The Importance of Keeping Your WordPress Website Up to Date

When it comes to website platforms, WordPress takes some beating – with 39% of the global market share, it’s dominated the website market for a number of years now.

Designweb are a leading North Wales web design specialist and we only work with WordPress – it offers options for every size of organisation and almost every application – however, like any software platform, it’s crucial that your WordPress website is kept up to date – and that’s a daily task that sometimes users underestimate the importance of.

What are WordPress updates?
When you login to WordPress, you will see a button saying ‘updates’ on the top left of the screen. Clicking on this link will allow you to install any updates to keep your WordPress website installation up to date. It’s a simple admin task – and should be done daily.

Here’s some reasons why those pesky ‘Wordpress Updates’ are really important:

Your website will be more protected from hackers
While determined hackers can get through almost anything given time and resources, the majority of the 30,000 websites worldwide that get hacked each day are hacked by amateurs and are chosen simply because they are easy targets. A dentist. A church. A youth club. A small business.

86% of all website hacks on WordPress occur when these updates have not been completed.

WordPress updates offer great protection because developers can distribute patches and updates very quickly across the platform – hence, as soon as a vulnerability is discovered, an update is distributed. An update may also be released to offer new features or fix annoying bugs and means your website always works at it’s best.

Is there an alternative to manual updates?
A lot of people find it irritating to have to undertake daily site checks and just want to get on with running their business.

For this reason, many WordPress website hosts offer a package that includes daily backups and WordPress updates. Hosts benefit from economies of scale, making it far cheaper than paying a member of your team to do manual updates every day. For example, at Designweb, we only charge £40 per month and that includes the cost of hosting as well as 4 daily off site backups.

It’s been one of Designweb’s most popular services since we introduced it several years ago, and unlike many providers, we also issue a report each month so you can see when updates to your site have taken place and how your budget has been spent.

WordPress remains one of the most SEO friendly and cost-effective ways to build a professional website platform for your business – and keeping it up to date should be seen as a vital part of your online business strategy. If you have any questions, we’re here to help.