The holiday season is always a fun time, making merry with family and friends, socialising, eating, drinking, and languidly sleeping in on those public holidays. I (mostly) look forward to it, and really enjoy leaving my work and emails behind so I can properly switch off. 

However, despite all the R&R, one thing I’ve prided myself on doing in the first few days of the new year is some digital housekeeping:

Update your passwords

How often has Google prompted you recently about your compromised passwords? Well, it’s time to sit down and update the ones for your main accounts: email, social media and other tools you use frequently. It’s not worth it to have these things hacked into (and I’ve read too many stories recently of small business owners losing access to their platforms because they’ve been hacked). For many entrepreneurs, most of their business is likely done online these days, so losing access is a painful experience. 

Update your website

There’s no need for a total overhaul if you’ve had a recent facelift! (Although if you’re in the market for a digital facelift, please contact us and let’s chat!) One major thing to update is the copyright year, usually found in the footer of your website. It shows Google and your audience that there is a human being behind your website concerned about the little details, and offers credibility.

Audit your access

It’s common to have some vendors working with you on your digital channels throughout the year (unless you’re going the full DIY-route!), and you may have given them access to be able to edit and manage your digital assets. Be sure to have a look at the access list on each platform and confirm (or remove) the users on there. It’s easy to overlook who has access to your respective platforms - ultimately, you want to be sure that you still maintain control over them.

Update any photos and images

Whether it’s your personal profile picture, company profile picture or header images, give your platforms a little refresh for the new year. It’s like new year cleaning for your online presence!

Remove, or update, any holiday promotions

We’re long past Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so it’s time to update any discount codes you’re promoting online. Check that they are changed, or removed, from your website and social media platforms. Even ones that have technically “expired” may still be displayed online. The last thing you want is to upset any potential customers because promo codes aren’t working!

Update anything else online

… such as your Google My Business profile, Contact Us page, About section on your respective social media channels. The list is really endless. There’s no time like the start of a new year to refresh some of these bits of your digital presence.