Does Your Business Need a Website Maintenance Plan?
So, a new site is complete – congratulations! There are a lot of moving parts with a build, from coding to development to content.
However, if you want to attract and retain customers, you can’t use a “set it and end up forgetting it” mentality once the initial tasks are finished – marketing your small business is not merely about setting up a online presence.
It’s vital that you make a website maintenance plan a priority for your small company. Here are 4 explanations why:
- You wish to give you a good buyer experience.
Broken links, 404 pages, half-baked landing pages, slow loading times… these potential customers goes elsewhere whenever they don’t find what they’re seeking fast. The last thing you would like for your company is for customers to experience frustration.
Also, you’re not likely to build trust among buyers if you do not offer a good buyer experience – who’s planning to need to enter their charge card or contact details whenever your online presence looks neglected?
Your website will be the face of your respective business, so invest some time and into keeping it current. Monitor for glitches while focusing on adding fresh content like blogs, articles, events and testimonials as frequently as you can to provide a good consumer experience and reap the SEO benefits.
- It’s the step to security and safety.
You’re not just in charge of protecting your individual data, but you’re also responsible to your visitors’ information. Security requirements are always changing, and nobody is safe – even big brands are targets for cyber attacks and data breaches.
In late 2016, Uber announced the personal information of 57 million Uber users and 600,000 drivers ended up exposed by cyber thieves. To make matters worse, the company tried to hide the breach instead of report it.
In November 2018, Marriott International came forward with info that cyber criminals had stolen the data of approximately 500 million customers.
Since hackers get smarter all some time, you will need a program you can depend on and also hardwearing . online assets safe.
Being proactive and protecting your internet site might be much simpler than dealing with the devastation, disruption and huge costs of your hacked site, lost data and destroyed Google rankings.
The Security & Maintenance Plan includes:
• Continuous state-of-the-art monitoring and “next-generation application firewall” protection against spam, malware and also other malicious attempts
• Ongoing automatic backups of your respective site in the event it ever has to be restored
• Site checks for broken images and links so that it runs smooth and fast
• Regular updates of the WordPress site and plugins for optimal performance and security
• And much more…
- A secure backup can be a lifesaver.
A backup is often a saved copy of the site, whether or not it’s coming from a day ago or even a month ago. Backups are held in files or even in the cloud and will be restored as needed.
If you don’t possess a backup and your internet site is hacked and wiped, you’d must start again yourself. You wouldn’t want all of your effort to vanish, could you?
A big part of your respective website maintenance plan is using reliable tools to maintain your information safe.
- Software updates won’t wait.
Software is ever-changing, whether it’s plugins and themes that need updating or security programs.
Your site isn’t gonna run smoothly and you’ll be at risk of hackers if you do not remain on surface of software updates. The more often you update, the more unlikely you’re to have problems.
Keeping your software updated also ensures your website loads quickly when visitors arrive; speed posseses an influence on SEO.
Don’t miss vital leads or sales by neglecting content, security, backup and regular software updates.
Remember: the expense of repairing online issues will probably be more than the affordable maintenance costs you have to pay now!
Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web design and online marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She in concert with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support required to create their internet business presence.