A new website launches, everyone is pleased, and attention moves on. Two years later it is slow, a form has stopped working and nobody is sure who has the logins. WordPress runs a large share of the web, and that makes neglected WordPress sites a favorite target.
Why sites decay
- WordPress, its theme and its plugins all release updates, many of them security fixes.
- Plugins are abandoned by their authors and stop receiving fixes.
- The server software underneath reaches the end of its support.
- Staff and agencies come and go, and accounts are never removed.
What a maintenance routine includes
- Updates on a schedule, applied to a staging copy first and checked before they reach the live site.
- Daily backups kept away from the web server, and a restore that has been tried.
- Monitoring for downtime and for forms that have stopped delivering.
- A plugin review once or twice a year to remove anything unused or abandoned.
- An account review so that only current staff and vendors can sign in.
- Version control, so every change to the theme is recorded and can be undone.
Why staging matters
Most “the update broke the site” stories come from updating the live site directly. A staging copy lets you see the problem first. Good managed hosting provides one, along with backups and server updates, which is why we recommend it over a cheap shared plan.
Who is accountable
Decide who owns the site. Not who designed it; who is responsible for it being up, current and backed up next month. If you cannot name that person or company, that is the first thing to fix.
Related service: Websites & e-commerce.