Why Do I Need to Maintain My Website?
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – a website is very much like a house. You don’t “set and forget” your house and hope everything turns out okay. Sure, you could ignore your home maintenance and continue to live in it for a while. But eventually, the repairs will progressively worsen and become much more costly to fix.
Similarly, a WordPress website isn’t just a “set it and forget it” type deal.
This post aims to demystify WordPress website maintenance. We’ll show you the costs of neglecting the website as well as the tangible benefits maintaining it can bring to your business.
The Hidden Costs of Ignoring WordPress Website Maintenance
Let’s use the house as an example again. What happens when you don’t maintain your home? It falls apart; things stop working, it becomes easier to let the outside in, and your friends are less likely to stop by.
Back to your WordPress website; when you don’t maintain it, similar things will happen. You might experience things like security vulnerabilities, allowing entry points for hackers, and the potential for data breaches, both of which are no good and can damage your brand.
You could see performance issues, such as slow loading times. In 2024, fast is the best. Not only is it focused on general user experience (UX), but slow loading can also harm your SEO rankings which can cause potential lost leads and/or revenue. You might even lose certain functionality for actions like button clicks.
Breaking Down the Components of WordPress Maintenance (What it Actually Entails)
So, now we’re getting to the meat and bones – what does WordPress maintenance actually entail? Here are some of the most common components.
Core Updates
Your core updates refer to WordPress itself, the CMS the site is built upon; at the time of writing, WordPress is at version 6.6.
Every new version may include one or more fixes, tweaks, and additions. Fixes and tweaks will generally include bugs as well as security patches. Additions are brand-new features not found in any previous releases.
Updates to WordPress core are absolutely essential, if not for security patches alone.
Core updates typically occur once per month, sometimes more and sometimes less. There is no set schedule, yet WordPress is always being worked on.
However, having a developer who understands the construction of your site will know when these updates should be pushed.
Plugin/Theme Updates
Plugin and theme updates refer to just that – the plugins and themes.
Like WordPress core, every new version of a plugin and/or theme may include fixes, tweaks, and additions.
Maintenance of plugins and themes entails testing for compatibility to avoid site breakage, due to conflicts with other plugins and/or themes. These conflicts may be small, something like causing an error on one page, and they may be much larger, causing the entire site to go down as mentioned.
Plugin and theme updates don’t necessarily have a set timeline; it’s easier for WordPress developers to issue a patch and push out a new version, so time in between versions for these can vary wildly.
Backups
Backups are copies of your entire WordPress site, which includes all the content as well as the database.
Your content will be files on your server, such as wp-config.php and your media folder(s).
The database covers much of the backend, such as users and comments to posts and pages.
Backups are massively important as they serve as a safety net in case something does go wrong; with backups, you can simply roll back, or revert, to a previous version without any errors. This allows the website to continue functioning while troubleshooting can take place.
Uptime Monitoring
Uptime monitoring is as it sounds – making sure your website is up and running.
At Kodeak, we receive a notification within five minutes of a website going down. This allows us to troubleshoot quickly, restore a backup if needed, and more to ensure the website remains available. We don’t have to call a team in a different country or hope to get a hold of someone at a weird hour of the day, we handle it.
We typically fix a down website before you’re even aware it’s down! How’s that for service?
Security Scans
Malware typically targets vulnerabilities in the core, plugins, and themes, and will exploit these vulnerabilities in a number of ways. Some attacks are small, and some are much larger – exposing sensitive information like credit/debit card numbers or other personal information, all the way to completely taking down the website.
According to The Wordfence 2022 State of WordPress Security Report, approximately 90% of vulnerabilities on WordPress are because of outdated plugins; approximately 6% are from outdated themes.
If malware is found on a website, it can be as simple as a quick rollback to a previous version or much more difficult; contacting a developer to remove the malware and “clean” the website.
Having regular security scans greatly minimizes the risk of being infected in the first place. We run scans daily on every website that we manage to ensure that it is always safe. Since we keep all of your framework and plugins up-to-date regularly, there is hardly anything ever found on these scans. That said, there is usually a vulnerability that we are made aware of in the plugins that we can be proactive about going forward or find alternatives to problematic programs.
The Tangible Benefits of Investing in WordPress Maintenance
Your WordPress website is an asset and you should treat it like one!
Investing in WordPress maintenance can provide your website and business with enhanced security. Customers can be sure their data is safe and protected, which is especially important for e-commerce.
Updated core, plugins, and themes can contribute to improved performance as the developers behind these will often improve their code with each iteration. Better performance leads to happier users and better search engine visibility, thereby increasing conversions.
With regular maintenance, you (or your developer team) can catch problems early, avoiding costly downtime and emergency fixes.
All of this bundled together spells a positive ROI – a healthy website gets you more leads, higher customer satisfaction, and a stronger brand. Not to mention, the peace of mind of knowing you have a dedicated team looking after your site. You need not worry if your site is down or if you’ve been hacked. It’s pretty nice actually.
Budgeting for WordPress Maintenance
Still with us? Super! We’re not trying to gatekeep WordPress maintenance by any stretch. We are strong proponents of DIY methods when applicable and appropriate. That said, WordPress maintenance CAN be accomplished through DIY methods.
DIY vs. Professional
General WordPress maintenance can be fairly simple, in our eyes. Many tools exist (we use some!) to help you keep your website up-to-date with minimal downtime, and are often very low cost or even free.
The DIY method of WordPress maintenance is definitely for the cost-conscious. If you choose a more professional route, there are often different factors affecting the cost.
However, if you choose the DIY method, you may not know how to address an issue that comes up, such as a plugin conflict. This can then lead to additional time spent away from the actual business part of your business. Or you could break something else while attempting to fix your site like erasing a critical file or similar.
The professional method will likely give you peace of mind, but will likely carry a higher cost.
So What Will It Cost?
Much like our last post about website cost, you’ll run into something similar here – there are several factors that will determine the price of professional WordPress maintenance.
To mention a few, we’re looking at the size and/or complexity of the website, the frequency of updates needed, and the level of service desired (such as 24/7 support).
Each site is unique, but we’ve seen professional WordPress maintenance packages range from $25 per month all the way into thousands of dollars per month. Once again, it depends.
WordPress maintenance shouldn’t be looked at as a business expense, but as an investment; something that will pay dividends over time. Kodeak offers additional benefits to our clients who retain us for maintenance such as SSL certificates, CDN access, and more.
WordPress Maintenance Really Isn’t Optional, It’s Crucial
WordPress maintenance collects many important tasks, including updating core software, themes, and plugins, as well as regular backups and security scans. By investing in WordPress maintenance practices, you ensure your website is and remains secure, performs up to standards and beyond, and provides a positive user experience.
It fosters trust, attracts more visitors, and ultimately drives more conversions, making it a vital component that contributes to your overall business success. There’s enough to worry about when you own a business. If your website’s functionality is too much, consider hiring a pro.Kodeak has the expertise to keep your website functioning as the asset it is – contact us today for a free WordPress maintenance plan consultation.
