Running an eCommerce website is a lot of work. You’re responsible for juggling different tasks, from product sourcing to shipment. But among these, website maintenance is probably one of the most essential yet often overlooked aspects.
Your website is the face of your business. It’s where customers go to learn more about your products and services. A Stanford Web Credibility Research report shows that 75% of consumers base their perception of business credibility on how their website looks. So, it’s understandable that you want it to look good and function well.
Website maintenance may not be the most glamorous task on your to-do list. Still, it’s essential to keep your eCommerce site up and running smoothly. In that case, here are some tips on how you can maintain your eCommerce website.
Perform regular updates
One of the most important aspects of website maintenance is updating your site regularly. That includes updating your content, products, and plugins.
Content updates are necessary to keep your website relevant and informative. If you have a blog, make sure to post new articles regularly. As for your product pages, keep them updated with the latest information, such as price changes, new product photos, and updated descriptions.
It’s also necessary to update your plugins and themes. These are what make your website function properly. Outdated plugins and themes can cause compatibility issues and may leave your site vulnerable to security threats. So, check for updates regularly and install them as soon as they’re available.
Optimize your website for speed
Your website’s loading speed is essential for two reasons. First, it impacts your search engine ranking. Google considers site speed when determining where to rank your website in search results. Second, it affects your conversion rate. Studies have shown that even a one-second delay in page loading can lead to a 7% drop in conversion.
So, how do you ensure that your website loads quickly? You can do a few things, such as reducing the size of your images, using a caching plugin, and enabling compression. You can also use a tool like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to check your website’s speed and get specific recommendations on how to improve it.
If you find making your website faster on your own challenging, you can always hire a developer to help you out. This way, you can ensure that your website runs as efficiently as possible.
Tune your servers
Do you run your website on a Microsoft (MS) SQL Server? In that case, you might want to focus on your MS SQL Server performance tuning. It is a crucial website maintenance task, especially if you run a large eCommerce website.
If your website is slow or crashing frequently, your MS SQL Server is likely not configured correctly. That’s where MS SQL Server performance tuning comes in. It helps optimize your server’s configuration to improve its speed and stability.
Tuning your MS SQL Server can be a complex task, so it’s best to hire a specialist to do it for you. But if you want to try doing it yourself, you can start by optimizing server settings, such as memory and disk configurations. On the other hand, you can also use indexing to improve query speed.
Either way, what matters is that you take the time to tune your server regularly. Doing so can help prevent website crashes and keep your site running smoothly.
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
More people are using their smartphones to browse the internet and make purchases. In fact, reports show that around 54.4% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on many potential customers.
Mobile-friendliness is now a ranking factor for Google, meaning having a mobile-friendly website can impact your search engine ranking. It’s also essential for providing users with a good experience. After all, no one wants to use a website that’s hard to navigate on their phone.
But how do you make sure your website is mobile-friendly? Start by checking how it looks on different devices. Make sure the text is easy to read, and the buttons are big enough to be tapped on a small screen. You should also test the website’s loading speed on different devices.
If your website needs some work to be mobile-friendly, it might be time to invest in a responsive website design. This design automatically adjusts to different screen sizes, making it an ideal solution for optimizing your website for mobile devices.
Maintaining your website is essential for ensuring a good user experience and protecting your site from security threats. The above are some of the most crucial website maintenance tasks you should regularly do. Following these tips can help keep your website running smoothly and efficiently.
