Your website needs maintenance for technical advancements and security patches
Keep your eye on the ball! You’ve got a shiny new website – but it won’t stay shiny forever unless you look after it.
We see many people assuming that a website should never break down the line, and it’s the responsibility of the developer to freely fix it if a problem arises. In truth, this isn’t the case.
If you don’t get everything checked at least once a month (depending on the size of your website) to look at quickly rectifying potential problems, you could actually make a 5 minute tweak into a costly quoted fix.
The technology world is ever changing – and you have to keep up with it. You wouldn’t expect your old VHS cassette tapes to still work with your Sky TV would you? It’s the same with your website code and the plugins being used.
Look at your website maintenance like you do your car and getting an MOT.
The most common thing we see when customers come back for a ‘website MOT’ is the addition of unnecessary plugins, and lack of updates to vital plugins not being done.
Because of this, the website has slowed, there’s since been problems with elements of the site not working / breaking and in some cases – has caused a security breach and the website has been hacked.
As mentioned in the post ‘Super boost your website security’ – plugins can be fantastic tools when treated with knowledge and care. When you download a plugin, you are agreeing that this third party provider is responsible for looking after their own security, and issuing patch updates – that you then have to action with the update button.
If there is a bug within their code or their security patch doesn’t come out quick enough – your own website also comes at risk.
ManageWP advises on how you can best do an audit of your WordPress plugins, including how you can do your own simple background checks on the developers of the plugins. This will help you to ensure that their processes meet modern standards, they have plenty of supportive reviews and that their plugin updates are frequent.
When maintaining your website with Reddy; we’ll advise you of what plugins can be removed (potentially improving your website speed and reducing subscription costs) and have it coded in manually. We’ll also update any plugins you haven’t already, to ensure your website is as up to date as possible. It’s important to remember, the more complex and ‘jazzy’ your website is – the more frequent you should keep an eye on it’s maintenance.
Perhaps your ready to enhance the features on your website?
When we run a website maintenance health check, we’ll also be able to have a catch up and advise you on the next strategic steps to grow your online business. We can also discuss additional functionality and new content sections that can be built into your website. Perhaps…
- You’re ready to install live chat or a reviews tool
- You’re website could do with some SEO enhancement pointers
- Maybe you’ve expanded your services and you need to create more landing pages to promote them
- Perhaps you want to start offering free downloads with bespoke lead baits
- You could even be ready to connect your website to an automated email marketing tool to stay in touch with your growing customer base and get them back for returning business
- Or maybe, you’re just looking for a bit of a design refresh to keep things looking new and eye catching to your users?
Your website is an online marketing tool – invest in it
If you think your website is completed, you’re wrong. A good website is never finished!
You should always be maintaining your content to support your rankings on search engines whilst taking onboard the feedback that you’re customers have so far given you. You should expand or streamline your website to improve the existing customer experience and draw in new leads.
