Does your website run on WordPress? Then you need to listen up. Have you ever logged in to the admin area and wondered what that little circle was with a number next to ‘updates’? It’s important, that’s what! Don’t just ignore it and hope it’ll go away. It won’t.

There are two types of updates which will appear there; plugin updates and WordPress updates. Both are important and should always be taken notice of if they appear. Why? There are several reasons you should keep everything up to date.

First, and probably most important is security. Teams of people work hard on WordPress and its plugins to keep it safe from hackers. Making sure plugins and your WordPress installation are up to date is a simple thing you can do to help protect you and your website.

Other reasons include bug fixes, new features and ongoing support. Some developers will not help you out with problems if you’re running an old version. This is understandable, considering many upgrades are bug fixes which could solve your issue/s anyway.

So now you know! Next time you log in and see that little circle coming up – you know what to do. It doesn’t require any technical knowledge and doesn’t take long, either. If it’s an update of WordPress itself (which is usually highlighted by a bar towards the top of the admin area, encouraging you to update), make sure to follow the instructions given about backing up your site – or if you already have a backup system in place, make sure your site’s been backed up recently. That way if there was a problem, you have a copy of your website to revert back to.