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Top 10 Mistakes Businesses Make Online: Maintenance [Part 2]

top business mistakes wordpress maintenance

A lot of people come to us and want a website.

They have an awesome idea and everything is great on paper, until the question about a carved in stone price comes along.

The thing with websites is that they are not set in stone and need constant development to really be useful and generate the right type of traction.

The development of a WordPress website doesn’t end by launching it. After the design and development work is done, you need to know how to maintain your website, just like every other property. Because your website is your property, and because without maintenance, you risk all the hard work that you’ve put into the making of your WordPress website.

How Much Does a Website Cost?

Not to brag about it, but I can safely say that there aren’t a lot of things we can’t do, so the technical side and features of a project depend solely on the time and the money a client is willing to invest.

At DevriX, we are masters of SaaS, we have 11 WordPress Core contributors and we have an amazing front-end savant leading the design team.

On top of that, we have web architects with years of cross-platform experience and who have done everything – from online banking security to game development.

If all of this sounds too technical, there are the sales and marketing teams, always ready to translate tech to business and vice versa.

In every negotiation we’ve ever had, we need to clarify why maintenance is as important as building the website.

The DIY Project

There are always the DIY enthusiasts, myself included, who are constantly trying to do everything by themselves. Exploring new horizons with projects ranging from gardening and furniture making to computer configurations and field photography is very exciting.

After all, we’re living in a digital age and never before in human history has information been easier to obtain.

There are all these great learning platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, Lynda, Alison. Almost every great university has online courses and there are great resources such as the MIT open courseware.

Bonus: Here are some of our CEO Mario Peshev’s online videos!

The sky’s the limit. In the 21st century, you can be whatever you want and you have access to numerous materials on about any subject matter.

Connecting with experts in any industry is a mouse click away through platforms such as Clarity and ZEQR>. Even our CEO does business consultations online.

As tempting as it sounds to become a web developer “in three easy steps”, things, as usual, are quite different in real life.

There are a lot of misconceptions about WordPress and being easy for beginners is one of the top ones.

WordPress powers more than 30% of the web. It is now the most accessible website building CMS out there. This makes people often think that everything they need to know and use is online and available in an easy to follow format.

This would be true if you are looking for a quick personal blogging place or maybe a yearbook page.

Implementing tools and systems that usually take months and years to get in the hand of is not something you can master with an online course.

One of the most important things that DIY enthusiasts usually lack is a deeper understanding of how online security works. Both on the ends of the website user and the website visitor.

Are You Thinking About WordPress Security?

Internet security is an issue that was gravely underestimated in the last years. More and more cases of online fraud and data misuse have led to a general review and further updating of the existing data regulation laws and directives.

Online security is a matter so big and important that web giants such as Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai were questioned publicly by US Congress.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen some of the biggest security breaches in history. Those resulted in billion-dollar losses and permanent brand damage to some of the “Titans” such as Uber, Marriott, and Yahoo. And I believe no one will ever forget the 2014 “Fappening” and the hundreds of celebrity selfies leaked through Apple’s iCloud.

The recurring breaking news of yet another cyber attack have made users anxious and more conscious about their online activity.

This has enforced governments to take serious legal action. The European GDPR has made its way across the ocean and even collided with the US law in Supreme Court.

All this being said, corporate websites should no longer be a DIY playground.

A website is your digital venue and security is your biggest tripping hazard. This is especially valid if your corporate website stores sensitive data such as payment information, visitor emails, and user preferences.

The GDPR came into force in May 2018.

Violators of the GDPR may be fined up to €20 million or up to 4% of their annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is greater. Huge names such as Google, Uber, and Facebook have already been fined more than $600,000 each.

Scary, huh?

TL;DR: We are used to the internet being a free-for-all space. But as a business owner that is handling sensitive data, you need to ensure your clients’ digital safety. Don’t betray your clients’ trust and invest in a professional developer.

The basic WordPress features are rock solid against hackers and malicious attacks.

Answered: Your Most Burning Questions on WordPress Security

However, a corporate website usually needs a lot of regular content updates as well as industry-specific features that do not come with the famous 5-minute install.

And as safe and secure as open source projects are, third party services and add-ons may not be. Especially the cheap, premade, out of the box solutions, catering to 20 different industries at once.

Cost-effective solutions are always a top priority, but going with the cheapest option is often the most expensive way to take. Premium themes and numerous questionable add-ons are oftentimes the preferred methods of building websites for a lot of companies.

What DIY enthusiasts don’t know (but we have seen multiple times) is that the cheapest websites usually need the most expensive maintenance.

The cost of keeping a “Frankenstein” website built with a premium theme and a dozen premade plugins can easily skyrocket to more than $20k a month.

Such poorly sewn together “monstrosities” are very unstable and volatile. They require at least one full-time developer to constantly monitor the performance, stability, debug and fight fires 24/7.

The main reason for messes like this is that premium plugins and themes are built to solve a wide range of problems for a wide range of industries. Premium plugins rarely fit together well enough to work flawlessly as they are built to fit the WordPress Core. Not to mention the other 231 plugins with a premium theme on top you might need to build a professional website.

Making oddly shaped jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together takes so much time and effort that the bill at the end of the day may become pretty hefty. Developing smaller, lighter add-on options, built to resolve a specific problem or add a special feature just for you is better 9 of 10 times.

A custom developed theme that is flexible and stable enough to sustain a constantly expanding and growing website is a great and budget-friendly start.

Many of the needed features of a business website cannot be foreseen until the platform is launched and multiple visitors start using it.

An arrangement like that allows for really useful and cost-effective planning and building of a final product that is fine-tuned according to the specific user needs and demands.

What Is the Role of WordPress Maintenance?

Ongoing maintenance ensures that everything is running smoothly and updates are executed timely.

A retainer based client relationship enables us to track indicators for user behavior such as time spent on page and most used features.

We do this in order to enhance the overall UX and component experience on the live site. This makes upgrading the system possible while keeping the platform running without compromising security and stability.

A long term maintenance plan is crucial to any professional business website. All online CMSs, WordPress included, have regular updates. These updates are mandatory to keep all data and users safe and minimize the possibility of any hacking attempts.

Security is key to successfully building your clients’ trust.

The world wide web is a constantly developing space and optimization happens on a daily basis. Failing to update your website by the latest and greatest standards usually leads to huge potential loss of time and money.

Key indicators of the website performance such as the uptime, speed, user experience, and database performance are very dependable on updates and cause execution decay over time.

Website maintenance is an ongoing process that really makes the difference between a successful business and a mediocre one.

An outdated website is a poorly functioning website and with between 1.5 billion active websites, your customers are becoming pickier and pickier.

If a website doesn’t load in under 3 seconds, 78% of visitors are gone to greener pastures and so is your prospective customer.

Don’t gamble and contact a professional to evaluate your ideas and expectations. Here you happen to be at the right place 🙂

Feel free to contact DevriX for more information. We know the best ways to jet fuel your online project and start enjoying your ROI to the fullest.