What is a WordPress Maintenance Plan?
Did you know there are over 1.9 billion websites online? HOLY URLS BATMAN! If you want to compete with them, you should consider a maintenance plans for your WordPress site.
The right maintenance plans can help keep your site secure and up to date. Then, your site can run quickly and smoothly to help support more visitors. (Well, almost as fast and smooth as the Batmobile.)
Read on to learn more about a WordPress maintenance plan and what it includes.
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Website Backups
One of the most important WordPress maintenance tasks is to backup your website regularly. A good maintenance plan will copy all of your files into a folder that you can download.
The maintenance service can keep a copy, and you can have a copy as well. If something happens to your WordPress site, you'll be able to restore a recent backup.
Think of a back up as the Robin to Your Batman. You may need one if something goes wrong during a WordPress update. However, if a villain gets into your website, a backup copy is great.
Another situation where having a backup is useful is if you change WordPress hosts. You can download the files and set everything up with your new hosting account.
Site Security
The best WordPress maintenance plans will also have something that helps with website security. Basic plans may only include security installation or monitoring to help you check for hackers. Why so serious about a better plan? So the Joker won’t sneak up on you.
Advanced plans may help you with everything from installing an SSL certificate to daily monitoring. You should consider how much help you need with WordPress site security.
Then, you'll be able to compare maintenance plans and their features. If you want more security help, investing in a higher-tier maintenance plan can be well worth.
WordPress Updates
Any good WordPress maintenance service will also include handling WordPress updates. You should choose a service that will help with updates to WordPress itself.
However, you must also consider plugins and themes and how often those receive updates. If you have a lot of themes and plugins on your site, you may have an update as often as every day.
Paying for a WordPress maintenance plan means you don't have to worry about updating things as soon as possible. (We can handle all of this to help you save time.) Maybe even help you save Gotham.
Then, you won't have to worry about security vulnerabilities that can develop when using older versions of plugins and themes.
Keep Your Site Up
If your WordPress site goes down, you must get it back up as soon as possible. The longer or more often your site goes down, the more traffic you can lose.
Of course, updates and security monitoring can help keep your site running as normal. You may find some services that help keep your site going in other ways, such as getting rid of hackers.
The best website maintenance plans can help you keep your site up as much as possible. Things that may be out of your control can happen, but having some sort of WordPress maintenance plan may reduce the risk of a huge site outage.
Speed Up Your Site
Another feature you should look for in WP maintenance plans is caching. This is where your website can create and store copies of files in someone's browser.
That makes it easy for that person to come back to your website, and they can enjoy a faster browsing experience. Caching can help speed up your site overall.
A faster site can help attract and retain visitors so that you can get more traffic and customers. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, you can easily lose people and give off a poor first impression.
You can do things yourself to speed up your website. However, if you're already paying for WordPress maintenance, you might as well get some help with site speed.
Tech Support
You may not want to think about it, but there's always a chance that you could accidentally delete something on your site. To combat this problem, look for WordPress maintenance plans with some tech support.
Tech support can also help with other small issues with your site, such as restoring a backup. That way, you don't have to waste time finding the solution yourself. Alfred will thank you for this!
You also won't have to contact support from your website host and wonder if they can help. Not all maintenance plans come with this service, so consider how likely you are to need it when selecting the best plan for you.
Activity Reports
Another feature to consider when comparing WordPress maintenance services is activity reports. You may want to get a report if you want to see what the company does each month.
The report details can vary from service to service, so ask the company what they'll include. Getting activity reports can help you ensure you're getting the most out of your maintenance plan. So this means less distress and less need for the bat signal.
You may even decide you need to upgrade if you want more features the next month. Be sure to keep a copy of the activity reports for a few months to see if there are any trends to help you choose the best plan for you.
SEO Reports
Another type of report you may want from your WordPress maintenance service is an SEO report. The report can help track your site's performance in search engines.
Then, you can tell if your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is working. (Without having to solve the Riddler’s cryptic messages) If it's not, you'll be able to figure out what you can change to make things better.
Maybe you find your site runs slowly, so you upgrade to a maintenance plan with advanced caching, or you should focus on different keywords to rank higher in search.
Why Is WordPress Maintenance Important to Your Small Business?
Small business owners understand the importance of having a secure, reliable website. Maintenance is key to this, which helps keep websites optimized and up-to-date. Without regular maintenance, a website can quickly become vulnerable to security threats such as malicious code injections or viruses. These can not only damage the website but also cause customers to lose trust in the business due to lack of security.
WordPress maintenance also helps keep websites running smoothly and efficiently by updating plugins and themes, optimizing images, and speeding up loading times. This ensures that customers have quick and reliable access to the website on any device they use. Additionally, regular maintenance reduces the risk of crashing due to outdated software, which can lead to costly downtime for small businesses.
Making Maintaining Your WordPress Site Easy
If you want to grow your WordPress site, maintenance is crucial. Be sure to consider different services and packages to choose the plan that makes sense for you.
Whether you need basic assistance or advanced technical help, you can find a plan that (bat)suits you. Then, you'll be able to watch as your website traffic grows.
Do you need help from a skilled vigilante? Or just with WordPress maintenance? Schedule an appointment today.
What is a WordPress Maintenance Plan? Summary
• Website Backups are key to a maintenance plan, helping restore previous versions of your site in case of an emergency.
• Site Security should also be considered when selecting a maintenance plan, with basic plans including installation or monitoring and advanced plans offering more options like daily monitoring.
• WordPress Updates should be handled by the maintenance service to ensure that you always use the most up to date version of WordPress, plugins, and themes.
• Keeping your site up is important for retaining visitors, so seek a plan to help reduce the risk of a site outage.
• Speed Up Your Site with caching, which can help create and store copies of files in someone's browser, increasing loading speed and attracting more visitors.
• Tech Support is useful if something goes wrong on your website, restoring backups or assisting with other small issues.
• Activity Reports can help track what the company does monthly and allow you to upgrade when necessary.
• SEO Reports are beneficial for tracking how well your website performs in search engine rankings.
