7 reasons why every website now needs professional maintenance.
Well, you have a nice shiny website that you are very pleased with. Of course you want to keep it that way. Just like your car, it needs regular maintenance. Without it, your site may be in real danger of security issues, crashes, poor performance and damage to your reputation.
Let’s take a look at the 7 potential problems.
Security
Website security has become an issue for every website, not just big corporate and national sites – every site is a potential target. There are now so many sites out there that it’s worth hackers trying to attack any and all of them. Just a tiny percentage of success can mean big returns.
It’s not ‘personal’. Bots roam the web at random looking for vulnerabilities. Based on an analysis of 7 million websites, SiteLock reports that websites currently experience an average of 94 attacks every day, and are visited by bots approximately 2,608 times a week.*
Regular security checks and updates can help protect from security vulnerabilities.
Software updates
When vulnerabilities and problems are discovered with software, developers are quick to provide updates to correct or protect their products. Keeping core software and plugins up to date is key to keeping a site working safely. Once a vulnerability has been identified, bots will begin searching websites for out of date software that can be attacked.
Up to date software will usually contain the latest enhancements and run faster and more efficiently.
Backups
Even the best sites may hit problems, and crashes do happen. You will want to get your site back up and running as fast as possible. Your best solution is to have regular backups. If part of your maintenance solution includes backups, you can quickly install a recent copy and have your site back up and running with minimal disruption.
Speed
When you hear people talk about website speed, they’re referring to how quickly a browser loads fully functional web pages from the site. Sites that render slowly can drive users away. On the other hand, fast loading sites will receive more traffic with better conversion rates.
SEO
Site SEO depends upon more than content. It’s important to monitor internal and external links, track performance and adjust to the changing needs of search algorithms. Maintaining the best site speed can also be important to search rankings.
Brand reputation
Ongoing site maintenance ensures the best experience for visitors. Minimised down time, fast response, dependable service and ease of use all boost and maintain your brand reputation. Lead generation and great conversion rates all depend upon a well-maintained site that meets or exceeds visitor expectations. Problems and errors can ruin the user experience – and your site’s reputation.
Money saving
Just as with car maintenance, regular checks and maintenance can prevent big bills in the future. Restoring a crashed or a hacked site can be costly both in terms of hard cash, lost revenue and reputation.
What should a website maintenance contract look like?
On a monthly basis, at least the following should be included:
- Check for and ensure CMS/Wordpress core updates are applied.
- Monitor for any security updates and patches for site plugins.
Apply and install all updates.
Monitor inactive plugins and delete where appropriate.
Check hosts keep SSL and certificates updated
- Monitor themes.
Ensure main themes and child themes are regularly updated.
Update any core themes and delete redundant themes. - Site security
Monitor uptime and security to provide early warnings of any hack or malware to prevent or minimise any damage.
Regularly perform malware scans, at least once a month.
Monitor and maintain settings to protect against brute force attacks.
Advise on any suspicious or malicious activity, and what action to take.
Maintain logs - Backups.
Maintain regular backups
Restore backups when required
- Compatibility check site against browser/search technology etc.
- Basic SEO checks and site speed reports.