It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; nowadays, a website serves as your digital storefront. Perhaps more importantly, it establishes your online presence and carves out a crucial space for your business with the leading search engines.
Up to 71% of businesses in 2023 had a website to represent their interests. However, it’s not just about having a website – it’s about maintaining, improving, and streamlining it to meet your users’ needs.
Even with regular website maintenance as a critical aspect of success, many businesses overlook its importance. This can have significant implications for security, performance, and overall user experience.
In fact, a study conducted by IBM Global Services reports that the cost of revenue due to unplanned site downtime was estimated to be about $400,000 per hour.
Unplanned downtime may happen for various reasons including human error and, most recently, cyber-attacks, which comprise about 36% of cases and have resulted in devastating losses in revenue.
Most businesses cannot afford to take a hit like this, and chances are, yours can’t either. That’s why website maintenance matters.
At Bloom Digital Marketing, our website maintenance plans are designed to address all aspects of website upkeep, ensuring that your site remains fast and as functional and secure as it should be.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why a website maintenance plan is imperative for every business website, highlighting the key benefits and how regular website maintenance can help you avoid costly issues going forward.
(1) Regular Security Updates
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime continues to rise, the cost of which is predicted to hit eight trillion and rise to a whopping ten trillion by next year.
Outdated plugins, themes, and software are common entry points for cyber criminals and, as a result, are highly vulnerable to security breaches. Malware infections as well as hacking may also pose a risk to cyber security.
As the Harvard Business Review states, “A cyber incident will directly consume a company’s resources, leading to an increased cost of doing business.” A cyber attack doesn’t just hinder the way you manage your business currently, but also your future abilities and reputation.
As a business owner, you likely can’t afford to be put in this position. Instead, you want to opt for a website maintenance plan that includes security patches, security scans, and plugin updates. A proactive website plan is a secure one.
(2) Website Performance Optimisation
Site speed is a critical factor in user experience and search engine optimisation (SEO). Not only can a slow-loading site frustrate visitors and lead to higher bounce rates but a slow site can deter search engines like Google from ranking your site highly.
A website maintenance plan includes website performance optimisation tasks such as database cleanups, caching, and image optimisation to improve load times. Additionally, your website maintenance provider can help identify and fix broken links, 404 errors, and other performance issues, facilitating a smooth browsing experience for your visitors.
When things go wrong with your website, you don’t want your users glitching along with it (and forming a bad opinion of your business). Professional website maintenance provides you with the management your site needs, effectively lowering the risk of poor rankings and visitor responses.
(3) Enhancing User Experience
It goes without saying that user experience (UX) is pivotal to the success of your website. With the increasing use of various devices and screen sizes, ensuring your site is fully responsive and accessible is more important than ever.
According to a study by Forrester Research, a well-designed user interface could increase conversion rates by up to 200%. This could potentially lead to your users becoming regular visitors and consistent customers.
Regular website maintenance also keeps your site and business on trend and in keeping with a modern look and design. This is a great way to maintain engagement with users while increasing visibility.
No matter how new or “pretty” your site might be, UX (user experience) audits are a vital part of maintenance. They help you have a clearer idea of your site’s user-friendliness as well as help identify problem spots where users might face frustration.
Additionally, compliance with accessibility standards ensures that your site is usable by people with disabilities. This is a great way to provide equal access for all of your users and improve the overall experience for everyone.
(4) Keep Up With New Technologies
The digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new technologies and trends emerging daily. To stay competitive, you must keep your website up to date with the latest advancements.
A website maintenance plan helps integrate new features and trends into your site, ensuring that it remains modern and relevant. For example, if your business wanted to incorporate a more minimalistic element into its site design, a maintenance plan could help in determining where things could be cleaner and more interactive for users.
Regular updates also ensure that your website remains compatible with the latest browser versions and devices. As technology evolves, so do user expectations, and staying ahead of these changes helps provide an impactful experience for your visitors on both the website and with your business in general.
A website maintenance plan involves regular CMS updates (content management systems), which may introduce new designs or features that improve the site’s performance and capability. It also provides heightened security, user experience, and the possibility of integrating technological trends like VR.
(5) SEO and Content Improvements
Search engine algorithms are in a constant state of flux, with frequent updates impacting how your site ranks in search results.
A website maintenance plan includes regular SEO audits and updates to ensure that your site remains optimised for search engines. This involves tweaking meta tags, keywords, and other on-page elements to align with the latest SEO best practices.
In addition to technical SEO, maintaining fresh and relevant content is equally important for engaging your audience and improving your search engine ranking. Regular content updates keep your site fresh, higher your SEO rankings, and even showcase your expertise, which, in turn, builds credibility with your viewers.
Effective website maintenance also encompasses essential tasks related to web hosting, such as monitoring server performance and ensuring uptime. Integrating these tasks with SEO strategies and content updates ensures that your site remains both technically sound and highly visible to search engines.
(6) Backup & Recovery Efforts
Data loss can be devastating for any business, making regular backups an essential component of a website maintenance plan.
According to a survey by Consoltech, 70% of small businesses that experience data loss go out of business within a year. Regular backups protect your site from security breaches or hacks, keeping your business running just as effectively regardless of attempts.
The website maintenance plan includes automated backups and a well-defined recovery process to protect against data loss. In the event of a site failure or an outage, having up-to-date backups ensures that you can quickly restore your site to its previous state, minimising downtime and preventing potential loss of revenue.
In Summary
A well-defined website maintenance plan is crucial for sustaining optimal site performance and search engine rankings.
Investing in professional website maintenance services can effectively address these needs, though it’s important to consider the maintenance services cost as part of your overall budget to ensure a balanced approach to website management.
Regular updates, performance checks, and security monitoring are essential for keeping your site functioning smoothly and securely. By incorporating these elements into your maintenance strategy, you enhance your website’s reliability and longevity.
Schedule Regular Maintenance for Your Website
Bloom Digital Marketing is an award-winning digital marketing agency that offers tailored website maintenance plans designed to meet the unique needs of UK businesses. Our plans provide peace of mind, knowing that your website is in expert hands.
If you’re ready to invest in your website’s long-term success, contact us today. Let us help you protect your data and user experience while continuously improving.
