Website maintenance isn’t a gimmick or a scam to make money off of unsuspecting clients. On the contrary – it’s vital to the success of your website and if you haven’t yet, it’s time to get started with website maintenance.
Your website is an investment and a crucial element of your business plan. But just having a website isn’t enough. If you aren’t updating your website regularly, it could be costing you money. Search engines love fresh content, fast load speeds, and secure sites, so a poorly maintained website will hurt your search engine ranking. It can also impact your reputation; broken links, slow page loads, and dated content can give visitors the impression that you don’t really care about your business.
Three things every website needs
1. Secure, offsite backups
It’s vital that your website is backed up on a regular basis. But if you’re backing your site up to the same server where you host it, your site is still at risk. An external hard drive or cloud storage are safer options to putting your eggs all in one basket. And you should perform a full backup at least weekly – more often for ecommerce or blogging sites that change frequently.
2. Website security
A firewall and regular malware scan will help to protect your website against hackers. Remember, those hackers will target even the smallest of websites. In fact, experts tell us that small businesses are often sought out specifically because of their vulnerabilities.
3. Monitored Updates & Upgrades
When a new WordPress release comes out, many small business owners who manage their own websites will do one of two things: they will immediately click update without any testing or research, or they will wait until WordPress upgrades their software automatically. Unfortunately, either of these options can cause problems that could break your site. It’s important to test all WordPress and plugin updates for conflicts that could affect speed and functionality. But don’t just skip the updates, as they often contain security patches that are vital to keeping your website safe.
View our infographic
Get started with website maintenance!
Get your free website evaluation or schedule a consultation!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/feb/08/huge-rise-hack-attacks-cyber-criminals-target-small-businesses
Author information
The post Get started with website maintenance [infographic] appeared first on Caffeinated Communications Studio.