It is important to maintain your WordPress website to make sure that it is running efficiently and remains secure. Sadly, many business owners are not experienced with website maintenance and do not know how to do this themselves. WordPress can be simple and made into a valuable asset if you take the time to learn the key elements of it. That is why we have created a list of the six most important tasks you as a business owner should be doing on a scheduled basis. Following this list will help you to avoid website issues such as security problems, vulnerabilities, and simple errors while maintaining the same functionality of your website.
Create complete backups of your website
One of your biggest priorities within WordPress maintenance will involve making consistent backups to your website. This is important because it will allow you to revert back to the saved backup if anything happens to go wrong such as human error, glitch, or any unforeseen even that has an effect on your website. There are many ways to create backups with some of the easiest ways being the use of plugins or manually coping your files and databases. Some great plugins you can use for automating the backup process are BackUpWordPress and SiteGround. While these are great tools, it still might be necessary to make manual backups to ensure you are covering all of your bases.
Verify your backups
If you already have backups made, you are doing great so far. However, we are not done just yet. Backups are a great first step but they should also be tested regularly to ensure they are functioning properly. This can be done by restoring a backup to a test site or downloading the files and inspecting them to make sure they’re correct. One of the worst things that could happen to your website would be for your backups to fail on the day that you need them most. For this reason, it is important to make sure you are testing your backups regularly to make sure they are working properly.
Perform daily security scans
A great practice to avoid potential security threats is to routinely scan your website for any signs of compromise. One way to do this is by making it a habit to perform daily security scans, which will allow you to keep on eye on any changes or suspicious activity. There are a variety of different security tools and services that can help you with this and one of the most popular ones is Sucuri. A great feature about this plugin is not only its ability to conduct security checks, but it also will send a SMS to notify you of any suspicious activity and will email you reports on the daily of your website’s security.
Scan for malware
Since the pandemic first hit , we have been seeing a large increase in the number of cybersecurity threats. These threats are not only growing in volume, but also in sophistication as hackers are constantly finding new ways to infiltrate your security. With every passing day, new strains of malware are developed and released out into business networks and their systems. Unless you’re a sophisticated hacker, it might be difficult for you to detect malware. WordPress plugins like Wordfence use the latest firewall rules to flag the newest malware signatures and malicious IP addresses to keep your website safe from cyber harm.
Conduct page speed audits
An important quality valued by your customers will always be how fast your website is. Your visitors do not want to wait around for your page to load and will often become discouraged if the waiting takes longer than five seconds. Generally, it is a good idea to implement caching to speed up your website and we also recommend using plugins such as Google Pagespeed Insights to get a good idea of how fast your site is actually loading. A slow website will not only discourage your visitors, but will also hurt your websites search rankings.
Review your site’s structure and content
As mentioned earlier, it is important to regularly review you website’s security. It is also just as important to make sure your overall structure and content is well organized and easy to navigate. Ask your self if your content is up to date and if it is relevant today. If it is not, it would be a good idea to make some changes as Google and other search engines show favor towards those website who are posting the freshest and most relevant content.
Forbes, National Geographic, and The New York Times are all powered by WordPress, which means you are in good company. By sticking to the checklist, you too can harness the power of this online, open-source website creation tool. Or, instead of signing up for half a dozen services that need daily check-ins, why not have us take care of all of it for you? If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email or give us a call!
