This tutorial is part of our WordPress Management tutorial series. In this tutorial, we provide a WordPress maintenance checklist to help you perform a complete WordPress maintenance routine.
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WordPress Maintenance Checklist – Putting It All Together
(WordPress Maintenance Process)
If you have followed our WordPress Maintenance Tutorials where we break down each step of the WordPress maintenance process and show you how to perform each task in logical sequence, then it’s time to put it all together.
In this section, you will learn how to put the entire WordPress maintenance sequence together, and download a practical checklist that you can print and follow to help you perform a complete WordPress site maintenance routine.
WordPress Maintenance Checklist
Use the checklist below to complete your WordPress site maintenance:
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Maintenance Step | Comments | Tutorials | |
---|---|---|---|
| Log into your WordPress site and go to your dashboard | ||
Check if WordPress version, plugins, or themes need updating | Don't do this until you backup your site! | ||
Check & repair broken links | |||
Delete comment SPAM | Don't add SPAM to your backup files | ||
Delete unwanted media files | Do this every few months | ||
Log into your hosting account | Ignore this step if using automated backup tool. | ||
Optimize and back up your WordPress database | Ignore this step if using automated backup tool. | ||
Backup your WordPress files | If not using automated backup tools, zip the folder containing both the WordPress files and the SQL data file. | ||
Upload backup files to secure offline storage account | Ignore this step if using automated backup tool. | ||
Go back into your WordPress Admin | |||
Upgrade WordPress to latest version | Only if upgrade is required. If automated method doesn't work, use manual method instead. | ||
Update your WordPress plugins (deactivate/remove unused plugins) | Only if upgrade is required. If automated method doesn't work, use manual method instead. | ||
Update your WordPress theme(s) (remove unused themes) | Only if upgrade is required. If automated method doesn't work, use manual method instead. | ||
Log out and test site to make sure everything works ok. | |||
Your WordPress site maintenance is done. | |||
Errors or Problems? Try this ... | |||
Troubleshoot Errors | (If required) | ||
Restore WordPress Data | (If required) | ||
Reinstall WordPress Site | (If required) |
Download The WordPress Maintenance Checklist
WordPress Maintenance Process – Video Walkthrough
The video below walks you through a complete WordPress maintenance routine performed live on a WordPress site.
As this video was created using an older version of WordPress, the maintenance routine uses manual methods to backup WordPress data and upgrade the WordPress software and plugins. Use the automated backup and upgrade methods we recommend in our tutorials to perform the maintenance process significantly faster.
Congratulations, you have completed our WordPress maintenance tutorials! You should now be able to perform a regular WordPress maintenance routine on your website or blog in just a few minutes and keep your site, plugins, themes, data and files fully up-to-date and backed up.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)