Maintenance has overly been underestimated by many business owners’ websites as they will only consider doing the tasks after they have a problem or issue. The tasks are vital to do on a regular basis as some unexpected issues might occur unpredictably. The anticipation is necessary to avoid a bigger loss, such as losing data.
Although the maintenance tasks seem hard and complicated to do regularly, try to get through our Care Plan services where these tasks and even a lot more will be likely manageable. Above all, dealing with unexpected issues in your website isn’t easy, but here are six examples of maintenance tasks you need to carry out regularly.
WordPress Updates
If you are new to WordPress, please note that it always manages weekly updates on a regular basis. WordPress generally updates plug-ins, vital files, and themes applied in the website to renew its functions and options as well as fix its crucial security issues. Please remember to pay attention to the newest backup which has been established before you run any updates on your website, too.
Backups
To anticipate the unexpected data lost, it is important for a business owner to protect the files of their website. All you need to give the protection is through a solid backup strategy which can beneficially save your priceless asset. To make the strategy clear, you can get started by installing backup plug-ins, and one of the most common plug-ins is Updraft.
There are at least three things for you to do regarding the plug-in installation. First, remember to make certain that your installed plug-in takes all backups appropriately. Second, a backup restoration requires these backups to be tested. Last, these important tasks need to be carried out on a weekly basis to prevent bigger issues from occurring and to anticipate any unexpected problems.
Testing Functionality
In addition to the update and backup tasks, there is another thing that a business owner needs to do as part of maintenance tasks: functionality testing. The testing which is normally conducted every week is crucial to carry out because it will help to identify whether the website establishes its appropriate functions or not. There can be a lot to test for functionality. One of the important functionalities to test is the site service system which needs to be checked to send and receive emails successfully.
Different business websites can lead to different features to be tested for functionality. For example, a business owner who manages e-Commerce site needs to have a test purchase. Later, the purchase is urged to make certain that it is shown up in a correct way of back-end.
Additionally, if you’re the owner of such a site, remember to check out any emails for transactions that have been sent out. Also, please bear in mind that just before the site has special annual events, like a promotion or sale, functionality testing is crucial to anticipate any tangible issues.
Uptime Monitoring
Website uptime is the time available of a website for users in a particular period. The uptime can be monitored by using tools which notify you for any tangible issues. When a business owner runs a website, alternatively change the web host when the website experiences many outages which lead to downtime occurrence showing a poor quality host.
The way to monitor the site uptime can be done by installing some tools and relevant information, like Uptime Robot, Uptrends, or Dotcom-Monitor. The process of uptime shares an automatic monitoring and although you can do it every 15 minutes, it is suggested to do it every 5 minutes. At the end of the process, the service will show notifications for the found issues.
Security Scans
One of the effective maintenance tasks to do is security scans which can hinder a business owner’s website from any technical issues. Although there is no website which is fully secure from any tangible risks, security scans remain worth carrying out. These scans are vital to make sure that the website security is hard to attack and lets any attackers with malicious malwares go.
As a recommendation, some plug-ins can be used to do the security scans for maintenance tasks. The examples you can use are Sucuri and Wordfence. To deal with flagged items which are commonly confirmed as spam emails, ensure to clear your name by writing honest emails to your subscribers for better communication. Don’t hesitate to contact an expert if things go too uncontrollably.
Speed Optimisation
Although speed optimization is less important than the maintenance tasks mentioned above, it remains worth carrying out. If a business owner updates and adds content to the website quite often, the optimisation is needed to make sure that the site remains in good performance.
If you want to conduct a speed test, try speed test tools available online. There are free and paid tools depending on your need. During the test, recognize the terms Download, Upload, and Ping in the results to monitor the site speed details.
Those are six examples of maintenance tasks you need to do. It is crucial to maintain the site security and avoid any tangible issues, and our Care Plan services provided with relevant treatment would hopefully lead you to a solution to this.
Reference
Albano, Samantha. 2019. How Do I Interpret My WiFi Speed Test Results? https://www.minim.com/blog/how-do-i-interpret-my-wifi-speed-test-results
Bustillos, Maria. 2021. How to Prevent Your Email from Being Flagged as Spam. https://www.hostpapa.com/blog/marketing/how-to-prevent-your-email-from-being-flagged-as-spam/
Kumar, Chandan. 2021. 16 Best Online Services to Monitor Sites Uptime. https://geekflare.com/monitor-website-uptime/
Uptrends. What is Website Uptime? https://www.uptrends.com/what-is/website-uptime [Retrieved on September 20, 2021]
