Running a website takes a lot more effort than just setting it up, which is why it is important to have a plan for your website maintenance. Your website is a huge part of your business and you want to ensure it’s running as smoothly as possible.
Clients and customers are much more likely to engage with your website and make purchases if they find your website easy to navigate and running quickly and, as such, it will need maintaining!
In this article, we’re going to take a look at what website maintenance actually is and why it is important for you. To find out more, keep reading now!
What Is Website Maintenance?
So, what is website maintenance?
A website, though not a physical thing, needs maintenance like any other tool in your life. Website maintenance is essentially taking good care of your site. Like putting oil in your car and air in your tyres, maintaining your site ensures the smooth running of it and reduces the risk of breakdowns later down the line.
Website maintenance may be done by you, or you could outsource this service to a company that specialises in website maintenance.
What Does Maintenance Include?
Website maintenance includes a range of different things. These include:
- Updating content and putting out further quality content
- Ensuring that both internal and external links are working
- Fixing bugs and errors
- Security updates
- Boosting traffic growth
- Backing up your website
There are lots of different things that you need to do to maintain your website and it can seem like a lot of work. We would always recommend outsourcing this work if you find the idea overwhelming. It would give you more time to work on growing your business in other ways too!
Why Is Maintenance Important?
Website maintenance is important for quite a variety of reasons. Below, we have summarized all the ways it is important that you maintain your website. Take a look now to learn more.
Your Website Represents Your Business
We don’t need to remind you that your website is one of the first experiences your clients have with your business. Before they experience your services or receive your products, they engage with your website. If your website is slow, difficult to navigate, or just not working, people are going to be put off your business quickly.
Think about the websites you visit. Is there anything that you find annoying? Do you really hate slow loading sites? A lot of common annoyances on websites can be fixed with simple maintenance. Give your clients the best experience you can by ensuring your site is running smoothly.
You Want To Give Your Customers A Good Experience
If your website reflects your business then you want to reflect it well, right?
When you’re building your business, you’ve probably thought about everything from your branding to your marketing to the packaging a customer receives your products in. Whatever your business does, customer experience is integral to its success.
As we discussed above, there are many little things that annoy people on websites. Make sure your website doesn’t have these! Make it easy to navigate, make sure clients can find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible, and make sure that all the customers who log onto your page experience your business at its absolute best.
It Encourages Web Traffic
Website maintenance isn’t just about giving your current customers a good experience either, it’s about drawing in a new client base.
A smooth-running site without any bugs or errors is actually a fantastic way of moving your website up the Google search rankings. Climbing search engine rankings is in your best interest because the higher up you go, the more visible you are to potential clients.
If your website is within the top five search results on Google, then people are going to click through to your site, which is why you should maintain your site as best as possible.
Enhances Your Security
When you build your site, you’re probably not thinking about cybercrime and the chances of hacking, but you should be. Website maintenance can ensure that you keep your security as up to date as possible putting you at less risk of hacking.
Being a victim of cybercrime can be detrimental to businesses of any size. It can mean loss of revenue, loss of customers, and data theft. For small businesses, this could actually lead to irreversible damage.
Schedule regular website maintenance that also involves security updates to protect yourself from hacks and other forms of cybercrime.
Protecting Yourself And Your Company
When you build your site, you’re probably not thinking about cybercrime and the chances of hacking, but you should be. Website maintenance can ensure that you keep your security as up to date as possible putting you at less risk of hacking.
Being a victim of cybercrime can be detrimental to businesses of any size. It can mean loss of revenue, loss of customers, and data theft. For small businesses, this could actually lead to irreversible damage.
Schedule regular website maintenance that also involves security updates to protect yourself from hacks and other forms of cybercrime.
Should I Outsource My Website Maintenance?
Website maintenance, when done right, takes time, money, and expert knowledge. Outsourcing this work can help your business to grow and save you money.
Handing off your website maintenance to experts gives you the free time to grow your business in other ways. Whether you want to focus on new products or your marketing strategy, you’ve now got the time!
You also avoid needing to hire extra help. You may not have the expertise on your current team to do your own website maintenance. Instead of hiring an in-house team, you could save money by outsourcing to a company that has the knowledge to maintain your website.
Final Thoughts
Website maintenance is important for your business in lots of ways. It can help you save money, keep your customers, and grow your client base.
If you’re struggling with your own website maintenance, why not check out our website hosting and maintenance services to see how we could help keep your website running as smoothly as possible.
Hi I’m Alex, Blog and PR Copywriter