If you have a website strategy then regular maintenance should be high on the list of priorities. But for many website owners it only happens when something goes wrong. That frequently leads to trouble – and trouble often means financial loss.

Put simply, your revenue stream depends on a healthy website. That means you need to pay attention to maintenance and updates.

Here we list some of the most common issues that arise from unmaintained websites. All of them can easily be avoided by a simple update plan – or get experts like us to take care of it for you.

#1 – Security: hackers don’t just attack only big sites

“It won’t happen to me.”

Possibly not, but how do you respond if some morning you wake up to find a ransomware demand on your home page or your website admin screen? All your product/service descriptions have disappeared, your customer list has vanished, and your online business is dead in the water.

Keep your website software and plugins up to date.

Invest in a ransomware recovery system, or implement a robust backup & recovery schedule that actually works in the events of a ransomware demand.

Remember that these hackers are not hunting millionaires. They may demand only £300 to unlock your data, for example. Meanwhile your online business is out of action, costing you ……

#2 – Traffic and SEO

Refreshing content, keeping it current and relevant, are important to keep your site in Google’s good books. A website that has not been updated for some time is guaranteed to slide down the search engine results pages (SERPs).

If necessary, review your content for use of the right keywords, word count, meta descriptions, and all of the elements that Google tells us are important when indexing and evaluating a website.

#3 – Outdated websites are a turn-off

As new design principles, techniques and technologies emerge, people become accustomed to them and expect to find them on your site. More than that, an outdated design is immediately apparent to people who spend a lot of time online – and that includes the majority of your target audience.

Get a friend or an independent expert to objectively assess your website. It’s called a Website Audit and is something we offer. The resulting report may give you food for thought and possibly a list of actions points for you to consider.

#4 – Better performance for an enjoyable visitor experience

A good user experience (UX) is critical because it only takes a split second for a visitor to abandon your site and go shopping elsewhere. This ties in with #3 above, keep ng your website design current.

It’s now recognised as being an important branding tool too. That’s because a good UX makes an impression on a visitor or customer. It ties in with how they perceive your brand and website, and how they remember it. You want to leave them with an excellent impression that makes them feel positive towards your business. You want them to come back.

That requires a regular review and comparison with your competition, and an occasional overhaul when remedial action is required. A slow website is often easily rectified – and that is one of the most common complaints from users. They will not wait for your pages to load, no matter how superb your content may be.

#5 – Mobile is the way to go

Something like of 80% of all website visits are performed from mobile devices. That’s mainly phones and tablets but new weird and wonderful devices are appearing on the market all the time.

The thing is that most of these devices have different screen sizes, and all of them are smaller than your PC or laptop screen.

Ensuring that your pages appear at their best on these devices is important. It’s called Responsive design. You should at least do a test to visit your website from a variety of these devices to see what a visitor sees and experiences. It’s a very worthwhile exercise.

Lock in a maintenance plan and put that worry to bed

There are parallels between your website and your car. Both need annual reviews, servicing and so on to keep them running smoothly.

We provide maintenance plans to cover exactly what you need.

Talk to us today. A quick informal chat will allow you to explain your business and website so that we can assess what needs doing. Then we will send you a proposal that includes only the services that you need.

Phone 01268 951 199.