A step-by-step monthly website maintenance checklist

It’s time to be honest. When was the last time you gave your website a proper health check?

Most businesses pour the utmost time, effort and money into building their websites, then they assume these sites will continue running smoothly forever. But here’s where this bubble is broken: websites are like cars.

If you skip the regular servicing schedules, sooner or later, something will stall. The speed will slow down, certain parts will stop working and before you even realise the ‘engine’ *your traffic & leads in this case) will take a hit.

This is why monthly website maintenance is not an option. It is not a luxury. It is a non-negotiable if you’d like your website to function fast, secure and ready to convert visitors.

If you are someone who is wondering, “How do I actually maintain a website without drowning in tech jargon?”, this checklist is for you.

1. Keep your website speed in check

Do you remember the last time you abandoned or bounced back from a website just because it was loading too slowly? Annoying to waste your time on such websites, correct? Well, you should know that you are not the only one.

A rising number of studies show that if a site takes longer than three seconds to load, almost half of the visitors are already gone. They choose to abandon the website. This clearly results in visitors lost before you even get a chance to say hello to them on the landing page.

If you wish to avoid such basic yet crucial errors, take advantage of reliable tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. These tools often indicate the causes and results of what’s slowing down the websites (unoptimised images, a cluster of codes, unused or outdated plugins, etc).

Enabling caching or a CDN (Content Delivery Network) is also recommended. This helps serve content faster.

2. Backing up your website, without fail!

Worst-case scenario: your website crashes tomorrow. Do you think it will be possible for you to restore it within minutes? Or would you need to start working on a new website from scratch?

Monthly website backups and weekly if you are running an e-commerce or publishing new content often, are the best insurance policies. There are tools in the market for almost all kinds of requirements now and similarly, for website backups, you can use UpdraftPlus, BlogVault or built-in backups from your hosting provider.

We also recommend that you store at least one recent backup on another source, either in the cloud or an external drive.

3. Security updates to avoid hacking

Reports suggest that over 30,000 websites are hacked every single day. And no, it is not just big brands that are the targets. More often than not, small businesses are easier targets of such issues, thanks to commonly ignored factors like outdated plugins or expired SSL certificates.

Ideal practice requires you to timely update your CMS, themes and plugins. Ensure you scan for malware with reliable tools (Sucuri or Wordfence). Always check if the SSL certificate is active. SSL is a little padlock by your URL that instantly builds trust in the minds of users.

4. Timely audit installed plugins

Too many plugins on a website may slow down a website and in fact, lead to a higher risk. It is important that you visit the list of installed plugins on your website every month and evaluate the ones you need and the ones that can be discarded.

Plugins also require timely updates by the developer in order to ensure they don’t slow the site.

A website with a decent number of plugins is often faster and safer.

5. Fix broken links

There are some crucial things that kill a visitor’s trust when visiting a website. It is not just a 404 Not Found page. Broken links leave users confused and send bad signals to Google.

You can make the most of tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs and scan your website for broken links in a matter of a few minutes. Go ahead, take advantage of these options to fix broken links instantly and make your website more polished and user-friendly.

Pro tip: If you update your content quite a lot, chances of broken links popping up often are higher.

6. Review analytics for accurate numbers & results

If you listen closely, you will realise that your website often communicates messages to you through Google Analytics 4 and Search Console.

You can use this option to your advantage and review the following factors monthly:

• Study the pages that the audience visited most often or even least
• Analyse bounce rates. Study if the users are leaving too soon?
• Calculate keyword rankings. Analyse if they are showing up right where you want them to?
• Study conversions. Is your website actually bringing in leads and converting them into paying customers

7. Testing the checkout process (e-commerce businesses)

If you are an e-commerce vendor, you should know that a rising number of users abandon their cart just because the checkout process is either too lengthy or time-consuming.

To avoid this from happening, play a customer on your website regularly. Add items to the cart, apply coupons, enter shipping info, complete the order. This process will help you understand if the order placement structure is smooth on both mobile and desktop. Prioritise mobile devices, as most purchases nowadays are carried out on smartphones.

Having covered the essentials of a website maintenance checklist, it can be assumed that most of these checks can be carried out by you. However, let us be honest here: running a business and keeping up with timely website maintenance is a juggling, tough act. This is where professional website maintenance services come in.

Connect with IS Global Web for everything your website needs

At IS Global Web, we do not help you just fix the elements that are broken on your website. We in fact, work in tandem with your requirements to create a structure that keeps your website fast, secure, search-friendly and anytime conversion-ready.

We believe that a healthy website does not just look pretty or presentable. It brings in reliable leads, sales and trust. With this monthly website maintenance checklist, we believe you can keep things running smoothly and avoid unnecessary, expensive surprises.

If you’d rather focus on letting the exprrts handle the upkeep, IS Global Web is right here to assist you. Connect with us today and let us help you design your strongest business asset.

Nikhil Agrawal

Nikhil Agrawal is the Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy of IS Global Web, a leading digital marketing agency that provides world-class search marketing services and web & application development. He has extensive experience across digital marketing verticals for over 10 years. He is helping many businesses for their search traffic, conversion optimization, product launches and their online presence. You can find Nikhil on LinkedIn & Twitter.

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