Remember that day when your website was complete and ready for you to sign-off and approve? You looked it over very carefully. You went through every page to make sure that it looked perfectly. When was the last time you looked at every page and every element of your website?
First of all, why would you need to? Nothing’s supposed to change, right?
Wrong. Things CAN change even if you or your developer don’t do anything. You see, websites run on plugins – small bits of software – that causes your website to do something. These plugins are made by individual companies and are updated from to time, depending on the plugin and the company that creates them. Sometimes they’re updated for a security reason. Sometimes they introduce new features and functionality. But sometimes they can introduce bugs and problems too.
I recommend that you keep your plugins updated on a weekly basis. Plugins that don’t get updated can cause problems with your website. Yet, new and updated plugins can actually cause problems too. What do you? It starts with taking a look at your website.
Here’s what happened to me:Â
I have a portfolio page on my website of various client websites I’ve created. There’s a section with thumbnails you can hover over to see a link and description of what made that site unique. I opened the site the other day to add a new thumbnail … and that section was GONE! Say what? Come to find out, the plugin that I had used to create that section had an update that inadvertently caused it to disappear (insert sad trombone music). Knowing there was a problem, I was able to fix it. But how do you know there’s a problem if you don’t check your website? You don’t.
That’s why it’s important to take a quick look through your website once a week … maybe a couple of times a month … and make sure everything is in tip-top shape. No problems. No surprises. Because if there is – it’s better that YOU find it rather than your customers.
