A visually appealing website design is vital for any business looking to thrive online. However, simply having an aesthetically pleasing site is not enough. Without proper ongoing maintenance, your website’s performance will suffer, impacting its SERP ranking potential, security, and user experience, ultimately resulting in the loss of potential leads and revenue.
In today’s digital age, website maintenance is essential. Recurring maintenance ensures that your website runs smoothly, with faster load times and a more enjoyable user experience overall. Regular maintenance can also help protect your website from cyber-attacks and security breaches, instilling trust in your customers and sustaining business operations.
In this article, we’ll explore the importance of website maintenance, how it impacts your digital presence, and offer best practices in ensuring that your company’s website is optimized for success.
What is Website Maintenance?
Web maintenance is the process of keeping your website up-to-date and running smoothly. This involves tasks such as updating CRM themes, updating plugins, fixing broken links, regularly backing up your website, and monitoring the analytics of your site’s technical performance.
Without a regular website maintenance plan, your site will perform at a suboptimal level. Plugins that are outdated, for instance, can cause compatibility issues and promote security risks, while an expired installation can open the door to hacking and cyber threats. A neglected website won’t just run poorly – outdated content and broken links can give your site an abandoned, unprofessional feel that visitors and search engines alike will surely take notice of.
If you need a little hard data to drive home the point of proper site maintenance, here are a few stats that illustrate just what’s at stake:
- 94% of first impressions are related to the web design and functionality of your site
- 87% of consumers conduct online research prior to a purchase
- A poor user experience on a website leads 89% of consumers to seek alternative options (i.e., your competitors)
- 82% of people exit unsecured websites (or those with expired SSL certificates)
- Cyberattacks and security breaches cost U.S. companies over $15 million per year
Consequences of Not Having a Website Maintenance Plan
Failing to invest in regular website maintenance services can lead to numerous issues with your online presence. In addition to those aforementioned risks, other concerning problems include:
- Performance issues: slow site speed, broken images and links, 404 errors, and outdated plugins
- Compatibility issues: mobile and desktop rendering issues, poor user experience
- Website Security risks: data breaches, malware, bugs, and more.
It’s important to note that one of the most overlooked consequences of poor website maintenance is how it can impact SEO. Search engines like Google and Bing take into account more than just content—website functionality is a key factor in your website’s page rank as well.
Even if you have quality content that is continually updated, if your website has slow load times, distorted images, broken links, or security vulnerabilities, your SEO rank will be negatively affected. Pairing quality SEO-friendly content with proper web maintenance, however, will not only drive more traffic and facilitate sales, but it will improve customer retention rates as well.
Best Practices Employed by Web Maintenance Services
The two most common questions from business owners considering website maintenance services are: “Do I really need someone to manage my website?” and “What does website maintenance include?”
Although it’s certainly possible to perform all the necessary site maintenance yourself, it can be a time-consuming task that, quite frankly, many business owners don’t have the energy or time to engage in. Those tasks include:
- Regular website backups
- Updating software and plugins
- Bug fixes and malware protection
- Fixing broken links and images
- Hosting and domain support
- SSL renewals
- Monitoring website analytics and metrics
Maintain Your Website with SEO Brand
There’s little doubt that maintaining your website is crucial to the online success of your business. Failing to keep your website up-to-date and functioning properly will lead to numerous issues that can drive away customers and decrease SEO rankings, resulting in a loss of profits. While you can perform maintenance on your own, invest in a company that offers a proven website maintenance service that can save time, enhance performance, and increase your ROI.
If you’re looking for an improved online presence, our team of specialists at SEO Brand offers a monthly website maintenance plan that includes software updates, website backup, bug fixes, malware protection, hosting support, SSL renewals, and more!
To see all the ways that SEO Brand can help your online business maximize its potential, check out the full array of website support services that we offer and request a FREE quote!