Wakefly BlogHow a Poorly Maintained Website Can Cost You Customers

Keeping your corporate website healthy and up to date has a far greater impact on your client development and retention than you may think. Where completing a website redesign project can be challenging for sure, it’s understandable that some businesses are left a bit jaded moving forward, potentially neglecting its ongoing maintenance. Because of this, they will eventually pay the price in the form of anemic lead generation and disengaged clients alike. So let’s consider some of the ways that a poorly maintained website can work against cultivating new clients while equally keeping your valued existing customers engaged.

Technology Never Sleeps

What’s hot today will inevitably cool tomorrow and we live in an age where we all want-what-we-want-when-we-want-it. Your website’s online experience needs to keep your audience’s attention and rise above the din of your crowded marketplace. Most popular CMS has regular updates that should be anticipated & implemented in a timely fashion, ensuring all bugs are fixed, existing features are updated and new features are installed to ensure the very best User Experience (“UX”) for your potential customers. Neglecting these updates could cost you the loss of a positive experience.

Security & Personal Data Protection

Neglected websites are a constant target for hackers and even the most secure websites experience vulnerabilities year over year that requires periodic updates. GDPR is another area of increasing importance that can be monitored as part of a well-run website maintenance program. Placing your website visitors in an environment that can potentially expose their personal data is surely a deal-breaker when it comes time to decide to work with you.

Everything Is Broken

How often do any of us come across Broken Links, 404 Errors & the like? Rarely do we tend to give the neglected website the benefit of the doubt in these instances, favoring a fresh search for content that’s accessible without hassle. UX is everything and if your site is broken, so are your hopes of getting that lead.

Faster, Faster

Have you tested your website’s page load speed time recently? Free online tools like GTMetrix can be helpful for a real-time assessment on your page speed. A diligent webmaster can ensure that page load times keep your prospects on-site and diving deeper into product pages over high tailing it to a competitor. Be sure to compress images and strip the site of unnecessary code as well. And remember, site speed (especially on mobile) is as important a factor for search engine results as it is for your actual prospects and current clients.

CMS Training

Remember that TV PSAs “The More You Know”? Well...the smarter that you and your team can be on the ins & outs of your CMS, the more self-sufficient you will be. Leading ultimately to being in a better position to quickly make changes to your branded content in keeping up with the conversations of the day that are relevant to your named personas.

So when considering your overall website maintenance, it’s important to have a qualified agency at the helm, not only in making the necessary fixes & updates from time to time but ideally, one that will also proactively come to you with recommendations in favor of simply reacting to an emergency.

Healthy Site = Healthy Leads = Steady Transactions = Engaged Clients