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WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist

By on April 29, 2013

Just like computer maintenance, webmasters forget that they need to perform WordPress website maintenance in order to keep their blog or website running smoothly, therefore I would like to share my checklist for website updating and maintenance.

Precautions Before Using this WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist

You are the webmaster so you will need to take responsibility for your website files. Before installing, deleting, optimizing, updating anything on your blog make sure you do the right thing!

  1. Backup your database: You can install a plugin to do this or do it manually. See the links below for more information.
  2. Backup your posts and pages: You can do this by entering your WordPress Dashboard, clicking on Tools in the left menu, then choosing export. This will take all your pages and posts, but does not always get your special settings or all of your images. This is why we also need to backup files as well. I have used this option to move a website into WordPress but just had to bring the images over manually.
  3. Backup your server files: You can access your WordPress website files through FTP. You will see all of your files in the installation directory where you first installed WordPress. For example if you install WordPress into the root of your domain then the files will be there. If you installed WordPress into a directory on your domain then they will be in that folder, looking something like this www.yourdomain/blog. Browsing your server is a lot like browsing through a computer.
  4. Backup your theme files: If I am upgrading my theme or moving my website I like to copy any customizations that I have made. For example I might have changed the CSS file or maybe I added some code to the header.PHP file. Either way I like to backup these files if I am changing something with my theme. If I am doing a full backup of my website or backing up all the files on the server, then it is not necessary for me to perform this step also.
  5. Use A script or software to backup the entire Website: In this case I like to use WPTwin as it will clone your entire installation including images, users, comments, in fact an exact replica of what you have on your website.

Cool Resources for Backing up your WordPress Installation

http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_WordPress_Files Backup your files

http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database Backup your Database

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/ WP database backup plugin

#1. Website Maintenance Checklist - Visit Your Website

This is my number one rule on my website maintenance chekclist! Visit your own website as a visitor, not just in the dashboard! If you have your blinkers on and just go into your WordPress dashboard you will be missing out and the whole website functioning. This is just so simple but webmasters forget about the outside functioning website.

I visit my website every day. Sometimes I find errors myself, and sometimes people e-mail me and tell me. For example one time I went to my blog and clicked on a link on the homepage. It came up with a 404 error. If I did not visit the blog I would not know that there was an error. It turned out to be a plug-in I had installed, messed with the permalink structure, therefore making every link on my blog broken. Luckily I had seen this error before and picked it up straight away.

#2. Update Your Blog

WordPress makes it easy to update or blog. You will see a link to your updates in your WordPress dashboard and when there are updates, there will be a number next to the link.

Wordpress updates

When you see a number next to the updates link in the menu, all you have to do is click on the update link. This will take you to the WordPress updates page and you will be able to see all of the updates that your blog needs. This could be a plug-in or a WordPress theme, or even WordPress itself. Again, before doing any of this, I like to backup my website just in case.

Website Maintenance Checklist

#3. Check Loading Times

The loading times of your WordPress website are very important. It is like working on a slow computer. You simply get less work done, and when it comes to website visitors, they visit less pages on a slow blog. You want your website visitors to feel good about visiting many pages on your website so you need to make it load up quickly. Speeding up your website loading time has proven to not only bring in more income, but give your users a fantastic experience on your website.

#4. Check for Broken Links

Years ago one of my websites suddenly dropped out of the search engines and I had no idea why. I discovered it was because I had too many broken links on my website. At the time, I had never heard of this. Anyway I have repaired the links and my website went back to the previous rankings in the search engines. This was when I decided to add checking broken links to my maintenance schedule for my website.

Now in WordPress I use a plugin called broken link checker and it is free. I do not leave it enabled full time because I beleieve it slows down the blog. I simply activate it when I am performing the tasks on my website maintenance checklist.

#5. Delete Unwanted Plug-ins

Everyone has plug-ins that they have installed into their WordPress website and either have deactivated them or have activated ones but are not really using them. these plug-ins are just taking up space and should be deleted. Of course, before doing so, you should backup your files just to be on the safe side. I also suggest that you deactivate the plug-in before actually deleting any files.

See this screenshot below. As you can see there is an inactive section for plug-ins. There is no real reason why there should be inactive plug-ins on your blog.

Website Maintenance Checklist

#6. Delete Unwanted Themes

Many Webmasters install new WordPress themes and always forget to actually delete them afterwards. You only really need to keep the one that you are using, and also the default WordPress theme. This is usually used for when your theme crashes, as you can always switch to the default theme.

See the screenshot below. I investigated one of my websites and found eight extra themes installed. This also means that eight of these themes need to be kept up to date as having out of date themes and plug-ins can leave you open to hackers. Therefore it is better to only have the theme you are using, and the default WordPress theme.

Website Maintenance Checklist

#7. Optimize Your Database Tables

To optimize database tables, I use WP-DBManager. It is a free plugin available from the WordPress Plugin site and it lets you take control of your database. It also allows you to delete unwanted tables but you would have to be careful with this. Using this plugin to optimize your database does really speed up your website. I like to delete old database tables that have been created by plug-ins that are not using any more. If you are not experienced then you should get some help when doing this as you can crash your entire website by deleting the wrong database table.

#8. Delete Spam Comments

Many webmasters do not realize that most of us that own the new Premium Commentluv plug-in are using this to control spam comments on our websites as it includes G.A.S.P which ads in sneaky hidden fields that bots think they should fill out. Us humans can’t see these hidden fields so we cannot obviously use these input areas. Therefore my stress with spam has turned to almost ZERO because of this plugin.

Now my maintenance for spam simply includes visiting the spam section of the comments, and deleting them. The CommentLuv plug-in is so good that it does not even put the wrong comments in the spam sections either, like Akismet used to do.

Website Maintenance Checklist

In the screenshot above, you can see that the Commentluv plug-in picks up comments that are too short, have too many links in them, and comments where people have not stayed on the page long enough. For example, if you try to put a comment on my website before 60 seconds, obviously you haven’t read the post yet, so Commentluv warns you.

#9. Check on Your Security

A big part of your website maintenance is website security, especially as it is so easy to lose entire sites from entirely avoidable attacks. There are so many aspects to WordPress website security but here are a some quick tips:

  • keep everything updated
  • remove the default admin username
  • do not allow just anyone to register
  • do not make anyone admin
  • move your htaccess file
  • install a security plugin
  • make a fantasticly difficult admin password (I know – no such word!)

I haven’t had a chance to write an article about this subject and I am not sure if I should as it might become another ebook! One of my favourite articles about security is from Smashing Magazine, Securing your WordPress website. This article is amazing and still only touches the surface.

Anyway, there are plugins to use but I am sure they will not do it all for you. I like to use a plugin bullet proof security. Please comment below and let us know what plugin you use?

#10. Posting Maintenance

Every time you post a new article you need to see what effect it will have on your blog. For example you might not have positioned the image correctly or even set it to show up as a thumbnail for the homepage. There are many things that can go wrong.

One good example is when people have added <div> Tags into the HTML section of your WordPress post. If the code is not added in correctly and the tag is unfinished, you might find that your sidebar of your WordPress website now appears at the bottom of the page. This is what an open <div> Tag can do.

This brings me to my next WordPress website maintenance check-list item.

#11. Validate Your Website

Oh no not another maintenance job. This job can be pretty big. You really should validate your RSS feed, your CSS, and maybe your HTML. Get the best validation tips from WordPress.org http://codex.wordpress.org/Validation

#12. Check Your Stats

Checking your stats should be a regular thing that you do. I often find problems that are occurring through searching through my website stats. For example there might be a high exit rate on a certain page or maybe you will notice that your feed isn’t working and you are not getting traffic from your RSS subscribers. There are 1 million things you might see when you check your stats to your website.

#13. Check Your Download Links

Don’t you just hate it when you go to download something and the link does not work? Hmm. Well this is why I like to check my download links as I like to deliver what I promise. Of course we are only human though, but making the effort is a step in the right direction.

Make a WordPress Website Maintenance Schedule

If you know me, you know I have loads of lists and schedules. I love them! Here is an example of a WordPress website maintenance schedule.

Daily

  • Visit your website
  • Backup Posts and Pages
  • Check your stats
  • Moderate comments

Weekly

  • Backup everything
  • Plugin and theme updates
  • Check broken links
  • Check optin form is working
  • Check website security
  • Check all social media links
  • Remove spam and trashed comments

Monthly

  • WordPress core updates
  • Backup the backup
  • Check your stats in detail
  • Delete unwanted themes and plugins
  • Validate

So Why Do We Need this WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist?

All of this WordPress website maintenance will keep your blog running like a well oiled machine. Of course this should be your number one aim and after all, we want to give our website visitors the most pleasant experience we can, error free and smooth sailing.
Download this WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist as a PDF file yours to keep.

About mitz

My name is Milica Pantic but everyone calls me Mitz. I am addicted to internet marketing and making money online. Who wouldn't want to live that life? I started out with one website as a hobby and now have over 20. Building websites and making money online is not that hard. You have to actually take action to make money...that is the biggest hurdle! :)

88 Comments

  1. Patti Hale

    May 20, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    I thought I was doing a pretty good job of performing maintenance on my blog until I read this article! Thanks for the list! It will be very helpful!
    Patti Hale recently posted..How I Survived a Cyber Attack! (So Far)

    Reply

  2. yogesh pant

    May 5, 2013 at 6:59 am

    hi Mitz,
    it was a great information to get it there on your website. Many a times the bloggers forget to check their website from inside. This article is dedicated to the importance of the thorough analysis of website.
    yogesh pant recently posted..Civil service examination result

    Reply

  3. chetu

    May 3, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Hi Mitz,

    I appreciate your work. Before doing any think there should be proper plan, strategy and check list. I hope this check list will be helpful for web site developer as well as small business owners.
    chetu recently posted..Integration of Social Media Networks & eCommerce Platforms – A Case Study

    Reply

  4. Sudipto

    May 3, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Hey Mitz,
    Nice post and Thanks for sharing this post with us. Yes, maintaining our wordpress site is one of the most important part of our blog and we have to update our blog regularly. We have to check all the points you mentioned above and Yes, we have to delete unwanted themes and plugins as it occupied space and offers no profit.
    Sudipto recently posted..Best Android Phone Under 10000 (dofollow)

    Reply

  5. prabhat

    April 29, 2013 at 9:50 am

    great post mitz
    maintaining wordpress blog is as important as other tasks because if your blog gets too mixed up, it will affect load time and ultimately SEO so we should be careful about cleaning our blog and maintaining it. there are many plugins for this task
    prabhat recently posted..How To Download Torrents With IDM Faster – iEatTraffic (dofollow)

    Reply

  6. Prakash

    April 11, 2013 at 5:33 am

    Great list Mitz, I think all the points are good. e should optimize the tables of database. And must check all the download links.
    Prakash recently posted..Jetpack Joyride for PC or Computer, Android Download Online (dofollow)

    Reply

  7. Riki

    February 27, 2013 at 8:06 am

    Hello Mitz,
    I have question for you, What is htaccess file and what its function?
    Thank you before
    Riki recently posted..Britax Boulevard 70

    Reply

    • mitz

      February 27, 2013 at 11:44 pm

      The original purpose of .htaccess—reflected in its name—was to allow per-directory access control, by for example requiring a password to access the content. Nowadays however, the .htaccess files can override many other configuration settings including content type and character set, CGI handlers, etc.

      It is usually stored in the root directory of your domain. You can see this on your server but you must be careful when editing as it can crash your website. Also see more uses for the htaccess here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Htaccess

      Reply

      • Riki

        March 5, 2013 at 6:42 am

        If I create a new htaccess file in the directory / public_html / wp-admin, whether there will be obstacles or problems on blog? I do this because security plugin on my wordpress blog necessitate to create a new folder for htaccess file in the directory / public_html / wp-admin.

        Reply

  8. Scooby

    February 21, 2013 at 10:45 am

    so deactivated plugins are using space anyway. Didn’t know about that going to delete right now

    Reply

  9. Scooby

    February 21, 2013 at 10:26 am

    the backup advice is useful and i’ll try to follow it for next time as i have had lost data issues recently

    Reply

  10. wasim

    February 18, 2013 at 8:59 am

    i do all but deleting spam comments… didnt look at it as an important factor but after reading this from now on i will.. thanks
    wasim recently posted..Yeah !!! You can workout at home !!!

    Reply

  11. Shane

    January 7, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    Hey Mitz! another great checklist form you. I really love how you have put these together. IT si so nice to have these, when you do this so much and all of the time it is easy to forget the most simple things.
    Shane recently posted..Why keyword negatives are important

    Reply

  12. Salman

    December 3, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Nice checklist … I am pretty impressed with your website maintenance schedule and I strongly agree with the point that if we do not visit our site as a visitor then how would we know about the errors, if any !
    Salman recently posted..The HTC One X Plus: A Great Christmas Gift!

    Reply

    • Mitz

      December 3, 2012 at 8:48 pm

      Hi there Salman
      YEs it is amazing what errors I have seen by going through my website like a visitor would… I also see what is missing and if it is easy to navigate. :)

      Reply

  13. John

    October 29, 2012 at 12:34 pm

    Deleting unwanted plug-ins is one of the best pieces of advice in this post. You tend to forget about plugins you don’t use anymore, deactivated but still on the site. Once I cleaned these up my load time decreased significantly. Thank You.
    John recently posted..Shahid Afridi and Aamir Khan and Mother gathering in Makkah With Molana Tariq Jameel

    Reply

  14. rohit kothari

    March 30, 2012 at 7:46 am

    nice tips Mitz almost using all plugin downloading broken link checker to check links but does this plugin automatically redirect/remove all link?
    rohit kothari recently posted..Google Play-Download Temple Run Game for Android [Review]

    Reply

  15. abhinav

    March 27, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    Really great point you discuss with us. Its very helpful for my blog.Thank you so much for sharing this post.
    abhinav recently posted..Movavi Video Editor Software (dofollow)

    Reply

  16. Tanik

    March 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    Once you create a management schedule, it will become habit to you. And then it won’t be a tough task to keep an eye on the all important aspects on your WP site………….Really very good post
    Tanik recently posted..How to make money from facebook (Bangladesh) (dofollow)

    Reply

  17. Danica Green

    March 22, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    Creating back up for your files is very important in WordPress website maintenance. We all know that web is not a safe place for anyone and there are people on the web who simply loves hacking others website.

    Reply

  18. abhishek

    March 22, 2012 at 1:51 am

    I do think that we should keep a regular check at or site,timely updates are quite important for a blog’s maintenance,but you have listed out many points and i will surely keep these points in my mind from now on :-)
    abhishek recently posted..The New GameLord: Alienware X51

    Reply

  19. Dave MacLellan

    March 19, 2012 at 11:45 pm

    Good information – we have a wordpress website and blog which we had written for us a year or two ago – providing the content and working on the last details can be exhausting – but it is important to remember that you are only just started once the site goes live.
    Dave MacLellan recently posted..Rofin Lasers Perform in Medical Device Production

    Reply

  20. Aman Arora

    March 15, 2012 at 2:14 am

    Quite good checklist I guess will have to spend sometime making all things right there are quite a few useless plugins and themes on my blog. Thanks for this
    Aman Arora recently posted..How To : Create Partition On Your Pendrive (dofollow)

    Reply

  21. Denise

    March 14, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    I definitely hear you on #1. I did a theme change and things were looking great while signed in. Signed out and realized I had a hot mess on my hands.

    Reply

  22. Todd

    March 14, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    Hi Mitz! Great article. Just wanted to mention that for anyone who uses Chrome as their primary browser or even operating system (like Chromebook users), there are a number of really good free WordPress extensions available by searching “WordPress” in the Chrome Web Store. Some of them have to do with notifications, checking stats, catching/moderating spam comments, posting about the page/blog post you’re looking at (kind of like clipping bookmark-style add-ons). There are even more for people who have their blogs hosted by WordPress, but I haven’t tried those yet. The “WordPress Stats extension for Chrome” by Place for Bloggers, in particular, is really handy if you check your stats constantly and want to save time rather than clicking on the “stats” in Jetpack over and over again.

    Reply

  23. Reico

    March 12, 2012 at 6:14 am

    Deleting unwanted plug-ins is one of the best pieces of advice in this post. You tend to forget about plugins you don’t use anymore, deactivated but still on the site. Once I cleaned these up my load time decreased significantly. Thank You.

    Reply

  24. Scott

    March 8, 2012 at 8:10 am

    These are great tips. I thought your best tip (which really wasn’t even a tip at all), was your cautious suggestion of backing up everything and how to do it. Backing up your site is sooooo important! Thanks for emphasizing this.
    Scott recently posted..What is Hard Money?

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 11, 2012 at 5:13 pm

      Yes i simply had to mention this!! Just in case..

      Reply

  25. Ricardus

    March 5, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    In terms of Optimizing WordPress, try this plugin. WP-Optimize. It’s relatively simple for newbies.
    Ricardus recently posted..Defer Parsing of JavaScript in WordPress for Faster Initial Loading

    Reply

  26. Dave E Wilkes

    March 5, 2012 at 12:22 am

    Thanks for this Mitz. I wasn’t aware of some of these procedures and have been doing what I now can see was a hit and miss back-up procedure. But now, I’m going to use your post as a check list to make sure I do it all methodically and properly.
    Thank you. You are a fountain of wisdom!
    Dave E Wilkes recently posted..How to Feel Better About Yourself in One Easy Step

    Reply

  27. Mark

    March 4, 2012 at 12:38 am

    Hi Mitz -

    I actually made a hard copy of this one when I received the email!

    What I loved about this article is the sanity-check – which may sound a little weird, maybe, but what I mean is this: I started working on my site about 15 months ago. At the very beginning, I was completely buried is setting up development & test environments, dealing with how to perform backups, where to get real-time customer support when needed (why I love HostGator and now even Andy’s CommentLuv site), how to access my database – all these types of things. It all took me so much time to even get a *rough* feeling of control over the platforms, and it gets incrementally better now with each passing month.

    It’s true one could argue you may not really need to worry about such stuff when you’re starting out, but the reality will is that things always break. So, it won’t be very long before you get burned on something. Entropy and disorder always win over the long haul in our Universe!

    In fact, one of the first things that happened to me was a loss of database connectivity – had to figure out how to repair a table. When you know how to do it, it can take 5 minutes, but until you figure this out – your whole site is down. (And you panic.) It’s *not* cool!

    Also very good to hear I’m not the only one messing with my theme code. You want it to be just right, after all. The problem for me has been a loss of ability to have the theme updated now; I’ve made some fundamental changes. If I update – it all breaks. (I lose all of my customizations which include some I made for plug-in compatibility.) This is a problem I know I’m going to get bitten by eventually, I know. What worries me most are browser upgrades.

    Anyway – beautiful summary of the rigor, the pitfalls, the steps you can take to optimize and the proactive scheduling. There are definitely a few items in here I’ll incorporate moving forward that I hadn’t heard of before – and maybe a few more plugins to download, to buy and to test.

    Just a few final points in this LONG comment:

    1) You were spot-on regarding the Spam filtering in CLuv premium – has been fantastic! :-)
    2) Getting that “broken link checker” plug-in top of my plug-in addition list for now.
    3) One item I’ve found useful in backups is a full home directory copy from HostGator. I do this once a week – essentially grab *everything* (excluding the DB files) which is compressed into a single zip file. In this way, I backup ALL of my HostGator sites in one compressed file. I’ve never *had* to restore at this level, but it’s a sledgehammer approach: just in case. I then grab each separate database as well. The whole effort takes about 10 minutes, and most of that time is just waiting for the downloads.

    Thanks again for another awesome summary. When will you publish “WP Websites Done Right: The Mitz Collection” for consideration as a NY Times Best Seller?? ;-)

    Saturday morning here — time for me to grab a chain saw an get outside now. Spring finally!!
    Mark recently posted..Tree Planting 101

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 4, 2012 at 10:20 pm

      WOW Mark that is a long comment! I really appreciate your great comments here!!
      You should be writing articles about all these cool things you are learning! You seem to really go in depth with the tech stuff which is very much needed info for others!
      mitz recently posted..5 Basic Google Analytics Tracking And Researching Tips (dofollow)

      Reply

      • Mark

        March 6, 2012 at 12:07 pm

        Thanks, Mitz – It’s my pleasure: you’ve really helped me move forward such a long way in just a few weeks of coaching. Your articles are truly outstanding – so incredibly relevant and useful. Maybe I can write a guest post on your site if you like – “The Top Five things I’ve learned from Mitz – So Far…” ;-) All kidding aside, I’d be happy to – just let me know!
        Mark recently posted..Tree Planting 101

        Reply

        • mitz

          March 11, 2012 at 5:16 pm

          Please do!! I could learn from this too! I would love to know what information people think is important from my blog so I can do more! That would really help me know what content I should be supplying!!! :) Hope you are not joking!!

          Reply

          • Mark

            March 12, 2012 at 12:01 pm

            Not joking at all – you got it! Will have something for you by month’s end. (I can usualy only “do justice” to about one article per month with work.) All I ask is that if I “blow” the Guest Author process in any “newbie,” kind-of-way you help so that I don’t do anything silly!! Actually, learning to “Guest Author” will now be another thing I’ve learned from you, huh? ;-) More to come…
            Mark recently posted..Replacing a Bathroom Toilet

          • Mark

            March 19, 2012 at 9:17 am

            Hi Mitz -

            You don’t have to publish this comment – but I tried to sign up for a guest author account twice through the “Guest Post” link you have down in your footer. I just wanted to see if you got those requests through the system – or maybe I botched that somehow? I started an outline so far! Thx…

            Mark

  28. matt smith

    March 4, 2012 at 9:02 am

    oh man great post! I always forget to remove old unwanted plugins and check for broken links. I think im going to print this post out and use it as a checklist haha. Thanks!
    matt smith recently posted..Steam Gets Rayman Origins Demo

    Reply

  29. Andy Bailey

    March 4, 2012 at 4:37 am

    oh that reminds me! I really need to delete old spam messages and with so many hundreds of posts I need to get rid of old revisions too!

    thanks for the post Mitz , there goes my sunday morning! :)
    Andy Bailey recently posted..Which works better? – video or text based sales pages – my split test results (dofollow)

    Reply

  30. Mike Peters

    March 4, 2012 at 4:30 am

    Keeping your wordpress installs and plugins up to date can really become annoying. Especially if you have several websites running wordpress. However, I do like the fact that it is being kept up with and improved.
    Mike Peters recently posted..Savannah Apartment Finder

    Reply

  31. Obaidul Haque

    March 3, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    Though initially you may not worry about all those things, you need to pay attention as your site grows one step after another. With platforms as user-friendly as WordPress, you certainly don’t need to worry about how you will manage all those things.

    Once you create a management schedule, it will become habit to you. And then it won’t be a tough task to keep an eye on the all important aspects on your WP site.

    Thanks for providing us with this great checklist, Mitz.
    Obaidul Haque recently posted..Interview with Guest Blogger – Ann Smarty | Search Engine Journal

    Reply

  32. Gab

    March 3, 2012 at 1:22 am

    Hi, I need a backup plugin. Which of the three are you using? I think I’ve tried the third one before but it didn’t work…

    Reply

  33. Bryan Ring

    March 3, 2012 at 9:01 am

    The only lists I have ever made regarding business is: Weekly lawn mowing, snow plowing and email. Since building websites entered my life, all I do now is make lists via excel spreadsheets. Of course all glory to you Mitz for opening my eyes and not relying on my brain to remember everything. There is so much involved to make a successful blog/website, that I could not imagine being 60 years old trying to remember everything. Checklist: SEO, maintenance, passwords, etc.
    Sometimes, I have found, Askimet sends good comments to spam for deletion.
    BulletProof Security, I uploaded, installed and made the necessary changes on 6 websites in less than one hour. Of course 2 months ago this would look overwhelming to me, but you have simplified things for me personally, I am not AFRAID to try new things.
    I love ComLuv(and you), it is such a great tool for bloggers and those who are looking for great reads and traffic to their sites.
    Load times have proven crucial for my overall bounce rate, which is now under 10%, THANK YOU MITZ!
    Bryan Ring recently posted..3 SEO Tips For More Web Page Visibility (dofollow)

    Reply

  34. Vanessa

    March 2, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Great points Mitz.. Maintenance really is very important.. Thanks for sharing to us your tips and steps.. Maintenance will be easy for now on.. :)
    Vanessa recently posted..Tips To Get Pregnant

    Reply

  35. Nicholle Olores

    March 2, 2012 at 9:10 am

    Such a kind of helpful post Mitz, when you have a plan to have a WordPress site the maintenance is the first thing to consider. Anyway, love your checklist it helps a lot. Thanks!
    Nicholle Olores recently posted..Timber Doors

    Reply

  36. Rob

    March 2, 2012 at 2:09 am

    This is quite a comprehensive and exhaustive check-list of WordPress backup plan.
    Thanks for posting this.
    Rob recently posted..Paleo Diet Recipes to Lose Weight

    Reply

  37. Kevin

    March 1, 2012 at 10:52 pm

    Nothing in life is easy. If there was an easy way to make money everyone would be doing it. Yes I do so agree with you that’s what makes it good, the work you put into reaching it. It’s a great feeling. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
    Kevin recently posted..Hotels in Dubai

    Reply

  38. Vishvast

    March 1, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    These are some helpful A to Z tips to maintain our WordPress Site.
    Mitz, I appreciate this great effort by you. I think I should do all the above steps right now and I already did the backup after reading this.
    Thanks a lot again for sharing this post with us. :)
    Vishvast recently posted..5 Free WordPress Themes of January 2012

    Reply

  39. david

    March 1, 2012 at 12:49 am

    Mitz, I didn’t know about WPTwin. thanks for letting me know about that.

    I have my server settings set to backup every 3 days. so if I inadvertently have a failure, I can restore everything. I may miss a day or two, but it is an added safeguard for when I don’t always back everything up properly before doing maintenance or upgrades.

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 1, 2012 at 2:48 pm

      Yes WPtwin clones your exact blog. But if you are using your server, I also would not mind losing a few days as long as I can get most of it back. :)

      Reply

  40. Mirjam

    February 29, 2012 at 10:45 pm

    this looks like a pretty solid list of recommendations. I was actually looking to make a maintenance list myself but seeing this one, I think I have found a solid base now, thanks!
    Mirjam recently posted..I´m Back At The Keyword Academy With a New Shiny Badge to Show Off!

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 1, 2012 at 2:50 pm

      Glad you like it Mirjam. Feel free to improve on this list and I will add it into the article! I know I have probably missed a lot of steps.

      Reply

  41. Julie

    March 1, 2012 at 5:55 am

    Such a nice checklist for wordpress! You’ve really made a nice summary of the most common blogging mistakes in the wordpress scene. The most useful point of yours for me was to make the daily, weekly and monthly schedule from the blog, that could make really easier and controllable the scheduling and managing of the blogging activity. Thanks for sharing this helpful article!
    Julie recently posted..dentists london

    Reply

  42. jane krill

    March 1, 2012 at 2:39 am

    this tutorial is soooooo helpful, it covers everything, I think your tip about backing everything up is the best one. ive learnt the hard way far to many times now!!

    Reply

  43. Sanjeev

    March 1, 2012 at 12:39 am

    I like Backup Buddy for the backup solution, its a paid tool but does a good work and easy to restore also.

    We should always have a checklist or a calender to remind us about important activities.
    Sanjeev recently posted..GroupHigh – An Easy Solution For Blogger Outreach (dofollow)

    Reply

  44. Prakash

    February 29, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    Hi MItz,
    nice tips for maintaining our websites. Checkout the broken links and delete the unwanted things are really important…….
    thanks for such a nice article……..
    Prakash recently posted..Best WordPress Themes Free Download

    Reply

  45. Edward

    February 29, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Seriously, I am a fresher to WordPress CMS and it’s just this month that I started having one. I use Hostgator as my hosting and I was having an automatic backup. I am not sure though if it is reliable. I might consider using a third party software. I’m still getting the hang out with the plugins so I don’t have much on my WP site. I only knew one thing that is in my maintenance list. And that is to install updates whenever possible.

    Reply

  46. Alok

    February 29, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    I use bulletproof-security plugin to prevent SQL injection in my database also up to date every script according to their auther. This will help me a lot.

    Reply

  47. Juphet Mislang

    February 29, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    Thanks Mitz for the advice! The only thing I’m doing from the list above is deleting spam comments. Now I know that I should back up my files too. Well, about the broken links, did you only brought back the links with the same links or you changed it with new one? Over all another great post Mitz!
    Juphet Mislang recently posted..My Blog’s Traffic has been Increasing

    Reply

  48. Becca

    February 29, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    I’m not really familiar in other tips that you mentioned. It is really a big help for me, you’ve always
    shared useful tips on your every post. That is why I keep coming back here.thanks!

    Reply

  49. Lilibeth

    February 29, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    Irk. Off to go backup the database. I use Dr. Link check for my links. Completely painless.

    Reply

  50. Kevin

    February 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    The guidelines are really excellent and this will remind the website owners while to maintain their website properly. But I need urgent help from you as I feel you have great experience on this. Some days before my WordPress blog sites are deactivated and it is showing no longer available. I put a lot of hard work and now I am totally frustrated. Any help is highly appreciated. I look forward to hear from you. Thanks in advance.

    Reply

  51. Porfirio Hampe

    February 29, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    You post is a life saver! Sure I’ve come across other posts like this but your post has a specific scheduling included so thank you very much. I’ve never come across the validation procedure. That is something I need to try.
    Porfirio Hampe recently posted..Oscars 2012 Winners: A Night to Remember

    Reply

  52. Jim Jenks

    February 29, 2012 at 3:56 am

    Great article, lots of useful information for me to use in regards to managing my WordPress website. I’m still fairly new to WordPress but I’m excited every time I’m able to find an article like this. Thanks.

    Reply

  53. jan

    February 29, 2012 at 9:45 am

    Hi Mitz
    I am definitely going to have to revisit this post as there is so much in it, but a couple of questions:

    1. When CL catches the spam comments or you mark something as spam, do you know if it remembers the spammers and stops them commenting again? I have had some comments get through where the person writes something like “this is a great post you should try x product”, so I haven’t deleted the spam folder thinking it might stop future comments. So does that slow your site down not deleting the spam comments?

    2. How do you change your sign on name from admin? I set up my main site which was only my second site and that is how I was taught! But I see the problem, if they crack your password they can easily get in!

    I use Broken Link Checker – it’s fantastic, it will send you an email as soon as you upload a new post if there are any broken links, beats going through every link on your site to check!
    jan recently posted..Is fish safe to eat?

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 4, 2012 at 9:30 pm

      Hi jan
      1. I would say that WordPress should remember if you mark a comment as spam.. As for commmentluv catching spam, you can set it to reject short comments and many other options.

      I do not believe there is a reason to store spam comments on your blog. It might not slow your blog yet but might eventually. It is like keeping all deleted files in your recycle bin on your computer..Eventually it will cause a problem.

      2. To tell the truth I haven’t tried changing the admin but the other way around this is to put an amazing password in place.. Ultra secure like Wd4%_9(!k7$^0
      mitz recently posted..Successful WordPress Website Checklist (dofollow)

      Reply

      • jan

        March 5, 2012 at 1:00 am

        Thanks Mitz
        The only problem is if you have an ultra-secure password – how do you remember it? I have about 50 notes in Outlook now with all of my password info – not the actual password but hints so that I will remember. Some sites give you a password that you can’t change so they need to be stored and some of them are just as is, as they are too difficult to remember and you couldn’t just give yourself a hint!!
        jan recently posted..Hormones and weight gain – are your hormones making you fat?

        Reply

  54. Harriet

    February 29, 2012 at 9:02 am

    I think your tip about backing everything up is the best one. I always back up my university work so that if theres a computer disaster, I still have my work and don’t have to panic!
    Harriet recently posted..Sony Ericsson Xperia X8

    Reply

  55. Daniel

    February 29, 2012 at 7:06 am

    Your tutorial is rather helpful!Thanks!
    As I’m a blog owned, it’s very important for me to have my site running smoothly without any errors and problems.

    Reply

  56. Anne

    February 28, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    Great post. I have a couple of dumb questions, though. Do I have to save my websites on my computer each week? Is there anywhere else I can save them – like somewhere on my hostgator files for example? I’m really terrified that I’ll do something wrong and mess up my sites I’ve worked so hard (sometimes blindly) to sort out. I’ve seen various updates on my dashboard for ages, but am scared to touch them in case something goes wrong.

    On the dashboard of my newer wp site, the widgets etc went to the bottom of the page when I did something (I still don’t know what). They’re still there, as I can’t figure out how to get them back to where they belong. However, the front of the site looks fine, so I’m not going to touch anything else.

    So far, I’ve had a few moments where I thought I had completely wrecked the site. I see I definitely have to work out a way to get my head around this, or hire someone to do this stuff for me.

    Nick, what? You’ve confused me even more. I’m going to lie down now and cool my head off :-)
    Anne recently posted..Diy Tutorials

    Reply

    • mitz

      March 4, 2012 at 9:16 pm

      I have lost complete websites before but with WordPress we have so many backup options..

      the easiest way to make sure you have your posts and pages is to simply export them to your computer as shown above.

      In Hostgator there are also backup options and I also have the WP-DBManager plugin to backup my database.

      I guess I will need to write an entire post about backing up your website as there are many more details.
      mitz recently posted..10 Point SEO Checklist for New WordPress Webmasters (dofollow)

      Reply

  57. vikas

    February 29, 2012 at 6:03 am

    Hello MITZ,
    Great post for a beginner and you have mentioned all the important tools.We all have problems in beginning but if we are aware of these tools then the problem will be very less.

    Reply

  58. Rizxi

    February 28, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    i had pretty bad experience with my wordpress website and also learnt the lesson, i lost some of my recent data as i updated my wordpress. Thanks for sharing such an important information.
    Rizxi recently posted..LG Optimus 4X HD An Ideal Candidate For Your Next SmartPhone

    Reply

  59. Tan

    February 28, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    I never delete unwanted plugins and themes. Thanks for sharing and my first step is to delete unwanted plugins and themes. I think keep the blog up to date is very important to protect our wordpress blog in secure condition.
    Tan recently posted..How to Improve Good Customer Service Skills?

    Reply

  60. Rene

    February 28, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    Hey Mitz
    That’s an impressive maintenance list. Man there’s so much work to do on website maintenance. I’m guilty of severe negligence on my poor site. I might just go and visit her as a visitor and have a customer experience.
    Oh yeah and I’m definitely installing broken link checker and deleting about 6 themes.
    Thanks for the kick up the butt.
    Rene’
    Rene recently posted..Your Guide To Best Practices In Personal Finance

    Reply

  61. Nick Von Cover

    February 28, 2012 at 6:28 am

    I thought that I was doing a great job with my site but it turns out the the six things I am doing is less than half of your list. Learning more every day.

    A note on #9, specifically passwords. If you make a change from using only lower case letters to lower and upper case, you don’t just double the number of password combinations, you increase it by two to the power of however many characters are in your password. So 4 letters results in a 16-fold increase of potential passwords.

    A 4-letter password made up of only lower case letters has roughly 457k potential combinations, but upper and lower case letters yields 7.3 million combinations! Add in digits, 14.8 million. Special characters? Well, you get the point.

    Nick
    Nick Von Cover recently posted..Adding an Email Address Through cPanel

    Reply

    • mitz

      February 28, 2012 at 9:28 am

      Great tips Nick! Thank you for sharing! :)

      Reply

  62. Dennis Marshall

    February 28, 2012 at 3:25 am

    Wow.. Never realized I was missing out on so much.. I thought just backing up my database was enough.. I recently had to upload my database backup and realized I lost all my custom settings for my theme.. I figured that was just a part of the game. LOL.. I’ll definitely be checking into backing up my custom functions now…

    and with the spam comments.. i don’t even like deleting them.. Askimet does a pretty good job but I want something that will remember every spam comment and block that ip address; or even the web address from ever posting again.. That would be perfect.. I’m going to get CommentLuv tho.. I really like the feature where commenters have to share before being able to pick out of their top 10 posts… Luckily for me, I’m a guest writer so i get 10 choices automatically.. LOL..

    Great post Mitz.. Got me really rubbing my chin and whipping out the notepad on this one.. Got some things to work on… Thanks.
    Dennis
    Dennis Marshall recently posted..14 Of The Best Social Sharing Plugins For WordPress That ROCK! (dofollow)

    Reply

    • mitz

      February 28, 2012 at 9:38 am

      Sorry to give you more work Deninis! LOL You know I have probably missed heaps of other jobs that could be on this list! :)

      Reply

  63. Bhupendra

    February 28, 2012 at 3:21 am

    Hi Mitz,
    I never think that just like PC we also need to WordPress Website Maintenance,but i think by doing that we can achieve more traffic and high SERP.Thanks for sharing these great tips.
    Bhupendra recently posted..5 Ways to Make Money Online With Your Website

    Reply

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