.

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Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about implementing these best practice guidelines on your own website.