Why is website maintenance important?
If you have already made a significant investment in your website, then it is critical to have a website maintenance plan and take care of it.
Undoubtedly, in your strategic digital marketing plan, you have considered keeping your digital channels (social networks) active through regular distribution of high-quality content. If your strategy has been effective, surely you have also managed to attract qualified traffic to your website and therefore increase your profits.
Well, as an additional element of value, I comment that your digital channels and particularly your website, which should have meant a relatively economic investment, if you have had adequate management and marketing management, may have increased its value as a digital asset (not tangible) of your business up to at least 500% in a couple of years. That is, a website that initially cost about USD 1,500 could very quickly be valued at $ 7,500.
And what about e-commerce websites that could reach hundreds of thousands?
The value of all your digital assets can be put at high risk but it is not considered an appropriate web maintenance plan.
What is web maintenance and what tasks does it include?
Web maintenance is the set of scheduled tasks with the objective of maintaining the security, integrity and functionality of a website
Tasks or services that include a web maintenance plan
- Web server control
- Save from backups on servers, hard drives and cloud (backups)
- Update of platforms, designs and programs integrated to the website
- Cache cleaning
- Database Optimization
- Web Performance Maintenance: Accessibility tests, Speed Test, Functionality test of critical flows.
- Recommendations for performance improvement.
- Comments moderation
- Periodic Report
Risks and threats of absence of web maintenance
The constant threat to which digital media is subjected over the Internet presupposes a great security challenge for any company.
The number of cybercriminals who swarm the network of networks with malicious objectives of all kinds is increasing every day due to the proliferation of networks and the mass consumption of web services. This has exponentially raised the threat of cyber-attacks where we are all exposed, without exception.
Cyber vandalism has no technological boundaries or specific markets. Cybercriminals attack from a personal cell phone, a personal account on a social network, to a server station, from a small local business to a large international corporation.
Among the most popular objectives are those related to business espionage, which not only directs its attacks on large corporations, but also targets small and medium enterprises
Security failures can be motivated by the most varied reasons. Access to databases is the most coveted objective by hackers due to the amount of valuable information and high sensitivity they contain as personal data of consumers, credit card numbers, usernames and passwords, emails, etc. The theft of this information can be of extraordinary value to the competition and very well paid to criminals.
Among the most common website threats are the following:
- Malware
- SQL injection and backend access and web control
- Cross-Site Scripting (XXS) for redirection to malicious sites
- Altering website code
- Interception and capture of sensitive user data
- Password attacks to access user accounts.
- A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to collapse servers due to false traffic overload.
Consequences of lack of a website maintenance plan
Functional and usability failures of the website such as web collapse, slow loading, occurrence of functionality errors, etc. will cause the decrease in the web positioning, the loss of organic traffic and consequently, the increase of the bounce rate, the affectation of user reliability and the loss of authority and reputation of the website and eventually, its value.
Obviously, the most critical risk is that of security that affects the vulnerability and integrity not only of the website, but also of the business.
The only way to mitigate threats and reduce the risk of attack is through an appropriate maintenance plan.
A web maintenance plan is an important part of the shielding that businesses need to survive. This plan, duly articulated with an internet security plan could constitute the digital safe of a business, because in addition to preventing the loss in values of all the Internet marketing efforts of your venture over time, it can preserve and ultimately, capitalize on the digital assets of the company.