WordPress is an extremely popular platform used by millions of people around the world. Actually, one third of all websites indexed by Google run on this platform. As creating a beautiful and highly functional website is one of the best ways to grow your business, you definitely want to find a quick and effective way to do so, and WP is a great option.
If you are one of those people who rely on this platform, a good thing to do is to take all the necessary steps to ensure top notch security for your website. As the whole platform is fairly simple to understand, this guide is going to show you how easy it actually is to keep your security tight.
Always Back Up
This is the most important thing that you should do. If you want to protect your business at all times, backing up your whole website is the first step you need to take. Backing up is a simple process that can be done by anyone, however, if you do not have the time, there are simple automated systems you can use to keep your whole website backed up at all times.
All you have to do is find the appropriate WordPress plugin that can give you complete control over backup scheduling. It is also important to keep all backup files in a safe location.
Update The Whole Platform Regularly
The WordPress platform is constantly evolving and applying every update is crucial for the highest level of website security. Update notes will show functioning updates to a wider audience, however, there are certain bug features that are repaired under the hood, which not everyone is aware of.
This might take a little bit of your time every month, but the benefits of regular updates are immensely important. A key thing that you should never forget is to always back up the website before the update, just in case something goes wrong. On the other hand, updating the platform is not the only thing you should be worried about.
Plugins are equally as important, because each of them could have a security bug, but these are regularly patched with every update. Keeping the whole platform updated, plugins included, will make your website safe for all the users.
Get Rid Of Unused Plugins And Optimize The MySQL Database
All of the plugins that you have tested should be methodically removed for several reasons. Every plugin you use can be a security risk, so any plugin that is not actually useful should be removed and deleted. Not only will you increase security, you will also speed up the website, as it is not going to be crammed with useless plugins.
All you have to do is actually review the features of all the plugins you have installed, and get rid of those that are essentially useless for the users. Not to mention that you will decrease the amount of required updates, as you lower the number of plugins.
If you thought that you have to be a MySQL expert in order to optimize your WordPress website, you are wrong. By using a few plugins, you will easily be able to remove any unnecessary files from your database, which will make your website run without any problems. Never forget that a good hosting provider is also responsible for both the website loading time and its security.
You Can Always Use Additional Security
WordPress offers a good amount of security, but using additional plugins or other software can help you further tighten the security of your website.
It is important to know exactly what you are doing, so that you avoid locking yourself out of your own website. On the other hand, other software solutions are there to constantly scan the different activities that are occurring on your website and as soon as something bad happens, the software is going to alert you so that you can immediately take steps to avoid any possible damage.
With these basic maintenance tips, you will have a good idea of what you need to do to keep your website safe and up to date. The most important thing to remember is the backup part, because no matter how good your security levels are, there is always a chance that someone with bad intentions is going to hack into your website.
But, as you take these precautionary measures, you can dedicate your time to creating awesome content that is going to attract new visitors. If your WordPress site receives a high amount of traffic, you can easily take some steps to help it run smoothly.
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
