The perfect antidote for aging websites
You move into a new house, all fresh and clean. Then over time, you get stuff in. You forget old stuff or you really don’t want to get rid of some things.
A few years later, you step back and look at a house full of clutter and chaos. The paint has lost its sheen too and you really need to redo your house. Or it will stand out like a sore thumb.
How do you avoid this?
Through consistent, planned house maintenance. You ensure cleaning, re-organization and upkeep is done regularly so you don’t end up in a difficult situation. For some specialized tasks, you use professional help.
Website is just like your home.
They need regular attention, maintenance and at times professional help. Leaving things as they are leads to website clutter and a myriad of issues.
Website Clutter and Aging
Websites start as new, fresh, trendy masterpieces. You planned what you wanted on them, got the best design for your budget, painstakingly wrote your content, chose your images with care and it all looked great.
But over time they age and decay. Technology changes, marketing plans influence decisions, urgent market demands impose quick fixes and over time your beautiful website suddenly becomes a clutter infested, unmanageable pile of junk. There is too much code, too many plugins and a mish-mash of technologies.
Your visitors hate you. It takes too much time, your competitors are quicker and a security hole leaves your brand reputation in tatters.
Poor website maintenance leads to the following issues
- Slow down your website.
- Create security holes.
- Reduce flexibility.
- Provide a poor user experience.
- Hurt your search engine rankings and reduce traffic.
- Worse still, it may simply bring your website down.
Follow the Basics of Website Maintenance
By following the basics of website maintenance you can stop getting into this situation. The basic steps include
- Cleaning out the old stuff: This means removing irrelevant, dated content and pages and redirecting visitors to related, relevant stuff.
- Upgrading to new: This can be a simple thing like adding a blog, a slideshow or a more complex task of moving from a static HTML site to a Content Management System.
- Adding fresh stuff: This helps extend your existing site making it more useful to visitors. This can be new navigation elements, fresh icons, breadcrumbs, content, videos, etc.
- Doing a security audit: This is essential for any website which is dated. More and more websites are now affected by Malware leading to being blocked in search results, causing loss in traffic and reputation.
- Getting professional help: As with your house, there are some things best left to professionals. Whether it is security or speeding up your website, you can get professional help to redesign, maintain or upgrade your website on a regular basis.
Clean, fast, secure websites make your visitors feel good, like you and adds to your brand value. Ensure that website maintenance is not an afterthought but the centerpiece of your online presence.
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