WordPress is one of the largest Content Management System frameworks on the Internet, powering 24% of the web. While WordPress is an extremely easy to use CMS, it is important to keep it properly maintained. This is the best way to ensure your site stays fast, secure, and delivering value for your business. Website maintenance for WordPress can be a daunting task, but here at fjorge we have some tips to make it easier:
Take Backups!
Having a backup of your WordPress database and files is one of the easiest ways to make maintenance easier. Schedule backups to run regularly, based off of how the site is used. If it is rarely updated, weekly backups would suffice. If the site has daily posts, or is used for Ecommerce, daily backups should be considered.
Use a "Development" Site
If your web host is capable, having a duplicate, hidden copy of your website to use for testing will let you run updates in a safe sandbox; checking for incompatability or other bugs before deploying live. This second copy can also be used to test design changes or new integrations.
Keep Everything Updated
Unpatched plugins, or outdated WordPress versions, is one of the largest attack vectors for your site. Since you are backing up the site, and testing in a development enviroment, there is no reason to fear updates any longer. Check for updates on a regular basis, and try to test and deploy the updates as quickly as possible. Plus, keeping the site up to date means maintenance takes less time!
Know When To Ask
One of the benefits of WordPress being Open Source Software is that there is a large community of developers, designers, and authors with a wealth of knowledge. If you run into issues during maintenance, try searching for a short description of your problem + "WordPress", and seeing if you can find a solution among the wider community.
These tips will help make maintaining WordPress a simpler process. If you would rather not deal with the hassle, contact us today to learn about our Website Maintenance Plans.
