Herself’s Webtools

I try to clean up and update my websites once a year but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes life just gets too busy.

But since I had to move everything to new servers I’ve been making time this week to dust off the sites.

1) Check your images directory - remove unused images, and look for hidden files or html files. Often hackers use these directories to store phishing scams when your site gets hacked. The less images in a directory the quicker the server can find and load up the image your page is requesting. Keep it lean. Break up your image directory into smaller directories if you have lots of images.

2) Proof read old pages and posts. No matter how many times I reread old posts I usually find typos or better ways to word my posts. You are getting new visitors to those old pages every day. Dust them off. Your site’s come a long way make sure those early pages reflect that.

3) Run a link checker and make sure pages you linked to a year or more ago still exist. Often they don’t.

4) Update your pages. Maybe you’ve learned more about a subject or found better tools for doing something. Keep those resources current and cutting edge and you’ll get more visitors.

Then back it up - to your server and to your home computer and to an usb key. You can’t have too many copies of your website if a problem appears.