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Jul 24
0

Streamlining WordPress Maintenance

By | Website Care | No Comments

WordPress is a great platform for all business types, However it needs a little care.

Why does WordPress need care?

Security, is the main reason, plus plugins and WordPress core itself are constantly

  • Improving functionality,
  • Implementing bug fixes,
  • Adding new features and sadly
  • sometimes fixing security vulnerabilities.

Should I be concerned about security?

Yes, everyone should be at least a little concerned, if you have a lot of plugins (more then 12) I think you should be mildly concerned. If you have more then 20 plugins you should be very concerned. If you have more then 50 plugins its absolutely critical that you update those plugins regularly.

Don’t worry mate, it’s easy to update all the things

You can update all plugins and WPcore for your site with one click using the ManageWp system:

  1. Set up a free account at https://managewp.com/ and login
  2. Once your logged in, add your site to ManageWp https://orion.managewp.com/dashboard/add-website
  3. Add this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/worker/ to your site.
  4. Your site should now appear in the list of sites https://orion.managewp.com/dashboard/websites
  5. Now, if you go to https://orion.managewp.com/dashboard/overview you can see all the plugins, themes and WPcores that need updates.
  6. You can flick over to themes and choose to update those too. Same with wpcore.
  7. Select all the checkboxes and click update.
  8. Once it’s finished you are almost done.

At this point, it’s best practice to check your site in a browser that’s not going to have your website stored in memory. Ie if you use Chrome all the time, check your site in Firefox. (clear its cache if you need)

The beauty of ManageWp it works across multiple sites and its absolutely free.

What if the updates don’t work?

If there are any errors during the update, ManageWp usually stops updating whatever is causing the error. This is great feature as this “halting of updates” prevents your site from going down. If the updates appear to succeed in the ManageWp interface then its more than likely that everything is fine.

If something does go wrong and the “halt” does not kick in, then you have 2 options.

  1. Reinstate a backup.
  2. Find the error and manually fix it.

I’ve had 100% success rate so far with updating sites through ManageWp. I’ve had plugins that refused to update, and required manual updates, but no major issues. As we perform WordPress Maintenance for our clients regularly, we always have backups standing by that we can quickly re-instate, Error logs enabled on the server so we are informed of any errors that happen (we don’t host our clients websites, so we have to configure backups and error reporting individually per client).

Other free features of MangageWp are

  • Spam removal
  • Post revision removal
  • Database Overhead optimisation.

Optimising this stuff will keep your database and website load speed times more efficient.

If you’re maintaining multiple wordpress sites and want to perform more streamlined maintenance, checkout ManageWp.
If you want Maintenance done for you and a bit more, checkout our website maintenance packages

Feb 07
0

WordPress – is it a good choice for your business?

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

WordPress popularity is sky high. It’s used by large, medium and small companies. But is it right for everyone?

Speaking from my experience in training companies on how to use WordPress websites, both custom made and off the shelf themes, I often asked myself…How has WordPress achieved such status and is it deserved?

Comparing Open Source providers, in my opinion, the learning curve of Drupal and the reliability of Joomla has set the stage for WordPress. WordPress (WP) is much more user friendly and easier for non-developers then Drupal, and it’s a much better product then Joomla due to its capabilities in both simple and complex sites.

There are a number of commercial systems with big brand names and heavy fees that can provide a steep learning curve, paired with a tiered and feature heavy platform, that can make updates crazy expensive. Not much DIY with these types of systems.

So WP is arguably a better product then its open source and commercial competitors.

At a small business conference recently, someone re-iterated that the most powerful part of WordPress is its community.

WP has thrived due to its welcoming nature and DIY community who provide free support, along with plenty of free information and tutorials, that empower you to build your own site. This suits small businesses, and SMEs make up 97% of all Australian businesses.

Small business owners get really busy running the business and often don’t have a lot of time, but the WP community is loud and there is a always a specialist WP developer and designer on hand to help. It’s worth looking up WordPress teams or trainers in your area, to help you navigate the platform and get the best out of it.

Overall, medium businesses with a budget is where I think WP is the best fit. Having a bit of budget will tick all the boxes;

  • Competitor analysis
  • GA review (Google Analytics, if it exists)
  • Strategy
  • Wireframes,
  • Content,
  • UX (User Experience),
  • Design,
  • Build

When done properly the impact should be powerful and often is.

Whats the greatest risk with WordPress?
Many budgets have gone to waste because the project structure was wrong, for example creating content last, or not doing any research and just building what you think the customer wants. Know what you want and justify it with data. Look at what your competitors are doing. Get some ideas. And execute with a solid process.

WordPress is an enabler for great ideas and good strategy. It’s not a magic pill that will bring customers to your door instantly but it is a powerful tool, the rest is up to you and your strategy.