Website Maintenance

Website Maintenance Guide: All You Need to Know

The internet is ever-evolving and if you leave your website unattended for a long while, it will get outdated. For this reason, you need website maintenance.

Your website is like a generator: if you fail to change the oil regularly, the generator’s performance will continue to decline until the engine stops working suddenly. Don’t allow this to happen to your website after investing your time, money, and other resources to set it up.

That said, website maintenance is the process of checking to see whether your website is performing well. It’s about the following:

  • Keeping the security up to date
  • Encourage traffic growth
  • Ensure Google is happy
  • Adding fresh content
  • Satisfying your website visitors
  • Tuning up the website to eliminate the risk of downtime
  • Maintaining the website’s speed
  • Preventing broken links from piling up

Website maintenance is all about the key services you perform on your site to keep it useful for engaging and retaining your customers. It ensures that the needs of the leads and customers visiting your site are met. This will in turn encourage them to sign up for your services, buy your products, and come back later in the future for more benefits.

To ensure your website is in a hale and hearty condition, you need to carry out routine maintenance. It entails regular checks that will help you keep your business running without hitches and allow customers to enjoy their user experience.  

As long as you have a website for your business (whether small or big), you’re going to need website maintenance. So, what does it involve to maintain a website? How much does it cost? Are there major benefits of engaging in such a task? These and many other questions will be answered as we dig deep into this topic.

What is Website Maintenance?

Do you know how you regularly check your car for faults and damages, so also does your website requires regular checks? In the same vein, just as your personal computer needs periodic maintenance, your website also needs to be kept in a good condition at all times. This is called website maintenance! It is the act of regularly checking up on your website to ensure it is healthy and in perfect condition.

Maintaining your website is fairly a straightforward task and most digital agencies offer website maintenance services that will keep your products looking good. But, if you decide to keep on postponing your site’s update, the website will eventually develop a serious security issue.

Why Your Website Needs Maintenance?

Websites need constant maintenance. Maintenance service is compulsory as you need to update and secure your website. When you abandon your website for long after development, the code and the software will no more be fashionable at some point. This will harm the site’s loading time, cause broken links, and generate obsolete content. It does not stop there. The user experience will become very bad.

That said, let’s consider the major reasons for running website maintenance: 

Website Security Advantages

The number one reason for engaging in website maintenance is for security. Many people think security issues can’t happen to them because their site is too small. Besides, why on earth would anyone want to hack it? There are several reasons your site could get hacked. However, the key reason is if your site gets older.

Usually, the probability of an older site getting hacked is a lot higher as it has less secure coding and modules that are not up to date. All they have to do is to check the “view page source” to see the version of WordPress you are running. It’s always easy for hackers to launch an attack on outdated sites.

SEO Perks

Search Engine Optimization is the cornerstone of a great-performing website. Google rewards websites that maintain up-to-date content. They equally repay those that publish new, relevant content as well as provide a smooth transition for the average user. By maintaining your website, you will boost SEO rankings, improve online traffic, and increase conversion rate. 

Backup Files

One of the basic actions of a website maintenance team is to have a copy of their files intact in another location. This is called backup and can be actualized in two ways: manually or automatically. Remember that malware may strike at any time and if you are not saving your files in a separate location, you’ll lose out. Imagine the stress you will have to pass through to start building your website afresh because you don’t have a backup of your site. 

User Experience

In as much as internet users love websites that load very fast, they also want to have a positive experience. Nobody would be happy to visit a website only to find out that it has missing pages, broken links, and no sufficient or useful information.

When you don’t maintain your website, its theme and template files may not display well on mobile devices and new versions of web browsers. Excellent content is another component that internet users like. It does a lot of good to the platform by improving your SEO thereby showing people that your business is keeping up with online trends.

Customer Loyalty

With regular content maintenance, your website will become more relevant to existing and prospective customers. Excited clients will be interested in your products and services and will even be happier to come back for more goodies. By carrying out good regular website maintenance, you are offering your loyal customers the opportunities to take actions that will benefit their businesses in the end. 

How Often Should You Do Website Maintenance?

Performing routine website maintenance is necessary to keep your business running without hiccups. You can run weekly, monthly, quarterly, and even annual maintenance schedules for your website.

Maintenance tasks to perform every week

  • Check your website controllers for weekly error alerts or updates. Ensure you allow plugin and software updates.
  • Review your site’s forms to ensure they’re all operating accurately.
  • Remove spam comments from your posts.
  • Run a backup and save the previous version of your site.
  • Check to ensure your site doesn’t have any 404 errors. If you find any errors, you can either fix or redirect them so that users don’t miss their way on your site.
  • Check your site’s navigation for broken links and fix them with any tool of your choice.
  • Write at least one blog content to engage your clients and boost SEO traffic.

Maintenance tasks to carry out every month

  • Consider the security scans produced by your security software. If anything looks out of place, ensure you contact a website security expert.
  • Analyze your website’s performance statistics from the previous month and look for optimization opportunities.
  • Check the speed of loading the entire website. If your loading speed is suffering, consult your website developer.
  • Analyze your website’s performance data from the previous month and look for ways to optimize them.

Maintenance tasks to perform every quarter

  • Test your business site’s responsive design to know whether it looks great on all devices or needs improvement.
  • You should also conduct a website audit once every quarter to ensure your site’s overall SEO is up to date.
  • Take your time every quarter to review your website’s architecture and look for ways to optimize them.
  • It’s also a good idea to review your site’s meta descriptions and titles to ensure they’re working perfectly and are in line with current SEO best practices.
  • Check your website content and update it accordingly.
  • While you’re at it, review your internet marketing and overall SEO strategy to see if you need to refresh or make necessary changes.

Maintenance tasks to handle every year

  • Ensure that your website domain name is renewed and that your card info for any paid plugins is current.
  • Search for your best-performing content and update them to attract more traffic.
  • Look for all references of the past year and update them to the present year. 
  • Check to see whether your site needs a design update.

How much does it Cost to Maintain a Website?

Why would you care for website maintenance costs in the first place? Are they necessary?

Well, website maintenance costs are important as they help to ensure your website runs efficiently. But, if you overlook website maintenance for the flimsy excuse of saving money, you’ll eventually lose valuable traffic and sales. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll find yourself paying for expensive repairs which you never planned for.

It is cheaper to maintain a website than to engage in website repairs. This is a hidden truth.

We’ll review the average cost of maintaining different types of websites and what it entails. We’ll also give you a recommended maintenance description to help you stay on top of things on your website maintenance.

Here are the six different types of websites to consider:

Small Blog Website

A small blog website usually having less than 100 monthly visitors is very cheap to maintain. It typically does not have a lot of traffic and has very few needs.

In this category of website, the owner does all of the setup and maintenance of the site themselves, as well as performs other tasks such as writing their content and taking photographs. Therefore, these kinds of sites are almost free to create, run, and maintain.

The hosting packages are very easy to take on and will provide all of the functionality that a small blog needs. This comes at a very low price, thereby reducing the maintenance costs.

Medium Blog Website

Medium blog website owners may spend more money on the platform or hosting costs to get extra functionalities and plugins such as anti-spam tools and others. This will require more frequent maintenance and updates. Still, it will consider marketing and backups, which are a little bit expensive to run.

Large Blog Website

A large blog usually has more than 1000 monthly visitors. So, a website investing in expanding its client base will likely spend a little more on website maintenance for every month. 

The costs of marketing and advertising are likely to be the biggest expenditure. Do you know why? The monthly costs will be based on the budget of the website owner and the amount they’re willing to pay. The cost of creating content and photography will likely increase because these sites may opt for licensed photography and even hire paid freelancers for content creation.

Small Ecommerce Website

A small, personal eCommerce website selling at least $50,000 yearly will cost about $32 per month.  If you want to buy a personalized domain for your website, that’s fine. Just prepare to pay higher for both the registration and yearly domain renewal.

Professional (Medium-Sized) Ecommerce Website

A professional eCommerce site will cost around $83 per month to start with. Also, you can choose to pay extra costs for a custom domain, premium theme, or other services. 

Enterprise Ecommerce Website

A large-scale business eCommerce website selling more than $500,000 every year will typically cost between $300 and $500 per month in maintenance costs, but this can vary widely based on numerous factors. The biggest element of your monthly operations costs will be personnel. These will depend on how much of the work you’ve hired the experts to perform as well as the amount you’re ready to pay them.

Your advertising or marketing budgets will also vary based on your business’ budget. Besides, bigger eCommerce platforms may want to make provisions for monthly SEO optimization and maintenance. 

Website Maintenance Pricing Packages

Website Maintenance Pricing Packages

What do You Need to do to maintain a Website?

Having understood the need for website maintenance, it’s time to look at the many benefits of employing someone else to run that maintenance. Although you can equally handle these tasks yourself, it will save time and other resources to outsource these jobs to an agency.

There are four options to choose from when it comes to website maintenance.

Do it by yourself – If you’ve chosen this pathway, you need to prepare to spend enough of your intangible resources such as time and patience to achieve your web maintenance goals.

Hire a website maintenance company – This is a smart option.  It will include all the resources you need to maintain a website, such as a strategy, marketing, and programming services.

You can also subscribe to the services of specialized freelancers – Opting for freelancers is affordable. It only requires you to be communicative and coordinated. Though freelancers work on their own, they likely would not see or fathom the bigger picture of your business.

You can hire an in-house website and marketing team – This option is very costly as it takes into account the salaries, overhead costs, and other benefits of each member of the team.

Working with a Website Maintenance Agency, is it Right for You?

Every website needs additional support, checkups, and updates after the initial setup. Choosing a website maintenance agency is a critical issue you can only ignore at your peril. The absence of a service plan can influence your site’s performance, user experience, and ranking negatively.

Here are the benefits of working with a website maintenance agency to take your business to the next level.

They offer trustworthy website backup that cannot fail

A website may crash as a result of a server error or broken code. That’s why a backup is critical. If you’re continuously posting new articles and getting ample comments as a result, you should do daily or weekly backups.

Unfortunately, you might have no time to check through code or work long hours on the line with a service provider to proffer solutions to your site issues. A website maintenance service plan will benefit you again. A maintenance agency will check your platform for any issues and back up the website as fast as possible.

A maintenance team provides steady updates and continuous support that will ensure your platform doesn’t go down

Technology changes very fast. A website maintenance plan will ensure that all your plugins are up to date. Thus, your business will always measure up with security or search engine optimization.

Purchasing a website maintenance plan means you have a team of webmasters who watch all the new features. They’ll equally update your platform immediately to keep it fresh. This will help to prevent malware infection.

They make timely recommendations for site improvement

You can choose any website maintenance option based on your needs and financial muscle. However, a website maintenance plan comes with benefits, including recommendations for site improvement or rapid response to your request.

Website maintenance requires steady attention from the experts. With an excellent support service plan, your site will be good and safe all the always. What’s more, it is more beneficial to purchase a better service plan now than spend huge sums of money to fix your site later.

You’re sure of a high level of security on your site

If your website is updated and doesn’t have all the latest plugins installed, you are prone to a hacker attack. Hackers have automated tools that scan the web in search of unsecured websites that can be infected with their malicious code.

No matter what type of platform you have, whether it is a personal blog or a huge corporate website, if there is a flaw they will happily exploit it. Every outdated plugin installed on a site is an opportunity for hackers to get in.

24/7 monitoring is their top priority

It’s difficult to guarantee that your website will be available all the time. Issues arise both on your side and the server side. Any downtime on your digital platform costs you sales and customers no matter the amount of time it takes. This is where a web maintenance team comes in. They’ll monitor your website continuously and know how to get it back online as soon as possible.

So, if you intend to invest in website maintenance services, it’s essential to know the package you’d like to explore. With that, your business can select the best site maintenance option for your company, and ensure you have the support you need.

What are the Advantages of Outsourcing Website Maintenance Services?

Choosing to outsource maintenance for your website is a great way to optimize and maximize your website uptime. You will have the peace of mind that comes with the assurance that your website is working effectively to help you reach your target audience.

The benefits of paying for website maintenance services are quite numerous including the following:

You’ll have access to the most recent updates

One of the advantages of outsourcing website development and maintenance is that it gives your business access to the most recent software and security updates. Keeping your website up-to-date will increase speed and create a better user experience for your clients. Technology is always changing, and keeping your site current is critical in gaining and maintaining an edge over your competition.

Your peace of mind will not be in doubt

Paying someone else to do website maintenance is all about handling risk and the challenges that come with it. The aim of engaging in this important service is to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. But if they occur, the company concerned will take care of them before you they get out of hand.

If at any time you need help with maintaining your website, there’s no need to spend time tracking down who to call. Just call a website maintenance agency of your choice and you’re covered.

They’ll help you save costs

Outsourcing website maintenance is also an effective way to save your business money. The beauty of it is that you pay only a fixed cost each month instead of hiring and training additional employees.

The compensation of a new employee can quickly increase as a result of the cost of salaries and other benefits. Employee welfare and overtime pay are extra costs that can quickly add up thereby costing your business more.

Your team can focus on your core objectives

Website development is a project that consumes a lot of time, especially for your IT employees. Outsourcing enables your team to focus on your key business goals instead of diverting attention and valuable time to maintain your website.

An experienced website design company will design a site that is suitable for your business needs. In the long run, this provides the right avenue for your business to channel its energy to other IT critical areas without getting disturbed about the maintenance of your website.

Boost your reputation and give you ample opportunity to run your business

No businessman will be happy if their website is down for even a moment because this can cause big problems in terms of revenue loss. Perhaps and more importantly, it might trigger a loss of trust with your customers. Server overload and hacked or infected websites can all make your website can go down.

Dealing with these identified challenges can be tasking most times. But when you outsource your website maintenance, you will be relieved of this time-consuming trouble and then focus on your business.

Improving the load time of your website

Outsourcing website maintenance means giving an expert with the requisite skills the order to take care of your site. The results from search engines are important to your business and the load time of your business should not be played with. Little wonder, Google takes the load times of your website very seriously.

So, you want your site working at full-speed, full-time. A slow website can lead to poor search results and loss of revenue. Website maintenance agencies work with the best delivery network providers to provide you with the fastest website possible.

Ensure continuous improvements

Taking initiatives whenever an issue occurs is critical to the success of any business. A website maintenance company is always looking at new ways to improve your site and help you reach as many clients as possible. Outsourcing your site for maintenance will ensure that your business gains access to the most effective technology. Such technology will go a long way to better satisfy the needs of your customers. 

Guaranteed maximum security of your site

One of the major benefits of outsourcing ongoing website maintenance is that it gives your business the ultimate security against cyber threats. An experienced team of IT experts will keep your site well-protected against the latest versions of malware and viruses. Your website will also be well-protected against hackers, and your data is backed-up in multiple locations for extra security.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does your website need maintenance?

You need to maintain your website because it is critical to keep your data, content, etc. up to date. This will keep your users engaged, informed, and reduce the occurrence of a cyber-attack.

How can you keep your website up to date?

A monthly or annual website maintenance package from your site maintenance agency will help you keep your app up-to-date and secure. The truth is that a web project continues after the launch day.

Is your website going to be available while maintenance is going on?

Yes! Routine maintenance work will not affect the availability of your website as it will be working normally while the work is performed.

Can you perform website maintenance by yourself?

This depends on the type of website you have if it allows you or not. However, we recommend going to a professional agency to avoid any further hassles or bad implementations.

Can your site be attacked by hackers if it undergoes regular maintenance?

Well, no website is completely hacker-proof. By keeping your site up to date regularly, you don’t risk taking great hacking damage and the consequences of a hack are highly negligible.

How do you update a website?

As soon as the website is set up, you may wonder how you can make changes to it yourself, without having to pay a web designer. The best option is to use an online editing tool provided by your web hosting company. So, before you consider making any changes to your website, try to understand the following three key points:
• How it is built
• How does it exist on the server
• How people access the site

How do you manage a website?

Website management is not always easy. Based on the timeline of your service and business type, there is the likelihood for a huge process made up of many steps. The best bait is to outsource it to a website management/maintenance agency to handle it for you.

How do you update your website daily?

As the aim of every website is unique, even so, are the updating requirements. For websites such as these; (sports, fashion, celebrity, magazines, tech, financial, lifestyle, etc.) updating with new information several times per day is critical for their success.
Having a regular update three times a week is okay. Daily update isn’t important unless you have the resources to take on such a task.

What do you call someone who maintains a website?

A webmaster is a person who maintains a website after it has been built. They perform updates and maintain the security of the website. The web programmer usually takes on the job of the webmaster by way of a maintenance contract.
The duties of the webmaster include making sure the web servers, hardware, and software are functioning well. It equally includes designing the website, generating and revising web pages, and more.

How often should you update your website content?

There isn’t a hard and fast rule for how many times you should be posting fresh content. You might be worried about running out of ideas for blog posts or disturbing your customers with too much content. But a website with just one new blog post per month isn’t good for your business.
The frequency is supposed to be three times a week. We assume that you run a small business. If that describes your business model, you should update your site with fresh content once to twice per week.

How often should you change your website homepage?

How often you update the homepage depends on two major things – the type of business and the goals of the company. No matter the nature of the business, the standard for how often a company should adjust its website homepage is this:
“The number of homepage refreshes in a month equals the number of average monthly visits by a repeat visitor”
For instance, if a website gets 10,000 repeat visitors per month, and those repeat visitors visited on average of 1.2 times per month, then plan for one homepage refresh per month. But, if the figure is 20,000 repeat visitors on an average of 2.2 times, then plan for 2 homepage refreshes every month.

How hard is it to update a website?

It is not hard at all to update your website once you publish it provided you have your hosting. It is quite simple to change almost everything on your site each time you make changes. There may be occasional hiccups where something breaks, but that should be okay unless your business depends on it (and even then, you will still have the occasional mistakes).

Is maintaining a website hard?

The answer to the above question is influenced by the following three factors such as:
• How much do you want to get involved in the maintenance, management, and daily running of your website?
• How much do you want to get involved in the features the website offers?
• It also depends on whether the website is built on a content management system framework.
If this is not the case, the maintenance of a website is generally too technical and difficult. It equally consumes a lot of time and needs plenty of resources for an inexperienced user to maintain.

We Can Help Your Business

In the long run, a website maintenance agency will help you increase your site’s rankings and bring in more traffic. This will help to convert leads into repeat customers. It’s likely a good idea to work with a good agency that offers a quality website maintenance package.

We offer diverse website maintenance services to help you keep your site in top-performing condition. Also, we have a team of experts who work together to project our clients’ websites for success.

If you are still finding your website maintenance plan difficult and would welcome some help, reach out to our team of industry-leading experts immediately. We’d be glad to take care of all your questions and give you a pricing plan estimate for your site maintenance needs. A robust and best-performing website maintenance agency is just what you need.

Final Thoughts

Just like any other working tool, your website needs routine checkups and maintenance. Industries and organizations are ever-changing and your website should be equipped with cutting-edge technology to match such advancements. 

Be aware that trying to do your website maintenance is like trying to fix your car. Sure, some people are trained to handle it, but you are better off leaving it to experts. Don’t forget that the success of your business depends heavily on your website is a valuable source of information.

Now you’ve understood the needs and benefits of a website maintenance plan and why you should partner with a website management company, it is high time to shop for the right web development agency.