This time last year, I posted about spring cleaning your website. And guess what… it’s September again, and I’m going to write about it again!
Time to review and consider S.P.R.I.N.G – Server, Plugins, Responsiveness, Intent, Navigation, Graphics.
Important: Backup your site before making changes. I know Spring doesn’t have a B for Backup which ruins our acronym, so lets just remember A.B.C. – Always Backup Computer-stuff.
Also Important: If we are managing/maintaining your website, you don’t need to do this! We do it all for you. This guide is just to help people who are doing this on their own.
S is for Server
Review your websites server or hosting requirements.
Is your website hosted on a shared server?
Do you have still have sufficient space and speed for your website?
Do you know where your website is hosted? Do you know how your website is hosted? Are you happy with performance?
Has your website grown with additional pages and posts, or additional functionality?
One of the most common WordPress performance problems I see, are e-commerce stores being run on cheap shared hosting. If your site is large or complex, consider moving to more than just the bare minimum. You and your customers will be glad you did it!
If your hosting says certain resources are ‘unlimited’ this is often a sign that the server resources are shared between a number of websites without any set limitations between sites. This could mean that when one site is busy, other sites on the same server are affected.
This is fine for smaller websites, but if your website has a certain level of complexity or traffic, it may struggle for resources, resulting in reduced performance. Slow sites are frustrating for customers, and for anyone trying to work on the website.
Consider moving to a Virtual Private Server, a dedicated server, or managed/premium shared hosting which ensures that there are plenty resources for the sites on the server.
P is for Plugins
Plugins can add valuable functionality to wordpress. And it often seems like there really is a plugin for everything.
Many plugins have multiple features.
Sometimes, you might add a plugin to complete a short task with just one feature, and neglect to remove the plugin. If this happens a few times, or if there are a few people working on a site, the number of excess plugins can get out of hand. This can affect the performance of your site.
Go through every plugin and check what it does, and if you still need it. I like to keep a document of plugins I’ve installed for each site, with notes on when I installed them and why.
Spring clean your plugins by removing any you don’t need. This could include:
- duplicate plugins that all do pretty much the same thing. eg multiple similar SEO plugins, multiple similar analytics plugins
- Short-term use plugins like the WP import tool, page-to-post converters, and things you only use occasionally.
- Plugins that were used for a feature you no longer use
- Plugins that aren’t receiving regular updates from developers (you should catch this in monthly maintenance, but if not, check now)
Responsiveness
Last year I had Review and Refresh content for R. But, since I’m the one making up this list, I can just change my mind.
I’ve decided Responsiveness is more important to check over (if you’re not already doing it regularly, and don’t have a maintenance plan that includes it).
Check the following pages on the following devices:
Pages to check:- Home page
- Contact Page
- Store Page
- Individual Product Page
- Archives/Posts Page
- Single Post Page
- Single generic Page
- Any pages with custom functionality
Devices to check
- Large screen desktop computer
- Small laptop screen
- Tablet
- Various Phones
Check on different operating systems and browsers for each type of device, and even consider checking the browsers built into apps such as FaceBook.
If you want to be really thorough, you can even check your website on a Smart TV and a Smart Watch.Intent
What was your intention when you built your website? What was your website intended to do? To advertise your business? To allow customers to easily purchase something? To communicate a schedule? To deliver learning?
Have things changed? Does your still website fit its intention and purpose?
Do you need to add features to get what you need from your site? Do you need to remove features that add clutter and don’t fit the true intention of your website?
Navigation
Check out your menus and make sure it’s still easy for customers to find important information.
If your site regularly has new products or pages added, ensure these are arranged well, with appropriate tags and categories.
Ensure your menu takes people to helpful pages, and only helpful pages. If you have a lot of those uh… SEO pages… use internal linking or have a few links to the useful ones in your footer, rather than adding literally everything to your main menu.
Too many options confuse people.
And the thing about people… When driving, and when trying to find a specific product on a website, they don’t like to read a lot of words. They just want to get where they’re going.
Think about how effective road signs are, and let it inspire your main navigation menu. A stop sign doesn’t say “You should stop your car here and check for traffic before proceeding.” It just says “STOP”. Likewise your main navigation menu doesn’t need to say “Read about our services” when it could just say ‘Services’.
Graphics
Are your graphics and images good quality and the appropriate resolution?
Ideally you’ll be updating your site regularly with fresh content and images. But… if it’s got to Website Spring Cleaning Month and you haven’t done it since last year, do it now. It’s an easy thing for busy business to overlook.
Also… check that your website has a favicon. This is the little logo that appears on the browser tab, making it easy to spot your website amongst a myriad of open tabs.