So, you have your shiny new custom blog design, and you have chosen WordPress as your blogging platform (great choice!). Â Wordpress can be really intimidating, and there is definitely a learning curve on your new blog design template, but I have faith in you! Â The best way to learn is by doing, so get to posting, for sure! Â There are a few blog design maintenance tips you want to consider however, and these can be confusing to the new blogger. Â Probably the most important item in a self-hosted WordPress custom blog design is to keep your blog and plugins updated. Â What does this mean, and how does this work?
WordPress.org is an open-source, free blogging platform (you only pay for your hosting and domain). Â And the WordPress developers are amazing, they devote so much time and energy to making WordPress great, it seems like they never stop working! Â And because of this, there are constant updates to WordPress, making it bigger, better, faster and stronger (okay maybe not bigger and stronger, but better and faster for sure). Â So, to make sure that your blog design template stays in great shape, you want to pay attention when WordPress, your child theme or a plugin offers and update. Â So here is a step by step guide on how to maintain your custom blog design installation.
Step 1:
Log into your WordPress blog. Â Make sure you are in the Dashboard. Â Directly below the Home link, you will see a link called Updates. Â Click on the Updates link.
First, make sure that your version of WordPress is updated to the latest version. Â You can always click the Check Again button, but the Dashboard will indicate if you need to update. Â Second, click on the Select All button to select all plugins. Â Then click the Update Plugins button to update all of your plugins to the latest version. Â This will take a few minutes.
You will now see a page listing your sucessfully updated plugins. Â It is most important to keep your WordPress version updated, but it is good practice to update the plugins on your blog design template as well. Â This helps keep your blog secure and also ensures that all plugins are running the latest (and greatest) version! Â All done! Â Remember, you hired a blog designer, you invested in a custom blog design, so keep your new blog design template safe and up to date. Â And enjoy!