Website maintenance is the process keeping a website up to date.
This is done through updating the core and external software (sometimes referred to as plugins or extensions) of a website on a regular basis.
Website maintenance can also include things like:
- Adding content to a website on a regular basis to keep it looking fresh.
- Monitoring against hacks and data breaches.
- Frequently backing the site up to a secure location.
Why is website maintenance needed? #
As time goes by programming languages change and evolve. Hackers become smarter and craftier. Malware (malicious software) becomes more potent.
It’s important to keep your website up to date to primarily:
- Patch security flaws,
- Fix bugs (errors in software),
- Improve the speed/ performance,
- Improve functionality.
You can read more about why website maintenance is so vital here.
What websites need website maintenance? #
In theory all websites require updating and therefore require ‘maintenance’. But the majority of the time when talking about website maintenance as a service, it applies to ‘open-source CMS‘ sites.
What are open-source CMS sites? #
Open-source refers a particular type of software licence, in this case ‘freely’ available.
CMS stands for Content Management System, which is a software or application that allows a user to easily manage digital content such as blog posts and pages.
Perhaps the three biggest examples of open-source content management systems are WordPress, Drupal & Joomla, with a third of all sites on the web being powered by WordPress. They all have a user friendly administration panel or ‘backend’ to manage the website, rather than directly editing the code.
Now, without proper upkeep (site maintenance), your website’s software would depreciate and start to break over time. As well, hackers and malware will find it easy to gain access to your site and cause harm.
To sum up #
If you’ve got an open-source CMS site, it’s certainly recommend you obtain proper site maintenance.