Website Maintenance:
10 Tips Every Business Should Know

We all know that your website is your company's reflection online. It is the first impression of a potential customer. What can we say about how your company works if your website loads slowly or hardly operate? For your business to succeed, you must have an eye-catching layout and pay attention to the website's functionality. If visitors don't see new content about the products and the services you offer, they won't be satisfied, while the website would be useless if clients won't find what they are looking for. Think it this way. You have your shop; you maintain or clean it to attract new clients. And your website should be considered as a property, a form to meet your new clients. Although the list is pretty long since there are different industries, here are some of our favourite essential tips for website maintenance that we think every business should know.

A quick clarification: these kinds of tips are not about the content, SEO or marketing. The information we are talking about has included web maintenance, which belongs to the web development industry.

1. Check Website Loading Speed

One of the most critical elements for any website ranking is website speed. Most businesses don't find it very important, but according to website user experience, 52 per cent of the users will not stay on a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Hence, you always need to test the speed of your website before you start. Also, make sure that the website looks good on all your platforms (mobile, desktop, tablet), and if you want a broader audience, don't forget to check the speed in other regions as well.

2. Update the Website

If you are using a CMS such as WordPress, you have to update the latest version of plugins, themes, WordPress files. A plugin gives the browser additional functionality, but when superfluous, it can affect the website's security. If there is any plugin that you haven't used in a long time (don't fall for 'plugins will update automatically), you probably should delete them. It doesn't matter how secure your website is; cyber attackers can decay it. If there are any new updates, make sure you wait a few days, so developers identify them. Don't forget to back up before you download any plugins, in case that if anything goes wrong, your website will be restored to the way it was before. Checking for pending plugin updates should become a habit if you want your website to work correctly.

3. Backup Your Website

Think about how you work on something all day, and if there is a problem with your computer, all of your work would be gone... unless you have backed it up, then you will save yourself a lot of troubles and time. The backup will make sure to keep all of your information and data secure if anything happens. No matter what kind of security tools you are using for your website, as long as you are online, you are never 100% safe, and this is why you have to invest in a backup system. Save your work!

4. CTA (Call to Actions)

Make sure that you test all your call to actions buttons. Moreover, if you have an e-commerce business, make sure you check your payment method mainly after updates. Payments that won't work will irritate the clients.

5. Review Contact Information

It is shocking how many websites don't have their contact data published on their websites. A lot of them don't even provide the necessary information, including:

• Phone number
• E-mail address
• Location

Your website is supposed to connect you with your potential customers, so if they want to ask something, they must do it quickly. After including contact information, you should check your data every month to know that your contacts are working safely. You don't want to lose an important client because of an old phone number or wrong location.

6. Update Dates and Copyright

Update any dates and copyrights information all through your website. Make sure your content is protected by copyrights law. This is how you confirm that your work is safe, and no one else can make a copy out of it without you allowing them.

7. Test Critical Contact Point

The contact point is where customers and the business exchange information. All this information must be verified. They all need to be correct and carefully tested, especially after an update. This is a must so that the visitors won't be missing important leads. The clients need to receive the correct information.

8. Check Your Broken Links

A broken link means that your users won't find you. Broken links can be a huge problem for online business and disappointing for the user experience and can also affect the relationship with Google and affect your SEO. Therefore, you need to check the links frequently. Avoid linking with broken content or pages that are already broken to attract and save your potential customers. Checking for your broken links is easy. If your website is small, you can easily do that manually or with a simple Chrome extension, but you will need to use tools or software for the larger websites. Nevertheless, make sure that every link on your website works, so users will be left satisfied.

9. Update Legal Disclaimers

Another important thing is updating your websites' terms & conditions with the government's current policies and laws. Among others, such a thing is also essential as the legal disclaimers will help you protect your online activities.

10. Website Analytics

Analyzing the visitor's behaviour towards a website is very important. The operation of website analytics lets us know the visitor's behaviour and provide information to our visitors. You need to this once a day to be updated with the statistics and attract new customers. It will help with the trends, as well as with market research. Google Analytics is free, and you can use it. Conclusion Follow these steps for website maintenance but remember, the work for a website will never be finished. With all the trends, there will always be another way for improvement. Finding creative ideas will never stop, and if you don't care about your website after it is completed, you made it look good for nothing. You need to update it regularly. It's an essential element for your business. Maintenance of your website will also give you the trust of your customers. Make sure they can access your website quickly, and ask for their feedback. Your customers need to know that you encourage them. Follow these tips in the best way you can. If you don't have time to do all the maintenance your self and want professionals to take care of them, our web developers team can help you. This generation is known as the digital customers' generation, so make sure you give them the best user experience on your site.