5 Common Website Maintenance Issues Small Business Owners Face

Website maintenance for small business owners is an important but often overlooked aspect of running a successful business. Website maintenance ensures that your website is functioning properly, is secure, and looks great to your customers.

Unfortunately, many small business owners are unaware of the common website maintenance issues they may be facing. In this blog post, we’ll look at five of the most common website maintenance issues that small business owners face, and how to address them.

1. Outdated Information

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is neglecting their website’s content. It’s essential to ensure that all the information on your website is up-to-date.

Having outdated information sends the wrong message to your prospective clients. It can make them think that your business is not credible or that you don’t care about keeping them informed.

Contact details

One example of outdated information is a company’s contact details. Imagine if a customer was trying to reach you via email or phone number displayed on your website, only to realize that the information is incorrect. They will be frustrated, and your business reputation might take a hit.

It’s crucial to review your website regularly and ensure that all the content is up-to-date. Keep track of new services, updated products, changes in prices, and other relevant information that might affect your business. It’s essential to display this information prominently on your website.

The website is your virtual Showroom

Remember, a website is like a storefront, and it’s the first impression of your business to prospective clients. Ensure that it reflects your current business accurately, and don’t let outdated information give the wrong impression.

2. Security

Small business owners often overlook the importance of regularly updating their website’s security features. Failure to do so can leave them vulnerable to cyber-attacks, data breaches, and other security risks.

To reduce the likelihood of being targeted by hackers, ensuring that your website is up-to-date with the latest security patches and software updates is crucial. Many small businesses rely on open-source platforms like WordPress, which are often targeted by cybercriminals due to their popularity.

Avoid becoming a hacker target by being proactive with your website security. If you don’t have the time or expertise, Website Concierge can provide these services in our small business website maintenance packages.

Timing and proactivity

Installing updates as soon as they become available is essential to prevent security breaches. These updates often address known security vulnerabilities and protect your website from potential attacks. Failing to do so could leave your website vulnerable to hackers, who could access sensitive information like customer data and payment details.

Strong Passwords

In addition to installing security updates, it’s also important to use strong passwords and to restrict access to your website’s backend to authorized personnel only. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access, which could compromise your website’s security.

Two-factor Authorisation

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security measure that requires users to provide two forms of identification to access a website. This helps protect against hacking attempts, as even if a hacker gains access to a user’s password, they still need a second form of identification to access the website.

Small business owners may overlook the importance of 2FA, thinking that their website isn’t an important target for hackers. However, hackers can target any website, and implementing 2FA can help protect not only your website but also your customers’ sensitive information.

Taking steps to maintain your website’s security is an ongoing process, but it’s necessary to protect your business and your customers. Regularly monitoring and updating your website’s security features can help you avoid a security breach’s costs and reputation damage.

3. Is your website attracting sales?

One of the primary reasons small business owners have a website is to increase their sales. However, business owners often make the mistake of thinking that just having a website is enough. They believe that as long as their website looks nice and is functional, the sales will come rolling in. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Can your customers find your website?

One of the most crucial aspects of website maintenance for small business owners is ensuring that potential customers easily find their website.

In today’s digital age, most customers use search engines like Google to find products and services they need. Therefore, your website needs to be optimised for search engines. This is generally referred to as Search engine Optimisation (SEO).

Visibility Tips

Here are some tips to improve the visibility or SEO of your website:

1. Relevant Keywords

Research the keywords your target audience is using to search for products or services in your industry. Then, incorporate these keywords into your website content.

2. Mobile-friendly website?

Ensure your website is mobile-friendly: In today’s world, most people use their mobile phones to browse the internet. You could lose potential customers if your website isn’t optimised for mobile devices.

3. Backlinks

Build backlinks: One of the most critical factors in Google’s search algorithm is your website’s number of high-quality backlinks. Reach out to other businesses or websites to see if they’re interested in linking to your website.

4. Utilise Social Media

Social media platforms are an excellent way to promote your website and build backlinks. Share your website on social media and encourage others to do the same.

5. Paid advertising

If you’re struggling to gain organic traffic to your website, consider using paid advertising like Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
By implementing these strategies, you’ll increase the chances of your website being found by potential customers, which can lead to increased sales for your small business.

If these SEO services are of interest, WebSite Concierge provides customisable small business website packages to suit your requirements.

Sales Optimisation 

A website must be optimized for sales. This means it is designed to convert website visitors into paying customers.

Call to Action

One way to achieve this is by creating a clear call-to-action (CTA) that tells visitors what action you want them to take, whether it’s to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter or contact your business.

Suitable Content

Another important factor to consider is the content of your website. Your website must offer visitors a reason to make a purchase. The content should be informative and showcase the benefits of your products or services. Also, make sure to include social proof such as customer reviews and testimonials to increase your credibility.

User-friendliness 

Finally, the website should be user-friendly. Navigation should be easy and clear what a visitor needs to do to make a purchase. Also, make sure your website is optimized for mobile users, as more and more people are browsing the web on their mobile devices.

Sales Performance Reporting

If you’re not seeing sales from your website, it’s time to evaluate the changes you need to make to increase conversions. Start with reviewing the website’s performance.

We provide all of our clients with regular website performance reports.  These capture and report ‘conversion’ activity in the website making the website’s performance readily visible.

Comparing performance with previous months highlights were and how leads are originating; trends over time an d where to focus attention going forward.

Poor website design

A poorly designed page can lead to a bad user experience for visitors to your website and in turn, impact your small business’s sales performance. These pages can deter potential customers and even lead to lost sales. A few examples of poorly designed pages are those with hard-to-read text, bad colour schemes, slow load times etc.

Font selection

Firstly, text that is hard to read can be a big problem for visitors. This may be because of small font sizes or text that is the wrong colour and contrast with the background. It’s essential to ensure that all text is easily legible, and you can achieve this by choosing the right font and size, and ensuring adequate contrast between text and background. We occasionally see fonts that are selected on the 

Secondly, bad colour schemes can lead to a poor user experience. Some websites may use colours that clash, or the colour scheme may not be consistent throughout the website. Visitors will not spend time on the site if it is challenging to navigate and not visually appealing.

Website Load Speed

Lastly, slow load times can frustrate visitors and make them leave the website altogether. There are several reasons for slow load times, including images that aren’t optimized or poorly designed layouts. By optimising your website’s design and minimizing the number of graphics and other elements that can slow down load times, you can create a better user experience and keep visitors on your site longer.

Its also notable that slow-loading pages also impact Google’s SEO performance.