Website Maintenance
WordPress Backup Guide: What to Back Up and How Often
A WordPress backup guide covering files, database, backup plugins, off-site storage, restore testing, ecommerce cadence, and migration recovery.
•WordPress maintenance
WordPress Maintenance Services
Your site stays current and online, because we test every update on a copy before it reaches your customers.
Your WordPress site runs on parts that change constantly. Our WordPress maintenance services test core, plugin and theme updates on staging, check key pages and forms, then move only the approved set live with a restore point ready.
WordPress maintenance services
Get your WordPress Maintenance strategy today
•Why Suff Digital
Fourteen years of WordPress work, run by the people who answer your emails.
WordPress maintenance services should feel routine: updates tested on staging, a restore point ready, key pages checked and a same-day log of what changed. We run that cycle every month so your site stays current without surprise production fixes.
Speak with a specialist •
Matt Suffoletto
Founder & CEO
Kriszta
Chief Operating Officer
Tony
Partnership Director
What Our WordPress Maintenance Services Include
Six areas of WordPress upkeep, covered on a fixed monthly cadence, whether or not anyone is currently doing them.
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•Core WordPress updates, tested before they go live
Major, minor and security releases go onto a copy of your site in the right order, with a restore point taken first.
•Plugin updates ranked by risk and urgency
Every pending update is ranked by how exposed it leaves you and how much of the site it touches. Security patches ship first.
•Theme updates that keep your customizations
Your template changes are tracked against the parent theme's releases, so an update cannot quietly revert design work you paid for.
•PHP upgrades tested before your host forces them
PHP is the language WordPress runs on, and hosts retire old versions on a schedule. We test the next one first, then fix what fails.
•Database cleanup that keeps your admin quick
Old post revisions, expired temporary data and bloated settings cleared on a schedule, with a backup taken first.
•Visual checks on your key pages after every update
We photograph your most important pages before and after each run and compare them, so a layout that shifted is found on the copy.
•What goes wrong
WordPress problems we fix every month
These are the WordPress problems we get called in to fix, and the ones a WordPress maintenance plan is meant to stop happening in the first place.
Diagnose my site •01
Months of pending updates are still waiting
The dashboard has shown an update notice for so long that it blends into the background. Every skipped release widens the gap between what WordPress expects and what your plugins were built for.
02
Plugin conflicts that break your contact forms
Two plugins that touch the same thing work fine until one of them moves, and nothing warns you which pair is fragile. The symptom often surfaces somewhere unrelated, so the wrong plugin gets blamed.
03
Expired plugin licenses that stop delivering updates
A paid plugin stopped updating months ago because its license quietly ran out. An expired key does not switch the plugin off. It just stops delivering patches, so the plugin looks healthy while its known holes go unfixed.
04
An update that takes the whole site offline
The site is a blank page and the admin is gone with it, usually because updated code called something the current PHP version no longer has. Without a rollback point, recovery means debugging a dead site live.
05
An old PHP version your host is about to retire
Your host emailed about a PHP upgrade and the risk is unclear. Hosts retire old versions on a published schedule and eventually make the move for you, ready or not. Plugins that were never updated fail that day.
06
Custom code with no documentation
There is a snippet in the theme files with no note explaining what it does or who added it. Code with no history and no owner turns every update into a guess.
Our WordPress Maintenance Process
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Phase 01
Onboarding, week 1
We inventory every plugin, theme and license
We record each one with its version, whether its author still ships releases, and whether its license is live. You get a written list of what your site is made of. Treat the timings shown against each step as an estimate of a normal cycle rather than a final schedule, because your dates are set in the proposal.
Phase 02
Onboarding, week 1
We build the test copy and take baseline images
A copy of your site goes up with its own database, and your key pages are photographed there. Every later comparison is measured against those images.
Phase 03
Recurring, monthly
We apply the month's updates on the copy
Pending core, plugin and theme releases go on in the right order, security patches first. Anything that fails is isolated and either fixed or held back.
Phase 04
Recurring, monthly
We compare your key pages before and after
We re-shoot the key pages, compare them, then try the forms and the login by hand. A version bump that quietly moved your layout gets caught here.
Phase 05
Recurring, monthly
We deploy to your live site in an agreed window
The approved set goes live with a restore point taken first, and the same checks run again. You get the log the same day: what shipped, what we held, and why.
Phase 06
Recurring, after each run
We watch the site closely for 48 hours
We watch error rates, form submissions and uptime closely, because delayed failures surface in that window rather than at the moment of deploy.
•The cost of a broken update
What a broken update actually costs you, in sales and leads.
The repair is rarely the expensive part. The cost is the stretch between a release landing and your team discovering the contact form stopped sending or the admin stopped loading. Forms fail quietly, so the customer is often gone before the issue is found.
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Inquiry forms that stop sending and never show an error
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The stretch between a release landing and anyone realizing
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Rebuilding from an old backup instead of rolling back in minutes
•If you cancel
What happens to your site if you cancel the plan.
Nothing breaks on day one, which is what makes it easy to miss. Paid licenses reach their renewal date and stop delivering patches while the plugins keep running. Security releases stop landing the day WordPress publishes them. The site does not fail, it just stops being defended.
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An expired license does not disable a plugin, it stops patching it
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A disclosed WordPress vulnerability stays open until it is patched
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PHP end of life arrives on your host's schedule, not yours
WordPress Maintenance Deliverables
Everything below is written down and sent to you each month. Our WordPress maintenance services are scoped in writing before you sign, so nothing here arrives as a surprise.
Month One
Every month
✓Updates applied and updates held back — Every version applied, everything held back, and the reason for each.
✓Before and after images of your key pages — Screenshots either side of the run, with anything that moved called out.
✓Where your restore point is kept — The saved copy we would put the site back to, and how long we keep it.
✓The edits you sent, and when they went live — Each change request this month and the date it went live.
Months 2-3
Tracked continuously
✓Every plugin and theme, with its license date — Plugins, themes and snippets with versions, authors, license keys and renewal dates.
✓Which PHP version you are on, and what is next — The version you run today, what your host plans next, and what fails on the copy.
✓Plugins whose authors have stopped shipping updates — Components going quiet, with a replacement path found before removal is forced.
•Compare options
Compare WordPress Maintenance Services
Compare WordPress maintenance services by how updates are tested, what gets checked after deployment and whether your licenses, backups and runbook stay in your name.
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Core, plugin and theme updates tested on a copy first
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
Key pages compared before and after each run
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
Restore point taken before every deployment
Us
VariesAgencies
Freelance
In-house
Plugin updates ranked by security risk
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
PHP tested before your host forces the upgrade
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
Custom theme code moved into version control
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
Plugin licenses held in your name
Us
VariesAgencies
VariesFreelance
In-house
48-hour watch after each deployment
Us
Agencies
Freelance
In-house
Licenses and accounts stay in your name
Us
VariesAgencies
VariesFreelance
In-house
Suff Digital
Other agencies
Freelancers
In-house / DIY
Core, plugin and theme updates tested on a copy first
Key pages compared before and after each run
Restore point taken before every deployment
Varies
Plugin updates ranked by security risk
PHP tested before your host forces the upgrade
Custom theme code moved into version control
Plugin licenses held in your name
Varies
Varies
48-hour watch after each deployment
Licenses and accounts stay in your name
Varies
Varies
See what one tested update run would clear on your site.
Send us the URL. A senior operator checks your WordPress, plugin and PHP versions by hand, then tells you what we would fix first.
•Frequently asked questions
Common Questions
WordPress maintenance is the recurring work of keeping core, plugins, themes and PHP current and compatible with each other, with backups and monitoring behind it. Because WordPress and its plugin authors ship releases constantly, an install left alone drifts out of compatibility. In practice: a monthly tested update run, a rollback point and a visual check.
•Learn more
Website Maintenance & Support guides
Longer reads on the same subject, written by our senior team.
•Ready for real growth?
Get a free WordPress health check.
Tell us where the site is and a senior operator replies within one business day with your versions, the components whose authors have gone quiet, and what our WordPress maintenance services would clear first.
✓A person reads your site, not a scanner
✓Reply within one business day
✓Clear scope before work starts
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WordPress Maintenance Reviews