Having a website is a lot like dating someone new. You start out really excited because it looks beautiful and you get lots of compliments when you introduce it to people. But if you don’t spend some time getting to know it properly, you learn too late that it just sits around the house playing Xbox all day and doesn’t contribute to the rent.
To help you avoid relationship drama with your business website, I’ve put together a practical checklist of everything you should know about your site – and your broader digital presence.
Think of it as the shoe game – a wedding tradition where couples sit back to back and answer questions about their relationship by raising a shoe. Except instead of finding out who hogs the duvet, you’re finding out whether you actually know your website as well as you think you do. Write down what you find and store it with the rest of your important business information. Your website and digital presence are business assets and should be treated as such.
1. The Basics: Getting In
You should be able to access your own website without calling anyone.
- Website URL
- Login URL (for most WordPress sites this is yoursite.co.nz/wp-admin)
- Username and password
- Who else has admin access – and is that list current? Ex-staff, old contractors, and developers you no longer work with should be removed. Every unnecessary admin user is a potential security risk.
Recommended: Use a password manager like 1Password to keep all your logins secure and accessible.
2. What’s Actually On Your Site
Most websites accumulate pages over time. A landing page for that campaign two years ago. A resources page someone requested. A thank you page that might be redirecting somewhere that no longer exists.
Go to your website and make a list of every page you have. Then ask yourself these questions:
- Your key pages (homepage, about, services, contact) – are they all current and accurate
- Any landing pages or campaign pages – are they still live? Should they be?
- Blog categories – are they still relevant and accurate?
- Old blog posts that rank well – is the information still current?
- Any redirect pages, thank you pages, or confirmation pages – do they still work? should they still be published?
The media library
If your website has been running for a few years, your media library is probably the epicentre of chaos. Seventeen versions of your price list. Images from a promotion in 2019. Three slightly different versions of your logo.
It’s worth a tidy periodically. A bloated media library makes your website slower, your backups bigger, and your storage costs higher.
3. Your Technical Infrastructure
These are the services that keep your website online. You mostly never need to think about them – until something goes wrong. And when something goes wrong here, it’s always urgent.
Domain Registration
- Who is your domain registered with?
- When does it expire?
- Who is responsible for renewing it – and how do they get reminded?
- Do you have login access to your domain registrar account?
DNS Management
- Who manages your DNS settings? (This is sometimes the same as your domain registrar, sometimes separate)
- Who do you contact if DNS changes need to be made?
- Do you understand the basic setup – or do you know who to ask?
Website Hosting
- Who hosts your website?
- How do you contact them if something goes wrong?
Website Platform & Theme
- What platform is your website built on? (WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow etc)
- If WordPress – what theme or framework is it built on?
- Are there any premium plugins? Where are the licences held?
SSL Certificate
- Does your website have an SSL certificate? (It should – this is the padlock in your browser bar)
- Who manages this and when does it expire?
4. Google & Analytics
The number of business owners who can’t access their own data because they don’t know which Google account was used to set things up is honestly quite startling. You should know:
- Which Google account your Google Analytics is connected to
- How to access Google Search Console
- Is your Google Business Profile claimed and accessible?
- Do you have a YouTube channel? Who has access?
- Who owns the Google account/s your business uses – and is that person still in your business?
5. Where You Show Up Online
Your digital presence extends beyond your website. You should know where your business appears online.
- Social media platforms – which ones are you on? Do you have login access to all of them?
- Google Maps / Apple Maps / Bing Places – are you listed? Is your information current?
- Business directories – local, industry-specific, chamber of commerce listings
- Partner or supplier directories – are you listed on anyone else’s website as a recommended supplier?
- Guest posts or contributed articles – do they have current bio information and working links?
A simple list, reviewed once a year, is all it takes. Check that you can log in, and that your information – address, phone number, website URL, opening hours – is correct and up to date.
6. Who Does What
As your business grows, changes, and evolves – having this written down somewhere becomes increasingly important. Team members change. Contractors come and go. Tasks get delegated. Things that live in one person’s head have a habit of disappearing when that person does.
Write down the answers to these questions and keep them somewhere accessible to the people who need them:
- Who pays for domain renewal – and how do they get notified?
- Who pays for hosting and other software licences?
- Who is responsible for keeping your website software and plugins updated?
- Who handles security issues?
- Who manages website backups?
- Who do you call if something breaks?
- Who has admin access to your website – and is that list current?
Need help pulling this together?
If working through this checklist has raised more questions than answers, I can help. I offer an Owner’s Manual service for business owners who want to get their digital house in order – a structured review of everything above, documented and handed back to you in a format you can actually use.
Get in touch to find out more →
Image by Olya Adamovich from Pixabay
