Having an online presence is currently the norm. Most businesses, whether they’re catering to local clients or global customers, have a set of social media accounts and a website. Some individuals also take these platforms into consideration, whether they be artists, professionals, or simply hobbyists.
When it comes to website maintenance, website owners can have a daunting task in front of them or an effortless set of activities outlined to be done at intervals. This depends on how well they’ve planned it and the strategy they use. Knowing the kind of website you have, you can then plan weekly, monthly, and quarterly checks depending on your business needs or the complexity of the site. With this information, you can craft an essential checklist that’s uniquely suited to your rhythm.
Importance of Regular Website Maintenance
There are several reasons why it’s important to regularly inspect your website. Foremost is security. Having a secure website means preventing bad actors from hacking and infiltrating your website files and storage. If you’re using WordPress as your content management system (CMS), choosing among suitable WordPress maintenance packages is a good suggestion.
Connected with security is reputation management for your business. A secure website builds trust with your visitors and customers.
User experience is another factor. A good experience for your users means a website that renders fast and smoothly. Usually, this means taking care of functionality updates (e.g., tech stack upgrades whenever a new version comes out).
Compliance (e.g., privacy notices and accessibility) and compatibility (i.e., cross-platform capability) go together to help make your website remain up to date. They shore up your site in terms of legal and browser standards, both of which are constantly changing.
If your web pages are avenues to selling a product or service, website performance (i.e., analytics) and search engine optimization ranking (SEO ranking) are important to include in your checklist. A firm like Blennd can help you with these aspects.
Lastly, backup and data loss prevention are insurance that will help you sleep at night knowing that if something happens to your website, you can start your business over.
An Essential Checklist
Without further ado, here is an essential checklist you can start to use:
Weekly Website Maintenance Tasks
1. Fix broken links: Broken links are hyperlinks that go to error pages (like the common 404 page). It can be a page on your website that’s been removed or an external one where the filename of the page has suddenly changed. Connecting these links again will preserve great user experience and brand reputation. In case the website has become large with hundreds or thousands of pages, you can automate this task by using broken-link checkers or tools.
2. Update plugins and software: Almost all websites rely on many frameworks, both on the front end and the back end. If you’re using a CMS, then you more than likely have several plugins installed as enhancements to the site. Because of constant cyber security threats, plugin makers and web developers harden their software (i.e., make stronger against malware and viruses). And they’ll send a message to you when you need to perform certain steps on your end. Follow their step-by-step instructions to harden your website as well. Take note to back up your site before any major software upgrade.
3. Test form functionality: A form is a portion of your web page that accepts visitor input. An example is a sign-in form where the website authenticates the visitor using their username and password. Testing these forms means entering sample data on the front end (on your webpage) and watching how the data comes through to the backend. Are correct notifications getting triggered? Is data captured entirely, goes through the back end, and prompts the right automation task (e.g., sending of an email message when the ‘Forgot Password’ link is used)? Having this dialed down means you’re getting business flowing through your website.
Monthly Website Maintenance Tasks
1. Update content: Fresh content on your website means fresh traffic. Update blog posts, portfolio pieces, contact info, customer testimonials, and other relevant pages to keep your visitors coming.
2. Check SEO ranking: To stay on the top SERPs (search engine results pages), do the appropriate keyword research, which, in turn, should inform your next content material. Aside from this, ensure your title tags, meta descriptions, images, and headings are still SEO-friendly. Analyse backlinks and ensure they still have a positive impact on your site.
3. Monitor and optimize performance: Test aspects of your website, like loading times, bounce rates, and responsiveness to different screen sizes. Ensure that user experience is optimal. You can also check with your hosting provider to see if your plan is still suitable for your current visitor traffic. Remember, you can use several industry-grade analytics tools in this regard (e.g., Google Analytics and Google Search Console).
Quarterly Website Maintenance Tasks
1. Perform security checks: After backing up files, you can install any necessary security patches for the different pieces of software your site uses. It’s good to check your overall security posture at this point. Remove user access for personnel who are no longer part of the team. Do scans to check any signs of malware and test for security vulnerabilities. Ensure that your SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate is working and encrypting your traffic.
2. Review website performance: After three months, it’s quite the right time to check your website’s KPIs or key performance indicators. You can use your site's analytics tools to analyze visitors' behavior or how they interact with the elements on your web pages. If, say, last quarter, you've made strategic changes with your content, SEO, or user interface (UI) design, you can assess their effectiveness now. Any insights you get from this review you can use for your next digital marketing strategy.
3. Keep hosting plans and domain names up to date: You may have annual subscriptions with your web hosting provider, but ensuring that every quarter your account is current, and your domain name renewed is a good preventive measure in case you forget their due dates. Also, research your provider’s offerings now. They may have added new features you can use to better harden, optimize, or back up your site.
Make this checklist your own by adding or removing tasks according to your website and business needs.
Takeaway
Keeping your essential website maintenance checklist sharp helps ward off any future problems involving cybersecurity, brand reputation, compliance and compatibility with emerging standards, and visitors' feedback. One suggestion is to create sub-tasks under each category to avoid forgetting any necessary steps, especially the uber-technical ones.
Update the checklist according to your site and operations needs, and you’ll find that maintaining a website isn’t such a daunting task.
