Recently, I was noticing lots of businesses having their websites go down for days or even weeks at the time, so curiosity got hold of me and I started to research why this was happening.
And what I found out is that this was mainly caused due to security vulnerabilities in their website’s outdated software. And not keeping up with their website maintenance. I also found that not very many online business owners regularly check under the hood to make sure their websites are running smoothly. Usually this is because they don’t understand the importance of it, they don’t know how or because they are just simply too busy providing their wonderful services and creating products. In the spiritual communities, some will even go as far as saying that their website is under the protection of angels and the Universe will take care of the website maintenance for them as they need! But the brutal reality is, if your website is out-of-date, your company is losing business because of it. And even worse, you could loose your whole online platform to yucky hackers.
So, don’t let this happen to your business. A malfunction on your website can be just as damaging to your business as a brake failure would be to your car. Ideally, you should set aside time each month to go over your website and review it. It’ll keep your business running as smoothly as a well-oiled engine. And if you want to maximize your return on investment and get the most out of your website, you need to implement a monthly website maintenance plan.
Here’s a checklist to get you started:
And here are also some other things related to your website that you should keep a close eye on:
- Check for broken links and other technical faults on your site.Google Webmaster Tools can help with this. Another good resource for checking broken links and other factors that affect your site’s performance–such as your site’s loading speed is Sitereportcard.com
- Search for keywords relevant to your industry to see if your site turns up in the search results.
- Check your competitors’ websites regularly to see what kind of special promotions they may be running or if they have any new products. If you really want to see their inner workings you can use a paid tool like KeywordSpy or iSpionage to see what keywords they’re using, and where. And make sure you sign up for their opt-in newsletters or RSS feeds. It’s a great way to keep tabs on what they’re up to.
- Search the internet for random phrases from pages on your website to make sure that no one is using your content without linking back to you.
- Search on your own company name and URL to see if anyone’s saying anything bad about you.
If your design needs an overhaul, hire me as your professional developer, to give it the face-lift it needs. And if you’re paying to advertise your site on search engines, you should be doubly concerned with keeping it updated and functioning well. If your phone number on your business card doesn’t work, that would obviously be a problem, the same goes for your website. If customer’s can’t see it, they won’t be able to reach you and you won’t be getting their business.
With Love,
Hanni B.
