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Why is website maintenance important?

Website maintenance is the routine inspection, updating, and preservation of your live website. There may be a record amount of visitors to your website, a record-low bounce rate, and unheard-of purchases. Your website still has to be managed and maintained. Your website could go down for no apparent reason, which would be disastrous. An easy case in point would be if your Wordpress installation was out of date and un-updated, allowing hackers to access your website and steal all the passwords and confidential information of your customers.

What website maintenance options are there?

The type, size, and functionality of your website will all affect the response to this query. For instance, Adidas would have their own internal maintenance team made up of IT professionals who would handle all maintenance in the background. For more difficult maintenance concerns, a lone proprietor with no IT skills and an e-commerce website would need to hire a professional.

Depending on your time constraints, someone with less expertise should be able to complete the following tasks:

  • Checking to ensure that the content is still relevant and up to date.
  • Checking for broken links via a third-party application such as Screaming Frog. Downloading their software and entering the URL you want to check is all that is required to do this.
  • Examining your website on main browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Safari on various devices (iPad, Android, iPhone, PC, etc.) to ensure that it displays properly.

You might need outside expertise for the following tasks:

  • A simple marketing website with just a few pages including largely graphics and text may usually be managed using a content management system such as Wordpress or Process Wire. Even learning how to fix a broken link may be too challenging for someone with little to no website knowledge.
  • If the coding for your website was poorly organised and poorly constructed. This can make updating and maintaining it very challenging.
  • Updates to software. Updates and patches must be installed appropriately because doing so can have major effects on your website.   

Browser compatibility issues can be fairly difficult to resolve; frequently, they will entail one or more of the following:

  • HTML/CSS issues
  • JavaScript problems
  • Problems with the back-end code
  • Issues with 3rd party plug-in

Enhancing your search engine ranks A lot of this material, including suggestions for enhancing inbound links, writing text that is keyword-optimized, and internal linking, may be found online. The primary problem with SEO is how long it takes to complete effectively.

The decision to outsource website maintenance ultimately rests on your time limits, level of expertise, and ability to pay a trustworthy web design company.       

How frequently should I upgrade my website?

There is no precise response. It would be wise to perform maintenance on your website at least once a month on average.

The amount of upkeep needed for a website depends on a wide range of variables. An eCommerce website designed with WordPress that you would wish to examine at least once a week will require far more maintenance than a simple marketing website with no CMS and only basic information.

Common symptoms and difficulties related with a lack of maintenance

Bounce rate that keeps growing - If your bounce rate keeps growing, there may be problems with your website. If there are issues with your site that prevent users from completing their goals, they will depart.

Broken links - These are easily avoidable, in addition to being bothersome and upsetting. External links change or disappear over time. Broken links are such a simple situation to prevent. Simply type "broken link checker" into Google for free, all-around assistance.

Out-of-date information - Once more, this is easily avoidable and presents a bad impression. It merely communicates to your website's viewers that I don't care about my website and am too busy to even check or update it. Over time, as businesses and the external environment evolve, information might become outdated or be wholly false.

Another effect of obsolete information is that it is not in line with your company's aims:- Using ID Studio as an example, one of our primary search phrases is "web design London," which is now entirely unnecessary. Previously, it might have been "Flash web development." The content you are currently advertising and targeting should be reflected in the text, graphics, descriptions, and links.

Slow website performance - A slow-loading website isn't always the result of carelessness; it could also be the result of how it was developed or designed. This won't be a problem if you use a reputable London web design firm like ID Studio:-) If a website is performing slowly, maintenance concerns could be:

  • Unreliable hosting
  • Overuse of plugins
  • The hacking of your website
  • A lack of analytics results in more traffic than your present system can handle.
  • Using outdated, less effective versions, a CMS
  • Using outdated software/plugins

Out-of-date security - Due to known defects that have not been "patched" and exploited, outdated software security might lead to potential cyber-attacks.

Plugins that are no longer in use - You will frequently get a notification that the software has been updated; this is especially true with WordPress. The following problems could arise if your plugins are not updated:

  • Software flaws that may be fixed are not being fixed
  • Hackers are more likely to target your website.
  • Due to lack of support, your plugins will no longer function.
  • Your website's speed may drop significantly, which could cause UX problems.
  • Your website will completely stop functioning.

Technologies that are no longer supported — A notable example is Flash, which Adobe has also stopped supporting along with web browsers! The removal of outdated and unnecessary technologies will be ensured via good maintenance.

There are no website backups - Numerous recent backups of a well-maintained website will be present, some of which will be safely stored off the company's premises.

Checking websites automatically

Software is used for automated website testing to evaluate the performance of your website. Humans manually check items off a checklist or travel through different parts of a website. Fortunately, a lot of the automation tools that can be used to check the functionality of your website are free. At ID Studio, we've discovered that testing the website both manually and with a number of automated technologies works well. Here is a list of several that we adopt:

  • Google speed test
  • Ahrefs
  • Keyword density
  • Mobile-friendly test
  • Screaming frog

Who is inspecting your web host?

Website hosting is a vitally important yet much ignored subject. When was the last time you looked at the items below?

  • How often does your website go down?
  • How many websites use your server in total?
  • Is SSL protection offered?
  • What form of security do they provide?
  • What location hosts your website?
  • Do they offer sufficient backups for your website?
  • Can they grow with the demands of your website?
  • Exist any better options available?

The mentioned factors could all affect how well your website performs and how much you pay.

Advantages of Website Maintenance Businesses

SEO - Search engine algorithms change periodically, and if you don't stay up, you can get bad search engine results. Business circumstances also vary, and by regularly updating your website, you can continue to address the newest trends and market demands.

Security - The most recent upgrades and patches will guard your website against known vulnerabilities. By staying current with the most recent changes, you can assist to secure your site from hackers who are continuously hunting for potential weak spots. This does not imply that your website is immune to hacking.

Business image - As previously said, badly maintained websites may be slow, contain out-of-date material, appear dated, or, in the worst situation, fail to function at all. By regularly updating your website, you give visitors an engaging, contemporary experience that will impress and keep them on your page.

Keeps it fresh - If content does not change, visitors will stop coming. So, provide them with engaging stuff. Give them a cause to return by providing the newest trends, product details, surveys, etc.

Improved UX — By maintaining an up-to-date website, there should be few usability difficulties and a great user experience.

Utilize contemporary technologies - Website technology is ever-evolving, therefore it's important to keep up with the latest developments to impress your audience and enhance user experience.

Website that loads faster - Improved website loading times are a result of using the most recent software, fixes, and optimization techniques.

Website maintenance should not be considered a hassle; rather, it is a preventative strategy that, if neglected, can result in lost sales, damage to your brand and reputation, or even failure.