Time to tune up your website
WordPress.org Codex (the WordPress.org online manual) recommends regular site maintenance and has come up with a monthly schedule of tasks you should perform to keep your site running smoothly. They have created a monthly Site Maintenance Calendar to help you keep on track.
Here is my version of the calendar. It is basically the WordPress.org calendar with a few of my own tasks added that I have found to be important while maintaining and organizing my sites.
April Website Maintenance
1.) Clean up your Media Library.
There are often unused images in your Media Library, and if you have limited space on your server, consider deleting these unused images.
To delete an image, go to your WordPress Dashboard and click on Media. A list of images appears. Click on the images you want to delete. At the top of the list is a drop down menu for Bulk Actions. Select Delete Permanently and then click on Apply.
BUT WAIT!!! Be sure that the images you delete are not currently used in a page or post. It is a good idea to make a full backup of your site before you do this so you have copies of the images.
2.) Add new content to your site.
Write a new post, talk about a new product or service, upload and use a new image. Remember, search engines love fresh, relevant content.
3.) Backup your site and database.
This should be done regularly. If you update your site daily, you should think about weekly database backups, and bi-weekly full site backups.
I use two backup plugins. One is BackWPUp. This is a free and very good plugin.
The other plugin I use is Backup Buddy, a premium (not free) plugin with great features and support.
4.) Check your site stats.
If you have Jetpack (Stats) installed or a Google webmaster account, see what pages visitors are checking out.
Finished? Now go Press On!
If you would prefer to have someone else maintain your site and keep it up to date and secure, we have a Website Care Plan for you. Read about the different plan options here.
