Why it is vital to keep your WordPress website up to date

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WordPress has changed the world. It made setting up a website a far more user-friendly, less technical experience by harnessing the power of open-source technology. For those without much knowledge of site building, the hard work of hand-coding themes and plugins is done by developers who share their work on the online marketplace. It’s simply up to you to choose the look and features you need for your site. For developers such as the team at Zinc, WordPress allows us to develop our own themes that are then easily updated by our clients moving forward. For this reason, it’s one of our favourite CMSs to work with. 

Nevertheless, the open source nature of WordPress that gives it the power it has also comes with some caveats. With so many people contributing to the same platform, there are further opportunities for an issue to arise. That’s why updates should be a frequent part of your WordPress maintenance schedule. You’ll make sure that you’re covering your site in a few different ways: 

 

Security

The first point on many people’s minds with WordPress is security. As an open source platform that’s incredibly popular, it can be a target for hackers. This is because with open source comes the danger that anybody can find and exploit a vulnerability in the system. The WordPress team works continuously to firefight this, constantly fixing anything that could become a breach as soon as it’s noticed. These protections are released as updates. Therefore, if you’re not updating your WordPress system with the most recent update, there are known vulnerabilities that you’re not protecting yourself against. This goes for everything from the platform itself to any themes and plugins you have active. 

Compatibility 

With WordPress, you can do anything. That has pros and cons; unless you’re looking for red flags on your plugins, there’s nothing stopping you installing something that’s out of date and completely incompatible with the version of WordPress you’re running. If you’re not careful, your site can simply break. Look for an up-to-date version of a plugin and install it onto an up-to-date version of WordPress. This way, you’re making sure that your site has the best chance to work the way it should.

New features & bug fixes

Updates aren’t just about security. With each one comes a host of new features and software updates that will improve your WordPress experience. The older your version of WordPress, the less likely it is to offer the benefits that have come with recent updates such as improved image editing, dashboard health checks and accessibility improvements.

Speed & performance

In this day and age, site speed is an incredibly important factor for user experience, search engine rankings and overall site health. With every update comes improvements that can help your site load time. These are often followed by Theme and Plugin updates to match, each improving your site performance.

Staying on top of your WordPress updates is an ongoing task, but an important one. At Zinc, we offer a monthly site maintenance service which ensures that the sites in our care are always updated. If you’re hoping to manage it yourself, it’s a good idea to make a list and check off:

  • Core WordPress file updates
  • Theme file updates
  • Plugin updates
  • A full site backup before and after updating

 

If you’re interested in discussing your WordPress site with a team of professionals, speak to Zinc.

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