13 Strategies for Regular Content and Website Maintenance

All websites need regular maintenance to ensure that they will remain secure and operational. Websites should not be created just once and then abandoned. You need regular content and website maintenance if you want to maximize its performance. Just like if you build a bricks and mortar store you must keep the place looking clean, and all the locks and security in good repair, the same goes for this.

It's essential to keep your website running smoothly and updated regularly; data shows that 82% of websites are not properly maintained. Most focus on the technical side & leave their content to crap out on them. This leads to the site not only becoming irrelevant, but there becomes a growing need to create new content in mass. 

As a website & brand strategist, I know how crucial it is to keep your site updated with fresh and relevant content to establish yourself as a tuned-in industry leader and cater to your clients' needs. Regular content and website maintenance will help keep your website running optimally and keep you updated in the tech.

Let's jump into seven strategies for regular content & website maintenance that every website should have – regardless of your industry.

13 Strategies for Regular Content and Website Maintenance

1. Communication Management & Realignment: Your website serves as a crucial way for your audience to connect with you. If the communication channels are not working correctly, it can adversely affect customer service and client management. Make sure that your customer service system, client portals, help desk & contact forms are all functioning properly by periodically testing them. If your process changes, be sure to update your site to reflect this.

2. Quality Control Checks (QCC): Your content and website should be monitored on a regular basis for errors on the site in terms of grammar, typos, misspellings, and broken links. If people visit your site and notice too many errors, they will lose trust in your work. This goes for all copy on your site as well as ads that you place on your website. It's all-important since it's on your site and represents you.

3. Publishing Administration: Maintaining a functional website entails keeping an efficient publishing process that enables content to be revised and updated on a regular basis. Perhaps you want to keep your site up to date, you'll need writers, editors, and formatting personnel to publish content every 10-20 days. Try to maintain consistency in your posting schedule, even if it's just once a month. Stick to a specific day and strive to keep up with it.

4. Update Your Content Regularly: Content is powerful if you let it be. It’s important to keep it fresh and up-to-date as life & business shifts. Make sure you’re regularly updating your content to ensure that it’s relevant and useful to your readers and prospective clients or business partners. I refer to your site as your main restaurant and all other external channels are your delivery people, Instacart shoppers, & food trucks. Treat them accordingly!

5. Check Your Links: Make sure all the links on your site are working as expected. This includes both internal and external links. Have software like Hexometer or Broken Link Checker help you keep track and change out old links that are no longer working. Be mindful of giving any and every website a link from your site. If they are not serious about maintaining their content, you don't want that causing you dead links.

6. Monitor Your Site’s Performance: Use analytics tools such as Google Site Kit & Squirrly SEO to monitor your website’s performance and also make sure it’s running smoothly based on traffic and visitor behavior. Also consider heatmap tools if you are unsure what visitors are drawn to, especially if they are not converting. This will allow you to know what's working and what's not in reference to both content and placement of content. 

7. Infrastructure Monitoring: Of course, all websites must be kept up-to-date with security measures both onsite and at their hosting provider. It is imperative that someone remains vigilant to ensure the efficacy of your hosting so as not to forfeit a potential website! Even if you're on a platform that claims to take care of the technical for you, check to see if you can monitor the status on a website – most platforms have status sites. I create pages such as these to monitor sites I manage, including all of mine.

8. Structural Updates: For any site, a periodic update of the layout and functionality is required in order to maximize return on investment. We make sure menus, widgets, ads, and shopping carts are all working correctly to provide the best possible value for everyone involved. I recommend full site rehabs every two years, but most small business owners believe they don't need to do a rehab until they do a rebrand. This is a false belief to hold on to. If you don't update your content regularly, your website's design and technology will also become outdated. Updating them piecemeal defeats the purpose of keeping up with the latest trends.

9. Test Your Site’s Security: Make sure your website is secure and that all the data is safe. Test your site’s security regularly to ensure that it’s up-to-date from a technical standpoint. You can use Patchstack, MalCare, or Hexometer to receive email or SMS notifications in case of any data breaches. Hackers are out there waiting to find a way into your website, so they can either redirect your visitors, hide links, install malware or worse. It's important that you use software and/or a service to continuously monitor the security of your website.

10. Monitor Your Site’s Speed: Test your website’s speed regularly to make sure it’s loading quickly. Slow loading times can lead to user frustration and a decrease in website traffic. There are a ton of metrics that are “garbage metrics” when it comes to site speed. So be mindful that you are focused on the right things. From the tech under-the-hood of platforms to content pieces, there are multiple factors that play in site speed. Remember, the more tech and features you add to your site, the more tweaks you have to manage with the code and speed factors.

11. Manage Your Content: Content management is key to keeping your website active & relevant. Make sure you’re regularly reviewing your content to ensure that it’s answering questions effectively and includes updated solutions. If you are giving instructions based on a platform, be sure that you date your content & update accordingly. This lets the readers know you are on the mark with what you're speaking to. Hiding the date only frustrates readers & lets them know not to return. Removing dates is a way to hide your laziness and pretend that the readers are unable to tell that the info you've shared is OUTDATED.

12. Optimize Your Images: Optimize your images for the web to ensure that they’re loading quickly. This will help keep your website running smoothly and your visitors happy. Naming images properly, resizing them for compatibility, and ensuring they exist can be draining in the process of creating a responsive website. Please – stop this behavior and treat your visuals with respect. EWWWW Image Optimizer can help you do this with images on your site.

13. Continuous Backups: It's important to frequently back up your website, even if your host provides automatic daily backups. Invest in software or service to ensure continuous offsite backup. As part of your regular content and website maintenance, your backups keep your content, files, and structure safe in case there is a need to restore your site or move it.

The Rundown

Regular content and website maintenance is an important part of running a successful website. These seven strategies will help you keep your website content fresh and relevant while also ensuring its security and optimal loading speed. Through regular monitoring and updating, your content & website will be well-equipped to attract and retain visitors, driving more website traffic, and growing your business.

Thinking about hiring folks to handle this for you? The number of staff needed to complete the tasks depends on the size of your business, website, assets, and content library. If you're not tech-savvy, it's best to delegate tasks like security, backup, and website design, while you focus on managing and publishing content. You'll be glad you did because regular website maintenance is crucial to having a successful income-producing website. Check out The Toolkit for more resources on how you can keep your website well maintained.