Most of the world are currently experiencing the brunt of COVID-19 pandemic, which led to many unprecedented changes. Businesses were forced to close physical stores due to social distancing guidelines, limiting their marketing abilities to online selling. This call having a reliable and professional website.

Having a good website will let a business quickly adapt to the circumstances so revenue can still flow. In this article, we will list some of the ways you can ensure that your site will run smoothly as well as basic considerations if you’re planning to go online for the first time.

Why a site update is vital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Many countries around the world are directing people to stay home as much as possible in a bid to stop the spread of the pandemic. Many non-essential businesses wereforced to temporarily close. Becausecustomers can’t shop in person, many are instead going online to purchase products or book allowed services.

If your business was closed or getting very few customers, a website will be beneficial to reach your shoppers. For business owners with primarily in-person interactions, your website may be lacking some features for web-based operations.

You need to ensure that your site’s content isaccurate and relevant. Lack of ongoing website maintenance can result in slow-loading pages or poor Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Moreover,a sudden increase in visitors could lead to performance issues and even crash your website’s server. Executing a COVID-19 audit and update of your website will help you avoid these situations and keep offering your products or services even while your physical location is temporarily closed.

Optimize Site Speed

Loading time is a serious pain point. A slow site may frustrate visitors and leave rather than wait around.Even for previously optimized site’s loading times, performance can still degrade over time so regular maintenance is necessary.Site speed can be diagnosed and repaired by your web hosting provider.

Checkyour Hosting Plan and Consider Upgrades

Many small local businesses can host their sites via inexpensive shared servers. However, sudden traffic spikes could crash the server if it’s not meant to handle alarge volume of visitors.

A warning sign to consider an upgrade includes slow loading times even with speed optimization strategies. If your website is on a shared hosting plan, now would be the right time to consider moving to Virtual Private Server or VPS hosting.

Fortunately, top web hosting providers like Vodiencan provide this plan at affordable rates. Your current provider may also offer this, so it’s worth checking out whether they offer it with good rates and features.

Improve Site SEO

Search engines are typically the primary way customers find products and services – and yes, maybe your business. You want to make sure your online content is one of the top results if not the first result they see.

This requires some work in the form of SEO. You can research how to accomplish this manually or consult your web hosting provider for advice or professional help.

Before choosing a hosting provider

There are thousands of companies offering website hosting upgrades, including VPS hosting services. These offers usually come with management and support services, security, software licensing. Each hosting company will offer a set of conditions, violation of which can lead to additional costs, or even account termination.

Some hosting providers don’t allow excessive use of processor power for intensive computing and scripting. Research extensively the conditions and consult requirements. The best ones out there like Vodien won’t be shy boasting awards and customer reviews, so prioritize those. Best of luck!

Joyce Laroche