You did everything right. You hired a professional website designer, filled your webpages with killer content, and set-up a business blog. You even waded into the seemingly impenetrable land of SEO.
But now—out of nowhere—the gold star you earned for all your hard work is starting to lose its luster. You’re noticing a drop-off in leads while simultaneously watching your website slide down the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).
Regularly Scheduled Website Maintenance is the Answer …
In a nutshell, website maintenance should not be ignored. One of the most overlooked critical components to any successful website strategy is regularly scheduled maintenance. If basic upkeep is neglected, glitches and other issues will eventually negatively affect your visitors’ experience and possibly their impression of your business or organization. Not to mention leave you as frustrated and worked up as a YouTube comments section. Net Designs offers maintenance plans to our clients. We want each client to enjoy the longest possible life from their website investment. Read on to see why we think maintenance is the star player in the game of website health and longevity . . .
Consider these 5 reasons why your website should be scheduled for regular maintenance:
1. Make It Snappy
Slow websites are the quickest way to lead new and existing customers astray. Prolonged loading times can test visitors’ fleeting patience. They may leave before they even get to experience the beauty of your well-designed website. Not a great first impression. Websites naturally get sluggish as they age and need a little TLC every now and then to be able to perform at their best. A lagging website doesn’t fly in a time where customers demand that everything be instantaneous. To get the best results from your website, technology should be updated as new versions are released.
2. Stay Up-To-Date
The platform your website proudly stands upon, such as WordPress, needs to be updated regularly to stay in tiptop shape. But that’s not all, there are many elements used to build your site that need consistent attention. The framework, template, plugins, and any additional programming used should be upgraded when newer versions, techniques, and technology are available. These updates keep the wheels turning smoothly and efficiently, which creates a more user-friendly experience for your visitors. Bonus tip: Google also amply rewards websites that stay up to snuff.
3. Keep Out Hackers
Forgoing basic upkeep makes your website a huge target for hackers. Websites that haven’t been proactive in keeping up with trends, or haven’t upgraded to the most recent software, are easy prey that hackers actively seek out. Taking precautionary measures to safeguard your information and your visitors is not optional in today’s world. This tug-of-war between technology upgrades and hackers requires site owners to be vigilant in protecting their investment.
4. Prolong Its Shelf Life
Websites that are most adaptable to change will be the ones to survive and thrive. The Internet is in a constant state of revolution. Search engines are keeping everyone on their toes, and changing the rules as they go. Is your website keeping up? These new techniques, trends, and plugins that are continually being released can enhance your website and possibly add some extra years to its life expectancy. Many times sites that neglect maintenance need to be rebuilt entirely to function correctly on today’s devices. Regularly scheduled maintenance keeps costs down while enhancing the functionality of your site.
5. Protect Your Investment
Prevention is better than cure. To keep your website healthy, it’s best to make regular, incremental changes over time, instead of waiting until the last minute and doing a complete overhaul when your website is really hurting for attention. In addition, updating and adding new content to your website habitually will consistently improve its performance and increase your return on your investment.
Unlike many website design companies, Net Designs offers continual support for the websites we build.
Net Designs knows you don’t need one more thing to worry about maintaining. That’s why we have maintenance muscle on our team that can do all the heavy lifting for you. If you are not currently signed-up for a maintenance agreement, you may want to consider calling today. The pricing is friendly and the benefits are great. Alternatively, if you are keen on doing the work yourself, we can provide training so you and your staff can dive into managing and updating your site to the extent you wish to do so. After training is complete—we don’t leave you hanging. We are always on call to assist.
We understand that you are busy running your business, so when you’re in need of website maintenance and updating, Net Designs is here to shine up your gold star for you. Contact Net Designs today and we can provide you with a website checkup and give you an honest and professional opinion about the health and ongoing needs of your website.
When you choose to maintain your website you are choosing to make a good first impression, boost traffic, stay ahead of the technology curve, keep out the bad guys, and protect your investment.
Author: Kendall Dick, Net Designs Blogger
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Net Designs, Wendy Bedell | (269) 428-5016 | wendy.bedell@netdesignsonline.com | Contact