The Importance of Ongoing Maintenance for Your Website
Once you’ve built a website that you’re happy with you’re done and dusted, right? Wrong.
Just like buying a brand new car, the way to keep a website running its smoothest is by investing in ongoing maintenance. You wouldn’t ignore an engine light, or go a few years without a car service, so why would you forget about your website?
It makes sense to consistently tweak and update your site rather than waiting for its metaphorical engine to break down. Website maintenance is just part of running an online business. Still need convincing? Here’s why.
“Ongoing maintenance costs money. But it also makes money, and without it, you lose potential customers. “
Security
You might think hackers only go for high-value sites to steal thousands of credit card numbers or passwords. But the truth is, most go for smaller sites that are easier to break by uploading malware to the website. This causes issues for not just your business, but your customers too.
Hackers exploit weaknesses and bugs in outdated software and security patches. The best way to safeguard yourself against any hacks is to always make sure the latest bug fixes, software and security patches are installed on your site. If you’re using a professional to manage your website, they’ll already be on top of this, giving you peace of mind your data and customers are secure.
Aesthetics
If your website’s theme and template files are old and outdated, they may not display properly on new versions of web browsers and mobile devices. Which is a bad look. In fact, if your website’s not set up for mobile, Google may not list your business when a user is searching from a mobile device.
Dated web design also makes your brand look cheap, old and ultimately untrustworthy. Plus, any glitches or bug fixes that aren’t fixed might actually prevent people from being able to complete a transaction.
Ask yourself, are there recent, actionable items like an e-newsletter sign-up or links to all of your social icons? And are these icons updated to reflect the latest logo design? All of these small tweaks add to the credibility of your site.
Search Engine Traffic and SEO
“A regular, well-written blog is a gold mine for increasing search engine traffic.”
Google spiders, also known as web crawlers or internet bots, are constantly crawling sites to see if they’re being ranked correctly. For many businesses, their ranking directly affects their income.
Content that is correct and up-to-date is a big green tick for the Google spiders, so part of your ongoing maintenance should be updating and posting new content to supplement your older content. A regular, well-written blog is a gold mine for increasing search engine traffic.
Ongoing maintenance and updates result in better SEO, which means Google recognises you’re a solid website, meaning you rank higher, and resulting in more conversions.
Customer Interest
Keeping your website agile and exciting maintains customer interest in your brand. When you add a new feature to the website like a blog post, e-newsletter, or new product range, you can promote this through your marketing channels to get more traffic to your site.
Ongoing maintenance costs money. But it also makes money, and without it, you lose potential customers.
Sure, you could call up your agency every time something goes wrong or you receive negative feedback. But is that really a good use of your time? Regular ongoing maintenance is part of running a business that has a presence digitally—it’s as simple as that.