If you own a site, whether it is for personal use as a blog or you use it for your business, the site must be maintained frequently. The system is constantly updated and if you do not take enough care of your site through proper web maintenance, you will not attract traffic. Getting traffic and converting those visitors into customers is a key point in having a web presence.
There are many things you should do to maintain your site, and we have made a list that will help you further. Be sure to pay attention to each of these items, as each of them is equally crucial to the site.
The Basics of Web Maintenance
Domain name
The first thing you need to do urgently is to make sure your domain name is registered. There are thousands of cases where site owners do not know the expiration date of their domain name, so in such situations, it happens that their site crashes, all without them knowing. To make sure this does not happen to you, a good solution is to check that all the contact information with your hosting provider is correct.
Administrative contact plays an important role here because it determines who will receive information about the expiration of the domain name. Create a shared email that will consist of info and your domain name (for example [email protected]), so that more people in your administration receive a timely warning about the expiration of the domain name.
Website Software
Most sites use a CMS (Content Management System) or some of the scripts such as something written in Perl, .Net, PHP If this is the case, constantly check if your software is updated to the latest version. The easiest way to do this is with a software publisher (WordPress support if you are using WordPress) that has all the information on your web management.
It is important to know that your website hosting platform needs to update the core server software. Details like FTP service, web service, applying patches, and the like should be done by them. If you are the person who manages the server, don’t forget to update and test these things.
Web Statistics
It is very important to update the Web Statistics regularly. It gives you accurate information about visitors to your site and details such as how long they stayed on the site, which pages they visited the most, where they came from, and other information that may be relevant to you. By looking at these statistics, you can create an image of who the people who come to your site are, how to attract and retain their attention, and how you can improve and rank your site better.
Content
Is it even necessary to mention that the content, images, posts, texts, blogs, and information you post on the site must be relevant, new, and updated regularly? If you stop publishing content regularly, there is a good chance that your site will lose traffic and visitors, and thus will lose the need to exist.
Testing
If your site has a newsletter sign up options, forms, or similar options, test them from time to time to check their effectiveness and functionality. Whether emails arrive in your follower’s inboxes, what their form looks like, how difficult it is to sign up for the mailing list, etc., always check these details.
Link Checking
When writing blogs you will probably leave links to similar blogs that can be helpful, links to products, resources, etc. Make sure the links still work, are relevant, lead to the right page, and offer the information readers still need. Based on that, Google rates whether the content you post is high quality and whether even more people need to see it.
Backups
Check the database and backups of your site, in case of complications to save all updated data. It would be a good idea to also check the functionality of the backup and whether the data can be easily restored once it is deleted.
Design
Considering that website browsers like Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, etc. are constantly upgrading, changing, and updating, the design of your site may change due to changes, be displayed differently, or in the worst case not be displayed at all. Check and update your design according to browser changes so that your site is available in its best and most modern edition.
Also, optimize your site for mobile devices, today 80% of traffic comes from phones and tablets, leave a good impression. There are many deals on the market that offer you no upfront design fees and good design optimization.
Website Errors
Errors can often be a big problem for your site. Check them with Google or Bing Webmaster Tools and remove them if they appear.
Loading Time
The time it takes for your site to open can sometimes turn visitors away from visiting your site. Check how long it takes for your site to load and make sure it’s as fast as possible because search engines love fast-loading sites.
Why should you do site maintenance?
Today, the world is increasingly online and there are millions of sites that offer a great experience. Updates and improvements happen every day as the IT world strives to bring the online world to perfection. If your site lags behind that idea, chances are high that it will fail and not have a very bright future. To stand out from the competition and have a good position on search engines, your site must be in step with the latest trends and offers. If the opposite happens, the quality of the site decreases, the audience is smaller and the competition takes over the game.
Who Should Do Website Maintenance?
Certainly, maintenance should be done by a person who is versed in the latest information and tools, regardless of whether he is a paid professional or the owner of a site that maintains it himself. That person should know how to adapt the site to the new circumstances, but also be careful.
In most cases, business owners do not have enough time to learn about scripts and design. But if you are one of them and you are interested in such things, then a well-maintained website could be done by you.
In order not to bother about learning these things, the best solution would be to hire a team of experts who will maintain your site for you. This is a very smart and profitable investment that will provide you with an updated and protected website. Who could hire? Well: us. We can help you with your web maintenance