Whether you have a website or you are looking to build one – its important to avoid certain common errors and mistakes that can harm your website and its usability. Here are a few common errors that if addressed, can dramatically improve your website’s usability and your visitor’s experience.
1. Content That’s Cool To You, But Isn’t Relevant
Whoa, a website visitor counter?!! Cool! Ok, maybe not the best example but the point is – try to avoid adding things to your website that you think are cool but aren’t relevant to your website visitors. Your fire department’s website is not for you to marvel at how cool it is – its for your visitors to get the information and content they need quickly and easily.
“I want a website that’s easy to find out information about backyard burning.”
“I’d like to schedule a fire station tour for my kid’s 5th grade class.”
“I want to view the incident report for the fire that happened on my property.”
These are the things that your community members are likely coming to your website for. Make it easy for them to find it. Don’t layer it will features you think are cool but that don’t support the goal of your website – which is to be informative and relevant to the community you serve.
2. Spelling and Grammatical Errors
As simple as this error is, it can dramatically reduce your website’s credibility. Whether you are a volunteer or career agency – you are a professional fire department. The content on your website should reflect this. Spelling and grammatical errors are simple to fix and can do wonders for the appearance of your website.
3. Broken Page or Image Links
Have you ever visited a website and see the tiny “broken link” icon or clicked a link that either went nowhere or to a “404” page? You know how frustrating that is, so don’t let it happen to your website. Using a broken link checker website or broken link plugin within WordPress can help you manage and quickly fix those broken links.
You may not have changed any pages on your site, but if you link to an external site and that site changes something – boom, now you have a broken link. Website Care Plans from Code3 Creative include checking for and fixing broken links.
4. No Contact Form
So you have a website, but there’s no contact form. Yes you have your phone number listed, but not everyone can use the phone. Consider folks with disabilities who are hearing impaired or someone who doesn’t have a phone for whatever reason. Or maybe they just aren’t comfortable asking their question over the phone. Having a contact form allows all those people to still contact you when a phone won’t work for them. And please don’t just list your email address instead. All that does is invite spam bots to flood your inbox with messages you don’t want coming to your fire department email address.
Common errors addressed!
So there you have it! Those 4 simple ways can help your fire department’s new or existing website maintain its professionalism while providing relevant content to the community you serve. If you have questions about how to implement these ideas, shoot us an email and let us know!
