As an experienced WordPress design and development agency, we’re often asked why WordPress websites need to be maintained. Just like a car, WordPress comprises many parts that require maintenance to keep everything running optimally.
Beyond the WordPress software and plugins used to run your website, server software (such as PHP and MySQL) require updates and maintenance. If any of these parts are neglected long enough, your website performance will suffer and you’ll expose yourself to security threats that can open you up to liability and devastating losses.
If you or your web developer isn’t maintaining your website on a monthly basis, not only are you leaving your website vulnerable to attacks by hackers, you could also be wasting your marketing dollars due to slow and buggy online performance. Good website performance helps achieve greater marketing ROI.
Getting your WordPress website professionally maintained provides a range of benefits, including:
Professional developers like Red Ape Media take all the necessary precautions to ensure your website is properly backed up and updates are performed safely and efficiently. For instance, we track everything we do, so if any errors arise due to a plugin update, we can quickly identify the source and fix the issue. We actually take things a step further and actively monitor the performance and security of your website on an ongoing basis, so we can find and resolve issues before they can ever become a problem.
It’s possible to take care of your WordPress website maintenance yourself, however, this could be a costly decision. When performing plugin updates, issues may not be apparent for several weeks. As a result, without processes in place to record and track updates, your option might be to restore an old and obsolete backup — if you even have one — or pay a developer to backtrack, diagnose and repair the problem.
If your WordPress website has been improperly maintained or outright neglected, this typically hurts the performance, functionality and even appearance of your website. At this point, you could try to fix the website yourself, which our developers know from experience, often leads to further issues. Or you can pay a developer to jump in and spend time trying to fix the issue, which is typically a timely and costly endeavour.
Just like car maintenance, regular maintenance of your WordPress site will be cost-effective compared to the cost of hacks and breakdowns with your website, and business overall.
If you’re interested in learning more about our website care plans, so you can enjoy peace of mind and focus on your business, contact us.