Especially if you have someone managing it
If you are responsible for your company’s website, you are most likely mainly focused on the content, SEO, site performance and ensuring the product and service descriptions are current and correct.
Technical details are often left to the technical team, the website hosting company, or the vendor. Even if you’re not involved on the tech side, here are six things we think you should know about your website, and why.
- How frequently is your website backed up, and where? Website backups are critical to provide continuity in case of a server issue or other problem. Unfortunately, we often encounter situations where the only backup is on the website server – so if the server goes down, the backup is gone, too. We back up our client sites to secure, off-line locations, typically once per day, although ecommerce sites get full database backups every four hours.
- Is it regularly scanned for malware and software versions? Malware is always a threat to websites, and while there are lots of preventative steps website managers can take, we still recommend regular (at least daily) scans for known vulnerabilities. We invest in paid services that specialize in identifying potential issues, and although they rarely happen, such scans are an essential part of website management.
- Are your domains set to renew automatically? And do you have access to your domains? It seems obvious, but we do encounter situations where someone has let their domain expire – usually, the domain was associated with a former owner or employee, and notifications went to an old email address. Make sure you know where your domains are housed, that the right people get notifications, that payment methods are current, and that auto-renew is enabled.
- Are website form submissions available as exports? Sometimes, website form submissions aren’t received. This can happen when your email system changes, when a new spam-blocker is installed on your network (sometimes without your knowledge) or simply due to a system glitch. In those cases, exporting form submissions ensures you can still access the contact information and request and can follow up with customers or leads. Make sure your form tool allows you to export contacts.
- Where is the website hosted and who is responsible for the hosting? Think of your website hosting as a virtual file cabinet where your website is housed. Your domain – the website address – tells people where the virtual folder is located, but you still need the file cabinet (hosting). What company provides your hosting, and do the right people have access to the account? Similar to your domain, make sure the payment methods and contact information are up to date and you know whom to contact if there is a problem.
- Who owns your website and domain? This is the most important. In the past 90 days, we encountered two situations where the company that built the website retained ownership of the sites and the domains. In both cases, those companies had been hired to build a website and provide SEO or marketing services. The customer didn’t realize they were paying for a service, not the website itself. When you get an estimate for a website – or an SEO/local listing service that will build a website as part of the service – be sure to ask who will own the website and domain. Some vendors’ lower prices have a high cost when it’s time to end the engagement.
You don’t need to be an expert on how your website works, but you should be able to answer these questions or have a trusted partner who handles these details on your behalf. Companies trust R2R Marketing because they know we handle these crucial details. Contact us today if you have questions about your website and how it supports your marketing strategy.
