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45: The Ultimate Squarespace Website Maintenance Checklist: Keep Your Site Thriving (Every 6 Months!) · ThinkInsideTheSquare

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Just like our favorite houseplants, websites need a little TLC every now and then to stay happy and healthy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: That's where website maintenance comes in and, believe it or not, it can actually be kind of fun.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: In this episode of Think Inside the Square, I'm sharing the website maintenance checklist that I run through twice a year, every year.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you create a Squarespace website that you're proud of.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, becca Harpain, squarespace expert and creator of InsideTheSquareco.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: In this episode, I'm sharing my super simple website maintenance checklist with you, a friendly reminder that even after you launch your digital creation to the World Wide Web, you still need to check on it every once in a while.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquareco forward slash podcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: The term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Incorporated.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: This content is not affiliated with Squarespace.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Incorporated Website maintenance is all about making sure that everything runs smoothly, looks polished and delivers the best possible experience for anyone who visits your virtual space.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: What you'll need to double check might be a little different than my to-do list.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Some of us have online stores.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Some of us have blogs.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Some folks like me have both, but the list that I'm sharing in this episode is universal for every Squarespace-er.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: So let's dive in First up.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Test your forms.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Forms are the bridge between you and your audience, allowing you to collect valuable information, connect with potential customers and build relationships.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Think about it when you're collecting email signups for your newsletter, processing orders for a product, or even maybe hosting a hilarious personality quiz.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: You want these forms to work flawlessly.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Take some time to actually fill out every form on your site with different information.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Pretend to be a new customer placing an order, or imagine yourself signing up for your email list with a brand new email address.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: What happened when you clicked submit?
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe when you launched the site, you were so overwhelmed with everything else you needed to do that you just left the simple generic thank you text.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, now's your chance to elevate someone's experience on your site.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Change that text to a personalized thank you message that shows your appreciation for their interest, or even consider redirecting them to a custom page.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: This is your chance to make a great impression and maybe even offer a special discount or a sneak peek at some exclusive content as a thank you for joining the party.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So step one Check your forms and make sure the experience is awesome and make sure the info goes to the right place.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Did your test land in the right inbox, the right mailing list, the right spreadsheet?
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Double check it all.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Next up, I want you to test your internal links.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Broken links are total buzzkills and they can seriously hurt your website's reputation.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Not only do they leave visitors feeling lost and annoyed, but they can also drag down your rank in search engines, which is not what we want.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: But here's the good news Hunting down broken links doesn't have to be this nightmarish scavenger hunt.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: There are a ton of free tools available online.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: They can scan your entire website and they do it super fast.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I'll include a link to a few of my favorites in the show notes.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Once you use one of those tools and you have your list of broken links, fixing them is usually as simple as just replacing it with the correct URL or removing it entirely if the page no longer exists.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: If that's the case, consider setting up a URL redirect using the URL mapping feature inside Squarespace.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: If you remove a page, or there's an outdated page, something that no longer exists, but you still want to send them to something new and relevant, you can map the old URL so it redirects people to a new one.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: You'll find this under Settings, developer Tools, url Mapings.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: By taking a few minutes to fix those broken links and direct people to the right place, you'll keep your website running smoothly and ensure a frustration-free experience for your visitors.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: All right, next up, I want you to double check that you've optimized your images.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Large unoptimized images can take forever to load, which can be really frustrating for your visitors, who might click away before they even see your amazing content.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Thankfully, there are free tools out there, like TinyPNG, that can compress your images without sacrificing quality, making sure that they load lightning fast.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: But it's also important to remember that PNGs are generally larger than JPEGs because JPEGs are a single layer.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So I try to use a PNG format only when I need a level of transparency for something like an icon, for example, or even the favicon in my browser tab.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Here I try to save PNGs for that specific type, making sure that I use the smaller type of file for larger images.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I do have a previous episode of this podcast episode 25, where I go into a lot more details about how to optimize the images for your Squarespace website, so give that a listen if you'd like to learn more Again, that's episode 25.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Next on our maintenance checklist is to take a look at the actual content of your site.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: First up, search engines love fresh, new and relevant content.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: They're constantly crawling out and indexing websites, and new content is like this flashing neon sign that says hey, I'm still here and I've got more to offer.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Regularly updating your website with new blog posts, updated product descriptions, adding reviews from your products or maybe updating your service offerings this can help you stay ahead of the curve and climb the SEO rankings.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: But keeping your content fresh isn't just about impressing search engines.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: It's also about engaging with your audience.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: People crave new information and new experiences.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Imagine that you visit a website and everything seems a little outdated and stale.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: They still call Twitter.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Twitter and humorous copy about Game of Thrones being the best show HBO has ever made is not hitting the pop culture mark anymore.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: By regularly updating your content, you give visitors a reason to keep coming back for more.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: And here's a bonus tip for you when you create new content, consider linking that content to other relevant pages on your site.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: This can create a network of internal links which helps search engines understand your website structure and improves your overall SEO, but it also helps your website visitors.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: It shows them that you've got so much to share on a specific topic, you just can't stop creating content about it.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: If they love what you wrote in one blog post, they'll probably want to read another one that you've written as well, so try to add additional links to new content on other relevant pages in your site.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Moving on to the fifth item on our maintenance checklist, this can be a real can of worms, if I'm being honest.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: If you don't regularly look at your website analytics, you definitely should.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I get it Every month is just not feasible for some folks, but I think you should look at this data every six months at a minimum.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, now for those of you new to the idea Squarespace provides free analytics and it's a ton of valuable data about your website traffic, visitor demographics and even which pages are the most popular.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: But with all this information at your fingertips when we're doing this website maintenance checklist, where do we even start?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Here are a few key website analytics metrics that I think you should keep an eye on.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: First up is traffic by source.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: This metric tells you how many visitors come to your website over a specific time period and where they came from.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: It's a great way to gauge just overall website interest and to track your progress over time.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: If you've been spending more time creating content on Instagram, is that really resulting in more website traffic or are you just getting a few likes on the platform?
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: If you've been working really hard on your SEO, have you seen your organic rate climb?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: You need to check your traffic by source to find out that information.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Another analytic data point that I definitely recommend checking out while doing your website maintenance is a quick overview of your page views.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: This one's pretty straightforward.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: This metric shows you how many times individual pages on your website are viewed.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Straightforward this metric shows you how many times individual pages on your website are viewed.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: By looking at which pages have the most views, you can understand what content really resonates with your audience and if you've seen page views decrease for something that you're really excited to talk about, maybe this will be a chance to create some more content or work on some of those internal links to get those views back up.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I also think you should check out your bounce rate.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: This metric tells you the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing just one page.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: A high bounce rate might indicate that they're not finding what they're looking for or that your website could be slow to load.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: For a more in-depth exploration of website analytics and the five essential metrics you should be tracking, be sure to check out episode 20 of this podcast.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I might be biased here, but I think it's worth a listen.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: That's episode 20 of Think Inside the Square.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: All right, moving on, let's talk about mobile maintenance.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: The internet has become a mobile-first world, with more and more people browsing the web on their smartphones and tablets, and that means making sure there is a seamless, enjoyable experience across all devices when visiting your website.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: It's no longer optional.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: It is crucial.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: If your website looks amazing on a giant desktop screen but becomes a jumbled mess on a phone, you are alienating a huge chunk of your potential audience.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Mobile users are impatient, and if your site takes too long to load or if it has buttons that are too small to click, text that's too small to read, visitors will just swipe away and move on to the next website.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Now Squarespace does have a feature inside the editor called Mobile Preview, where you can look at what your website would look like on a smaller device.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: But don't stop there.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: That is just one screen size, and being a responsive website builder means your site is going to look different on an Android versus an iPhone, an iPhone 5 versus an iPhone 6, it's all totally different.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I want you to grab your own smartphone or tablet and do some real-world testing.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Here's what to look for, starting with the layout.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Does everything fit comfortably on the screen or is there unwanted or overlapping or zooming required here?
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Auto layouts like collection lists or gallery sections in Squarespace.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: They're set up to fit perfectly on every screen, but fluid engine sections can have overlapping content if you aren't careful.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: If anything is overlapping on a smaller screen, hop in to edit the page and make sure the blue outlines for content blocks are not overlapping.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: This is especially important for text that could get hidden behind images.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Same with buttons.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Double check that nothing is overlapping on mobile Unless.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: That's specifically how you designed it.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Just be careful with those layers.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, you should also test the buttons on your site on a physical phone.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Are they easy to tap with your finger or are they too small or too close together?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: You should also make sure that your site loads quickly and scrolls smoothly on a mobile device.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Make sure it doesn't lag or stutter.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: You might want to rearrange some of your content, so fast-loading info like a block of text is at the top of the page and other content that might take a hot second to load is further down the page.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: That can make a more enjoyable experience for someone browsing your site.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Again, I want to encourage you not to use the editor for this, but actually test on a literal phone.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Dimensions are always changing on these devices and it might not look as awesome as you think it does.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: All right, we talked about your forms, your broken links, optimizing your images, updating your content, taking a look at your site on mobile.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But there is one more thing that I do when I'm doing a six-month maintenance check Social share images.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: When a link to your site is shared on a social media platform like LinkedIn or Facebook or another platform, what happens is that platform will want to pull a thumbnail image to display with the link.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: You can update that image yourself and add a custom social share image for every page, post and product on your site.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: But here's the catch If that image was already indexed by a social media platform, it's not gonna go get a new one.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: You need to make sure that the social media platform uses the new image and it won't unless you update it.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: For meta, there's a sharing debugger tool.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: For LinkedIn it's called the Post Inspector, and for Twitter or for X it's called the Card Validator.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I'll link to all of them in the show notes at insidethesquareco forward slash podcast.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: But when you update your social share image for your content, make sure you update the platform database as well.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: All right, that wraps it up for this quick episode of Think Inside the Square.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I hope you found this maintenance checklist overview helpful.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Think about it like watering your houseplants.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, it might be considered a chore, but all you're really doing is showing your website some love and keeping it performing at its best.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Think Inside the Square.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: If you liked it, be sure to subscribe to my podcast.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Wherever you happen to be listening to this episode, you can also sign up.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Fun with your Squarespace website.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Bye for now, thank you.