“High maintenance” is often used as a negative term regarding something that you just don’t like very much. “Why’d you break up with them?” someone might say, and you’d reply “Oh – they’re just so high maintenance.” People will try out different makeup routines, hygiene tricks, or workouts only to drop them shortly after. “It was just too high maintenance, I want something a little more laid back.” The phrase is used in such a negative way so often that we shy away from the idea of maintenance in general. That may be fine when it comes to rigorously curling your hair every day or buying expensive gifts for a partner or date, but there are a few things that absolutely require constant upkeep. Your car and your health are on the list, but there’s a third thing you may have yet to consider: your website. Web maintenance is essential for a brand that wants to stay relevant in today’s digital age. Any site that isn’t constantly updating and evolving to meet its customers’ needs is a failure. A static and solid site simply isn’t doing its job. There are a few avenues you need to explore as you take care of your online presence. Content creation and social media marketing are both ways to keep your site fluid and dynamic so you can continue to meet customers’ needs. Let’s take a look at exactly what these duties entail, and how you can keep things running smoothly and continue to grow your business.
Why Is Maintenance So Important For My Brand’s Success?
Imagine that you were the landlord of an apartment building. There are a thousand small tasks to take care of to keep things running smoothly: vacuum the carpet, sweep the floors, wash the windows, collect and cash rent, set up events around the holidays, clean out the parking garage, scrub down the lobby… the list goes on and on. Most of these duties, by themselves, are very minor. Scrubbing down the front windows and emptying the trash may only take a short time. It is the collective weight of the duties that really adds up. The exact same thing happens when you maintain your site. There are small jobs that don’t seem very significant, but when you neglect every single one of them, the damage is significant and noticeable. Let’s say, for instance, that you walk into the aforementioned apartment building. The place is filthy, the carpets are torn up, a child’s crayon markings adorn the walls, and the elevator makes suspicious creaking noises as you ascend. You wouldn’t move in or raise kids or even recommend this building to your friends! The same holds true for a website.
What Happens to a Website That Doesn’t Have Proper Maintenance?
When sites don’t receive the proper web maintenance, you can expect some of the following results. By themselves, they may seem minor, but the overall effect on your brand and business can be disastrous.
- Broken links or links that lead customers to the wrong page
- Visual bugs or broken images that do not properly display
- Outdated content that reflects badly on your brand
- Underdeveloped social media pages that look like a ghost town
- An overall unprofessional look
If one or more of these problems crop up, you can expect customers to check out the competition and see what they have to offer instead.
How Can Businesses Combine Maintenance and Content For Great Effect?
If you are doing consistent maintenance, you’ll find that time investment paying off. Instead of long term outages and complicated problems, you’ll simply be keeping everything running smoothly instead of dealing with fires and crises. While you’re under the hood, you can combine content creation with your regular maintenance for great results. Here are some examples of dynamic and proven ways to update your site and bring customers in.
Use articles and blogs to talk about interesting things happening in the industry, a new product or service you offer, or simply answer the pressing questions your customers could ask. These new pieces of content can boost your page rankings and establish your credibility. Well-made pieces of content will never go out of style, so make this a priority.
Maintain and link to social media content. There are several different social media platforms, each with their own style and format, that allow you to interact with customers. Have a YouTube account with all of your recent commercials and pieces of video content, publish photos from events on Flickr, or chat to customers on Facebook and Twitter. Link and integrate these platforms onto your main site to create a hug of content.
Link to other interesting pieces of content on social media sites or industry resources to build a base of knowledge. This increases your reputation as an industry leader, makes your pieces more SEO friendly, and allows you to write more advanced pieces.
Web maintenance isn’t optional; it’s an absolutely mandatory part of running your business. Abandoning the online space is slicing off the majority of your demographic, so you simply have to invest in maintenance. By hosting an online space, you reach far more people than you would otherwise, but you need to keep it running smoothly and constantly updating. By investing in maintenance, you ensure that your brand looks professional, you avoid any major issues in operation, and you keep customers interested. When you combine maintenance with interesting, well made content and a strong social media presence, you’ll be stunned at the results.