The car almost glows with the fresh paint job free of any imperfections. The engine purrs and it has that new car smell that doesn’t last as long as we like. You know the day you buy the car is the cleanest it will ever be again even if you vow to take special care of this one with your “no eating inside the car” rule that lasts two weeks at best.
Buying a car is a major investment. Keeping your car running smoothly requires ongoing maintenance. Car maintenance is pretty simple at first. You change the oil, rotate the tires, and add some windshield washer fluid when needed. As the car ages, more maintenance needs to be done like tire replacement, shocks, and brakes. These are all things most car owners are well aware of and expect.
Your website is not much different from a new car. Minus the new car smell, your website also is shiny and functions exactly how you expect it to the day you launch it. Most website owners do not realize that their website also requires ongoing maintenance to keep it running smoothly – just like owning a car.
The tricky part is maintaining your website can be confusing because a lot of the things that require ongoing attention are not well-known tasks. How often should you review your website traffic? What are these notifications that I’m getting when I log into my website dashboard? Why are the leads from my website not showing up in my email inbox like they did last week?
There are specific tasks you should perform on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis to make sure you can get the most mileage out of your website.
The good news is we created a Website Maintenance Checklist you can use to know what to do and when. Think of it as a roadmap to keep your website and online presence in tip-top shape.
Why a Website Maintenance Checklist is Your Secret Weapon
Let’s face it: life gets busy. It’s easy to forget about your website when your time and mental energy is occupied by putting out daily fires at work and trying to have some resemblance of a personal life. However, neglecting a site can have serious consequences. Broken links, outdated information, and slow loading times can frustrate visitors and hurt your search engine ranking. That’s where a website maintenance checklist comes in – it keeps you on track and assures your website looks and functions as intended.
Here is a breakdown of tasks you should perform on a periodic basis to drastically reduce the chance you will experience a website “breakdown” that can derail your already busy schedule. Taking a little bit of time to go through the items on this checklist will save you time and money in the long run.
Your Daily Website Maintenance Do-Over
Think of these daily tasks as quick pit stops to keep your website humming:
Monitor Uptime: A website that is down is a website that’s losing business. Free tools are available to monitor your website’s uptime so you’ll know if there are any outages and can act quickly.
Review Form Submissions and Comments: You want to make sure you are quickly following up on all form submissions and comments from website visitors. This will keep visitors engaged and increase your conversion rate.
Check Website Analytics: Make it a practice to check your website traffic on a daily basis just to gauge how many visitors you are getting to your website and how they are interacting with the content on your website.
Weekly Website Maintenance: A Quick Tidy-Up
Once a week, dedicate a short amount of time to these essential tasks:
Content Updates: A website with fresh content is a happy website. Get into the habit of posting new content to your website every week. Publishing a weekly blog post is one of the easiest ways to add fresh content to your website but also look at enhancing existing content and CTAs.
Check Site for Broken Links: Broken links happen. Sometimes a website page URL gets changed or it accidentally gets unpublished. Checking for broken links is a good way to make sure all the doors inside your website are open and leading to the correct rooms.
Security Scans: Websites are vulnerable to security breaches and hackers look for opportunities to exploit these vulnerabilities. Security scans can make you aware of unwanted files or code within your website that might lead to a bigger headache in the future. These scans can also notify you of important updates you need to perform that help keep your website secure.
Software Updates: Plugins and themes add functionality and style to your website, but outdated versions can pose security risks and slow down your site’s performance. Update your website CMS, theme, plugins, and any additional components used in the functionality of your website to make sure it is running properly and patch up any security issues. IMPORTANT: Make sure you backup your website and database before performing any updates.
Monthly Website Maintenance: A Deep Clean
Think of these monthly tasks as a thorough cleaning for your website:
SEO Reporting: Evaluate your website’s rankings on the search engine results page (SERPs) for targeted keywords you are trying to rank for. Be sure to also check on your Google Business Profile and Google Search Console metrics as well.
Monthly Analytics Reporting: Even though you’re checking your website analytics on a daily/weekly basis, it is best practice to generate a monthly report. This will help you evaluate and compare your website’s traffic and conversions.
Full Security Scans: Run a full security scan each month to identify and address any potential weaknesses before they become a problem.
Performance Audits: A slow-loading website is a website that visitors will abandon. Conduct regular performance audits to identify areas for improvement and keep your site running smoothly
Check File Backups: Check that your website file backups are working correctly so you can recover your website in case of unforeseen issues.
Quarterly Website Maintenance: A Time for Reflection
Every three months, take a step back and consider these broader website maintenance tasks:
Comprehensive SEO Audits: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the magic sauce that helps people find your website online. Schedule regular SEO audits to make sure your website is optimized for search engines and attracts the right traffic.
User Feedback Review: Your website visitors are a valuable source of information. Take some time each quarter to review any user feedback you’ve received and see if there are any common themes or areas for improvement.
Design Review: Look for opportunities to update the core visual elements within your website’s current theme. This can include changing a hero image or other images on the homepage, landing pages, or other core pages of your website. Doing this will help keep your website looking fresh to website visitors.
Database Optimization: Over time, your website’s database starts to look a little like that junk drawer in your kitchen and needs a quick purge of all unnecessary/unused items. Keeping your database clean helps keep your website running smoothly.
ADA Compliance Monitoring and Optimization: You want your website to be user-friendly to all potential users including those with disabilities. ADA compliance scans can help identify areas of your website that are not accessible to visitors with disabilities and provide insights to optimize your website and make it accessible to everyone.
Significant Updates: Technology changes rapidly, and your website needs to keep pace. Regularly review your plugins or themes to make sure they’re still compatible and secure. If necessary, consider updating major components like your CMS (Content Management System).
Redesign Considerations: As your business evolves, your website should too. Take a yearly look at your website’s design and functionality. Does it still reflect your brand and user needs effectively? If not, it might be time for a refresh.
Review Legal Policies: Take a look at your privacy statement, terms and conditions, shipping/return policies, ADA compliance policy, and any other policy and procedure content for updates.
Keeping Your Website Sparkling: A Summary
By following these website maintenance tips and creating a checklist that works for you, you can ensure your website remains a valuable asset for your business. Here’s a quick recap of the key checklist items:
Daily: Monitor Uptime, Review form Submissions and Comments, Check Website Analytics
Ready to Take Your Website Maintenance to the Next Level?
Do you really need to perform all the tasks in this list?
The short answer is yes if you want to keep your website running smoothly and drastically reduce the chance that you experience a security breach or an issue with your website functionality. Your task list might vary depending on the goals of your business and purpose of your website but the majority of these tasks will keep you out of trouble.
Just like driving your car with the check engine light on, you can roll the dice and see how far you can get before that unknown issue leads to a breakdown on the side of the road. It all depends on your tolerance level for risk and the trade off between investing in peace of mind or fixing issues when they happen.
This list might look intimidating at first but it is easy to manage once you have everything scheduled. Some of these tasks are easier to complete using specialized software that can monitor website performance.
If you want help from a trusted website maintenance company, Neon Goldfish offers various website maintenance services to keep your online presence sparkling. From regular backups and security updates to performance optimization and SEO audits, our team of experts can handle all the technical nitty-gritty so you can focus on what you do best – running your business.
Head over to our website to learn more about our website maintenance services and how Neon Goldfish can help you keep your website running smoothly and securely, or call us today.
Remember, a well-maintained website is a powerful tool for attracting new customers and growing your business. Don’t wait until it’s too late – start your website maintenance routine today!
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