Website platforms, browsers and software are constantly changing and evolving. Just like changing the oil in your car, it is important to stay on top of your website’s monthly maintenance. Doing a few simple things each month can reduce the risk of more serious issues down the road and help to prevent unpleasant site failures.
- Visit your website. Make sure all of the pages look the way they should and are loading without errors; check for broken links and 404 errors. Remove any spam comments, form submissions or user accounts.
- Update your website’s software. If you are running WordPress, make sure your WordPress core files, themes and plugins are all up-to-date. Keep an eye on your plugins and note any that don’t have updates for several months and may be abandoned. Consider replacing abandoned plugins as they can pose a security risk. Plugins that you aren’t using any more should be deleted.
- Test all of the Contact Forms on your website. Visit your website and send a test message from each of your contact forms then verify that it is delivered to your inbox. Sometimes server changes or software updates can cause problems. If you offer a contact form on your website it’s important that it work correctly. You don’t want to alienate potential customers because they sent an email and never received a response.
- Make a complete back-up of your website. Backing up your website is a critical piece of site health. A good back-up can get you back up and running quickly should something happen to harm your site. Ideally your website should be backed up daily with the backup stored in an offsite
- Check your website’s security. Is your SSL certificate still valid? Check to see if your security software uncovered any risks and resolve them.
