Now that your WordPress project is complete, steps need to be taken to care for your new website so it continues to return on your investment. Without a backup or ongoing maintenance, the files could get damaged or lost, or worse, your business reputation could be at risk if your site gets hacked.
Updates
Keep your WordPress Software, Plugins and Themes up to date
Backups
Take full backups of website files and database, and store them off-site
Security
Protect your website from hackers, by hardening files and adding extra security
Notifications
Get updates when errors occur, the site goes down or there are hack attempts
Setup Backups
Either daily, weekly or monthly, depending on how often changes are made. Both the files and the database need to be backed up ‘off-site’, preferably in a way that is easy to ‘restore’ in case something goes wrong.
You can use a plugin or service to do this, but you want to make sure the files aren’t stored on the website server. Sometimes if a site is hacked, the website host will capture and freeze your files.
Using Dropbox or Google Drive to back up the site is much better for this reason.
Do Software Updates
WordPress websites need the core software to be updated regularly (usually twice monthly), this provides security updates, bug fixes, speed enhancements and (sometimes) new features. This is critical to keeping the website secure.
The plugins and theme’s used on the site also need to be updated regularly. Make sure to backup before running updates, as well as run a backup after.
Increase Security
WordPress websites are dynamic and flexible, but they also can have security risks. Extra layers of security are needed to ensure you know what is happening on your site, such as login attempts and file changes.
Having the website login area “turn off” at night can help keep it secure, as well as being able to block hackers. It’s also best practice to use strong passwords and limit the number of admin users on your site.
Get Notifications
When your website goes down or files get changed, you need to know, immediately.
Then the website can get fixed faster and you will have more information about what caused it to go offline. The longer it’s down, the higher the risk of losing a potential customer or opportunity.
Watch the Analytics
How many people are coming to your website? What pages are they looking at? Where are they coming from? Installing, monitoring and understanding website analytics, using software such as Google Analytics, is important to understand your audience and what is important to them.
Knowing these details can help you make better business decisions and engage with your users in a more meaningful way.
Website care is important to your online success, but it takes on-going time and effort.
We can help with all the items listed above through our simple Website Care plans, so you can get back to doing what you do best. Read more about our offerings and let us know how we can help: