By Tony Britton
If you’re trying to learn how to develop a website maintenance plan in 2022, this is the article you’re after. You’ll find out what a maintenance plan is, why you need it, and how to create it. So let’s get right into it.
Tell us if this scenario sounds familiar:
- You’re searching the web for a product or service you need.
- You click on a site.
- You get frustrated as soon as you do.
It takes too long to load, there are broken links everywhere you look, and you can’t find what you’re searching for. Even worse, you’re browsing from your phone, and the site isn’t optimized, so you need to zoom in or out to see what the page is all about. We’ve all been there, and it’s everything but a pleasant experience.
Don’t let your website become this place on the internet.
If you don’t plan for regular maintenance and updates, it will affect your company. Your sales will drop, and you’ll start experiencing cash flow challenges. And if you don’t know how to cope with them, there’s a risk of you going under.
No one wants that to happen, and a good website maintenance plan can ensure it doesn’t. So, let’s learn more about it.
What Is a Website Maintenance Plan?
A website maintenance plan is an extensive internal document that experts use to ensure your site is fast, up to date, and secure. In essence, it’s your company’s guide to keeping your website working as it should.
The plan should reflect your whole website, as it affects both your sales and marketing goals. So get your IT team together and get onto making this document with them. Go over what you think is vital for the site, and let them do their part of the job. You should agree on when all the checks are happening, and in most cases, a quarterly review of the website should do the trick.
Of course, if you’re adding something new to your site or brand or have any security issues, you should take care of that right away. The more you wait, the bigger the problem it will become.
Why Do You Need to Update Your Website?
If you’re new in the game, or you just haven’t dealt with the websites before, you might wonder why it’s so important to update your website regularly. Luckily, the answer to this question is relatively simple.
When you keep your site up to date, you’re mitigating the risks and making sure it performs as well as it can. You want to use the latest updates as they’re the insurance there are no potential security risks you should worry about. It’s a way to go if you want to keep your business, your customers, and your data safe.
Now that you’re familiar with all the basics, it’s time to learn how to develop a website maintenance plan in 2022.
What Does a Website Maintenance Plan Need?
Your website is like a piece of big, well-oiled machinery. It has many moving parts, and they all need to work correctly for the whole machine to work in the right way. So even if one thing falls out of order, the performance won’t be healthy, and it will show through the number of visitors and conversions.
We’ll get into the specifics soon, but first, let’s go over the points the document must address.
- Database maintenance
- Site file maintenance
- Server maintenance
- Encryption
- Domain name registry
- Web vulnerability scanning
- Plugins updates
- SEO, copy, and design
- Link building
Your copy and the visual aspects of your site are what users see when they land on your website. Hence, you want to make sure there are no typos, that your images are optimized, and that there are no other problems with the website design. Furthermore, slow loading speed and broken links will certainly ruin the user experience, so you want to check on them as well.
And when we take what the users see out of the equation, we’re left with the behind-the-scenes items, which are as important. Thus, let’s dive further into what you can do about those.
Security Updates
If you care about your site and private information, you mustn’t overlook web security. Since the start of the pandemic, workforces transitioned to remote working, and we’ve seen a rise in cybersecurity threats. And if a hacker breaches your site, you’ll end up with a hefty bill to get it back.
You should be especially careful about these if you’re running an eCommerce website. You’re holding plenty of user data, and the last thing you want is for them to leak. It would mean the end of your business, so keeping your software updated is essential.
Server Updates
Hackers love targeting servers, so you have to keep them in check as well. It’s where all your data is stored, and if they go down even for a day, it might cost you a lot of money.
That said, you’ll need to take your servers offline from time to time for maintenance. It’s a preventive step to ensure it doesn’t happen when it shouldn’t. On top of that, it won’t last more than a couple of minutes, and these losses you can deal with. Ideally, you’ll perform these updates when there isn’t much activity, so you minimize the impact on your revenue.
Speed Updates
It’s not rare that you see an old website that feels sluggish. If the owner didn’t update it for some time, it’d feel pretty lazy, and that’s what we want to avoid.
Speed updates are all about removing the unnecessary weight. So, you want to reduce or remove processes that take too much time to complete, compress your images, and make sure you’re using the best plugins on the market. Reduce the loading times, and you’ll see more organic traffic on your site. Both Google and users will like your site more, and you’ll make more sales than you hoped for.
UX Updates
Close to 60% of all online traffic in 2022 comes from mobile devices, so you must make your website responsive. It must perform well on any screen size, or customers will start avoiding you. People love shopping and browsing from their phones, and it’s your job to make that possible for them.
Conclusion
Now you know the best practices and how to develop a website maintenance plan in 2022, so use your knowledge. Work on your site, and don’t let it feel old or outdated even for a minute. Your customers and your business will thank you.
