Reasons Why you Need Drupal Support and Drupal Maintenance Services

In many ways, building a website is considered something like building a home. Your CMS can be compared with a base for a building, while your information architecture is similar to a set of blueprints. Design comps are comparable to options to decorate and install fixtures. The same analogy applies to maintenance. Both require regular attention, care, and maintenance to function correctly.

The wear and tear of a house is more predictable than that of an online property. It is more challenging to maintain a website because of this. Architects and engineers consider every aspect of the design and construction of a house. You don’t have to hire a handyperson every month to fix your home (hopefully).

Websites must, however, be alert to an almost infinite number of unforeseeable components. Due to constant changes in web standards, SEO recommendations, and security upgrades (including accessibility), maintaining a website has become a necessity.

If you ignore regular website maintenance, your business’s success could be at risk. In some cases, your market share may decline.

Proper maintenance is essential for a CMS such as Drupal. It’s known for its high-security standards and reliability. No matter what platform you use, the value of your website will quickly and dramatically decrease without Drupal maintenance and support services. Check out our 7 top reasons why you should hire a technology partner to provide support and maintenance.

Why do Businesses Need Drupal Maintenance and Support Services in 2024?

Regular maintenance is required to make the most of a CMS such as Drupal, which has a high level of reliability and security. If you don’t have a strategy for support and maintenance, your website investment will quickly diminish. Here are the top seven reasons to choose a technology partner who can provide support and maintenance.

Drupal, despite being a very secure platform for business, is not entirely protected from spam bots or hackers. Open-source Drupal is more secure because security experts constantly monitor it. They are always looking for any weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the core and modules. The security team will release a quick update for the module once they find the issue.

Making Security Updates

This is a significant aspect of website maintenance that you should follow. You will see many moving parts in websites built with CMS, such as Drupal. Install web security and update your website regularly with security patches. Your website’s deposit will be compromised if you leave it vulnerable.

The Drupal Security Update ensures:

• User Access Control

• Database encryption

• Sharing information via security reports

• Auto-updates and core validation in partnership with GitHub

• Data entry prevention

• DoS attacks: Mitigation of Denial of Service Attacks

• Repairing problems before they are exploited

Spot and Remove Bugs

Timing is everything! Ignoring the smallest bugs could cost you a client or lead to more severe issues in the future.

Bugs and errors can appear suddenly for several reasons. A previous vendor hastily implemented new features. This can cause problems for new clients.

Other factors, such as inadequate testing, misunderstandings, lack of knowledge, poor third-party tools, and other factors, can also contribute.

Version Upgrade

Each new software version is designed to fix bugs or provide security patches found in an earlier version. When you update your site, you will improve its features, functionality, and security. Your site will be safe and secure. The latest stable version of Drupal is 9.0.

Upgrade to the latest Drupal 9 directly from version 7. If you are currently using version 8, it is also recommended to upgrade to version 9 if that’s what you have.

Once Drupal 9 is released, Drupal 7 users can migrate directly to Drupal 9. We recommend that you move to Drupal 8 before the release.

• After migrating to Drupal 8, you are ready to move to 9!

• No code is required for integrated configuration management. Displays control data and components.

• Centrally managed, effortless authoring with Out-of-the-Box Media Management

• Multilingual capabilities: Choose from over 100 languages. Choose from 100(!) languages

• Accessibility for all – Create dynamic interactions with content that are more usable

• Mobile-first design: Communicate with your audience on their preferred platforms

• Caching technology allows pages to load faster.

Upgrade for Best Results

Drupal 8’s adoption of continuous innovation has led to more frequent releases for minor and upgrade versions, allowing users to enjoy new features and updates without waiting long periods. Drupal 8 and Drupal 6 have reached their end of life (no more security fixes/enhancements), but Drupal 7 will still receive security updates until November 2023. You must find a vendor that offers Long-Term Support (like the LTS for Drupal 6). If you want to be up-to-date and take advantage of Drupal’s powerful new features, then it is time to upgrade to Drupal 9. Updating to Drupal 9 will allow you to offer your customers a fresh and compelling digital experience.

The New

Proactive and future-proof solutions are needed to grow and scale up your business. You must be in the game to get an edge over your competitors. You will need frequent content updates and enhanced functionality. It’s easy to update content with Drupal, and you don’t even need a background in technology. You’ll still need technical knowledge to take advantage of the latest features, that can enhance your customer experience and user journey.

Modern Drupal features such as content personalization and multilingual support can give your business an edge. User behavior will never change, so your website must always stay current and meet users’ needs.

SEO Optimization

To improve your ranking in organic search engines and increase your visibility, you will need to put in the effort. Search engine algorithms and rules constantly change to keep up with the changing market and customer expectations. Drupal’s SEO tools can help you improve your site’s ranking and visibility in search engines and for users.

Drupal has various modules and tools that can help with SEO services solutions. To achieve better results, you will need to maintain your Drupal SEO. You must also hire someone who can perform SEO because it is all about connecting with your market.

Performance Audit

In today’s competitive market, it is important to provide a superior customer experience. The bounce rate can increase due to a variety of issues with the website, such as broken codes, pages that don’t load, or irrelevant information. Drupal maintenance & support company will perform a performance audit to identify any problems.

This will make the site robust and offer a great user experience. The website maintenance service will ensure the site is updated regularly with latest features and improvements. Drupal website maintenance can also be used to fix bugs and troubleshoot problems.

Your Site Grows

Proactive and long-term strategies are needed to ensure the growth of your company. If you want to gain an edge over your competition, it’s essential to stay on top of the latest developments. You’ll have to update and improve your content regularly.

Drupal is a simple tool that allows anyone, no matter their technical level, to edit their website content. You’ll still need some technical knowledge to use the new features and improvements that can improve your customer experience.

Drupal has several valuable features for your organization, such as content personalization, support for multiple languages, content moderation, and more.

Your website needs to be updated on a regular basis to keep up with the ever-changing demands of users and meet your business objectives.

Minor Features Improvements

Drupal maintenance services are not limited to major and critical changes. A Drupal website maintenance service ensures that small changes to your website can be made as per requirements.

Services offered under Drupal maintenance and support may vary depending on the business. If you are running a business of intermediate level, you can choose a standard package that will cover your business for 5 hours. This plan is sufficient to cover the website maintenance requirements of the business.

If you have an enterprise-level website, you will also find other websites with similar features. You can choose an enterprise-level plan that will suit your business requirements, such as checking for outdated functionalities, malware, and immediate security upgrades. It also includes 24×7 support and finding and fixing bugs.

Scaling up

Your website needs to be able to grow along with your business. Many things will change as your business grows. The list is endless. There will be an increase in visitors, the need for more features, better security, third-party API updates and integrations, improvements to Drupal’s interface, etc. A Drupal partner who is trusted will not only help you grow but also be able to envision and create a scalable Drupal system right from the beginning. You could fly blind if you don’t plan for a few quarters.

Maintaining Agility

Each business owner views their company as a sapling and wants to see it grow every day. To achieve this, businesses must be proactive in adapting and scaling up. To process data quickly and adapt your offering to the user’s behavior, you need quick content updates. It is optional to have a high level of technological knowledge, but it should be able to integrate new features.

For the new features, you’ll need technical expertise. These can improve your customer experience and user journey. Outsourcing your Drupal site to a technical partner is a more cost-effective and efficient way to save time, money, and effort. You can focus on your business goals while they work continuously on your Drupal project. The user’s behavior is also more consistent. Your website must be updated to reflect the needs of your customers and industry goals.

Reduce Errors and Defects

Regular website maintenance will help you save time and money. The repeated code revisions and changes that Drupal modules go through over time can lead to technical debt (errors and defects). Periodic updates help control overall costs and allow for more frequent code modifications. At least quarterly updates are recommended. Delayed updates will cost more money and time to fix problems and make necessary changes. Save money and headaches!

Effective Backups

It is essential to have a backup of your website. You will retain significant information if you need it. Website maintenance companies ensure that the data and code are effectively backed up.

How to Choose the Best Drupal Support Agency?

Support is available in many different areas. Some sites need a lighter touch. You can perform tasks such as:

• Add new features to your existing software or maintain compatibility.

• Update Drupal modules (core & contrib).

• Providing Drupal with frequent security updates and upgrades

• The service will assist in the transfer of Drupal databases and content, as well as fixing any bugs that may occur during the process.

• Code review ensures that the site structure, logic, performance, and quality are all optimized.

• Performance testing to determine a website’s expected workload, response time and speed, resilience, and scalability

• Help with existing integrations and new integrations of third-party APIs and apps.

Now that you know why you require Drupal support and maintenance packages, here are some things to consider when looking for a Drupal support agency that can work with you to complete your project.

A site audit should be conducted first. An expert Drupal should conduct a thorough audit. Assessing your website’s security, accessibility, SEO, bugs, and performance is essential. It is important to know the areas that can be improved so you can consider these when developing your Drupal support and maintenance strategies.

Support Levels

Support levels will vary depending on the type of website.

• Drupal Update Security Support – Ensuring that security updates are applied regularly, upgrading and patching. The team must keep abreast of the latest security updates released by Drupal’s security advisory.

• Support for Drupal Module Upgrades– Module upgrades to take advantage of better features or to remain compatible.

• Drupal Support – Ensures smooth migration and uptime, bug fixes for migrations, support for content migration, database migration, and more.

• Code Review Support – Reviewing code for structure, quality, logic, performance, testing, design, usability, readability, functionality, etc.

• Performance Testing and Tuning Support– Check for website performance, including response time, speed, and robustness.

• Integration Support– Support existing and new integrations of third-party APIs and applications.

• Support for Drupal 6– Long Term Maintenance Plan (LTS)

• Drupal 7 Module Support– LTS after November 2023.

Shared or Dedicated Support

With dedicated support, you will get a Drupal expert/team who will support your website exclusively. They are typically built as a monthly retainer to allow the team to carry out Drupal maintenance and support tasks on demand or continuously. It ensures your website will be customized and supported properly, both on-demand and proactively. Many support services will also use your unused hours to hire dedicated Drupal developers to new features or enhance exciting features.

You could also choose shared support, which is less common. Shared support is when companies shares resources. It is best to use this method when your website is simple and has no customizations. This requires less monitoring.

Turn-Around Times

The response and turnaround times for your site depend on the issue or support needed. Turnaround times for emergencies, such as a severe security flaw or bug, should be at most 24 hours. Support for new Drupal enhancements, customizations, or features can take up to 2 weeks. It depends on how complex the task is.

Tips to Reduce the Cost of Drupal Maintenance and Support Services

Drupal is a large-scale project because of its many features. It can only be maintained by a technical team that can solve problems, gain experience, and improve. Before you begin looking for a partner, we recommend knowing these standard services.

Plan Ahead

The development of a Drupal website is just the beginning. You should plan to ensure that your Drupal site runs as it should. You can keep track of all the details and avoid any surprises later. You will also save money if you keep everything under control.

Do Research

You must be aware that website maintenance is an expense you must deal with regularly. To begin with, you must identify all the costs that occur on your site. After you’ve listed down the prices, you must decide if they must be performed or not.

Maintain clean Coding Standards.

The developer who wrote the code for your Drupal website will not maintain the site later. If you need help understanding your code, you could spend more money and time on the developer who will do the maintenance. You can avoid this to a large extent by using proper documentation and comments along with your code. It will help the developer maintain the site with clarity and speed. This will also save money on maintenance.

Think Before Implementing

You only need to add the features and functionality required for a Drupal website to launch it. Then, everything will be added to the next releases. You should always analyze the need for a feature before adding it. It is essential to know if it will add value to your website. If it doesn’t add much value to your website, it is not worth the time and money spent building it.

Never Use Outdated Third-Party Models

Drupal developers often use third-party modules to enhance the functionality of a website. What if modules need to be updated? It may not produce the desired results, and it may even cause compatibility problems with the most recent version of Drupal. It is recommended always to use the latest versions of third-party modules. This will prevent you from having issues and lower your maintenance costs.

Always use the Latest Drupal Version

You should always use the most recent Drupal version on your website. You should manually check for updates at least once a week. It is time to get updates done if you keep pushing them off. Each new release focuses on fixing bugs and correcting errors. It will save you money on maintenance and do you good.

The Key Takeaway

Drupal is a highly flexible platform that allows you to create dynamic and visually stunning websites. As with any platform, regular maintenance is required to keep it running smoothly. AddWeb Solution, an experienced Drupal development service, understands the importance of keeping your Drupal-powered projects running correctly.

In addition, as Drupal 7 will reach its end-of-life in November 2023, you will need a service provider to help you migrate to Drupal 9. You will still require Drupal support and maintenance packages even if migration is not on the current agenda. It is almost time to migrate Drupal 9 as the platform is experiencing constant innovation with new versions and minor upgrades.

Drupal is one of the most popular CMS options available. Many companies have used it to develop their websites due to its popularity. Maintaining the website is just as important as building it. You will have to spend money and time in the future to make sure your Drupal site works as it should. You can achieve this without drastically affecting your budget by controlling maintenance and support costs.

Frequently Asked Questions