or even Finished
When my kids were younger they spent a lot of time with their Grandma. She was a retired school teacher and helped us avoid day care costs by staying home with the kids while my wife and I worked. As she did with her second grade class, she was a stickler for proper grammar. As they began to speak more and learn to talk, she would give them activities to occupy their time, in the vain of pre-school. As I worked from home, I would hear them yell “Grandma, I’m done!”. Typically, the reply would come, “Food is done, you’re finished.”
So what are You?
Is your site done or finished? Whether you agree with my Mother in Law or not, when it comes to websites, you should never be “done” or “finished”. If your site is utilizing WordPress and you don’t have a regular maintenance schedule, you could be leaving your site vulnerable to hackers. Even if you don’t update pages or information, you should be checking the Admin section of your site for plugin and core updates. The WordPress core has been on a quarterly update schedule for adding features and bug fixes for about a year. As they correct some of the minor bugs and security holes, they may feel an intermittent release is necessary. If you’re not checking your site or have a host that does this for you, you could miss the notice and be leaving your site vulnerable to attacks.
You’re plugins too
As I said, it’s not just WordPress core you need to worry about, plugin developers add features and find issues on a regular basis. Some plugins update as much as once a week, for example, Yoast’s WordPress SEO. This is an essential tool for your website, giving your site SEO a shot in the arm. They change this plugin as Google’s algorithm changes or they find ways to improve your site SEO for other search engines. That’s just one of the plugins I know makes regular updates and one that I install on most websites I create. There are plenty of other plugins that need updating, some on a schedule and others as there’s a need.
Get on a Schedule
I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve inherited from other developers or owners where there were no updates. Whether you maintain your site yourself or you have someone do it for you, make sure it’s on a regular schedule. If it’s once a week or once a month, don’t leave your site’s health to chance. While it’s only one piece of securing your site, it’s one of the easiest. If you work with me, I’ll be sure to give you all the options for maintenance and help with keeping your site up to date.
Ready to work together on improving your marketing funnel? Contact me today!
