It’s like owning a car when it comes to your website. Both can help you reach your goals as long as they are trustworthy. Like routine car maintenance, frequent website maintenance may make it run more efficiently. Think about the options. You never allow your car’s fuel or oil to run low frequently. Regular maintenance includes getting it serviced and monitoring fluid levels. The same essential idea should govern the functioning of your website. In particular, preventative maintenance might spare you a lot of grief if something goes wrong.
Tips for smooth website maintenance
Updating your website doesn’t have to take much time or effort. You need to conduct a few basic tasks yourself or hire a columbus web design agency to maintain your website performing at its best. Consider adding these five tasks to your to-do list as a starting step toward improved website design and maintenance. You’ll also be appreciated your Google Analytics statistics.
Monthly security checks
You must set aside time each month to download and install any new patches, bug fixes, or other regular updates if your website uses any software that needs regular updates. This includes all the software installed on your website, including the web server, database, operating system, and content management system. A monthly security check is a great way to ensure no updates are missed, even if it is best practice to install these updates as soon as they are released.
Website’s speed
If you don’t want your customers to leave your website due to a slow loading speed, Website Maintenance Tip #2 is essential. According to user experience research, 52% of website visitors claimed they would permanently quit a site if it takes too long to load.
Google’s search engine ranking now takes page speed into account. When the website is excessively slow, the bounce rate rises, and the conversion rate falls. Numerous third-party tools and plugins are available to monitor your website’s effectiveness. Our favourites are:
GTMetrix
You may do a speed test and a detailed study of your site’s performance with this tool.
WebPageTest
Enter your website’s URL and pick a browser to check its speed. With extra tools like “Advanced Testing” and “Visual Comparison,” you are free to explore.
Pingdom
You may check the speed of your website with this tool from any location in the world.
Site analytics.
You can track your site’s performance by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), evaluating SEO rankings, and looking at Google Analytics data. Regularly analysing your site’s statistics can help you quickly understand what “normal” site performance looks like, enabling you to spot issues and successes immediately. Consequently, any issues may be quickly found and fixed, and stronger standards can be set for further revisions.
Website backups quarterly
Some people advise doing annual backups; however, due to frequent site updates, quarterly backups are preferred. You won’t need to worry as much about losing your data in the case of a catastrophe. At the absolute least, confirm that your hosting company regularly backs up your website. If not, all you need to do is find a plugin to let you keep a backup of your website, and you’ll be good to go.
Annually update copyright and legal disclaimers.
All of the information on the page and website is protected by copyright laws (at least in the United States). Most of the time, the copyright date is posted uniformly across the board for the website. Since websites are frequently changed, it would seem fair to update both the copyright symbol and date.
It would help if you kept your copyright and legal disclaimers updated yearly since the information you are required to disclose is always changing due to new privacy laws being implemented at the state, federal, and international levels. The easiest way to ensure your website complies fully with all relevant laws is to have it audited annually.
Check for broken links.
Browsers receive a bad signal if your website has broken links. A broken link on your website resembles an abandoned shed hidden behind a well-maintained house however, Baytech Columbus digital marketing agency can help you maintain your website. The shed is no longer in use, but it nevertheless provides a good indication of the general condition of the land. It will seem uncared for if you don’t regularly update your website.
You may check for internal and external broken links using various web-based and standalone programmes. They could also search for images and external files that are no longer accessible on your website and won’t load.
Dead Links
A free broken link checker called Dead Links offers simple-to-read findings. If you don’t utilise anchor tags, it’s impossible to detect dead links in your markup.
Xenu’s Link Sleuth
Its free standalone link-checker tool is only one of its many benefits. This tool checks for broken links, picture paths, backgrounds, external CSS, JavaScript, and more.
Conclusion
Your company’s website is not something you can “set and forget.” It shouldn’t be left alone for extended periods. Google and other search engines give priority to websites that are secure, current, and pertinent. A regular maintenance schedule will benefit you even if you don’t succeed.
