Given the current situation with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we are helping many clients utilize their websites to communicate urgent information and business changes to their customers.
While some businesses are pausing certain services, others are taking advantage of any slow times to upgrade their website design or adapt their offerings to the current economic environment.
Website Tips to Update Your Customers
Keep your customers informed of your business operations and current services or products with these website recommendations:
1. Add a Temporary Website Banner
If you are in the medical/health or education industry, or if you have an urgent message related to your business, consider adding a temporary banner message at the top of your website.
This is a great way to update all web visitors and customers. It is a straightforward setup using a WordPress plugin and the banner message can be adjusted or removed in the future. Reach out to our team if you need help adding this to your site.
2. Create a Business Continuity Post/Page
Most companies are publishing and sharing a business continuity plan. Since your website is typically a hub for customers and the community, it’s helpful to post the continuity plan and important news on your website as a blog post or new page.
If you are adding a banner notification, you can include a link in the banner message to your continuity plan or the latest news.
3. Provide a Contact Page & FAQs
If you have a contact page on your website, this is a good place to post information on any business changes in terms of how to schedule appointments and contact your team.
An FAQ accordion is also a great tool to provide answers in an organized manner on your website. If you have an FAQ page or panel, consider temporarily adding questions related to the coronavirus situation.
4. Update Event Registration & Information
If you have any upcoming in-person Events scheduled, review the event information and registration detail and make sure the information on your website is accurate.
Even if you aren’t cancelling the future event, you may want to state on the website that the event is still scheduled. If you are cancelling the event, make sure any online registration ticketing is turned off.
Website Preparedness for Your Team
For most businesses, your website plays numerous roles in your operations and marketing. We recommend the following steps in order to keep your website running smoothly:
1. Save & Secure Login Information
Make sure that any login information for your website and domain registrar is saved in a secure location and that several employees know where to find this information.
It is common for 1 individual at a business to manage the website and handle all of the login information. If this person is unavailable, it can cause delays in changes or fixes.
2. Continue Maintenance & Security
Just as we’re all washing our hands and taking measures to stay healthy, maintaining and updating your site’s plugins is the best way to keep a WordPress site safe and secure.
It can be tempting to let these processes fall to the wayside, but performing regular maintenance can prevent future issues and costs. If you are an existing TinyFrog WordPress maintenance client, be assured that we will continue to manage this for your site.
3. Review Website Form Notifications
Most website forms send an email notification after the form submission and the email includes all of the form details.
We recommend checking the email address for your web forms. If possible, try to use a catch-all email address or alias email that goes to multiple team members. This reduces the chance of missing a form notification if one team member is out of the office.
Our Coronavirus Business Continuity Plan
Our TinyFrog team is committed to ensuring we can continue to support our clients as a web partner. We are taking the following measures of precaution to ensure business continuity during COVID-19:
- Our employees have the ability to work remotely in a secure and productive environment. Since we’ve always offered this benefit to employees, we have very robust processes and secure systems in place.
- For the websites that we maintain & host, our 24/7 security monitoring and daily backup systems are automated, so we can continue to protect & secure your web presence.
- Our support team utilizes an internal ticketing system and we have numerous support team members available to handle requests and perform monthly site maintenance.
- We’re continuing to provide our employees with the latest best practices to avoid the spread of the illness.
- Given the nature of our business, we have a lot of experience in managing projects and communication with clients at a distance, so we feel confident in continuing to deliver on our project timelines and commitments.
For Questions & Support
If you have any questions about a specific website project with our team, please reach out to your assigned development coordinator or give us a call.
For our WordPress hosting & maintenance clients, if you have an emergency website support situation, please call our office line or email support(at)tinyfrog.com
