A lot of businesses make the mistake of creating a website and then leaving it unmaintained. They tend to believe that a website is completed after it is designed, developed, and live on the web. However, these are just the first steps of establishing and creating an online presence for your business. In order to get the ROI you are looking for, it is essential to follow through with proper website maintenance. Maintaining your site in good condition is just as important as the development of the site itself. A well-maintained site will positively affect:
- Online marketing efforts
- Search engine rankings
- Cybersecurity
- Conversion levels
- Customer experience
With evident benefits, it is easy for website owners to prioritize website maintenance early on. Unfortunately, many sites start off strong and end up forgetting all about web maintenance as time goes on. They keep pushing it back as they put other more important tasks ahead. After all, business is full of challenges, and it is often very difficult to find time for proper maintenance. The fact of the matter is that website maintenance is not as easy as it seems, and many businesses do not have the time to juggle numerous business activities with the tasks needed to maintain a website properly. Hiring a professional website maintenance service to handle your sites is the most sustainable option in the long run. It offers you the benefits of a well-maintained site while sparing you the hassle, time, and stress that come with website work.
When choosing a website maintenance service, it is crucial to find one that meets your needs consistently. Remember that website maintenance is an ongoing service, and it is best to choose a company that can serve you in the long term.
Important Factors To Consider When Choosing a Website Maintenance Company
The service you choose will affect website performance. These are some important things to consider when looking for a website maintenance service.
Get An Idea Of What You Need Before You Start Your Search
When looking for an excellent website maintenance service, you will notice that companies and agencies provide very different levels of service and work. Take the time to go over your website to get an idea of the services you need to move forward. This doesn’t mean that you need to have an outline of every service you need. The goal is to get an idea of the minimum level of service you need to accomplish your goals. Consider the following:
- How much assistance do you require around your website?
- Do you have a plan for your website, or are you counting on the assistance of the service?
- Are you likely to have technical requests?
- How well is your website optimized?
- Will you require them to be on call 24/7 or during business hours only?
Asking such questions will help in making the right decision for your business. Once you have an idea of the level of service needed, it will be a lot easier to pick a company that fits your website and business needs. An important thing to consider is the type of CMS you have. While there are numerous options for creating a website, WordPress is considered the most popular choice.
WordPress Websites – WordPress Website Maintenance
One of the most popular content management systems on the web today is WordPress. WordPress’ sites are popular because they are great for professionals and beginners. Beginners can get the ball rolling with a wide range of plugins and themes that can reduce both the design cost and website cost when starting out. Professionals can combine their skills with the numerous possibilities of WordPress to create stunning and well optimized websites that meet all of Google’s demands. WordPress’ maintenance is made easier with auto update features, apps for detecting broken links, search engine optimization (SEO) tracking, malware scanning & malware removal tools and much more. Maintaining your WordPress website will be an easy task for experienced professionals.
Well Structured Website Maintenance Plan
In terms of site maintenance services, you are going to want to have a plan that covers all the important aspects of your site. When considering your website maintenance options, look for a plan that is well-structured and provides a lot of value for your site. The more planned out and detailed a service is, the better the results of the service.
Outlined Services
When choosing a website maintenance service, choose a company that is clear on precisely what services they provide in their plan. Make sure that any plan you sign up to clearly defines the services they will provide. If you are looking for a more advanced plan that will require a more personalized and custom approach to your website, make sure you have a call to see what services they can provide. Take the time to get in touch with a company in advance. Ask them to explain their services before making a decision. A good company will take the time to explain not only their basic plans but also more advanced features and how they could help your website.
Provide Everything You Need
While maintenance services provide different services, there are certain key services that every professional website maintenance plan has to cover. After all, you do not want to work with multiple companies when running your website. It is best to have a trusted website maintenance provider that can cover all bases. Website maintenance essentials should include:
- Regular updates
- Security maintenance
- Regular backups (Cloud backups are prefered)
- Uptime monitoring
- Professional support and development assistance
- Frequent reports
These are the bare essentials that you should expect from a basic maintenance service. Apart from these services, your service provider should be able to assist in managing every area of your virtual presence.
Clearly Defined Pricing Plans
There are many things to consider when looking for the right company. One of the most important things is finding a company that works with your budget. The goal is to find a maintenance package that meets your needs in regard to value and price. This is why it is vital to find a service that is clear about their plans and pricing. Regular maintenance plans usually have a fixed price and a list of the services they cover with that fee. These are a great starting point if you are looking for a basic plan that makes sure you do not fall behind on your website.
However, some businesses want more from their service provider. They want the benefits of additional services, such as dev work, suggestions on website improvement, custom reports, analytics, managed solutions and other services to get the edge. If you need more than a regular maintenance plan, then it is likely that you will need to contact the service to get a quote. In such situations, the service providers set the price by listening to your needs and customizing a service that ensures you are on the right track to success.
Look For An Experienced Service
When looking around for a website maintenance service, make sure you consider experience. There is a lot of things to cover in website maintenance, and things can get quite complex. The last thing you want to do is hand over your precious website to someone that is learning the ropes. Opting for a more experienced team will help ensure that you get what you pay for.
Make Sure They Are Reliable
Website maintenance carries a lot of responsibility. It usually requires a coordinated effort to make sure everything runs smoothly. Apart from finding an experienced team, you will also want to make sure the people you are hiring are reliable. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you have invested thousands of dollars into a website maintenance plan without seeing the results. There are a couple of ways you can go about determining reliability. Look at the following things:
- Look at older projects and other clients – Looking at their other clients is a great way to gauge how good their maintenance service is
- Consider the quality of communication – A reliable website maintenance company is all about keeping clients in the loop. They are willing to answer questions directly and explain any misunderstandings you have.
- They provide a timeline and updates – A sign of a reliable, experienced company is the fact that they offer a realistic timeline and progress reports for long and ongoing projects.
- Synergy within the team – Try and get a feel for the dynamics within an organization. Maintaining your website takes a lot of work and cooperation to run smoothly. If a company works well together, chances are they have done this before and know what they are doing.
- Services are thought out and complement each other – Consider the services offered in a plan. If they seem well-thought-out and useful, then it is very likely that they have been put together by an experienced and reliable team.
They Have A Good Reputation
Regardless of how good you are at assessing a company’s reputation and work ethic, it is important to take a few minutes to look into their reputation. Consider the top-rated companies on review sites when choosing a service provider. Remember that not all review websites are as accurate as you expect them to be. Look for a website that values authentic reviews. We recommend Clutch for their strict policies and rigorous vetting.
Once you design and develop a business website, it is important to invest in website maintenance to see results. There are numerous web maintenance companies and you need to pick one that ensures your site runs like a well oiled machine. If you are looking for a service provider that can take your business to the next level, look no further than StrongWP. We offer state-of-the-art services and multiple optimization and maintenance plans. We understand that the only way to stand out from the competition is to go above and beyond with our services.
