The WordPress time bomb that may ruin your day

The call or email goes something like this:  “Help!  I’ve been hacked. My website has been down for over a day now. We are losing business!” Woman screaming

We are starting to see what we predict will be a very bad trend that will affect a large number of the organizations that are buying WordPress websites. And those organizations have no idea …. until it’s too late.

It’s not unusual for the average web designer to buy WordPress themes, customize them, and put them on cheap hosting. Everyone is proud of the new website.  It looks great. Your organization puts out an announcement, everyone compliments your new, modern site. The web designer cashes the cheque and things seem fine.  Then time passes.

Now, here’s where it goes wrong. If your not paying someone to update WordPress versions and all the plugins your site has been built on, it’s only a matter of time before you are hacked. And if that cheap hosting you use isn’t backing up your site daily, all the changes you’ve made since the last backup will be gone.  No backups at all? Your web designer probably has the files saved somewhere … if they are still in business and you can find them.

So how do you prevent this? Here are some basic tips. Ensure:

·      your site gets backed up regularly

·      you can easily restore a version of your previous site

·      all security, version and plugin updates are done regularly

·      only plugins that are maintained and have a record of good security are used

·      your password for your WordPress administration is highly secure.

·      your web designer and hosting provider will support you if things go wrong.

If your organization relies on your website and hosting company, make sure the freelancer you’ve hired has a proven track record, knows how to write code and can handle issues when they arise. Or deal with a WordPress development company like ours.
Websites are an integral part of an organization’s marketing. Cheap and low cost might become very expensive and high cost later down the road. It’s not a matter of if, but when.