Top 10 WordPress Maintenance Tasks

WordPress provides a huge array of useful features, but its flexibility comes at a price: complex maintenance.

While it is relatively easy to build a new site, keeping it in top shape can be a time-consuming process. These are the most important WP Maintenance Tasks.

1. PHP, WordPress, and plugin updates.

I have written an article about this topic, but here's the main idea: newer PHP versions will keep your site safe and will allow it to run much faster. Also, by keeping WordPress and its plugins updated, you will be able to improve the security of your site.

2. Security incidents reviews.

Dedicated security plugins such as Wordfence install powerful web firewalls, which can protect your site from hackers. It is essential to examine security logs regularly, because they will allow you to block the cybercriminals' I.P addresses for good, discover abandoned plugins which may become vulnerable in the near future, and so on.

3. Page speed monitoring.

Having a website that loads fast is essential. To increase page speed, make sure to choose a good hosting company, and then hire a web developer who is able to create a custom-coded, lightning fast site for you. There are several web services which can evaluate page loading speeds - https://gtmetrix.com/, for example.

4. Website backups.

I love WordPress, but I know that a faulty theme or plugin update may break the site for good. That's why I provide daily WP backup services to my clients; this way, if something goes wrong, the site can be restored to a fully functional version within minutes.

5. Image optimization.

Who needs huge images? Apparently, very few people! And yet, many site owners use full size versions of their product pictures. I utilize online and offline services and tools to minimize image size without compromising their quality.

6. Fixing broken links.

If you link out to one or more sites, you will soon discover that some of them went offline. When this happens, you've got a broken link which needs to be fixed as quickly as possible; otherwise, search engines will understand that your site is an unreliable source of information, because it links to defunct third-party web resources.

7. Cleaning comments.

Any site owner who has enabled WordPress' blog component knows that spammers are eager to add their links to any post which allows comments. Clever website owners will always moderate comments, though, approving the ones that are legit and removing those that scream "spam".

8. Verifying contact info.

Sometimes your site's contact form may go awry. Since you don't want to miss business opportunities, it is important to verify its functionality on a regular basis.

9. Checking sidebar links.

Believe it or not, some cyber villains will manage to break into your site, inserting malicious links in your website's sidebar and/or blogroll links section. Fortunately, there are several tools that can help you determine if and when somebody has modified one or more of your website pages.

10. Removing unused media.

Many people upload a bunch of images to their sites, and then they replace them with better looking images, forgetting to remove the old ones. This can happen several times, inflating the size of the database, wasting precious storage space, and slowing down the website. So, make it a habit to check the "Media Gallery" section of your site, and delete all the unused resources.

I hope that you have found this article useful. You should take care of all these tasks if you want to make sure that your site runs fine across a wide variety of devices and browsers. Or, you can hire a professional to do it for you.