Our websites collect almost as much clutter, dust and unfinished projects as our homes and giving your site a good Spring scrub down can help restore loading speeds, give a fresh new look and just keep your online life a bit more organized. Depending on your skill level, you may be able to do some MySql and server side file maintenance cleaning, but even if you are only familiar with your website’s admin area, it is still the best place to hop in and start doing a bit of website maintenance.

Things you can do to update and clean out your website include:
1. Get rid of old drafts in content management system-If you haven’t posted them or finished them after 6 months it is likely that they’ve lost their thunder.
2. Update your information-This means all your information including contact email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and especially your site’s copyright information. Also if you host any forms on your site, make sure they are updated to the current year as well.
3. Update your content-Take a quick cruise through your site’s content and do some updating. At the same time take a glance at your analytics and see if you need to adjust your content keywords and just give your content a freshening up.
4. Review your photos and graphics-Many sites are constantly adding new media including photos and videos. Take some time to go through your site and be sure that your photos are up to date and that all of your media has quality alt tag attributes assigned to them.
5. Add the new features-While you are updating you might as well be adding any new features you have been itching to put up on your site.
6. Check your links-This means internal and outgoing. Make sure you are linking properly between the pages of your site and make sure that locations outside your site are working properly too. Also review your webmaster tools for broken links and errors on your site that can lower your search engine rankings.
7. End Construction Zones-Put an end to all unfinished projects. If you have maintenance pages up, it is time to finish the project or take them down.
8. GET RID OF THE CLUTTER-Take the time to step back and look at your website. Is it easy to identify your brand or marketing or are you a billboard for social media sites and affiliate marketing links? Clear the clutter and restore the image of your website to center attention back on you.
9. Update your social media button-Make sure that you have included all of your networks and that you have updated links to the correct pages within the social networks.

One of the best ways to remove the clutter and get your website looking clean and sharp is to replace bulky social media buttons with the sleek and sheik Follow Me button from Social Follow. The free Social Follow button from Studio98 keeps all of your social networks in one easy location allowing your online visitors to find you in the networks they are already a part of.

Plan your website cleaning for at least 2 times a year; once in Spring and once in the Fall. This will keep your website fresh and new for all who come to visit you.

It is no secret that the more you spread yourself across the World Wide Web, the more exposure you will get.  All this is generally to the end of getting more traffic or conversions, depending on the function and purpose of your web identity.  Social networking has become the most common platform for addressing potential visitors directly and has proven to be an extraordinarily effective marketing strategy.  Making yourself easily accessible on a variety of social networking platforms should then be on your web design and even your blog design must have lists.

The SocialFollow button has made putting all your social media buttons in one location a snap already, but the placement of your SocialFollow button will deliver even more exposure and show how much you value social relationships if placed properly.  Hence, the web shui.

There is a theory in conversions that the bigger the button, the more action it will receive.  While this is true of call to action buttons that actually create conversions and sales, the rule doesn’t always apply to your social media buttons.  The truth is, your social media button is not going to take someone to your shopping cart and for this reason it should not be treated like a call to action button.  Social media buttons are means for establishing lasting relationships with your visitors, beyond sales and conversions. 

You don’t need gigantic banner sized social media buttons, but the placement of your social media button is important.  Just like call to action buttons, you will want your social media button to stand out from the surrounding content and you want it to be recognizable.  Liberal use of whitespace is going to add to the use of your button.  Placing your social media button in different areas on your website or blog is going to allow people to make their decision to follow you on a social platform at any point in their visit to your website. 

Great web shui for your social media button placement include putting your Follow Me button in the upper fold of your web pages, or in the upper to middle regions of your sidebar and including it at the end of your blog posts.  Why at the end? Usually a reader will decide they want to stick with you AFTER they have read what you have to say.  Another great spot is to include your social media button with your newsletter conversion box as people who sign up for your newsletter may find following your updates via Twitter and Facebook more appealing than emails.

As you can see there are four flags next to the Select Button Style sub title. By clicking on one of these flags you will see that button translated into that language. This opens the door to further expansion into these countries and reduces the risk of having a chinese website with one English element.

For existing users, if you want to change your button to a different language, you can just go to “Mange Buttons”. On there you will see the flags. Select the language you want, then select whether you want Follow Me or Follow Us and select the button. It’s that simple.

We are glad for all the support we have been getting from the users of Social Follow and we will continue to add and simplify things for all of you!

Feel free to respond with what you think and any other development requests.

Have a great day!

Thanks,

Rafferty Pendery
Social Follow Creator