wordpress site maintenance (updated for wordcamp raleigh 2014)
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Responsible [digital] Home Ownership
@thewebprincess
thewebprincess.com
@thewebprincess
facebook.com/thewebprincess
Dee Teal#wcraleigh
c Maintenance
c Security c Pest Control c Efficiency
cInsurance
Insurance
Back me Up
How will your back up get created? Where will it be stored? How will you restore from that backup?
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
How to Back Up
Let your host take care of it Learn how to do it manually (for those of us who are technical)
Install (and use) a WordPress backup plugin Pay someone to do it for you.
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Backup Plugin Options
1. VaultPress - $5-$15 monthly
2. Backup Buddy - $80USD (annually if you want to
be able to update it)
3. WP Backup to Dropbox - Free with paid extensions
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Where will the backup live?
Hint: NOT on your server - send it offsite
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
How will you restore it?
Hint: Practice restoring it
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Maintenance
Stay up to Date
WordPress core Allow auto updates Update your Plugins Update your Themes (a word of caution re child themes)
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Take Out the Trash
Delete extraneous revisions
Delete draft posts WP Clean up (plugin) Delete unused plugins and themes
credit: epSos.de - https://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/5575089139/@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Declutter
Optimise your Database WP Cleanup (plugin)
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Keep on top of Broken Links
Google Webmaster Tools - Web based
Screaming Frog - Desktop Tool
Broken Link Checker (plugin)
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Security
Stay up to Date
WordPress core Allow auto updates Update your Plugins and Themes Delete unused themes and plugins
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Avoid Defaults
Don’t have a user called admin (or siteadmin, webadmin, administrator etc.) When you install WP, change the database table prefix from wp_ to anything else
Change DB Prefix (plugin)
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Keep the Doors Locked
Use a strong key - enforce strong passwords for all users - passwords like this (note: this is not my password)AgDBJpxfcid7BnaTi9Eg
Use a password keeper 1Password, Last PassPro tip: Don’t use the same password for everything
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Use a Security Screen - (plugin)
1. BruteProtect - Free
2. WordFence - Free (has a Pro option) OR
3. iThemes Security - Free (has a Pro option)
4. Sucuri Website Firewall - (Premium)
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Get an SSL Certificate for your Site
Transfer of data is secure and encrypted
Particularly useful on login pages and contact forms where customer data, sales information and passwords are being transferred
Google is starting to give sites with an SSL certificate a better ranking
@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Pest Control
Spam, Spam, Spam
1. Akismet - Spam Plugin Free for personal sites - $5 p/m if you make any money i.e. advertising/affiliate
2. WP SpamShield - Free
3. Disqus - alternate comment system and plugin
4. Registration Honeypot - for those with open registration on their sites
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
Efficiency
The Need… for Speed
1. Bounce rate
2. Search ranking
3. Conversion
4. Page views
5. Reader satisfaction
6. Revenue
http://www.copyblogger.com/website-speed-matters/#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
How to Test your Site Speed
1. http://webpagetest.org
2. http://tools.pingdom.com/
3. https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
4. http://gtmetrix.com/
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
How to Read Results
1.DNS redirection - Pink
2. SSL Handshake - Purple
3. Server Response - Blue
4. WordPress/Application response - Yellow
5. Content download@thewebprincess#wcraleigh
Page Speed Performance
1. Read the Recommendations
2. Find solutions that help remedy these issues
3. P3 Profiler is a useful WP plugin to see which plugins are slowing your site down
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
How to Improve Results - in WP
1. WordFence - has a caching engine built in to store static pages of your site.
2. Other caching plugins include WP Super Cache, Hyper Cache, W3 Total Cache - my hot favourite. WPRocket (premium)
3. Page Speed - will help sort out a couple of the top recommendations from tests like Enable Compression and Leverage Browser Caching
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
How to Improve Results - on the Server
1. Add a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve your static content.
2. Consider a service like Cloud Flare - a lot of hosts offer free Cloud Flare integration with your site.
#wcraleigh @thewebprincess
c Maintenance
c Security c Pest Control c Efficiency
cInsurance
http://thewebprincess.com
Dee Tealhttp://thewebprincess.com
@thewebprincess
facebook.com/thewebprincess
Questions?
Image Credits - (Mostly found via Photo Pin photopin.com)
Insurance - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhilowitz/4560586060/ - David Hilowitz
Backup - https://www.flickr.com/photos/moionet/3752752293/ - moionet
Server Room - https://www.flickr.com/photos/traftery/4773457853/ - Tom Raftery
Lego Postman - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stavos52093/12361203415/ - stavos
Restore - https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolner/753867268/ - Wooly Matt
Calendar - https://www.flickr.com/photos/42931449@N07/6812481635 - photosteve101
Maintenance - https://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/7126146307/ - OZinOH
Trash Bins - https://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/5575089139/ - epSos.de
Shreddings - https://www.flickr.com/photos/didmyself/7685630558/ - Daniel Kulinski
Security Locks - https://www.flickr.com/photos/josemanuelerre/11434605616/ - josemanuelerre
Avoid Defaults - https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5181464194/ - Kaptain Kobold
Door Locks - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pizzagirl/4578900453/ - jainaj
Security Screen - https://www.flickr.com/photos/donut2d/36831870/ - donut2D
Pests - https://www.flickr.com/photos/uncoolbob/8405718181/ - uncoolbob
Speedometer - https://www.flickr.com/photos/thibaud_saintin/13441220173/ - Thibaud Saintin
Tunnel - https://www.flickr.com/photos/w4nd3rl0st/12491208355/ - w4nd3rl0st
Other uncredited royalty free images purchased from Bigstock Photo, or created by the author
Dee Tealthewebprincess.com
@thewebprincess
facebook.com/thewebprincess