Back to the basics folks...

I talk here a lot about the details of using the web to build your B2B business, which for many businesses must be highly-advanced stuff, based on what I've seen recently. So, lets take a moment to go back to the basics of your website to make sure doing things right there:

• Make sure your site is accessible if someone doesn't type in 'www' before your URL. Double check that you aren't showing a message like "under construction", which certainly can't help your business. Call your host and get it fixed!


• If your going to put dated material on your website, make sure you delete it or update it. Don't offer a 2001 Directory on the homepage of your website if you are trying to sell a 2004 edition in your outbound telemarketing.


• Blinking and spinning images are out, too, by the way (see above link for another example). Animated GIF files are easy to fix...almost any graphic editor can animate, or unanimate an image file.


• If you want to post email addresses on your website, don't leave them unprotected where the spam-bots can harvest them. A simple Javascript code that you can copy here can protect those email addresses.


• Make sure all your web pages have Titles. Father Flanders recently highlighted that there are two million "new page 1" web pages out there. (See the spambot example above for an 'untitled document'.) The Title of your webpage is the most important thing that the search engines look at, as well as the surfers using the engine.


• And if you are going to post an email address, use your domain's email account, not your AOL account.


• Lastly, get rid of the gastly wallpaper on the background of your web pages. All you need to do is replace the background image with a blank/white image. This look went out six years ago.

Master the technology or hire someone who can. These kind of errors should have been taken care of years ago!