This is nowhere near an all inclusive list of things you can do to make your life easier when having to maintain a website. These are just a few tips and tricks worth knowing.
1) Never use absolute paths. Use relative paths instead.
For example, this is a no-no:
include('/home/user/public_html/some/file');
Instead, try this:
include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/some/file');
Or even this:
include('../../some/file');
Then if (when!) you migrate to a new server, and your base web dir changes, you won't have to update your file paths throughout your code.
2) Use a config file.
Don't hard code your email address throughout your site. define() it in a config file that you include() everywhere. Same goes for mysql credentials, or any other text which may need to change at some point. Putting everything in an external config makes a migration much easier.
Example:
define('EMAIL','my@email.com');
define('DB_USER','mydbusername');
define('DB_PASS','mydbpassword');
Or, use global variables:
$GLOBALS['EMAIL'] = 'my@email.com';
$GLOBALS['DB_USER'] = 'mydbusername';
$GLOBALS['DB_PASS'] = 'mydbpassword';
3) Place re-used web page code into external files. include() them.
Got a navigation menu that appears on every page? Place it into a file (e.g. navigation.php) and include() it on every page.
Google Analytics? Same deal--- include() it.
Doing so makes site maintenance MUCH easier.