WordPress: Survival Cheat Sheet in Zombie Territory
Let’s be real: the web is a bit like The Walking Dead sometimes. Between updates that break everything, plugins that turn into viruses, and servers that crash in the middle of the night, your WordPress site can quickly become a pile of rubble.
If you don’t want to end up devoured by 500 errors, here’s my survival cheat sheet to keep your site upright and alive. This is real-world experience, no fluff.
Avoid the “bite” of too many plugins
Every plugin you install is a potential open door for a lurker (or a hacker, same thing). The trap? Wanting a plugin for every tiny detail. Your site becomes heavy, slow, and eventually collapses on itself.
Basically, if a plugin hasn’t been updated in 6 months, it’s a zombie. It’s undead and it will eventually infect your whole system.
Golden rule: as few plugins as possible, and only stuff you’ve tested and approved. If you can code a function by hand, do it.
Choose a solid bunker (Hosting)
If your hosting is a wooden shack, at the first gust of wind (or traffic), everything falls apart. Looking for that €1 per month deal is like trying to survive an apocalypse with a water gun.
You need a bunker. A real one. Guys who have your back, with support that answers even when it’s chaos. Personally, to sleep soundly, I bet on serious companies like o2switch or Infomaniak. It’s clean, it’s fast, and most importantly: it doesn’t quit when you need power.
Pack your emergency kit: Backups
In a zombie movie, the person who forgets their backpack doesn’t last long. For your WordPress, your backpack is your backups. If you don’t have a daily automatic backup (stored somewhere other than your server), you’re playing with fire.
An update that fails? A coding mistake? Boom, you pull out your emergency kit and restore. There you go, fixed in 5 minutes. Otherwise, you start from scratch and cry. Easy choice, right?
Barricade the entrances: Security
Zombies don’t knock; they try to kick the door down. If your username is “admin” and your password is “123456”, you’ve left the key under the mat.
Change your login URL (the famous wp-admin that everyone knows) and use a password that even you can’t remember. It’s simple, it’s free, and it stops 90% of basic attacks.
In short: Stay alert
The secret to a site that lasts is vigilance. Don’t leave unused themes lying around, clean your database every now and then, and above all, keep it simple. The lighter your site, the easier it is to defend.
There you go, with this, you should be able to get through the apocalypse without too many scratches.
