9 Easy Steps to Keep Your Website Running Smoothly

25 Oct 9 Easy Steps to Keep Your Website Running Smoothly

9 Easy Steps to Keep Your Website Running Smoothly

If you don’t change the oil in your car on a regular basis, its performance will gradually decline until the engine dies. Don’t let this ruin your hard work of getting your website online. You, your web developer, and your hosting company should all follow the maintenance checklist that comes with the site.

1. Check your website’s checkout and form functionality 

Calls to action and points of contact and sale, such as the “Contact Us” form and the checkout process, should be tested frequently to ensure optimal performance. There is nothing worse than finding out you lost business because your contact form stopped working after a website update.

2. Examine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Key performance indicators (KPIs), search engine rankings, and website analytics should all be tracked for at least a month to get an accurate picture of your site’s success. This method will reveal how well the website is doing and where there may be flaws.

3. Enhancements to security and performance smoothness

Upgrades, security patches, bug fixes, and other updates that address vulnerabilities in the OS, web server, database, content management system, etc., should be installed by both your web developer and hosting provider. Patches should be applied as soon as possible after they are made available. If you don’t install the latest security patch, hackers may be able to get into your website more easily.

4. Domain name renewal is essential (annually).

It’s imperative that you keep up with the timely renewal of all your domains. The domain name for your website is probably the single most important asset you have. The consequences of letting it lapse might be disastrous.

5. Check backups for functionality on an annual basis.

Make sure that both the code and the data on your site have been backed up. You should have the person who built your site or the company that hosts it double-check the backups to make sure they are working and that the data can be recovered.

6. Confirm browser compatibility

With the passage of time, some browsers may no longer be able to properly display previously designed websites. Keep a regular schedule for reviewing and testing your site on Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, which are the most popular browsers.

7. Notices of expiration and copyright modifications have been added.

Ensure that all of the material and references on your site that are tied to a certain time period are up-to-date and include the correct copyright dates. In particular, you shouldn’t have any old or irrelevant data on your homepage (e.g., a year-old press release).

8. Take a look at your contacts (annually or as needed).

The names, email addresses, and phone numbers of all team members shown on the website should be current at all times. Due to a shift in personnel duties, it may be necessary to redirect emails to a new contact on the team. Any time there is an immediate shift at your company, you should ask yourself, “Should I update the website?”

9. Make sure your disclaimers are up to date (annually).

Make sure that your privacy policies, terms and conditions of use, terms of sale, and any disclaimers are up to date and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations by reviewing them and updating them as necessary.

Your website, like any other tool in your organisation, requires upkeep and testing on a regular basis. Your website needs to adapt as quickly as your industry or company does if you want to maintain a competitive edge. Once these safeguards are in place, everything will function smoothly.