WordPress is the industry standard for business websites. And, maintenance to these sites is a complicated, yet very critical issue that should not be ignored. It makes the difference between an error-free website providing reliable service and one fraught with problems, frustration, lost sales and heartbreak.
→ Why Must I Maintain My WordPress Website?
WordPress developers regularly update core software to fix issues and/or bugs found as technology advances AND to further increase site security, speed and performance. In our complex tech world, WordPress site maintenance is vital. It involves updating software & 3rd party plugins in a manner that minimizes software conflicts AND hinders malicious website hacks. Similar to updating older software on your computer.
Further, more and more sites are being targeted with malware, virus and spyware attacks. Surprisingly, an alarming trend is to specifically target small businesses. These harmful attacks affect both your actual website AND devices of people who visit and use your site.
Website owners are now legally responsible for maintaining a secure site that protects people visiting and/or actively using your website. Owners can be held legally liable for damages to any type of computer, tablet or smartphone attacked or infected when accessing your website.
Most importantly… don’t you want to protect your investment and save money on repairs? Like your prized vehicle, ignoring preventative maintenance on your WordPress site may lead to costly repairs.
→ Why WordPress Uses Plugins
To improve performance and capabilities, 3rd party plugins are added to WordPress sites to enable countless actions – both required and elaborate. These plugins are the “keys” that make your site look great and perform all those amazing maneuvers. But they must also be updated regularly.
For reference, a good Informational WordPress site usually needs a minimum of 15-20 plugins, depending on type and size of the site.
While full-featured, dynamic Membership- and Directory-type, database-generated sites AND sophisticated ecommerce “stores” usually require at least 30-40 plugins to produce all those distinctive features and functionalities.
→ How Does MindSurf Know WHEN My Site Needs Maintenance?
Easy… your website TELLS US! We meticulously check each site every few months for notifications inside the site telling us updates are required and the risk levels.
Without PROPER maintenance, WordPress websites are at serious risk for the following possibilities:
- Malfunctions due to outdated and/or conflicting plugins from both WordPress AND 3rd party plugin developers.
- Hacking to steal confidential information stored in your website such as personal identifying information submitted through contact forms, applications, site user signups (e.g., email addresses, phone numbers, location addresses, user names, passwords). Plus, financial payment data submitted by clients/customers through site payment forms as well as the actual site contents you created!
- Hacking to inject malware, spyware and/or viruses into your website causing it to fail/break and/or infect the computers, devices and phones of your visitors and users.
Should your site break, have a conflict, not function properly or be hacked and infected, it is often very costly to repair, causing downtime for days or weeks.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to note that sites CANNOT always be fixed. Causing the need to immediately delete your website, resulting in complete loss of your investment. MindSurf cannot risk one infected site to further infect the entire main hosting server with vicious malware and/or viruses!
→ Two Types of WordPress Maintenance: Automatic & Manual
MindSurf ONLY recommends manual maintenance for a more complete and accurate solution to protect your business AND your investment.
AUTOMATIC MAINTENANCE is very risky and not a good solution, often leading to unknown software conflicts due to insufficient testing and poor-quality control. Further, the more site plugins needing updating, the greater the risk of conflicts. It is the same concept as updating your computer programs and operating software. It must be done carefully, cautiously and with great care to avoid conflicts.
Many hosting companies (especially the biggest & most well-known) offer automatic updates ONLY for core WordPress software WITHOUT checking for any conflicts with the older 3rd party plugins installed in your site during development.
There are a few hosting companies offering automatic updates of both WordPress software & these 3rd Party plugins, but again WITHOUT checking for any conflicts or proper site functioning.
MANUAL MAINTENANCE is the industry-preferred and recommended method for WordPress websites. It requires several hours to:
- Back up the site multiple times.
- Perform software & 3rd party plugin updates one at a time
- Verify performance after each update to check for possible conflicts that may arise.
At MindSurf, we use highly trained & skilled programmers to maintain your website. Through years of experience, we learned how very necessary this task is to FULLY protect your investment. And, we take that very seriously!
→ Prevent Problems with Your Website
MindSurf believes in doing everything possible to PREVENT problems that disrupt your business, costing you time, money and good will. Routinely checking the status of your site is included in your website hosting plan. (The actual work involved to update your site is quoted per occurrence depending on several factors including number of updates required and the time elapsed since the last maintenance.)
As mentioned, the more tasks your website performs, the more plugins are required, thus increasing the potential for software conflicts, security holes, bugs, infections, etc. All this can translate into more frequent maintenance.
Wherever possible, we try to minimize these tasks without compromising your site. And only recommend site maintenance when necessary!
So many hosting companies DO NOT OFFER MANUAL software and 3rd party plugin updates and other maintenance. Instead, they choose to ignore the issue until the site encounters problems such as breaking or being virus infected. It is NOT cost-effective for them to spend hours and days on maintenance tasks to PREVENT problems when they can earn substantially more by repairing a site.
As well, so many of their programmers are not properly trained or have sufficient experience in the “delicate” art of manual maintenance. Thus, if a hosting company offers website maintenance, it is usually only Automatic.
→ The MindSurf Difference
In conclusion, MindSurf is NOT about building or maintaining your website haphazardly. We take your faith in our services very seriously. Thus, our entire team believes in long-term planning and consistently protecting your investment to properly support your business. You can feel confident in knowing that MindSurf is here to help you and your business thrive.
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Afraid of techie jargon?
No worries! This article is written for you in plain language. It’s very easy to understand. As website developers, we believe in empowering you with knowledge. Thus helping you make the RIGHT decisions for your business.
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