Website Maintenance is the next Requirement for Successful Websites

Just like any software, websites require ongoing maintenance and updates, to keep the site working properly. Avoiding website maintenance is like not having regular oil changes on your car or truck. You wouldn't drive your car very long if you didn't look after it's routine maintenance, would you? Well, the same process is true for your website too. Your website should always be live, ready for customers and presenting your business at it's finest.

"Set it and Forget it" - Said no web master ever

If you don't have regular website maintenance carried out monthly, you may actually be throwing money out the window. When visitors go to a website and find things wrong with it, they don't tend to stick around long. Many website owners never check their website to see how it's functioning. Missed or hidden website issues or downtime can lose you potential customers.

The benefits of Maintenance

Many people don't realize the benefits of regular website maintenance:

• The website performance, it's load time, downtime and uptime, is all dependant on the WordPress software and plugin functioning as they should. A quick look at just the WordPress change log (the log of all past changes with the core software) will show the importance of this alone. Take a look at the most recent update which closed three identified security holes below. Check it out here: https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Versions  
• The website growth, it's fresh content, analytics monitoring and design changes, is all dependent on you having someone making sure all updates to the website are done in a smooth and error free fashion.

Our Maintenance Workflow

At Stoute Web Solutions we take great care to first backup the website, and check the website after our updates for any issues. Our software keeps a record of plugins we update so if there is ever an issue we see what plugin version was changed and revert it back. Also included in our monthly maintenance report are the performance and security scans. If in the event we ever catch a plugin issue, it becomes a support ticket and we address it before you ever know there's a problem.

Dangers of Do It Yourself Maintenance

Maintaining your site yourself could cost you more than you may think. If you use update from your WordPress admin, you wouldn't have a record of what was done. If an update to a plugin created an issue a couple weeks later, it would be difficult to know what changed and how you should revert back without restoring a very old backup (and possibly losing content changes, sales orders, contact entries, you name it).

It costs more to fix than maintain

Inexperience and neglect can damage the look and functionality of your website. When that happens, you have a choice to make. One, you try and fix it yourself, in which case you may do further damage. Or two, you can then pay the (sometimes hefty) price for someone experienced to fix it. Just like your car, it costs more to fix it than it does to maintain it properly. Regular oil changes help keep you car running properly, regular site maintenance helps keep your website running properly

Call a Professional

Why not beal with what you know best and let us deal with that we know best? Would you try to fight that court battle without a lawyer? Then why try to maintain your own website if you're not a web professional? By securing an experienced web professional to update and maintain your website properly you are actually saving potential lost sales and visitors. If you're interested in securing a maintenance contract for you website check out our available plans or contact us and get a professional recommendation.