3 reasons why your website needs consistent maintenance

Martha Warner Author

Is your website not performing as well as you had hoped? Help your website reach its full potential by implementing these 3 maintenance tasks.

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Photo by Philipp Katzenberger on Unsplash

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A few weeks ago, someone in one of my social media groups posted about how she hired all the right people to build her website strategy, but she still wasn’t happy with how her website was performing.

She is not alone. Often business owners think a website will save their business. But if it’s not converting to sales, it’s just another expense.

What’s the solution? There are a lot of issues that could lead to your website not converting, but one easy solution is to prioritize regular maintenance.

With how fast the online world is growing everyday (approximately 475,000 new users every day), it is not only something to think about, but a necessity to stay competitive in the digital world. Regular updates to your website will provide a positive user experience, higher search engine rankings, and protection from potential security threats.

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What is website maintenance?

Website maintenance includes tasks that should be done on a regular basis. You will be performing tasks that will help eliminate the possibility of a negative user experience.

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Tasks include:

• Checking to make sure all links are working properly and sending users to the correct spot.

• Updating content, including sharing contact information, posting to your blog, updating images to include alt text, adding in keywords and including external links.

• Checking for software and plugin updates to keep your website functioning properly and to improve your site speed.

• Backing up your website to ensure that you can recover your website in case you come across a problem or security issue.

There are numerous tasks that you can do to make sure your website is fully functioning. Check out 3 reasons why your website needs consistent maintenance.

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Positive user experience

Have you ever gone to a website but it takes forever to load, so you leave the page entirely and go to another site? According to Siteimprove, it only takes about 0.05 seconds for a user to generate an opinion about your website. So if it is not loading quickly, the user will likely move on. If the user isn’t happy with what they see, they are unlikely to visit your site in the future.

The way your website looks is also important to the user experience. Have you ever landed on a website to only be met with SO much going on that you don’t know where to start? Say there are ads in the sidebar with a bright pink background, or you click on something, and immediately 3 pop-ups show up on your screen. These are all sure fire ways to make your user run to the next business in their search.

Make sure your information is up to date. You don’t want to miss out on a potential lead because you forgot to update your email address, phone number, or social media handles. While you are checking your information, look around for misspellings or grammatical errors.

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To recap, you can improve your user experience by:

• Making sure your website is mobile friendly.

• Having a clear and concise layout.

• Keeping things clean and free of distractions..

• Publishing up-to-date information, free of misspelled words.

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Improve search engine rankings

If you want to be among the top results for when people search for your services, you need to make sure you are updating your website consistently and frequently.

Search engine rankings are based on how well your website ranks when someone goes to search a keyword. For example,let’s say someone searches for “website maintenance near me.” There are 2 companies in your town that provide these services.

One website company’s site loads within 2 seconds, and you notice that their website is easy to navigate from your phone. They also put out a weekly blog post, update their plugins every other week, and frequently check for broken links.

The other company has a website, but it is cluttered with ads. They don’t have a clear path for their users to find how to contact them, and they haven’t looked at the backend of their website in months. You can tell the site is outdated because the blogs say 2018, and the copyright date at the bottom says 2015. Also, when you land on their website, it seems to take almost 10 seconds for it to fully load. Once it’s loaded, you notice that there are a bunch of links that are giving an error when clicking on them.

Who do you think is going to show up first when someone uses the search “website maintenance near me?”

Of course it will be the first company. Search engines prioritize websites that are updated regularly because it shows them that you are currently operating and prioritize the customer experience.

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Protect your site from security threats

Website security is of utmost importance when deciding to build your online presence. On average, hackers try to gain access to websites every 39 seconds. Performing regular security updates will help protect you and your users' data. Create a schedule and keep track of when your website needs system and software updates.

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The longer it has been since your website software has been updated, the more time hackers have to find ways to access your website. Use verified themes, plugins, and software to lessen this risk.

Updating all the components of your website should be a part of your regular maintenance schedule. By performing consistent maintenance, you will save huge amounts of time, money, and worry that a security threat can bring.

Ways to improve your security:

• Install updates to your theme

• Look into plugin updates

• Have a secure and reliable hosting service

• Update your password often

• Backup your site frequently

• Utilize two-factor authentication

• Install a SSL certificate

• Perform regular security checks

Having regular, consistent maintenance on your to-do list will ensure that your website is up to date, running smoothly, and secure. You should be performing maintenance checks at least once a month, but if you have the capacity, more frequently is better.

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Don’t have time to worry about maintaining your website? Martha Warner, LLC has you covered! Maintain your website with confidence with one of our monthly service options.

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Categories: Website