Picture the perfect little sandwich store. The bread is baked to perfection and holds just the right amount of cushion for someone to powder their face with. There is an assortment of delectable toppings at your disposal, and the store owners are the archetype of the aunt and uncle you aspire to become. But WAIT – you notice the front of the store. The neon sign barely works, there is trash everywhere on the doorstep, and the once beautifully painted mural on the walls are cracked, mangled, and archaic. At that point, it doesn’t matter how good the sandwiches are; If no one wants to step through the door, there are no sandwiches being sold.
This paints the tragedy of such travesty when you, the perfect store owner, do not upkeep your website, aka, your storefront. We understand that business upkeep can often be a dreary and daunting task. However, it is a trivial price to pay compared to the damaging, and oftentimes lucrative costs of a website hack, a virus, or a very unsatisfied customer.
We have highlighted 4 main tasks for you to perform in order to properly maintain your website:
Prevent losing customers due to a hacked site by keeping your website secure
Give hackers a run for their money by keeping your website secure. Always monitor for malware, viruses, hackers, and errors through common outlets such as spam emails or nefarious links. By setting up a monitoring service, it will not only maintain such predicaments but will also quickly defuse problems that may arise otherwise. I’m sure your uncle-turned-sandwich shop owner would update his security cameras should someone come and try to steal his money – or worse – his secret recipes.
Maintain a regular backup schedule so that you don’t lose data
Especially if you update your website often, backup is such a necessary part of website upkeep. If your server crashes, gets hacked (which you could prevent if you follow step 1), or you make some other gargantuan error, it’s always a sigh of relief when you know that it has been properly backed up due to your smart and diligent schedule for backing up your site. The sandwich owner has got to make sure to have all the recipes for the secret sauce stored somewhere.
Keep your software updated
A majority of websites are created on a content management system. This essentially means that software could be exploited. That is why it is essential to always update software because it will always be the most improved and latest version that will prevent the worst kinks. Plugin updates should also be considered in this. View software updates as a form of protection. Your cool aunt/sandwich shop owner would never leave her business unsecured when she closes shop for the day.
Update content regularly to keep customers engaged
Your cool aunt is probably hosting a #TunaTuesday or a #WrapWednesday every week to keep her customers engaged and excited to Instagram the food and eat. (In that order.) Having regular content through a blogging/publishing schedule will keep your website visitors engaged with the latest info about your business. Further, it will bolster your SEO. If you’re new to this, you can find out what SEO means here. Other ways to update content comes with checking site speed, site statistics, and checking for broken links.
Of course, the perfect website maintenance would only go in vain without the perfect web host. Be sure to see our top web hosting companies of 2018 to make the right pick.
