by Donna Gunter, The Boomer Biz Queen (TM)

Every time you take your car in for an oil change, most shops give you a 15- or 30-point checkup when they change your oil to alert you to any other potential problems you might experience in the future. In the same way that your mechanic conducts a regular inspection of your automobile, you need to conduct an annual checkup of your website.

Here are 7 critical areas that need to be checked yearly on your site:

1. Copyright notice. In years past it would take me until March or April to update my copyright notices primarily because I had to go in and update every single page of my site. More recently, however, I’ve used an includes file, which is one file that can be inserted in many pages to hold my copyright and contact info. Consequently, when I need to update the copyright info, I open this one file in my HTML editor, update that file, save and upload it. Once it’s revised, the new information miraculously appears on all the pages in which it’s included, updating them all at once.

2. Opt-in forms. The beginning of each year is a great time to ensure that all of the opt-in forms are working on your site. Do you need to add additional fields to the opt-in form to collect mailing addresses, for example, or to ask how visitors found your site? Is the information contained on your confirmation page (the page to which a visitor is sent upon her initial request to opt into your list) still current and relevant? How about the thank you page (the page to which your visitor is sent when she has confirmed her desire to join your list)?

3. Autoresponder followup. Next, review the content of the autoresponders that you’ve set to follow up the opt-in. Are they still current? Do they mention offers or upsells that are still available? Do you need to update any copyright or contact information contained within them? Are they making it through spam filters? Use this tool to ensure that every email gets into your contact’s inbox: SpamCheck from SiteSell.

4. Signature files. Does your email signature file contain a call to action that’s still working for you, or does it need to be updated? Have you changed any portion of your contact information? After you review your signature files in your email client, do the same check of your email signature file in your shopping cart program or autoresponder program.

5. Client attraction device. Take a look at the free giveaway you provide to your visitors in return for them opting into your list. Whether it’s a document or an audio or video file, update the copyright and content information in it and review any biographical/profile information that you list about yourself or your business. Is the content you provide in this giveaway still valid and current? Do you want to keep the current call to action, or does it need to be updated to better fit with your current business model?

6. Missing images and dead link check. When your website fails to properly display images, your business appears unprofessional. Tour your website to ensure that all images are displaying as they should. If you link to or make reference to many resources on your site, run a dead link check annually to weed out or update those that no longer work. You may be able to do this with your HTML editor. If not, try the free weekly link checking service offered by iNetDog.

7. Order forms. Be sure that your order form works all the way through. Most online business owners, when checking order forms, stop at the point where they need to enter credit card information. If your merchant account agreement prohibits you from using your credit card to order from your company, ask if they have a test card number you can use, or have a reciprocal agreement with a colleague to check each other’s forms. Check your followup autoresponders that are set to go out after someone makes a purchase, as well, to ensure that they are still up-to-date.

Websites that are obviously out-of-date or aren’t working properly are a huge deterrent to doing business with you. Check these 7 key areas yearly on your site to convey to your visitors that your site is regularly updated and maintained.

Internet Marketing Strategist and Boomer Biz Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses that they love by demystifying and simplifying the tools and strategies needed to market and grow their businesses online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.

If you haven’t heard yet, HP has a program going on this month that allows 50 different bloggers to each give away $6000 worth of computers and software. Way cool, right? Each blogger has different rules and most of them have asked winners to give away a majority of the prize to others. And several of them have asked entrants to put the entry on their own blog. So, here’s mine for the site http: www.livingintheory.blogspot.com/!

One of the laptops I would keep for myself to replace my current one which has a super-cracked screen that is getting worse every day. That will be a big help financially and also for my business.

The other computers I am super excited to give away! As I pondered who they would go to, it came to me that it would make sense to give them to aspiring Virtual Assistants – especially those who are financially struggling and can’t afford to buy the computer that is so integral to this type of work. To choose these people, I will reach out to the VA organizations I volunteer for and ask for nominations. I will give the computers to aspiring VAs (small business owners) who volunteer for these professional organizations selflessly and give of themselves without expectation of reward or thanks. I have met so many Virtual Assistants who have awesome potential and are doing everything right to grow their business – they just don’t have adequate tools to get them to the ultimate level they are capable of. Making a small difference in several people’s lives would be such a great Christmas present to myself. When you give, you get in so many intangible ways! Many thanks to HP and all the bloggers for being so generous!

Has this ever happened to you? You double-click to open a .wav file, then have to wait an eternity for iTunes to open and do it’s thing before you actually hear the file. Or you try to open a graphic file and it comes up in an editing program instead of a viewer. Frustrating, right?

The good news is that it’s easy to change what program a selected file type defaults to. There are a number of ways to accomplish this but this is among the easiest I’ve found:

1. Find a file of the type you’re having problems with (.jpg, .wav, .mp3, etc.)
2. Copy this file to a folder you can easily find (I like c:/temp)
3. Right-click on the file, select “Open With”, then “Choose Program”

4. Select the program you’d like these files to open in for the future (click on “browse” and locate the program if it doesn’t show up here). Then check the box that says “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” and then click “OK”.

That’s it! The next time you open that type of file, it will open in the program you prefer!

Did you know that the start & stop dates for Daylight Savings Time are changing beginning this year? I had forgotten myself!

DST begins March 11 this year and if you’re using Microsoft Outlook, you need to follow the steps below to make sure your calendar doesn’t go haywire!

1. Manually run Windows Update and install the optional update labeled KB928388.
- Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools, Windows Updates, Click the “Custom” button, wait for it to do it’s thing, click on “Software-Optional” on the left side of the screen, look for and check the box next to “Update for Windows XP (KB928388)”. Click “Install Updates”on the upper left side of the window, then click the “Install Updates” button near the center-top of the window. It may take a few minutes.

2) Then you’ll need to download and install the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool available at http://tinyurl.com/29q344 (if you neglect this step, you’ll find all meetings from March 11 through April 1 are off by an hour!)

Here’s a link to the Microsoft article for detailed information. It is highly recommended that you read this article. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931667