Reliable WordPress maintenance and automation for a youth organization

RST Domžale came to FlickWeb with an existing WordPress and Elementor website that had already been built, but had not been properly updated for several years. The website played an important role in the organization’s communication, event information, camp signups, and updates for parents and members. Because of this, the website needed to remain stable, accessible, secure, and easy to manage.

The first priority was to move the website to our managed hosting environment. The client’s previous hosting was expiring, and they wanted to reduce the administrative work connected to hosting, technical maintenance, and keeping the site online. By moving the website to our hosting, we took over responsibility for keeping the environment maintained, monitored, and reliable, so the client no longer had to worry about hosting renewals, server configuration, or basic availability.

After the hosting migration, the website needed a careful technical update. WordPress, Elementor, the theme, and several plugins were outdated, with some parts of the system not updated for more than three years. Because major updates can break older Elementor websites, the process had to be handled carefully. We prepared backups and a staging environment before making larger changes, reducing the risk of downtime and making sure any issues could be tested and fixed before affecting the live site.

During the update process, some parts of the website did break, which was expected because of the size of the Elementor update and the age of the existing setup. Some styles no longer displayed correctly, and certain pages returned critical errors. Our role was to troubleshoot these issues, repair broken layouts, fix compatibility problems, and bring the website back to a stable and updated state.

Beyond maintenance, we also developed a custom integration for the organization’s Elementor event signup forms. RST Domžale uses forms for events and camps, and before the integration, signup data had to be manually copied into Google Sheets. We extended the existing Elementor form workflow so submissions can be synced directly into Google Sheets using the Google Sheets API. This saves time, reduces manual data entry, and gives the team a cleaner way to manage event and camp registrations.

The result is a more stable, secure, and maintainable WordPress website with managed hosting, regular updates, performance improvements, security monitoring, and an automation workflow that supports the organization’s daily operations.

The main challenge was taking over an existing website that had not been properly maintained for several years. Older WordPress websites can become risky when core files, themes, Elementor, and plugins are not updated regularly. Updates are necessary for security and compatibility, but large jumps between old and new versions can also create layout issues, broken functionality, or critical errors.

RST Domžale needed the website to remain accessible because it is used by parents, members, and organizers looking for important information about meetings, camps, signups, and events. Any downtime or broken signup forms could create practical problems for the organization.

The hosting situation also needed to be simplified. The client did not want to manage hosting administration, renewals, technical configuration, and availability on their own. They needed a reliable partner who could take care of the hosting environment and website maintenance in one place.

Another important challenge was the signup workflow. Elementor forms were used for event and camp registrations, but the submitted data still required manual work. Someone had to take the form submissions and enter the information into Google Sheets. This created unnecessary administrative work and increased the chance of mistakes, especially when multiple events or camps were active.

The project therefore required both technical stabilization and practical process improvement. The goal was not to redesign the website from scratch, but to make the existing website safer, more reliable, easier to maintain, and more useful for the people managing it.

The main goal was to take over the technical responsibility for the RST Domžale website and make sure it remains stable, updated, secure, and accessible over time.

A key objective was to move the website to managed hosting, so the client would no longer need to worry about hosting administration or server-related maintenance. This gives the organization a simpler setup and a single technical partner responsible for keeping the website online and properly maintained.

Another important goal was updating the outdated WordPress and Elementor setup. Because the website had not been updated for several years, the update process needed to be handled carefully. The goal was not just to click “update,” but to protect the website with backups, test larger changes, fix compatibility issues, and make sure the final result was stable.

The project also aimed to improve the reliability of event and camp signup workflows. Forms are an important part of the website because they support real organizational processes. By syncing Elementor form submissions directly into Google Sheets, the goal was to reduce manual data entry and make registration management easier.

Finally, the website needed an ongoing maintenance plan. Regular updates, backups, security checks, performance improvements, hosting support, and technical assistance help ensure the website does not become outdated again.

We started by moving the RST Domžale website to our managed hosting environment. This gave the client a more reliable and simpler technical setup, with FlickWeb taking responsibility for hosting management, availability, SSL, backups, and server configuration.

Before performing major updates, we created backups and used staging where needed to reduce risk. This was especially important because the website had not been updated for several years, and large Elementor updates can affect styles, layouts, and compatibility with existing content.

After updating WordPress, Elementor, the theme, and plugins, we resolved the issues caused by the update process. Some layouts required styling fixes, and some pages that returned critical errors needed technical debugging. This helped bring the website back to a stable and updated state.

We also improved the website’s technical foundation by checking performance, updating the hosting environment, configuring security tools, enabling Wordfence protection, setting up SSL, improving caching and server configuration, and making sure the site remains easier to maintain going forward.

The custom Google Sheets integration was built around the existing Elementor form workflow. Instead of replacing the form system entirely, we extended it so that submitted form data can be sent directly to Google Sheets through the Google Sheets API. The integration is flexible: submissions can be stored in one central sheet or separated by form, depending on how the organization wants to manage registrations.

The integration sends all form fields into the selected Google Sheet, making it easier to collect event and camp signup data in a structured format. Validation, notifications, and handling logic help make the workflow more reliable in everyday use.

Today, RST Domžale has an ongoing maintenance plan in place, keeping the website updated, backed up, secured, monitored, and supported.

RST Domžale now has a more stable, secure, and properly maintained WordPress website. The organization no longer needs to worry about hosting administration, outdated systems, or handling technical updates on its own.

The website was successfully moved to managed hosting, updated after several years without regular maintenance, and repaired where major Elementor updates caused layout or functionality issues. This gives the website a stronger technical foundation and reduces the risk of future problems caused by neglected updates.

The maintenance plan keeps the website updated, backed up, secured, and monitored. This is important for an organization that depends on the website for communication, event information, camp details, and signups.

The Google Sheets integration also created a practical improvement for the team. Instead of manually copying event and camp registrations from Elementor form submissions into spreadsheets, the data is now synced directly into Google Sheets. This saves time, reduces manual work, and makes registration management more organized.

This project represents the kind of WordPress maintenance and automation work many organizations need: not a full rebuild, but a reliable technical partner who can take over an existing website, stabilize it, move it to better hosting, keep it updated, and improve the workflows that support daily operations.