Has it been six months or more since your website launched — or since anyone last looked under the bonnet? Is your site showing signs of age: broken links, a map that won’t load, social media feeds that have gone quiet, or worse — a white screen of death?
If so, it’s time for a website review and maintenance.
Review Your Content Every Six Months
As your pricing, team, address, services, and strategies change, your website content needs to keep up. Outdated information damages trust and can actively drive potential clients away.
Set a reminder to review your website content at least twice a year. Check every page: are the services accurate? Are the prices current? Are contact details correct? Are you showing recent work?
WordPress Updates Are Necessary
Regularly updating your WordPress core, plugins, and theme is critical for security, performance, and stability. The process should go like this:
- Take a backup first — so if anything goes wrong, you can restore quickly
- Update WordPress core, then all plugins, then your theme
- Test your site thoroughly after each update
- Check your PHP version and SSL certificate while you’re there
How Often Should You Update WordPress?
Monthly updates are ideal, and that’s what we do for our care plan clients. If you’re not on a care plan, schedule maintenance at minimum every six months.
Don’t put it off. The longer you leave it, the harder updates become — plugins fall behind, compatibility issues compound, and the cost to fix things increases. More critically, neglected sites become targets for hackers, who specifically look for outdated software with known security vulnerabilities.
Even without an outright hack, deferred maintenance causes minor issues to accumulate: broken maps, missing Instagram feeds, overlapping text, admin areas that won’t load. Each of these costs more to fix than a simple maintenance pass would have prevented.
Not Up for Doing It Yourself?
We hear you. As a busy business owner, the last thing you need is to worry about technical maintenance. It feels risky, and there’s a real learning curve.
That’s why Blue Platypus Digital offers one-off maintenance updates, or you can join one of our Care Plans — maintenance and hosting packages that include monthly updates, backups, monitoring, and priority support access.
Get in touch to find out which option suits you best, or read more about our WordPress care plans and website maintenance services.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should a WordPress site be updated?
Monthly at minimum for core, themes and plugins, with security releases applied sooner. Sites left for six months or more accumulate updates that then have to be applied together, which is when things break.
How often should I review my website content?
Every six months is a reasonable rhythm for most businesses. Check that services, pricing, staff and contact details are current — stale details on a live site cost more trust than an old design does.
What happens if I never update WordPress?
Known vulnerabilities in outdated plugins are the single most common way small business sites get compromised. Beyond security, an un-updated site eventually breaks as browsers and PHP versions move on.
How much does website maintenance cost?
Our care plans start at $99 +GST a month for Basics, covering hosting, backups, monthly updates and support. Business is $199, Growth $499 and Strategic Growth $1,299 a month.
