Failing to update and maintain your WordPress site can have catastrophic effects, such as making your site more vulnerable to cyber attacks. This makes it evermore important to update your WordPress Site to protect your site’s crucial data and content.

Versions WordPress Users Are Running On Their Site

This graph outlines the need to ensure you update your WordPress site. Almost all WordPress sites are running out of date PHP Versions.

PHP 7.4

The new PHP 7.4 update allows your site to reach lightning fast speeds and includes added security with uptime monitoring to patch any potential security breaches quickly. However, if you are still on the older version of PHP, 7.3 or below, then you are putting your site at a great risk. This is because the older versions of PHP are not monitored, therefore any security breaches will not be patched, unlike the new version of PHP 7.4.

However, as part of the PHP 7.4 update, WP Engine Hosting have decided to remove .htaccess files support, due to PHP 7.4 limiting the files value. The .htaccess is an Apache configuration file that a web admin can use to tell Apache how to interact with a website. It can control a number of things on a site-by-site basis, like how your URLs are formed or restricting access to a directory.

With the deprecation of these files it means you will have to migrate to a redirection plugin to maintain your URLs and redirect links that are on your WordPress site; this helps avoid unexpected and unwanted 404 errors on your site! This can be very complex to do. 

At AWESEM Site Care we can take care of your site maintenance and the complexities of WordPress updates so you can focus on what matters most to you: your business.

Get in contact with us today to start your stress free Site Care package.

The post Why You Need PHP 7.4 Installed On Your WordPress Site appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.

Regular Updates

Not updating your site can be catastrophic especially over the Christmas break when your site is likely to be unmanned. Without updating your site you are increasing your exposure to potential security breaches and outdated plugins could negatively impact the performance of your site. Regular updates will keep your site performing like the day it was launched and ensure your site is safe and secure.

At AWESEM Site Care we can take care of this for your WordPress site. We provide regular core and plugin updates on our AWESEM Essentials package so you can relax in the knowledge your site will always be kept up to date.

24/7 Security

As a website owner, it is your responsibility to protect visitors when they enter your site and ensure they are secure in the knowledge your site is a safe place. A site with poor security (unexpected pop-ups etc) will cause the visitor to lose trust and look elsewhere. Furthermore, if a visitor gives you the permission to access their details, then it is your duty to protect their data, otherwise you would breach GDPR, which could lead to loyal customers losing trust with your brand. Not the Christmas present you would want to get this year! 

As part of our AWESEM Essentials package we provide 24/7 security scanning and malware protection for your WordPress site. Contact us now to protect your site over the Christmas period. 

Daily Backups

You’ve likely spent hours in the build up to Christmas working hard on the content for your website to set you apart from your competitors. Now you have to back that content up to ensure it stays safe in case the worst happens.

It’s not only content you want to protect; you also need to know any data stored on your site is backed up and protected. Backing up your data and content regularly means you can return to work after Christmas knowing your valuable content is safely stored.

At AWESEM Site Care we provide Daily Backups to protect you content and data, so you can peacefully tuck into your Christmas dinner, knowing that your website is in safe hands.

Nobody wants to return after the Christmas break to have to pick up the pieces of a site hack or data loss. Following the steps above ensures you can return to work in the new year knowing your site is performing just as well as when you left the office.

Investing in a monthly maintenance service for your site will keep your site performing at its best year-round, so set up your AWESEM Site Care package today and trust us to keep your WordPress site safe and secure throughout the Christmas period and the new year beyond.

The post How To Keep Your Website Running Smoothly During The Holidays appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.

Here are just a few of the ways a monthly maintenance service can help you make the most of the Black Friday traffic surges:

Increased amount of visitors

An increased amount of visitors, or a ‘surge’ can have detrimental effects on your website if you haven’t prepared your site for those increased visitors. Preparing your website, and making sure the server can cope with the increased visitors, will help you over Black Friday to attract loyal customers, as your site will be fast and secure.

Contact us at Site Care today so we can prepare your WordPress site for the inevitable surge of site visitors with WP Engine’s scalability features, which allow your site to cope with a surge of visitors; we believe this is paramount for your site so it’s part of our AWESEM Essentials Site Care plan.

Increased spend of ad revenue

16 million users searched ‘Black Friday’ in the UK over November 2019, so this really is a key time of year for businesses of all types and sizes. Having an SEO-optimised website that places well in search results will help you reach more potential customers than ever during this busy period. The more customers, the more conversions, and the higher your quality score from increased CTR to your site. 

Failing to invest in site maintenance could stand in the way of your business getting the most out of your ad spend, as visitors will avoid a slow-performing site: ultimately giving your ads a low quality score. 

With Site Care’s SEO Add-On you can enjoy automated SEO audits and Google position tracking to help turn your ad visitors into long-term customers.

A responsive website that allows multiple devices

On Black Friday 2019 smartphone devices drove 58% of all traffic and facilitated 36% of all sales. Although desktop shared 59% of all online sales as a platform, that 36% coming from smartphones is key and should never be overlooked.

Failing to invest in a user-friendly website could turn away your loyal customers, and fail to attract new ones. Any new potential customers are likely to visit a website where they know they are able to access at any time of the day, anywhere, so ensuring your site is responsive and works consistently across all device types should be a key part of your ongoing site maintenance. 

Simple navigation

In the US, online sales over Black Friday accounted for $7.4 billion, up from $6.2 billion the year before. Furthermore, Cyber Monday was responsible for an additional $9.2 billion of online sales in the US alone!

There are so many opportunities over the Black Friday weekend, for both sales and brand awareness, that no site should overlook the importance of having a clean, user-friendly website at this time.

Smooth navigation that’s easy to use is key here. It’s simple: the quicker customers can find what they’re looking for, the quicker they’ll be able to make a purchase or learn more about the service you offer. It’s important here to note the shifting sands of consumerism, as most consumers enter websites with intent; this is either an intent to learn, or purchase.

Site security

Site vulnerability only increases over the Black Friday period. An increase of web activities and consumer spending means this period is a key time for those looking to exploit site vulnerabilities. Don’t forget: just because your site might not fall into the e-commerce category, it doesn’t make it immune to targeted attacks.

It’s so important to make sure your WordPress site is protected against potential threats and regularly updating your WordPress core and plugins is a great way to be one step ahead of those looking to exploit your site.

With AWESEM Site Care’s Essentials package we’ll take care of these updates, leaving you with the peace of mind that your site is up to date and running smoothly over Black Friday and beyond.

Conclusion

Scalability, performance and security are all key parts of ensuring your website stays afloat during periods of heavy traffic. These surges of visitors can have a hugely positive impact on your business – providing you’re ready for them. If you aren’t ready, these busy periods can leave your site more vulnerable to downtime or security exploits.

AWESEM Site Care can take the time and stress out of website maintenance, and prepare your site for those surges. Sign up today to choose your personalised WordPress maintenance package with AWESEM Site Care.

The post Survive Black Friday Traffic Surges with a WordPress Maintenance Service appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.

Strong Performance

Strong performance is a major factor to convert loyal customers. A slow, sluggish website is likely to turn visitors away, while a strong performing website allows users to navigate through your site easily and reach their intended destination quickly and efficiently.

A strong hosting provider is key to a performing website. At AWESEM Site Care our essential plans are hosted by WP Engine who place strong emphasis upon site performance. This feature will attract visitors as they’ll be able to navigate through the site quickly and easily. Start attracting your loyal customers today with a Site Care essential plan.

Link to Social Sites

A study conducted by Deloitte outlined a shifting change in consumerism. All generations (Pre-Boomers, Baby Boomers and Generation X) bar Generation Z and Millennials believe that honesty is number one priority when it comes to choosing a product or service. This makes linking your website to your social media pages all the more important, as users may well turn to your channels to learn about both your services and how you operate as a business. 

A key way to build trust is to keep the same tone of voice throughout your socials and website, so consider bearing consistency in mind when working on your brand content.

Image Quality

Low quality images were left in 2010. Image quality is now a significant factor in drawing attention to your business’ online presence. Studies by Jakob Nielsen have shown that models facing forward in images are perceived as more inviting and approachable to the user. 

Taking time to review the quality of your site images is a quick win to help boost user engagement, which is growing harder and harder to hold with every passing year. Studies suggest that we’re now working with an average attention span of eight seconds – close to that of a fish! 

Clear Messaging

It’s so important to offer your visitors a clear outline of what you offer from the first page they visit, as it can be so frustrating to visit a website and find yourself having to click through multiple webpages to find out what the company offers. 

Engagement with your site visitors should be of the utmost importance to your business, so offering a well-placed, concise outline of what you offer from page one should always be a priority here.

Check out the AWESEM Site Care homepage here, where we clearly outline our service and its major benefits from the first paragraph. 

Security

Security and data protection is an ever-growing societal focus, with good reason. This focus must be replicated online as well as offline, so it’s imperative your site is safe and secure at all times.

A simple priority is to ensure your site is always running a valid SSL certificate, as without this your site is marked insecure and visitors will likely lose confidence in your online presence, and, by proxy, the service you offer.

At AWESEM Site Care we install essential security protocols for all clients, as part of our AWESEM Essentials package, including round the clock security scanning to protect your sites from potential hackers and security breaches. Upgrade your security here and personalise your package with us.

The post Five Ways To Attract Loyal Customers To Your Site appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.

Performance

Performance is key! In today’s world of instant gratification users visit the web with intention. Long gone are the days of ‘web surfing’ – now that time is spent browsing social media. If a user is visiting a website they want their questions answered – quickly. 

If you have a sluggish website that takes forever to load the user is likely to back out of your website and visit a competitor’s website that performs better, loads faster and meets their needs as quickly as possible.

At AWESEM Site Care we believe every site visitor should be valued as a potential lead, so we’ll ensure that your WordPress website is up to date and running at its best every day, with uptime and site health monitoring nipping any performance issues in the bud before they impact your customers.

Poor Navigation

As we said earlier, most users visit a website with intention. Most likely they are either looking for a service or want to find more about your company, which makes website navigation so important. 

Studies show that humans’ attention span has decreased, as outlined by the BBC who explain that the average attention span is down from twelve seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds now. This presents a clear issue for site owners, who need to ensure site navigation is clear and accessible, given that you only have eight seconds for your user to find what they’re looking for before they turn their attention elsewhere.

So what are some quick wins here? A clean navigation bar at the top of your site with easy to digest headings and subheadings that make sense. Test the navigation yourself, ask your employees to test it, ask industry buddies to test it – see how simple or complex it is to reach every area of your website. Remember, you know where everything on your site is, users don’t – try to look at your user journey with fresh eyes.

Keyword Stuffing

Once upon a time placing numerous keywords relevant to your business would mean you would rank higher in the search engine results, meaning it wasn’t uncommon to find web pages full of bloated information that was incomprehensible for the visitor, as they were bombarded with masses of keywords. Nowadays search engine optimisation has changed, so keyword stuffing is no longer beneficial to SEO – in fact, it can have the opposite effect.

Instead, you want to focus on using keywords sparingly, only where relevant, and building them naturally into your content. They should enhance your web copy, not dictate it.

At AWESEM Site Care we help you implement SEO services that mean you can say goodbye to keyword stuffing forever; our AWESEM Site Care SEO package boost could give your site the oomph it needs.

Lack of Trust

Safety on the web is paramount, now more than ever. 

After Facebook’s data breach in 2018, which saw 30 million users have their personal data stolen, security has become a top tier priority for online businesses. In the wake of a string of high level data breaches, users on the web have understandably lost trust in websites and are cautious about parting with their personal information.

GDPR has helped to focus the blurred lines around the way personal data is shared online but websites have to do a lot more than adhere to GDPR to prove their trustworthiness. Transparency is key here, as well as honesty and clarity.

A good place to start is with reviews. You can sing the praises of your organisation from the mountain tops but where you’ll really earn trust is word of mouth. Think about sharing reviews or testimonials from long-standing clients, registering on TrustPilot to garner user reviews, and try linking to your social media profiles so users can see how you interact with existing customers on a daily basis.

Finally, always ensure you renew your SSL certificate in plenty of time – a site flagged as unsafe by Google is not a good look!

Unresponsive Sites

Studies have shown that around two billion users visit the internet on their smartphones, which equates to 51% of all online usage. These studies reinforce the importance of having a mobile-friendly website, as you could potentially be missing out on over half of your potential site visitors; a catastrophic impact on your business profits and growth.

WordPress core and plugin updates are part of our essential package at AWESEM Site Care, as it is something we believe is paramount to every successful WordPress website. This ensures your website has the strongest performance for all site visitors, regardless of device used, meaning your website will load as quickly as smoothly on a smartphone as it will on a desktop.

The post Five Reasons Users Abandon Websites appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.

This is why setting up a plan with a professional WordPress maintenance company is a fantastic idea. Experts in the field take care of everything from security to updates, from back ups to performing monitoring, meaning you can put the focus on building your platform and connecting with your customers. Think of it like trying to run a car without regular servicing – it might keep running but it certainly won’t be performing as well as it could, not to mention the risk of a breakdown or failed part. 

Here are just a few reasons why you should look to the experts for your WordPress website maintenance:

Save Yourself Time

As a business owner your time is precious and there are hundreds of things you could be doing instead of updating your plugins, monitoring your SEO keywords, and setting up a hosting agreement. Save yourself hours every month by setting up an external maintenance plan so all of the day-to-day running of your site is taken care of.

Cut Down on Costs

At AWESEM Site Care we believe you should only pay for what you need, which is why we offer targeted boost packages on top of our Essentials plan. If marketing and SEO are your priorities, you can enjoy the benefits of enhanced SEO without having to pay for high level security that you may not need for your site.

We keep things simple: subscribe to the Essentials package that should form the basis of every WordPress website maintenance plan, then add optional extras that match your company’s specific needs. Simple and cost-effective.

Your Website’s Safety Net

It’s far too easy to click ‘Update Later’ and ignore the warning messages that pop up in your WordPress dashboard, particularly when you have one hundred and one more pressing matters to attend to. But if a vulnerability in an outdated plugin gets exploited and your website is left open to hackers, you’ll wish you’d taken the time to keep your site and plugins up to date.

We know not everybody has time to stay on top of time-consuming maintenance and security, which is why we can take care of that for you. Add in malware scanning, regular back ups, and proactive PHP updates and you’re looking at a robust security plan that will keep your site safe and secure.

Take the Stress out of Running a Website

Running a business is rewarding, exciting, and liberating. It can also be incredibly stressful! One of the easiest ways to cut down on stress is to delegate any tasks that you don’t personally have to be involved in. You wouldn’t try to design, build, and market your website on your own without expert support, and site maintenance is no different. Don’t waste hours trying to make sense of PHP compatibility checkers and plugin license management, choose a trusted site care company who can take care of maintenance for you, while ensuring you’re kept fully up to date with how your site is performing.

If you’re keen to hear more about the services we offer and how we can help you with your WordPress website maintenance, contact the team today to discuss the best package for your business.

The post Why Your WordPress Website Needs a Maintenance Plan appeared first on AWESEM Site Care.