Do I need a WordPress Maintenance Contract?
From the outset let me state we have been a great fan of WordPress for many years. We persevered with clients who thought it was a just a blog. We love it, it delivers the most agile web friendly value for money product we know.
Having such a dynamic CMS that utilises plugins does have its problems. The more plugins created the more potential vulnerabilities exist within a web site. The core WordPress CMS is also open to vulnerabilities, and the code behind PHP does get updated.
WordPress is based on PHP, the acronym originally meant “personal home page” but it is now a recursive backronym and means “hypertext preprocessor”. What this means is instead of serving full pages to the web when a command is sent, it instead sends a command to server where the code is generated then sent to the client.
Both the WordPress CMS and the underlying code, PHP, is updated from time to time. WordPress has minor updates which may be plugging security holes, and major updates when PHP is usually updated to a new version.
On top of these are updates to plugins that may run on your website. What’s a plugin you ask? Plugins are bits of code that extend the functionality of your website. A typical one might be Contact Form 7, this plugin creates the forms that users fill in and submit.
In some cases you may have up to 10 plugins running on a site. You are now starting to get the picture. A WordPress website is a bit like a car, it has many parts that make it work and they all need regular grease and oil changes.
The architecture of every WordPress website, including custom sites, relies on a theme. If it is a premium theme bought from the web, it will need updating, If it is a custom theme it will need updating to ensure it works well with new updates across the web.
Why you need a WordPress Maintenance Contract
If all of the mechanics of the website are not updated to latest versions regularly there are a number of things that can result.
- The website might break (it stops working)
- Hackers might get in and use your website for nefarious purposes
- If you are on shared hosting either of the above may get shut down
- Your website will run slower
- Your website will not work well across newer browsers and devices
- Your website might start to look very messy
- Google may not like what it sees
All of the above are bad, and in some cases a website may go on for years, but in other cases you will get hacked, the website will break and it will affect your business.
Can you do these updates yourself?
Good question. If you are familiar with the web and have built WordPress sites then sure. But if you are not familiar with procedures and this site is a business tool then we would suggest you get a professional to do it. Would you pull your own teeth?
But why do I need a contract?
The difference between a contract and dealing with updates on an ad-hoc basis is that the updates will be applied on a regular basis ensuring your website is running at the optimum. Ringing you web designer or developer in a panic when your website has broken will generally:
a) cost more money
b) they might be busy doing other things
How much should it cost?
A small site with less than 6 plugins and no e-commerce modules should need less than ½ an hour every month. Or 1.5 hours every 3 months which is normally a good interval to check for updates.
