Why do I need to maintain WordPress?
There is a common misconception among website owners that once your website is built, you can set it and forget it. You can just let it sit and linger forever without having to touch it. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Much like a car, you need to regularly have it serviced to ensure that is operating efficiently and fix any issues before they become critical problems.
A Quick Primer on WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins
The WordPress Core provides the basic functionality of your website. Simply put, it is just a text and image management tool containing elements for adding, storing and displaying content and images. While it has numerous other features, you can think of it as just a giant filing cabinet you can fill with your posts and pages.
Displaying the content of your site requires the use of a Theme, while there is a basic theme included in WordPress by default, most people like to customize their site to suit their style. Every WordPress Theme is a collection of files that determine the look and feel of your website. It essentially what controls how your website looks.
After you've got your site looking the way you want it, you may need additional functionality. WordPress can only do so much out of the box, and not everyone needs everything. To cater for this, the WordPress development team designed the software so others could easily extend its functionality with the use of Plugins. That's why there are thousands of WordPress plugins that allow you to do everything from add blinking banners, through to integrating with banks, social networks and e-commerce platforms.
Core, Themes and Plugin Updates
Multiple teams of developers undertake the development of the WordPress Core, and the different Themes and Plugins making for a never-ending stream of releases of new updates.
Whenever there is an update available for core, theme, or plugin installed on your site, you should (in most cases) apply that update. However, there are some instances where using an update can break other parts of your site. Understanding which update, why and when to apply an update requires you to understand the changes there were made by the development team, and how it will impact other parts of your site.
In general, most updates adding new features, speed improvements or minor bug fixes. Applying these can usually be done without issues. In some cases, developers release updates fixing security flaws. You should install security patches sooner, rather than later. Security updates correct problems that make your site vulnerable to outside malicious actors who can use them to take over your website. Hackers can then do anything from serving ads to your site visitors, ransoming your site back to you by encrypting all the data or attacking other websites around the globe.
Where we come in...
The task of ensuring that your website is operating at its peak efficiency and secure can be time-consuming. You need to understand what the updates are for and how the changes will impact your site, taking up your valuable time which could spend working with your clients and running your business.
Our site maintenance services remove that burden, freeing up your that time so you can spend it making your clients your priority.
