Keeping your WordPress application up-to-date is crucial in maximizing your website’s potential. With each new version, WordPress introduces performance enhancements and innovative features that can significantly improve your site’s functionality and user experience.

By staying current, you benefit from faster load times, smoother backend operations, and access to cutting-edge tools that empower you to create more engaging and dynamic content. These improvements enhance your day-to-day operations and future-proof your digital presence.

Pro Tip: WordPress VIP customers can choose to enable managed updates via their VIP Dashboard to ensure their application is automatically updated to the latest stable version of WordPress. Others may prefer to handle upgrades on their own, letting them thoroughly test each new version before upgrading. Both approaches work.

That said, if you habitually wait to upgrade and run a few versions behind, trying to catch up can feel overwhelming. That’s why we suggest taking a proactive and consistent approach to upgrades. It means a better, more standardized experience for site visitors while streamlining your own content management processes. Here’s how you can do just that.

1. Be aware of the next major release 

We recommend following announcements on the VIP Lobby or the WordPress Core release schedule. Once you’re aware of the expected release date, start planning what timing works best for your organization.

2. Prepare your testing application

WordPress VIP offers a suite of developer tools, including testing environments. And here’s a neat trick: You can easily copy all your production goodies (that’s your data and media) over to these testing environments. 

It’s like taking a snapshot of your live site and using it to set up your testing grounds. This is super helpful when you’re trying to test out the latest features and functionality in the newest version of WordPress against your actual website. New non-production environments can be requested by submitting a VIP Support ticket.

3. Check your code compatibility

Next up, check plugin and theme compatibility before updating. Do this by reviewing changelogs and compatibility information to ensure your plugins and themes will work with the new WordPress version before you update. 

We’re often asked if there’s a specific order to follow when considering your upgrade. Yes! To avoid compatibility issues, update themes and plugins before updating WordPress Core. 

4. Outline your critical functionality

We strongly recommend outlining your critical functionality that needs to be tested with each update. This includes forms, checkout processes, and other key features. 

Use automated testing scripts, if possible, which can help you quickly and thoroughly test your key components. Plan to run through this process on both your testing environment and production environment following their respective upgrades.

5. Prepare your production application

With proper planning and preparation, including adopting practices mentioned above, you’ll greatly reduce the chances of running into any issues when updating your production application. However, we have a few simple tips if something goes awry.

6. Create a backup of your site

Before any updates, create a complete backup of your site. Hourly backups are included on WordPress VIP, but you can also go into your VIP Dashboard and create a backup on demand. This allows you to easily restore your site to the latest “good” version if anything goes wrong during the update process. 

7. Capture your “before” baseline

Use tools like screenshot capture to compare your site before and after updates. This can help you or your team identify any visual changes or issues that might not be immediately obvious during a quick site click-through.

8. Choose a time for the upgrade

We always suggest planning your upgrade during a low-traffic time of the day, e.g.,  between midnight and 4 a.m. local time or on weekends. But consider your internal audience (editors) as well as your external audience (users/customers). Plan for a time when an unexpected issue would cause the smallest disruption. 

9. Upgrade your production site

Once you’ve successfully run the upgrade process on your testing application, repeat the process on your production application. That means repeating your visual regression testing to gather your “after” screenshots and looking for any variations. 

Run through your critical functionality workflows to ensure everything works as expected. If you run into issues, determine if it’s easier to roll back your changes or fix minor issues right away. 

10. Document your process

Lastly, for future reference, we encourage you to document all update efforts and changes. This allows your team to much more easily handle the next upgrade. Instead of reinenting the wheel each time, a solid outline of steps to follow will make future upgrades much more efficient—and less of a burden.

Lean on WordPress VIP

At WordPress VIP, our goal is to empower you with the tools to be as hands-on as possible when it comes to testing and upgrades. WordPress VIP even offers an Upgrade Assurance service to handle upgrades for you, providing expert testing, peace of mind, and extra bandwidth to let you focus on other areas of your business.