GoDaddy makes it easy to install a WordPress blog by doing it for you for free, but after that you’re on your own. I had been content with the default install until recently, but I really shouldn’t have been. New features and bug fixes aside, you should keep your install current to stay ahead of security flaws. If a security flaw fix is released that means the problem it has corrected is generally explained in enough detail for hackers to exploit those who haven’t upgraded.

Upgrading looked like it was going to be a rough process, to do it right you should really follow these steps:

1. Download the newest version of Wordpress
2. Create a backup of your Wordpress Database (go ahead and copy your layout info as well)
3. Put your site on “Hold” with a message that it’s being worked on and will be back soon
4. Stop all plugins
5. Apply the Wordpress Update
6. Turn plugins back on and upgrade to new versions as needed
7. Return your site to it’s “Live” state

Sounds like a lot of work right? Well there are certainly plugins that will do several of those steps for you and I was going around collecting them when I happened across the mother of all update plugins, Automatic Upgrade! It does everything for you except download the newest versions of your current plugins.

Now upgrading your site on GoDaddy(or anywhere else for that matter) is a breeze, you just run the Automatic Upgrade steps from the Manage portion of your Wordpress Admin and all the steps above are handled leaving you handle just plugin updates if they are needed.