The Ultimate WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist

WordPress drives the Internet in the same way espresso drives office workers. Since 2011, WordPress has become the most dominant and popular Content Management System (CMS) powering more than 40% of websites on the Internet.

It’s the perfect website builder platform for entrepreneurs and small business owners who are better off allocating their time to running the day-to-day activities of their business rather than fussing over their websites.

Even website professionals prefer WordPress because it makes their jobs easier. The designs are customizable, there are thousands of plugins to choose from, and software programs are constantly updated.

That said, WordPress isn’t a plug ‘n’ play website where once it’s live, you can leave it on its own. Like every other digital technology innovation, you need to create and implement website maintenance procedures.

What Is Website Maintenance?

Website maintenance involves a series of procedures that need to be undertaken on a regular basis in order to keep your website performing at optimal levels and your assets protected from threats of cyber-attacks.

A comprehensive website maintenance plan must cover the areas of content management, site security, data protection, tracking of analytics, and plugin updates and upgrades.

Lucky for you we’ve created this ultimate WordPress maintenance checklist as your go-to reference guide in case you experience issues with your WordPress website.

The Importance Of Website Maintenance For Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs Using WordPress

The website assumes multiple key functions for your business. It builds your brand, manages select areas of responsibility of the business, generates leads, converts interest into sales, renders customer support services, and provides contact information for your website visitors.

Conducting website maintenance procedures regularly will ensure your customers of using a top-performing website that delivers results, meets expectations and leaves a satisfying online experience.

The Role Of Website Maintenance In Maintaining And Improving The Performance Of A WordPress Website

A website that shuts down due to technical issues will prevent it from carrying out the above-mentioned functions. You can potentially lose business opportunities, damage your brand, and tarnish your reputation in the industry.

Likewise, if you’re selling products online, an eCommerce website becomes a virtual store where your customers can buy your items or avail of your services. Thus, your website becomes a treasure trove of valuable assets, namely the personal information your customers gave you in strict confidence.

A website that gets hacked will lose more than just foregone income for the days it shut down. If your customers’ confidential information gets stolen, you can potentially face a class action lawsuit for negligence.

In fact, 60% of small businesses close down six months after getting hacked.

For good.

Can you imagine putting in 10 years of hard work and sacrifice growing your online business and having all of it taken away in 6 months because of 1 incident?

The Ultimate WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist

To avoid being part of the 60%, you must implement the procedures outlined in our ultimate WordPress website maintenance checklist.

Step-by-Step Guide To Maintaining And Updating Your WordPress Website

WordPress has maintained its dominance as the premier CMS platform because it makes it easy for users to manage their content. Using WordPress is one thing, but maintaining and updating it is another.

It starts out as a reminder that a plugin needs an update. Then another. Before you know it, WordPress is informing you about your theme being outdated. Just as you thought you’d earned a badge as a WordPress expert, the software now needs to be updated.

And what happens if you didn’t update a plugin correctly? We haven’t touched on 2 important areas of website maintenance – backing up your assets and upgrading its security features.

Sounds like a lot of work, right? Don’t hit the panic button. No need to go to a WordPress forum.

We created this guide to maintaining and updating your WordPress website for you to have a better understanding of the steps involved in website maintenance.

Tips For Identifying And Addressing Common Issues And Problems

You might wake up one morning with a smile on your face and the wafting of freshly brewed coffee in the air.

“It’s gonna be a great day” 

The mood can quickly turn sour when your website appears as a white screen or with words such as “Internal Server Error” or “Oops! That page can’t be found”.

Chances are the first thing you’ll assume you’re a victim of hacking. Before images of dollar bills getting flushed down the toilet or of a class action lawsuit enter your mind, these are just 2 of the common issues and problems of having a WordPress website.

Here are our tips on how to identify 3 common issues and problems with a WordPress website and how to address them.

1. Internal Server Error

Probable Causes and Fixes:

• The .htaccess file which is responsible for how your WP website communicates with its server has a problem. To fix the problem, disable the file by going to your website’s root directory. The file is usually listed as public_html. All you have to do is to rename the file to disable it. For example, you can rename the file as .htaccess_closed.
• Your website has insufficient memory. WordPress was developed using the PHP programming language. You’ll have to increase the allocation of PHP memory to your website for it to function properly.  Contact your current web host service provider and negotiate for an upgrade in the hosting package.

2. 404 Error

Probable Causes and Fixes:

• The server couldn’t find the page most likely because the page has broken links or the URL changed.  If this happens, you need to check the URL or page and redirect it to the correct page. You may also follow the steps we outlined for disabling the .htaccess file which might be erroneously redirecting your URL as the file can also be responsible for your website’s hyperlink structure.

3. Connection Timed-Out Error

Probable Causes and Fixes:

• Your server cannot load your website either because you don’t have enough PHP memory resources or you entered into a shared hosting arrangement. Simply contact your web host service provider and inquire about upgrading your current hosting package.

Resources And Tools For Streamlining The Maintenance Process

If you want to gain a better understanding and feel of the website maintenance process, here’s a list of resources and tools you can use to make the effort manageable.

1. Code Editors

For adding snippets and performing a variety of maintenance tasks.

• Notepad ++
• Sublime (for Mac)
• Brackets
• Atom
• Bluefish

2. Database Management

These tools are used to fix issues caused by wrong plugin installations and customization activities. You can also use the tools listed below to update site security and back up your assets.

• Updraft Plus
• VaultPress
• BackWPup
• WPBuffs
• SiteCare

3. Speed Testing

Use these tools to keep track of your website’s speed. A slow-loading web page can lead to incidents of site abandonment and can affect your reputation and search ranking.

• GooglePageSpeed Insights
• GTMetrix
• Pingdom Website Speed Test

4. 404 Scanners

If you’ve been actively posting content, you’ll eventually have broken links. When a site user sees a “404 Error”, he’ll have an unfavorable impression of your business. Identify broken links on your website with the following tools.

• Broken Link Checker
• W3C Link Checker
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider

5. Update Rollback Plugins

These tools help you identify the plugins that could be the cause of your website problems.

• WP Rollback
• Rollback Update Failure
• WP Downgrade

6. Anti-Spam Plugins

Do you have a lot of spam comments posted on your website? These spam comments aren’t harmless and can get your website compromised with malware. Use any of these Spam plugins to control the influx of spam comments.

• Askimet Spam Protection
• WordFence Security
• WP Cerber Security, Anti-spam, and Malware Scan

The best way to streamline the process is to hire a reputable agency that offers website maintenance services. A full-scale agency has the talent, experience, and tools needed to carry out these maintenance tasks successfully.

Contracting the services of an agency will save you time and money, and reduce the risk of undertaking costly mistakes that might render your website inoperational for an extended period of time.

Content Management

According to a study, people spend seven hours per day on the Internet. That’s approximately 39% of their waking hours. People regularly search for information that answers their questions, fulfills their needs, or addresses their concerns.

To find information, people visit various websites and read their content. As more businesses set up websites on the Internet, the competition for content becomes tighter.

How can you create or curate content in WordPress that gets the attention of your target audience?

Tips For Creating And Curating Effective Content In WordPress

Creating and curating content are two different activities. Creating content means developing original content; one that’s fresh and unique about a particular subject matter.

To curate content means to search for content on the Internet that’s relevant and useful to your audience. As a content curator, you’re like a museum curator who’s constantly looking for the best pieces to display in a gallery.

Having high-quality content; whether original or curated, is important because it drives traffic, builds your brand, enhances your reputation, and as assets, content can increase the value of your website.

The keyword in the previous paragraph is “high-quality”. How do you know what to write about or which articles to curate and how can you assure your site users of their quality?

1. Review your website analytics and use the data to create an audience profile. Find out which types of content are frequently read and have a good level of engagement. Identify the characteristics of your site user to have a better idea of their demographics and online behavior.
2. Create a topics list based on your evaluation of your website analytics.
3. For original content, make sure it is:

• Optimized for search engines.
• Well-researched and linked to reputable resources.
• Written in simple and easy-to-understand language.
• Use high-quality images; preferably ones that are proprietary to your business.
• Free of mistakes in spelling and grammar.
• Passed a plagiarism-checking software like Copyscape.

4. For curated content, make sure it is:

• Relevant for your audience.
• Sourced from an authentic, reliable, and reputable website.
• Content and shared information are all updated.

5. Uploading content on a WordPress website is easy. Simply follow the steps below:

• Login to your WordPress dashboard and click “Posts”.
• Click “Add New” to see the “Add New Post” page.
• Simply copy your content from the source file and paste it
• Finally, all you need to do is click “Publish”

6. The best way to curate content is to use software plugins such as Feedzy, BuzzSumo, and MyCurator Content Curation. These plugins work by automatically creating RSS feed blocks on the pages you want to post curated content on. Once the curated content is found, an image of the article will appear on the page which can be clicked on by the site user.

When curating content, make sure the source is mentioned and properly cited on the page.

While curating content is a good strategy for providing valuable, high-quality information on your website, Google might not reward you with a boost in search rankings.

Google prefers original content on websites. Curating content can be viewed as a “stop-gap” measure in case the well of ideas has dried up.

Best Practices For Organizing And Managing Your Content In WordPress

If site users feel like a migraine coming on whenever they try to look for content on your website, they’ll abandon the search.

There are serious repercussions to giving website visitors a poor User Experience:

• Its Bounce Rate will be higher and Google might penalize your website in the search rankings.
• The experience can put your brand in a negative light.
• Website traffic will be affected and consequently, the opportunities to generate sales.

Organizing your content is a great idea because it will make it easier for your users to find what they’re looking for. The same goes for you. By categorizing your content, you can keep track of the topics you’ve written and the images and videos you’ve used.

WordPress has a built-in categories and tags system that allows you to organize the content that’s available on your website. The categories tool helps you create groups for your posts.

For example, you can categorize blogs under “Business”, “Entrepreneurship”, “Health and Fitness”, “Technology”, and “Lifestyle”.

The tags tool requires you to become more specific about the topic under a category.

For example, the Business category could have the following tags, “Startups”, “Human Resources”, “Leadership”, and “Real Estate Investment”.

As we mentioned at the start of the article, one of WordPress’s biggest advantages over other CMS platforms is the availability of plugins that you can use to manage different functions of your website.

There are WordPress plugins that will help you organize and manage your content on the website.

• WordPress Real Media Library – A plugin that functions as a file manager and allows you to manage files such as documents, images, and videos.
• Post Types Order – This plugin features a drag-and-drop interface that enables you to sort posts and post-type objects.
• Chronological Posts – This allows you to arrange posts in chronological order.

You can also create a section on the page titled, “Related Articles” where you give site users a listing of previous posts that might be relevant to their search.

Strategies For Regularly Updating And Refreshing Your Website’s Content

An overlooked advantage of online content is that you can reuse it – and still, realize benefits.

For example, you created a blog post about the “10 Health Benefits Of Apple Cider Vinegar” last year. Over the last 365 days, researchers might have uncovered five more health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar.

With this newfound knowledge, you should re-post your blog to read “15 Health Benefits Of Apple Cider Vinegar” and update the information including statistics and other numbers.

This year-old blog post will generate new views and levels of engagement and potentially drive more unique visitors to your website.

Regularly updating and refreshing your content has other benefits for your website:

• Boost up the search rankings.
• Widen your audience demographic.
• Squeeze out the maximum potential of your content.
• An efficient way of creating “new” content for your website.

Here are 5 tips on how to update and refresh your website content:

1. Categorize your content as:

• Evergreen – Content that remains valuable regardless of the time period. Examples would be FAQs, How-tos, Ultimate Guides, Checklists, and Tips.
• Time-Relevant – Content that presents information covering a specific time period. For example, statistics, trends, and industry reports.
• High Engagement – The most popular pieces of content with your readers. Simply update the information and publish again for the enjoyment of your audience.

2. Present your old content in a new format. For example, pick a popular time-relevant post and turn it into an infographic.
3. Repurpose a popular blog piece into a series of email marketing newsletters.
4. Create a “sequel” to a popular post. If your previous blog “Awesome Ways To Use WD-40 At Home” generated a ton of engagement, make a sequel titled “Awesome Ways To Use WD-40 At Home Part 2”.
5. Run an SEO audit on your posts and remove old and broken links, refresh with the latest high-ranking keywords, and update all figures and numbers.

Think of your website as your physical office or brick-and-mortar store. You want to make sure potential customers feel welcome and find the experience fun, convenient, and memorable.

Security And Maintenance

You probably installed CCTVs and security alarms for your physical office or store. In some cases, business owners who keep valuables in their stores hire security personnel 24/7 to make sure the items are safe.

The challenge of keeping thieves out of your website is greater because cyber-attacks happen daily. According to cyber-security data, 1 hacking attempt happens every 39 seconds.

The Importance Of Website Security In WordPress

Because WordPress is the most popular website platform in the world, these hackers are very familiar with how the system works. You have to be one step ahead of these criminals to make sure they can’t break into your WordPress website.

10 Tips For Protecting Your Website From Hackers And Other Threats

You don’t know where they’re coming from and when they’ll attack. The cyber thieves could be from another country and they could attack while you’re asleep.

When it comes to protecting your website from hackers and other threats, you need to take different approaches.

1. Make sure you’re using the latest version of the WordPress website.
2. Conduct a technical audit. Update the plugins and themes to their latest versions and delete the ones you no longer use.
3. Limit website access to only people you know and 100% trust.
4. Website administrators should use unique and complex passwords and require them to frequently change passwords.
5. Get a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for your website.
6. Include Dual Factor Authentication (DFA) or Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) security features.
7. Regularly back up your WordPress website.
8. Always update your security protocols including anti-malware, anti-virus, and firewall software. Among the best WordPress security plugins are WordFence, BulletProof Security, and Sucuri Security.
9. Restrict the number of login attempts.
10. Monitor website activity.

Fortifying website security should always remain a top priority for small business owners ad entrepreneurs.

Best Practices For Maintaining The Infrastructure And Functionality Of Your WordPress Website

At the heart of the WordPress website, CMS is its infrastructure or site architecture. Its infrastructure is composed of core files and folders that store various scripts and documents that are responsible for the functionality of your WordPress website.

It’s important to maintain the infrastructure of your website to keep it running at optimal levels and put you on course to achieving your goals.

1. Choose managed web hosting services that offer high uptime, professional technical support, regular updates, and comprehensive site security protocols.
2. Be selective about the plugins you want to install. Set a standard by considering plugins that have a minimum rating of 4 stars. Prioritize plugins that are developed by reputable tech companies.
3. Emphasize website responsiveness by constantly working to improve site speed, mobile optimization, and UX.
4. Keep your site security protocols frequently updated.
5. Frequently clean up your database by using a tool such as WP-Optimize which removes junk files.

Your WordPress website can become a money-making machine for your business. It’s important that you keep this machine’s engine humming nicely and its functional features performing smoothly.

Analytics And Tracking

WordPress websites provide you access to real-time data to help you plan and create strategies to keep your business on the path toward success.

The Importance Of Tracking The Performance Of Your WordPress Website

Do you want to know how your website is performing? Are you preparing your digital marketing budget for next year?

With WordPress plugins that offer website analytics, you can track the performance of your data and map out strategies that will allow it to keep growing.

1. Have access to hard data to create an audience profile that you can use as a reference for your content marketing strategy.
2. Find out where your traffic is coming from. What kind of mobile devices are they using? Are they coming from social media or online directories? Which browser is popularly used to access your website? These types of information will help you improve site optimization.
3. Streamline your marketing budget by identifying which strategies or processes are recording the highest ROI.
4. Identify weak areas on your website and learn the best ways to keep your visitors longer on your pages.
5. Improve your site’s sales conversion rate by tracking the effectiveness of your CTAs.

There’s no guesswork when it comes to WordPress because you have empirical data to support your courses of action.

Using Tools And Resources To Track Your Website’s Traffic And Engagement In WordPress

WordPress has hundreds of plugins available to manage different functions of your website. Here are some of the best tools and resources you can use to track your website’s traffic and levels of engagement.

1. MonsterInsights – A Google Analytics plugin that gives you all of the advanced features of Google Analytics including reports on audience demographics, online behavior, and content performance.
2. Site Kit by Google – Integrate this plugin with Google Search Console to improve SEO, monitor inflows of passive income from Google AdSense, and track web page speed.
3. ExactMetrics – A plugin that measures the performance of your posts and gives you its findings in report form.
4. Yoast SEO – This plugin lets you run a performance audit on your WordPress website so you can identify areas that are hindering your SEO strategies and affecting UX.
5. Visitor Traffic Real-Time Statistics – Learn where your site traffic is coming from and get valuable insights into users’ onsite behaviors.

6 Tips For Analyzing And Interpreting Your Website’s Data In WordPress

Analyzing and interpreting your website data in WordPress isn’t as complicated as you might think. You don’t need to be an IT graduate or a tech wizard to find out how your website is performing.

All you need to do is to follow our tips below:

2. Keep the process simple by choosing metrics that are relevant to your business goals. For example, if you’re focused on building your brand, you might want to focus on metrics such as Bounce Rate, Page Views, and Returning Visitors.
3. Use the data to come up with courses of action. Then, beta test these courses of action to see which ones might work and improve site performance.
4. Come up with multiple goals. If you’re focused on improving website traffic, it might be a good idea to use the data and find ways to increase its conversion rate.
5. Try and understand the context of the data. Sure, numbers don’t lie. But there might be underlying factors that have skewed the results of the data. For example, a sudden change in the ranking factors of Google’s algorithm. Conversely, don’t chalk it up as a win just because analytics show an increase in traffic. Where is the traffic coming from? If the increase in traffic came from a region that normally doesn’t visit your website, these visits might be hacking attempts.
6. Ask for help. Yes, analyzing and interpreting data isn’t as hard as you think. But it won’t hurt to ask the opinion of an experienced IT professional or web developer. Asking for help from someone who knows better than you is always a win-win situation.

WordPress Updates And Upgrades

WordPress updates and upgrades for its plugins are frequently available to make it possible for you to improve the functionality of your website and give it a fresh makeover.

The Importance Of Regularly Updating And Upgrading Your WordPress Website

Once you receive a notification or reminder from WordPress that a new version of a plugin or a template is available, you must update the software right away.

Here is a short list of reasons why you should regularly update and upgrade your WordPress website:

1. Old versions of plugins as well as plugins that are rarely used can be used by hackers to infiltrate your website.
2. Old versions of plugins may no longer work properly and hinder the functionality of your website.
3. The new versions usually have new features that can improve the overall functionality and performance of your website.
4. Your customers might be getting bored with the look of your website. For example, the  WordPress plugin Career Portfolio can present your career achievements including projects done for your clients, current work, and your team in an elegant manner.

When it comes to your website, the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply. Instead, remember what the ancient Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus said in the year 1500:

“Prevention is better than cure.”

5 Tips For Identifying When Updates And Upgrades Are Necessary For WordPress

When your WordPress website is up and running, updating and upgrading its programs and features must remain on the maintenance checklist.

Things can always go wrong. There are factors beyond your control that can affect the functionality of your website. Always remember that the website is a business investment.

For your website investment to pay dividends, it must perform at an optimal level every day.

The best way to protect your investment is to implement updates and upgrades whenever they’re available.

1. If the latest versions of plugins, templates, and WordPress versions are available, the notifications will appear on your Dashboard.
2. Being mindful of your website’s performance is a good way of identifying if an update or upgrade of a program is necessary. For example, if you’ve noticed that the page loading speed is slowing down, you might want to verify the actual page loading speed before upgrading the plugin.
3. Reach out to your customers.  Ask your customers about their experiences on your website. You can run a survey through an email newsletter or via social media. Collect the data and review the results. Address the issues and problems that were popularly reported by your customers.
4. Visit the websites of your competitors and do a comparison. Come up with a checklist and mark the ones where your competitor has an edge over yours.
5. Listen to your customers. Sometimes you don’t have to reach out to your customers. They will reach out to you if they’re experiencing problems with your website.

Verify these complaints and if correct, resolve them right away by updating or upgrading the plugin.

Remember that technology is never perfect. There will always be bugs and kinks to iron out when it comes to software. Also, innovation will continue to evolve and design programs that enable technology to become more efficient.

To thrive on the Internet, you must always be updated on the latest technological innovations.

Best Practices For Implementing Updates And Upgrades Smoothly And Effectively In WordPress

If you haven’t run an update or upgrade on your WordPress website, we’ve got you covered. Simply follow our list of best practices for implementing WordPress updates and upgrades and you’ll be fine.

1. Before anything else, run a backup of your website. You can do this by installing a WordPress backup plugin like Updraft Plus, VaultPress, or Backup Buddy.

2. To upgrade to the latest WordPress version:

• Login to your Admin account.
• Go to Dashboard > Updates
• If a new version of WordPress is available, click “Update Now”.
• Wait for the update to be completed.

3. To check if the update was successful, log out and visit your website from another browser. Review the settings of your website.

The best way to keep your website updated and upgraded is by delegating the task to a reputable agency that offers comprehensive website maintenance services.

By leaving it to experienced hands, you mitigate the risk of making mistakes and you can spend more time running your business.

Conclusion

As powerful and effective as a WordPress website is, it cannot perform well on its own.

Much like other creations of technology – your car, computer, mobile phone, and smart appliances, a WordPress website needs frequent updates and upgrades to ensure top-level performance.

An investment in a website doesn’t only involve money. Website maintenance requires time, effort, decision-making, and a commitment to prioritize its well-being.

Once you get a notification of an upgrade or update – don’t waste time. Don’t procrastinate. Act right away. Delaying an update might end up costing you more time and money.

Like a well-maintained car won’t break down on you on your way to work, a well-maintained WordPress website won’t shut down on you when business opportunities are just a click away.

Last Updated on July 16, 2023