Website maintenance is the WordPress support you can gift yourself before you really need WordPress support; just like sharpening your kitchen knives, proper maintenance reduces problems.
WordPress has been the leading CMS tool for some time now—and for good reason. It offers free software and a seamless, intuitive website development process that makes getting started accessible and, in so many ways, easy.
Because there is such ease in initial website creation, it can be tempting to look away quickly—to let the website fall to the wayside once it’s up and running and to tend to more “pressing matters” of business.
Don’t let this temptation get the best of you. Consistent maintenance is absolutely essential, and without it, all the hard work that was put into creating your website will teeter on the brink—threatened by functional failure, security breaches, and data loss. Without preventative maintenance, you can wind up needing hours of WordPress support when you could have had minutes of maintenance.
3 Reasons Why WordPress Maintenance is So Essential
1. User Experience
On its face, an insufficient maintenance plan can lead to a less-than-favorable user experience. Because they can be so unpredictable, plugin interactions—especially those involving third-party plugins—can result in a number of issues.
An essential piece in avoiding, or at least reducing these plugin compatibility issues is keeping up with updates. By routinely updating plugins, you can not only reduce the number of issues but reduce their visual and functional impact on your website.
Neglecting WordPress website updates can also increase load times, and because website speed is considered in search engine rankings, this can negatively affect the website’s SEO, not to mention dampen the user experience.
When the user experience suffers, trust between you and your customers deteriorates as well. And trust is crucial in maintaining and growing customer loyalty.
2. Cybersecurity
WordPress is known for maintaining consistent core updates that sustain its efficiency and security. However, when you don’t utilize these updates, you run the very real risk of becoming victim to hackers and malware.
Every WordPress update—whether general, theme-related, or for a plugin—is important in ensuring complete and consistent security against constantly-evolving cyber threats.
Annoying pop-ups are the least of your worries; these threats can lead to loss of website control and leaked customer data. While these issues are very serious, avoiding them can be as simple as remaining vigilant and being consistent with updates.
3. Data Security
Website data can be lost not only to hackers but also to sheer bad luck involving website or plugin malfunctions. One poorly placed plugin or faulty interaction can be the death of a finished blog post or the data you’ve been developing for weeks, if not months.
Technology is fickle, and strange things like these can happen. While they may be out of your control, the ability to backup all of your hard work is not. Thankfully, WordPress offers the ability to backup your website’s data and all of its plugins manually.
By backing up your data, you can avoid unnecessary pitfalls in data loss and survive the direst of circumstances.
When You Do Need WordPress Support, We’re Here
Neglecting WordPress maintenance is asking for problems down the road. Website emergencies are certain to arise, but they don’t have to mean total chaos. And maintenance doesn’t have to be a burden, once you have a plan in place.
Of course, establishing a plan requires some hard work, and still, maintenance requires time—time you might not have. That’s why we’re here to help.
Monkey VA offers a simple WordPress maintenance package to provide WordPress support and relieve you of this important task without creating more stress for you—with a low monthly fee, a 24–72 hour turnaround guarantee, and no long-term contract.
Looking for more ways to save time as you optimize your business? Check out our blog post on how to write the world’s most concise email (because who couldn’t benefit from cutting back time in this department?).
