GIGO
If you’ve ever heard the term “GIGO” in programming and weren’t sure what it meant, it translates to “garbage in, garbage out.” What this means is, that if you have bad input going into your program, you’ll in turn have bad output from your program.
This can also apply to your site content. Garbage in = Garbage out
You can’t blame your web team if the data or content on your site is not up to par. The old saying goes is GIGO and that is what happens with many remodels. Old content is reused on a new layout – or a messy spreadsheet is imported into your site database and it isn’t showing up well….it just doesn’t work….
So how do you avoid GIGO?
1. Refresh your content!
- Fresh Content Improves Your Search Rankings
- Updated Material Appeals to Readers
- New Information Offers an Edge Over the Competition
- Fresh Content Helps Your Marketing Efforts
- Updates Inspire Other Websites to Link to Your Content
2. Be consistent with your data!
Make some rules and stick to them. For example: Say you are creating a database of clients and their contact information. Use mixed case, spell out addresses, consistent use of dates and no extra spaces are your rules. Two months later, use these same rules or your spreadsheet will become a mess. And no amount of data massaging can clean up everything. If you suddenly see weird spacing or duplicate entries, more than likely it is GIGO, not the database.
Read more: content refresh
http://white.net/noise/when-and-how-to-refresh-your-web-content/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219632
http://www.illuminantpartners.com/2011/01/01/website-refresh/
Read more: clean your data
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/top-ten-ways-to-clean-your-data-HA010221840.aspx