WordPress Updates and your maintenance plan

So you’ve launched a new and beautiful WordPress site – congratulations! Before you mentally file your project as “complete,” make sure you have a clear plan for the next phase for your site: maintenance.

In addition to content management, often done in-house, your maintenance plan should include updating to the latest version of WordPress on a regular basis. Sure, that “Update” button is temptingly easy to click. But most organizations find that it’s best to outsource this task to professionals, and here’s why.

A team with technical expertise can back up your site and database prior to updating, a restoration measure recommended by WordPress. They can also quickly repair any functionality or formatting that might break – a scenario that’s more likely to happen the longer you wait to update. That translates into maximum odds of keeping your site live and serving your clients.

So, if your website still looks great on the front end and seems to be working just fine, is it worth investing in regular professional updates? The answer is an emphatic YES – and here are three reasons why.

1. Security

Updating your site is the best way to ensure security against hacking and malicious viruses. As an open source platform, the code used to build your WordPress site is available for others to learn and grow from. And that’s awesome! But on the other side of the coin, if hackers find a line of code susceptible to attack, this could be exploited. The best way to guard against attacks: updates. Updating WordPress means staying one step ahead of the hackers, identifying risks and responding efficiently while making things better.

2. Speed

Speed can make or break the user experience of your website (not to mention your SEO). It’s 2017 and any speed less than optimal is frustrating for visitors. What is an easy way to prevent slow loading content? If you guessed updates, you’re right!

3.  Staying bug-free

Updates are like little evolutions of your WordPress site; the bugs creeping around the older versions are configured out. This makes the experience better for the users visiting your site – and for your site developers. If you don’t regularly update your site, simple changes to your site could be a challenge and force your developer to do a major upgrade which carries risks of breaking the site. Think of them like regular visits to your doctor: to ensure the continued health of your site, keep up to date with the latest versions of WordPress and any plugins that you may utilize.

Keep your site healthy, relevant and up to date with Dot Think. We offer tiered levels of hosting and security.

:::

Dot Think Design is a woman-owned & operated agency based in Fairfield County, CT that serves nonprofit and for-profit organizations across the US with branding and marketing strategy, print and web design, social media and email campaigns, technology solutions and development.

LEARN MORE ABOUT US