A brief intro to

WordPress

Here at Alpen Lily, we build most of our websites with WordPress, the most popular content management system in use today. WordPress allows us to maintain our detail-oriented approach to website development, with an emphasis on efficiency, while keeping the process easy for our clients, no matter what their comfort level is with website design and maintenance. WordPress website software is also equipped with powerful features that are constantly being updated, which allows us as website developers to customize your content and continually optimize the growth, success, and security of your site.

An important facet of having a WordPress website is staying on top of website maintenance. This includes always keeping your site updated, securely backed up, as well as fixing broken links, optimizing traffic to your website, and continuing to update the content on your site.

Here’s our top five list of priorities you should focus on for your WordPress website:

1. Stay on top of security

The folks at WordPress update their platform regularly to avoid security loopholes, just like updates for your phone, computer, and apps. You may not be keeping up with these changes if you’re unfamiliar with how to make them properly, but frequent updates are fundamental to a website’s health. They increase the longevity of your website while protecting against costly malware attacks, since outdated websites are an easy target for hackers. Timely and scheduled updates will also catch bugs and other problems on your website, before they become expensive, or worse, unfixable issues.

In addition to updating to the latest version of WordPress, updates must be done on your website’s themes, and on all of your site’s plugins. With so many moving parts, running updates can create conflicts that make your website crash, and you could lose valuable data forever if your website is not properly backed up. Which brings us to …

2. Maintain off-site backups

Running solid backups is a crucial part of your website’s maintenance because when you do updates, you are changing how your existing website works. It is not uncommon to have to go back and fix new problems on your website that arise after updates, and you will need a backup of all your files and data to restore your site and get it up and running again. Website database losses are irreversible without proper backups, and they can be costly to repair. We recommend you back up your website’s database and files often (daily, if possible), and always before any update. The best practice is to keep a minimum of three backups of your website in different, secure places and formats, in case one becomes corrupted or lost.

3. Fix broken links

If links aren’t working on your website, visitors will encounter frustrating dead ends and error codes that may cause them to leave your site. Broken links also disrupt the flow of all the great content you have worked so hard to create, causing your site to show up less and rank lower on search engines. To avoid both harmful issues you must periodically check for bad links on your website and fix them, ideally using diagnostic software like Google Analytics to figure out why they are happening. Frequent link checks ensure the health of your website.

4. Optimize, optimize, optimize

If you want to drive traffic to your website from search engines like Google, this step is important. Google and other search engines look at your website’s code to determine how they rank you. This means staying on top of keywords, SSL certificates, page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and your Google My Business listing. There are WordPress plugins that help significantly with many of these tasks.

Make sure these are all optimized to make the most of your website!

5. Update your content

Providing new and valuable content to your customers will keep them coming back for more and show them you are still in business. This includes blog posts, image changes, news items, product updates, portfolio additions, and hours of operation changes.

These updates are not only great for return visits, they also have SEO (search engine optimization) benefits. Blog or news posts are an important part of keyword strategy.

Keep your site

safe & updated

At Alpen Lily, we pride ourselves on providing local website support that businesses from North Tahoe and beyond have relied on for 14 years. Our WordPress Support and Maintenance Packages will ensure you have a secure and well-performing website.

Our support maintenance packages start at $74 a month.
For all plans we will:

  • Update your site’s software monthly

  • Back up your website in a secure, off-site location

  • Monitor your website for downtime 24/7
  • Run broken link checks
  • Integrate Google Analytics
  • Provide a quarterly health report

We also offer website updates, page speed consultations, search engine optimization, quality assurance checks, and ADA accessibility services.

View details on our support packages and get a quote. Start protecting your website by ensuring it is always secure, updated, and running smoothly. You have put a lot of work into making your site great, and we can help you keep it that way.