So your new site is complete, congratulations! There are many moving parts to a build, from coding to design to content.
However, if you want to attract and retain customers, you can’t have a “set it and forget it” mentality after the initial work is done – marketing your business isn’t just about creating a web presence.
It is critical that a website maintenance plan is a priority for your small business. Here are 4 reasons why:
1. You want to offer a good user experience.
Broken links, 404 pages, half landing pages, slow loading times … your visitors will go elsewhere if they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly. The last thing you want for your business is for customers to experience frustration.
Plus, you won’t build trust among shoppers if you don’t deliver a good user experience – who will want to enter your credit card or contact information when your online presence seems sloppy?
Your website is the face of your business, so invest time and energy to keep it up to date. Monitor for glitches and focus on adding new content like blogs, articles, events, and testimonials as often as possible to provide a good user experience and reap the benefits of SEO.
2. It is the key to safety and security.
You are not only responsible for protecting your own data, but you are also responsible for the information of your visitors. Security requirements are constantly changing and no one is safe, even large brands are targets of cyberattacks and data breaches.
In late 2016, Uber announced the personal information of 57 million Uber users and 600,000 drivers had been exposed by cyber thieves. To make matters worse, the company tried to hide the violation rather than report it.
In November 2018, Marriott International released information that cybercriminals had stolen the data of approximately 500 million customers.
Since hackers get smarter all the time, you need a program that you can trust to keep your online assets safe.
Being proactive and protecting your website is now much easier than dealing with the devastation, disruption, and huge costs of a hacked site, lost data, and destroyed Google rankings.
The safety and maintenance plan includes:
• Continuous next-generation monitoring and “next-generation application firewall” protection against spam, malware, and other malicious attempts
• Continuous automatic backups of your site in case it needs to be restored
• The site checks for broken links and images to keep it running smoothly and quickly.
• Regular updates to your WordPress site and plugins for optimal performance and security
• And much more …
3. A safe backup is a lifesaver.
A backup is a saved copy of your site, either from a day or a month ago. Backups are stored in files or in the cloud and can be restored if required.
If you don’t have a backup and your website has been hacked and erased, you will have to start from scratch. You wouldn’t want all your hard work to go away, would you?
A big part of your website maintenance plan is using reliable tools to keep your information safe.
4. Software updates won’t wait.
The software is constantly changing, be it add-ons and themes that need updating or security programs.
Your site won’t run smoothly and you will also be vulnerable to hackers if you don’t stay on top of software updates. The more often you update, the less likely you are to have problems.
Keeping your software up-to-date also ensures that your site loads quickly when visitors arrive; speed has an impact on SEO.
Don’t lose leads or sales by neglecting content, security, backups, and regular software updates.
Remember: the cost of repairing problems online will be greater than the affordable maintenance costs you pay now!