In a previous post, we discussed how vital website maintenance is. Unfortunately, many businesses do this “on the fly” as opposed to building out a plan for continual maintenance. In fact, starting with a website maintenance plan can help you stay on track and not scramble if an issue arises.
Schedule Your Website Maintenance Plan
Create a maintenance schedule. While it might be unnecessary to check your website every day (especially if you’re only updating the website with blog posts), a weekly or monthly review (depending on the critical nature of the site) is a must. Establish a maintenance schedule for the year and stick to it.
Server/Hosting Upgrades
Most websites use third-party hosting servers as opposed to hosting on-premises. Still, even third-party systems have upgrade schedules. If you use third-party hosting, determine what their update schedule is and verify that they occur on schedule. Conversely, if you’re hosting on-prem, ensure that all updates happen on a regular schedule. If an upgrade doesn’t happen, the website could go down. If specific updates require downtime, try to restrict these to overnight hours or other times, customers likely won’t be online.
Update Content Management Systems
All Content Management Systems (CMS) need updates to avoid downtime. For example, a WordPress CMS typically sends out updates every month or two. Log into your CMS to make sure that the site is not out of date. Failure to keep up with regular updates could make your website vulnerable to attacks.
Content/Analytics Audit
Content is what draws people to your website, but if the content is lacking, they won’t stay. Review site analytics to determine if people are staying on the page long enough to read the content instead of “bouncing” out. Review analytics to see what content is most popular and what content is not. If you have gated content, are people signing up to download it? Update content regularly, and don’t be afraid to test content to see what works and what doesn’t.
A regular maintenance schedule can help you avoid the pitfalls of a poorly maintained website – or worse: site downtime. If you need more in-depth testing assistance, iBeta can help you with things like functionality testing, bug tracking, user experience, and more.
Contact iBeta to learn how we can help you maintain your website.