Website Maintenance: Scarcely understood and largely Ignored

Now, we are already in agreement that at the least, your business needs a website. It acts as a gateway between your business and the external world. That is important, but not all. You need to ensure that your website does not become stale. Welcome to the equally important art of Website Maintenance.

A website is like a growing child; it keeps requiring new clothes and changing diet as it ages.

Related Article: Super Benefits of a website for your small business

Website maintenance is the process of continually reviewing your website and updating the content on it to ensure that everything is correct and up-to-date. It entails a myriad of activities, which may vary depending on the nature of your business. But it generally involves;

Ensuring the contact form is working correctly and all messages sent from there are correctly submitted. This assures you of a satisfied clientele.

Ensuring that contact and location details of your details are still up to date. It ensures your customers, current and prospective, are not frustrated by their inability to contact or locate you.

Ensuring that there are no broken links. Broken links show incomplete information and this is destructive to your business reputation. Fix broken links and customers shall enjoy their interactions with your website.

Ensuring that it lists any new products and services your business has introduced, as well as remove any that have been discontinued. This is very important, and it not only makes your customers be on the know, it makes them feel valued since you saw it important to inform them about changes in your business. It also ensures your customers will not have to go through the frustration of getting interested in a product only to later hear it is no longer being offered.

Ensuring that the website blog is regularly populated with fresh content and posts.

This gives your site the always fresh taste that customers are always looking for. It shows a business that is growing. Importantly, it greatly increases your search engine rankings and this is just glorious to your business.

To give your site a face-lift or upgrade the website design in light of emerging technology developments or security threats. As you grow, your site needs to grow with you and with technology, and this is the only way to show your customers that the lungs of your business are still breathing.

To post important news about your business e.g. you may be having some holiday offers, or you might have been featured in an international newspaper. This increases the transparency of your business.

Backing up your website to ensure you are not at a loss in case of a failure or loss of data. Always prepare for a bad day, and regular backing is the best way to ensure that your information is still in your possession. You never know when the lightening decides to strike.

Here in Kenya, companies have not fully matured in taking website maintenance seriously. Most websites just survive for the first year after registration, and fall immediately after because someone forgot to renew their website subscription, or they did not see the value of the website. Sure, you cannot find much value in a site which is stale and one which is out of touch with what modern standards demand.

Related Article: The power of Internet to Small Businesses in Kenya

At Clinet Online we are leaders in the region at assisting businesses with efficient website maintenance. We always believe website development sets the business going, while website maintenance keeps the business going.

Contact us today, our competent team of developers and web experts shall be all the more ready to give you the freshness your business needs.

Remember the statement gas stations usually use: buy engine oil from us today or you will have to buy an engine from us tomorrow. If you ignore lubricating your website with maintenance, you shall soon lose all of it and have to start from scratch. Make a wise choice.