What Is Website Maintenance And Why Is It So Important
In this modern era, websites are important for businesses to gain the attention of their target audience as well as gain more sales or conversions. With that being said, ensuring the website is functioning well and maintaining 99% uptime is crucial, which can be done through regular website maintenance. In this article, we explore what is website maintenance and why is it so important for businesses to include this as part of their regular website upkeep.
What is website maintenance?
Website maintenance is the process of performing several tasks and checks to ensure the website is updated and free from bugs. These maintenance tasks include performing website optimization, updating the themes or plugins, and fixing broken links, to name a few. Website maintenance helps to ensure the website functions normally and optimally.
What is included in website maintenance?
Website maintenance providers offer a wide range of services. Here are the common services included in a typical standard website maintenance updates:
- Content Updates: All the content on the website has to be accurate and up-to-date with the latest information. Some common updates include removing old content and updating the images or adding new blog articles.
- Backups: It’s important to regularly back up your website to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances. Having backups helps to quickly recover your website to prevent any potential data loss.
- Software, Theme, or Plugin and Framework Updates: If you have a Content Management System (CMS), the software, theme, or plugin has to be regularly updated whenever required to ensure maximum functionality of your website. If you have a custom made website, you should update your framework.
- Speed Optimization: To ensure your website maintains a fast loading speed, it’s important to regularly optimize the website such as performing caching or image optimization.
- Security Management: Your website is prone to security vulnerabilities. Hence, frequent security scanning and checks are important to prevent potential hacking or cyberattacks.
- SEO Monitoring & Tracking: Since SEO is a long-term game, continuous monitoring, and tracking are crucial to ensure your website is ranking high on search engines through various optimization strategies.
How much does website maintenance cost?
The average price for website maintenance depends on the type of website maintenance. There are two common types which are basic and advanced website maintenance.
Basic website maintenance involves quick and minor technical fixes, content updates, and standard backups. The maintenance is only to ensure your website is secure and up-to-date with the latest information. Hence, the average cost is around RM100 to RM300 a month.
Advanced website maintenance, on the other hand, involves a wider range of tasks such as security maintenance, performance optimization, SEO monitoring, and so on. The website maintenance will be more in-depth and cost between RM300 to RM1,000 and above.
Reasons why website maintenance is so important
Here are several major reasons why website maintenance is so important:
1. Keep up with website updates
If you didn’t know already, themes and plugins require frequent updates to ensure they function well. If these features aren’t regularly updated, the website may not be safe or perform effectively. Outdated versions may have vulnerability issues.
2. Enhance security measures
Maintaining tight security measures is important these days, especially when hackers are using advanced tools to perform cyberattacks on websites. This includes performing frequent scans for any potential malware or bugs that require fixing. Another common security measure would be to check if the website is using the latest software versions.
3. Boost SEO performance
With proper website maintenance, you can boost and increase your search engine rankings. This is because Google favors websites that are fast and updated. The regular maintenance tasks are sufficient enough to optimize your website for SEO. Some of the common tasks include boosting the page’s loading speed and fixing broken links throughout the website. Updating your content is also another signal to Google that your website is optimized for SEO.
4. Increase sales and conversions
An updated website will contribute to a better user experience, which also helps to boost your sales and increase conversions. For instance, if your website is not updated with the latest information, it may turn customers away. Furthermore, regular website maintenance helps to keep your target audience engaged.
5. Improve bounce rate
Customers who leave a website quickly increase the bounce rate, which leaves a bad impression, especially on Google. Some of the reasons why the bounce rate is high are due to the fact that the website is not up-to-date or the loading speed is too slow. If you perform frequent website maintenance, it’ll help to check and ensure your website is performing well and is user-friendly.
6. Ensure compatibility with mobile devices or new technology
Another reason why website maintenance is important is to ensure it’s compatible with the latest technology or across multiple devices. Since technology is constantly evolving these days, it’s crucial to keep up and ensure your website is mobile-responsive as well as compatible with any new technology or updates.
Conclusion
After learning about what is website maintenance and why is it so important, the next step would be to ensure your website is being taken care of by a professional team. You could either hire an in-house team or a third-party service provider to handle your website maintenance for you. Read more about why websites are important for businesses so that you can get started on website maintenance.