Website Maintenance is Essential to the Health of Your Business

Entrepreneurs spend time and money getting their website up and running, but a common misconception is that once it goes live, a business can move on.

Back when HTML reigned supreme, the average consumer was impressed if a website loaded in under five minutes.

Now, we spend so much of our day online, becoming savvy users who have unconsciously picked up on the subtle (and not-so-subtle) cues that mark a professional website.

Poorly maintained websites can mean significant financial losses, regardless of the industry they represent. Difficult navigation, unreadable text and broken links are enough to send customers to competing sites. Search engine ranking algorithms are constantly updating the factors used to determine ranking.

To ensure your site is user-friendly and discoverable, it needs to be healthy. Don’t let an outdated or unloved site turn clients off; regular website maintenance could be all you need to ensure your business shines on the web.

Three ways to keep your site healthy through website maintenance

There are many ways to keep a website up-to-date, but these three elements should be a regular priority: security, search engine optimization and links.

Security

Investing in regular website maintenance is the easiest way to guarantee your site is running the latest security updates. It ensures your customers have a safe shopping experience and protects their personal data. In addition, it safeguards your website from malware, which can negatively impact user experience, SEO authority and public relations.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine rankings are fluid; they change regularly as ranking algorithms are updated, new sites are created and old sites are upgraded with comprehensive SEO strategies.

Sites that rank in the first three spots on the first page of Google’s search results receive the vast majority of all search traffic and, as a result, often boast a significant number of sales. Achieving one of these coveted spots is one thing, but hanging on to it is quite another.

Links

Nothing is guaranteed to turn consumers away faster than a 404 error. You know, that classic “That page does not exist” message. Neglected sites often have broken links that negatively affect engagement. Regular maintenance is necessary to identify and fix these errors before they happen. As a result of high-quality links, your SEO authority gets a boost, and customers get easy access to your website.

The financial risk of avoiding website maintenance

A significant risk to your website from a financial point of view is downtime due to a crash or hack. If all or part of your site crashes suddenly, you need to ensure you can have it up and running again as quickly as possible or else risk losing sales and customers. In fact, in a 2022 survey by StatusCake, 89% of respondents said they wouldn’t go back to a site they couldn’t access once.

A major advantage of a professional maintenance service is that it includes setting up a quick-restore backup system. That way, if something goes wrong, you can restore a functioning version of your site much more quickly.

Further, avoiding regular website maintenance opens up your business to data theft and lawsuits. Neither of which your business can afford. Keeping on top of your website health proactively protects your bottom line.

Make sure your website positively reflects your business

A website maintenance service ensures your website supports the health of your business by maximizing uptime, reducing broken links, optimizing content for search engines and updating website security features. Your business success depends on people being able to find your website in search engines and get the most out of using your website.

Are you sure your website is an accurate representation of your business?

Website maintenance checks are essential to the online profitability of your company and play an important role in protecting your brand’s professional image. By focusing on the small and large elements, a comprehensive website maintenance service ensures that your website remains up-to-date, responsive and fully functional. It’s the best way to guarantee your online representation accurately reflects your vision for your brand.

Read more about website maintenance in our article, Why Website Maintenance Is Best Managed by a Marketing Professional.