The WordPress system consists of software, themes, plug-ins, and widgets that work together. The WordPress core SQL database serves as the foundation platform, while themes and plug-ins enable the design customisation and functionality of your site.
WordPress and other plugin providers issue regular updates to their product functionality and features to ensure that the product evolves and to fix bugs and security flaws. With regular maintenance, most technical issues can be resolved and prevented before they cause significant damage or cause the site to experience downtime or a crash.
However, WordPress maintenance requires specialised knowledge, so unless you want to learn the detailed technical aspects of how to do this, it’s better to leave it to the professionals. Attempting to maintain your WordPress site yourself can lead to costly mistakes that can harm your business. Without proper expertise, you may accidentally break the website, cause data loss, or introduce security vulnerabilities. Fixing these errors can be time-consuming and expensive, potentially outweighing the perceived cost savings of DIY maintenance.
A well-maintained site significantly influences search engine rankings and optimal page loading. Regular maintenance ensures error-free operation and optimal performance of the WordPress core, which is essential for better visibility in search engine results.
Here are some of the key areas you will need to learn about if you want to do it yourself:
- Plugin/Update conflicts. Updates as well as outdated versions can lead to compatibility conflicts with other plugins or themes that may prevent your website from functioning properly. Automatic updates in WordPress are absolutely not recommended as this can have unintended consequences such as style modifications, and cause critical errors.
- Core WordPress Updates. These can often trigger an incompatibility issue since some plugins may not be tested with the new version. You may have to manually trace the plugin responsible by deactivating all plugins and then reactivating them one by one.
- Security: Regular maintenance offers uptime monitoring and helps protect against threats such as malware, phishing, and distributed denial-of-service attacks, reducing security risks.
- Taking Backups: Reliable backups are necessary to ensure business continuity, protect against data loss and enable quick restoration of your site.
Imagine you are doing a DIY fix on your website, then something goes wrong and your website has page issues or even crashes – what do you do? You’d have to scramble to find someone who is able to fix it for you urgently. It may be days before someone can even look at it, which is why we cannot stress enough the importance of hiring a professional to manage your website maintenance, upkeep, and ongoing improvements.
Your website is directly tied to the success of your business, which is why we highly recommend that you avoid DIY website maintenance and instead entrust your website to a professional.