Paper Websites Floating on the Internet Pond

Back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s it was pretty common to build a website, do a basic series of Search Engine Optimization tasks, and let the site just “be” with little attention or maintenance.

But SEO became a serious industry and Google led the way with continuously changing the algorithm’s for evaluating a website’s presence.

And the following became true: “Mounting a website on the internet is like building a 7/11 in the middle of the desert. You have to build the roads to it.”

In essence we used to treat a website much like the paper boats you might set adrift on a pond. It would go under its own steam for a while, but then just float, though it may be affected by weather and other natural forces.

Website have different set of factors that affect them. Most notably the underlying code languages are constantly being improved and updated.

All the browsers are constantly updating to stay with the new standards implemented in those coding requirements. But they do not always guarantee backwards compatibility. That means that older code can become unpredictable. PHP is a scripting language that uses a “parser” to render many website pages. PHP is always updating its language and sometimes things written under an older PHP version can “break” when the webhosting service updates to a new version.

I’m mentioning this so those of you with older websites (3 to 5 years is an old website) are aware.  The constant changes in coding standards and implementation could affect it. If you find that parts of your site are no longer functioning – contact forms that don’t work, slide shows that are no longer rendering, images not appearing, your site needs attention.

If your site is more than 5 years old, likelihood is you need a whole new upgrade to newer methods.

If you have questions about your site, contact me and we can determine a good course of action for you. matthew@costello-media.com