Blog Post
Oil Changes for Your Web Site
Last week we painted a word picture comparing a Web site to a car. You can drive your site well enough if it’s built on a content management system, but most business owners (like car owners) lack the technical know-how to handle the required upkeep. Oil changes, tune-ups, tire rotations, all those little things that can make the difference between your car lasting for hundreds of thousands of miles, and burning down into a steaming pile of slag after a couple of years.
Your Web site also requires routine maintenance. Of course there’s the need for regularly updating with new content, which we’ve looked at before. Beyond that, however, is the scary technical stuff under the hood.
Security
Internet security isn’t just for e-commerce sites anymore. While it’s great that a content management system allows you the site owner to make your own changes, the downside is that the login system also opens a potential door for hackers to break in and cause mayhem.
How will you know when you’ve been hacked? One of three ways.
- You happen to notice one day that your site is down, or redirecting to a porn site or something
- Your Web host shuts you down one day because your site has been identified as containing viruses; or, Google refuses to display your site in search results because you’ve got bad files on your server
- Or, if you’ve been proactive in monitoring your site, you’ll be alerted instantly when there’s a problem.
Number 3 is obviously the best way of finding out about a hack, but do you want to invest the time and effort to be constantly checking on your site? This is where a Web professional can help a lot.
New software
Even better than finding out about a hack right away is never getting hacked in the first place. There are a lot of tools out there that protect your site against attack. In the fast-paced world of technology, there are new tools popping up all the time. Which ones are the best? What are the differences?
Here again, you the site owner probably don’t want to spend a lot of time keeping up with all the new offerings. Outsourcing this chunk of your Web site needs makes a lot of sense!
Updates
Similarly to the release of new software, updates to existing software are being released all the time. In WordPress, the two most active areas are in the plugins and in the core WordPress platform itself. Many of these updates are released in order to patch a hole in the software’s security.
Staying on top of these updates, then, is crucial. Often times, though, if you run an update yourself, some element of your site will break. At worst, the entire site may stop working! This is why it’s best to have a Web professional perform these updates for you.
In a completely unrelated note, MWD Web’s Outsourced Webmaster program covers all of these things. If your site could use a tune-up, or some regular preventative maintenance, contact us! We promise not to leave any grease stains on your seats.