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Keep Your Business’ Website Safe with 9 of the Best WordPress Security Tips!

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75 million websites around the world rely on WordPress. Many of those websites are managed by business owners like yourself who love WordPress for the beautiful sites it’s capable of creating without any required coding knowledge.

While WordPress’ staggering prevalence has come about given the tool’s free cost and low learning curve, its popularity has brought with it one staggering problem… Security.

Hackers, malware enthusiasts, and other internet bad actors have begun to focus their breaching efforts around WordPress since so many people rely on the platform. With that focus has come more sophisticated hacking tactics that could lead to a 3.9 million dollar data breach.

To keep your website safe, our team has compiled a list of 9 of the best WordPress security tips you should implement now!

1. Keep WordPress Up to Date

At the core of every best WordPress security tips list is keeping the software up to date. Automattic (the company that created and manages WordPress) regularly pushes out updates to ensure that all security holes get patched and that WordPress stays ahead of the curve in regard to new hacking techniques.

If you do not opt into these updates, your site will be left extremely vulnerable. For that reason, never put off a WordPress core update unless advised to do so by qualified IT professionals.

2. Passwords Should Be Strong

Your admin password and any other lower access user passwords that grant access to the back end of your WordPress site should be very strong. Our recommendation is to randomly generate passwords and then use free tools like PassPack to store them for future recollection.

3. Keep All Plugins Up to Date

One of the best parts about WordPress is how extendable it is via plugins. Plugins are essentially add-ons that add additional functions to your WordPress site without the need for code.

The downside to plugins though is that each one you install represents a new door for hackers to gain access to your site’s data.

Only download plugins from trusted developers. Make sure those developers are excellent about publishing documentation on their applications and actively manage them.

4. Have a Dedicated Backup Solution

No matter how many of the best WordPress security tips you utilize on your website, there is still a chance that your site could end up hacked or corrupted.

To make sure you can bounce back from such an occurrence, you’ll want to have backup images created of your website you can restore from.

Doing that is simple with plugins like VaultPress and BackupBuddy!

5. Stay Away from Pirated Plugins

Running a business on a budget can put a lot of stress on your bottom line. Because of this, some operations choose to cut corners by downloading paid WordPress plugins for free through pirate sites.

The issue is that a lot of these pirated plugins can’t be automatically updated. Many have even been injected with malicious code that can grant bad actors access to your site.

At the end of the day, spend money, spare yourself a security nightmare and support good developers.

6. Hide the Usernames of Authors

If you have authors that post to your site regularly, by default their login name will be featured on the articles they publish. That essentially takes care of half of a hacker’s work in discerning a username and password.

You can easily tweak this default by copying and pasting some code into your functions.php file.

You can find that code here.

7. Change Your Login Page’s Web Address

Most WordPress login pages are easy to access by typing in a website’s name and adding “/wp-admin” to the end. The ease of this makes it simple for hackers who use brute force bots to access your login page and start trying different username/password combos to gain entry.

To immediately remove yourself from the cross-hairs of basic-level hackers, use plugins like Lockdown WP Admin. These tools will relocate your login page in a few clicks.

8. Pick a Good Web Host

Cheap web hosts are good when it comes to saving money. They cost you on the back end though with lacklustre performance, predatory contract extension price hikes, and of course sub-par security.

Did you know that over 40% of WordPress hacks occur as a result of poor host security? That’s pretty frightening given that you have 0 recourse in your host’s security protocols beyond leaving them for another host.

Bottom line, go with a host that is trusted and is well-reviewed, even if they cost more. The additional expense is well worth it.

9. Get Personalized Advise From Professionals

If you’re trying to grow your online business, you can read online security and eCommerce business growth articles until you are blue in the face. At the end of the day though, nothing can replace the insight you could be getting from this company and others who specialize in helping businesses grow on the web.

If you really want to take things to the next level with your website and revenue, find and hire a consulting firm that can get you to where you want to go fast.

Wrapping Up Best WordPress Security Tips

Keeping your WordPress site secure is essential in avoiding costly catastrophes that can come in the way of data breaches. To get started getting your business’ website on lock, follow our best WordPress security tips above.

Doing something as simple as keeping everything up to date and being responsible with the creation of your password can go a long way in keeping your company’s data in your company’s hands!

Do you want to read more of the internet’s best content surrounding growing your business? If so, dive deeper into everything from legal tips to marketing advice and beyond on BusinessBlogs today!

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