Do I need website maintenance? Well, if you have a website, the answer is yes! Every website needs care, even the most basic of sites. Ensuring that your site stays up to date has many benefits. Without website maintenance, your site can fall into disrepair. It can put off potential customers and, at worst, leaving you open to criminal attack. Read on to learn why you need website maintenance.
Why you need website maintenance to keep your site in tip-top condition
Many people don’t consider that they must maintain their website after it’s built. Instead, they get a new shiny website that is the latest version of everything, which works fantastically. However, it can get outdated after months and years and start having issues. Think of a website just like a house, if you bought a new build house, it would be in excellent knick from the start, but you would always expect to do some work eventually. You clean the house, lightbulbs blow, a gutter comes loose, or the roof gets damaged in a storm; this is no different from a website. It needs to be maintained as the digital landscape changes, and your site needs to be updated with best practices.
Protect against security breaches
The most important reason you should maintain your website is to avoid security breaches. If we stick with the house analogy, doors, windows and locks can deteriorate over time, so you would ensure they are looked after to stop burglaries. The same happens with a website. If the framework, plugins, extensions or security improvements are not kept up to date, it is more likely to be a target of hackers.
Hackers scan websites for vulnerabilities such as no SSL certificate (the equivalent of having no locking doors) or out-of-date plugins (like leaving a window open). Just as technology develops, so do the tricks criminals use to undermine websites (jimmying a lock with a card vs using an electronic device to open keypad locks). Maintaining your website’s integrity can stave off the most severe security threats.
Read how a website audit can uncover these issues if you are unsure what to look for.
Improve site speed
An outdated website risks being hacked, but it’s also one of the number one causes of a slow website. Whether through the framework or plugins, if your website uses ancient code, it causes more strain on its resources. By preserving the integrity of your website infrastructure, you can keep the site as fast as possible. But maintenance isn’t just about the structure of the site. It’s also about changes to content. For example, if you delete content such as images or pages, too many redirects and 404s can add to the site’s slowness. While not the most significant impact, ensuring that any website tidy-up is done in a considered manner can ensure your site isn’t impacted long term.
Ensure function and design work
Probably the most fundamental to site upkeep is ensuring your website works for its users. Whether from a functional or design perspective, website maintenance provides a stable environment for your site.
Out-of-date code can impact specific website functions and stop them from working. For example, features such as an online shop, contact forms, a map or even a simple hyperlink can stop working without updates. The same is true of design features. Design aspects of a site are controlled by code, just like functions and structure. So, out-of-date frameworks can skew designs, stop fonts from working and even remove elements altogether.
If you don’t know what you are doing regarding website maintenance, you can cause these issues yourself, even when you think you are updating a site. So, it’s always best to work with an experienced web developer to keep your site up-to-date.
Get things fixed quicker
Another benefit of a website maintenance service is that when something goes wrong on your site, you have someone at hand to fix it. To begin with, if your site is being kept up to date on at least a monthly basis, then it’s less likely that something will go wrong with the site’s basic functionality. Secondly, when you outsource your website maintenance, you have someone on hand to help you, usually straight away.
If you have no maintenance and your site suddenly crashes, it can cause much more stress as you scramble to find a solution. If your site gets wholly destroyed through a successful hacking attempt, sometimes you will never be able to retrieve the information for the site. This could cost you thousands to rebuild and thousands more in lost revenue. Be smart; keep your website maintained.
Why you need to outsource website maintenance services
You now understand why you need website maintenance if you’ve read this article. However, the primary message is that you need to outsource your website maintenance. This is because most business and website owners do not have the expertise or experience to handle website maintenance. It’s NOT as simple as clicking the update button in your admin dashboard. There is so much more to it, including research on compatibility and viability and work on hosting setups and backups.
It’s always best to start website maintenance from the start when a new website is built. But if you’ve had your website for many years and don’t know where to start, I recommend a technical website audit to highlight any issues on your site. Get in touch to discuss an audit or website maintenance advice.