Protect Your Website
One of the key issues I’m constantly telling my clients about is website maintenance. There was a time, not that long ago, when some people didn’t think much about keeping their website up to date. Well let me tell you, again, that those days are over. We live in a world where there are “bad people”, we call them Hackers, who have nothing better to do with their time than to try to gain access into your website and do bad things. There are steps to keep these guys out of your website but it means keeping your site updated and secure.
WordPress Is Great
The majority of the sites I build now are built on WordPress. Why? Because WordPress is a wonderful. It’s great for developers because the ‘core’ files allow me to install a basic WordPress CMS quickly. I can also use one of thousands of existing free or “premium” themes, or create a custom theme myself. It’s great for my clients because it allows them to edit existing content, and create new content, on their own.
It’s also great because I can safely prevent the site from being attacked by the dreaded hackers. In order to keep the site safe the following steps must be taken on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
- Update the core WordPress files
- Install reputable Security plugins
- Keep all plugins updated
- Maintain premium plugin licensing
- Backup all WordPress files and plugins
- Keep the site visible on the Search Engines (SEO)
Why Do You Need To Maintain Your Site
What would happen if you didn’t change the oil in your car every three months or so? Eventually the engine would seize up and you would spend a lot of money to fix it. You’re website is like a car. Ignore it and one day it isn’t going to work anymore. WordPress is constantly updating to make sure it is more secure and all of the plugin developers are updating to make sure they are compatible with WordPress and free of any security bugs. So every time a new virus or threat is discovered the developers have to update. If you don’t update WordPress and the plugins your site doesn’t have the latest code which means your site isn’t going to work properly.
Should you maintain your own site?
Every web site owner has the ability to maintain their own site. But do they have the experience, and the time, to make sure that it’s done correctly? And if something goes wrong and the site breaks, do they know how to fix it? From experience I would guess that most owners don’t know how to do this. And if they do it takes up a lot of time that they could be devoting to other parts of their business.
If you maintain your own site and it breaks you need someone to fix it. But if that person, in this case I mean me, doesn’t have a record of backups and all of the files then everything that was in the site is lost. This means the site needs to be rebuilt but with no way of restoring all of the content and hard work that went into it before it broke.
We have systems in place to make sure your site is thoroughly updated on a regular basis, usually on the 15th or 30th of the month. If anything goes wrong we can restore the site quickly. We now encourage all of our clients to sign up for our Web Site Care Plans to give them peace of mind that their site will be operating properly.
Our Experience Can Save You Money
You know your business better than anyone else. Would you let someone else do your job? By the same token we know how to maintain websites. Would you replace your engine on your car, or represent yourself in court without a lawyer? The same is true with your website. Why would you maintain your web site if you’re not a professional web designer?
By allowing us to maintain your website you are actually saving money in lost sales and visitors. The goal of your website should be to attract customers, keep them engaged and keep them coming back. The best way to do that is to keep your web site updated and regularly maintained, but if you’d rather not do that your customers, and their business, will move on to one of your competitors.
The Choice is Yours
If your interested in setting up a maintenance contract for your web site, contact us to find out how you can have a professional web designer keep your site working properly. It’s really not as expensive as you may think!
*If you are not on a care plan, you will be responsible for your own website backups, uptime monitoring, security scans, regular software updates (theme, plugins, core) and performance monitoring and speed tests.