1. WordPress (or other CMS) Core updates

Technological updates are crucial for strong performance and security. Here is the brief about “Why are updates for a WordPress website so important?”

WordPress is an open-source software. Anyone can study the WordPress code. WordPress is tested and updated on a regular interval by a large number of developers. With each new release update, you will find new options for customizing websites, fixing problems and removing identified bugs. The update provides you security from hackers. The new update may contain;

• Security patches
• Performance improvement
• New Features

This makes it important to keep up with the core CMS updates on WordPress or other CMS.

2. Website back up

Website back up is a copy of all of your website data. In case of unfortunate situations of data loss, your back up data does play a vital role.

• If websites are attacked by the virus/ malware then you may lose all your data and without back up, it is a nightmare to tackle the situation.
• If you are updating the website and it fails, then back up data will help to recover the website.
• Sometimes hardware failure also ruins website. At that time back up data is helpful to recover the website.

There are 3 types of back ups

1. Off-site back up: Take website back up in local pc or hard drive
2. On-site back up: back up data on the same server where a website is.
3. Remote back up: back up website data on a third-party storage system, like google drive

It is a good idea to take a back up on weekly/monthly basis for small websites and daily basis for larger organizations.

3. Speed Checks and Maintenance

Nowadays website speed is more important than ever. Slow websites will have a low number of conversions, a high bounce rate and a low number of pages per visit. A slow website makes visitors frustrated. Even search engines will display your website on the downside of the result. Site speed is a ranking factor and even larger ranking factor for mobile pages. A fast site speed will result in a better user experience, while a slow site speed will result in a poor user experience. Many factors affect the speed of the website. Hosting server, Website Development result, server-side cache and many more.

4. Cache management

Caching is a technology that increases the speed of websites without sacrificing anything in the process. When used correctly, it’ll not only result in significantly faster load times but also decreases the load on your server and web browser. Website cache on the server-side helps to get responses faster from the server. Whereas website cache on browsers will load even faster. If website data updates weekly or monthly, you can set browser data cache for a week or a month. This will save unnecessary internet traffic.

5. SPAM comments examination and deletion

If you have a website with a blog, you cetainly would have experienced spam. You will receive more spam when your blog is more popular. There is nothing more frustrating than having to spend a lot of time moderating your comments to determine which ones are spam and which ones are legit. If a website allows posting spam comments on the post with a link, search engines may also consider the website as spam and may down the website in the search result. You can identify spam by following things

• Comment author is not using real name
• Comment content is not related to the article or post
• Same comment author post comment with different website links in a comment
• Email address looks fake

6. Once a month database cleanup (Old updates and copies etc.)

The database is the same thing as your file records in the office. Data cleansing is also important because it improves your data quality and in doing so, increases overall productivity. When you clean your data, all outdated or incorrect information is gone – leaving you with the highest quality information.

7. Login attempts examination and IP blockages as required

It is a good habit to take prevention steps before you become the victim of malicious tricks. Login attempts logs will help you to track the security of your website. If you found suspicious activity then block that IP Address of origin to access your website. Blocking the IP Address to accessing your website is also known as blacklisting IP Address.

8. Plugins Update/compatibility checks

Plugins are a critical part of website security. The majority of the hackers attack from the vulnerability of the plugin. To overcome this you must regularly update the plugins. Sometimes plugins functions are obsolete with the version of the WordPress updates. This will result in the breaking of the working functionality. The solution for this is to update plugins regularly and discard the plugins that are unmaintained.

9. Browser and device compatibility checks and updates

Websites should always be ready to serve all devices and browsers. You cannot expect users to use the same device and browser. Website compatibility has a critical role in the user experience. A rich user experience helps your business grow rapidly. There are website features thar are browser dependent and some website features are only supported in a few browsers. A browser update or a website update must maintian the functionality and should not cause any errors or false notifications.

10. Any minor changes such as an address, typos, timing, team info, link updates, etc.

A delay in minor changes on the website like address, typos team info, or link updates etc., can drive your leads away, specailly if they are comapring the info from the different sources such as social media accounts etc. Your website represents you and your business. If you have a wrong information on the website, you may lose a valuable lead.

11. Sitewide single-line message maintenance

A single line message about the website maintenance or holiday plays a vital role in customer/user experience. It saves user time and efforts of the customer/user and prevents loss of the lead. When done right, you can redirect all the incoming leads during this phase to the webpages of your choice.

Marvel Website’s team is happy to maintain your business website for you. Contact us to find out which website maintenance plan is best suited for your business website.