1) No Staging Website
When updating a website, it is a must to have a staging environment for the project. What is a staging website? It's basically a copy of your site which allows you test of any changes before they go live.
Any design or development updates to a live site can really mess with your user's online experience, it's really better to test out the changes properly first. This is especially important if you are making changes to an ecommerce client, because we get annoyed when something doesn't work the way it should.
Here at Blumoo Creative, we actually have 3 stages of development: Local > Staging > Production.
Your development team can make and test all changes before going live. Go ahead ask your team if your site has a staging environment . If they give you a funny look, call us - (910) 660-2689!
2) Not Updating Your Site
Once a website is built, most project owners thinking the work is done. But like getting your dog groomed, getting the an oil change for your car or even updating your phone apps, there are constant changes to your site that need to be updated.
Now of course, you don't have to redesign your site completely every few months. We recommend once every 2-3 years is great for a big update. But, the smaller updates, security patches, and general maintenance should happen 2-4 times a year.
If your site is on the Wordpress platform, be sure that plugins are up-to-date as well as the security patches. But, of course, you should always run any and all changes through the staging site to make sure nothing breaks before going live.
3) Not Owning the Credentials
It's extremely important that you have access to all passwords related to your project, including but not limited to: backend admin, website hosting credentials, emails, etc.
Your development team should provide you with all the details of your login info and you should store these somewhere besides "in your browser." Having all your site's credentials is very much like owning the master key to you your house. I can't count the many times a new client that comes aboard with Blumoo Creative and they have a difficult time gaining access to the previous project because either they were never given credentials or they misplaced them.
This is also important if you work with a web development agency. While they may initially setup the hosting and websites, you should still have owner access to everything. In this way, you are not held hostage by a developer or hosting company and can change if you need to.
In conclusion, remember that you need to allocate time and some budget for updating and maintaining your website every year. Over the long term, this will solve a lot of issues that could slow down or stop your site from functioning.
Most of all, they will save you time and money, and potentially lost revenue from your website.
Looking to update or upgrade your website or project? Blumoo Creative, located in Wilmington, NC is a digital agency that specializing in design, development, custom application and marketing. Contact us today to see how we can help you improve your online presence.
Call us at (910) 660-2689
