The advanced functionality of your website may be its biggest weakness.
Let that sink in for a second.
All the clever third-party integrations that help you convert visitors into customers may one day be the thing that drives them away. And a drop in customers will only mean a drop in profits.
Want to know exactly why this could happen and how to safeguard yourself from it doing so? Read on.
How do the third-party integrations on my website work?
Much of the advanced functionality of your website, such as any social media feeds or email subscription integrations, are pulled from their original source using Application Program Interfaces, or APIs.
Using systems that you probably don’t need to know about, such as JQUERY and PHP, these APIs allow website developers to easily add more functionality and usability to your website. This in turn increases your customer satisfaction and conversions.
If you have any of the following features on your website, they are most likely there via the sources’ APIs:
- YouTube videos
- Google maps
- Facebook widgets
- Twitter feeds
- MailChimp integration
- Flickr images
- AddThis buttons
- Google Analytics code
- AdWords conversion tracking
How can my APIs stop working?
Because any APIs on your site have been created and are maintained by the source, be that Google, Facebook, Twitter, or anyone else, any updates or fixes pushed out to them may not be automatically applied on your website. And as any website maintenance team will tell you, this means any of these APIs can stop working at any time, without you even realizing.
Of course, a malfunctioning Instagram feed on your site won’t affect your ability to deliver your service to your customer, but it may put them off hiring you in the first place if your website isn’t up to scratch.
Hence, without good website maintenance, the functionality that you rely on to impress your potential customers and make it easy for them to take the action you want them to take could easily become the thing that turns them away.
How can I keep my APIs up-to-date?
Any updates or fixes made by Google, Facebook, Twitter et al. to any of their APIs are usually announced in a blog post or via social media channels. However, rather than monitoring these, your time is better spent on doing what you’re good at, i.e. growing and maintaining your business. So the best way to ensure your APIs are kept functional is by enlisting the help of website maintenance professionals.
Here at SeeThrough Web, our website maintenance + updates service includes the monitoring and updating of all APIs on your website. This means the following:
- they’ll always be running the newest version to minimize problems
- any issues that do arise will be caught and fixed quickly
- your visitors will have all the functionality of your website available to them
- more visitors will be converted to customers, meaning more profit for your business
If you’re looking to have a website built with APIs giving it the functionality and usability needed to optimize your conversions and need to have them monitored long after completion, contact us at SeeThrough Web today to see how our expert website maintenance services in Toronto can help.
Alternatively, if you have a number of APIs already working on your website unmonitored and are concerned they may one day stop working, you can also contact us today to see how our Maintenance + Updates plan can give you the peace of mind you need to concentrate on your job of growing your business.
Don’t let your website’s functionality become its weakness.
Get your social media tools and conversion tracking APIs monitored by experts in website maintenance in Toronto by calling or emailing SeeThrough Web today.