Welcome to the March 2008 issue of ZooNews, from professional Web site design company Zoonini Web Services.

While there may still be plenty of snow around these parts, the calendar does pronounce that spring has officially arrived. So, even if it's not quite time for spring cleaning around the house and garden, it's the perfect time to do some spring cleaning on your Web site!

Take a good look through your site, and get rid of:

• dead links
• old news
• out-of-date service information
• products you no longer carry
• staff bios of people no longer with your company
• any other text or graphics that make the site look stale or neglected

Are there new services, products, or team members that can be added to your site? How about featuring new partnerships, clients/customers, or testimonials? Can you announce the latest developments in your industry, or add photos of recent projects you've undertaken?

This spring, go out with the old and in with the new... on your Web site!

p.s. Last month, I wrote in this space about "too much" when it comes to email marketing. Ironically, within days of putting out the issue, I received two unexpected messages via mailing lists I belong to: one from a local science centre, the other a symphony orchestra. Both organizations, which rarely send me anything at all, were now offering me some generous coupons toward their services, including a free pass to see one of their shows. Now this is how email marketing should be used – to delight and surprise your subscribers, not annoy them!

It's not really a technology term, but I've been thinking lately about the false optimism displayed by a restaurant that ran a large, full-colour ad in a local newspaper to announce their grand opening. Prominently displayed at the bottom of the ad was their URL. I was excited to check out the restaurant's menu online, so headed right over to their Web site, only to find a generic "welcome to the Home page of the future website for www.xxxxxx.ca" notice. How frustrating! Business owners take note: don't alienate potential customers by advertising your Web site if you don't actually have one yet. Just because you've bought a domain name doesn't mean there's something worth a visit.

Got a technology term you'd like demystified in ZooNews? Send it to questions@zoonini.com.

Our client Weave Partners, an Ontario-based provider of employment services for people with disabilities, has been gradually adding new features to their site which launched late last year. A password-protected discussion forum was recently incorporated to facilitate internal communications. Next, we're integrating a Web-based mailing list to replace their current manual system, which will make it much easier for staff to maintain and send out the monthly newsletter, "The Thread." To ensure a professional, well-branded look, we've designed a newsletter template that matches the look & feel of the Web site, featuring a new nameplate.

A vacation turned into a nightmare recently for a well-meaning dentist who tried to send out an email with a large attachment to a few acquaintances. For some reason, the message went into a never-ending loop, sending out copy after copy of the nearly 9 MB attachment to all of her recipients, filling up my client's mailbox and preventing other mail from getting through. The dentist is still working on resolving the issue (which may be due to human error, a glitch in her email program, a virus, worm or other nastiness), and I'm still removing copies of the large message as they continue to flow into my client's Web hosting & email account.

Regular readers of ZooNews may remember that a few months ago I wrote about the perils of sending large attachments via email, and proposed a slew of large-file sending services to use instead. This recent email disaster only confirms that it's never a good idea to send unsolicited large attachments by email!

À la prochaine,

kp
aka Kathryn Presner