Oneupweb Client Snapshot: Necessary WordPress Updates

Posted on February 23, 2024 in Case Studies

For several years now, Oneupweb has been working off and on with a national organization dedicated to helping people receive community support for a variety of needs. Initially, we teamed up to create a customized WordPress site that focuses on user experience, SEO and a platform for growth.

More recently, we worked on updating their website to meet the modern standards of today’s internet.

We focused on updating the PHP version of the site, updating deprecated code in favor of modern-day best practices, updating outdated plugins and updating WordPress to a more stable version for security and functionality reasons.

Scope of Work

Due to budget restrictions, the client’s website hadn’t been updated in a few years and there were a significant number of necessary updates.

Our development team acted quickly to:

Fix deprecated code to handle modern PHP versions.
Refactor old theme files to modernize and futureproof codebase.
Update WordPress to a more secure version for security and functionality.
Update Plugins to fix deprecated code, security and functionality.

The Problem

We understand marketers and business owners are constantly faced with difficult budgetary decisions. However, no decision is without consequence. Because our client opted for no ongoing maintenance when we launched the website in the 2010s, the website inevitably began to decay.

WordPress accounts for More than 810 million websites in 2024. This means that a total of 43.2% of all live websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.

We often recommend this content management system (CMS) due to its ease of use, flexibility and extensive community support.

So, when WordPress recently updated, plugins updated, and outdated website functionality became more apparent, and eventually led them to experience critical failures.

Lack of maintenance compromises your website, and users, as old code allows hackers with bad intentions through infiltration points within your website.
Gordon Rozga, Oneupweb Developer

a oneupweb developer points to code on a computer screen

We also recommend regular maintenance on a website to improve your Core Web Vitals, which increases your chances of being relevant on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Google promotes healthy websites in the SERP that provide the user with the best experience based on many factors, these of which are bolstered by good, clean website code. If your website is breaking down, your place in the SERP will follow that trajectory.

What Working with Our Clients Means

We understand everyone has different priorities and objectives for their marketing and their business.

Since our client was on a tight budget and under pressure to get their site up and running, we quickly leapt into action and orchestrated a strategy that would help (temporarily) future-proof their site from experiencing a collapse.

We started by updating the current version of PHP running on the server and followed up by refactoring some old theme code that needed a modernized execution to handle the desired functionality. We also updated WordPress to the highest version without the need for a new theme. This provides more stability and protection against security flaws that older versions of WordPress are vulnerable to.

Lastly, updating the site’s plugins to fix old, deprecated code within the plugin to be able to modernize functionality and give the user a higher-quality experience.

The Results

The big goal? Get the website up and running again. Mission accomplished!

We also upgraded security via an upgrade from WordPress 4.4 to 6.43 (WOW!), upgraded PHP versioning for site / server modernization and upgraded must-use plugins to restore locational functionality within the site.

Regular Maintenance Prevents Emergencies

The best protection against a plummeting SERP ranking, a poor user experience, decreased leads and an unsafe website is to regularly update and maintain your organization’s most valuable asset: your website!

Your potential customers visiting your digital storefront deserve a hitch-free experience. Reach out today or call (231-922-9977) to see how Oneupweb’s development team can help update and improve your website.