Website maintenance tasks should be part of your weekly work schedule. Ideally, it becomes a routine task you perform without much thought. But how do you turn website maintenance into a habit and how do you ensure you stick to it? In this post, I’ll explain what a habit is, why it’s challenging to maintain one and how you can incorporate website maintenance into your weekly routine.
What is a habit?
A habit is regular behavior performed with little or no thought. It’s something we do regularly and in a specific manner, essentially becoming automated.
Imagine if we could choose which activities become habits. Important tasks contributing to our happiness and success, like exercising, eating healthily, or maintaining our homes, would be done effortlessly. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
It takes a lot of time and effort before behavior becomes a habit. Research shows that it takes over two months before a daily behavior changes into a habit. For less frequent tasks, like website maintenance, it could take a bit longer than that. These kinds of behaviors need to become part of your weekly routine. Perhaps it will take up to a year and a half before you can make a habit of your website maintenance tasks.
How to build a habit out of website maintenance
Although forming a website maintenance habit is challenging, it’s not impossible! So, let’s look at some tips to help you build those habits:
Do and repeat
The key to making any behavior a habit is repetition. Start by working on your website regularly. Update your plugins and create new content. The only way to make these tasks habitual is by doing them repeatedly—every week.
Tie it into an existing habit
The best way to ensure website maintenance becomes a habit is to tie it to another habit. For example, if you start every Monday by checking your email, schedule your website maintenance tasks immediately afterward. Check your plugins and update your website content as part of this routine, too.
Schedule and remind yourself
Allocate specific times in your calendar for website maintenance tasks. Treat these slots as important meetings or appointments. If you tend to procrastinate, set multiple reminders on various platforms—your phone, calendar, Slack, or email—to ensure you don’t forget.
You can also use task management tools to set recurring reminders. Having a structured plan in place helps in reducing the likelihood of skipping your maintenance tasks. Additionally, visualize the long-term benefits of these tasks to stay motivated.
Start small
Don’t try to change everything all at once. If you want to make a habit out of your website maintenance tasks, you don’t need to write three new blog posts every week. Begin with small tasks, like logging into your website’s backend weekly to check plugin statuses and update texts. Gradually increase your tasks as you get used to this routine. Starting small helps in avoiding burnout and makes the process less daunting.
Once you’re used to logging into your website and checking out your site regularly, you could try and do more work. Perhaps write a few paragraphs on a new blog post or update outdated pages.
Create a light version
Come up with a light version of your website maintenance routine. The light version is a quick way to do something on your website maintenance without it costing much time. Because let’s face it: you’ll be busy in some weeks, while you’ll have a lot of time in other weeks. And website maintenance is never at the top of your priority list.
Logging into your website’s backend to quickly check whether nothing is broken or needs immediate attention could be a good ‘light version.’ It’s important to make a light version of your habit and keep it in your weekly routine. This flexibility helps in maintaining the habit long-term, as it accommodates varying levels of availability and workload.
Celebrate and reward yourself
Recognize the effort it takes to build a new habit. If you stick to your new weekly routine, you should be proud. Make sure to be your very own cheerleader! Check off that task in your to-do list. Share your progress with someone who’s also maintaining a website. Or reward yourself with a delicious coffee or a nice walk outside if you complete your maintenance tasks!
Positive reinforcement can significantly boost your motivation and help in cementing the habit. Acknowledging your progress, no matter how small, encourages you to keep going and makes the process more enjoyable.
How Progress Planner can help
Progress Planner is designed to help you build and maintain healthy website habits. It tracks your progress, celebrates your successes, and sends you weekly progress overview emails to keep you motivated. With features to help you plan tasks and offer feedback on content creation, Progress Planner Pro is an excellent tool for sustaining your website maintenance routine.
By incorporating these strategies and using Progress Planner, you can turn website maintenance into a seamless part of your weekly routine. Keep up the good work, and soon, maintaining your website will be a habit you perform effortlessly!