Why Regular WordPress Maintenance is Important

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in use today; over 43% of websites are now built on WordPress. However, WordPress sites must be maintained to keep them secure, up-to-date, and running smoothly for your business. By having a WordPress website maintenance plan in place, your site will reap the benefits of improved security and performance.

Security

This one goes without saying. The popularity of WordPress presents cybercriminals with a greater opportunity to find vulnerable websites for exploitation. Cybercriminals have different reasons for targeting vulnerable websites. Some may be novices who find enjoyment in exploiting vulnerable sites. Meanwhile, others have nefarious intentions, including spreading malware, launching attacks on other websites, and sending spam.

Keeping your website up-to-date with the latest software versions helps reduce your site’s exposure to potential vulnerabilities. This may involve regularly updating WordPress, third-party plugins, or the version of PHP running on the server hosting your website.

It’s also essential to regularly assess your website’s plugins and themes as part of your overall security strategy so that you only use well-maintained software from reputable sources. We also strongly advise examining the list of website users and their access permissions, especially when external employees, marketing professionals, or developers may access your website.

Performance

It is well known that your website’s speed contributes to its ranking in Google’s search engine results. Our article about Google’s Core Web Vitals can help explain this further. In addition to search engine rankings, faster and better-performing websites can also offer an improved user experience to your site visitors.

WordPress developers are constantly trying to improve its speed. Each new version of WordPress often brings performance improvements to make it faster, more efficient, and more reliable.

In addition to making WordPress faster, updates usually address issues and bug fixes. For example, when WordPress version 6.2.1 was released, it contained 20 bug fixes from version 6.2.

Compatibility

Compatibility is always an important aspect of maintaining a WordPress website. Theme and third-party plugin developers regularly update their software to remain compatible with WordPress and take advantage of newly added features. If you are not performing regular maintenance on your WordPress site, some plugins or themes you are using may no longer function properly or even break your website.

Keeping your website up-to-date with the latest WordPress versions ensures it remains compatible with the latest web technologies. Therefore, your site will not become outdated and will continue functioning seamlessly with new web browsers and technologies as they emerge.

New Features

Updated versions of WordPress often include new or improved features. These features can include minor enhancements or major updates that improve your website’s usability or user experience. For example, when WordPress 5.3 was released, it contained improvements in accessibility and the user interface. Staying up-to-date with the latest WordPress versions allows you to take advantage of new features to keep your website relevant and engaging for your visitors.

WordPress Maintenance is Included with Our Hosting Services?

When it comes to WordPress maintenance, it’s wise to have a plan in place. In addition to regularly updating WordPress, third-party plugins, and themes, you should also back up WordPress files and databases, replace abandoned plugins, and fix plugin conflicts.

Many businesses find regular maintenance of a WordPress website time-consuming. However, our WordPress hosting service includes professional maintenance as standard. We handle everything from updating WordPress core files, themes, and plugins, off-site backups and disaster recovery to resolving conflicts and fixing common WordPress errors.

There are many reasons why hosting your WordPress site with us makes sense, including preventing site downtime and reducing the risk of financial loss incurred from a poorly maintained site.