Website Maintenance is part of the modern-day SEO strategy. In this ever-evolving landscape, modifying a website’s basic and advanced elements can help improve its overall performance. On average, more than 71% of businesses globally have a website. However, having just a website presence is not enough maintaining every component, from SEO to design and structure, is important.
Forbes has suggested that around 43% of small businesses may invest in their website performance in 2024. The data is intended to improve over time because of all the benefits website optimization and maintenance can deliver. So, let’s quickly dive into this blog and learn 10 reasons to invest in maintaining a business website.
What is Website Maintenance?
Website maintenance is a way of keeping a website running smoothly and up to date. It involves regularly checking for issues, correcting them, and making updates. Given that, website maintenance involves the following tasks:-
- Assuring all links are working on the site
- Regularly updating content
- Fixing broken links
- Making updates to website software and plugins
- Checking that all forms are running properly
- Removing spam comments from pages and posts
- Searching for and fixing or redirecting 404 errors
- Writing blog posts to encourage SEO traffic
How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost?
Website Maintenance is a project-based process that can include different approaches, strategies, tools, techniques, and so on. Depending on the depth of the requirements and expectations, the cost can vary highly.
In a realistic sense, how much a company is ready to spend on the maintenance process impacts the final cost and the results. Some businesses may not invest at all, while others may regularly give out a huge sum.
On average, Website maintenance can range from $20 to $5,000 per month or $12 to $25 per hour. The cost depends on the complexity of services, the size of the website, and the frequency of updates.
Professional services usually cost more, ranging between $200 and $4,500 per month. On the other hand, a freelance expert might charge $18 to $20 per hour. These services can help with technical aspects, such as regular software updates, security audits, and performance optimization.
NOTE: This data is based on the US business charges and might differ from country to country.
How Long Does Website Maintenance Take?
Depending on the goals, requirements, and expectations of any business website, maintenance can take anywhere from a few minutes or hours to full-time support. The time for website maintenance can depend on the type of website and the tasks that need to be done. Smaller, simpler websites with fewer elements and plugins may take just a few hours per month to maintain. On the other hand, larger sites with more complex structures can take up to 10 hours per month.
General routine checks and management may take up to 3 to 6 hours. However, fixing minor bugs can take hours or days and may be very difficult to locate.
You can fragment website maintenance services into smaller tasks and divide them over a period of time. This makes it easier to manage your workload and ensures your website functions optimally. You can also hire a freelance website manager to handle the workflow. Ideally, it should be conducted monthly to keep your site compatible with the latest trends and technology in the market.
10 Reasons Why Website Maintenance Is Essential
Website Maintenance has proved to be an important process in Search Engine Optimization. To stay in the competition, it is essential to follow the latest trends and technical curves.
Recently, Google has laid down a new algorithm that prefers smooth-running websites with the latest and upgraded content. Upgrading a website on a regular basis can ensure that these criteria are met fully.
Along with meeting SEO demands, it also makes sure that you maintain a healthy sum of organic traffic. Given that, here are some reasons why every business should opt for Website Maintenance:-
Regular Content Updates
Content serves as a medium between your website, search engines, and customers. Regular updates can benefit SEO, user experience, and overall website performance. Fresh content can attract visitors and help the Google crawler identify your website.
Regular updates also help to keep a website protected and safeguard it from possible security threats, like hackers.
Given that, here are some of its benefits:-
- Improved brand exposure
- Improve marketing funnel
- Give returning customers something new
- Keep the website up-to-date
- Keep visitors engaged
- Improve overall website performance
Security And Protection
With the evolving technology, hackers have also cracked new ways to evade any website. If there are any security gaps or vulnerabilities to exploit, it is very important to quickly address them with the help of the website development team. This can prevent hackers and cyber thieves from accessing sensitive information. A secure website can help prevent:-
- Data breaches
- Protect against financial fraud
- Prevent legal penalties
- Maintain business continuity
Given that, here are some common website security threats that website maintenance can address:-
- Denial of service (DoS)
- Ransomware
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- SQL and code injections
- Stolen passwords
Working Backup
Regular website maintenance allows you to keep a working backup of all the important files on your website. Each and every business must invest in backup and vaults because it can help you recover from problems like:-
- Accidental file deletion
- Server failures
- Malware attacks
- Human errors
- Hardware failure
- Data corruption
Not only this, but backup can also help you reverse unexpected problems, make web host migration easier, and create a test site.
Serve Customers Better
Website maintenance can help you locate and fix bugs that can interfere with user experience. Not only this, but you can serve customers and visitors better by listing items such as new launches and top discounted products on your website.
A customer-centric website can help build loyal customers and an online reputation. This will ultimately help in gaining loyalty, trust, and value, which can lead to business growth.
Compatibility With New Technology
Compatibility with new technology ensures that users have the best possible experience, generating positive effects on revenue, branding, and customer loyalty.
Furthermore, it guarantees smooth interoperability, reduces potential conflicts and inconsistencies, and allows your business or website to stay up to date.
For example, if a website is unable to render optimized results on all browsers, the customer will feel disconnected and frustrated. This, in return, can lead to reputational and financial loss for your business.
Cost Savings
On average, website maintenance expenses can range between $400 and $60,000 per year. People generally invest in domain SSL certificates and software or web hosting renewal. Other costs might include purchasing additional extensions or investing in a major website redesign.
Minimizing costs by implementing the best practices can help you allocate more resources and save on the overall website development process.
Proper Monitoring And Tracking
Monitoring and Tracking can help you comprehend how visitors and customers interact with your website. Later, in the website maintenance phase, you can make changes or upgrade your site based on the users’ responses and interests. This ensures high levels of user engagement.
Since website problems can negatively impact your search engine rankings, regular checks on the website’s structure are extremely important. Furthermore, you can monitor your competitors and keep an eye on what products or services they are offering.
Increase Brand Awareness
Website maintenance is part of search engine optimization and contributes to increasing brand awareness. Simultaneously, a website’s performance highly depends on how you maintain it and how well users engage with it.
If the technical elements of your website are optimized fruitfully, then there is a high chance for Google to index your site. Not only this, but regular maintenance can also ensure that other elements, such as the domain host, contents, plugins, and themes, are optimized.
Compatibility With Latest Algorithm And Tools
Website maintenance uses new tools to upgrade websites as per the latest Google algorithm. Brand awareness is important for marketing products and boosting sales. It plays a major role in building brand recognition.
If your website is properly optimized and maintained, customers can easily find products based on the elements available on your site.
Reduce Error And Improve Site Efficiency
Website maintenance is highly crucial for reducing the number of errors and improving overall site efficiency. It makes the backbone of your website stronger, preventing any blockages on your site.
Typos and grammatical errors can make a website look unprofessional, which can discourage visitors from returning. Moreover, errors can cause slow loading speeds, which can increase the bounce rate.
Conclusion
Website maintenance is an important part of the overall SEO strategy. It helps overcome difficulties, such as errors which can arise after deployment or outdated content, which can lower the SERP ranking. Thus, entrepreneurs should regularly invest in maintaining and upgrading their website to keep it at the forefront of their business.
Also Read About: 8 Reasons Why Blogs Are Important For Businesses
