Why Regular, Proper Website Maintenance Is Critical (Even If You Think It’s Overrated)

People say that proper website maintenance is important. But you may be thinking, “our company website runs just fine, why should we have to maintain it all the time?”

I might say that your car runs fine as well, but you still maintain it from time to time to keep it running. Some might say that a website is not a car. And on and on it goes…

So let me clarify why I say that regular, proper website maintenance is critical…

Your Website Is A Valuable Asset

You company spent a lot of money and effort to create your company website. The result is that you have a valuable asset that serves your clients and helps to grow your business.

If your website goes down or becomes compromised for some or other reason, it no longer serves your business like it was meant to. And your business loses! So it is definitely worth protecting your asset.

But who or what may be threatening your website and cause you to lose the value of your asset?

What Can Go Wrong?

Hackers!

A study at the University of Maryland showed that hackers attack online computers every 39 seconds. These online computers include the web servers that host websites. Hacker attacks include direct attacks on websites themselves.

To do their nasty work, hackers scan for security holes in website software all the time. When they find a security hole, they try to compromise the website and use it for their devious purposes.

Such compromises put the website’s visitors in harm’s way. If this happens to your company’s website, its reputation could take a big hit.

Websites go down

Websites can go down (offline) from time to time. Sometimes it’s due to the hosting company doing server maintenance. It could also happen due to a website compromise.

Either way, you want to monitor your website’s availability to visitors. If it goes down, you want to know about it and take appropriate action.

How Does Proper Website Maintenance Help?

Software updates

Website software vendors regularly release new versions of their software. These new releases often include security improvements.

An important step in proper website maintenance, is to keep the website’s software updated to the latest versions. Known security holes will be closed and it lessens the chances of a successful hacker attack.

Backups

Another vital step in proper website maintenance, is to make regular backups of your entire website. Should the worst happen, you will be able to restore your website quickly.

WordPress Website Maintenance

According to a website survey, about 34% of the world’s websites run on the content management system, WordPress. That’s more than a whopping 500 million websites!

Because of WordPress’ huge popularity, it has become a major target for hackers. The potential payoff is simply too big to ignore, especially since so many WordPress website owners don’t do regular website maintenance.

That doesn’t mean that you should avoid using WordPress. Heck, it’s far too useful to do that! But it does mean that WordPress website owners should not neglect their website maintenance.

What If You Can’t Do Your Website Maintenance Yourself?

Two reasons why many website owners neglect their site maintenance is because they don’t know how to do it, or they don’t have the time to do it.

This is where a website maintenance service can be a great solution. And it doesn’t have to break the bank!

We offer website maintenance services for WordPress websites. There are 4 different maintenance plans to choose from, depending on your budget. Check them out!

Whether you do it yourself or get someone else to do it for you, proper website maintenance is critical. If all website owners do it, it benefits everyone!