It is a familiar story for small businesses in Coral Springs and everywhere else. A website looks great on launch day. Two years later it loads slowly, shows a security warning, and has a contact form that quietly stopped sending messages. The cause is usually simple: nobody has touched it since launch.
A WordPress website is not a brochure you print once. It is software, and software needs care. Here is what a typical small business site needs, broken down by how often.
Every week
Check that your contact forms work. Send yourself a test message. Broken forms are the most expensive problem on most small business sites, because you never see the leads you lost.
Glance at your Google Business Profile for new reviews and questions, and respond.
Every month
Update WordPress, your theme, and your plugins. Most security problems on small sites come from outdated software. Update on a staging copy first if you can, or at least right after a fresh backup.
Confirm backups are running and stored somewhere other than the website itself.
Remove plugins you no longer use. Every extra plugin is one more thing that can break or be exploited.
Check the site on a phone. Look at the home page, a service page, and the contact page.
Review basic numbers in Google Analytics or Search Console. Are calls and form leads steady? Did any page suddenly drop?
Every quarter
Update anything that has changed in your business: hours, staff, services, prices you choose to publish, and photos.
Make sure your name, address, and phone number on the site still match your Google Business Profile exactly.
Test site speed. If it has slowed down, look at large images and heavy plugins first.
Review your security settings and the list of user accounts. Remove anyone who no longer needs access.
Every year
Renew your domain and confirm the renewal email goes to an inbox you check.
Review your hosting. If the site has grown, your plan may need to grow too.
Read every page as if you were a new customer. Rewrite anything outdated or unclear.
Doing it yourself or getting help
Many owners can handle the weekly and quarterly items. The monthly technical updates are where most sites fall behind, because they are easy to postpone and painful to fix after something breaks. Whether you do it in house or hire someone, write down who owns each task.
We have maintained WordPress sites for South Florida businesses since 2005. If you are in the area and want to see how we approach it, here is our page on Coral Springs web design. Either way, put the weekly form test on your calendar today. It takes two minutes and it may be the most valuable habit on this list.
About the author
Kelley Shackelford is the founder of Above Web Design, a WordPress web design, development, ecommerce, and SEO studio serving South Florida since 2005.
Above Web Design
665 NW 133rd Way, Plantation, FL 33325
(954) 947-4220
https://www.abovewebdesign.com/
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