When building a website with WordPress, flexibility is one of its biggest strengths. Plugins and themes take that flexibility further, allowing you to add new features and functionality whilst being able to change the core look of your site so it can adapt along with your business. A carefully selected plugin and theme together can transform your website, making it easier to manage and boosting performance, security, and experience for your visitors.

Outdated plugins and themes can leave your website vulnerable, since they don’t contain the latest security patches, bug fixes, and updates offered in the newest versions. Keeping your plugins and themes up to date goes a long way in protecting your site from potential attacks. Updates help everything run smoothly. Also, staying up to date ensures that your website stays compatible with the latest versions of WordPress, which means you are less likely to experience issues with errors or broken features.

By following this basic process, you can update your WordPress plugins and themes to help keep your website secure and running smoothly. These steps are intended to give you a general understanding of how updates can be carried out. 

So What Are The Risks Of Updating My WordPress Plugins?

Updating WordPress themes and plugins yourself can sometimes introduce unexpected issues (especially if updates aren’t tested first). A plugin update could conflict with other plugins or with your theme that you are currently using, causing parts of your website to stop working correctly.  These issues can often result in broken layouts, missing functionality, or completely inaccessible sites. This can be difficult to fix without having experience or access to technical support, which can lead to extended downtime.

When independently managing updates it requires constant attention and technical awareness which can be hard when trying to run a business. It’s not just about clicking “Update Now”. The best methods often involve backups for your site, Quality assurance checks to ensure that issues are not created, and monitoring the site after the updates. Without having an indepth process, small issues can easily go unnoticed and become bigger problems over time. This can lead to performance being impacted, and user experience degrading.

To prevent the risk of issues we offer support contracts for wordpress websites which come with an extensive range of benefits to help keep your website up to date and secure without having to find time to do it yourself. These benefits include:

●      Monthly theme & plugin updates

●      Weekly automated back-ups

●      Fix time (48 hours)

●      Response time (24 - 48 hours within office hours - Mon-Fri)

●      Support via e-mail/Basecamp with support officer

If you’re looking to improve your WordPress site or need professional support, our team can help you get the best results. To get started with a support contract, simply contact us by phone or email, and our team will ensure your website is fully protected.

Telephone: 01902 405494
Email: hello@westmidlandsmedia.co.uk

How to Update WordPress Plugins Safely

●      Once on the Plugins page in the admin, look for plugins with updates available (These will be highlighted)

●      Review the plugin details (Look for security, last updated, and ratings details) to make sure it’s safe to update.

●      Click Update Now to install the latest version.

●      After the update is complete, check your website to make sure key features are working properly.

●      You can then repeat this process for each plugin individually to reduce the risk of problems.

How to Update WordPress Themes Safely

●      Go to Appearance then Themes in the admin dashboard.

●      Look for themes that have an update available.

●      If you’ve customised your theme directly, make sure you’re using a child theme so your changes aren’t overwritten.

●      Click Update Now to install the latest version.

●      After you have updated your theme, review your website’s appearance and functionality to ensure everything looks and works as expected.

These steps can help guide you through the process of keeping your website safe and up to date, so you can focus on your business while your site stays secure. However, updates do not always go this easily.