Do you have a WordPress website and looking for a developer to maintain it on a regular basis? If yes, this blog post may help you.
Here I have shared 6 instructions that you must give to your WordPress web developer in order to maintain your website effectively.
#1 Always work on test environment first
If you already have a running website, don’t let your developer work on it directly to make any kind of changes because it may affect the existing functionalities and can damage the user-experience.
Have your web developer work on the test environment first in order to check & ensure that the website is not disturbed in anyway.
If you don’t have any test server with you, you can ask your web developer to deploy the website onto their test server and make the required changes. Once all the changes are done and tested on their test server, you can then ask them to move the website to your live server.
On the test environment, your web developer can do several maintenance tasks like below:
Updating themes & plugins
Adding any new features
Upgrading WordPress version & it’s database
Redesigning your website
#2 Ensuring SSL for all the webpages
An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is an integral part of any website’s security. It’s no longer a luxury; it’s an out and out necessity nowadays.
Below are but 4 major reasons why you must ask your website developer to use SSL.
SSL helps you to protect your website data
Better search engine rankings
SSL improves customer trust
Helps you to comply with PCI/DSS requirements
#3 Taking care of responsive design
If your website is not responsive, it’s of no use. Therefore, you must request your website developer to take care of your website’s responsiveness.
Over the time, when your developer adds several new features or design elements on your WordPress website, it may lost its responsiveness. Therefore, as a part of website maintenance, your developer must always check & fix your website for its responsiveness.
Below are few benefits of having a responsive website:
A responsive website helps you to secure higher search engine rankings.
A responsive website ensures better user-experience.
A responsive website ensures fast loading on mobile phones.
A responsive website helps you to reach more audience as more than 50% of the internet users browse websites using their smart devices.
#4 Taking care of plugins & themes
Website development is not a one-time thing. You do need the assistance of your WordPress developer to maintain your website too.
So, if you engage a WordPress developer for your website maintenance, you must ask him to:
Regularly update all the plugins of your website.
Update the theme, when required.
Take regular backups of your website.
Install a patch in the plugin or theme, when required.
#5 Ensuring loading speed
With the overwhelming number of plugins, your WordPress website’s loading speed may get affected.
A slow loading website can have several disadvantages like:
Loss of search engine rankings
Bad user-experience
High bounce rate
Low sales & conversions
Therefore, testing your website for the loading speed and fixing it immediately should also be an integrate part of your website maintenance.
Here are few ways in which your WordPress developer can help you to fix the loading speed of your website:
Similar to the loading speed & responsiveness, taking care of your website’s security is equally important.
A website must be secure enough to keeping the hackers & cyber-thieves from accessing the sensitive information. Especially, if you have an e-commerce website, you can’t afford to compromise with the security of your website.
Here are some of the ways in which you can ask your website developer to protect your WordPress website:
Always update the WordPress version, plugins and themes to their latest versions
