Get some insider tips from our web experts on how to maintain a website.
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The lack of planning and scheduling security and upgrade audits is one of the most significant issues we see come into the Iron Quality department. These are very important, not only for the overall maintenance but the well-being of the site over time. During this process, we go in and update security-related settings on the site and server, review any plugin updates and WordPress version updates to ensure there are no conflicts, and take steps to improve the overall page load times.
Think of it like getting the oil changed in your vehicle as a preventative measure. The number one cause of malware and security incidents on a site, especially WordPress, is related to outdated plugins or WordPress core versions.
Focus on the frontend, and trust your web partner to worry about the backend. Read Josh’s response above. He’s REALLY passionate about technical audits, and our IQ team knows the backend of your website inside and out. They have you covered when it comes to platform and security maintenance.
Content, however, should be your main focus. Keep an eye on those landing pages and especially the call-to-action elements. It’s as important to keep these fresh and up to date as it is the backend of your website. Not sure the best updates to make? Talk with our marketing consultants and we can set up some A/B testing for you!
When people think about maintaining a website, they think about the nuts and bolts of it. Are the plugins up to date? Do the interactive elements still work? Those details are really important, but what is equally as important is making sure that you’re keeping your content fresh and update. Frequently sharing internal news, industry updates, thought leadership articles, and other valuable content are two very important metrics Google uses to determine search engine ranking. The content you create can springboard into social media content allowing you to engage with your audiences and customers on a much more frequent basis. If you need help with any aspect of maintaining your website, Ironistic is here for you.
A website or application is made up of many different layers, and analytics for each should be monitored regularly in order to achieve the best performance and user experience possible. As a website or app ages and as technology advances, each of its layers will eventually fall behind the curve if not actively maintained and updated on a regular basis. Some of these layers are visible to everyone on the “front-end”, while others run behind the scenes and are only visible to those who can view the “back-end” of the site.
Here are just a few examples of the layers that can make up a website or web application:
Maintaining a website has a lot of different aspects to it. Websites are definitely something that needs to be constantly changed, updated, fixed, and maintained in a variety of ways. Keeping your WordPress versions up to date and making sure you have your plugins updated is really important. However, doing this with no technical knowledge can definitely lead to issues, so please be careful when updating them. Otherwise, let a professional handle this because a plugin conflict can easily take down your website. This can be a much costlier endeavor than paying someone to update things on your site.
You also need to make sure you are constantly updating and maintaining the content on your site. Things change over time, and keeping your content updated lets your customers know that you are still an active business as well as keeping them engaged in your website and business.
The last (but certainly not the final maintenance-related item) that I’ll talk about is maintaining your user experience. This is probably one of the most overlooked items on websites because people tend to focus more on just getting content up on their sites and forget that people actually need to be able to access the content in some way, shape, or form. Making it appealing and engaging to your customers is so important. It could be the difference between making a sale or losing a potential customer to a rival that provides a better experience. I’ve personally chosen to go to other companies because I couldn’t figure out a website, or it was too cumbersome to do basic things.
Your company just spent so much time on the build of a website: ensuring the design was “on brand,” the content was updated and interesting, the back-end is user-friendly and flexible to grow as you do. Once you launch, that’s only the beginning. Not only do you think of the digital marketing that you’re going to do to drive people to your website, but how those tactics continue to change with time. Your website is exactly the same. To maintain its relevance and ensure that it’s never outdated, you’ll have to schedule technical and UX audits to check your plugins and analytics trends. Every few years, give your website a little facelift. Your website is the [digital] face of your company and it’s going to need TLC to stay beautiful with sound structure as it ages.
Your website is like a hot tub. You can’t just let it get cold or turn green. It might just get a disease. Check to be sure it is all working regularly. Some warning signs would be a lot of incoming spam from your contact form or web pages looking differently. You will need to make sure any plugins stay up to date and your web designs don’t go out of style. If you start to notice something weird and don’t know what to do, make sure to contact your hosting and maintenance provider. You don’t want to miss out on good business opportunities because of web or mobile problems. I happen to know a good company to call if you need a referral. 😉
Website maintenance has several aspects from the technical to the content on the site. In today’s world, having fresh and relevant content is so important! Search engines lower a site’s rankings if there isn’t regularly updated/new content. One way to have your content stay updated is to have a blog that you post to several times a month. Not only do search engines respond well to this but it also, and maybe more importantly, keeps your current user base engaged and returning to your site. If you need help adding a blog to your site, coming up with blog ideas, writing content, or setting up a newsletter, reach out – we’d love to help!
If there is a specific destination you want the visitor to reach, there is a journey that you can examine. This data is available through Google Analytics. Look at your top-performing pages, referrals (how visitors are coming to your site), and exited pages, just to name a few. This will give you an inside look at your most popular page, where visitors are leaving your site, and how long they are spending on your site. With this little information, you can formulate better content to keep them on your website longer and determine what areas on your site could use a little bit of maintenance.
One essential part of maintaining a site is to get on a regular audit cadence. Every six months, at a minimum, you should ensure the website and plugins are up to date, remove anything unused, optimize images, and analyze site speed for improvements. Aside from the technical aspects, you also need to maintain your website from a frontend user standpoint by keeping your site’s content up to date and continuously improving the user experience based on your analytics data.
Give users a reason to always come back, and then lean on your analytics! Constantly updating your site with new content (ie. Blog Posts, Videos, Interviews, Podcasts, etc.) is a great way to keep users coming back to your site often. The more qualified traffic you get to your site, the more reliable your analytics become, which leads to reliable user behavior data! Once you’ve established a positive feedback loop of users to your site, you can make reliable observations based on their activity on your site, which will greatly inform you on how you can make better and better iterations of your page over time.
Don’t let your site go stale! Keep the information fresh. One simple indicator I take note of is seeing copyright years outdated. Having the content up-to-date makes visitors know your site is cared for and improves the visitor return rate. Beware though that when creating content, you stick to the templates originally designed. Oftentimes, I’ve seen pages content not match the rest of the content formatting on other pages. Lastly, keep your CMS updated too. Many times there are security vulnerabilities that must stay patched or even new features that may make things easier for updating your site.
Consider your computer or laptop: optimal performance is achieved through a combination of hardware and software, all up to date and optimized for working together cohesively. Lapse on an item here or there, an application update, or an OS patch, and you’ll find your computer isn’t performing well or worse, not functioning at all. Same with your website, particularly those with extensive third-party functionality. A solid, routine maintenance regimen, with a well-thought-out strategy for a complete site refresh, will help ensure your site is up and running, securely, when your users need it.
We live in a digital world, where technology is advancing by the minute. There is so much value in maintaining your website presence that you may not realize. Your website is a reflection of you and your business and requires regular maintenance to stay accessible and appealing to your audience. A few ways to ensure you keep your site updated are by adding fresh content to it, optimizing it for search engines, updating plugins and applications every six months, and consider ways to elevate elements and designs to highlight important information.
Work with Ironistic! Everybody gets caught up in life and then asks, where does the time go? An important factor in maintaining a website is time. To ensure success, your website must be constructed efficiently for both the user and consumer, new content must be uploaded frequently, and using a little bit of marketing would not hurt. To keep a healthy work-life balance the team at Ironistic is more than happy to free up some of your time to help manage and maintain the key factors to a thriving website.
There is a long list of things that you should do to maintain your website. The most important ones are making sure your website is secure and up to date with the proper plugins and content management system updates. Also, maintaining your website includes: keeping your content up to date, making sure you’re active on social media and communicating to your audience.
Domain, Hosting, DNS, TLS Certificate, A Record? If sometimes you ask yourself what those things mean, it’s time to call Ironistic. We convert the complicated terms to solutions and options for the clients that we manage. Creating and maintaining a website does not have to complicate your life! Ironistic is here to help.
Double-check the copyright in the footer. Oftentimes people set up a hard-coded copyright line in their footer and forget to ever update it. Our best approach is to use PHP to display the current year so it’s always up to date. Here is a helpful resource on how to do this: https://updateyourfooter.com/
A great way to maintain your website is to regularly add new content and keep it fresh, whether that be blog posts, images, videos, or more current company information! It’s important a user resonates with your content because that is what will make them want to connect with you!
Consistently monitoring the status of your website with available third-party services is a great way to ensure your website is always available to your users. Know before you clients do when and if there is an issue with access to your site.
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