We all know that if we don’t take care of our car, it will break down. It’s the same for almost everything. Especially software programs that keep our websites running efficiently. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Your site is always open, greeting new visitors.
Preventative care can keep your site healthy so that it represents your business at its finest.
Websites Are Not a “Set and Forget”
Some business owners believe that their website doesn’t require any work once it’s launched, and forget about it. They don’t check to see if it’s functioning properly or update the core and plugins. When it goes down or gets hacked, they spend hours or days trying to figure out how to fix it. Downtime is stressful and means losing potential customers.
Many people don’t realize the benefits of site maintenance:
The website performance, how fast it loads, downtime, and uptime are all dependent on the WordPress software and the plugins functioning as they should.
Monitoring analytics, keeping content fresh, making sure all WordPress and plugin updates to the website are error-free are dependent on having someone regularly performing the task to keep your site healthy and working smoothly.
Maintenance Workflow
At Tovani Design we take great care to first backup the website and check the website for 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 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
It could cost you more to maintain your website than you think. The required skill set and quality of work come with experience using WordPress. You might spend more time than you realize learning and be making rookie mistakes. If you don’t have any background using WordPress and plugins, when something breaks, you won’t know where to begin to fix it and will spend more money hiring a developer than if you hired someone to keep your site efficient and healthy in the first place.
It Costs More to Fix Than to Maintain
Inexperience and neglect can damage the look and functionality of your website causing people to leave as soon as they get there. You could be losing potential customers.
Trying to fix it yourself is stressful and can do more harm, digging yourself deeper into a hole of frustration and wanting to pull your hair out. Spending hours on hold with your hosting company only to be even more confused. They might be able to explain what you need to do (in developer speak) or send you to some videos, but when your site gets broken, they will charge a hefty price to fix it.
Just like car maintenance, regular oil changes and tune-ups cost less than replacing your car’s engine. Regular site maintenance helps your website run smoothly.
Call in a Professional
Why not deal with what you know best and let us deal with what we know best? Would you represent yourself in a court case? Would you cut your hair instead of going to a great stylist? Trying to manage your website if you’re not a web professional is risky. As a business owner, you need your website to work efficiently. By securing an experienced web professional to update and maintain your site properly you are saving potential lost sales and visitors.
You’ll get better results with an experienced web professional to update and maintain your site for you.
If you’re interested in securing a maintenance contract for your website, contact us to learn how we can keep your site in working order.
