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How to Secure a Website: Updating WordPress and Maintaining your Website to Combat Cyber-Security

Does that little red update icon in the corner of your website keep you up at night? Are you susceptible to potential cybersecurity hacks due to not keeping your modules up to date? How much time have you invested in learning the basics of WordPress development, only to later brush it off because your business was calling you elsewhere?

82% of ransomware attacks in 2021 were against companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, while 95% of cybersecurity incidents at SMBs cost between $826 and $653,587.

No matter the business, nobody can afford a setback like that.

Maintaining an up-to-date WordPress website is not just important for the purpose of keeping content fresh and engaging, it’s crucial for security reasons. WordPress is a popular content management system, and because of this, it is a frequent target for ransomware attacks and malicious software. Cyber threats can easily embed malware in websites that have not had the proper attention given to them, such as a lack of necessary updates. Keeping your WordPress website up-to-date is the best way to ensure that your website is secure and protected from any potential threats.

WordPress website plugin and update notifications

WordPress is a popular and open-source Content Management System (CMS). This means that it is publicly accessible software that anyone can study or modify. Keeping your CMS website secure from cybersecurity threats is an essential part of running a successful business. With a lot of marketing efforts directly related to your content management system, properly updating and maintaining your website can affect your business drastically. We often hear of ransomware attacks or breaches in data through outdated and under maintained software. That’s why businesses come to us – they are investing a lot of money into a marketing campaign where if their website is not secure, it will all be washed away. While it may be tempting to put off updating your WordPress website’s backend core, it’s important to remember that this is a cornerstone of staying safe online and protecting your business and employees.

Another important reason to update your WordPress website’s backend core is site functionality. New features are usually released with each plugin update, which further improves your website performance. These new elements can help enhance the performance of your website, allowing you to provide your visitors with a better user experience. Typically, an upgrade will solve any issues identified in previous software versions, perform bug fixes, and assist with site improvements. When kept current, these updates can help to ensure that your website remains compatible with the latest technologies and browsers.

Website software system under maintenance

TWS: Technical Webmaster Services

Often when the Evolve Systems team is discussing our digital marketing services with business owners and clients, we ask if there is a dedicated staff member who has experience in website maintenance. As you could imagine, the answers vary. Some clients do not have anyone dedicated to website performance, while others may have a staff member who has built a website in the past but has other obligations within the company that keep them from properly maintaining the website. For a lot of businesses, it doesn’t financially make sense to hire an employee just to manage some of the core updates of their module. That is why Evolve’s Technical Webmaster Services (TWS) plan was created.

We understand that it’s one thing to know you should do something, and another to have the time or capacity to do so. We help businesses combat website inefficiencies and security issues by addressing your plugins, theme, core updates, site back-ups, and more. Our technical team leaves no stone unturned and will alleviate the headaches caused by these pesky site issues by preventing as many as possible. We review each page of your site after every update to make sure nothing has broken or changed unintentionally. Best of all, any changes we make, we do overnight, so your visitors won’t notice a thing.

Having a trusted team that has experience in working with companies from a webmaster’s perspective takes time and stress off of your shoulders so that you can run your company with efficiency and peace of mind. We make it easy for you to keep your WordPress website’s backend core updated to protect your company from the latest cyber security threats. To learn more about Evolve System’s Support Capabilities, feel free to contact our team to see if bringing in our experienced WordPress integrators is the right fit for your business model.