Title: Maintaining wordpress for clients
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Maintaining wordpress for clients

 *  [bl v](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vidyab/)
 * (@vidyab)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/)
 * I have recently started using wordpress to build simple websites for clients-
   with few static pages, few plugins & a blog page.
    The issue I am having is whether
   I need to keep updating and backing up the database on a regular basis. With 
   my hand coded websites, I design , install and there is no maintenance involved–
   but I like wordpress it can seamless integrate the website and blog.. Can any
   one give me an idea of how many hours does one spend on maintaining a clients
   wp site, is it important to keep updating(even for a simple website), any suggestions?
   THANKS!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabreuse/)
 * (@sabreuse)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2984835)
 * Yes, it is always important to keep updated: both non-core (plugins and themes)
   and core updates may include security fixes.
 * The best thing to do is train your clients to always keep updated themselves.
   It’s their site and their responsibility; updating is a matter of clicking a 
   link: there’s no reason they should have to call you in to do something like 
   this. If they choose not to do so themselves, sell them a maintenance contract.
 *  Thread Starter [bl v](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vidyab/)
 * (@vidyab)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2984838)
 * Thanks Amy. Is it important to to backup the database every time you upgrade?
   This would be a bit too technical for some clients.
 *  [Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabreuse/)
 * (@sabreuse)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2984843)
 * To be honest, I don’t generally do it for upgrades, and it’s very rarely a problem—
   but I **do** set up automatic backups. There are a number of plugins that will
   do it on a schedule of your choice, and most of them give you a choice to email
   a zip file or save it to the server; even if your clients need your help to restore,
   they have a copy of the latest backup in the (very rare, IME!!) event that something
   goes wrong.
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2984947)
 * I actually do backup the database just before an upgrade but I use [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dbc-backup/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dbc-backup/)
   which, apart from running scheduled backups, allows me to backup on demand. It
   usually takes less than 30 seconds.
 *  [The Mighty](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mightiest/)
 * (@mightiest)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2985047)
 * Yes, backup, backup and backup !!
    Better spend your a couple of minutes to backup
   than regret and take your a couple of hours to working from the beginning.
 * I have some clients and I ALWAYS backup the database regularly. And on some sites
   I also backup the files (wp-content folder). I always do it using plugins and
   set them to automatic.
 * As Amy said, I ask my clients some money for this regular maintenance.
 * Good luck !! 🙂
 *  Thread Starter [bl v](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vidyab/)
 * (@vidyab)
 * [13 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2985183)
 * Thanks for your helpful replies- Am researching backup programs now- any suggestions?
   Thanks,.
 *  [The Mighty](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mightiest/)
 * (@mightiest)
 * [13 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2985194)
 * There are many good plugins for these purposes, but I use [this](http://austinmatzko.com/wordpress-plugins/wp-db-backup/)
   for database backup AND [this](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-backup-to-dropbox/)
   for backup the WP files.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The topic ‘Maintaining wordpress for clients’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/)
 * 7 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [The Mighty](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mightiest/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/maintaining-wordpress-for-clients/#post-2985194)
 * Status: not resolved

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