Updating Your WordPress Websites & Why it Matters
#1 (Most Important) Plugins.
What are plugins? These are the additions of software that you “tack on” to your site to give it more functionality, both for you and your users. You can compare them to apps on your phone, but only for the person controlling the website to see. Plugins have a wide range of uses, costs, and variability when it comes to being used on a WordPress website.
Why is it important to keep them updated? Since plugins are bits of software, and the teams that build and maintain that software are making improvements constantly, it’s important that you keep your website’s plugins up to date and running the latest version. This not only improves the functionality, and often times will make them easier to use, but it also makes sure to keep up to date with the latest security updates. Malicious attacks on WordPress websites happen most often through pieces of the website that are out of date and not running the latest security features. Keeping plugins up to date keeps your website working at its best while keeping it safe.
#2 Themes
Your theme is the “backbone” of your WordPress website. When you purchased your site, you were probably asked to select a theme, or you were given the default theme. Themes help determine the style and fictionality that website will start out with. For a list of best themes used by web designers, stay tuned for an upcoming article! Keeping your theme updates is essential for the same reason that keeping your plugins updated are. Security and functionality improvements are always made when the developer team releases a theme update.
#3 WordPress Platform
Occasionally you will see that a new version of WordPress is available. At the time of this post, it’s Version 5.6. When WordPress releases an update, it normally means that the code in the base HTML, CSS, or JAVASCRIPT (what you purchase when you purchase a WordPress website) has been updated.
An important thing to do before you update this is to back up your website on the host provider/server side. Your host provider is the company that you bought your website through, (GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator are all popular examples) and you can check on this by either logging in to your plan and checking if back-ups are part of your paid service, or by contacting your host’s support and simply asking. It is important to back up your website before you complete the update so that if for any reason the update fails, or corrupts an files, you can simply restore the old version of the site, rather than loosing the entire thing.
#4 PHP
This will happen infrequently, but it is important to know that WordPress is built primarily on PHP, and that foundation does get updated. Your website will notify you that the PHP needs to be updated by showing you a message when you login on the Dashboard. Just like the WordPress update, make sure that your website is backed-up before you update the PHP.
To update the PHP on your own, you will need to have access to your host or server’s Control Panel, otherwise know as a CPANEL . The CPANEL can be accessed by signing into your host provider account and navigating to it based on your specific host. You can also contact your host provider support line and let them know that your website is indicating that the PHP needs to be updated. You should also be aware that when you contact your host provider and ask them to help you either find your CPANEL or help you update the PHP, this should be not additional cost to you.
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