How to maintain a WordPress website

Maintaining a WordPress website is an ongoing process that requires attention to various aspects such as security, performance, backups, and content management. Here’s a comprehensive guide to maintaining your WordPress site, with in-depth details to help you keep your site running smoothly and efficiently.

1. Regular Backups

Why Backups Are Important

Backups are your first line of defense against data loss. Whether it’s due to a hacker attack, server failure, or an update gone wrong, having a backup ensures that you can restore your site to its previous state without losing critical data.

How to Backup Your Site

Manual Backup:

  • Files: Use an FTP client like FileZilla to download all your WordPress files from the server. Ensure you have copies of your wp-content folder, wp-config.php file, and the .htaccess file.
  • Database: Access your hosting control panel (like cPanel), go to phpMyAdmin, select your database, and export it using the ‘Export’ tab. Choose the ‘Quick’ method for a simple export.

Plugins: Several plugins can automate the backup process

  • BackWPup: Provides options for full site backups and stores them on various cloud services.
  • UpdraftPlus: Allows you to schedule backups and store them in remote locations such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, or even email.
  • VaultPress: A premium service by Automattic that provides real-time backup solutions and easy restores.
  • All-in-One WP Migration: This plugin simplifies the backup and restoration process with a user-friendly interface and extensive functionality.

    Please click for a complete guide on how to make and restore a backup

2. Update WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins

Importance of Updates

WordPress updates frequently include security patches, new features, and performance improvements. Keeping your site updated protects it from vulnerabilities and ensures compatibility with other components.

How to Update

Automatic Updates

  • Enable automatic updates for your core, theme and plugins. Please note that this increases the likelihood of a conflict, but is far better than not performing the updates.

Manual Updates

  • Core: Log in to your WordPress dashboard, go to ‘Dashboard > Updates’, and click ‘Update Now’ when a new version is available.
  • Themes and Plugins: Check for updates under ‘Dashboard > Updates’ or directly under ‘Plugins’ and ‘Themes’. Always backup your site before performing updates to avoid potential issues.

Follow this link for instructions on how to perform WordPress updates safely.

3. Optimise Database

Why Database Optimisation is Necessary?

Over time, your database accumulates clutter such as post revisions, auto-saved drafts, spam comments, and transient options. Optimising your database improves site performance and reduces load times.

Tools for Database Optimisation

Plugins

  • WP-Optimize: Cleans up your database, compresses images, and caches your site.
  • WP-Sweep: Deletes revisions, auto-drafts, and other clutter to keep your database clean.

Manual Optimisation

  • Access phpMyAdmin via your hosting control panel.
  • Select your database, go to the ‘Operations’ tab, and use the ‘Optimize Table’ function to optimize individual tables.

4. Security Measures

Importance of Website Security

A secure website protects sensitive data, maintains user trust, and prevents downtime caused by attacks. Regular security audits and enhancements are critical to safeguarding your site.

Security Best Practices

Use Strong Passwords

  • Enforce strong password policies using a plugin like Password Policy Manager.
  • Regularly update passwords and avoid using the same password for multiple accounts.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

  • Implement 2FA for all user accounts using plugins such as Google Authenticator, Authy or Wordfence.

Limit Login Attempts

  • Use plugins like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded to restrict the number of login attempts and block IP addresses after a specified number of failed attempts.

Security Plugins

  • Wordfence: Offers firewall protection, malware scanning, and login security.
  • Sucuri: Provides comprehensive security features, including firewall, monitoring, and malware removal.
  • iThemes Security: Focuses on strengthening WordPress security through various settings and options.
  • MalCare: A robust security solution that offers malware scanning, cleaning, and firewall protection. It features one-click malware removal and a detailed activity log.

5. Performance Optimisation

Why Performance Matters

A fast-loading website enhances user experience, reduces bounce rates, and improves SEO rankings. Optimising performance ensures your site can handle high traffic without slowing down.

Steps to Optimise Performance

Caching

  • Install caching plugins such as W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to store static versions of your pages and reduce server load.
  • Use Object Cache with Redis or Memcached to cache database queries.

Image Optimisation

  • Compress images using plugins like Smush or ShortPixel to reduce file sizes without compromising quality.
  • Use the WebP format for images to achieve better compression rates and faster load times.

Minify CSS and JS

  • Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files using plugins like Autoptimize or WP Rocket to reduce file sizes and improve load times.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

  • Implement a CDN like Cloudflare or MaxCDN to distribute your site’s static files across multiple servers worldwide, reducing load times for visitors by serving content from the nearest server.

6. Monitor Site Uptime

Importance of Uptime Monitoring

Uptime monitoring ensures you are immediately aware of any downtime, allowing you to address issues quickly and minimise the impact on your visitors and business.

Tools for Uptime Monitoring

Uptime Robot

  • A free service that monitors your site every 5 minutes and notifies you via email, SMS, or push notifications if your site goes down.

Pingdom

  • A comprehensive monitoring tool that provides uptime monitoring, performance insights, and detailed reports on your site’s availability.

7. SEO Maintenance

Why SEO is Crucial

SEO maintenance ensures your site remains visible and ranks well on search engines, driving organic traffic and increasing your site’s reach.

SEO Best Practices

Regular Content Updates

  • Keep your content fresh and relevant by regularly updating blog posts and pages.
  • Remove outdated information and replace it with current data.

Fix Broken Links

  • Use plugins like Broken Link Checker to identify and fix broken links that can harm your SEO.
  • Regularly check and update external links to ensure they are still valid.

SEO Plugins

  • Yoast SEO: Helps you optimise on-page SEO elements, including meta titles, descriptions, and keywords.
  • Rank Math: Offers advanced SEO features, including keyword suggestions and schema markup.

XML Sitemaps

  • Ensure your XML sitemap is updated and submitted to search engines via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
  • Use SEO plugins to automatically generate and update your sitemap.

8. Review and Clean Up User Accounts

Why Regular User Account Review is Necessary

Regularly reviewing user accounts helps prevent unauthorised access and ensures that only current users have access to your site, reducing security risks.

Steps to Review and Clean Up

Remove Inactive Users

  • Periodically review user accounts and remove or deactivate accounts that are no longer needed.
  • Ensure former employees or contributors no longer have access.

Review User Roles

  • Verify that each user has the appropriate role and permissions to minimise the risk of unauthorised changes or access.
  • Use plugins like User Role Editor to manage and customise user.

Conclusion

Maintaining a WordPress website is a continuous process that involves regular backups, updates, security checks, performance optimisations, and content management. By following this comprehensive guide, you can ensure your website remains secure, efficient, and engaging for your visitors.

Remember, the key to successful website maintenance is consistency. Regularly check and update your site, monitor its performance, and stay informed about the latest WordPress developments and best practices.

If you have any questions or need further assistance with maintaining your WordPress website, feel free to contact us. Our team of experts is here to help you keep your site running smoothly and efficiently. Don’t hesitate to reach out for personalised support and solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Stay proactive, stay secure, and keep your WordPress site thriving!