Your new Drupal website is launched and running smoothly, now what? It’s important to perform routine “check-ups” on your website to make sure it’s healthy and to maintain its performance. Here are 4 aspects to consider in order to ensure your users come back for an optimal experience.
1. Module Updates
Get rid of modules that are unnecessary. Too many modules can slow down your website and become overwhelming when it’s time to update them all. According to Drupal.org, the ideal amount of modules depends on the size of your website and your hosting plan:
- For a small website on a shared hosting plan, there should be no more than 20 modules.
- For a moderately complex website, there should be no more than 20 to 50 modules. Drupal.org recommends a VPS hosting plan for more flexibility.
- For a complex website with high traffic, 50 to 100 modules may be necessary. For optimal performance, consider a hosting plan that offers more than just shared hosting.
Anything over 100 could render your website inefficient, and there are probably solutions to simplify your website’s functionality.
You’ll also receive notifications when a module or security needs to be updated. You can view these updates in admin > reports > updates. Check with your web developers about new updates, since these are usually controlled on the backend. It’s important to stay current with security and module updates to ensure your website is safe and efficient for users.
2. Engage Your Audience
Your website employs forms and comments sections that allow your audience to get in touch with you. Responding to these items should be a daily task.
Ensure that all forms function properly; send a test submission to yourself! Forms are your lifeline to potential clients and sales, so it’s important that users always have the ability to contact you. Once you know the forms are working properly, follow up in a timely manner when you receive a submission. A personalized response will show users that you aren’t a robot and that you care about their business.
In addition, you probably have a blog that utilizes a comment section. This is a great way to start a dialogue and engage your audience.
3. Fix Broken Links and Images
Links allow search engines to crawl the web and drive traffic to your website. Broken links on your website will prompt a 404 page to appear and affect your SEO. This means that particular link has no landing page. A 301 allows you to redirect the user from one URL to another without an interrupted UX. Broken links sometimes occur while you’re trying to migrate a site and you forget to redirect a few links, or it could mean you pasted in a link wrong.
Regardless, check the links on your website and blog to make sure they lead to the right place. You can do this manually or with the use of Screaming Frog. This is a great resource that we use to crawl our own site for any broken links.
4. Database Backup
Back up your site on a routine basis. This ensures you can take care of your website’s code and database in the case of a hack, server issue, or some other emergency. These situations are inevitable, and it’s important to prepare for them before they occur.
Users expect a smooth experience when they visit your site, whether they need to buy a product, find information, or register for an event. Make sure they can interact with your website correctly with this pre-deployment Drupal checklist. Finally, take care of your website regularly by adhering to these 4 steps.
Sevaa Group knows that you have a business to run, and you don’t want to be preoccupied with technical maintenance. We offer managed Drupal hosting, complete with continuous integration, automated DevOps workflow, managed backups, redundant solid state storage, and more. Contact us for assistance on your next Drupal project!
