In 2010 Google made 500 changes to its algorithms. That is, in the way it chooses the websites to be returned in any given search. This year by October they had already exceeded that number. This makes driving a website a constant challenge.

There was a time you could let your daughter or son handle your website, but it has become a full time task to keep up with all the elements of taking your  business online, and maintaining your presence.

Browsers change, while old ones remain; and websites need to be viewable on both, add to that mobile phones, and tablets – the possibilities have become daunting. As a designer you have to decide what the target audience is – check analytics and proceed testing websites on major browsers. Add into THAT mix user settings: people setting their view to a large font size – your web design has to handle it all.

For website owners they need to drive their websites through media: use your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, be sure to add Google + buttons to your website, update your listings on the online directories for no charge, and schedule yourself to change these listing inclusive of Google Maps/Places, Bing and Yahoo local. Updated content is more critical than ever, which means changing things up. Don’t leave your website unchanged year after year. The competitor who is more aggressive will be inching ahead.

While it can seem overwhelming, or costly – there still is much you can control.

Updating photos can bring an easy change to your website. If you’re ready to step up to a professional shoot my affordable source is Douglas Simon Photography .

For all your web design needs please visit: my website .