Fix Your Website NOW!
After being buried under business website repairs throughout the past six weeks, Ready Marketing Digital Developer, Rob Priest, says her key message is… update and fix your WordPress website NOW or risk major problems!
“We have had a stream of businesses coming to us for website repairs due to updates not being completed,” Rob explained.
“Not only does it cause frustration for business owners, but incomplete updates potentially put a website at serious risk.
“Many don’t understand that monthly maintenance in relation to updates on the back end of their website is essential to keep the website operating effectively, up to speed, and not vulnerable to security issues.”
Is your website a hacker’s dream?
“A website that is not being updated regularly is a hacker’s dream,” outlined Rob. “Once a hacker gets in, they leave so many back doors open that basically you will never get rid of the security issues.
“Incomplete updates have a snowball effect on a site. It isn’t just a case of logging into the back end of your website and clicking “update… update… update”.
“It is essential that backups are done before you start, and updates are done in order or things will start to fall apart and break in the update process.
“It is a simple process if it’s done regularly. If you let it go a month or two, things will start to go wrong. If you leave it six months, you can start to see the site slowing down and a significant increase in security issues such as vulnerability to hackers.
“You may not even realise your website is in trouble until you notice things like your online sales falling off or you go in to update some information on the site and you can no longer make changes.
“Sometimes there will be no clue that things are going seriously wrong until it is too late. Ultimately if you aren’t doing the updates regularly, at some point your site will break.
“If it breaks to a point where it is not fixable and retrievable, you will be up for the cost of a site rebuild. You will be starting from scratch.
“You wouldn’t buy a new car and then not service it until it breaks. Why would you go to the expense of putting together a website and then not keeping the essential maintenance up?”
Do you have an “at risk” website?
According to Rob, business owners need to ask themselves the following three simple questions to see if their WordPress site is “at risk” right now…
- When did you last do an update on your website?
- Do you know how to do an update on your website properly?
- Are you prepared to set aside time once a month to update your website into the future?
If you answered “no” or “I don’t know” to any of the questions above, come along to one of our hands-on workshops where you will get a practical rundown on WordPress website maintenance and updates from the Ready Marketing website expert.
Join us to learn the golden rules of updating websites!
The 1 hour workshops will be held on Monday 9th November & Wednesday 11th Nov at 2pm. The workshops will cover why you need to update for security/bug fixes, performance, new features, and a better user experience. The golden rules and crucial steps to updating effectively will also be covered along with what to do if something goes wrong.
“Participants will be encouraged to bring a laptop for an interactive workshop featuring the step-by-step process of updating,” Rob explained.
“The process will be outlined in everyday terms and is designed specifically for business owners and managers. Updating your business website is just as important as updating any aspect of your business. It’s really not something you can afford to ignore.”
What if DIY website updates are not for you?
If keeping your website up to date and working is the last thing you have time to organise while you are busy working in your business – consider a Website Management Plan.
At Ready Marketing, our three-month plan sits at just $50/month. For even better value – an annual management plan is $300. The annual plan includes all updates carried out monthly for 12 months.
What is included…
- Monthly update of any core, theme or plugin required.
- Monthly website backup.
- Review and report of issues identified, or repairs required.
*Please note – prices listed do not include repairs.