One of the most important keys to a successful website is keeping it up and running without any issues. Thankfully, there are many tools out there to help you. Let’s take a look at three different ways you can keep a close eye on your website — for some of them, even when you aren’t logged in.
1. Use the WordPress Site Health Check
WordPress added a new feature in version 5.2 called the Site Health Check. If you have WordPress 5.2 or newer, you’ll see a module on your dashboard that displays your website’s health status. If necessary, it will display a link to take you to a site health check page that will give you more details about what you need to improve to keep your site running optimally. Some of the suggestions you may receive could be as simple as upgrading a plugin or theme to the latest version. Others are more complex and may require you to contact your hosting company. All of them will help keep your site up and running smoothly and trouble-free. Plugins like Yoast SEO are also able to take advantage of the Site Health Check and display their own information here as well.
2. Find a website uptime monitoring service
Of course, the worst problem you can have with your website is that it is completely unavailable. Sometimes, you’re hosting company will have a temporary outage. Other times, your personal Internet service may be interrupted, leading you to believe that your website is down when it really isn’t. Fortunately, there are several tools that can help you here.
Down for Everyone or Just Me is a website that, as you may have guessed, will show you if a website is down for everyone or just for you. This website is extremely handy to see if you’re having a problem with your personal Internet or if a website is actually down. It works for any website on the Internet, not just one you own.
Several companies offer website uptime monitoring as well. These services will check every few minutes to see if your website is available, and they will let you know if it ever goes down. These services will allow you to know as soon as possible if something is wrong with your website. Keep in mind that most hosting companies have occasional short-term outages, so a few sporadic issues are to be expected. Also, remember that your website will appear to be down while you are running updates, though the site will work normally again as soon as updates are completed a few seconds later. If outages are frequent and continual or last more than just a few short minutes, you may need to change hosting companies to get a more stable platform for your website.
Many companies offer uptime monitoring services, including Uptime Robot, Uptrends, Uptime, Dotcom-Monitor, and Pingdom. Some companies offer free and paid services while others are only paid. All of these companies can notify you in a variety of ways, including email, text, or a variety of app push notifications.
3. Install a WordPress security plugin
Finally, you can monitor your websites security with a security plugin for WordPress. Many common WordPress security plugins will send you emails with updates on your website, allowing you to monitor your website’s security even when you are not logged in. Make sure you have a security plugin installed and activated, and check the plug-in settings to make sure it will send you notifications when it detects any problems. For more information on security in WordPress,and check the plug-in settings to make sure it will send you notifications when it detects any problems. For more information on security in WordPress, check out our WordPress security tips.
If maintaining your website yourself seems daunting, we’re here to help. We recently began offering website hosting and maintenance plans. Our goal has always been to empower you to take control of your website, but if you’d rather leave the maintenance in our hands, we’d love to be able to help you.
