You likely have a handful of plugins running on your WordPress website right now. How confident are you that they are being updated on time and without negatively impacting your website?
Many WordPress providers offer plugin management as part of their offering, but it is essential to analyse what type (and quality) of management they perform. Many provide automated updates without a professional double-checking them and ensuring the plugins have updated correctly without error. Sometimes a plugin looks to have updated correctly however if you look deeper there may be lots of PHP errors causing your site to slow down. Even worse, they could cause website functionality failures that you may not notice until you stop receiving new orders.
Below are some of the ways Conetix approaches plugin management as part of our Managed WordPress offering.
We allow you to install any WordPress plugin you require
Many WordPress hosting providers restrict certain WordPress plugins. Backup and cached plugins often top the list of WordPress plugins restricted by managed hosting providers because they often tend to interfere with the hosting providers’ managed caching and scripted automated update system. As a result, the Managed WordPress company provides the caching engine and the developer has no control over what can and can’t be cached.
Your Managed WordPress hosting provider should update the core, WordPress plugins and themes as often as necessary. Updating all elements of your website prevents vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins that could limit performance. A snapshot backup should also be taken at this update point for quick and easy roll back in the event of an issue.
When a Managed WordPress provider provides their own caching engine with their hosting it can restrict your site in a number of ways.
- No ability to Manage what can and can’t be cached
- No ability to set cache expiry
- No ability to bypass the caching engine all together and run your preferred WordPress caching plugin
- Limits what other plugins you may wish to use that are not compatible with their caching engine
We understand the importance of WordPress plugins for enhancing your website’s functionality and feature customisation. That is why our Managed WordPress solution supports a range of WordPress plugins, offering flexibility for both developers and end-users. You can install and update default WordPress plugins and even custom plugins without having to limit your options.
We protect against WordPress plugin failure with frequent backups
There are various WordPress plugins available that add functionality to a WordPress website, with many of them created by third-party developers. They may interfere with the functionality and performance of your website and cause it to crash if not managed well. That is why we recommend you backup your website.
There are two vital components when it comes to backing up your website:
- Automated backup: Spares the front-end user the effort needed for manual backup.
- Cloud-based backup: Stores data safely on your server or even your Managed WordPress host’s server.
Weekly backups are industry standard for protection against WordPress plugin failure. At Conetix, we have set our standards a cut above the rest by providing nightly backups.
Nightly backups protect data on your website from loss and also restore the website quickly. Website downtime and WordPress plugin failure can mean loss of income; the earlier you restore your website, the better.
We also carry out backup before any upgrade or update. Our backups also use two different methods of backup up for your WordPress instance. We take a full server-wide backup and store it on our independant double parity NAS and also take a backup via WordPress itself using UpdraftPlus Premium which is once again stored on an entirely different double parity NAS. When you choose our Managed WordPress hosting services, you also gain access to Plesk WordPress Toolkit. Plesk has fantastic features like Cloud Backup and Restore, which allows you to take your own copy of your site to a cloud based storage system of your choice. The choices include Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and SFTP.
Plugin updates checked by a WordPress professional
WordPress plugin updates are essential for the smooth operation of any WordPress website. Plugin updates can either be automated or conducted manually. An automated solution checks for installed WordPress plugin updates on a regular basis. If a plugin update is available, it installs the updated version.
While automated updates may seem like the ultimate WordPress solution, it is a bit of a grey area. When managed WordPress hosts and admins automate WordPress plugin updates, they often fail to check if the updates work. The updated plugin may be coded poorly or may interfere with other functionalities on the site. This is often the case with third-party WordPress plugin updates.
It is essential to have a human eye counter-check each plugin update despite the convenience of an automated solution. That critical human eye is what you get when choosing Conetix as your Managed WordPress provider. Ideally that eye also belongs to an experienced professional on these matters!
The Conetix staff are accredited professionals that check and verify our customer’s WordPress plugin updates. Our Australian-based team deeply understands the WordPress landscape and are available when you need them. If something goes wrong on your end, we know before you even tell us, and can take the right course of action to restore your site.
Web Application Firewall (WAF) for WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugin developers work hard to improve the functionality and efficiency of their plugins. However, black hat hackers are also hard at work creating malware and always looking for new vulnerabilities in these plugins.
Expired WordPress plugins have vulnerabilities that are easily exploited by hackers causing substantial losses. Good WordPress hosting providers check the licenses on all plugins and update these upon expiry.
Updating WordPress plugins as soon as a new version comes out is standard practice for most managed WordPress service providers. However, WordPress plugins may still be exploited by unethical hackers even before an update is necessary. This fact necessitates a Web Application Firewall (WAF) on every WordPress website.
A WAF protects applications, such as WordPress plugins, by monitoring and filtering HTTPS traffic. WAFs automatically block malicious traffic intended to cause harm to your applications and paralyse your website.
A WAF will protect your plugin resources from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS attacks send overwhelming traffic to applications and resources that block out genuine website users, and potentially brute force their way into your website. A WAF for WordPress plugins also protects your website pages from brute force attacks and hacking.
Managed WordPress hosting providers should offer a comprehensive security package. Some WordPress hosting providers only provide WAF plugins and some limit what security you can install. Conetix offers cloud-based WAF security as a standard offering in all our packages.
Managed WordPress with Conetix
Conetix provides Australian businesses with fast and reliable hosting on an Australian-based cloud network. Our Managed WordPress plans include all plugin updates, frequent backups, and access to our dedicated and accredited support team.
Visit our Managed WordPress page to learn more about the benefits Conetix can offer you.
