Maintaining Your Website
Just like your automobile, a website requires periodic maintenance to keep it running efficiently. When periodic maintenance is neglected, a website can become static and less important to search engines as time passes.
Most search engines deploy automated web search "spiders." This automated and highly sophisticated "spider" crawls through servers on the entire web day and night looking for websites with fresh, quality information to provide to their users. If your website server continuously reports a lack of updating, search engines will schedule your website for non-frequent visits. This is the opposite of what's needed and is just one way websites fall into the abyss beyond page 30 of the search results.
If your website is extremely busy with visitors, search engines will come regardless. Since 98% of small business websites aren't that busy, your website is less important in the eyes of search engines without periodic maintenance -- certainly not ideal for a business website!
Types of Website Maintenance Needed
Text changes are the most common updates (including adding or removing products or services, moving or changing paragraphs, updating navigation, repairing links, swapping images, tweaking headings, adjusting prices, updating event schedules, adding newsletter posts into archives, etc.).
However the most important updates are those made to enhance your website as a result of monitoring your visitor statistics. Website statistics are absolutely essential to the survival of any business website and are included with every website 6x6 Design services, builds, or redesigns. Website visitor statistics show trend changes. These changes will require updating of content, therefore providing fresh content to keep both search engines and site visitors interested and coming back.
How to Maintain Your Website
If you know HTML/CSS language (HyperText Markup Language and Cascading Style Sheets)and FTP (File Transfer Protocol), updating a website isn't as difficult as it is time-consuming. However if you are like most business people, you'd rather not be bothered but want the maintenance done. There are two common ways to go about maintenance:
- Outsource the maintenance to a webmaster such as 6x6 Design.
- Install a Content Management System (CMS) onto your website to handle most of your own content updates at will.
The first option is the most common approach. 6x6 design offers a pay-as-you-go service or a yearly maintenance plan. Visit the website services and fees page for more details.
The second option, using CMS, requires a one-time software license and minor training to use but is a great option if you like to have updates done frequently and immediately. This option requires no knowledge of web design, HTML, CSS, or FTP and is easy as using your favorite word processor software or even email. You are given a username and password to login to the page sections you can edit. Once you save your changes, your changes are immediately updated on your website. Visit the website services and fees page for more details.