Your website isn’t a “set it and forget it” marketing tool. Instead, it requires constant upkeep to ensure it remains responsive and secure. Regular maintenance is key to providing real-time response as well as proper security for both users and your business. Here we explain why maintaining and protecting your website using a trusted web hosting service is critical to your success.
Retaining Customer Interest
Today’s consumers have little patience and low attention spans. If your website is not well-maintained and the content is not kept up-to-date, your user experience is poor. Your website needs to be quick to load, easy to navigate, and highly informative to retain customer interest. Therefore, whether serving existing customers or attracting new prospects, your website must provide easily accessible information customers need. If not, they will go elsewhere. In other words, your customers will find your competition. Routinely refreshing content while running diagnostics to keep things running smoothly provides an improved user experience that keeps people happy and loyal.
Attracting Search Engines
Many companies make the mistake of thinking their original content is enough when it comes to SEO. Unfortunately, search engines have become smarter and stricter. It’s not just about high-quality content anymore; it’s also about new content that improves “crawlability.” The answer lies in your page’s “if-modified-since” HTTP header. The header tells search engines if your site has changed since the last time it was accessed. If search engines find you aren’t making regular modifications, they tend to lower your rankings. New content is a must.
Maintaining Your Corporate Image
Websites are the new first impressions for most businesses. Do you want to eat at a restaurant that looks old and smells stale? If you aren’t in the market for something retro, will you purchase from a retailer displaying old, outdated clothes? If your website looks like it hasn’t been updated since you built it, people won’t be impressed.
Slow loading speeds, links that don’t work, outdated images or web design technology, cheesy images, and poor navigation make your website look neglected and chase away customers. Even a few spelling mistakes can be enough to reduce your appeal in a customer‘s eyes. On the other hand, a slick, well-designed website with fast loading pages and intuitive navigation show commitment to customer service and higher industry standards.
Instilling Customer Confidence
Customers who feel your website is untrustworthy, or even search engines that sense your site isn’t secure, won’t be willing to click your links. That little green checkmark beside each ranking on Google is like a thumbs up for safety. If your website has questionable content or technical issues that could put visitors at risk, your rankings will suffer. Even if your rankings are fine but your security for collecting email addresses, personal information, and credit card numbers isn’t, you can face serious challenges that will cost money to fix. You will also lose customer trust.
You need to invest in proper maintenance, which includes frequent updates of your content and ensures quality control. Feedback and performance monitoring, routine and infrastructure maintenance, and security are all important details taken handled by a trusted web hosting service.
