What falls under maintenance of a website
Website maintenance is one item on the to-do list that doesn't go off anytime soon, and in fact always comes back. In fact, maintenance is essential for your website to keep functioning, load quickly and remain safe for use by your visitors. Websites that are not maintained are doomed to fall into oblivion and become unsafe to use. Let's take a look at what all is included in website maintenance. And how you can schedule it to make sure your website stays up and running. Let's get started!
Maintenance of updates
Central to the maintenance of a website are the updates to the technology and its components on the website, if you do not install updates for this then you will find that your website begins to be at risk from old technology, that at some point it no longer functions in your hosting package and that your Google results will plummet. This is because if your website is not kept secure and up to date in terms of technology then this is a sure way to risk all this.
So regularly updating any updates that come out and handling your website responsibly is very important. This is an easy task with most Content Management Systems, and a matter of pressing the requested buttons. But it is important that you know what is happening in the background. So always read up before your updates are performed, and know how to get back if something goes wrong with it. This is where backups come in.
It is a misconception that some Content Management Systems do not need to be updated at all, even ASP.NET systems and .NET 6 websites need to be updated on a periodic basis. This is the case though that this may occur to a lesser extent than a PHP website such as WordPress. In fact, LTS versions, or Long Term Support versions allow you to work longer than usual. As always, however, it is a matter of educating yourself about the technology you are using, and staying abreast of developments in it.
Content maintenance
Maintaining content is also an important part of maintaining your website; without new content, a lot of websites no longer add value. And get forgotten over the years. In fact, fresh content on a website can have a positive effect on a lot of aspects of your services. There are some types of websites where this matters more than another industry. But can have an effect on any website. Blogs, for example, or news websites depend on this more than an online business card for your company.
Content can be in the form of new pages, new products and new articles. With these new pages, you grow your website, and have a better chance of ranking in the search engines for more terms. And you can also create more content for a wider audience. After all, other visitors want different content.
Content can be scheduled to be published monthly, for example, and thus can ensure that your website is seen as an expert in a particular industry. Although this can require a lot more content depending on your industry. Since you are always dealing with competitors.
Content maintenance can also be outside of your website, more on this below.
Maintaining Social Media and External Resources
Social Media is one of the important pillars of external content you will have to deal with as soon as you do any online marketing. In addition to the standard ads and natural Google search results, you will find that your traffic from Social Media will plummet if you don't put some up here regularly. The whole purpose of Social Media is to charge users to see new content each time, so the user stays on here longer, and more ads can be displayed to the user.
External sources can also mean guest posts or articles on other websites or forums, here you can score backlinks in addition to the direct traffic that might be generated from this, which in turn can help you further in the Google ranking. It is also important that once every six months you make a scan of your website. With a backlink report you can check what has been added or removed. If you see that you have a strange listing, you can also disavow it to prevent damage.
Maintenance of web design and layout
Maintenance of the design and layout of your website can be different for different types of websites. When you notice that some things are different, or you want to change the layout for a landing page, this is easier to do than changing the entire website design.
Once every few years it is wise to do so, however, website design does not stand still, and what was "in" a few years ago, can now be seen as old-fashioned and no longer relevant. Once you see this reflected then you can start considering trying a different theme, or hiring an agency for a new layout.
In short, make sure you do maintenance on every aspect of your website. And make this a recurring item in your calendar. If you don't want to maintain your website then sooner or later something will go wrong with it, or on the other hand affect it negatively. So don't let this happen and stay on top of it. Even if it's just logging into your website once a month. It can prevent a lot.
