How often do you update your plugins, theme, and the WordPress core? Probably not enough, if even at all.
Website designer/developers create a website and turn it over to the client with no plan to keep the maintenance up to date.
That's where hackers have a heyday, breaking into sites, inserting malicious code and even stealing your data that you collect from your customers.
Websites need regular updates to your plugins, themes and WordPress core to reduce potential downtime, or worse, theft of data.
Using high quality web hosting companies like WPEngine will take some of the update burdens off the table, especially with the WordPress core. But, you still need to manage your updates for your theme, and plugins.
Updates are issues when vulnerabilities are found in the code that allow hackers to break in to your site. Keeping software versions up to date will reduce, even eliminate potential vulnerabilities.
Plugins, theme, and the WordPress core updates need testing
There are some themes and plugins that are never updated, and are not tested to work with the current version of WordPress. You might think this is a good thing, but it is not. Using frequently updated themes and plugins will keep your site performance optimized and protected from potential hacks.
I realize that managing your updates on a regular basis requires you to frequently login to your site. That's the only way you will know if your theme or plugins need updates. This process is tedious and takes away from your other work. That's why I am working on providing maintenance update services taking the burden off your plate. Click on Contact me to setup maintenance services for your site.
Consider using WordPress parent themes from Elegant Themes or Studio Press to ensure frequent security and usability updates. Plugins such as Yoast, Gravity Forms and Jet Pack are all great about keeping their plugins up to date.
Using current versions will save you time and money, while giving you maximum lifetime and reliability of your website.
I hope this post helped you to learn more about the importance of keeping your site up to date. Feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need assistance with maintenance. I also do design/development and site rebuilds.