The Never Ending Story

Ok, I'll say it up front: what I'm going to talk about is rather basic. But still, I'm going to make it my December post. Because however basic it is, we all tend to ingore it. 

So here we go:

I’d say we all love the sense of achievement.

After months of work, it’s nice to see a resulting product. After having planned a website, throughly thought about its audience and its objectives, worked on its structure, its content, its design and its implementation, and after having tested it again and again, it’s simply great to finally see your website online.

Let’s admit it, after months working on a web project, one feels like doing something else. 

So that’s it. Finito. Time to celebrate. Hurray! 

Indeed.

Only it’s not quite like this. I’d say it’s more like when a year is over… it gives a false sense of closure. But after December 31^st comes January 1^st and nothing has really really changed.

Photo by Ricard Clupés

So basically, if you look away when your website is up and running, everything will slowly start to degenerate. Information will more than likely go obsolete, links will fail, brand new information will need a place in the web, new ideas will come up, new constraints and policies might come into place, big unforeseen changes in the company may impact your communication strategy… these things happen all the time, even if we don’t think they will. 

Once your brand new website is live, make sure there’s at least one person responsible for it. Someone who knows what to do with the website, what changes in the company will need to be reflected on the website, what updates need to be done, who needs to be contacted should problems arise, etc.

Don’t let your web team abandon you without having developed a maintenance plan for your website. And don’t ever ever abandon the maintenance plan. There, make it your New Year's Resolution if you wish. I’ll make it mine!