Those of us who use WordPress understand how easy it is to set up. We get that, with the use of simple plugins and themes, we can get our site to do and look pretty much how we want it to. But how many of us actually bother to look after that same site, once it’s up and running? How would you feel if, after all your hard work setting it up, you lost that same site, because you didn’t carry out the necessary routine housekeeping tasks – and do you even know what those tasks are?
Regular housekeeping on your WordPress site is essential, not only for the security of your site, but also to ensure both you and your visitors can enjoy a site that also easy to use, fast AND efficient. Here are the simple housekeeping tasks you MUST regularly carry out, in order to prevent the loss of potential clients, time and – worst case scenario – your entire WordPress site.
Deactivate and uninstall unused or unwanted plugins and themes
When it comes to easy tasks, this is one of the simplest ones! It simply involves you scrolling through the plugins and themes and looking for those that are deactivated and no longer used – you can then click to ‘deactivate’.
Most plugins will uninstall themselves but, if in doubt, read the relevant installation file.
This simple task will help boost both your website load time (as unused plugins still take up space on your site) AND your security.
Deleting old, unused pages
This is predominantly done to help your site load faster, as ALL pages (active and draft etc.) take up space on your server. However, it also provides a better user experience, as there’s nothing worse than going to a page on a site, only to find it’s no longer relevant to what that company is doing.
Monitor comments
Regularly monitoring your comments is a good practice to get into, for so many reasons. It ensures you catch any relevant comments you can reply to, it minimises the amount of time comments are sat waiting to be approved AND it helps you minimise and delete spam comments. Even if you have a spam filter set up, those comments are still taking up space on your server.
Backup your site – regularly
I’d suggest you set a regular backup for your site that matches how often you post. A WordPress backup actually has to back up 2 separate files – your database (stores your posts, comments and links) and your files (installations, plugins, themes etc.). You can read more about backups here however, if you’re unsure what you need to back up, look to use either a plugin (such as the free plugin Back WPup or Backup Buddy) or, for peace of mind, pay someone to regularly do this for you (we provide this service as part of our maintenance packages).
Install updates as soon as they’re available
Whether you have updates for plugins, themes or the core WordPress installation itself, ALWAYS install your updates as soon as they’re available. This helps prevent your site from being vulnerable and hackable.
Delete old post revisions
Deleting old post revisions will ensure your site runs faster, as it reduces both the database size AND the load time. You can use a simple plugin for this, such as the free Better Delete Revision.
Clean up broken links
Finally, for a cleaner website, look to tidy up any broken links. This will help prevent those annoying ‘404 page not found’ errors, thus enhancing your visitors enjoyment. Again, this is simply a case of using a plugin such as Broken Link Checker, as this will notify you of any broken links on your site.
What housekeeping task caused your biggest ‘a-ha’ moment? Are there any tasks you consider important, that aren’t already on my list? Why not let me know, by sharing a comment in the box below!
Image © Alen-D/Dollar Photo Club