For all businesses, launching a new website is an amazing step in creating an online presence, however, once a website is live, the work is not done! Just like a car that’s not properly maintained, a website will also break down (or rather, crash!) if it doesn’t undergo routine maintenance. In this blog, we’ll break down what goes into maintaining a website, and why it’s a good idea to hire a professional to manage your company’s website.
What is Website Management?
Website management refers to all the time, effort, and services that go into keeping a website running smoothly and properly. Most websites run on a content management system (CMS) like WordPress (which we prefer – check out why here: Why Use WordPress?) or website software that needs to be frequently updated. Furthermore, website management includes protection against security threats, content management, and routine analysis of the site’s metrics and functionality. Many content management systems can make it easy for a business owner to manage their own website if they have the time to do so, however, for most business owners, it makes more sense to hire a professional because of the time and expertise it requires.
Key Aspects of Managing a Website
Just like every business is unique, every website is unique, so maintenance is never a one-size-fits-all deal. However, here are some key aspects of proper maintenance of a website:
1. Website Security
This is a big deal! Hackers and cyber criminals are out there, and they want access to your website. Many of the attacks to websites are automated and are designed to use your website as a passageway to infect your visitor’s computers and phish for information. If your website is left without protection from hackers, it can ruin your company’s credibility. It’s standard for website management plans to include building good firewalls to block hackers and also to use things like malware scans which can monitor a site daily for ultimate protection! You really don’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to your site’s security.
2. Backup, Backup, Backup
Your website should be backed up daily (yes- daily!) in case anything should happen. Backing up your website and downloading your website’s info to an external source will help your site get back online if your site or your host is compromised. If your site isn’t backed up, data could be lost forever and revenue could be lost during the time it takes to rebuild from scratch.
3. Check for Updates
Monitor available updates to plugins and themes, and also review what you’re working with. Evaluate how well installed and active plugins are performing, and find replacements if a plugin has been abandoned. At least every three months, unused themes and plugins should be removed – deactivated and deleted to prevent security issues and minimize vulnerability.
4. Analyze the Metrics
Are you constantly analyzing your site’s performance and metrics? Google is. If your site takes too long to load or has broken links (or a million other potential problems), that could affect where you rank on Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs), and that means you’ll get fewer visitors over time. Managing a website means making sure all parts are working properly, but also analyzing the traffic to your site. Where is your traffic coming from? How long are they staying on your site? Which pages are most viewed? Analyzing all of this is essential to understanding your site’s growth and optimizing it for SEO purposes.
5. Update the Content
The content of a website should be regularly updated and added to. Content management means posting regular blogs, adding photographs, and fixing website pages. If your website is stagnant, it can hurt your rankings on the search engines so updating the content consistently is essential. The best way to update your content is to publish regular blogs that are relevant to your niche, which will help your website establish credibility. For more information on this, read our blog, 5 Reasons Blogging Helps SEO.
Inception Web Design can help build you a beautiful website, and also manage it so you have less to worry about. Schedule your free 30 min consultation today to learn more.
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