Hoping for the best where website maintenance and care are concerned is like hoping that your car won’t need an oil change. You wouldn’t be able to drive your car for very long if you didn’t take care of it and provide it with the regular maintenance that it needs. The same is true for your website. Your website should always be up and running, ready for customers 24/7. Website maintenance plans are now an integral part of website ownership. Just like your iPhone or tablet, the software of your website needs to be updated. It requires care and maintenance to keep your website working properly. 

Let’s be honest, when it comes to websites, most business owners don’t give hosting a lot of thought. As long as your website is up, most business owners assume that everything is fine.  

Here are 4 important questions to ask your current hosting company.

  1. Who do I call if something goes wrong? This may seem obvious, but if you have a question about your hosting or your website, you want to make sure that you know who to contact. You want to double-check to see if they offer support for your hosting AND website (or do you have to call another company for your website support).
  2. Do I have a backup of my site? Ideally, you want to have a full backup of your website that can be restored in case of an emergency.
  3. Is my site secure? Does your site have the latest software updates and an SSL certificate? If your site is built on a platform like WordPress, ask your current host if they are updating the core framework to avoid security vulnerabilities. 
  4. Does my site get regular updates? Does your website have plugins installed? If so, these plugins should be updated on a regular basis to maintain functionality and keep your site secure.

When it comes to website hosting security, reliability, and support are necessities. The most effective sites are also the best-maintained. It doesn’t matter how great your site design is or how well you rank in Google at the end of the day, your site needs to work. As internet users become increasingly tech-savvy, their expectations rise. Your site needs to be fast, secure, and bug-free, or they’ll move on to your competitor.

Take a few minutes to think about the answers to these questions. If you aren’t sure or would like help figuring it out, give us a call. We’re happy to provide a free website hosting assessment or answer questions. Our local team has years of experience managing complex hosting environments. We’ll take care of your website and hosting so you can stay focused on running your business.