Your website is live! Now what?
There is still a lot to do to make sure the information you're providing to users stays relevant and is easily accessible.
After Your Website is Launched
- Set up a Google Analytics account to track metrics
- Ensure that updates to pages are formatted correctly and that content is web ready:
- SEO included
- Short sentences/bullet points
- Relevant to page
- Images/graphics added have alt text and are enhancing the user experience
- Ensure images are sized correctly for the page
- Don’t add content because you have nowhere to put it!
- Consider the audience and speak to them
- SPELLCHECK
- Make sure your page(s) meet ADA Title II guidelines
Ongoing Maintenance
Contact the Digital team if a Cascade user is no longer at the university so Cascade, HubSpot, Localist, and other digital access can be removed
Weekly Maintenance
- Switch out news stories
- Remove/replace outdated links or documents
Monthly Maintenance
- Check for broken links
- Check for missing images
- Check documents to ensure they are still relevant
- Remove links that are no longer timely (i.e. application deadline has passed)
At 6 Months
Check metrics to see which pages are the most and least trafficked and tweak as needed (i.e. remove pages that are not visited, improve pages that are heavily visited)
At 12 Months
- Gather team and discuss changes that have occurred in your area – update pages as needed (i.e. staff changes, new guidelines)
- Review each page for continued relevance
- Update images and documents
- Review analytics and decide if new pages should be added, removed, or updated
Remember, content is the most important part of the website so make sure it’s easy to find and understand.
- Don’t copy content from somewhere and paste it onto a page of the site because someone thought it might be useful. Make sure it is information that is needed by the user.
- Don't copy content from another website; this is digital plagiarism! You may be able to use portions of the information under the "fair use" doctrine, but this is something that legal counsel would need to review.
- Keep pages clean and formatted – walls of text will be ignored by the user.
- Custom code can break when there is an update to Cascade; if you have added buttons or other custom elements, check to ensure they are still working as intended.
- If the person(s) who updates your site leaves the university, please let the Digital team know so that their access can be removed.
Contact the Digital Communications team with questions.