As the weather starts to warm-up and the snow finally starts to melt, Spring slowly arrives and we start to think about spring cleaning – clearing out from the long Winter.
I started mine a little early this year because we decided to switch rooms around in our apartment and that forced me to go through things that I usually stick in a closet and ignore – especially paperwork – it is amazing how many pieces of paper one simple divorce can generate.
When we spring clean our homes and yards, it is also a good time to think about spring cleaning our WordPress sites. I wrote about this in 2009 and 2010 and thought I would now update it with the 2011 edition.
- Upgrade WordPress – WordPress is up to version 3.1, which includes many new and useful features. There don’t seem to be many issues with it and it has been out for a couple of weeks, so I recommend updating. Make sure that any plugins you are dependent on are compatible and always make a complete back-up first.
- Backups – Do you have a back-up plan? Do you make regular backups of your WordPress site? I have been using the WP Database Backup plugin to backup my database daily and backing up the rest of my files manually. Recently, I started using Backup Buddy, which is a plugin that will backup everything! The backups can be done manually or on a scheduled basis. Backup Buddy isn’t free but is well worth the cost.
- Update Plugins – Make sure they are compatible with the version of WordPress you are using, especially if you are dependent on any of them for your site to function properly. Also, if you have customized any of your plugins, don’t update them until you have a plan for transferring the updates to the new version.
- Delete Plugins – remove the plugins that you aren’t using. I test plugins quite a bit and then tend to leave them installed even if I’m not using them. Every so often, I go through and clear them out. Actually, I recently set up a demo site and will be testing plugins there so this site doesn’t get so cluttered (and I am less likely to break my site).
- Static Pages – review the content on your static pages. I need to work on my About and Services page. I’ve also been revising and updating my portfolio, as well as working on a separate portfolio for my Facebook work.
- Sidebar – Review the items in your sidebar. Are people locating the content that they need? It is too cluttered? Personally, I am never happy with the sidebar but I’m not always sure of what changes I should make.
- Hosting – Are you happy with your webhost? Or have you had a lot of problems? If you are experiencing issues, it may be the time to switch to a new host. I like Bluehost and Hostgator and recommend them to many of my clients, I have even given my clients a coupon.
- Post and Page Maintenance – Remove or disable draft revisions and check your posts and pages for broken links.
- Update Your Theme – Do you use a premium theme, such as Thesis, Headway or Genesis that has updates? This may be a good time to update your theme. Of course, if you have customized it without using a Child Theme you will want to make a back-up and document you customizations before updating it.
- Dentist – Get your teeth cleaned. Just because ;-)
Is there anything else that you would add to this list?
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photo credit: rfduck
This post is a great little idea! Kudos on the creativity. I just thought I’d mention something about point 2: backing up. I use a plugin which not many people see to know about called Updraft and it backs up your database, plugins, theme files and uploads locally and/or offsite. I transferred them to Amazon S3 storage daily in case the unthinkable happens. Like I said, excellent little post!
Hi Dave – Thanks for the info about Updraft – I had not heard of that one and will have to give it a try.
Excellent article as always Kim! Thanks for sharing. I need to work on the plugin and draft items for sure. And, as you know, I’m a Hostgator user and find their support to be stellar.
Wow, I hadn’t peaked over here in awhile and see you have nearly 3000 likes on your FB page…I need to read more of your articles about FB as I just don’t quite buy into it yet or see its importance. Thanks again Kim!
Hi Rick – I’ve been happy with all of my interactions with Hostgator too.
I think my success with Facebook has been because I wrote some articles about Facebook that were really popular. When I post Facebook articles to the page, I get a lot of feedback. If I post other items, not so much. While Facebook can be a real pain, I think it’s usefulness is in how many people use it – potentially a lot of eyes can view your page without that much time or money being put into it. But, I think you’re doing fine without really using it too :-) And it’s taken almost 2 years to get that many fans – the first 500 are the hardest.
Static pages is important, especially pages like, about us, that should be updated regularly as things change.
Hi Dennis – Yeah – my About page says I have a 7 year old and she is going on 9 ;-)
I find that I do these things pretty much every month. I’m never happy with my blogs and I’m always tinkering with them and making them load faster. :)
Hi Dean – Wow! Every month … I might update some plugins or do some minor changes but I don’t do many changes that often.