Website Security & Performance Checks
- Weekly: Test Your Contact & Checkout Forms
- Why: Forms can break due to plugin updates, server changes, or code conflicts. A broken form means lost leads or sales.
- How: Once a week, fill out and submit every form on your website (contact, lead generation, checkout). Confirm that you receive the submission notification and that the data is correctly stored where you expect it (e.g., your email, CRM, or database).
- Daily/Weekly: Monitor for Unauthorized Changes
- Why: Hackers often deface websites by altering text, adding malicious links, or changing images. Catching these changes quickly is critical to protecting your brand and visitors.
- How: Use a security monitoring service (like Sucuri, Wordfence for WordPress, or Cloudflare) that automatically scans your site for changes and malware. For a manual check, do a quick daily scan of your key pages (homepage, about, contact) to ensure everything looks as it should.
- Weekly: Check for Broken Links (404 Errors)
- Why: Broken links create a frustrating user experience and can harm your SEO rankings. They happen when you delete pages, change URLs, or link to external content that has moved.
- How: Use a free tool like https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/ (https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/) or a website crawler like Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs) to scan your site. Set up 301 redirects for any internal links you’ve changed.
- Monthly: Review and Update Software
- Why: Outdated plugins, themes, and CMS platforms (like WordPress or Drupal) are the #1 entry point for hackers. Updates often contain critical security patches.
- How: Set a recurring calendar reminder to log into your website’s backend. Review all installed plugins, themes, and your core CMS software. Apply any available updates. Before updating, it’s wise to run a full website backup.
- Quarterly: Change Your Passwords
- Why: Strong, unique passwords are your first line of defense. Regularly changing them minimizes the risk if your credentials are ever compromised in a data breach.How: Use a password manager to generate and store complex passwords for your CMS login, hosting account, and database.
Content & Engagement
- Periodically: Publish New, High-Quality Content
- Why: Fresh content signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant, which boosts SEO. It also gives visitors a reason to return and establishes your authority in your field.
- How: Create a content calendar. Plan for blog posts, case studies, tutorials, or company news. Even one new piece of valuable
content per month is better than none. Focus on quality over quantity.
- Quarterly: Review Your Key Pages for Accuracy
- Why: Information can become outdated. Incorrect hours, old staff bios, or expired promotions look unprofessional and can mislead customers.
- How: Once a quarter, read through your most important pages: Homepage, About Us, Services/Products, and Contact Us. Verify that all information is still correct and relevant. This is also a great time to refresh content to better speak to your audience’s current needs.
- Monthly: Analyze Your Website Analytics
- Why: Analytics tell you what’s working and what’s not. Understanding your audience’s behavior is key to making smart decisions.How: Log into your analytics tool (e.g., Google Analytics). Look at key metrics:
- Top Pages: Which content is most popular? Create more of it.Traffic Sources: Where are visitors coming from (Google, social media, direct)? Focus your marketing efforts there.Bounce Rate: Are people leaving immediately? Your content or user experience might need improvement on those pages.
Technical & Backup
- Weekly: Perform Full Website Backups
- Why: If your site is hacked, crashes, or an update breaks it, a recent backup is your lifeline. It allows you to restore a working version of your site quickly.
- How: Use a backup service provided by your host or a dedicated backup plugin/service. Ensure backups are stored “off-site” (e.g., in Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3), not just on your web server. Test your backup restoration process once a quarter to ensure it actually works.
- Annually: Review and Renew Your Domain & Hosting
- Why: Forgetting to renew your domain name is a costly, brand-damaging mistake. An expired domain can be bought by someone else, and getting it back can be difficult and expensive.
- How: Check the expiration date for your domain name and hosting plan. Set a calendar reminder 60 days before expiration. Better yet, enable auto-renewal with your registrar and hosting company.
