Annual Website Maintenance Tasks

Even if you have created the perfect website or blog, there are several things that you will need to attend to on a regular basis.

Too often the website owner creates pages and content, and then sits back without checking on the status of his site ever again. This could result in lost sales.

Here are some of the more important Website Maintenance tasks that any site owner needs to accomplish at least once a year.

Visit Your Web Hosting Account

Take a good look at the information on your web hosting account. When is your domain name set to renew? Do you have it set up to automatically renew, or do you need to remind yourself to pay for it? Always renew for a minimum of two years, and longer, if you can afford it.

Review your personal information, as well. Ensure that your website host has your correct email address to send notifications and that contact names and addresses are all current.

You may have allowed someone else access to create your pages, but no longer wish them to be part of your account. This is the time to verify that all users are accurately portrayed.

Automated Messages And Forms

If you have a place where visitors can sign up to receive updates, newsletters, and other information (as you should!), ensure that the automated message they receive is up to date. Make sure these messages accurately say what you want them to, and in a way that does not sound like you are spamming your visitors.

This is also a good time to test that the forms on your site are all working properly. Try to sign up yourself and make sure your potential customers are not getting frustrated by error messages or complicated requirements.

Test Your Links

All the intrasite (such as a site map) and outbound links in the world are not going to increase your SEO if they do not work. In particular, outbound links are subject to change without your knowledge. Click on each and every one included on your pages and ensure they are all valid. There are also some free online tools you can use to help with this task.

Try out your search box and subscriber buttons, too. Make sure the code is functioning like it should.

Current Dates

Read over your home page and make sure it contains current information. Nothing says your site has not been updated for a long time like a reference in your text to a prior year.

The same thing applies to the copyright information at the bottom of your pages. The most common pages to contain date errors are the ‘Welcome’, ‘News’ and ‘About Us’ pages.

Overall Site Reassessment

Look at your website with a critical eye. Does it look outdated? Do graphics take a long time to load? Is the content stale? This is a good time to consider updating the overall design or layout of your website. Sometimes staying with the tried and true is not a good thing.

Website Maintenance is an ongoing process, but often owners get too caught up in SEO to perform the necessary duties as often as they should. Make a date at least once a year to go over all the little things you might otherwise ignore.