When was the last time you had a look at your website to see how it is functioning? If you can’t remember, then it has definitely been too long.
Website wellness is a term that you often hear but not many people fully understand. However, it is crucial to your site’s success and user experience.
If you are guilty of letting your website maintenance slide or have noticed a few issues cropping up here and there that you want to nip in the bud, then the guide below is just what you need.
Read on to discover:
- What exactly is website maintenance?
- Why is website maintenance important?
- What are the most important website maintenance tasks?
- How often should you carry out website maintenance for best results?
What is website maintenance?
Website maintenance, as the name suggests, is the process of keeping your website up to date and running smoothly. There are many tasks involved in the maintenance of a website, all of which help keep your site performing as it should be. Some website management tasks need to be carried out regularly; these are often referred to as general housekeeping tasks, whereas others only need to be done once or twice a year. You can choose to carry out any maintenance in-house, or, for a more professional job, hire Magecloud.agency to do the leg work for you.
Why is website maintenance important?
If maintaining your website seems like another chore you could do without, you may be interested to know more about why it is so important.
Improved user experience
Did you know that for every $1 you spend on user experience, you can expect a $100 return on investment? Through the use of effective website management, you can make your site easier to navigate and more visually appealing, which, in turn, improves the user experience.
Creation of fresh content
By adding fresh content to your website, you can ensure that your website remains relevant, helping to improve your rankings on search engine results pages.
Enhanced technical performance
If you want your website to perform well, it needs to function properly and be available to all users. This includes the monitoring and fixing of any technical issues that may be flagged up during a website audit.
Increased brand reputation
A poorly maintained website reflects badly on your business, damaging its reputation and potentially resulting in a loss of customers. On the other hand, when you take the time to properly maintain your site, it helps to build trust and increase customer loyalty.
What are the most important website maintenance tasks?
Security updates
To make sure there are no vulnerabilities in your software that could leave you at risk of data breaches, it is vital that you schedule regular security updates. Ensure you install the relevant security patches as soon as they are available.
Plug in updates
Plug-in and theme updates help extend your website’s functionality and ensure that it is compatible with the latest web browsers and security patches. Again, make sure you update any relevant software as and when requested.
Content updates
To make sure that your website is relevant and up-to-date, you need to update its content. As well as adding new blog posts consistently, you should also take the time to update your product descriptions and remove any outdated content.
Backup and disaster recovery
Backup and disaster recovery are important in case anything goes wrong with your website and can save you a lot of money and stress. Disaster recovery plans can help to get your website up and running again in the event of a disaster such as a flood or fire and a backup plan helps to prevent data loss.
Performance monitoring
Performance monitoring can help you identify any potential problems with your site before they impact your business too much. This type of monitoring should include checking page loading times, your site’s responsiveness, and optimizing image sizes.
User management
If you allow your customers to sign up as users of your business via your website, you need to manage their accounts. This includes creating new accounts, deleting inactive ones, and managing permissions.
Accessibility testing
You need to make sure that your site is accessible for everyone, including people using their mobile devices or tablets, those who have a poor internet connection, and users with disabilities.
The easiest way to ensure this is by regularly testing your site’s accessibility and making any necessary additions or adjustments.
How often should you carry out website maintenance for best results?
The frequency at which you need to carry out website maintenance depends on the size of your site, its complexity, and the number of updates that are made. However, as a general rule, you should carry out routine website maintenance at least once a month and more frequently if you have the time and resources to do so. It is worth noting that some website maintenance tasks can be automated, such as security scanning and uptime monitoring which can save you time and money in the long run.
