Let’s have a look at website maintenance and why it is so important to do it on a regular basis and to get it right. Get it wrong and your business will suffer!
1. Corporate Brand & Image
Your corporate image or brand depends upon your website performing properly. If information is out-of-date or simply wrong, you will end up losing both reputation and business. If your hyperlinks do not work you will miss out on customers being able to contact you or they will not be able to buy your products. Checking these on a regular basis should be a standard task.
2. Security
All websites are open to attack from hackers and other malicious internet users. Attacks may come in all guises. Keeping your website’s core software, as well as any themes and plugins, fully patched is of vital importance to keep your website as well protected as possible. But how do you go about this? What happens if an update causes your website to crash? How do you deal with this scenario? Taking back-ups is, of course, something which should be done as standard before any work is done on your website. If you are competent with keeping your website updated, it is easy enough to do yourself. However, why not let White Media handle this for you. It only takes one thing to go wrong to cause an even bigger problem!
3. Business Continuity
Are you sure that your contact forms and call-to-action buttons are working as expected? If any of them lead to off-site destinations, you are vulnerable to third-party changes. Regular checks on these forms and buttons should be made, or you could find that your customers are not able to contact you, or are unable to enter your sales funnel.
4. Payments & eCommerce
You must make sure your shopping cart and checkout processes are working correctly. If one of these steps fails, you could be losing out on important business and income. The simplest method to check this is to purchase one of your own products through your own online shop. This will show you the exact route your clients will be going through and will thus enable you to spot any problems if they exist.
5. Content
Your website will be partially ranked on how up-to-date its content is. If no new content is added, you will almost certainly see your website slipping down the Google rankings. Adding in new pages or posts will help you keep current and therefore hold on to your top search rankings.
Summary
Website maintenance is not rocket science, but it can be time-consuming and boring – never mind expensive to rectify if it goes wrong. If website maintenance is not for you, ask White Media how we can support you. You can rest easy in the knowledge that we can provide you with different levels of support, dependent on your needs.
Contact us today for more information.
