WordPress Maintenance Checklist for Small Businesses in Bury St Edmunds
Keeping your WordPress site secure, fast and problem-free is essential — especially for small businesses here in Bury St Edmunds and across Suffolk, where customers rely heavily on local search to find reliable services. I support small businesses throughout the region (and the wider UK) with friendly, ongoing
WordPress maintenance to keep their websites running smoothly.
This practical, small-business-friendly checklist walks you through the key tasks to keep your site healthy — and highlights when it’s easier and more cost-effective to let a professional help.
Quick WordPress Maintenance Checklist
- Daily off-site backups
- Weekly WordPress, theme & plugin updates
- Security scans & firewall enabled
- Uptime monitoring with alerts
- Monthly performance checks (cache, images, Core Web Vitals)
- Check broken links & fix 404s
- Test contact forms and email deliverability
- Database & media clean-up
- SEO health check (sitemaps, indexing, Search Console)
- Legal & accessibility basics (cookies, privacy, alt text)
No time to keep up? My WordPress maintenance plans handle backups, updates, security, performance and
support so you can focus on running your business.
Why WordPress Maintenance Matters (Especially for Suffolk Businesses)
A well-maintained site protects your enquiries, improves your Google rankings and prevents costly downtime. Many of the small businesses I support in Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Newmarket and Ipswich experience the same issues:
- Lost enquiries from broken forms or email failures
- Security risks from outdated plugins
- Slow sites affecting SEO and sales
- Expensive fixes when problems are ignored
A proactive approach — whether you DIY or work with a local expert — is the key to a reliable, stress-free WordPress website.
Simple WordPress Maintenance Schedule
Every Week (10 minutes)
- Run WordPress, theme and plugin updates
- Create a backup before updating
- Check your homepage and key pages for errors
Every Month (15–20 minutes)
- Send a test message via your contact form
- If you sell online: order online as a test
- Delete spam comments and unused plugins
- Check your site on mobile for speed and usability
Every 3 Months (30 minutes)
- Update weak passwords
- Remove old user accounts
- Replace heavy images with optimised ones
- Review prices, services and business info
- Ensure your SSL padlock is active
Prefer a done-for-you approach? Explore my WordPress maintenance plans.
Common Problems & Quick Fixes
- Website has white screen after update: rollback to previous backup, check error logs, disable offending plugin.
- Emails not sending: set up SMTP; test contact & order emails.
- Slow admin area: too many plugins, PHP version, database clutter, object caching.
- Hacked site: take offline, restore clean backup, change all credentials, scan, patch, review users.
If fire-fighting is routine on your website, a structured WordPress maintenance plan will help.
Grab a simple one-page PDF of the WordPress Maintenance Checklist with tick boxes you can use each month.
When to DIY vs Hire Help
- DIY: small brochure site, low change rate, comfortable with staging & backups.
- Hire: e-commerce, bookings, membership, custom code or limited time.
Prefer a calm, done-for-you approach? See my WordPress maintenance options or book a free website review.
Let’s Keep Your WordPress Site Fast, Secure & Stress-Free
Ongoing updates, proactive security and friendly help — without the headaches.
Let’s Get Your Website Sorted
or explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Update core, themes and plugins weekly (after a fresh backup). Apply urgent security patches as soon as they’re released.
Use a staging site, create a backup, run updates, then test key journeys (homepage, contact forms, checkout) before pushing live.
Plugins help automate tasks, but you still need a proper process for backups, updates, security, performance and testing.
Look for strange users or files, spam pages in Google, sudden slowdowns or disabled security. Run a malware scan and review logs.
Yes. I offer ongoing WordPress maintenance with backups, updates, security scans, uptime monitoring and performance checks.
