A WordPress website needs ongoing maintenance because it is software, made up of several moving parts that are each updated on their own schedule, often every few weeks. Launch day is the start of that maintenance, and most website problems begin with the assumption that it was the end.
You built your website. You launched it. It works. So why does it still need looking after?
Why does a finished website need maintenance?
Because a WordPress website has more in common with the apps on your phone than with a printed brochure. A brochure is finished the moment it comes back from the printer. The apps on your phone ask for updates every few weeks, and if you ignore them long enough, some stop working properly or stop opening altogether.
Your website works the same way. A brochure has never needed a security patch. Your website, as of this week, may well need one.
What is a WordPress website made of?
A typical WordPress website has more moving parts than most owners realise:
- WordPress core: the underlying software that runs the site.
- Plugins: add-ons that handle forms, SEO, bookings, ecommerce, analytics and security.
- Your theme: controls much of the design, and often some of the functionality.
- PHP: the programming language WordPress runs on, set at the server level.
- Hosting and the server environment: where the site lives.
- The database: where your pages, form entries, orders and user accounts are stored.
- Integrations: connections to your CRM, payment gateway, email platform or booking system.
- Forms: often the most commercially important part of the whole site.
- Security settings and user accounts: who can log in, and what they can change.
- Backups: your way back if something goes wrong.
Each of these is maintained by a different party, on a different timetable. A plugin developer can release an update on a Tuesday that assumes a newer version of PHP than your host is running. Your website is where all of those timetables meet.
How often does WordPress change?
More often than most people expect. Between 6 August and 22 September 2026, WordPress released four security updates (versions 7.0.3, 7.0.4, 7.1.1 and 7.1.2), plus a major new version, WordPress 7.1, on 19 August.
The most recent, WordPress 7.1.2, fixed a single critical vulnerability that could, under certain conditions, let an attacker run their own code on a website’s server. WordPress’s own advice was to update immediately. That is WordPress core alone, before counting the plugins and theme on your site, each of which has its own release cycle.
Who is responsible for maintaining your website?
In many organisations, the honest answer is “no-one specifically.” The agency or freelancer who built the site handed it over. The marketing team owns the content but not the plugins. IT looks after laptops and email, and assumes the website belongs to marketing. Plenty of people can log in, but nobody is watching the Updates screen.
That gap is where most website problems start. It is rarely a dramatic hack. More often, it is a form that stops sending enquiries, and nobody notices for weeks.
What does good WordPress maintenance look like?
Good maintenance is routine work, done on a schedule. At a minimum, someone should be:
- Applying WordPress, plugin and theme updates on a regular schedule, after checking they are compatible.
- Keeping PHP on a version that still receives security fixes.
- Taking regular backups, storing them away from the server, and testing that they restore.
- Checking that forms and other key parts of the site still work after any change.
- Monitoring for security issues and downtime.
- Replacing plugins that are no longer maintained by their developers.
We’ll cover each of these in more detail over the coming weeks, in plain language.
So, who looks after yours?
If someone in your organisation is already doing all of the above, you’re in good shape. If you read that list and weren’t sure who does half of it, that’s worth knowing now rather than after something breaks.
That gap is exactly what Hatchet’s WordPress Care Plan is for. Our Perth-based team looks after the updates, backups and checks, so your website keeps doing its job and nobody on your team has to become a part-time WordPress administrator.
Talk to us about the WordPress Care Plan →