It’s scooter weather here in New Hampshire and I don’t think there’s anything better than hearing the whoosh of my tires on the pavement and feeling the wind in my hair and the sun on my face as I zoom around town on my scooter. I love my scooter.

But it doesn’t love me. I think it may hate me. It’s always making excuses why we can’t hang out: “My battery is totally drained.” “Cough, air filter’s clogged.” “My engine’s on fire.”

I know I could avoid these uncomfortable rejections if I paid more attention to my scooter on a regular basis instead of only when I want a ride somewhere. I am terrible about maintaining my scooter, so I end up spending a lot of time (and money) on fixes I could avoid with regular oil changes and other service.

Here’s where I tie this into the Vital Design marketing blog. : ] Just like your scooter or car, your business website needs proper maintenance on a regular basis. Make sure your site is running as well as possible so it doesn’t break down when you need it most – during a potential customer’s visit.

A few things you can do to keep your website humming:

Update content regularly – This may be through a blog, news releases, or special offers on your home page.

Install analytics – Google Analytics is a free, extremely robust web-based service that lets you see where your site traffic is coming from, how long people spend on each page, and what keywords they searched to find you on Google or Yahoo. All you need is a free gmail or Google account. Any web developer can install it in your site.

Get feedback – Ask customers and friends what they think of your site. Was it easy to find your contact info? Do they know what you do after a quick glance? Is it outdated? Does it match your company’s branding?

This ezine article has a few other questions to ask.

A few of the things Vital Design can help you with if it’s time to reVITALize your site:

1. Link your logo to your home page, this increases usability for your site visitors.

2. Revisit your SEO. Link copy, check your headers and add title attributes.

3. Rewrite your home page copy to engage your visitor.

4. Update your site with an RSS feed and other social media tools.

I got some of these ideas from this fadtastic post, which has a bunch more easy fixes (if you’re a Web developer).

If you’re interested in reVITALizing your website, scoot on over, our door is always open!