Keeping WordPress updated is probably more important than you think
When discussing regular site updates with my customers, I often compare the WordPress framework to a high-performance sports car.
- They are both extremely powerful
- They both have quite a few moving parts that work together to create that power
- But they both require concerted maintenance to maintain a high level of performance
If you are not keeping your site up to date, you are unwittingly contributing to a big problem that will appear sometime in the future.
A large portion of my customers come to me with a vision to expand their website – new content, functionality, or a new look, but way to often, we have to hit the breaks on any enhancements because their sites have been neglected.
Just last week, I had two separate businesses reach out to me to implement some vast changes to their site. These are projects that have been well planned, documented, budgeted, and received full approval. A lot of time has been spent getting to this point, and there is a noticeable sense of excitement.
And then…it all came to a screeching stop. In both cases, these sites were hanging on by a thread in terms of stability. They are so out of date, that even the smallest enhancement will crash them.
In one case, we are looking at several weeks of work just to restore basic stability to the site. The other client is leaning towards a complete rebuild...
Beyond avoiding a situation like those mentioned above, updates are issued for your benefit
The vast majority of updates are issued to address newly discovered security issues – like this very popular SMTP Mail plugin. While the other primary reasons are performance-related or to maintain compatibility with the rest of the framework and the evolution of web technology & standards.
The developers who release updates have to spend a lot time to define, develop, test, and deploy updates. And for most of us, time is money. If there is an update available, you can be sure it’s for a very good reason.
Regularly updating WordPress will keep your site secure and stable, while ensuring you avoid a much bigger issue down the road
If you aren't sure how to update WordPress
1) Feel free to reach out to me. I’m always happy to help and share some pointers.
2) Read this quick tutorial on how to update WordPress
