Here’s a question for every small-business owner: When was the last time you actually looked at your own website? Not when you sent someone the link. Not when you glanced at the homepage. I mean really checked it. Clicked the buttons. Submitted the contact form. Read the services. Looked at the staff page. Checked it on your phone. Clicked the phone number. Read the footer. You might be surprised by what you find.
At DFW Website Designers, we’ve built more than 1,250 websites and currently help manage 550+ websites, and we’ve learned something over the years: Websites don’t stay finished. Businesses change. Employees change. Technology changes. Software changes. Phone numbers change. Services change. And sometimes your website quietly gets left behind.
Your Customers Are Checking Your Website
Here’s what makes this important. You might not visit your website very often. Your potential customers do. Someone finds your company on Google and clicks your website. They don’t know that you’ve been meaning to update it. They don’t know your best employee left three years ago. They don’t know you stopped offering that service. They don’t know your contact form broke last month. They only know what they see. And they’re forming an opinion about your company based on it.
So today’s message is simple: Your customers are checking your website. Maybe you should too.
Start With the Obvious: Is Everything Accurate?
Pull up your website right now. Seriously. I’ll wait. Now start reading. Is your phone number correct? Are your business hours accurate? Is your address correct? Are all your services current? Do you still have employees listed who no longer work there? Are there services you offer today that aren’t mentioned anywhere? Are there services listed that you stopped providing two years ago? Businesses evolve much faster than websites sometimes do. A company might add an entire division and forget to add it to the website.
That’s not just an outdated-content problem. That’s a missed sales opportunity.
Check Your Contact Form
This might be the most important five-minute website test you perform this month. Fill out your own contact form. Use a personal email address. Pretend you’re a customer and submit a lead. Then wait. Did you receive it? If not, you’ve got a problem.
We’ve seen businesses assume their website simply wasn’t generating leads when the real problem was that the form wasn’t delivering properly. Think about that. A potential customer finds you. Visits the website. Reads about your company. Decides to contact you. Completes the form. Hits Submit. And then… Nothing. That’s painful.
Your website did almost everything right and then dropped the ball at the goal line. Test your forms periodically.
Click Every Important Button
While you’re there, start clicking. Request a Quote. Contact Us. Schedule Now. Learn More. Call Today. Where do they go? Do they work? Do they take visitors to the correct page? Are there links pointing to pages that no longer exist? Broken links aren’t just annoying. WordPress’s own maintenance guidance recommends regularly checking for dead links as part of keeping a website healthy.
You don’t need to test every obscure link on a 500-page website every Thursday morning. But your most important customer paths should work.
Check the Copyright Date
This one is mostly cosmetic, but it’s funny how often we see it. Scroll to the bottom. What does the copyright say? © 2018 Uh-oh. Is it the end of the world? Of course not. But little things add up. An old copyright date. Old photos. An old logo. Old testimonials. An announcement for an event that happened four years ago. Eventually, the website starts communicating: “Nobody is paying attention to this.”
That’s not the impression you want.
Look at Your Photos
When was the last time you updated your website photography? Does your website still show your old building? Old trucks? Old uniforms? Old branding? Employees who left years ago? Products you don’t sell anymore? Or—my personal favorite—a bunch of generic stock-photo people who have apparently been enthusiastically shaking hands in corporate conference rooms since 2009?
Your company has probably changed. Let customers see the company that exists today. Real photos of your employees, projects, equipment, location, products, and customers can help make a business feel established and authentic.
Check Your Website on Your Phone
Don’t just resize your browser window. Grab your phone. That’s how many of your customers will experience your website. Try using it with one hand. Can you read everything? Can you open the menu? Can you easily tap buttons? Can you find the phone number? Can you complete the contact form? Do images fit correctly? Does anything overlap? Does something cover half the screen? A website can look fantastic on the giant monitor sitting on your desk and be miserable to use on a smartphone.
Your customer doesn’t care how good the desktop version looks if they’re standing in their driveway searching for your service on their phone.
Website Software Needs Attention Too
Not everything that needs maintenance is visible. If your website runs on WordPress, there are multiple software components working together behind the scenes. WordPress itself. Your theme. Plugins. Hosting software. PHP. Databases. Security systems. Those components require ongoing attention.
WordPress specifically recommends keeping WordPress core, plugins, and themes current, noting that updates can include security fixes, bug fixes, and new features. And this isn’t theoretical. WordPress released version 7.0.2 in July 2026 to address critical and high-severity security issues and recommended affected sites update immediately. That’s why website maintenance isn’t simply changing a picture occasionally. There’s a technical side too.
Backups Matter
Here’s another question: If your website disappeared today, could you restore it? Hopefully the answer is yes. A backup is your safety net. WordPress recommends regular backups and explains that a complete WordPress backup generally needs both the site’s files and its database. WordPress also recommends backing up before core, theme, or plugin updates so the site can be restored if something goes wrong.
That’s the thing about backups: They’re incredibly boring… until the day you need one. Then suddenly they’re the most exciting thing in the world.
Security Isn’t a One-Time Setup
Security is another reason websites need ongoing maintenance. You don’t secure a website on launch day and declare: “Great! We’re secure forever.” Software changes. New vulnerabilities are discovered. Plugins release updates. WordPress releases updates. Attack methods change. WordPress describes website security as continuous work involving planning, monitoring, maintenance, and recovery—not something you simply configure once and forget.
That’s an important mindset for business owners. Your website is a piece of business technology. Treat it like one.
Content Needs Maintenance Too
Technical maintenance gets most of the attention, but content maintenance is just as important. Your website should accurately reflect: What you do today. Where you work today. Who you serve today. What makes you different today. If you added a major service six months ago and haven’t added it to your website, fix that. If you’ve expanded into new cities, update the service area. If you’ve won an award, add it.
If you’ve collected 200 great reviews since the website was built, showcase some of them. If you’ve completed incredible projects, update the gallery. Your website should grow with your business.
Your Website Isn’t “Done”
This is probably the biggest misconception about websites. A business owner says: “We finished our website.” You finished building it. That’s different. Imagine saying: “We finished our building five years ago, so we haven’t maintained it since.” Eventually, you’d have problems. The landscaping would grow wild. Light bulbs would burn out. Paint would fade. Air conditioners would break. The building would still exist. It just wouldn’t be in very good shape. Websites aren’t that different. They need attention.
Don’t Wait Until Something Breaks
Most website maintenance is easier when it’s proactive. Update things before they become major problems. Back up the website before you need the backup. Test the form before a customer tells you it’s broken. Replace outdated information before someone calls the wrong number. Update software before vulnerabilities become a problem. Check mobile usability before wondering why visitors aren’t contacting you. Maintenance is usually less expensive—and much less stressful—than emergency repair.
Do the 15-Minute Website Check Today
Here’s your homework. Spend 15 minutes pretending you’re a customer.
Check:
- Homepage
- Phone number
- Contact form
- Major buttons
- Service pages
- About page
- Staff information
- Photos
- Reviews
- Business hours
- Address
- Copyright
- Mobile version
Then ask: Does this website accurately represent my business today? If the answer is yes, fantastic. If not, you’ve got a list.
Real People. Real Support. No Tech Headaches.
At DFW Website Designers, we don’t believe business owners should have to become web developers just because they own a website. You’ve already got a business to run. That’s why we provide website hosting and support for $35 per month and currently help manage 550+ websites.
Our clients have real people they can contact when they need help with things like: Website Updates, Content Changes, Technical Support, Backups, Security, Hosting, & Troubleshooting. Because when something changes in your business, you shouldn’t have to spend Saturday night watching a 47-minute YouTube video titled: “How to Fix WordPress Without Destroying Everything.” You should be able to ask for help.
When Was the Last Time You Checked Your Website?
Your website is representing your business right now. While you’re reading this. While you’re working. While you’re sleeping. Potential customers are visiting it, evaluating it, and deciding whether they want to contact you. Make sure the website they’re seeing accurately represents the company you’ve worked so hard to build.
Your customers are checking it. Maybe you should too. And if you’d rather have someone help you keep an eye on it? That’s what we’re here for.
