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

Now, we all spend so much of our day rifling through the web that we’ve become connoisseurs, unconsciously picking up on the subtle (and not so subtle) cues that mark a professional website. Don’t let an outdated or unloved site turn clients off; regular website maintenance could be all you need to ensure your business shines on the web.

We spend so much time and money actually getting our sites up and running, it’s easy to imagine that once they’re out there, they can fend for themselves. The reality is that they can’t. 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 scurrying to competing sites and search engine ranking algorithms are constantly changing. If you want your site to remain easy to use and discoverable, you need to stay on top of it.

Uptime

One of the big risks 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. One of the major advantages of a professional maintenance service is that they ensure setup of a quick-restore backup system. That way, if something goes wrong you can restore a functioning version of your site much more quickly.

Unbroken Links

There is nothing guaranteed to turn consumers away more quickly than a 404 error. You know, that classic ‘That page does not exist’ response. Neglected sites often have broken links that negatively affect engagement. Regular maintenance is necessary to identify and fix these kinds of errors before this happens. Resultantly, your SEO authority gets a boost and customers get easy access to your website.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine rankings are fluid; they change regularly as ranking algorithms are updated, new sites become listed and old sites are upgraded with aggressive SEO. Sites that rank in the first three sites on the first page of Google’s search results share the vast majority of all search traffic and often boast a significant number of sales as a result. Achieving one of these coveted spots is one thing but hanging on to it is quite another.

Security

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

By maximizing uptime, reducing broken links, analyzing and optimizing content for search engines, updating website security features, a website maintenance service ensures your website supports the health of your business. People will continues to find your website in search engines and get the most out of using your website.

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 elements as well as the large, a comprehensive  website maintenance service ensures that your website remains up-to-date, responsive, and fully functional; and, it ensures that your online representative accurately reflects your vision for your brand.