A quick checklist to keeping your website maintained and always ready for visitors!
Websites are the new business card. As soon as someone hears your name or your company’s name, the first thing they will do is a quick search. Is your site ready for your next potential clients to visit?
Site visitors are looking to answer questions like: is this person or company legit, what do others have to say about working with this business, are they reputable, or do I want to stay informed with what they’re’ doing? You only have a short period to capture the attention and pique the visitor’s interest before they decide to stay and explore or leave and explore the competition.
You never know when a potential client or customer will pop by for a visit, so it is essential to keep your website well maintained. We have created a checklist to help keep your website in order and will only need to be completed once a month — no matter the platform.
SNRC’S Monthly Website Audit Checklist
1. Check website loading speed.
If your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you have a problem. As soon as your visitor clicks your URL and the site takes more than a second to load, they will leave.
If your site takes a long time to load, it’s’ a good indicator that you have site bloat or extra things that shouldn’t be there that are taking up space. We recommend that you check out your website’s current speed by visiting https://gtmetrix.com/.
Here are some solutions you may implement to reducing your website load speed:
- Reduce the size of your images, so they are 500kb or below
- Delete unused plugins, video or audio files
- Eliminate unnecessary animations (it may look cool to have your logo dance across the screen, but that takes extra time to load)
Remember, the simpler and easier to navigate your site is, the better.
2. Make sure that all pages on the website load without error
When’s the last time you went through your entire website page by page? If the answer is – over a month ago – now’s a perfect time.
It is always a good idea to stay up to date with the content your site offers. Links expire and codes vanish, causing redirection errors – that is just the age of the internet. Make sure your site visitors do not experience any of these errors.
Here are some of the most missed website page errors:
- Blog post broken links
- Dated or irrelevant information
- Videos are no longer active
- The contact form submission does not work
Looking at your website every month allows you to look at it with fresh eyes and monitor the website for unavoidable errors.
3. Is your website backing up correctly?
Building a website takes a lot of work – formating, messaging, graphics implementation, and so much more. All it takes is for one hack or the click of the wrong button for the entire website to disappear.
Properly backing up your website means that you have access to your site and all its files in an emergency. Plus, who doesn’t want the peace of mind knowing that your files are protected no matter what.
Make sure you check in monthly with your website developer and confirm that your site is backing up properly.
4. Update all your plugins or applications
If you’re using plugins or applications for your website, you need to check periodically that they are still working correctly.
Developers are constantly updating programs, and a minor thing like keeping the up-to-date version could affect how the application functions. Think about it like this – for your website, it can feel like wearing too-small shoes – it’s outgrowing what’s there, so it is crucial to monitor application functions.
Here is a list of some applications and features to check monthly:
- Plug-in or application updates
- Check the chatbox feature and make sure it is working properly
- Check the contact form and make certain notifications are processing and ending up in the desired place
5. Add something new
You want your website to become a destination source for your ideal client. When they think about getting help for their problem, they immediately think of you. So, give them what they are looking for!
Just once a month, update your website with some new content. It can be as simple as adding a blog post or switching out your main header photo.
A little can go a long way, and activity on your website signals to Google that your website is current and updated, so it helps in the rankings.
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If you need help maintaining your website or completing a website audit and refresh, reach out to us today at SNR Creative. We specialize in website development and surpassing our client’s goals through collaboration and creativity.
