WordpressI always recommend WordPress to my coworkers, friends, family and clients.   Why? because it just works, well most of the time.  With the ease of install and publishing.  Plus the vast amount of  themes and plugins available, WordPress meets the CMS and blogging needs of  pretty much anyone.  But how many once installed keep things updated?Read More Below...

I manage several dozen WordPress blogs.  They range from a couple pages to quite a few.  For example this blog has been around for quite some time and I’ve updated it a handful of times.  Initially, updating meant uploading a new set of files, hoping you didn’t break a theme or plugin.  Now WordPress can often be updated by simply clicking a link.

Why should you update WordPress?  As good and stable as it is there is always the risk of something hole being exploited.   As recently as last month the good folks at WordPress were saying upgrade upgrade upgrade.

So when upgrading there are a few things you want to make sure you do.

  • First backup and save your files.  This means to simply copy all the files in your WordPress install folder.  If you don’t have a lot of plugins, themes,  and uploaded content (i.e. images, flash, downloadable files) it’s not really that big.  You can do this through FTP and often through your hosting control panel.
  • Backup your database.  This is a bit trickier often a hosting control panel will have a way to backup your database.

Once you’ve done this then simply click your upgrade link on the dashboard and away you go. I’ve always been surprised at how fast WordPress upgrades.  But it does and will also upgrade the database at the same time.  Leaving you with a nicely upgraded version full of secure goodness.

If you are a bit unsure you can often find someone who will upgrade WordPress for under $100.  It doesn’t take long and having someone with some expertise will make sure that if something does go wrong they’ll be able to fix it.

WordPress is a great tool and like any good tool you must maintain it.  keeping WordPress upgraded will maintain stability and security for your website and even get a few new features.