OK so the entire world of marketing has been wetting its pants over social media and content marketing the last few years but what about that old fashion – yet, incredibly important — thing called a website? Have you dusted it for cobwebs lately?

And after all that time and money you spend on social media and content marketing, it’s still the website — or the most part — where all the action you care about — sign ups, sales, etc. — occurs. So if your website is still a piece of annoying Flashturbation or, worse, not supporting your omnichannel efforts, you might as well go unearth that Geocities version of your website from back in the day.

Here’s a few tenets of a well oiled website. Maybe you know all this stuff. Maybe you’ve forgotten. And, hey, we all get busy and can use a good, swift reminder from time to time.

Content Refresh

If you have people who return to your website more than once and they notice nothing has changed – in what feels like a decade (or, let’s be honest, even a week), then you are going to lose them very quickly. Whether you like it or not, refreshing content with new and interesting ideas creates a reason for customers to come back to the site.

Maybe you have been too busy to update but potential customers don’t see it that way. Instead, they may begin to think your business is on its way out. However, if they see new content, then they tend to equate the frequent blogs posts, articles, and pages to a vibrant and successful business.

The best way to continually update content is to have a blog as part of your website, but you can also add an articles library and, as you grow, add new pages about your expanding product line or service portfolio. If you are too busy to do the content yourself, consider using a freelance content writer from ELance, iFreelancer or Guru.

Multiple Points of Entry

Having relevant content that’s of interest to various segments of your audience is, of course, very important. But you also need appropriately segmented places for them to visit within your site.

Multiple points of enrtry — ie. landing pages — provide a way for you to provide segment-specific information about a new product or service. Oh and you can more easliy track metrics related to each marketing campaign that you may run to understand whether or not certain audience segments are actually visiting these pages and how they are responding to your content and offers. In addition, landing pages keep a website from becoming cluttered.

Design Makeover

Like your content, the actual design of your website can become dated. You don’t want your audience to be able to carbon date the look of your page to the 2000s or the aforementioned Geocities era. Instead, as your brand evolves or, as you change your overall corporate identity, make sure your website design reflects that the shifting style and positioning of the brand.

If you don’t have the budget to hire a designer or ad agency, you can head over to places likeWix where you can find hundredsof website design templates that will give you a starting point. Good ‘ol WordPress also has a lot of templates to completely change the look and functionality of your website allowing you to easily add new pages or enhance its user-friendliness.

When your customers and potential customers experience a design makeover, they are more likely to envision you as a company that’s moving forward rather than getting tired and falling asleep.

Higher Reliability and Speed

People, it’s 2015! We have big pipes! There’s no excuse for your slow ass site that takes fully 30 seconds for a page to load. Design can greatly affect page load times but so can hosting. And, seriously, when was the last time you actually spent a minute or two checking into you web host’s tech specs? Yea, that shit is boring but it’s the back bone of your website and that boring shit matters.

So yes, it could be the hosting company that is slowing you down, so you might want to consider researching what web hosting companies which can offer faster connections and less downtime. For example, Pair.com is one. Another isHostwinds. They offer numerous hosting plans that scale up as you grow your business so you don’t have to worry about outgrowing them.

Responsiveness

While more people are starting their searches from their smartphones and tablets, not as many companies are adding responsive website design to sense when a visitor is using something other than their laptop or desktop. Not employing technology that senses your new mobile customers can lead to a disastrous experience that accomplishes nothing except for losing a potential customer.

Insuring your site employs responsive design means your website will fit the screen on which it’s being viewed. It can also mean that you offer a choice between a mobile website version and a regular one so the user can select their preference.

Coding Compliance

While this is on the technical side of things, coding compliance is pretty important. Since the standards regularly change, you’ll need to make sure your technical talent is aware of what’s required. Not only will this help your website achieve higher rankings to turn that digital sales funnel toward your business, but it will also keep you in the good graces of those that track website compliance.

Graphics Optimization

Search engine optimization goes beyond just selecting the right keywords and phrases that get the attention of search engines everywhere. You also need to optimize graphics – including photos and videos on your website. Use relevant and descriptive words in the title tag and alt gag in your image code as an additional way to throw that net out wider over the Internet and draw more of your target audience to your website. Since you will be regularly updating your website’s content, don’t forget to optimize every new graphic you add.

And so there it is. Maybe you’re on top of all of this. Maybe you’re not. Maybe you have a boss who thinks Flash is still all that. Hopefully, this information will help you better manage your website and, ideally, build more business.

Jared Fogle, the man that taught America it was possible to lose more than 200 pounds eating subway sandwiches, has been charged with possessing child pornography and is reportedly planning to plead guilty.

Fogle was also the leading spokesperson for Subway for 15 years and contributed to nearly half of Subway’s growth.

As the news of Fogle’s charges became a reality, Subway quickly cut ties with their former spokesperson.

Here are 4 things brands can learn from Subway’s recent crisis.

The truth will come to the light

For 15 years, Fogle’s charitable contributions and fight against childhood obesity provided no warning of his charges to date. Humans are highly unpredictable and humans make mistakes. For this reason, brands must take measures to insure their spokesperson(s) is as wholesome in private as they appear in public and, in a case where they are not, find out before the media does.

Subway, or any brand hiring a spokesperson, should have considered employing an investigative service to at least conduct a surface check to determine any potential irregularities. Obviously, brands should not wait for a crisis to be attached to the brand, should be the first to know and the first to end any relationship that might lead to damages to the brand.

Act fast and leave little speculation

Subway, to their credit, did act quickly after Fogle’s allegations went mainstream and issued a simple statement stating, “We are very concerned and will be monitoring the situation closely. We don’t have any more details at this point.” It is important that brands do their best to control how the public perceives them before the public has a chance to conjure up its own conclusions.

Subway’s statement was also close-ended, leaving little room for speculation or hearsay – a tactic brands should take note of. Shortly after, Subway decided to end their relationship with Fogle and issued another simple and closed-ended statement, “We no longer have a relationship with Jared and have no further comment.” Such swift action allowed Subway to mitigate the damages and left little room for further questioning and probing.

Although in recent days allegations have been made that some Subway management did, in fact have some knowledge of Fogle’s situation and, according to one former Subway employees, failed to come forward. That situation is still playing itself out in the news.

Social media can be your friend

While the public used Twitter to vent their frustrations and confusion, Subway used a series of tweets to broadcast their position before, during, and after their decision to terminate their relationship with Fogle. Not shying away from social media allowed Subway to keep the masses updated with facts as they unfolded and remain a trustworthy and transparent brand.

The latest allegation about Jared Fogle, if true, is appalling. As previously stated, we have suspended our relationship with Jared.

— SUBWAY® (@SUBWAY) August 1, 2015

We no longer have a relationship with Jared and have no further comment.

— SUBWAY® (@SUBWAY) August 18, 2015

Jared Fogle’s actions are inexcusable and do not represent our brand’s values. We had already ended our relationship with Jared.

— SUBWAY® (@SUBWAY) August 19, 2015

Diversify, when possible

Subway invested heavily into one person as the face of their company for 15 years. This can be quite risky for brands as consumer perspectives changes over time and can later prove to be disastrous if that person comes under scrutiny as Fogle has. Consequently, brands such as Geico have decided to simply create their ideal spokesperson. Geico’s Gecko, for example, is a fictional character that can take on multiple personalities and therefore resonate with multiple audiences at the brand’s leisure.

In addition, because the fictional Geico is not prone to common human error, Geico takes on much less risk. In a 15-year time span, Subway had ample time – especially if some inside the organization had inside knowledge about Fogle — and opportunity to transition to other, safer spokesperson.

Not every brand can succeed employing the fictional spokesperson strategy but it is worth considering. Fictional characters are, of course, immune to human frailty.

Despite the downfall of Subway’s most recognized spokesperson, Subway appears not to have experienced any noticeable backlash from consumers – apart from a pre-Fogle scandal downward spiral in sales — and will likely emerge relatively unscathed. While brands can’t plan for the sudden downfall of a spokesperson, actively monitoring their spokespeople, responding quickly, and diversifying is a great way to mitigate losses.

This guest article was written by Keran Smith, co-founder of a digital marketing agency, Lyfe Marketing.