February 2

How To Do A Quick And Easy Blog Check Up

29  comments

Bonus: Download a free checklist of the first plugins that I always install on a new WordPress Blog. 

When is the last time that you checked in on your blog? Yes, you are logged in daily or weekly but are you paying attention?

Are you ignoring the nagging updates?

I will be honest, right here and now. I ignore the updates and notes.

About once a quarter you need to do a quick blog check up. You will want to set aside about an hour of your time to go thru these 6 questions.

Do this quick and Easy 6 point WordPress Blog Checkup

Note: At this moment do not update your plugins. You don't want to do a plugin update unless you have updated your blog.

Test Out Your WordPress Plugins

Now keep in mind that this is not a deep dive audit, this is just a checkup. We will do a deep dive together in the future.

For now, we are checking for function. An example of this would be, making sure your shortcodes still work. A decent portion of my blog posts, have associated podcast episodes. I use a shortcake to upload these episodes on the post. So I went back and spot checked a few older episodes to make sure the plugin is still function.

For this step go ahead and log out of WordPress. This way you can test the site as a visitor. Send yourself a note from your contact form.

While you are logged out of WordPress, go ahead and test your social share buttons. How do the shares look on the social site?

Note: As a result of doing this type of checkup, I changed what social plugin is running on the site. I noticed that the post was not being shortened and the title was not being picked up. Something was conflicting between my theme and the plugin.

The WordPress plugins that you run will be different than the ones that I run. Take this time and walk thru your blog as a user. Click on things freely such as related posts, sidebars etc.

2. Clean Out Your Blog Spam

Note: Go ahead and login to your blog again.

Do you have a lot of spam on your blog? This is a great time to go ahead and clean it up.

3. Add Captcha To Your Contact Form

I recommend adding Captcha to your Contact Form if you haven’t already. Cuts down a lot on the spam emails to your site.

If you noticed that you have a ton of spam or you are receiving quite a bit from your contact form, go ahead and take care of that now. Just Google "your contact form + captcha" and you will likely find instructions.

If you use Contact Form 7, this is a great plugin that you can use: https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7-recaptcha-extension/.

4. Is It Time For A Blog Redesign?

Is it time to upgrade my site? This is a tough question because a redesign can be time consuming & costly. A lot changes in the developer world in 2 years.

A blog redesign is a subjective question but there is one sure fire yes or no question. Is your blog mobile responsive? If the answer is no, then you should immediately start considering a redesign.

Beyond the mobile responsive issue, just go with your gut instinct on this. A blog redesign can be a challenge and will likely cost you a few bucks. In 2015, I redesigned my blog twice and it cost me about $100 total.

My blog is currently running Thrive Theme Squared: and I am thrilled with it. Check out this article about blog design: https://www.iteachblogging.com/blog-redesign-story/.

5. Blog Frequency Goals?

How’s your blogging frequency? Are you reaching your goals, or you may need to revisit how to get more posting done.

Sometimes when we set blogging goals for ourselves, we can be a bit ambitious. Ambition is good but over ambition can lead to discouragement. If you find that you are not reaching your goals, take a moment to reevaluate.

Remember, it is your blog and therefore you get to make the rules. Can you realistically find more time for blogging? If so great. If not, seriously consider dropping your frequency.

Whatever you do, don't stop blogging out of frustration.

6. Are You Using A SEO Plugin?

Not just installed but USING it. I use Yoast. FYI Yoast is a form you fill out for every post. Time consuming but worth it.

Conclusion

Remember, your blog is just like any machine and it requires maintenance from time to time. I have created a short infographic below that will guide you thru the steps discussed in this post.

Go ahead and print it out or save it to your computer. Then you can reference it once a quarter and check up on your blog.

I hope that you are achieving all of your goals and that your blog is running perfectly. When I did this check up at the end of the year, I had two main areas that needed to be addressed. The first, as I mentioned, was that my social media buttons were not working properly. The second issue was that I was not hitting my frequency goals. 

In 2016, I plan to release an epic post every 6 weeks. What would you add to this list?

“And please do me a little favor and share this guide with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their blogs.”

Thrive Leads Shortcode could not be rendered, please check it in Thrive Leads Section!


Tags

blogging frequency, WordPress Checkup


You may also like

Let’s talk about revenue

Let’s talk about revenue

Are You Willing?

Are You Willing?
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

  1. Hi Renee
    What a helpful post this is fro bloggers who have created some great content, to step back and take a look at where it’s going, how accessible it is and if people are finding it. Your post check-lists this perfectly Thanks Richard

  2. Hello,

    I was glad to read your article and the other articles on your site. I definately need this tips on adding pages . Thank you for the great information.

    Lori English

  3. Great reminder to get off the complacency coach when it comes to our site and to make sure everything is working well. I have some very old plugins, which I need unfortunately, and the developers haven’t updated them in a long time. It is creating some workarounds for me, but that is worth it compared to having to fix everything removing them would bring. I am heading to my site soon to delete all the spam comments on my blog. Your point about them possibly slowing my site, hit home. Thanks Renee!

  4. I update anything that needs to be done every week since I am putting my blog on the site each week. As you know, I surely update my Yoast.. and you are right.. soooo important.. but too many rely on Yoast to do the work.. or don’t get how to use it… sadly.

    1. Kristen,

      Well it takes time to learn all of these different tools. It is easy to push off what we don’t like or what we don’t understand. However, there comes a moment for most bloggers when they realize how critical it is.

      -Renee’

  5. I feel I’m in good shape as I’m doing everything suggested except the redesign. That will be the next project. I very like your theme and the layout is easy on the eyes .

  6. Hey Renee :)

    Awesome tips for maintaining your WordPress blog!! I do these things , so I am on the right path to making sure my blog is up to date and running smoothly!

    Thanks for sharing these awesome tips! Very important and valuable :)

  7. I really need to update my plugins. I keep saying that, but I get so nervous about crashing my blog that I’ve been putting it on hold for ages. Thanks so much for the reminder! Hope you are enjoying your weekend :)

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Get in touch

Name*
Email*
Message
0 of 350