WordPress is popular software for running websites. Almost 30% of websites you visit are running WordPress, so if you don’t own one, the chances are high that you’ve been to a WordPress website recently. In fact, this website uses WordPress, so I guess that answers that question! 🙂
There is a cost of ownership with using WordPress. You have to maintain it. So WordPress is secure if you maintain it – all the plugins, themes and core software.
Learn more about WordPress being secure here:
Is WordPress Secure? (wordfence.com)
Why Don’t People Keep Their WordPress Website Up to Date?
They might forget to do it, they might not have the time, or they maybe not want to take the risk.
If there is some custom code involved, like a custom plugin or theme (parent theme), then upgrading a website might break it. There’s definitely a chance that will happen. So they’re afraid to upgrade their website. We’ve seen this happen many times.
Isn’t My SSL Certificate Making My Website Secure?
Not really. The SSL certificate encrypts website traffic, not your website. Since normal Internet traffic passes by different parts of networks, it’s easy to use a traffic sniffer and see what data you can pick up just by looking at what’s going by. This is how hackers find passwords and other data. If you website uses an SSL certificate to encrypt every page, then that data looks like gibberish and it cannot be used.
The SSL certificate can help encrypt usernames, passwords, and data being transmitted from the server to the web browser, so that does help keep it secure. As far as keeping your website’s software secure, the SSL certificate does not provide that kind or protection.
Is There an Easy Way to Keep My Website Up to Date?
Yes! WordPress has automatic updates for minor versions that come out. Some plugins now have auto-upgrades. These things help but it’s really not enough and definitely not a solution if you website has custom code – again, it could break.
At Webstix, we’ve come up with a way to make doing these upgrades a true no-brainer. It’s our Website Care program. With this program, we manually go into your website, take a backup, do upgrades and do testing. Ok, some of the process is automated (to keep the price low) but we do have real people going in and checking/testing your website to make sure everything works fine. This is great if you have any custom coding done to your website.
We have a good number of our clients on this program. We do this work on Thursdays and Fridays usually and you get an email when it’s complete.
It starts at just $529/year, which is really just $10.17 per week. That’s cheap! Wait, is that price right? 🙂
Yeah, it’s right and like I said, it’s really a no-brainer. You’ve invested in your website, so why wouldn’t you invest in keeping it running smoothly? Website hacks (we’ve seen them with sites that aren’t up to date) are costly. Our minimum charge for cleaning up a hack is 6 Maintenance Blocks, which is currently $318.75. If that happens twice in a year, you’d be paying $637.50 and still not have the protection of always being up to date.
Does our Website Care program protect you against all hacks? No, we cannot promise that since there are a lot of variables but we’ve never seen a WordPress website hacked that has everything up to date. The ones that get hacked are usually a few versions behind. They’re prime targets because hackers are lazy. They’re not going after the websites that have every door and window locked, they’re going after the ones with open doors and windows. That just makes sense, right?
Sign Up Now!
Sleep better at night and get Website Care today. It’s easy to sign up.
-Tony