The Importance of Checking Your Website

A client I had not heard from in years called me in a panic because her website was no longer visible. Obviously, that is a big deal for any business. After some research I found that she had not paid for her web hosting for over two years – and the site had been removed. Worse, enough time had elapsed that my most recent backup of the site no longer worked, and the web host no longer had a backup.

This is not the only thing that can happen to render your website useless. Following are the three top things that can happen if a site is not regularly monitored.

1. The site can disappear

The preceding story is pretty drastic but does underline the importance of regularly checking your website. Most hosts can restore a website up to 30 days if you forget to pay for hosting, but it’s still a good idea to keep good records of when your web and domain name hosting are up for renewal (and who they are with – see previous post).

2. The site can be hacked

Occasionally, websites are hacked. It’s a terrible experience. Best case, your web content is corrupted, worst case, your hard-earned leads are misdirected to another vendor, sometimes seamlessly so the unsuspecting user doesn’t even realize it. It could be they are redirected to another site, or phone calls or contact form information go to someone else. The two main purposes of your website are to tell people about you and give them ways to contact you. If either of these are redirected, that is business (and possibly reputation) you will lose.

3. Contact forms can break

Again, the ability for your audience to contact you is a huge responsibility of your website. Through no one’s fault, contact forms can stop working. Email providers are constantly working to find new ways to screen out spam, often by instituting new safeguards which may not be compatible with your contact form plugin or the settings in it.

4. Content may become obsolete or incorrect

Things change. You may have made changes to your products, services or offerings that are not reflected in your website. You want the content to be as up-to-date as possible. If you don’t check from time to time, you may not remember if your content is up to date. A website is a fluid thing. It literally is not cast in stone, so it should always reflect the current state of your business.

So What Do You Do To Protect Your Site?

• Be sure that someone is making regular backups of the site- the developer, the host, or you. Regular backups are important because most (if not all) backups only work for so long due to the constant upgrades in code, security, frameworks and plugins.
• It might also be a good idea to put good security on your website. I have found that MalCare works even better than some security offered by hosting companies for less or comparable pricing. It protects against and detects malware, cleans and repairs with one click for WordPress, lets you know if the site is down.
  (NOTE: Richterworks may earn a commission through use of the above link but think of it as offsetting the time it takes for me to investigate these products. I only list products I use on my own sites and those of my clients. They are listed here because I have had excellent results from them in the past. I accept no responsibility or liability for use of any product.)
• Regularly check the accuracy of your content and that your contact forms work as they are meant to:
  • Check that all the phone numbers and contact forms go where they are intended to go (no less often than monthly) by running tests on them (and emails if you have them on your site).
  • Regularly (or automatically) update all platforms (such as WordPress), frameworks (such as any page builders), themes, and plugins.

The least expensive option is for you to regularly check your website yourself, but let’s be real. Will you remember? Will you know what to do if there’s an issue? Or will you end up like my client who forgot to check?

Most people find it easier to leave it to a professional to do this service for them. Let me know if you want more information about these services.