Many website owners do not understand the importance of keeping their website up-to-date with regards to content as well as software. The maintenance and upkeep of the software, especially if using WordPress, is an important requirement.
In our experience, website owners often neglect to update their sites because once they’ve launched their website, there is a feeling of nothing further is needed. If they do know, we find that in most cases, not updating their website it is not intentional. This can be overlooked for a number of reasons:
- You don’t know how to update the software
- You don’t feel confident updating the software themselves
- Your business and life get in the way, and your just run out of time to update
- You are so focused on delivering a service, that updating your site just isn’t a priority
Why is it so important?
Updating all your plugins and WordPress core files can prevent your website from falling victim to a hacker. It will also eliminate downtime that could tragically affect your business and the sales you generate from it.
Security and Bug Fixes
WordPress is the most attractive target, since it is powering close to 25% of all the world’s websites and is open source software – meaning it is readily available for hackers to code through. Every month, new potential security vulnerabilities are discovered in popular WordPress plugins, and often, these are plugins that are free to use. To counter this, the WordPress development team regularly provide security and bug fix updates. Sometimes these updates are rich with new features and new functionality, mostly they fix bugs and security vulnerabilities.
We recommend that you use premium plugins that have an active development teams, or use plugins from WordPress repository that have been updated within at least 6 months.
Speed
Speed is an important factor for all websites, and new versions of your software often improves the speed of your website. The speed impacts page ranking, bounces from your website, and keeping your visitors engaged. Keeping your software up-to-date will ensure you’re receiving maximum performance benefits.
In summary, leaving it too long to update your site increases your risk of being hacked, losing data, and an increase in the likelihood of compatibility issues. It might be a hassle for you, however, it is a good investment to keep your site secured and prevent any issue in the future.
Keeping your WordPress website software updated regularly ensures that:
- Your website is secure from malicious threat like malware and hackers
- Your database and site information remains intact
- Your website loads faster and won’t experience downtime
- Your visitors have a good experience visiting your websites
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If you’re not online, we can help. Read about our process, look over our demos, and touch base if you have any questions.
Image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay