Keeping your WordPress website up to date is one of the most important things you can do to attract and retain clients.
We live in a world where we like things to be new, refreshing and easy to use. Why should your website be any different?
Regular updates to your website should be a core part of your online strategy and can be split into three categories: security, functionality and content.
If you stay focused on these three areas, you’ll soon reap the rewards of a well-maintained website.
1. Updating your website’s security
Security is a top priority when it comes to your online presence. A lack of trust can compromise your reputation and cause clients to do business with your competitors instead.
Hackers are proficient in finding the vulnerabilities in a framework or platform on which a website is built and, unfortunately, WordPress websites often come under attack due to the popularity of the platform.
Fortunately, new releases come out regularly for WordPress with new security features built in to protect their users. Websites that stay on older versions of WordPress are more likely to get hacked, so it’s essential to regularly update the themes and plugins you use.
It’s important to consider onsite and offsite backups of your site to help protect your business and ensure the survivability of your data and reputation if the very worst happens.
And when done right, a WordPress backup can effectively restore your entire website straight back to its previous condition – safe from hackers, hardware breakdown or human error.
2. Updating your website’s functionality
The design and navigation of your website can either attract and interest potential customers or steer them away from exploring further, even if your product and content is good.
A website’s design should focus around the needs of your target audience with the purpose of converting them into customers. This means providing easily accessible, engaging content that can be navigated seamlessly – without slow loading pages or a cluttered homepage.
If your website is not mobile-friendly and easy to view on a smaller screen, you could be missing out on a significant portion of customers so it’s essential to keep your site up to date with modern requirements.
To remain competitive, every interaction your customer has on your website should appear effortless so broken links, poor navigation and unoptimised images are a big no-no. Read this blog post if you need further convincing to do a review your website’s functionality.
3. Updating your website’s content
Keeping your website’s content updated can help your business by attracting more traffic – which will likely lead to more conversions.
Content that is well researched, reviewed and relevant is held in high regard by Google and other search engines and is a key reason your target audience will continue to visit your site.
Having outdated content on your site can be perceived by your potential customers that your business doesn’t keep up with the latest trends and, ultimately, hurt your credibility. So if you have a blog or newsfeed on your website, it’s important to post regularly using keywords that you want to rank for.
It’s equally important to keep the keywords on your website fresh as well as the content. Have you added new products or services to your offering? Or perhaps you’ve expanded into another city? If you don’t frequently update your keyword focus, you’ll continue to get traffic for the initial words you wanted to rank for but nothing new.
Need help keeping your website secure and up to date?
Keeping your WordPress website updated, backed up and secure can become a time consuming and complicated process. At WP Tech Support, we can handle all aspects of your site’s maintenance and security for complete peace of mind.
Our great value monthly plans range from just £35 per month – a small price to pay to ensure your website stays up to date and secure. In fact, we’re so sure that you’ll love it that we will refund you if you’re not 100% happy!