If you love working with WordPress and if you actively use it, it is important to maintain it as well. And maintenance of your WordPress website is much more than merely changing the passwords.
You need to be careful about optimizing the site and you must check whether it runs smoothly. If you are slightly confused about these concepts, then do not worry at all. Here you will find complete information about maintaining WordPress website.
Here are the best ten ways to help your WordPress website perform fantastically. You can even modify these as per your convenience. But make sure to go through all and check your profile once-in-a-while to optimize it.
Change Your Password
The primary aspect that you need to consider about WordPress is your password. It is the first line of defense against any unwanted access to your site. It is the first line of protection to have for your data and account.
That is why; you need to construct a strong password for the ultimate protection. You need to formulate the password using a unique combination of numbers, alphabets, and even special notations. You have always done these for your bank accounts and other important accounts.
Then why not do so for your WordPress account as well? Also, these would notably include the FTP accounts, WordPress website and the database. But sometimes, even if you are too cautious about the passwords, there can be unwanted compromises happening around.
Therefore WordPress security professionals always recommend the users to change them regularly. You would be changing the passwords regularly only for your protection. Such changes would cover the WordPress admin area, FTP, or the SSH accounts along with the WordPress database password.
In case you aren’t much into stronger passwords, here is a quick fix to your worries. You can get professional help or special applications in the market to securely store your passwords and fill them as per your convenience. Also, here you would have minimal risk involved for the safety of your WordPress account.
Did You Backup Your Website?
The given advancement of the entire science and technology has modified the world around. But it also comes with threats and complications. You always have the risk of getting your data deleted or mistreated by others. Therefore, there is a safe option to keep a backup of your information.
The backup is the best and safest way of protecting your data and information. It helps you to keep a copy of everything you have created till now, even if it gets destroyed with time. And the best thing about a backup is that you can retrieve the data at your convenience.
So, if you want to maintain WordPress, you need to keep a backup as well. You can get plenty of options for your activity. Research about the top applications available for getting a backup and use them carefully. You can even automate the backup process as per your preference.
However, please note that these applications can even stop once in a while when you aren’t noticing. Therefore, make sure to check the functions and activities to avoid such hurdles regularly. Also, please do store these files in a secure backup location for its security.
Related : 10 Significant Reasons To Perform A Website Backup
Did You Update WordPress?
The WordPress system is responsible for managing the updates for themes and plugins. But these can stop working as well. So, what do you do? Well, get ready to update the platform once in a while to get the latest version. Why? That is because; the latest version helps you to get the plugins and themes to stay updated.
In case you miss any updates, do not panic. Visit the WordPress Updates and check for the updates available. Make sure to review all the installed plugins and the themes are running on the latest version. If you face any problems regarding this operation, make sure to account for not choosing the update.
Stay Away From Spam!
Spamming is quite a concern in WordPress. If you want to control spam, you can either get an application to take care of spam or manage it yourself. The application is responsible for keeping the spam away from the comment queue. A popular plugin worth mentioning here is Akismet, which detects the spam comments.
In such conditions, you need to keep track of these comments as well. Once you have checked it all, you are ready to delete the spam comments to get rid of these unwanted things from your website.
Never entertain these as these can hinder the performance of your site. Also, keeping a track on your comments will help you in knowing the genuine and useful ones.
Testing The Forms On Your Website Is Crucial
Creating forms on your WordPress website is quite crucial for your work. You even get form builder plugins like WPForms, which help you to create unique forms on the website. But due to any technical reasons, these might not always remain functional. While sending an email or formulating one, you need to properly check the availability and functionality of these forms. Make sure that these are working correctly to avoid hassles later.
Optimize Your Database
If you are keen on increasing your website’s performance, you must optimize it well. This is an important task to undertake because WordPress tends to store a lot of data and information in the database. It consists of all your creative content, users, their comments and settings.
But along with such relevant ones, your database tends to gather a lot of irrelevant data as well. It might take up a lot of backup space, which can adversely affect the downloading, uploading and even restoring the backups themselves.
In such situations, you need to optimize the database as much as possible. You need to gather these files and keep removing them as and when possible to enhance the database’s performance.
Performance Tests: Run Them Now
Many users are quite enthusiastic about the performance of their WordPress website initially. But with time, they tend to skip these processes and add new content and plugins to the site.
As a result, the website gets overloaded with such features and often runs relatively slow. It is not always about the sure experience but also about the SEO ranking of the site. And if you do not focus on the SEO ranking, you might end up with a slow website.
Therefore, it is essential to regularly review the website’s overall performance and conduct a thorough performance test. It enhances your site’s SEO ranking, thereby helping you to reach out to the audience without any troubles.
404 Errors: Do You Have To Fix Any?
404 errors are quite common and arise due to multiple reasons. A 404 error might arise due to misinterpretation of any data or because the user might have typed the URL in the wrong way. These errors are quite common. But at times, such errors can decrease the audience engagement on your website. It can also have adverse affects on the user experience. You do not want your audience to get frustrated due to such errors. So, try finding these and fix them as much as possible. Get professional help if required.
Related : 10 Common WordPress Errors And Solutions To Fix Them
Broken Links Need Fixing
Your WordPress website is transforming, its growing! You keep linking many websites to your older content, which might not be working anymore. Some might have even moved to new locations as well. Whether they have disappeared or moved away, that can have quite an effect on your content.
Sometimes, these links are broken; sometimes even the images are not functional. Even if you have misspelled few links or got some poorly formatted links, do not worry. Identify these as early as possible to avoid any confusion.
Such occurrences can get slightly frustrating for the visitors. So, you need to shift your focus slightly and identify these to enhance the user experience. Search for these and keep updating the links as and when possible to enhance your website’s audience engagement.
SEO Audit Is A Must
Lastly, do not skip continuing a thorough, in-depth review of the content posted on your website. As already highlighted in before, it is essential to focus on your SEO ranking.
You can use the Google Analytics tool and understand the data correctly. Understand why the conversion rate is low on your site despite the potential traffic. Use proper SEO tactics and audit your methods appropriately.
Try adding new keywords, proper and attractive images and even get proper links to other sites to enhance search engines’ ranking. Get professional SEO help in case you are starting afresh.
Over to you
These are some of the practical and expert ways to enhance the performance of your WordPress website. If you are an active user, share the tactics that you follow for your website. In case you have any valuable suggestions for these tips or want to add some more, please feel free to comment below.
