When you have a blog, you have an online space that is yours and yours only. Keeping it safe and secure is something that will make a difference, and means that you don’t have to worry about hackers. Even if you don’t get a lot of traffic, you can still get people trying to hack into your site and get any data about visitors that you have, as well as set up ‘traps’ for your site visitors that can be detrimental.
By protecting your blog, it will save you a lot of time and hassle down the line. The threats are very real, and although not nice to think about, can mean that your site is safe from bots, as well as hackers. Technology failing can also be something that your site can be at risk at, as well as human error. By putting measures in place, you will be able to keep your site safe from these kinds of things. Whether you have a hobby blog or a blog that you make money from, you’ll want to make sure that you have things in place to reduce your risks of losing all of your content and hard work.
Backup your site
Backing up your website isn’t something that will actually stop your site from getting hacked. However, it will mean that if your site does get hacked or there is an error with an update or technology fault, then backing up your site will mean that you can just go back to the backup version of your site. If you haven’t done this for a while, then you should update and backup your blog now. By choosing a backup service, such as a plugin that will automatically do it for you, then it can make a big difference as it will do all of the work for you. You should also do a backup before you do any major updates for your site, so that again, if something goes wrong, you can quickly revert back to the backup version.
Choose a well reviewed web host
When you have a blog, especially if it is a blog that you make money from, then you need to have a reliable and well reviewed web host. There have been times when hosts have deleted blogs instead of shutting them down when they’ve been hacked, and other such horror stories. So make sure that you choose a web host that is trusted and reliable, checking their reviews, rather than just choosing the one that is the cheapest, for instance.
If you have a shared server, then this is something that is very important (a lot of bloggers will tend to be on a shared server). Even if you are doing everything right for your blog but your host isn’t, then it can be the perfect storm to mean someone hacking into your website.
Install a security plugin
There are a number of things that you can do to keep your site safe and protected. But one easy thing that all bloggers can do is to install a security plugin for the site. This isn’t just a nice thing to do, but rather, a very essential thing to do! There are many free security plugins that you can use so it is easy to do and won’t cost you anything (although there are paid options if desired).
When you have chosen a plugin that you like the look of, then make sure that you go through the plugin and edit and adjust anything that you need to improve the settings. One thing that you can do in some security plugins is to hide your login page, so that if a hacker tried to get into your site, they simply wouldn’t be able to, keeping your site nice and safe.
Strong usernames and passwords
One thing that is so simple, yet so many people still get it wrong. That is making sure that you have a strong password and username. A lot of hackers will try a username like ‘admin’ so if you choose that, you are opening yourself up to getting hacked as they’ll be halfway there if they’ve got your username correct. As well as having a unique username, it is also important to change passwords on a regular basis. Keep things quite unique and random, such as using the current time when you’re changing the password as part of the password; that is something that no one will be able to guess.
Avoid sharing your password
When you are a blogger, you may have other people that would make life easier if they had your logins. You might have a virtual assistant or a web designer that you could consider sharing your login details with, but if this is the case, then you need to make sure that you definitely trust them. Don’t give your login details to a random copywriter that you find online, for example.
If you need to share details, then you could create their own login details for them. When you do this, you can choose what level of access they have, such as only being an author to edit and write posts, but can’t change or manage any other aspects of your website, to give you a new level of security and peace of mind.
Keep your computer safe
If you are someone that saves passwords on your computer for different websites, then you need your computer itself to be safe and secure. Even if you just have a laptop that only you use, it will make a difference if your laptop was to get stolen or to be lost. If they can open the laptop and get straight into your blog as you’ve selected ‘remember me’ on there, and the computer has fallen into the wrong hands, then you could be in trouble.
These steps are all quite simple and straightforward. But when it comes to the security of your website, it can really make a difference. Make sure that you get up-to-date with it all today.