Are you a business owner managing a website? Perhaps you have an ecommerce store and you’re keen to convert as many customers as possible. If so, then you need to make sure that you are getting your website maintained regularly. Website maintenance should be a ritual and part of your typical routine or website schedule. If you don’t do this, you will run into a number of issues that can be avoided. So, let’s look at some of the big benefits of website maintenance and the disasters that you can completely remove from the equation.
Keeping Check
You might think that your site is running beautifully. No issues, no errors, no web pages not appearing and no images failing to load. However we promise you no matter how many times you check, you will always miss a few errors. These could be minor or significant from a broken link to a broken page. Even a minor issue to you could have a significant impact on the impression customers have of your business. A website that is poorly maintained suggests a low level of management and is the last thing customers want if they are thinking about investing in a product or service. Similarly, it could be a crucial page or link related to sales and conversions. This is just a taster of the importance of quality website maintenance.
Staying Up To Date
It doesn’t matter what platform you started with, they are all updated regularly. The platform that you invested in two years ago is not the same one that your website is now running on. It had probably even had significant changes within the last couple of months or weeks! So, you need to make sure that you are getting it maintained and changing your site according to the most recent updates. This could be relevant to SEO, usability, or the performance of site pages. It will also likely be crucial for security and we will discuss this problem a little further down.
Back It Up
When you maintain your site, experts won’t just be checking for issues. Instead, they will be making sure that there is a full backup of your website. This backup will contain all the data, the information and the crucial parts that are needed if your site ever fails. Technical issues that cause data loss on websites are common while cyber attacks are becoming far more prevalent. Without a backup, your website can be down and unusable for months. With a backup, you can be up and running again in a matter of moments.
Stay Secure
This is one of the most significant reasons that your site needs regular maintenance. As a business owner or simply a website manager, you need to make security a top priority. There is no business that is not vulnerable to this issue but poor site maintenance leaves you particularly open to an attack.
Without site maintenance, you will be leaving holes and gaps in your defenses. These can be exposed and then utilized by hackers to gain critical information. This data could be relevant to you or worse, your customers. It only takes one security breach and your brand image is irreparably damaged.
With site maintenance, your software will be up to date with the latest security patches and the newest bugs will be resolved. Remember, security updates are introduced as regularly as possible to stay up to date with developing cyber crime technology. If you fall behind on updates you will become a target for criminals online.
Keeping your site secure will also allow you to demonstrate you care about your customers. They want to buy from a business that puts their concerns and priorities at the forefront of their goals. Staying up to date and secure is a brilliant way to do this.
Maintain Your Ranking
Yes, maintaining your site could even be relevant to SEO. When a site is well maintained it will run more effectively, it will be a faster load and it will ensure that it provides a fantastic user experience. So, customers will stay on your site longer and potentially recommend your website through reviews or online discussions. This is all going to lead to a greater ranking online. It’s important to note that Google wants to make sure that they are showcasing high-quality sites for their users. Maintaining your site is one of the best ways you can show you are committed to providing a quality experience.
Usability
It’s not just about SEO because maintenance can also ensure that you are sending the right message to your user base. A well-maintained site will boost SEO and this will bring more traffic, but what happens next? Then you need to make sure that customers stick around to make a purchase. Maintenance helps here too by ensuring that they can easily and quickly find exactly what they are searching for from your web pages. Rather than spending hours searching or, more likely, clicking away, they will be able to discover a product or solution in minutes.
Appearance Is Everything
Do not underestimate the little details when it comes to your customers. They will notice small, errors or problems with your site. They will wonder why your website seems to be out of date compared to others on the market and they will then turn their attention to competitors. The bottom line here is that a well-maintained site sends the right killer impression. You may also find that a poorly maintained site contradicts messages in your marketing or your brand image. For instance, how can your brand be modern and chic if your website is running on software from 2008?
Saving Money
Technology is constantly evolving and this does mean that eventually, you will need to adapt your site accordingly. You can do this every couple of years with a massive overhaul, but this can be incredibly expensive. Smaller updates that would have taken minutes become tremendous projects that require hours of work. You’ll find building up the changes over time will save you a lot of money and easily fit even the most moderate business budget. It can be a monthly cost and you’ll be able to find custom management packages ideal for your individual needs and concerns.
We hope you see now why website maintenance is absolutely crucial for you as an owner. There are many solutions out there for you as a site owner. From WP Curve, to ManageWP. A simple search for Website Maintenance will find hundreds of options – one such service is our very own Site Fixer service. We developed it for Divi a few years back to offer premium support and now after over 1,000 fixes, we changed the name from DiviFixr to Site Fixer. Just a few days after the launch of Site Fixer we have already performed numerous fixes along with gaining traction in site maintenance contracts. If you are a web developer, Agency or Direct client that is having issues with any website you are in charge of – feel free to try our service. Or, simply search the web and make your own decision based on your own research.
