Monthly Website Checklist
Your website is done and beautiful and you feel so good to have it up and running. But are you aware of what you should be doing monthly to maintain it and drive traffic and engagement?
We have a simple website maintenance checklist that you can use to make sure that your website stays up and running and keeps customers coming back for more! This article is definitely for WordPress users as that’s what we use and build for our clients. If you want to know more about why we love WordPress be sure to check out our blog post about it.
And make sure you download the checklist to remind you every month what to do.
#1 Update your Plugins and WordPress Software
At least once a month, you should be checking in on the plugins you have on your website. Things change rapidly and WordPress and other third-party plugins are making updates all the time. Having the most up to date plugins will keep your website running smoothly.
It is important that the plugins you use are trusted and updated regularly for the security and functionality of your website. The image below shows where to look to see the information you should be looking at.
# 2 Review your Analytics
You want to make sure your website is doing what it needs to do to support your business. Monthly, make sure you review your Google Analytics dashboard.
If you have the Monster Insights plugin, then you can access your analytics right from your website dashboard.
What do you want to look for? Well, take a look at your business goals and see if you analytics align. Some things to look for:
- What location are your visitors coming from? If you have a local business then make sure they are coming from the right area. If you’re national or international, still take a look and see if the traffic is in line with your paying customers.
- What pages are they landing on? Are you pushing a particular product or service, do you want to see if your recent blog post is getting traffic? This area will show you what pages are most popular.
- Spikes in your traffic. You’re probably marketing in several different places. So pay attention to spikes in your web traffic. Does it coincide with a really popular social post or blog post? Did you have a guest blog on someone else’s site and they are sending traffic your way?
- Where are the referrals coming from? Referrals are other websites that are sending traffic to your website. Knowing what websites are sending traffic your way can help you build more relationships and also get ideas about other audiences you might want to target with advertising.
#3 Create Content Regularly
Now I get this more than anything else, do I really need a blog? And do they really need to be 600 – 1,000 words? Do people really care? And I should post weekly?
YES!!!!!
If you’re thinking you don’t have time to create content on a regular basis, check out our blog post on 4 Simple Steps to Batch Content.
Creating regular content does several things.
For your customers, it gives you a reason to start a conversation and bring them back to your website to learn more about your products and services. It also builds you as an expert in your field. Finally, regular content helps you build out and fill your social media postings and gives you the stuff to share to your email list.
For search engines, it shows your website is active and lets them know more about what your website is about. Now, I want you to produce the content you feel most comfortable with, but blogging is really king when it comes to building your web presence for search engines.
#4 Review Your Calls to Action and Events
It’s always good to review your events page for your website. Do you have your upcoming events listed? Have you removed outdated information? I bet you’re keeping track of them on your social channels, but maybe not on your website. Make sure this is being reviewed.
Same goes for your call to action. I love using Divi bar on my website for email sign-ups, event promotion or just to get people to know what I want them to know FIRST! But that means I have to keep them updated on what’s happening NOW. Be relevant in your call-to-action and ensure that it’s in line with where you are in your business.
Do you need to be advertising a holiday special? Is there a new product launching and you have a discount available? Make sure that people know what action they should be taking and that it’s timely for what’s happening in your business now.
#5 Check for Broken Links
Broken links are when you click on a link and get a 404 message that the page doesn’t exist. Fixing broken links is important for the customer experience, but also for your search engine rankings.
There are several free tools that you can use to see if you have broken links. We like Broken Link Checker. Running this report monthly is a great habit to get into. It’s not just linked inside your website, but as other websites change their links, you want to make sure your external links are still valid.
Conclusion
And there it is, 4 simple steps to batching content to ensure the quality and consistency you need, without taking too much time!
I can’t wait to hear about how you batch your content and what your broadcast strategy looks like!
Share this article to your favorite social media outlet, and let everyone know what your batching looks like!
Conclusion
By maintaining your website regularly, instead of just ignoring your website, you’ll ensure that it stays clean, bug-free and continues to grow in the eyes of Google. Make sure you download the free checklist and keep it on your desk, or in your planner, so you can visit it monthly.