WordPress Updates and Plugin Management

Managing Updates Successfully

Implementing a managed updates process and policy provides a good balance between staying up-to-date and the mayhem of updates gone wrong.

What Do Managed WordPress Updates Look Like?

This is an update process where updates are performed on a duplicate of your live website (staging website) at regular intervals such as monthly. The plugin/theme/core changelog should be checked to see what the reasons for an update are. If they are not bug or security fixes, and not features you need, then it may be safer to not update at this time.

This is the process we use to update WordPress websites.
You can follow our recommended process, and do the updates yourself.
However, if you're not confident, or maybe don't have time, then contact us to carry out the update process for you.

  1. Staging Website Setup
  • Create a backup of your live website.
  • Setup a staging website as a duplicate of your live website.
  1. Core WordPress Update
  • Update the core WordPress application to the latest version.
  • Check website operation.
  • If any errors, debug to locate problem and fix or rollback update/s.
  1. Update WordPress Plugins
  • Update all WordPress-related plugins.
  • Check website operation.
  • If any errors, debug to locate problem and fix or rollback update/s.
  1. Update WooCommerce Plugins
  • Update WooCommerce and WooCommerce-related plugins.
  • Check website operation.
  • Test online shop operation.
  • If any errors, debug to locate problem and fix or rollback update/s.
  1. Update Website Theme
  • Update website theme.
  • Check website opperation.
  • Test online shop operation.
  • If any errors, debug to locate problem and fix or rollback update/s.
  1. Live Website Update
  • Backup live website database.
  • Backup complete file system of live website.
  • Add temporary maintenance page on live website while updates are applied.
  • Implement any fixes from staging website onto live website.
  • Apply all updates replicating the same version numbers as on updated staging website.
  • Test overall website operation and integrity.
  • Test the online shop operation including the order process.
  • Remove temporary maintenance page.

Looking for some retail therapy?

Browse some of our customers' online shops. There's a fantastic variety, and maybe there's something that interests or inspires you?



WooCommerce Services

WooCommerce Websites

A turn-key online shop solution ready for you to start selling straight away.

WooCommerce Customisations

Your idea maybe unique, or maybe we've already implemented something similar.

WooCommerce B2B and B2C

We have developed solutions for wholesalers and business to business operators.

Headless WooCommerce

Faster, more secure, improved scalability and better customer experiences (more sales).

WooCommerce Integrations

Connect ERP software, inventory and warehousing, accounting applications, etc.

WooCommerce Marketplaces

List on marketplaces including Amazon, eBay, Catch, Kogan, Facebook and Google.

WooCommerce Plugins

See the list of WooCommerce plugins our customers use and we recommend.

WooCommerce Support

We offer phone and email support for your WooCommerce online shop.


News and Information

Recent articles with information that you may find relevant to your business and the technology you use.

WooCommerce vs Shopify

WooCommerce vs Shopify Comparison

By the numbers there are two leading ecommerce solutions for online stores and these are WooCommerce and Shopify. So, you are in good company when selecting one of these platforms. See what's different and what's similar.

Popular ecommerce platforms

Popular Ecommerce Platforms

WooCommerce and Shopify are the most widely used ecommerce platforms both in Australia and worldwide. However, there are many other great platforms that are developed specifically for ecommerce and one of these could be suitable for your business.

WordPress and WooCommerce updates

WooCommerce Updates and Vulnerabilities

We have found that updating WooCommerce websites immediately, when updates are released, often causes problems. We certainly do not recommend enabling automatic updates for any areas of your website and often recommend not updating.

Recommended WooCommerce plugins

Recommended WooCommerce Plugins

With 800+ commercial extensions on the WooCommerce marketplace, thousands more available directly from vendors, and another 60,000+ free plugins in the official WordPress.org directory which do we recommend?