Are you having difficulties remembering the last time you updated or even glanced at your business website? If so, there could be a good chance that it’s no longer functioning as expected. As a result, your website could be causing more harm than doing good.
When you consider that leading search engines are constantly changing and making updates to keep up with the latest technology, your website must also keep up. If not, you’re at risk of ranking lower in search engine results pages (SERPs) and could lose face with potential clients.
What Are The Potential Outcomes When Your Website Breaks?
There are a few potential outcomes if your website breaks.
Your Website Stops Working As Expected – The first and most common outcome is that your website doesn’t work as expected anymore. The reasons for this could be anything from outdated software, incorrect code, or even server issues. In some cases, you may not know your website is down because the problem is with the back-end technology and infrastructure rather than the visible website itself.
And, if even a tiny portion of your business activity gets carried out online, a broken site can be extremely costly in terms of revenue and consumer trust.
Loss Of Website Visitors And Traffic – Another outcome of a broken website is that visitor traffic could potentially drop significantly. This traffic drop could be due to a lower ranking in search engine results pages or because your website is no longer appearing in the search engine results at all. And, if your site falls out of favor in search results, existing or potential clients may presume that you’re no longer in business or move on to a competitor who offers related products or services.
Could Be Targeted For Malicious Attacks – A third outcome, which is often more severe than losing out on business, is that your website may become infected with malware. Malware can cause all sorts of problems for both you and your visitors, including data theft, identity theft, and even financial loss.
According to statistics, malware and hacking attempts are on the rise, so it’s more crucial than ever before to take steps to protect your website. Precautions you can take include keeping your website up to date with the latest security measures, as well as having a comprehensive backup plan in place.
Undoubtedly, when it comes to your website, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Unfortunately, depending on the issue’s complexity and without a skilled team behind you, fixing a broken website could take hours, weeks, or months. So, it’s best to take the necessary steps now to avoid such a headache down the road.
How to Prevent Your Website from Breaking
Now that you are informed about some of the reasons you should keep your website up to date, let’s look at steps you can take to do it.
Work With Website Support Professionals – One of the best ways to ensure that your website is always up to date and functioning as it should be is to work with website support professionals. They can assist in keeping your website running smoothly, updating software programs and code as needed, and troubleshooting any potential problems.
Monitor Your Site – Business owners should never believe their website is a “set it and forget it” type of venture. Instead, it’s essential to monitor your website closely and make changes and updates as needed. Active monitoring includes:
- Regularly adding new content.
- Revising old content.
- Analyzing web analytics to see how your website performs.
Ensure a Comprehensive Backup Plan – If your website does break, it’s crucial to have a comprehensive backup plan in place. Website owners should always have a recent and complete backup of your website, as well as your data and files if you need to bring the site back up in an emergency.
Keep Software Up to Date – One of the most common reasons for websites breaking is outdated Software. Therefore, all software programs your website uses should be on the latest, most stable version to avoid downtime, unexpected behavior, or other complications that deprecate the overall user experience.
Keep Your Website Code Clean – Outdated and messy code can also lead to website breakages. Keeping your website code clean and well-maintained is vital by using the latest coding standards and techniques to avoid outages and service disruptions.
Use Secure Connection Protocols – To help protect your website from malware and hacking attempts, be sure to use secure connection protocols. For example, having SSL or TLS protocols in place helps ensure that your website is safe and secure for both you and your visitors. Another reason to ensure your website is secure is to prevent search engines from displaying a stern warning that the site they’re trying to reach is unsafe.
Optimize Your Site For Better Performance – Also, consider optimizing your website for better performance. Performance improvements help improve the loading speed of your website and make it more user-friendly, resulting in more sales or higher conversion rates. Ideally, all website image files should load in two seconds or less, and the entire website should load in five seconds or less.
Regular Website Maintenance – Last but not least, one of the best ways to prevent your website from breaking is to perform regular website maintenance. Regular website maintenance such as updating plugins, removing unused files, and checking for broken links can help to keep your website running smoothly.
Keep Your Site Running Optimally For Optimal Results
Website stability is a top priority for any business. Website owners should take it seriously to avoid lost sales, data theft, loss of reputation, search engine rankings, and other damaging consequences. In the competitive business environment, any edge you can get over others in your industry or niche is crucial for success.
Working with website support professionals like Interactive Palette helps ensure that your website is continuously updated and running as expected. By doing so, you can keep your website running optimally and give you peace of mind knowing your site is in the care of capable and experienced hands.
