Similar to maintaining a car, websites need regular check-ups to ensure that everything is in working order and functioning in a safe and effective manner.

Our digital world is continually growing and evolving and websites have now become the face of the majority of Irish businesses. Unfortunately, some businesses tend to launch their new website and forget about it, focusing on other projects. This is a big mistake as regular website maintenance is crucial for all businesses, big or small.

Having an attractive, user-friendly, responsive website creates a great foundation for your online presence but regular maintenance is where you will see your website, and your search engine visibility grow.

Similar to maintaining a car, websites need regular check-ups to ensure that everything is in working order and functioning in a safe and effective manner. There are many different areas that you need to check regularly.

Here are some reasons why regular website maintenance is important for your business.

Install regular software and plugin updates

If you use a content management system like WordPress, it’s important to keep it updated with the latest bug fixes and security patches. This is an integral aspect of website maintenance and most platforms will alert you of new updates via email making it easier to manage these updates. Failure to regularly run these updates can result in the malfunction of parts of your website or can result in the website going down fully. Also, the use of old software and scripts can leave you more vulnerable to hackers.

Update your website content regularly

The more you update your website, the more search engines will visit your website which will in turn increase and maintain strong organic rankings.  Sharing relevant and interesting content regularly will also ensure that existing and indeed potential customers will continue to revisit your site.

Adding new content not only keeps your site interesting, but it gives you the opportunity to use more keywords which can result in increased traffic.

Adding regular, unique content to your website can also help to demonstrate that you are an industry leader by giving them recent news, images, and videos that can drive traffic and engagement with your brand.

Check for broken links

Broken links and 404 errors do not provide a good customer experience. Over time links on your website can break, especially if you’re linking to third party websites. Links that no longer go anywhere or are redirected to a different page than originally intended need to be updated or removed regularly.

Back up regularly

Backing up your website on a regular basis is crucial. With recent backups, it is then possible to quickly restore your website, which is so important if you’re operating a business online. At FCDM, we would advise that backing up your site once a month is crucial.

At FCDM, we offer a number of maintenance plans that can keep your website functioning at its best. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you maintain your website to ensure it’s safe, efficient and profitable.