The importance of website maintenance can’t be overstated — especially for nonprofit organizations. Your website is often the first point of contact for donors, volunteers, and the community. But launching a site is just the beginning. Ongoing website maintenance for nonprofit organizations ensures your site stays secure, accessible, and aligned with your mission.
One of the many questions we ask nonprofit organizations during a web discovery meeting is “how do you plan to maintain your website once it’s live?” Sometimes they have someone on staff who will be responsible. Sometimes they look to us to provide website maintenance. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two. And sometimes there is no plan.
Website development is often viewed as a one-time project when it really should be seen as an ongoing work in progress. A website requires regular updates and routine website maintenance so it can continue to run at peak performance. Proper website maintenance can extend the lifespan of a website beyond the average of three years—making it a wise investment.
Here are our top reasons why website maintenance is important for your nonprofit website.
1. Security
Security is the number one reason why website maintenance is vital to your organization. If you’re online, you’re at risk—no website is 100% safe from hackers. Whether you use WordPress or a similar content management system (CMS), it’s paramount that you are always running the most up-to-date version. Proper site maintenance will ensure the most current security patches are installed and reduce vulnerabilities that draw in hackers. It will keep your site, and your site’s visitors, safe. That’s why website maintenance for nonprofit organizations must include regular updates and proactive security measures to protect donor data.
2. Protecting Your Brand
One of the biggest reasons why website maintenance is important is that it ensures every visitor has a positive, seamless experience — from first click to donation.
You wouldn’t purchase a car and never take it in for maintenance, right? Of course not, you want to protect your investment. Similarly, your website is an investment in your brand. It’s often the first time someone within the community interacts with you, and as they say, “you only have one chance to make a good first impression.”
You can generally tell when a site hasn’t been maintained. Dated blog posts and outdated copyrights are often telltale signs. If the content you share is evergreen, it will stay relevant for a long time. It’s good practice to turn off the date notifications. And if it’s dated content, such as content that’s no longer relevant, get rid of it.
Along with outdated content, outdated plugins and broken links can leave your site looking like a mess or even make it dysfunctional. Creating value and developing and maintaining trust are vital to client, volunteer, and donor relationships. If your website gives the impression that you don’t care, it will reflect poorly on your organization and your clients and supporters will go elsewhere.
3. Backing Up Data
This benefit often goes overlooked. Aside from security, it is one of the most important features of regular website maintenance. Site backup can be done manually or through an automated service, often offered by your hosting provider. They say to err is human—if your organization has multiple team members with varied web experience accessing the backend of your site, frequently backing up your data will make it easier to fix errors if they do occur. If something were to happen to your site—either by human error, hacker, or failed technology—a good backup plan can mean the difference between fixing the problem in a few days or rebuilding your site from scratch.
4. Staying Current with Technology
The internet is constantly changing. Google alone rolls out between 500 and 600 changes in its search algorithms each year. We can interact with websites on multiple devices, from watches to traditional desktop computers, on any browser we choose, set to our individual preferences. All of these variables demand that your website keep up to remain competitive and that you, or someone you can rely on, keep up with the ever-changing requirements as well.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Many factors come into play when it comes to site traffic, and really digging into a website’s SEO requires additional services beyond basic monthly website maintenance. However, these three areas deserve your attention and can greatly affect your site’s performance:
Mobile-Readiness
The number of users visiting websites with mobile devices is increasing year over year. If you haven’t updated your site in several years, chances are your site is not ready to greet these users with a mobile-friendly experience. Search engines, like Google, have started to selectively present users with search results based on the type of device they are using to perform searches. If your people are looking for you on their mobile devices, and your site isn’t mobile-ready, then your site may not even show up in their search results.
Updated Content
We typically advise organizations to include a method of introducing new content on their site. This can often come in the form of a blog, but it could also be news updates or events. Every time you update your website, you give search engines new material to crawl to rank your site. A site that’s consistently updated will keep the attention of frequent visitors as well as rank higher in an internet search than one that’s not (paid advertising aside).
Site Speed
Speed is another characteristic that can impact your site’s search ranking. In our world of instant gratification, speed can determine if the next visitor to your site will connect with you or not. Research shows that 47% of users expect a site to load within two seconds, and 53% of mobile users will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Your site’s speed is something that needs to be tested and analyzed. Depending on your site, you may or may not be able to improve its speed. However, checking it every so often for dramatic shifts can help identify underlying issues from image optimization to a need to switch hosting packages.
Search engines consider site speed, mobile responsiveness, and fresh content — all of which highlight the importance of website maintenance for sustaining strong SEO rankings.
6. Monitoring and Tracking
If you have a website, you should have Google Analytics or something similar that tracks your site’s traffic. Monitoring even basic analytics like whether your visitors are using a desktop or mobile device, how they are finding your site, or what pages on the site they are interested in will allow you to keep up to date with your site’s performance. Routinely checking the metrics on your website gives you insight into your marketing efforts so that you can make informed decisions and plan accordingly.
Q: Why is website maintenance important for nonprofits?
A: Nonprofits rely on their websites to build trust, collect donations, and share their impact. Routine maintenance ensures reliability, security, and a great user experience.
Q: How often should nonprofits update their websites?
A: Ideally, monthly. Regular content, plugin, and security updates are key parts of effective nonprofit website maintenance.
As you can see, there’s much more to a website beyond design and development. Website maintenance is key to your site’s health and overall performance. Investing in regular maintenance greatly reduces the risk of having to spend more down the road on problems that could have been prevented or planned improvements you could have budgeted for ahead of time. And just like your car maintenance, investing in a website maintenance plan will ensure your nonprofit’s website continues to offers value, safety, and continued performance.
If your nonprofit isn’t prioritizing regular updates, it’s time to rethink your digital strategy. The importance of website maintenance goes beyond appearance — it’s about protecting your mission online.
Let’s make sure your site works as hard as you do.
