While much of the arts and culture sector relies on live in-person experiences, your website sets the foundation for your organisation’s online presence, and first impressions are important. In fact, 83% of users appreciate attractive and up to date websites.
Like most things, websites aren’t built to last forever. To retain maximum function for your organisation, your website needs to be closely monitored and updated for quickly changing technologies and trends. Arts and culture organisations in particular often utilise integrated features like digital content archives and ticketing systems that can speed up the website ageing process.
Here are five common factors that contribute to a website’s decline and our easy solutions to fix them:
1. Outdated content and SEO
- Search engines favour updated content, so make sure to regularly update your website with fresh, relevant content to maximise your SEO performance.
- Use an SEO plugin to help optimise meta tags, keywords, and sitemaps. We recommend Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
- Use a tool like Broken Link Checker to make sure broken links aren’t hurting your SEO or user experience.
2. Aged design and user experience (UX)
- Regularly audit your website using HdK’s website audit checklist. Tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar can help track UX issues and user behaviour.
- Consider your website user journey and adopt a clean, minimalist layout with modern typography and a cohesive colour scheme. You can also add micro-interactions to increase engagement.
3. Ageing technology and compatibility issues
- Always update your website hosting service to the latest stable version for new features, security patches, and bug fixes.
- Update your plugins and themes regularly to avoid compatibility issues and security vulnerabilities.
- Enable automatic updates for minor core updates, but review major updates before applying them.
4. Slower load times
- Schedule periodic database optimisation to ensure efficient data storage and retrieval. You can also use plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-Sweep to clean up unnecessary data.
- Optimise performance by using caching plugins, compressing images, adopting a content delivery network (CDN) service, and using plugins to minify code.
5. Security vulnerabilities
- Use strong passwords and set up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) with a plugin like Google Authenticator
- Use a plugin to limit the number of login attempts to your website, and add CAPTCHA verification (for example, Google reCAPTCHA) on login forms to deter automated attacks.
- Install a security plugin like Wordfence or Sucuri Security for increased firewall protection, malware scanning, brute force protection, and other critical website security measures.
While we’ve given you our top tips and tricks to avoid the harmful effects of website ageing, maintaining an attractive and functional website really boils down to one key strategy: staying proactive.
Website ageing is inevitable, but keeping a proactive, informed approach to the issue will help you address any challenges before they arise and better prepare you to solve them if they do.
If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, click the button below to check out our November webinar session, where HdK Director Hans and Web Support Developer Linus explored best practices for extending your website’s life beyond launch.