WordPress Website Maintenance Plan: What to Include

A WordPress website maintenance plan is essential for keeping your site performing at its best, safe from cyber-attacks, and providing a consistently good user experience. While your WordPress Hosting plan gives you a foundation for this, regular upkeep is still needed to prevent downtime, slow loading speeds, and security breaches. This blog will show you exactly how to create a solid maintenance plan, so your website runs smoothly.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A maintenance plan systematically monitors, updates, and optimizes your WordPress website to ensure its health, security, and performance.
• A good WordPress website maintenance plan includes technical, security, performance, and your WordPress site’s content-related aspects.
• Regular performance optimization ensures your website stays fast and responsive and provides an excellent user experience.
• Maintaining your security is essential for protecting your website and visitors from potential cyber threats and attacks.
• Maintenance tasks like theme and plugin updates, fixing broken links, backups, and optimizing databases are essential for comprehensive WordPress website management.
• The right tools can streamline maintenance tasks, enhance security, and improve overall website performance.

What Is a WordPress Website Maintenance Plan?

A WordPress website maintenance plan involves setting out regular front- and back-end tasks and management to keep your new website functional, secure, and performing at its best. 

It covers several elements, including updates for WordPress core software, plugins, and themes, patching security vulnerabilities, and regular backups.

In addition to your WordPress Hosting performance, it should include enhancements to improve site speed, responsiveness, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You should also make content updates and design changes to keep your website fresh and engaging.

Performing regular maintenance is vital for any WordPress website for several reasons. Here’s a breakdown of the most important ones:

Security

Because of its popularity, WordPress is frequently targeted by hackers and other security threats. A WordPress website maintenance plan provides regular website security monitoring, vulnerability patching with plugin updates, and malware scans to protect your site from attacks.  

Similarly, having daily backups and storing these safely is another essential security measure you need in your plan. In case of an attack, unauthorized access, data loss, or any other disaster, backups let you restore your website from a previous stable version and help minimize potential damage.  

Performance

A well-maintained website loads quickly, providing a better user experience. Maintenance includes optimizing your database, images, and code, which impact page speeds directly.  

Search engines also offer preference in results pages to fast, secure sites providing a positive user experience. Regular maintenance and performance optimization can help contribute to better visibility in search results, driving more organic traffic to your site. 

Functionality

To function correctly WordPress themes, plugins, and core software require regular updates to the latest versions. Updates often bring new features, bug fixes, and improvements.

Updating software every month or as soon as it is released (ideally) helps prevent compatibility issues and conflicts that can break your website. You should always perform a full site backup and test in a staging area before publishing them in case of technical issues.

User Experience

Your site must be easy to navigate, responsive, and meet potential clients’ needs. This encourages them to stay longer, explore more, and become customers.

An error and glitch-free website also helps with the perception of your brand and business by building trust and credibility. This has an SEO benefit too because search engines prefer sending visitors to sites that provide a positive user experience.

Additionally, investing in regular website maintenance is much cheaper and less time-consuming than dealing with potential catastrophic failures, website downtime, performance issues, or security breaches.

Components Of WordPress Website Maintenance

As discussed, a well-structured WordPress website maintenance plan isn’t just a good idea – it’s necessary for security, performance, and your site’s longevity. Here are the components that need to be included regularly:

WordPress Updates

These core software, plugin, and theme updates often include new vulnerability patches, performance improvements, and new features. Neglecting updates leaves your site vulnerable to security threats and can cause compatibility issues. A solid maintenance plan ensures your themes, plugins and WordPress core updates are always current.

Security Scans & Malware Detection

Regular security audits and malware scans are vital to detect and address vulnerabilities before they are exploited and become major security issues. Both are central to your website’s security, as they help ensure it remains safe for visitors and doesn’t become infected by malicious software, preventing unauthorized access, data theft, and other potential threats.

Backups & Recovery

If your website crashes, data is lost, or you get hacked, you could face a potential disaster without backups and being able to recover the lost information. Regular backups are your safety net, allowing you to restore your site from a previous version quickly and minimize downtime. A good WordPress website maintenance plan includes daily automated backups and a clear recovery process.

Performance & Uptime Monitoring

Performance monitoring helps you ensure your site continues to load and respond to requests quickly. Keeping an eye on uptime lets you know if your site goes down due to technical reasons or security issues so you can address it promptly. Both are essential for user experience and search engine rankings.

SEO & Broken Link Checking

Regular SEO audits and health assessments can identify areas for improvement and ensure your website is optimized for search engines.  This includes checking technical SEO issues like slow loading times, keyword usage, and your site’s position in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Broken links frustrate users when clicking on one and can hurt your SEO. Regularly checking and fixing broken links helps with a smooth browsing experience and helps search engines crawl and index your site properly.

Content Management & Updates

A maintenance plan should also provide content management and updates. This can include creating new product pages, updating blogs and images, or simply ensuring your site’s content is fresh and keeps your target audience engaged and on your pages.

DIY vs Professional Maintenance Plans

There are pros and cons regarding using the DIY approach or hiring professional WordPress website maintenance services. You must consider factors like time investment, technical expertise, and the potential risks of taking on complex tasks without the necessary experience.

The DIY Route

Going the DIY route can save you money on maintenance costs, give you complete control over your site, and help you learn more about managing WordPress.  However, it does require time and a decent amount of technical knowledge.  If you’re uncomfortable with tasks like database management, security, or troubleshooting errors, it may be better to use technical support for assistance.

The Professional Approach

Using professional WordPress care plans frees up your time to focus on your business and creating content. These dedicated teams handle complex tasks sites faster and more effectively.

WordPress experts can also proactively monitor your site for potential issues, preventing problems before they happen, and offering emergency support. The main drawback is the ongoing cost, but the peace of mind and time saved with a website maintenance package can be worth the money.

WordPress Performance Optimization

Performance and response times are major factors in user experience, SEO, and success for website owners. Sites that take time to load can lead to high bounce rates, fewer conversions, and less visibility in SERPs.

Your hosting service provider is the foundation of your website’s performance. The Hosted.com WordPress-optimized infrastructure includes LiteSpeed Webserver software and caching, high-frequency AMD processors, and DDR5 RAM for lightning-fast processing and database requests.

Image & Code Optimization

Images often make up a large portion of a web page’s size.  Reducing file sizes with compression, using the right formats (WebP is recommended), and lazy loading can increase load times.

Similarly clean, optimized code improves site performance.  Minifying CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files, removing unnecessary code and characters from custom development and themes, and streamlining database queries can all make for faster page speeds.

Caching & Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

Caching stores static versions of your pages, reducing server strain and speeding up delivery to returning visitors. It’s highly recommended to use browser and server-level caching mechanisms.

Integrating a CDN caches and distributes your site’s content across a global server network, helping with faster delivery to users regardless of their location. This is especially helpful for large e-commerce sites.

Database Maintenance

Over time, your WordPress databases can become bloated with unnecessary information, slowing down your site. Regular cleanup and maintenance, including removing old revisions, spam comments, and transients, is essential for fast querying and retrieval.

Plugins & Themes

While plugins add WordPress functionality, they can also cause processing overload. Keep usage to a minimum and deactivate or remove unnecessary ones. Always use well-coded and actively maintained plugins.

Your WordPress theme can also slow down your website. Choose lightweight, well-coded themes designed for speed and avoid those with multiple features or complicated layouts.

WordPress Security

A WordPress website maintenance plan isn’t just about keeping your site running smoothly; it’s also about protecting your files and data and keeping it safe for visitors.  Here are the essentials your plan should include:

• Strong Passwords: Always use strong, unique passwords for your WordPress Admin, host account and databases. A password manager can generate and store them for you.
• Security Plugins: Security plugins offer a range of features, from firewalls and malware detection and removal to login attempt limitations and DDoS protection.
• Malware Scans: Regular malware scanning helps detect and identify harmful code and infections, allowing you to address and remove them quickly before they cause damage and data theft.
• Monitoring Logins: Monitoring login attempts can help identify suspicious activity, like brute-force attacks. By tracking failed login attempts, you can take steps like blocking IP addresses, to protect your site.
• Updates: The WordPress core, themes, and plugins are updated regularly to patch security gaps. Keep everything updated to the latest version to prevent attackers from exploiting known weaknesses.

The Hosted.com WordPress Hosting plans are backed by Monarx and Imunify360 server security. New clients also get a free SSL Certificate for encrypted data transfers and 1-Click WordPress Security to secure and strengthen your site without any technical knowledge needed.

WordPress Website Maintenance Tasks

How to Update Plugins & Themes Safely

Keeping your plugins and themes updated to the latest version is important for security and avoiding compatibility issues. However, updates can sometimes cause conflicts. These best practices can help you ensure it goes smoothly:

• Always create a full website backup before any updates.
• Update plugins and themes one at a time to isolate potential issues.
• Test your website’s functionality after each update in a staging site.

Fixing Broken Links

Broken links can frustrate users and negatively impact your site’s SEO and visibility.

To fix them:

• Use automated checking tools to identify and replace broken links.
• Regularly scan both internal and external links and update as required.
• Implement 301 Redirects for pages you removed or repurposed.

Steps to Optimize Your WordPress Database

A clean, optimized database improves performance. Schedule regular maintenance including:

• Deleting unnecessary data like spam comments, old drafts, etc.
• Limiting or cleaning up post revisions.
• Optimizing tables for faster data retrieval.

Backing up Your WordPress Site

Full-site backups are a safety net in case of cyberattacks, accidental deletions, or website crashes. Implement automated backups and store copies of your files and data in different locations (local drive, cloud storage, etc.) These should cover core folders (wp-content and wp-admin), content, and databases.

Always ensure you have a recovery plan to restore your site as quickly as possible in case of any issues and minimize downtime – this is especially important for online business owners.

If you need help backing up your site, contact the Hosted.com Customer Support Team.

Tools for WordPress Maintenance

One of the most common questions is how to make maintenance easier. Maintaining your WordPress website can be a lot simpler with tools. From backups and security to performance optimization and SEO, having the right plugins and software can make all the difference. Here are some of our recommended tools to help make things easier:

Backup Tools

As we discussed earlier, protecting your files and data is important in case of attacks or loss. These plugins offer reliable options for creating and restoring backups:

• UpdraftPlus: A popular and user-friendly plugin for backups and recovery.
• BackupBuddy: A premium (paid) plugin with advanced features and excellent support.
• WP Time Capsule: A cloud-based backup solution offering incremental backups and easy restores.

Security Plugins

Keeping your website secure is an ongoing process. Security plugins provide additional protection against a range of threats:

• Wordfence Security: A comprehensive security plugin with a firewall, malware scanning, and login protection.
• Sucuri Security: Offers website security monitoring, malware scanning, and incident response.
• iThemes Security: A robust plugin with various security features, including brute-force protection and file change detection.

Performance Optimization Tools

Optimizing your website’s performance is essential for user experience and SEO. These plugins can help your site load and respond faster:

• WP Rocket: A premium caching plugin known for its ease of use and powerful optimization features.
• W3 Total Cache: A free plugin that offers various caching options for improved speeds.
• Autoptimize: Helps optimize HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for faster loading times.

Monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.  These tools provide insights into areas for improvement and help you track your optimization efforts.

SEO Analysis Tools

Improving your website’s search engine visibility is essential for attracting organic traffic. These SEO tools can help boost your rankings:

• Yoast SEO: A widely used plugin for optimizing content and improving SEO.
• Rank Math: This powerful SEO plugin has advanced features and a user-friendly interface.
• SEMrush: The comprehensive SEO and marketing toolkit that offers a wide range of features.

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