The Underlying Problem
If you buy a new car and never change the oil or perform other routine maintenance, it will not run as great. In fact, it will eventually break down.
Your website is the same way. As great as WordPress is, it requires routine maintenance and updating just like the software on your phone or computer. If you neglect to update your website’s theme, plugins or core software, it will break down, guaranteed.
A successful website should always be online, live, secure and ready for customers. It should always present your business at its best. This is why ammediatec provides Uptime Monitoring.
A Popular Myth
Many people assume their websites are “set it and forget it.” if only that were true!
A website without maintenance will stop functioning properly at some point. This can cost your business money. When visitors find problems with your website, they often bounce to a different website. Many website owners don’t even realize when their site is not functioning properly. Missed website issues or downtime can equate to missed leads or customers. We update our client’s WordPress software regularly.
Prevention is the Solution
Many people don’t realize the benefits of site maintenance. There are many!
Your website’s performance, its load time, downtime and uptime, depends on WordPress software and plugins being on the latest version to function as they should.
Your website’s growth, its fresh content, analytics monitoring and design changes, all depends on you having someone make sure all updates to the website are done in a smooth and error-free manner. Get monthly reports that show this kind of data.
Our Maintenance Mojo
At Amedia Technology we follow a regimented process for each website we maintenance. This includes:
- Create off-site restore points stored at Amazon Web Server (AWS)
- Run security scans to ensure your site is malware free
- Maintain a record of plugins we update so if there is ever an issue we see what plugin version was changed and revert back
- Report to you each month what software is updated, date of the last offsite backup, basic Google analytic data, Woocommerce sales, & optimization details
Our monthly report is one of the cornerstones of our maintenance process. Click here for a sample report.
In the event we come across an issue, it becomes a support ticket and we proactively fix it!
Dangers of DIY Maintenance
“Can’t I just do this myself?” you ask.
Performing website maintenance yourself can actually cost you more than you may think. For example, if you merely run updates from the backend of your WordPress website, there will be no record of what updates were run. So if updating a plugin results in issues that surface later on down the road, it will be difficult to isolate what update needs to be reverted without restoring an old backup and possibly losing content changes, sales orders, contact entries, and more.
You may also run into failed updates when an update fails to run successfully. Failed updates can be due to a variety of reasons including outdated licences or a plugin conflict or other issues that require SFTP or PHPAdmin knowledge to resolve. In fact, there are some theme and plugin updates that require updating via FileZilla or another FTP client.
It Costs More to Fix Than to Maintain
Can I be direct and honest with you? The truth is that inexperience and neglect can damage the look and functionality of your entire website. When damage like that takes place, you typically have two choices:
- Try to fix it yourself and potentially cause more damage and waste your time in the process.
- Pay the (sometimes hefty) price for someone experienced to fix it.
Neither choice is ideal.
To keep with the earlier car analogy, it costs more to fix your car than it does to maintain it properly. Regular oil changes help keep your car running properly and regular site maintenance helps keeps your website running properly.
Call in a Professional
Why not deal with what you know best and let us deal with what we know best? Would you try to win a court case without an attorney? Then why try to maintain your own website if you’re not a web professional? By securing an experienced web professional to update and maintain your site properly, you are actually preventing potential lost sales and visitors.
If you’re interested in securing an expert to properly manage your website, contact us to learn how we can keep your site in optimal working order.