You have invested a lot of time and money into creating a beautiful, effective non-profit website. But the work is not over once your site goes live. A website is like a car or a house. It needs regular care and attention to keep it running well. Website maintenance is the ongoing process of keeping your website secure, up-to-date, and working perfectly. It is one of the most important, but most often overlooked, parts of having a successful online presence.

Ignoring website maintenance is a big risk. An unmaintained website can become slow, break down, or even get hacked, putting your donor data and your reputation at risk. A good maintenance plan is a key part of your cybersecurity strategy. This guide will give you a simple, 7-point checklist that you can use every month to make sure your website stays healthy, secure, and effective for your mission.

Point 1: Perform Regular Backups

This is the most important item on your checklist. A backup is a complete copy of your website’s files and its database. If anything ever goes wrong with your site—if it gets hacked, or if an update causes it to crash—a recent backup is your safety net. It allows you to restore your site to a working version quickly and easily.

How to Handle Backups:

• How Often? You should be backing up your website at least once a week. If you have a very active site where you are constantly adding new content, you should back it up every day.
• Where to Store Them? Do not store your backups on the same server as your website. If the server goes down, your backups will go down with it. Your backups should be stored in a separate, secure, off-site location, like a cloud storage service (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox).
• Automate It: The best way to make sure your backups get done is to automate them. Most good web hosting companies offer an automated backup service. There are also many plugins for platforms like WordPress that can automatically back up your site to the cloud.

Point 2: Update All of Your Software

Most non-profit websites are built on a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress. A WordPress site has three main types of software that need to be kept up to date:

• WordPress Core: This is the main software of the WordPress platform itself.
• Your Theme: This is the software that controls the look and feel of your site.
• Your Plugins: These are the small pieces of software that add extra features to your site, like your donation form or your contact form.

Software companies are constantly releasing updates to fix security holes and add new features. Running an old version of any of these things is one of the biggest security risks your website faces. Hackers are always looking for sites with outdated plugins. You should log in to your website at least once a month and install all available updates.

Point 3: Run Security Scans

Regular security scans are like a health checkup for your website. A security scanner will check your website’s files for any malware or suspicious code. Many web hosting companies include this service. There are also great security plugins for WordPress (like Wordfence or Sucuri) that can run these scans for you automatically. Running a scan once a month is a good practice to catch any potential problems early.

Point 4: Check Your Website’s Speed and Performance

A slow website is a frustrating experience for your visitors. It can also hurt your ranking on Google. Once a month, you should do a quick check of your website’s speed. You can use a free tool like Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It will give you a score for your site’s performance on both mobile and desktop and give you suggestions for how to improve it. One of the most common reasons for a slow site is large, unoptimized images. A fast website is a key part of good UX design.

Point 5: Review and Update Your Content

Your website is a living document, not a static brochure. Over time, information can become outdated. Once a month, do a quick review of your key pages.

This simple review keeps your content fresh and accurate, which is important for both your users and for your SEO.

Point 6: Test Your Forms and Key Functions

The most important functions on your website are the ones that allow people to take action. Once a month, you should personally test all of your key forms to make sure they are working perfectly. Fill out your own:

• Donation Form
• Email Sign-up Form
• Contact Form
• Volunteer Application Form

Did the form submit correctly? Did you receive the correct notification email? Did the automated thank-you email get sent? Finding a problem with your donation form during a routine check is much better than having a donor find it during your big year-end campaign.

Point 7: Review Your Analytics

Your website’s data can tell you a lot about what is working and what is not. Once a month, take a quick look at your Google Analytics dashboard. You do not need to be a data expert. Just look at a few of the key metrics. Which pages are the most popular? Where is your traffic coming from? This quick review can give you valuable insights to help you improve your content strategy.

Your website is an investment in your mission. A good maintenance plan is how you protect that investment.

Conclusion: The Peace of Mind of a Healthy Website

Website maintenance might not be the most glamorous part of running a non-profit, but it is one of the most important. A regular maintenance routine is the best way to protect your organization from security threats, provide a great experience for your supporters, and ensure that your most important marketing tool is always working for you. By following this simple 7-point checklist every month, you can have the peace of mind that comes from knowing your digital home is safe, sound, and ready to welcome the world to your mission.