The fusionSpan Blog

Regular WordPress Maintenance – The Unsung Hero

By Mary Glavin |March 22, 2016
Digital StrategyImplementations

metro-698661_960_720It was a gorgeous 70 degrees in the District of Columbia on a Wednesday in March, yet offices and business fronts alike reflected attendance and a buzz comparable to a snow day. A vital mode of transportation to many of greater washington DC area commuters, the metro, closed down completely for 29 hours for emergency inspection due to poor planning and inadequate maintenance. Problems happen; but the magnitude of damage is something that can usually be controlled to some extent by forethought and proactive measures.

Don’t let your wordpress site fall victim like the DC Metro; continuously monitor, troubleshoot, and repair your website along the way to ensure customer loyalty, trust, and accessibility. The Codex article, WordPress Maintenance details the various steps to optimize your site’s functionality and adaptability to ever changing updates. Click the link to check the full article out.  We found the following actions to be an essential part of site maintenance, ensuring  your brand stays in a positive light; unlike the DC metro.

Update WordPress

Updating WordPress is a given considering the nature of the site, but still can’t be overstressed. The WordPress platform is constantly evolving and in order to maximize your site, check in with the updates often. Codex recommends every 3-6 months reading up by searching wordpress.org and wordpress downloads to get information on the latest.

Checking for Dead Links

Few things are more frustrating than being routed to a dead link. Dead links damage a brand by portraying incompetence and unprofessionalism. Dead links can be from a misspelled permalink or a change in address — Codex recommends a check every 6 months. Monitoring diagnostics can also help detect these errors.

Backup

You put in the labor, make sure to backup your system incase something happens. It would be  a shame to lose those highly viewed blog posts. Depending on how often new content is added should correlate with how often your wordpress website and computer is backed up.

Schedule

To keep your site finely tuned, creating a schedule and keep to it is paramount. Make scheduling checks and troubleshooting a recurring task penciled in, not a when you can activity. In the words of the enlightened, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit” -Aristotle
An organization’s website is invaluable. Make sure to maximize your wordpress site by being consistent in upkeep and seeking out opportunities for improvement. The DC Metro has become a source of reliable entertainment, Meet Twitter’s Number One Washington, DC Metro Hater, but that’s about the only “reliable” service it provides these days. Be thorough, take action, and pride in your organization and its reputation by being assertive in preemptive measures and safeguard the faith of your customers.

Mary Glavin

Mary is the Client Support Associate at fusionSpan. She takes care of administrative, communication, and marketing related duties in the office.

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