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Humans At The Helm: Monthly Website Updates

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Star Trek's Captain Kirk sits in the Captain's chair. Mr. Spock is standing behind him saying: Helm answering nicely, Captain.

As part of their website hosting and update plan with us, the Geeks play a very active role in making sure our clients’ sites remain well-oiled machines.

However, did you know that having real-deal homo sapiens involved in these monthly updates isn’t always the norm?

Many website owners opt to let monthly website updates run automatically to save costs 🤖 (which we totally get).

But this lack of human involvement can lead to even more costs down the road—anywhere from missed sales to a broken website.

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From bow to stern, the Geeks believe a website is safer when humans remain at the helm.

Read on to learn some of the reasons why.
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What exactly are monthly updates?

The A-Team standing together, with one of the characters saying happily: I love it when a plan comes together!

The short answer is (here’s the long one): Every month, we head on over to our clients’ sites and make sure everything is shipshape.

We do this by taking these five steps ✔:

  1. Run a one-time backup of the site before running the updates.
  2. Apply the available WordPress Core and Plugin updates.
  3. Test basic site functionality to make sure something major didn’t break.
  4. If there’s a problem, immediately roll back the site.
  5. Chat with our client about troubleshooting and fixing.

Managed service = “We have eyes on site.”

Fry from Futurama is squinting his eyes suspiciously. Text reads: I got my eye on you.

When CodeGeek updates a client’s website, we do what is called a “managed service.”

This means that when a site gets updated every month, thinking and feeling human beings 😀 are involved every step of the way.

When we perform these updates, we physically look at key pages of the website to verify there aren’t any obvious problems. 👀

Automatic service = “I am a robot, beep boop.”

Dr. Evil is speaking from his chair and making air quotes with his fingers. He is saying: Don't worry, our bots will do all the works on your behalf.

In contrast, automatic services run updates without any confirmation from a user.

This means that even though updates are run regularly (which is good!), there are no humans involved (which is not so good).

So when it comes to monthly updates, bots only care about one of our five steps (step #2) ❌:

  1. Run a one-time backup of the site before running the updates.
  2. Apply the available WordPress Core and Plugin updates.
  3. Test basic site functionality to make sure something major didn’t break.
  4. If there’s a problem, immediately roll back the site.
  5. Chat with the client about troubleshooting and fixing.

Why does this matter?

Because we find that about 1-2 times per year, a particular update will break something on a website.

So without having “eyes on site” as part of their monthly updates, our clients’ websites would remain broken until they notice—or one of their customers does. 😳

Aye, the Geeks are answering.

A white and orange kitty is sitting in a box and wearing a ship captain's uniform and cap. The text reads: I'll man the helm.

So, what does this all mean for you and your website?

If you have a monthly update plan with us, you can relax knowing the Geeks remain at the helm. 🤓

You need to update to make sure that your website has the latest security patches, the newest features, and the best speed and performance.

WP Beginner

Image credits: Star Trek: TOS, The A Team, Futurama, Dr. Evil, Captain Kitty

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