Let’s chat about something crucial when it comes to your faith based business or non profit website. No, we’re not here to convince you that having a website is important. You already know that, right? After all, 28% of business is conducted online and Nearly half of people (48%) decide on a business’s credibility based on its web presence. 

Yep, Forbes dropped those research gems, proving your website is a big deal!

 But today, we are here to talk about website maintenance.

So, what’s the deal for you and your mission-driven endeavors? Well, picture this: a clunky, slow-loading website that’s harder to navigate than a maze. Ouch. That’s not just hurting your online presence; it’s slamming the brakes on your impact.

And if you’re thinking of skipping the website maintenance altogether, think again. Seriously, 88% of internet users won’t bother coming back after a bad experience. That’s a lot of potential supporters hitting the road.

Now, what exactly makes for a bad experience, you ask? And how can you ensure your visitors don’t have one? As a seasoned web design agency specializing in faith-based businesses and nonprofits, we’ve got the scoop. Spoiler alert: it’s not all glitz and glam.

Sure, great design matters, but the real MVP here is website maintenance. It’s the unsung hero that keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes. So, in this article, we’re pulling back the curtain to show you why website maintenance is the secret sauce for success and how you can stay on top of it all. Ready to dive in? Let’s go! 

What is Website Maintenance?

Website maintenance involves regularly updating, securing, and optimizing a website to ensure it remains functional, safe, and user-friendly. It includes tasks like software updates, backups, security checks, performance optimization, content updates, and user experience enhancements.

In essence, website maintenance keeps your online presence running smoothly and effectively. It ensures your website continues to shine bright and make a positive impact on your audience. Ready to roll up your sleeves and give your website the TLC it deserves?

Types of Website Maintenance and Its Benefits to Your Ministry

When it comes to maintaining your website, you’ll reach a critical juncture: should you handle it yourself or entrust it to experts who understand the intricacies? While managing your own website maintenance isn’t out of reach, it’s essential to grasp its significance and impact on your site’s success. 

Before you make a decision, let’s delve into what website maintenance entails and how it directly influences your business or ministry. 

Security Maintenance

The security of your website is paramount for building trust and credibility with your community. As a faith based businesses, non profits, or church you are responsible to take the necessary steps to protect donor payment and contact information, ensure the confidentiality of prayer requests, maintain the integrity of the website’s content, and more. 

Proactive security maintenance helps safeguard against data breaches, protecting your organization’s reputation and fostering a sense of safety and security among visitors.

Security Maintenance Tasks

• Regularly update website security plugins.
• implement firewalls to prevent unauthorized access and protect against malware attacks. 
• Conduct regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

Content Maintenance

Keeping website content fresh and relevant demonstrates your organization’s ongoing activities, events, and initiatives to the community. Regular updates foster engagement, encourage return visits, and strengthen connections with supporters and members, ultimately furthering your organization’s mission and impact.

Skipping content updates can result in outdated or inaccurate information being displayed. This can be misleading to website visitors and is not a great first impression considering half of internet users say that they use website design (and its content!) as a factor to formulate their opinion on a business. 

Content Maintenance Tasks 

• Schedule regular content audits to review and update outdated information.
• Add new blog posts or articles  to improve search engine visibility.
• Refresh multimedia content such as videos or images. 
• Ensure that event calendars and announcements are kept current.

Functional Maintenance

Ensuring that your website functions smoothly and efficiently is crucial for enhancing user satisfaction and engagement. Remember those 88% of people we mentioned earlier? The ones who won’t return after a bad website experience? Well, functional website maintenance can make all the difference with them!

By providing a seamless browsing experience, your organization can encourage visitors to delve deeper and keep coming back for more. 

Take responsive web design, for example. This approach ensures that your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices, providing an optimal viewing experience whether visitors are accessing your site from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. With 51.2% of web traffic in North America coming from mobile devices, maintaining responsive web design is essential for a positive website experience. 

Moreover, faster website performance is paramount for improving user experience, as evidenced by the fact that 47% of users won’t wait longer than two seconds for a website to load. Which means you better act fast because skipping website updates and other functional maintenance tasks is one of the leading causes of a slow loading website. 

By delivering content quickly and reliably, your organization can better serve its audience, deliver timely information and resources, and inspire action and involvement in its mission and initiatives.

Functional Maintenance Tasks 

• Test website functionality regularly, checking for broken links, forms, or interactive elements. 
• Address any usability issues identified by user feedback or website analytics.
• Optimize website design for mobile responsiveness, ensuring that the site is accessible and user-friendly across various devices and screen sizes.
• Update design elements such as color schemes, fonts, and imagery to reflect the organization’s branding and messaging.
• Monitor website performance metrics such as page load times, server response times, and overall responsiveness. 
• Optimize website speed by compressing images, minimizing code, and leveraging caching techniques. 

What Happens When You Skip Website Maintenance?

Neglecting website maintenance can lead to a host of problems that can significantly impact your online presence and the success of your mission. Here are some key issues you might face:

Malicious Intent

If your website is not up-to-date with security maintenance, it can become vulnerable to exploitation. The backend of your website is dynamic, with new vulnerabilities being identified and patched daily. Regular updates, ideally on a monthly schedule, are crucial to keep your website secure. If a bad actor exploits these vulnerabilities, they can:

• Steal Sensitive Information: Hackers can access emails, form submissions, registration information, and other sensitive data. For a faith-based organization, this could include prayer requests linked to individuals, registration details for events, and more, putting your community’s privacy at risk.
• Inject Malicious Code: Attackers might inject code like “Listeners” or “Key Loggers” into your website, enabling them to steal passwords, monitor user activity, and even download viruses onto users’ systems via your site.
• Gain Admin Access: If hackers gain admin access, they can add or delete pages, alter content, change links, and upload harmful files. In the worst-case scenario, they might hijack your SEO to redirect users to inappropriate websites, such as those related to gambling or pornography, which is especially damaging for a faith-based organization.

Broken Features

Outdated plugins and themes can cause various features on your website to malfunction:

• Non-Functional Images: While broken images might not be catastrophic, they do affect the visual appeal and can harm your SEO.
• Form Failures: If contact forms or other interactive elements stop working, you could miss out on valuable connections and opportunities, leading to a loss of potential supporters or clients.
• Responsive Design Issues: Without regular updates, your site might lose its ability to adapt to different screen sizes, making it non-mobile-friendly. This can result in a drop in user engagement and negatively impact your SEO.

Websites Are Not Static Objects

The internet is constantly evolving, much like the tides on a beach, and your website is like a sandcastle. New standards, languages, security patches, and updates to WordPress core, plugins, and themes all affect your site. Browsers and servers also update, potentially causing compatibility issues. Regular maintenance ensures your website remains functional, secure, and up-to-date amidst these changes.

Skipping maintenance means leaving your site vulnerable to these evolving challenges, leading to more significant issues down the line. Regular check-ins and updates keep your website healthy and resilient, ensuring it continues to support your mission effectively.

Torrch’s Maintenance Solutions for Faith-Based Organizations

Here at Torrch, we’re all about crafting stunning websites that perfectly reflect your ministry or business. But you know what? We’re not just about the glitz and glam of design. We’re here to make sure your online presence stays top-notch even after your website goes live. 

That’s why we’re thrilled to offer more than just affordable website build packages – we’ve got your back with budget-friendly maintenance and support plans too. Because we believe that keeping your website in tip-top shape is just as important as making it look fabulous. So,check out the details of the maintenance plans we offer in addition to our website build packages.

Choose the plan that best suits your needs and enjoy peace of mind knowing your website is in good hands.