Last week, we talked about how scary abandoned blogs and social media pages can look to potential customers. This week, we’re delving into something even scarier – broken websites.

What if one morning you came into work to find that your website was broken? Images out of place, videos not working, broken links, contact forms gone, the works. That would be a huge mess, not to mention a headache to clean up. Guess what? That could very well happen to your site if you’re not taking the time and/or getting a professional to make sure your website is up to date.

But Whose Fault Is It?

With the number of businesses with a web presence these days, we assume that it’s common knowledge that websites need regular maintenance in order to stay in tip top shape. However, we do occasionally find that many are baffled when a site breaks, unsure why or how it could have happened. Should you blame the web developer? The hosting company? Who is responsible?

Think of it this way: If people walk by your store because you haven’t mowed the grass out front or washed the windows, do you blame your landlord? Of course not. You pay someone to cut your grass and wash your windows because these things are part of the cost of doing business. Similarly, when a website breaks due to out of date software or gets a virus because the security patch hasn’t been updated, you can’t blame WordPress or Expression Engine or your web developer. You can pay your web developer to diagnose and fix your problem, but the most effective route is to pay your developer to perform regular maintenance to ensure that those catastrophic issues don’t happen.

No Website Is Foolproof.

Content management systems like WordPress and ExpressionEngine are constantly updating their software to protect users from harmful viruses and to create better and more innovative products. Your website must keep up with these updates or risk running into problems, but things can still go awry. As one of our web developers says, “The rapid pace of development for websites has a big impact. When Expression Engine or WordPress makes an update to their core system and dozens of module developers have to update their software for it to work, they don’t always play nice together.” That’s why it’s often best to leave web maintenance to the pros. Contact corecubed to learn more about our web maintenance program.