Your site has been updated automatically to the latest version of Wordpress

Wordpress software is quite user friendly. It even provides an automatic update feature, so you don't have to think abut it at all. Pretty cool, huh?! Or is it?

I received a call from a client today who had received one of those automatic update alert from her website, which is built on Wordpress. She had decided that her son was capable of handing the simple maintenance of her site, and she was working with on on her other internet marketing and presence. He son has set Wordpress to automatically update. In the last week alone, there has been three updates.

The problem is, that the update had a conflict something else that was installed on her website and now her website wasn't working. Some pages were goobly gook and others were totally crashed.

In a panic, she called and begged hoping there was a simple fix. The answer was maybe and sort of.

I asked a very important question - "When was the last time you did a full backup of your site?"  Her answer was the key to how easily (or not) her site could be restored.  Her website had been backed up only a month ago. Good.
However, since that time her son had made several updates to plugins, changed a few settings and then set Wordpress to automatically update. Not so good. In short, her update was outdated.

She was advised that it was still possible to restore her website to that previous backup, however, any changes her son had made since that date would not be included. And she would still have to  update Wordpress.

It's not uncommon for a conflict to occur between on outdated plug in and Wordpress. It's also not uncommon for two plugins to dislike each other. Some developers never update their plugin or offer support once it's been released.

Putting her site back online also meant she needed to troubleshoot what may have caused the conflict so it didn't happen again.

Fortunately for her we were able to get her back online in a few hours and our regular rush fee. The glitch was a conflict between an outdated plugin and the new version of Wordpress.  All it takes is one line of code to cause a conflict.  We found a few other questionable areas in the code of her old theme (we didn't design) that also prevent her site from converting well on mobile devices. That's an entirely different fix.

It's all good for her now. Her son now knows that although automatic updates can be convenient, they can also be costly.  He will be doing more backups now.

Your website is your brand online.  Regardless of how someone may have heard of your, they will attempt to learn more about you from your online presence.

 For assistance, training or consultation with your internet presence, call 800-569-8279