Proper WordPress maintenance isn’t complicated, but it does require some time on the part of the website owner. However, it’s essential to avoid financial or reputational losses. Website that isn’t kept up to date is an open invitation to infection. Without updates, a website can be:
- hacked,
- infected with malware,
- used for spam.
These actions can result in the loss of your data and user data (especially for online stores) and expose you to other unpleasant consequences, including from your hosting provider, if your infected site runs on a shared server.
What to Update
Essentially, there are three components to update: the WordPress core (i.e., WordPress itself), plugins, and themes. Additionally, it’s important to ensure you’re using the latest version of PHP. This combination will significantly minimize the risk of issues with your site.
Proper WordPress maintenance involves keeping up with current updates, but also responding to changes, such as a plugin being removed from the repository and needing to be replaced with another one. Sometimes a theme is no longer being developed, and you’ll need to replace it with one that receives new updates.
Other things to keep in mind
If you don’t have time to manage your website, you can hire a qualified professional to do it for you. This way, you won’t have to worry about whether everything is working properly or being updated on time. When choosing a service provider, be sure to check their references and experience.
It’s worth remembering that maintaining WordPress is simply a cost (financial or in terms of time) associated with properly maintaining a website. And the website is usually a company’s most important showcase. Updates are unavoidable; WordPress is constantly evolving, and so are all its plugins. Consequently, potential vulnerabilities are patched, and newer, improved versions with new or modified features are released. Each update may introduce new tools (e.g., the Gutenberg block editor), more convenient content management, UX improvements, or the aforementioned security patches.
To update or not to update?
Instead of wondering whether and how to update WordPress, it’s worth understanding that it’s as essential to its proper functioning as refueling a car. You simply have to do it. Whether we decide to handle it ourselves or hire someone to do it is, in a way, a secondary issue, as it boils down solely to time and money. The value of having an up-to-date website is indisputable.
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