Web Design

Getting a website is a huge step to creating a strong online presence but most business owners have turned a blind eye to website update not knowing the negative future effects such a decision has for their online presence and to the existence of the website. The web design agencies fail to educate their clients on the importance of updating the website. Most business owners fall for offers by companies that offer to build a website at no Maintainance cost. Its even worst when private individuals are contracted to design the website. What happens If I ignore website updates Your website could be functioning smoothly for years without updates. But there is always a day when this will backfire. Constant updates such as in the PHP version of websites and if your website is not updated to run at that PHP level there will be a day that you will be forced to update because the theme and plugins used to build your website will be outdated and incompatible which will then cause your website to display poorly. 1. Your website will have problems In January of 2020, we were contacted by a client some months back for a redesign of their website build with WordPress. The website had existed for 4 years and was running on WordPress version 4.8.3 which was released on October 31, 2017 meaning the website was missing at least 47 updates the plugins were out of date and made it even impossible to edit the pages. At the moment of writing, this post the latest WordPress version was 5.3.2 released on December 18, 2019. This website was so outdated to the extent that it was impossible to edit the content. and I had to go deactivate all the plugins before I could edit as most of the plugins were unable to update. The WordPress version was updated and the website was redesigned but later on, the effects of missing out on updates started appearing; – Pages became uneditable -Your website ranks lower due to non-compliance with search engine optimization updates –Some content disappeared –The layout changes and displays poorly just to name a few. With all these problems the only solution is a fresh design of the website using the latest WordPress version, plugin, and theme. This will cost the website owner money. 2. your website becomes Vulnerable WordPress updates are released each time a security breach is resolved and new features added. With the number of hacked websites on the rise, most of the WordPress version updates are released when vulnerabilities are resolved such that by updating to the latest version you protect your website from being attack. Ask Your Design Agency For a Maintainance Plan Maintainance packages offered by most companies like us cover website updates and backup for your website such that your website is updated regularly and even in case of unforeseen incidents that result in loss of the website we can restore a backup and your website is functional within minutes. To conclude, it’s crucial to have a Maintainance agreement with your design agency. Ask them for a maintenance package and if they don’t have one then we would we pleased to help you with our flexible packages.