Maintenance
While published content on your website might be current, the same may not hold true for your website itself in being current. The dynamic elements of a website demand regular maintenance to stay current. Themes, plugins and your CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress, Shopify and others can become quickly outdated without routine maintenance. Whether it is fixing a broken link, resolving a conflict issue or performing a security update, routine maintenance needs attention. Additionally, an unmaintained website becomes susceptible to security breaches and vulnerable to hackers exposing your business to potential risks. The bottom line is a top performing website requires regular maintenance tasks to keep it up and running.
We offer comprehensive monthly maintenance plans along with incorporating SEO updates and analytics to keep your website performing at it’s best. Trust us to keep your website running smoothly and securely, allowing you to focus on your core business activities.
Let's take a quick quiz on some common website maintenance topics.
False - Broken links are common and will return a 404 Error. This occurs when the web page that you are linking to is renamed or deleted. External or outbound links are helpful in an overall SEO strategy but can be equally damaging when the link becomes broken. A maintenance program should include testing all internal and external links on a monthly basis.
False - Dated events, promotions and general news can become quickly outdated in today's digital information age. Search engines are constantly seeking out for new content with high quality and relevance and greatly contributes these as a ranking factor. Continuous maintenance updates is required to prevent a website from becoming outdated.
False - Updates of content, images and page additions are all important maintenance updates, but software updates are the most common monthly updates. CMS, Theme and Plugins are constantly being updated and need to be done so systematically to prevent your website from crashing. For example, updating WordPress to a newer version without making sure all your plugins are compatible with the new version will cause parts of you website to not function correctly.
True - Website security is the top reason to maintain a website and #1 priority of any webmaster. Cyberattacks can breach data, ruin your business reputation and cause loses up to 98% of your visitor traffic. Small business websites are the most vulnerable to attacks and malware infections as most business owners that maintain their own website don't keep up with software updates, SSL certificates, and compliance recommendations.
True - Analytics, trends and reports will provide information from a past period of time of visitor interactions and the source of acquisition they came from. This information along with keywords are insights of what is working and what needs to be fixed on your website. In doing so will improve your SEO and organic rankings in search engine results pages (SERP). A monthly maintenance plan should include continuous improvements to a SEO strategy.
False - The choice of a hosting service provider and their offered plan will have a direct impact on your website performance. However, closely related outdated software versions in your CMS, Theme and Plugins will decrease site performance and possibly cause a website to crash if not maintained properly.
Regular website maintenance is essential for the long-term success and effectiveness of a website.
Here are several benefits of keeping your website well-maintained:
- Improved Security: Regular updates to your website's software, plugins, and themes help protect it from security vulnerabilities. Neglecting updates can leave your site vulnerable to hackers and malware.
- Enhanced Performance: Routine maintenance can help optimize your website's performance. This includes optimizing images, cleaning up code, and reducing server load times, all of which improve user experience and SEO rankings.
- Content Freshness: Keeping your content up-to-date and relevant is crucial for retaining visitors and attracting new ones. Regularly updating your blog, news section, or product listings can also improve search engine rankings.
- Better User Experience: Ensuring that your website functions correctly and offers a seamless user experience is vital. Regular maintenance helps identify and fix broken links, 404 errors, and other issues that can frustrate users.
- Mobile Responsiveness: With the increasing use of mobile devices, maintaining a mobile-responsive design is essential. Regular updates can help ensure your website looks and works well on various screen sizes and devices.
- Improved SEO: Search engines favor websites that are well-maintained, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly. Regular maintenance helps improve your website's SEO, leading to better search engine rankings and increased organic traffic.
- Enhanced Analytics: Regularly reviewing website analytics can provide insights into user behavior, which can help you make informed decisions about content, design, and functionality improvements.
- Optimized Images: Compressing and optimizing images can reduce page load times, which is crucial for both user experience and SEO.
- Backup and Recovery: Regular backups of your website ensure that you can quickly recover your site in case of data loss, hacking, or other unforeseen issues.
- Compliance and Legal Issues: Staying up to date with privacy laws and regulations, such as GDPR, is essential. Regular maintenance can help you address compliance issues and avoid potential legal problems.
- Improved Accessibility: Ensuring that your website is accessible to people with disabilities is not only a legal requirement in many places but also a good practice. Regular maintenance can help you identify and fix accessibility issues.
- Cost-Efficiency: Regular maintenance can prevent major issues from occurring, saving you money in the long run. Fixing small problems as they arise is generally less expensive than dealing with a large-scale website overhaul.
- Better Brand Reputation: A well-maintained website reflects positively on your brand. It conveys professionalism and reliability, which can help build trust with your audience.
- Quick Response to Issues: Regular maintenance allows you to identify and address problems promptly, minimizing downtime and disruptions for your website users.
In summary, regular website maintenance is crucial for security, performance, user experience, and overall success. It helps you stay competitive, attract, and retain visitors, and ensure your website continues to meet your business goals.
More information on essential website maintenance can be found by clicking the below link.
Related Blog Posts:
15 Website Maintenance Ideas
10 Key Steps to Boost Website Performance
Plan and Execute a Successful Website Redesign
How Many Plugins Are Too Many?
Importance of Maintaining External Links
Top 10 Common Cybersecurity Threats
Website Performance Audits
Top 5 reasons why a website should be updated
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