Having an online presence for your business in some way, shape or form is essential in this digital day in age, but did you know maintaining your website is just as important? This isn’t just for big changes like in the case your business moves into a new direction or rebrands itself with a whole new ‘look’, it can be simple little things that make a big difference to online visitors and your business.
Just like cars, websites require maintenance to operate properly. Properly maintaining your site helps to ensure site security, increase the number of new visitors, boost returning traffic, and more.
It Improves Security
Security is the main reason that website maintenance is so important. If your organization is using a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla or WordPress, you will want to ensure that your site is keeping up with software patches and security updates. Failing to do so gives hackers the chance to steal data from your site.
Customer Retention
Keeping the content on your website updated, and making sure there are no broken links (links to pages that no longer work), keeps your customers engaged and helps to make sure they don’t get frustrated and go to your competitors’ better maintained website.
Websites today are never really “complete”, they must constantly be updated with fresh content in order to engage and grow your audience.
Software Updates
Most websites today – even though they are easy to edit – are complex software applications. Just like the operating system on your computer, they need to be kept up to date for security and performance reasons. In WordPress websites, this means regularly updating the core software as well as any plugins and themes (there is generally at least one official WordPress update every month). When doing so, always perform a backup first. That way, if there’s a hiccup, you can roll back to a working site version.
Take Advantage of New Features
Website technology is evolving fast. In recent years, it has become increasingly important to have features on your site that integrate with social media because of how much traffic it can send your way. Online security is another area that’s fast-moving. You will need to invest in securing your site with an SSL certificate that will encrypt communications to assure customers their personal details are safe with you.
Conclusion
Trying to handle your own website maintenance is like trying to fix your own car. Sure, some people are equipped to do it, but most people are better off leaving it to professionals. After all – the success of your website AND your business rides heavily on your website being a valuable source of information. Don’t let it slip by the wayside.
