Your WordPress Blog Is About to Get Busier. Is Your Website Ready?
7 Things Every Self-Hosted WordPress Blogger Should Check Before the Holiday Rush
The holidays are coming, and if you’re a blogger, you know what that means.
More recipes. More gift guides. More holiday crafts. More Pinterest traffic. More affiliate links. More opportunities for your content to shine.
And hopefully, more visitors finding their way to your blog!
But there’s one thing that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves during the holiday hustle: the WordPress website working behind the scenes.
Because nothing takes the sparkle out of a successful holiday blog post quite like a slow-loading website, a broken plugin, or an error message greeting your visitors instead of your latest masterpiece.
If you’re running a self-hosted WordPress blog, now is the perfect time to give your website a little TLC.
Here are seven things worth checking before the holiday traffic starts rolling in.
1. Make Sure Your WordPress Blog Is Loading Quickly
We all love a beautiful website, but visitors aren’t going to hang around forever waiting for it to load.
And during the holidays? People are busy. They’re looking for that pumpkin bread recipe, the perfect gift idea, or a last-minute Christmas craft.
If your website takes too long to load, they may move along to the next result.
Common causes of slow WordPress blogs include:
- Oversized images that haven’t been optimized
- Too many plugins running unnecessary processes
- Poorly configured caching
- Slow or overloaded hosting
- Heavy themes and unnecessary scripts
- Database clutter that’s accumulated over time
What to do: Test a few of your most popular posts using Google PageSpeed Insights. Pay attention to mobile performance, especially if much of your traffic comes from Pinterest or social media.
A beautiful website is wonderful. A beautiful website that loads quickly? Even better.
2. Update WordPress, Plugins, and Themes (Carefully!)
WordPress updates aren’t exactly the glamorous part of blogging.
Nobody wakes up thinking, “You know what would make today fabulous? Updating 17 plugins!”
But keeping your WordPress software updated is essential for security, compatibility, and performance.
Outdated plugins and themes can introduce vulnerabilities or cause problems as WordPress and other tools evolve.
Before clicking every update button in sight:
- Create a complete backup of your website.
- Confirm that your backup can be restored.
- Check for known compatibility concerns.
- Apply updates, ideally testing major changes on a staging website first.
- Test important pages and features afterward.
A little advice from someone who’s worked on websites for more than 20 years: Just because an update is available doesn’t mean you should blindly click every button and hope for the best.
WordPress deserves a little strategy, not a game of update roulette.
3. Check Your Website Backups Before You Need Them
Let’s talk about backups.
Not the most exciting topic, but potentially one of the most important.
Your WordPress blog represents countless hours of writing, photography, editing, formatting, and building an audience.
Losing that work would be heartbreaking.
Before the busy season, make sure:
- Your website has automatic backups scheduled.
- Your backups include both website files and the database.
- Backup copies are stored somewhere other than just your hosting account.
- You know how to restore your website if something goes wrong.
- Your latest backup is actually usable.
That last one matters.
A backup you can’t restore isn’t much of a backup.
If you’re not sure how your WordPress backups are configured, now is a great time to find out.
4. Prepare Your Blog for Holiday Traffic
Holiday traffic can be wonderful for bloggers, especially those creating seasonal content.
Food bloggers may see older recipes take off. Lifestyle bloggers can experience surges in holiday gift guide visits. Craft bloggers might discover that a project from three years ago suddenly becomes a Pinterest favorite.
That’s exciting!
Unless your website can’t handle the extra attention.
Your hosting environment, caching configuration, and overall website performance all play a role in how smoothly your site handles increased traffic.
What to do: Review your hosting setup and make sure it meets your blog’s needs.
A few questions worth asking:
- Can my hosting comfortably handle my normal traffic and reasonable spikes?
- Is caching configured properly?
- Are my website resources being used efficiently?
- Have I recently experienced downtime or slow-loading pages?
- Do I have someone who can help if something breaks?
Your viral cookie recipe deserves its moment in the spotlight, not a server error.
5. Double-Check Your Affiliate Links, Forms, and Popular Posts
If your blog earns money through affiliate partnerships, advertising, sponsored content, or digital products, your website needs to be working properly.
The holiday season is an especially important time to check the details.
Visit your most popular seasonal content and look for:
- Broken affiliate links
- Missing or incorrectly displayed images
- Outdated gift recommendations
- Broken contact and subscription forms
- Layout problems on mobile devices
- Missing disclosures
- Checkout or download issues if you sell products
Don’t forget to test your website as an actual visitor would.
Sometimes everything looks wonderful inside your WordPress dashboard, but the public-facing experience tells a different story.
And if your visitors are trying to purchase something or click an affiliate recommendation, those little details matter.
6. Give Your WordPress Security Some Attention
Your blog may not be a giant online retailer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a target for automated attacks.
WordPress websites can experience malicious login attempts, spam, vulnerability scanning, and other unwanted activity.
Before the holidays, review your security basics.
Make sure you’re using strong passwords and two-factor authentication where possible. Remove unused plugins and themes, review administrator accounts, and confirm that your security tools are functioning properly.
It’s also smart to have a plan for what happens if something suspicious appears.
Security shouldn’t be something you think about only after your website stops working.
A little prevention can save a whole lot of headaches.
7. Know Who’s Taking Care of Your WordPress Website
Here’s something I’ve learned after more than two decades working with websites:
You don’t have to do everything yourself.
You’re a blogger.
Your time is valuable, and your energy is probably better spent creating content, connecting with your audience, and growing your business than troubleshooting mysterious plugin conflicts.
Self-hosted WordPress gives you incredible flexibility and control. But it also comes with responsibilities.
Updates. Backups. Security. Speed optimization. Hosting. Troubleshooting.
It’s a lot to manage when you really just want to publish your latest blog post.
Having an experienced WordPress professional in your corner can make a world of difference.
And that brings me to something I’d love to help you with.
Let Servously Handle the WordPress Stuff
Hi! I’m Shauna, the web designer and WordPress nerd behind Servously.
I’ve spent more than 20 years designing, developing, and caring for websites, including WordPress blogs of all shapes and sizes.
I know how much work goes into building a blog, and I also know how frustrating the technical side can become.
That’s where I come in.
At Servously, I help bloggers and business owners with:
- WordPress website maintenance: Keeping WordPress, themes, and plugins updated and running smoothly.
- Website speed and performance: Finding and addressing issues that slow things down.
- WordPress hosting: Helping provide a reliable home for your website.
- Website security and backups: Protecting your hard work with proactive care.
- WordPress blog design and redesign: Creating beautiful, functional websites that support your content and business goals.
- Technical troubleshooting: Helping when something isn’t working the way it should.
Whether your blog needs a little maintenance, a performance tune-up, or a completely fresh look, I’m here to help.
You Keep Blogging. I’ll Handle the WordPress.
The holidays are busy enough without adding website worries to your to-do list.
Let’s make sure your self-hosted WordPress blog is ready for the visitors, opportunities, and exciting things ahead.
Ready for a little WordPress peace of mind?
Let’s Talk About Your WordPress Website
Because your blog should be working just as hard as you are.
And preferably without any unexpected plugin drama.
— Shauna, Servously
