Everything You Need to Know About Website Maintenance
Ecommerce has never been bigger and more popular than it is now in 2022, and with online shopping growing every year this is a trend that looks set to continue. The lockdowns that started in 2020 heralded a massive shift in the ways we shop for products, largely because the pandemic conditions forced most brick and mortar shops to temporarily close their doors to business. This led to more businesses making their way online in order to carry on conducting their business, though it did mean that those new to the concept of online selling had to learn the ins and outs of ecommerce very quickly.
For many, this learning curve has proven to be well worth it because selling online has opened them up to a wider audience and has made it possible for them to increase their sales and reach. Social media played an important role in this process, but unfortunately it has its limitations as far as ecommerce goes. Many more merchants found it more effective to invest in having a website built with ecommerce capabilities. This is generally considered the best way to make a move into the online sphere because you have complete control over how your brand is presented. Having said this, having a website built and properly maintained takes a considerable financial and time commitment.
How to maintain a website
Website maintenance involves regularly assessing your site’s performance to make sure that everything is working how it should, and paying attention to any errors and mistakes that might be spotted by your site users. It also involves ensuring all your site content is relevant and up to date, as well as making sure that it is of a high quality and adds value to your site users’ experience with the site. Keeping your website up to date and well maintained is one of the best ways to protect your investment, because a surprising amount of things can go wrong with a website over time.
If you are an SME or a sole trader and don’t have the budget for regular site maintenance then you may get away with doing your site maintenance by yourself if you have some technical knowledge. Most businesses will benefit from the services of a professional, such as Magento 2 support packages or Shopify support (it all depends on which platform you use). If you are planning to take care of your site maintenance yourself, at least in the early stages when it makes a little more sense to do so, you can follow the below steps:
Check that all your pages are loading properly and do not return any errors
Make sure your website has been backed up within the previous week
Check for any broken links throughout your website
Check your forms to make sure they are working correctly
Apply any required updates to your plugins
Upload any new content to your website
These are some basic tasks that you should be able to carry out by yourself without too much trouble, though more complex tasks will possibly need to be addressed by an agency that provides support for the platform you use. These more complex tasks can include the following:
Check your page loading speeds and work to minimise them as much as possible
Review your security procedures, especially where they relate to the storage of sensitive data
Perform an analysis of your site’s performance in terms of visitors, most popular pages and which parts of your site produce the most conversions
Ensure all your pages are optimised for mobile and other devices, as well as other browsers
Streamline your code and content to minimise the page weight
Website maintenance is not something that is ever ‘complete’, it’s an ongoing process that needs constant attention. Not only can this process take a lot of time out of your day, it can also be quite easy to get things wrong and make things worse if you don’t know what you’re doing. It is almost always best to leave this kind of work to the professionals if you have the budget for it, because this means you will be able to enjoy the peace of mind that your website is being properly looked after.