Simple but Important Website Maintenance Tips

TheeDigital, our Raleigh based web design company puts a big deal of effort in maintaining our clients’ websites and improve their search engine ranking. Here are a few website maintenance tips based on some of our tactics:

1. Keep a running list of the exact webpages you’ve updated including: WHEN you changed them and WHAT you changed.
2. Backup! Make a backup copy EVERY time you’re getting ready to update a page. Please note WordPress, our favorite CMS has this function built-in. in case you use a smart content management system, you don’t need to make safety content backups anymore.
3. Store the original size of all the images you’ve ever used or plan on using in a subfolder (ex. www.yourwebsite.com/images) for easy access. It’s important to have your high resolution images handy in case you are plannng to design printed marketing materials.
4. In case you don’t utilize a smart CMS like WordPress, have a page template on-hand. Create a page that has all your website design elements, including your menu and header so when you create a new page you can start by copying that template and filling in the appropriate content.
5. Utilize a CMS (Content Management System) for your website. This makes updating content much easier.
6. Check browser compatibility. Internet browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.) are constantly being updated and new browsers come onto the market pretty often as well. Make sure to stay ahead of these changes and check that your website is showing up properly on all of them.
7. Use absolute terms when referring to time. For example, instead of saying “I wrote this article 2 months ago,” say “I wrote it in August, 2011.” That way you don’t have to go back later and update the number of months that have gone by!
8. Check for and fix broken links. Make sure all of your links are working properly by checking them every so often. If you run into any 404s, fix them quickly! Broken links are bad not only for your website’s image, they can negatively impact search engine rankings.
9. Update your plugins frequently. If you’re using a CMS, make sure to update your plugins when they become available in order to save time and hassle later on.
10. Keep it clean! Avoid using too many different colors and sizes in your fonts. Stick with a theme and stay consistent in order to look professional.