Regular care is the cheapest insurance your website can have. Use this checklist to keep things in order.
Every week
Check that your site loads and your contact forms work.
Apply updates to WordPress core, themes and plugins, ideally on a staging copy first.
Review comments and delete spam.
Every month
Check that backups ran and test that you can restore one.
Run a security scan and review user accounts, removing anyone who no longer needs access.
Test your site speed and look for pages that have slowed down.
Remove plugins and themes you no longer use.
Every year
Review your hosting plan and make sure it still fits your traffic.
Renew your domain name and SSL certificate if they are not automatic.
Audit your content and refresh outdated pages.
Check that your design still suits your brand and your audience.
Why skipping maintenance is expensive
Most hacked WordPress websites are compromised through outdated plugins, themes or weak passwords. A missed update can turn into a site that is offline, flagged by browsers or sending spam. Cleaning that up costs far more than a routine maintenance plan.
Maintenance also protects your search performance. A site that is slow, broken or down for hours loses visitors, and search engines notice.
Doing it yourself or hiring help
If you are comfortable in the WordPress dashboard, you can follow this checklist yourself. Always take a backup before updating and test on a staging copy for important sites. If you would rather not take the risk, our WordPress maintenance service covers updates, backups, security scans and speed checks every month, and WordPress support is there when something breaks.
No time for this? That is exactly what our WordPress maintenance plans are for.
