Receiving your new website with login and admin details might feel like the end of the road, but in reality, it’s just the beginning.
There are several crucial steps that you need to take to ensure the optimal functioning of your website, such as updating plugins and themes, monitoring website performance, and keeping an eye out for any security threats. Neglecting these tasks could result in a subpar user experience and potentially damage your online reputation. Therefore, it’s essential to stay on top of website maintenance and make necessary updates regularly.
In today’s digital age, a website is a crucial element for any business looking to establish an online presence. However, just like how a car needs regular maintenance to ensure it runs smoothly and efficiently, a website also requires consistent upkeep to perform at its best.
Regular maintenance of your car is essential to ensure optimal performance, safety, and longevity. It involves not only checking the oil, water, and tyre pressure but also inspecting the brakes, lights, suspension, and other critical components. Similarly, maintaining your website is essential to ensure its smooth operation, user-friendliness, and security. This involves updating the software, plugins, and security features, checking the loading speed, responsiveness, and accessibility, and fixing any bugs or errors that may arise. By keeping your website in top condition, you can enhance its visibility, credibility, and profitability, and avoid potential issues that can harm your business.
A website that is not regularly maintained can lead to costly breakdowns, loss of data, and a decrease in search engine rankings. Therefore, it is crucial to keep up with the maintenance of your website to avoid any significant issues that could potentially harm your online presence and reputation.
Thankfully, website maintenance is not a complicated process and can be completed easily and quickly with the right tools and knowledge. With regular updates and checks, you can ensure that your website is running smoothly and efficiently, providing your visitors with an exceptional user experience.
The option of outsourcing website maintenance responsibilities to an IT or web development company is a viable solution. Numerous website-building companies offer monthly retainers for maintenance and updates, serving as an efficient means of freeing up time and resources to focus on core business operations. For instance, Rockpool Creative offers monthly retainers tailored to the specific needs and requirements of our clients. Our services ensure that website maintenance is efficiently executed and that clients always have an up-to-date backup available in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
Website backups are an essential part of website management and maintenance. It is highly recommended that you perform regular backups to protect your website and ensure that it can be easily restored in case of any issues.
At Rockpool Creative, we use UpDraft Plus as our preferred backup solution. It is easy to use and provides a range of backup options to most commonly used cloud storage systems such as Google Drive or Dropbox. UpDraft Plus allows you to schedule automatic backups on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, or you can perform a manual backup whenever required.
When you update your website, it is crucial to have a recent backup ready in case there are any conflicts that cause site errors or broken code. This will help prevent downtime should the need to contact a plugin developer or troubleshoot any issues arise. Therefore, backing up your website should be prioritised as the most important step before completing any updates.
Once a backup has been completed and safely stored, updates can be performed in the updates area of your WordPress website. Updates consist of theme updates, which are specific to the theme used to create your website and the software used within those themes, plugin updates, are the smaller programs within your website that are used to create specific functionality within your website and main software updates, which aren’t as regularly needed but are very important to keep on top of as if the versions become outdated, you could encounter a number of issues with any aspect of your website.
It is crucial to keep your website updated and maintained regularly to avoid any potential issues in the day-to-day running of your website. Unfortunately, some web developers may not emphasise the importance of these tasks or provide retainers for maintenance when handing over websites to clients, which can result in easily preventable disasters.
Would you like us to look after your website for you?
If you’re unsure how to maintain your website, talk to your developer or contact us at Rockpool Creative for help. We offer retainers for all WordPress websites to minimise your website stress.