Top 5 Reasons To Update Your Website
Do you take care of your car and get a tune-up every 10,000 miles? Do you go to the doctor at least once a year for a checkup? Do you have cable or satellite TV that automatically updates itself?
How about your computer system? If you are a business owner, you must, must, must include your website in a maintenance plan. Your business is important to you, and you would like it to be a value to your customers too. I’ve always said, “Websites are your virtual core representative and should make money while you sleep. No employee can do that.”
Here are the top 5 reasons to have a website technical maintenance plan:
- Software Updates and Programming. Custom built websites always have third-party software integrated using applications. When these applications are updated by the developers they can become dysfunctional or incompatible with your website if it’s not technically updated. As we all know, technology is not perfect. Meaning, when you perform a technical update on a website, be aware that applications that are implemented within the site can likewise become dysfunctional or incompatible if the applications have not been updated. Do not think that you only have to push a button and it will all work, that is not the case.
- Content. If you don’t update content on your website, eventually it will decline in the search engine rankings. Search engines regard websites with recent, new content as the key to web users. Your content might be stellar, but if it’s the same content as it was three years ago, then search engines crawlers could pass over it searching for newer, key content that your competitors are using.
- Security. Websites and social media accounts getting hacked are becoming more and more frequent. Security flaws can rear their ugly heads on any website, new or old, but the likelihood of security flaws affecting an older website is much greater as it relies on older less secure coding and technology.
- Load Times. Often, when a tech developer is performing a technical update on a website, he/she needs to check the speed of the site. First, to make sure it did not slow down and if its performance is lacking, they need to customize programming. When all programming is good, often the site speed will increase matching the newer technical features becoming available.
- User Experience. If your site is not designed to meet the expectations of new customers, then you will lose them. Simply put, today’s digital culture has high exceptions and you will lose respect for your brand if you look like Broadway with ads all over the place, or it looks like it was designed it five years ago. Including new design features as well as unique content is required along with knowing what is the industry’s standard practice.
If you are a small business or DBA, and have a small budget, I recommend using template style website services like Squarespace or Wix. Both are fairly reasonable in price and provide basic web services. The downside is that support is not immediate. When a site “goes down” you just have to sit tight and trust it will come back online. You are also restricted in terms of add-on aspects.
For competitive businesses that need to get a human on the phone when you have an issue or question, let’s talk.
Our tech partner company Rogue Wave Strategies offers Hosting and Website Technical Service Plans. Prices vary for non-profits and e-commerce sites, and by the volume of the site.