If you have a website built on WordPress, it needs maintenance. The WordPress code is always being reviewed for security and functionality reasons. You can be certain that any time one of the browsers releases an update, a new mobile phone or device is also released, or Windows or Mac updates their OS – WordPress will also have to make updates to allow for new changes. This is also true for the theme of your site and any plugins running on it.
Besides just accommodating device, browser and operating system changes, unfortunately, there are a lot of shady people who are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in websites in order to take advantage of them. Anytime a weakness is reported in code, security patches are made to try to stay ahead of these hackers.
WordPress is one of the fastest growing content management systems available today, powering almost 30% of all sites on the internet and making up 60% of all sites that use a content management system. Some of the most famous companies in the world utilize this powerful tool for their own sites. Since the technology behind WordPress and all the awesome third-party integrations available are ever-evolving, keeping your site up to date with regular updates and maintenance is an absolute necessity.
Keeping your site current with the latest WordPress version, theme, and plugins can keep your site running smoothly, minimize the risks of security breaches, and maximize usability and performance for your customers.
The Components of a WordPress Website
When talking about maintenance, it’s important to understand the different pieces that make up a WordPress site.
- WordPress Core files
- Theme
- Plugins
Because each of these three components is updated independently by their original developer, there are updates available pretty much on a daily basis. While most of these updates are to improve things like functionality or to correct minor bugs, many of these updates are to patch an identified security threat that could potentially allow unwanted access to your site – a hack.
Why does your website need maintenance? You’ve just spent a bunch of time and money getting it set up exactly right, so why do you need to keep working on it?
There are several reasons that your site will always need maintenance:
To Make It More Secure
Developers constantly update WordPress, themes, and plugins. You might think “I don’t need any new features!” but new features are only one of many reasons why developers release new versions. They often fix security problems: outdated plugins are the biggest reason WordPress sites get hacked.
WordPress as an open source platform provides a huge opportunity to developers for implementing new features and innovations. No other platform will give you such a freedom like WordPress. However, along with this comes the constant threat of getting attacked by hackers. In order to deal with such a situation, there are many developers that are constantly trying very hard to improve and maintain the security of WordPress. Regular updates are provided to the WordPress users in order to keep it safe.
Many of the WordPress users install a wide variety of themes and plugins that are available for them in free. However, these plugins and themes also need to be updated otherwise they would also come under the attack of malicious items. Having a proper maintenance plan in place will enable you to ensure the proper functioning of your website and also keep it bug-free.
Updating WordPress, themes, and plugins regularly is absolutely essential to keeping your site safe.
New content
You put a lot of time and effort into getting all of your content just right on your website, so why would you want to change it? Well, search engines favor websites with new content, so the more you can update your blog or news page, or add new pages to your site, the better your SEO rankings will be. Plus, you want to make sure your information is up to date. If your store hours change, or you’ve joined the latest trending social network, you want to make sure your visitors know.
Fresh look
No matter how good your designer is, your website is going to start to look dated after a few years, if not even faster. You might not need to do a complete overhaul, but you’ll want to make a few design updates at least every few years.
Moving web hosts
Switching to a different web host is a huge pain, but there are several reasons why you will probably end up moving to a new host every once in a while. The service at your current host might decline, or you might find a new host that provides better features.
Website maintenance might not be as exciting and revolutionary as building a new site, but it is absolutely essential. You will need to perform maintenance tasks on your WordPress site on a monthly, if not weekly, basis. It sounds boring and tedious, but it doesn’t take much time, and will save you a lot of time and headache in the long run. Your site can continue to thrive for years if you take good care of it.
Because Your Website Needs Updating
WordPress as a website building platform is scalable in nature. It will give you the opportunity to revamp your website according to your business. You cannot use a website with the same design and features for the rest of your life. The same goes for your business. In order to make your business grow, you will have to widen its scope.
There will be something or the other that you would want to enhance your website. In order to perform this in a well-defined manner, you will have to implement a WordPress maintenance plan. The plan could be a monthly or a quarterly one.
To Make Website More Accessible
The main purpose of your website is to make it accessible to your visitors. There is no point in having a website that shows error on the homepage itself. No user would want to visit such a website again. This could in return be very bad for your business.
Your website is not only made up of one or two components. There are many modules that make up a website. Depending on the functionalities of your website you will need to have a maintenance plan in place. Having a faulty website will make you lose your present and potential customers.
