Did you recently receive an e-mail that looks like the image below?
It’s thrown a lot of people who use Hostgator [and similar hosts] for a loop, and as a public service announcement, here’s what you need to know… if you are running Hostgator as your webhost, and WordPress 3.5.1 or under, you have to update WordPress soon, or Hostgator will update an underlying technology [PHP], which will possibly break your site.
There may be fallout from upgrading WordPress, and it has to be dealt with.
Bummer, yes I know, but here’s the take away that’s true and valuable going forward, websites are like computers, and they need to be maintained. WordPress, whether you like it or not, should always be kept up to date. It’s much better to get out in front of it, than let it drag behind. Here at IT Arsenal we received 10+ e-mails asking what this e-mail was about, and if it would break there site. We found many users don’t keep WordPress updated, and it likely would negatively impact their site.
Managing WordPress is work, well, managing any website, especially if you run a business on it takes work, you know this already, like putting oil in your car, if you stop, you’ll likely have catastrophic issues later, as in your website will stop working, look bad, break, be hacked, or worse.
What to do?
- Make a backup
- Update WordPress, and be ready to inspect your site for any issues, and get them fixed.
Most of the time it’s harmless, sometimes it’s not. If you need someone to go for support, that’s why IT Arsenal exists!
—> Check out the one time and monthly maintenance plans, or build your own request if you have updates you’re not sure how to handle this stuff.
