DIY – Free Do It Yourself Monthly Checklist
Recommended Weekly or Monthly checklist you should be doing for website support
Use this DIY Monthly Checklist to manage your website support to ensure that it stays secure and live, performs well and gets results.
BUSINESS WEBSITE CMS TASKS MONTHLY CHECKLIST
- Audit Task list – This is a list of what we typically do to audit your website and send you a full report to tell you what state your website is in and what needs to be done, if anything.
- You can do these tasks yourself by following our monthly checklist, if you feel confident – someone has to do it, to avoid getting hacked and ensure the website performs well and gets you more clients.
- Check the version of WordPress and update when necessary. Check that the update does not cause conflict with other plugins
- Check the version of the design theme
- Check for any plugins that need to have updates applied, ensuring that no conflict happens
- Check that all plugins work well together
- Check that forms are working – send a test to yourself to check
- Check to see if Google Analytics code has been applied and ensure that the stats are recording
- Check the Hosting situation. Even the software that runs your hosting server is vulnerable to attack and needs to be kept up to date. Also a poor hosting environment could see your website on a server with a corrupted or haced site
- Check Google Search Console for any errors
- Check that the website SSL cert is working – otherwise your website will be seen as being Not Secure – see the url bar, is there a padlock? The SSL cert is free with some hosting and is a paid option on others, especially the lower cost options
- Check the page load speed test using Pingdom or GT Metrix or a similar tool
- Check that Sitemap is listed, updated and uploaded to Google
- Check for a site backup – these should really be done daily and can be automated, which may be done by your hosting service. Keep another copy in Dropbox, Google Docs or use Updraft Plus
- Check cross browser view – tablet, smartphone and desktop
- Check for 404s, broken links using Screaming Frog or Dead Link Checker or similar app
- Check the uptime of the website to see that is is indeed up – you can use apps like Wachete or Uptime Robot for this
- Report – we send you a report on what is needs to be done to update your website and make it secure.
- Do these tasks monthly or sign up to one of our support plans – HERE
- For eCommerce website audit or check list, see below or contact us
- Further tasks you should consider doing regularly.
- Email Account Check, Test & Review that al lyour various email addresses are working
- Search Engine Friendly Optimization on added content
- Metatag Adjustments for all pages and posts
- Keyword Optimization for all pages and posts
- Headings review
- Weekly/Monthly Google Analytics Report and Review
- Monthly site technical check, review and analysis
- Recommendation – Do at least one Site Review Annually with your web design agency – what needs to be or could be done to improve the website results
Bonus Benefits include:
Teamwork – Our monthly support or maintenance plans come with a freeTeamwork client account – your online project collaboration tool that lets you add tasks for us to do, post To-Do messages, add documents, files, images, etc. This also records all our communication, queries, replies, comments and content.
Total Transparency – This way you can see when we do any work for you and what we do exactly, to the minute.
Dropbox – PLUS we create a free shared Dropbox folder for all your content.
Special Reduced Client Rates – Ad Hoc rates €65 – Normally €100
Monthly Checklist and Website Support Plan
WHY DO YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE SOFTWARE?
- Update platform versions for Joomla or Wordpress – because these are always being updated
- Fix security holes and check for attempted hacking, plug any holes – because people will try to hack your website
- Optimize the utilization of resources on the operating system – to make your site perform well
- Add newer and more secure features – to keep the site up to date
- Remove old and unprotected features – to avoid clutter or conflict
- Update drivers to increase software efficiency – as these drivers are updated
- Update versions for components such as Yoast, Widgetkit, Zoo or YooThemes and make sure they work together – or they may conflict
- Ensure the uptime of your website – to ensure that people can find the site 24/7
- Check speed of website – to make sure that visitors get content quickly, before they move on
- Chect mobile or responsive view – to see that the website delivers on all mobile types
- Keep a copy as a Backup in case the site goes down – so that you can put up a saved copy
- Submit updated Sitemaps to Google – to tell them about your pages
- Check Calendar – to ensure that the date and time settings are correct
- Train your inhouse Marketer or Webmaster – to use optimisation tools and techniques
- Run through an agreed CheckList – to see that all necessary tasks are done in a timely fashion
- Tip: Do little and do often – to avoid conflicts or large workloads. We recommend an hour or two monthly.
DIY - FREE DO IT YOURSELF MONTHLY AUDIT OR CHECKLIST
Audit Task list – This is a list of what we do to audit your website and send you a full report to tell you what state your website is in and what needs to be done, if anything.
Check the version of Wordpress or Joomla
Check the version of the design theme
Check for any plugins that need to have updates applied, ensuring that no conflict happens
Check that all plugins work well together
Check to see if Google Analytics code has been applied and ensure that the stats are recording
Check the Hosting situation. Even the software that runs your hosting server is vulnerable to attack and needs to be kept up to date. Also a poor hosting environment could see your website on a server with a corrupted or haced site
Check Google Search Console for any errors
Check that the website SSL cert is working – otherwise your website will be seen as being Not Secure – see the url bar, is there a padlock? The SSL cert is free with some hosting and is a paid option on others, especially the lower cost options
Check the page load speed test using Pingdom or GT Metrix or a similar tool
Check that Sitemap is listed and uploaded to Google
Check for a site backup – these should really be done daily and can be automated, which may be done by your hosting service. Keep another copy in Dropbox, Google Docs or use Updraft Plus
Check cross browser view – tablet, smartphone and desktop
Check for 404s, broken links using Screaming Frog or Dead Link Checker or similar app
Check the uptime of the website to see that is is indeed up – you can use apps like Wachete or Uptime Robot for this
Report – we send you a report on what is needs to be done to update your website and make it secure.
Do these tasks monthly or sign up to one of our support plans – HERE
For eCommerce website audits, contact us
WHY DO YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE SOFTWARE?
Update platform versions for Joomla or Wordpress – because these are always being updated
Fix security holes and check for attempted hacking, plug any holes – because people will try to hack your website
Optimize the utilization of resources on the operating system – to make your site perform well
Add newer and more secure features – to keep the site up to date
Remove old and unprotected features – to avoid clutter or conflict
Update drivers to increase software efficiency – as these drivers are updated
Update versions for components such as Yoast, Widgetkit, Zoo or YooThemes and make sure they work together – or they may conflict
Ensure the uptime of your website – to ensure that people can find the site 24/7
Check speed of website – to make sure that visitors get content quickly, before they move on
Chect mobile or responsive view – to see that the website delivers on all mobile types
Keep a copy as a Backup in case the site goes down – so that you can put up a saved copy
Submit updated Sitemaps to Google – to tell them about your pages
Check Calendar – to ensure that the date and time settings are correct
Train your inhouse Marketer or Webmaster – to use optimisation tools and techniques
Run through an agreed CheckList – to see that all necessary tasks are done in a timely fashion
Tip: Do little and do often – to avoid conflicts or large workloads. We recommend an hour or two monthly.
eCommerce Maintenance Tasks
Check for WordPress/WooCommerce Version Updates
Check for Extension Version Updates to prevent any hack attempts due to out of date software
Test WordPress/Magento Website Health & Check for Errors to prevent losing your search engine rank on Google
Test Desktop Browser Compatibility – Test that your website is functional on all Internet browsers
Test & Report Mobile / Smart Devices Browser Compatibility – Test that your website displays properly on mobile/iPad view
Find & Report Broken Component, Module & Plugins to prevent your website from losing performance
Find & Report 404 Errors many links can get lost or broken so important to monitor, scan and fix to improve website performance
Check Contact Form to make sure client is getting all visitor enquiries
Set up Monthly Google Analytics Report to send to client email address
Full Secure Plan Audit which will be documented and sent to client for confirmation
Log & Database cleaning to speed performance of the website
Google Sitemap Submission for improving search engine optimisation
Test & Report Google / GMetrix Page Speed
.
WEBMASTER SERVICES - WE DO OR DO NOT OFFER:
Monthly site check and Backup | Monitoring Uptime | Form Testing – Contact Form, Application Form etc | Google Analytics set up | Google Sitemap update Submission | Load speed testing |Theme updates | Security updates | Security patches | Search Engine Friendly Optimisation on content | Metatag Adjustments | Keyword Optimization | Headings reviewed | 301 Redirects | Quick fixes | CSS Enhancements | Content updates | Content Creation | Content Authoring | Extension updates | Web Consulting | Quarterly website review | Monthly Analytics Report and Review – Get a Loyalty Discount on Ad Hoc rates by signing a Monthly Direct Debit.
Specialists Audits we offer include Performance Audit, Usability Audit, Accessability Audit, Security Audit, Code Audit or SEO Audit.
Webmaster Services we do NOT offer:
Digital Marketing – but we can recommend someone that will suit you
App or plugin Development – not our expertise
App or plugin Customisation – not our expertise
SSL Cert configuration – there are specialists for this who will also configure for you
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