Your WordPress Site is Like your Car, It Needs a Service Plan
Just like driving a brand new car, at first your website is secure, responsive and polished – but to keep it that way your site needs regular servicing. It can be all too easy to let the day-to-day grind get in the way of keeping on top of your website, but here’s why it’s important to have a service plan in place and how we can help lift the burden from you.
Security
It’s important to ensure that your WordPress version is compatible with a new plugin update, and that you can recover your site should a plugin update cause any unexpected issues. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely update your website plugins.
Security is a number one concern for many website owners, and rightfully so. In 2022, WordFence, a popular firewall plugin for WordPress reported that nearly 1 million sites were targeted in a large-scale attack.
WordPress attackers will often try and target outdated themes, plugins or WordPress core itself. Keeping them updated is vital for ensuring the security of your website. Well maintained plugins will often have monthly updates available so its important to keep on top of them.
Plugins and themes that have not been updated in a while should be avoided as they will often be more vulnerable to attacks. If you notice an existing plugin or theme that has not been updated for some time you should look to find an alternative with consistent developer maintenance. We recommend opting for plugins that have been updated within the last 6 months, and to avoid plugins or themes that have had no new updates for over a year.
It’s important to ensure that your WordPress version is compatible with a new plugin update, and that you can recover your site should a plugin update cause any unexpected issues. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely update your website plugins.
Site Speed
It’s vital to ensure that your existing plugins and themes are compatible with the new version of WordPress and that you have backed up your site prior to the upgrade in case any unexpected issues occur. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely upgrade your WordPress version.
Plugins and themes don’t just provide security related updates, they also provide performance related updates. We’ve covered the importance of site speed and how to stop images from reducing your site performance in a separate blog post, which you can read here. But outdated plugins, themes and in particular WordPress core can also be big contributors to inadequate site performance.
Notice how often speed or performance is mentioned when selling the next major WordPress Core release? Take advantage of WordPress’s initiatives and not only protect your website with the latest security patches, but boost your site performance by keeping on top of any WordPress Core releases.
New WordPress Core releases generally require plugin and theme developers to change and improve their products for them to function correctly; often pushing developers to ensure their plugins or themes are well maintained. Keep an eye out for any plugins or themes that don’t provide any updates after a major WordPress Core release as these may be particularly susceptible to attack or cause unexpected issues due to incompatibility.
It’s vital to ensure that your existing plugins and themes are compatible with the new version of WordPress and that you have backed up your site prior to the upgrade in case any unexpected issues occur. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely upgrade your WordPress version.
New Features
Hold up! Before updating your themes, plugins or WordPress core you should ensure that any updates you perform are compatible with existing plugins and themes and that you have a plan in place should you need to recover your website if an upgrade fails. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely upgrade your WordPress site.
And now for the fun! Plugin, theme and WordPress Core updates often provide your website with new and exciting features to help keep your visitors interested and drive future sales and customers.
Hold up! Before updating your themes, plugins or WordPress core you should ensure that any updates you perform are compatible with existing plugins and themes and that you have a plan in place should you need to recover your website if an upgrade fails. Find out how CloudConstruct can help safely upgrade your WordPress site.
After signing up to the WordPress Maintenance Package I can see already that it’s making a difference to our position in Google!
