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Your site is the business card, the image you transmit in the online environment. And, as you grow every day, so will your website.
If you like everything to be flawless and if you attach great importance to your image, then why not do the same online?
In short, you take care of your maintenance every day; it’s part of your daily routine. And it’s your recipe for success when you meet friends or a business partner. This is the only way to reach your best version.
The same principles apply in the online environment. And the role of the maintenance process in the administration of your WordPress site is an essential one.
Creating a website and publishing it online is not enough. Even if you managed to optimize it from an SEO point of view and achieve the much-desired organic results, I must tell you that it is not the time to relax.
Endurance is the key to success for the development of presentation sites or online stores.
Maintenance is how you make sure your WordPress platform is safe, fast, and efficient. Also through maintenance, you make sure that your site sells efficiently and speaks the language of your customers.
Let’s see what the maintenance process for WordPress involves and how it helps you reach the set timeline.
What is the maintenance of a WordPress site?
Maintaining a WordPress site is not an exclusively technical activity. If you have the time, you can do it yourself. However, in order to maintain your site correctly and efficiently, you need to know the steps you need to follow.
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But remember the most important thing: running a website never ends. WordPress is a platform for continuous development and optimization, which means that you need to keep up with the changes.
Your site needs updates, optimizations, efficiencies, web hosting, and other monthly activities.
Maintenance falls, if you will, into the realm of long-term on-page and off-page SEO strategy.
And here, most site administrators are wrong: they give up taking care of their WordPress website.
So what is WordPress maintenance?
In short, in the following basic activities:
WordPress updates
When maintaining a WordPress site, you need to make sure that you apply the latest platform updates.
WordPress developers regularly release new, improved versions. These are signaled by a notification that you can see in the WordPress admin panel.
Updates usually have the role of securing the platform against cyber attacks. Remember, indexing algorithms place a high value on the security of online sites.
If you do not apply these updates in time, your online pages can be attacked, which leads to penalties from search engines.
Of course, before installing a new WordPress update, read the opinions of those who have already done so. Make sure that the version you want to apply is compatible with your theme, with the plug-ins already installed, and that it is, on the whole, a stable, bug-free version.
Theme updates and installed plugins
Similar to what we’ve already discussed, WordPress themes and plugins created for this platform receive frequent updates.
The role of these updates is to fix user-reported bugs and improve certain features. In addition, running the latest updates you are sure that the theme and modules running on the site are compatible with the WordPress version used.
If you do not pay attention to the update process, you risk security problems or errors in the functionality of the site.
Conflicts between plugins may occur, design changes may occur and the loading speed of the website may suffer.
Learn how to increase the loading speed of a WordPress site.
All these elements are closely related to the overall SEO score of the web pages. Don’t ignore them if you want good results in organic indexing.
Periodic backups
Because WordPress is an open-source platform, it means that operating errors are not an isolated thing. Even if open-source means versatility in terms of optimization possibilities, it also means conflicts between plugins, malfunctions, or security issues.
That’s why it’s important to always have a backup of your site. A backup must be performed before any new update and before applying a new change in structure and functionality.
A backup can save you from malware entering the site; an error you can’t fix, and any unforeseen event that turns the world upside down.
When you have a backup it is easy to avoid permanent problems. If something happens that turns everything upside down, all you have to do is use the backup to go back to the version you saved earlier.
Changing administration passwords
As I already told you, the main problem with WordPress is related to the security of the platform. If you are not careful your site can be used for purposes you do not want.
A link can be inserted between the lines of code, a virus can affect your site and, in the worst cases, personal data can be stolen.
Try to avoid such problems by periodically changing your administration passwords. Of course, use hard-to-guess passwords and install a dedicated antivirus to protect your site.
Don’t forget the SSL certificate for using the HTTPS protocol. It is a good SEO practice that also increases the safety/security of information published online.
WordPress database optimization
Spam comments, broken links, or a lot of redirects are things that make it difficult to load the site.
When you do maintenance for WordPress, your attention should also go to database optimization.
This ensures that your site loads quickly no matter which page is accessed.
You can see the status of the database in the WordPress Cpanel panel. If what you find there seems too technical, I recommend you not to change anything. Otherwise, you may lose really important data.
So, choose to contact a WordPress platform administration specialist when things seem overwhelming. You can call the people from where you bought the hosting package or you can find on Fiverr enough people who know how to do it.
Bug fixes
Once you’ve made your presentation site or online store, it’s important to check all the pages.
Test every item on the page, access every link, and fill out every form. Make sure everything works the way you want it to.
Repeat this process every time you apply something new to your site. It is important that everything runs fast and error-free.
If you find a problem or a bug, you need to act quickly. Resolve errors to provide the best online experience for your users.
Be careful when applying new updates. Check your Analytics, Adsense, or SearchConsole tracking codes to make sure your site is well-indexed and that you have access to all reports of user behavior on your site.
Fixing bugs in a timely manner is part of WordPress’s monthly maintenance.
Analysis of Google Analytics reports and Webmaster tools
The role of maintenance in managing a WordPress site is to ensure a fast, secure, and error-free platform.
To do this you need to look monthly at the reports you find in your Google Analytics and Search Console accounts.
From there you have information about who accesses your site, about the behavior of users on the site, and about the technical performance of web pages.
Following these reports, you can draw activities for website optimization. It can be about changing the content of the pages, creating a new meta, about a link-building strategy, or fixing indexing errors.
Maintenance involves, in the first stage, identifying errors, then observing the organic behavior, and, finally, thinking of an optimization strategy.
Of course, based on these conclusions, and on and off-page SEO plan will be developed.
And, as you can see, all these elements are closely related to the process of maintaining a website.
Extending WordPress functionality
You will definitely want more from your WordPress site.
As your business grows you will want to expand the initial functionality of your site.
You may want to add new pages, develop new services. It can even be a change of theme and perspective.
No matter how you want to change the site in WordPress, all changes occur after monthly maintenance. Observed reports and periodic changes will guide you to the most efficient path.
At this point, a team of specialists and a well-thought-out WordPress maintenance and administration package will help you.
You will not be able to implement the changes on your own. Basically, because you won’t have the time. But, many times, you will also lack the experience and specialized knowledge in various fields of website development.
Conclusion
Well, as you can see, managing web pages is quite complicated. It takes time and perseverance.
Online success is not guaranteed by a well-made site, but by a well-maintained site. WordPress maintenance is not a fad, it is a necessity without which you cannot align with the requirements of the search engines.
For more details read about the new updates for indexing algorithms: Page Quality Rating.
In conclusion, never stop taking care of your website. And when you’re overwhelmed by so many activities, don’t shy away from asking for help.
