WordPress is a content management system which allows you to self manage content on your website, ranging from images to text, to creating new pages and blog posts etc etc, the nature of the software is when WordPress is releasing new functionality or is upgrading the capability of their software then an it will required to update WordPress to the latest version, so that the added features are available to your website.
With any form of software, security vulnerabilities may be discovered periodically, WordPress and other plugin developers are constantly finding and resolving security issues and they then release a patch or update to fix the issue. If you don’t update WordPress versions, you may be missing out on these important security patches, leaving your website exposed to hackers, code injections and other forms of malware.
Making sure you update WordPress on your website on a regular basis is important for the overall health and performance of your website, and a preventative maintenance routine can safeguard your website from common or known security threats. No website is completely safe from being hacked, but by keeping your website up to date it is reducing the risk of an issue taking place.
If you are planning to update WordPress yourself, there are a couple of considerations you should make beforehand.
- Always backup your website before performing updates. If anything breaks you will be able to recover from the backup.
- Ideally create a development site or a copy of your website, you can then test the updates on the copy to see if there are any issues and only then perform the updates on your main site.
- After you have completed the WordPress updates it is a good idea to test the site to make sure it is running properly and even test the contact forms to ensure that you are still receiving mail.
If you aren’t confident backing up your website and performing the updates, you might want to consider engaging a WordPress Expert to perform that work for you.
CircleBC have helped businesses throughout Australia, including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Hobart with WordPress Website Support, Security and Maintenance, so give us a call on 1300 978 073 for more information.