How to update your WordPress Site

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Manual updates

We update every site manually using the same process below.

Remember backup

Before updating any part of your site make sure you have a backup.

The timeline below shows how we update basic WordPress websites.  Basic sites are those that do not fall into any of the categories below:

  • eCommerce Sites
  • Membership sites
  • High traffic sites

For these, complex sites we recommend creating a staging site first and updating the staging site to ensure there are no issues.

Step 1

Backup your site

Before making any changes to a WordPress website you need to take a backup.  This way is there is an issue you can roll back.

Step 1

Step 2

Update plugin

Update each plugin, one at a time.  Updating each plugin at a time ensures you know what plugin caused the issue should there be one.

Step 2

Step 3

Check Site

Open a private/icognito browser window.  Visit the site and test the part of the site affected by the update.  E.g. if the update was to Gravity Forms – check that the forms work as expected.  Note: if you are using a caching plugin you may want to flush the cache first.

Step 3

Step 4

Repeat steps 2 & 3

If there are more plugins to update then repeat steps 2 & 3 above until all the plugins are updated.  Once complete you can carry out another backup.

Step 4

Step 5

Update theme

Updating a theme needs to be carried out very carefully, it can have a major impact on the site.  If your site is using a child theme then there should not be too many issues.

Step 5

Step 6

Check Site

Carefully check the site after upgrading your theme.  You will need to check every page and blog for issues.

Step 6

Step 7

Update WordPress Core

Care should be taken when upgrading WordPress – we also recommend you take another backup if you have already updated plugins and/or the theme.

Step 7

Step 8

Check Site

Carry out a thorough test of the site, check every page and post and every function to ensure everything is still working.

Step 8

Step 9

Backup your site

Now that the site is fully up to date and fully operation take another backup.

Step 9

More to explorer

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