Great. Your corporate Web site is up and running. So, what’s next?

Redesign. Tweaks. Changes. Call it what you want, but if you’re not periodically refining your site, you’re squandering a big investment. Think about it: if a piece of machinery on a production line weren’t operating with optimum efficiency, it would get fixed. Make sure your site is working at its best too.

Here are a few typical problems to avoid:

1.   Content out of control. What once seemed well organized and clear is now a mess. The number of pages on your site has quadrupled since its launch. There’ve been personnel changes, and publishing responsibilities have shifted so much you’re wondering who’s in charge. How to get back in control? You may need to update – or create – your taxonomy, a uniform way to classify content. Or, you’re missing an archive to organize dated material and a way to purge, or get rid of, duplicate content.

2.   Hide and seek syndrome. Search results are confusing and unhelpful. Each section of your site looks different from the others. And as you move throughout your site, your home page seems to disappear– getting back to it requires a miracle. You need to set some standards and stick by them. That means, for example, consistent navigation and naming conventions. Also, think about your meta data – are you tagging each piece of content so it can be easily accessed?

3.   “Do as I say, not as you do”- You and your colleagues know where everything on your site is, but your customers don’t. You get calls from reporters for material that they should grab from the site instead of paging you. If these symptoms sound familiar, it’s because your site isn’t task-oriented. Instead of being designed to help your target audience(s) accomplish specific tasks, your site reflects your company’s internal organization. Design your site from your visitors’ perspective – not your CEO’s.

Get started by deciding what you want your corporate site – or your section of the site – to do. Then conduct a Web site review to assess how well the site performs; identify areas that need attention; and develop a plan to make enhancements.

Don’t put off giving your site the once-over for fear of having to make more technology investments now or to crank up an unwieldy operating committee for a major redesign. Chances are you’ll be able to make some small, easy fixes with a noticeable impact – until you’ve got the budget and time for bigger overhaul. Just remember, a Web site is never “done.” It’s always a work in progress.