Keep Your CMS Up-To-Date With a Maintenance Plan

As I work on more & more content management systems, I’ve come to realize that keeping your CMS up-to-date and in good working order is critical to a properly functioning web site.  A nice feature on most content management systems is that the admin program warns you when the core program or any installed modules require updating.  Sometimes these are minor updates to improve features and other times these are major updates that affect the security of your web site.

Most people will ignore the little pink warning boxes that say your modules require updating.  After all, the web site appears to be functioning properly plus most people don’t have the know-how to install the updates themselves.  Ignoring the warning boxes is kind of like ignoring the clunking sound you’ve started to hear in your car’s engine.  You know you should get it looked at, but the car is still working and it would be an inconvenience to bring it into the shop.  However, waiting to get it fixed could have disastrous results and end up costing you more in the long run.  Both your car and your web site should be on a regular maintenance plan to ensure that they continue to operate properly.

If you’re running on a hosted CMS such as Hubspot, then the hosting company should be keeping the software up-to-date for you – this is covered under the monthly fee that you are paying them.  If you are running a plain-vanilla WordPress site, then you may need to occasionally update to the latest version of WordPress, especially if there is a security update.  However, if your web site has additional features (modules) installed, you really should consider a maintenance plan.

Truthfully, I think it’s best that most people don’t try to update their own modules but call in an expert instead.  Consider this, I have worked on some Drupal websites that have over 30 modules installed and activated.  At any point in time, one or more of these modules could require updating.  When it comes to updating modules, you really need to know what you are doing; otherwise you could end up bringing down the entire web site.

Web Image Designs can assist clients with WordPress updates, but Drupal is much more complex so we turn to Matt Miller of Total Business Group for our Drupal Maintenance needs.  Matt and his staff have been working with Drupal for years and are very knowledgeable when it comes to the nuts & bolts of Drupal.  They offer an annual maintenance plan in which they will review your Drupal installation on a quarterly basis and update all of modules that require updating.  Like an insurance policy, this gives you peace of mind that your web site will be kept up-to-date and function properly.  After all, you have so many other things on your mind – why not let someone else worry about your web site?