So you built your website sometime before 2005 and you know it needs updated or even redesigned, but in this recovery year it might not be in your budget. Should you continue to rely on your existing website and its out-dated programming to bring you new business? The answer is “probably not”, but we still have that slight budget problem. Have no fear, there may be some solutions that will bring your website up to speed with more recent programming techniques and have your users, and search engines continue to pay some attention to you. Here is my list of Top 5 Ways To Bring Your Website Up To The Year 2010:

1. Upgrade that Table-based programmed website to a CSS layout. Ok, this one is a little technical so let me explain. When programming a website and designing your pages there is a programming technique called “tables.” Tables in HTML are the same thing as tables in Microsoft Word. Do you use tables in Microsoft Word to layout your documents with graphics, bodies of text and other content? No you don’t, so why would you when creating a website? Well, tables were a very highly used website programming technique used to layout website pages because it was, in some cases, the easiest way to control the spacing and margins of the content on your webpage. Well, this technique is very outdated and has been replaced with CSS-based layouts. CSS is just another technique that allows your website to be laid-out in a pleasing manner controlling fonts, sizes, margins, padding and general spacing.  So, why do you want to update your table-based layout to a “table-less” layout? There are lots of reasons, but the main reason is search engines.  Search engines don’t like tables for anything else then content that would be made for tables (think Excel.) So, if your website is utilizing a table layout, you should look into what it would take to reprogram your existing website using a CSS layout and continue to grab some positive attention from search engines.
2. Make sure your website can be used by as many different browsers as possible. Not everyone uses Explorer. Believe it or not, not everyone clicks on the infamous blue “e” icon on their desktop to access the Internet. Every year Microsoft Internet Explorer is losing market share to a handful of other internet browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and the latest to hit the net – Google’s Chrome. What does this matter to you as the small-to-medium sized business owner? It means that you need to make sure that your website shows and functions in all 3 of the aforementioned browsers and in their previous versions that are still being used. Think of it like this – a Internet browser is like someone that translates a language. If you ask multiple people to translate the same text, they will most likely translate it slightly different then each other. Internet browsers will translate the programming of your website slightly different. Too many times, the translation between browsers will create errors, errors that could be costly to your business.  Here is a current chart that shows you how the browser market is broken up.
   

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3. If you want to use music on your website make sure there is an option for the user to turn it off. Ok, so you want to set the mood and create an atmosphere for your website’s users so you placed music on your year 2000 website. Well, these days people don’t want music or sounds blaring from their speakers when they just clicked on your website. Users want to control their computer themselves and do not want music to play unless they chose for it to play. So, if you want to put music on your website, then do so, but allow your users to choose whether they want to hear it or not.
4. Create engagement and give your users something to do. Think about your own habits and the way you interact with websites you go to. Are you a reader, or are you always looking for your next click? Well, if you are like most you are looking for something to do on a website, something to click and something to interact with, and not paragraphs of text to read. Knowing this, look at your business website and come up with some unique ways to give your website users something to do. Photo galleries for people to flip through, estimation calculators and product preview tools are just a few examples of ways you can get your users engaging with your website, your brand and your products/services.
5. Update your content frequently so users will know your website is active. It’s not the “if you build it, they will come” era of websites any more. Users have choices on the Internet, 206,956,723 sites in fact according to this June 2010 Netcraft Survey. With all of this selection and the fact that Internet users are more educated and experienced means that you need to make sure that your website outperforms its competitors. One way to do this is to show your commitment to your website and make sure that you are keeping it up-to-date with fresh content that will keep them coming back. Plus, search engines will love you for it! Search engines want to provide its searchers with the best selection of websites to meet their search. A website that hasn’t been updated since the early 2000’s typically is not the best option. One of the easiest ways to keep your site up-to-date with fresh content is through a Blog. A blog gives you the opportunity to easily update your website with fresh and relevant content without having to know html programming, nor incur any ongoing charges from your website design company.