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Why You Should Keep Your WordPress Site Updated
WordPress is a very dynamic platform but the average business owner who uses WP doesn’t always take full care of the website after going live. Many people set up their site and then let it coast along – as long as it’s not broken, they don’t need to fix it.
You might update your plug-ins whenever you’re asked to or at least once a month, which is great, as well as updating your theme every year or two. Then when there’s a big WP update rolled out you may or may not climb on board.
Not everyone makes all the necessary updates, though
Lots of people don’t want to make every update because they have to back up the existing version; it all takes too much time, the update might crash the entire site or they just might not like the new features and looks.
You should go ahead and make the updates, though, and for more than just aesthetic reasons.
For the security
Your business and your WordPress site might fairly small, but it’s still a target for hackers because it’s WordPress. Around 25% of the content and sites on the internet are WordPress, so if hackers can get into just one site, they have an insight into a quarter of the internet. If you have poor security, with exploits, then hackers can find you.
The thing about WP is that whenever a user or developer finds an exploit the WP security team is right on it with a patch. Not only does updating improve your security, but not updating makes it worse because every time there’s a security update, there’s a publicly-available report. This means hackers know how to get into un-updated, unprotected WP sites…like yours.
You need to update to keep your website healthy
To ensure the functionality of your website continues to work well, it’s very important to keep things up to date. Out-of-date plugins can cause you a headache, so it’s best to update your version every month. If you are struggling for time or would like total peace of mind, why not take advantage of our WordPress Maintenance Package.
Is my theme too old?
Themes have an active life of three years or so, so even if you’ve kept the same look for three years (which you really shouldn’t, by the way…), it may become obsolete and inactive if the developer has moved on. New plug-ins also need updates to install properly and run efficiently. Generally, the more version numbers you update in one go, the more likely you are to have problems, so keep taking those baby steps if you want to stay fresh.
If you are worried your website is out of date, give me a call straight away on 0475045034.
Updating WordPress Core + Plugins
About the author
PAUL SMITH - For over 20 years I have worked with businesses, enterprises and brands in Australia, NZ, UK and US to drive digital marketing growth using organic and paid traffic strategies. No fluff or BS, just straight-forward return on investment.
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