Did you know that 94% of your audience’s first impressions of your business come from your website, and that 89% of your consumers are likely to shop with a competitor after a poor website experience? 

A website is much more than a platform to attractively display your products and services. It is a digital handshake between your new and existing audiences. However, a website without proper maintenance is like a car that is not being serviced. Soon, it will just stop working.

A properly designed and maintained website is a valuable tool to connect your brand to customers in a meaningful way, serving as a platform to communicate and have conversations that build loyalty and trust. The modern website delivers more value than basic advertising, it’s the perfect place to create a digital community with offline benefits too. Launching a website is an exciting event but in a digital world, this is just the first phase of a deliberate strategy that should see businesses routinely maintaining, updating, and where necessary, upgrading their platforms year round to support excellent performance. Our work with world class clients has provided us with valuable insights that we’re sharing with you in these 7 key reasons to make website maintenance a priority. 

How to Choose Your Website Maintenance Partner

1. Safety and Security Matter 

When you think about the need for website security, you really have to ask yourself the simple questions in life. Why do you have a password on your phone? Why do you turn on your car alarm? Why do you lock your windows and doors at night?

For protection.

Yet, as simple as it seems, it’s easily overlooked.

The need for protection shouldn’t be any different for one of your most valuable digital assets – your website. Think of a maintenance package as contracting your own personal team of security guards to protect you from all the hackers, viruses and bugs that are lurking within the world wide web.

As beneficial as open-source content management systems such as WordPress and Drupal are, they are often the most targeted. As a result, they need the most protection. Around 93% of data breaches happen in a span of a few minutes and 83% remain undiscovered for weeks. With active security and monitoring, your site is far less likely to be a part of that statistic.

Another very important element of security monitoring and protection is your website’s backing-up process. The last time you purchased a new phone, were you advised to back up your data? It’s a similar situation with your website. In making sure your previous and most recent data, settings and website details remain intact, a back-up system needs to be in place.

Statistics show that some 68% of websites don’t have a data recovery plan. However, with website maintenance, you will already have a back up system in place. So, in the event that your website is hacked or suddenly crashes, your security team can quickly and easily restore it to normal.

2. Update Your Software Regularly 

Within the digital space, there are daily innovations. The ripple effect of that is frequent changes and improvements to software. Think of your phone, for example. How often do you get a notification of a new version of some App?

However, on the flip side is the fact that not all updates have notifications. Automated updates are those that you already expect, and without, your device will soon begin to malfunction.

And so when you think about your website, how are all of these ongoing updates monitored? The answer is simple – website maintenance.

When monitoring your software, it’s not only the content management system (such as WordPress) that you have to consider. More than likely the glitz and glamour that users see on the front-end of your site is also powered by a range of third-party plugins and applications.

As a result, website maintenance is not only crucial in keeping your software up to date, but making sure that they all remain compatible with each other. Sadly, data shows that only 27.2% of websites have updated to the latest WordPress version, while 73.2% are running outdated & vulnerable software. These websites are those that are most vulnerable to hacks and breaches. Ensure that your website isn’t.

3. Keep Your Content Up-to-Date

Did you know that 63% of consumers use websites to find businesses and 30% won’t consider a business without a website? With this in mind, one of the greatest ways to reap the rewards of your website is making sure it’s active and up to date.

This could be a change in company address and contact details, or highlighting a recent article that features your brand’s successes. And as simple as it seems, the effect can be phenomenal. Think of a potential client trying to reach out to you with a multi-million dollar deal, but they eventually assume you are not interested. Why? Because your website’s contact form is broken, and so you didn’t even receive the offer to begin with.

Website maintenance is valuable in not only realising, but resolving that and similar scenarios.

Another example is the launch of your most recent brand campaign. To maintain your competitive edge within the market, it is crucial to make this campaign as far-reaching as possible. Where would be a crucial touchpoint? Your website!

Now the mistake most people make is thinking that these updates can be made in isolation. Some even proceed to make content updates on their own, and then panic when other aspects of their site are disrupted. Consider that 38% of website visitors will stop engaging with the content if it has an unattractive layout or imagery. In the age of digital appeal, don’t fall into that trap. A website maintenance team will be a most valuable resource.

4. Improve Your Website Speed and Search Engine Optimization

More than just a buzz-word, search engine optimization (or SEO, for short) has become one of the most important elements of website visibility. Regardless of a user’s intent, if their browser search is within your industry, or somehow related to your brand, your website needs to be in the results. And how do you ensure that this happens? Two magical words:

Website maintenance.

Ideally, a part of this maintenance process is not only monitoring and protecting your site, but ensuring that the site is optimised to fulfil your core business goals – whether it be sales, leads, or otherwise.

Your website speed will prove just as important. While SEO funnels users to your site, a part of what keeps them there is the speed of the experience. 83% of people expect a website to load in 3 seconds or less. And so, imagine having a site that is perfectly optimised for search engines, but all the potential leads are lost because of a long load time.

When you think of your website within the broader context of being a revenue engine, you want to make sure that isn’t the case. Statistics show that slow-loading websites lead to a $2.6 billion revenue loss each year. And so when you weigh the cost of website maintenance versus the potential losses annually, does it truly compare?

5. Optimise Your User Experience to Increase Conversions

Improving the speed of your website is only one element of optimising the overall user experience. With an expert maintenance team, a plan will be put in place to ensure that the website is as intuitive as possible, and performs at a quality that meets their expectations.

The issues that affect user experience can range from loading errors and broken links to poor mobile optimisation. Notably, in the first quarter of 2021, mobile devices generated 54.8% of global website traffic. Alongside this, data shows that 74% of users are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly website. As a result, retaining mobile responsiveness will be an important part of your website maintenance.

Then there is the point of conversions. Whether you have an informational or e-commerce website, this concept is very relevant. A conversion occurs where a user takes a desired action on your website. This could be filling out the contact form, or purchasing the latest item from the site’s ‘Shop’. Sites with superior user experience can have 400% higher conversion rates. 

While the value of website maintenance may not be the most obvious in the initial stages, it will definitely be evident in the results.

6. Track and Report on Your Site’s Performance

In your monthly or quarterly review meetings, what statistics are usually discussed? If your website analytics isn’t a part of those numbers, it should be.

A more tangible element of your website maintenance package tends to be the monthly report. These reports should show you a clear breakdown of your users, inclusive of user sessions, pageviews, bounce rates, engagement channels, as well as user demographics. These statistics are important in showing you your website’s trend across a particular period of time, especially in A/B testing for improvement.

For example, reports might show that your user sessions have increased by 70% over the past 2 months, once your website load time was increased from 8 to 5 seconds. While the ultimate aim is 3 seconds or less, you are clearly able to track progress.

Website reporting statistics will also prove very crucial in analysing your campaigns. A key element of understanding your audience is assessing how they react to different campaign messaging and journeys. 

A website report can also be a great tool for strategizing for growth. If you are able to identify where news users have increased within a distant country, that would be the perfect opportunity for your business to consider venturing into those markets.

7. Establish and Maintain Your Brand Reputation

Think of your website as the window to your product or service. As a window shopper, your users will expect optimal quality from the onset. So, if they go onto a website that is broken, or has a disoriented design, how do you think they will feel?

Data shows that users tend to form an opinion about a website in about 0.05 seconds, while 44% of shoppers tell their friends about negative online experiences. In a nutshell, your website speaks volumes. Imagine creating brand advocates simply by maintaining an exquisite online presence by how and what your site communicates.

On the flip side, think of what will happen if this brand visibility and consistency is not maintained. Imagine if your website has multiple broken links, frequently crashes, and is even hacked. Customers will begin to question the competence and reliability of your entire brand.

If your brand is one that you truly care about, you will see the value in website maintenance.

IPP – Your Website Maintenance Partner

People value interacting with businesses that place a premium on creating and maintaining a total website experience designed to improve the ease of transacations, communication, and access to goods and services. Website maintenance is the key to building a positive online reputation. Its Pixel Perfect has partnered with leading brands and businesses in Jamaica and the Caribbean maintain websites designed to perform and deliver results for clients and their audiences. IPP offers customized website maintenance packages that include: :

Each business has unique needs and we are the preferred website maintenance partners to support those needs.  Check out our customer success stories and book a free consultation or schedule a call with out team and let’s work together to transform your website.  

Choose It’s Pixel Perfect!