Hackers are annoying!
Frankly, I just don't understand them. Well, the ones who hack a bank and take some money, at least we know what they are after.
The ones that make me really crazy are the ones who do it purely for the sake of doing it.
Bonus: Download a free checklist of the first plugins that I always install on a new WordPress Blog.
Several years back, I got a totally freaked out phone call from a client. Their website was flashing what looked like arabic and Bin Laden. It was truly a terrible moment, I will not deny.
This was the first time that I had seen such a hack and it was my job to fix it. It was bit chaotic but we got it resolved.
Trust me though, you don't want this to happen to you. Truth is though, you can take precautions but you can never 100% guarantee that it won't happen.
The best precaution that you can take it is to keep your site updated. Today I am going to show you how to update your Theme.
Before you update your theme
No matter how awesome your site is setup, sometimes thing go awry. A few tips before you update your theme.
1. Backup your blog first.
There should be absolutely no problem when you backup your theme but those are so famous last words. So be safe and backup.
Note: I am hosting my site on Siteground and they do nightly backups on my behalf. If you are hosting with them or another host that does night backups, then update your theme in the morning. This way if something goes wrong and you need to do a restore, you didn't lose half a days work.
2. Save any special code.
If you have done any special CSS code or anything of that nature, save the code in a notepad.
Note: Do not save this into a Word document because it messes with code and makes it weird.
How to update your WordPress theme
​
- WordPress Theme
- Log into WordPress
- Click on Appearance
- Click on "Themes"
- Click on your theme
- Click on Update
Conclusion:
The backend of WordPress can be quite a busy place. It is jammed with warnings ands notifications. It can be quite easy to become blind to all of it. However, it is critical to check in from time to time and see if your theme needs to be updated.
Most of the time these WordPress theme updates are critical because they often have important security updates. Finally, if you have a developer that does maintenance on your site, just ask them if they have updated your theme lately.
This is a great reminder. I have clients that leave plugins not updated for months. I keep reminding them to update and they tell me that they wait because the site crashes when they update. It must be so frustrating. Thanks for sharing.
I was one of those folks whose website got hacked, so I know the kind of pain it causes! Frequent updates sound like a great plan to keep that from occurring.
Thank you for this!
This is great advice to try and avoid being hacked. It seems relatively easy as well, which is always a bonus. :)
Oh yes, I can relate to the hacking scenario – been there to and it was dreadful! Also google was the one to advise which meant they take your website out of search ability etc. There is still alot I don’t understand about my website techie process but I do know we gotta take the effort and likely make investments to keep our precious commodity safe. Thanks for your great advice and reminders!
Fortunately, I’ve never been hacked and my web designer takes care & watches. She is wonderful, has become our coach, teacher, and guide.
I’ve been so lucky in that regard. I would completely freak out if I were hacked. As it is, I would get freaked out when I was asked to update my clients’ WordPress website themes. Back up, back up, back up — those are my three best tips. ;-)
I have always updated and I really don’t understand why people don’t pay attention to messages to update. I guess they think no one would bother with their site. It’s a costly lesson to learn something the hard way.
My developer updated my site to the latest version of WP and it broke my home page, my navigation bar and my sharing plugin, among other things. He immediately restored the backup of the last version until we can figure out what new codes broke all of this.
I would never do this by myself, as my site seems to be very temperamental and maybe a bit complicated, although I envy those who can dive in and do their updates with ease. It sounds so easy, maybe it requires you have a straightforward site and theme. With some of my plugins, the developers haven’t updated in awhile and switching them out, creates breaks in other places. Any suggestions Rene, would be very appreciated! This sounds so easy, I am envious and would love to be free of website issues…as they seem to keep coming up. ;)
I’m in the process of getting a new theme installed on my site and am so excited about it. My biggest concern is backups, because I just don’t know that it’s really done.
Carol,
Well if your web host does the backups, that is best case scenario. Otherwise you may want to invest in BackupBuddy.
-Renee’
Thanks for the encouragement. Mine needs to be updated and I am just a wee bit nervous about it. Will wait till I have my blog backed up and then do it.
Karen,
Yes, wait for the backup. I highly recommend doing this update first thing in the morning.
-Renee’
Great tips Renee for updating your WordPress Themes!! Definately very important to make sure you back up your blog BEFORE you update :) Thanks for sharing!!
Joan,
So glad that you liked the tip.
Blog on,
-Renee’
Great tip to backup before updating and super tip about when to do it for us SG users. BTW, I see you use TweetDis too.. love this plugin. You might want to update your settings though, so it’ll show your handle when sharing.
Thank you Kristen and I will do that.