WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE

Why You Need WordPress Maintenance Service…

• Change All Your WordPress Passwords
• Create a Complete Backup of Your Website
• Check and Update All WordPress Files
• Check and Delete Spam Comments
• Test All Your WordPress Forms
• Optimize Your WordPress Database
• Run Performance Tests
• Find and Fix 404 Errors
• Find and Fix Broken Links
• Perform a Thorough Content and SEO Audit
• Optimize Images on Your WordPress Site
• Review WordPress Security Logs
• Troubleshoot Maintenance Tasks

Good Business Starts with Good Website Management

After up a WordPress website the work is not “done”. A WordPress maintenance technician can manage the everyday tasks associated with your WordPress maintenance plan so you can focus on the business at hand.

Keeping Your Website Current is the First Line of Defense

WordPress routinely receives new updates, typically multiple new release updates each month, which improve the security and performance of the platform. In order to make sure that your WordPress website remains secure, your site needs consistent maintenance of the core code as well as any plugins that may be in use.

By routinely updating your WordPress website and all plugins, you are ensuring that your site has the latest security patches in place, significantly reducing your vulnerability to common attacks.

Aside from security considerations, also consider that most WordPress sites utilize plugins that are produced and maintained by third party vendors. Depending on how vigilant the plugin developer is with their updates, compatibility issues can arise with each new WordPress update, which is all the more reason you need to keep both the WordPress core version current along with any plugins, and you need to perform quality assurance testing with each update to ensure that nothing breaks and that performance does not suffer in a way that will impact users.

Customizations

WordPress websites can vary greatly, not only in terms of appearance, but in terms of setup and configuration. Very few professionally developed WordPress websites go live with a generic “out of the box” setup. Rather, most WordPress websites are a combination of third-party plugins, themes, and various configurations thereof. Each WordPress website is typically further customized to meet the unique needs of each organization.

The time will inevitably come where you’ll need the assistance of a WordPress developer for custom coding that goes beyond the normal user interface.

In these cases, you will want to make sure that you have a reliable resource to make these adjustments for you, and this is where a WordPress maintenance plan can make life easier and help advance your web presence.
Waiting for a Website Emergency is Not a Plan

Preventative maintenance is your best defense to prevent any unfortunate surprises with your website and to keep it running smoothly. But even despite best efforts, unanticipated issues such as bugs, errors, and outages can arise, and when that happens you’ll want to have a reliable, dedicated resource that is ready to act on your behalf and get things up and running as quickly as possible. You do not want to find yourself in the position of waiting, or having to hunt down a new consultant or agency to help you as your website visitors encounter problems and your reputation suffers. Leaving things to chance without a plan is certainly an option, but it is not a wise one.
What a WordPress Maintenance Plan Should Include

A quality WordPress maintenance and support plan should minimally address the following responsibilities:

Regular updates for WordPress core version releases and plugin updates, with quality assurance testing after each update.
Troubleshooting of conflicts or errors on your site when they arise (for example when third-party tools do not work together).
Security best practices to block potential threats before they occur, including continuous monitoring and protection against spam, malware, unauthorized logins, and other malicious attempts. This also includes properly securing your site with SSL.
Ongoing, automatic backups in case your site ever needs to be restored in the case of disaster or data loss. Ideally, you will have incremental redundant backups stored in multiple locations (e.g. a backup drive, as well as offsite cloud storage).
A properly maintained server/hosting environment with current and secure versions of Apache, PHP, and MySQL, properly configured SSL certificates, security firewall, and other best practices for server maintenance.
Performance optimization to ensure that your WordPress website is configured for optimal performance, including best practices such as page caching and image optimization. After all, a fast website is not only important for users, but can also impact search performance.
A dedicated resource who is familiar with the site, has access to all necessary administrative documentation and permissions, and who can assume responsibility for maintaining, and, if necessary, restoring the site, while also responding to on-demand needs in a timely fashion.
Finally, the plan must be proactive and provide ongoing, forward thinking guidance to protect your website and your business on an ongoing basis.

Whether you support your own WordPress site yourself, whether you have an in-house staff administrator, or use the services of an outside vendor, the key is that you have a plan to keep your website in good working order. This is the foundation for maintaining a website that is both professional and sustainable, and the peace of mind that comes with having a sound plan in place is invaluable.

You’ve invested a lot to design your website, generate content, and get it up and running properly; it’s well worth the investment to keep it that way.