Is Your WordPress Site Really Secure?

Whether you’ve got a WordPress website promoting your organization’s services and products, or perhaps a blog showing your writing abilities, security is of prime importance. Google has blacklisted nearly 20,000 websites for adware and spyware, as well as over 50,000 for phishing scams. If you’re interested in keeping your precious WordPress site intact, then securing it is something you should take very seriously. Exactly Why Is WordPress Security an Issue? Even though the WordPress core software programs are checked and rechecked by countless developers daily, criminals are always looking for new ways to bypass that security and hack in. A hacked WordPress website may cause significant trouble for your online business, in addition to your business’s overall reputation. Skilled hackers can undoubtedly steal private information, passwords, and install malware on your WordPress site, making it useless to you and dangerous to your users. It’s not a good situation for either party. So, how can you make your WordPress site more secure? Here are a few tips to help ensure you safeguard your WordPress site and keep unwanted hackers out. Always Keep Your WordPress Version Up to Date WordPress is open-source software that gets regularly maintained and updated. But those updates will only work for you if you install them. WordPress always installs some minor updates on autopilot, while any significant updates need to be established by the site owner. So log in and check for updates frequently to make sure you have the latest version of WordPress. Also, keep an eye on updates for any plugins you may have installed on your WordPress website, and make sure those are up to date as well. Manage User Permissions and Passwords Probably the most common method to hack into your WordPress website is by using stolen passwords. You often can prevent this by making sure you use only strong passwords. Set up your users with a password that contains a mixture of numbers, letters, and symbols, which makes it harder to hack or guess. You can also install a WordPress plugin that will automatically create strong passwords for your users to save you time. You also need a secure password for the WordPress admin area and FTP site access. Make sure that posting comments on your WordPress site is limited to registered users and not open to the public, as this can also jeopardize the safety of your site. Use a WordPress Backup System If you do fall victim to any hacking attempt, doing frequent backups of your WordPress site will help get your site up and running again much faster. These backups will restore your whole site in just a few clicks. There are a variety of WordPress backup plugins available that you can utilize to produce a backup of your entire website. Some even offer automatic scheduled backups that you can just set and forget to make the whole process easier. Enable Firewall Protection Among the simplest ways to safeguard your WordPress site is using an internet-based firewall application that will block malicious traffic before it even reaches your site. Search WordPress for plugins, and you will find a lot of firewall options for both computer-savvy users who want something highly customizable, as well as not-so-computer-savvy users who want something simple. If you haven’t already done so, then take a few extra steps to protect your WordPress site. You can rest assured that your site will stay in your hands. For tips, ideas and advice on digital marketing, website design and social media management you can request access to our closed Facebook group: Paradox Studios TT – Digital Academy.
17 Social Media Mistakes That Hurt Your Brand

No matter which social media platform you use to market your company, products, or services, your marketing strategy should consist of one primary goal – to drive traffic to your website or landing pages. This remains true whether you use one social media network or all of them. You are trying to get users and potential consumers to notice what you are selling and follow your trail of breadcrumbs straight into your sales funnel. Because so many people today are using social media to develop their first impressions of companies and their offerings, it is essential that you have a strong social media presence with which to attract interest, build a community of loyal followers, and strengthen relationships with your target audience. You should already know dozens of ways you can use social media to do all those things and entice users to visit your website or landing pages. What you might not know is that there are plenty of things you could be doing wrong with your social media marketing efforts. Here are seventeen social media marketing mistakes that can cause your online presence to turn into a digital ghost town. 1. Not knowing who your audience is. While you may have a specific audience in mind when it comes to making your pitch, this doesn’t mean you know who they are. Part of knowing your audience is understanding what motivates them to become paying customers. 2. Not knowing who you are. A sleek and sophisticated corporate image is great, but not when you are trying to win friends and influence people on social media. The key word in social media is “social,” so you need to loosen your tie, let your hair down, and let people see the personality beneath the professional polish. Some of the most popular brands today have gained a large percentage of their online following simply by showing some wit, sarcasm, or just plain gut-busting humour in their marketing messages. 3. Choosing the wrong social networks for the right messages. Your perfect marketing blitz may generate very little buzz if you are using the wrong social media networks. Each social network has a user base that is, for the most part, specific to that network. To make a marketing campaign work for a certain audience, you need to know which network occupies the bulk of your audience’s time. 4. Thinking that you don’t need social media to successfully market your company, products, or services online. Everyone from 8 to 80 is using social media for a variety of activities, and you simply cannot let that marketing opportunity pass you by. Consumers don’t just use social networks to play Words With Friends and chat with their besties about what the Kardashians are doing – they also use it to find out more about companies before they decide to give them their business. If they can’t find you on social media, they most likely won’t buy from you. 5. Neglecting to implement a social media policy. Some people will say anything, and when they do it on social media, it might as well be written in stone (and engraved on your marketing headstone). Before putting your social media reputation in potential jeopardy, make sure you develop a solid social media policy that defines what is and is not permissible in terms of acceptable content. 6. Using too many social networks for your marketing campaigns. While your target audience may be spread over a few different social networks, you should restrict your campaigns to those on which your marketing material will have the biggest impact. If you try to cover all the bases and put marketing content on as many social networks as possible, it’s very likely that all your campaigns will suffer in some way. 7. Showing off your sales pitch. Your sales pitch may be so amazing that people can’t resist buying whatever you are offering, but no one wants to see it on social media (no, really, they don’t want to see it). Rather than trying to get people interested in what you are selling, get them interested in you. Many consumer decisions are based on impressions of the company itself, rather than the products or services it is offering. Leave the sales pitch at the door and use social interaction to engage your audience. 8. Posting the same old stuff over and over. The sky is the limit in terms of how you can use social media to boost interest in your company, products, or services, but you won’t impress anyone with a constant stream of one-line wonders in your social feed. Diversify your content with images, videos, articles, blogs, and more. 9. Looking for “get rich quick” returns on your social media investments. Everything does move faster on the information highway, but expecting to immediately go from “nowhere” to “now here” spells doom from the start. Goal attainment is measured in milestones, not finish lines, so plan for long-term campaigns to achieve long-term success. 10. Sitting on the sidelines. Social media is not a spectator sport, and you cannot get noticed if you spend all your time warming the bench instead of getting into the game. Consumers want to know you are actively engaged and interested in their wants and needs. You can demonstrate this by regularly posting, liking, sharing, responding, and participating as part of your social media community. 11. Failing to deal with negative feedback in a positive or effective way. When someone criticizes your company, products, or services on social media, how do you react? With a cold shoulder, a weak apology, or an aggressive counter-attack? Those are the worst possible ways to handle criticism from your users and consumers. If a user takes the time to let you know they were displeased in some way with something you are offering, take their comments seriously and respond promptly and professionally. Most of the time, consumers just want to know they have been heard