10 risks of an old Wordpress website

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  • 10 risks of an old Wordpress website

Regular updates

Regularly updating WordPress and its associated plugins is essential for the security and functionality of a website. Here is a list of potential consequences of notupdate your WordPress website  ;and the plug-ins:

  • Security Risks: Older versions of WordPress and plugins may have known security holes that can be exploited by hackers. 
  • Compatibility Issues: New versions of WordPress may require themes and plugins to also be updated to function properly. Without updates, conflicts and disruptions can occur on your website.
  • Missed features: Every new update to WordPress or a plugin may include new features or improvements. By not updating, you may miss useful new tools or improvements that make managing your site easier.
  • Delays and performance issues: Older versions of WordPress and plugins may not be optimized for the latest technologies, which can lead to slow loading times and lower overall performance of your website.
  • Increased chance of website downtime: Incompatibility between old versions of WordPress and new server  technologies (e.g. cloud server) or other software can do this ensure that your website no longer functions at all.
  • SEO Cons: A slow, problematic, or compromised website can hurt your search engine rankings. Search engines such as Google prefer safe, fast and well-functioning websites.
  • Data loss: Older versions of WordPress and plugins may be more susceptible to bugs that can cause data loss.
  • Reputation damage: A compromised website can spread malware or spam to your users, which can lead to loss of trust and damage to your brand reputation.
  • Potential costs: If your website is hacked or goes down due to not updating, the cost of repairing and restoring the site can far exceed the costs (both in time and money ) of regular updating.
  • Legal implications: Depending on the nature of your website and the data you process, there may be legal consequences if your site is compromised due to negligence in updates.

Regularly updating your WordPress website and its plugins is not only a best practice, but also essential for the security, performance and reliability of your online presence.

How often does a Wordpress update occur? 

The frequency with which you should update your WordPress website and plugins varies based on several factors such as the number of plugins installed, the active theme, and the overall WordPress development cycle. Here's a general overview:

  • WordPress Core Updates: WordPress usually releases 2 to 3 major releases per year. In addition, there are also smaller security and maintenance updates in between..
  • Plugin Updates: This is more variable because it depends on how many and which plugins you have installed. Some plugins may be updated more frequently than others depending on the developer and the complexity of the plugin. It's not uncommon for popular plugins to receive multiple updates per month, especially if security issues are discovered. If you have a lot of plugins, you can expect an average of 1-2 updates per week for all your plugins combined.
  • Theme Updates: The frequency of theme updates depends on the specific theme and its developer. In general, you can expect an actively maintained theme to be updated approximately 3-6 times per year.

That is why it is essential to regularly log in to the WordPress dashboard to check for available updates, especially if you have multiple plugins. Having a reliable backup system and testing updates in a staging environment can also help ensure updates run smoothly without any unforeseen issues.

In summary: You will likely need to update your WordPress core and theme several times a year and your plugins possibly weekly, depending on the number and type of plugins you use.

WordPress Considerations: Pros and Cons

Choosing WordPress has its benefits, but there are some considerations you may not have thought about. Your current package includes the costs for tools, licenses, hosting, domain renewal, the domain name itself and the oh-so-crucial SSL certification already included. That sounds great, doesn't it? But let's take a moment to talk about WordPress updates.

The reality is that updates to WordPress are inevitable. The platform is changing, security risks are emerging and technology is evolving. It is impossible to determine in advance when these updates are absolutely necessary. Consistently installing and monitoring each update can quickly add up in hours - and for you, that means extra costs. At the same time, ignoring or delaying updates can expose you to serious risks. Finding the right balance between cost and security is a challenge.

That's why we recommend our approach

With RD-Webdesign you no longer have to worry about these difficult considerations. All updates are already included in the monthly all-in-one price, which means that your website is always up to date , safe and cost-efficient.