Post Menu and Details.
- What is a good website like?
- Improving WordPress Security
- Speeding up WordPress
- Let's ensure the stability of WordPress
- Conclusion
Words: 1108
Reading time: ~4 minutes
One of the customers I recently consulted was genuinely surprised when I found out that creating a pretty website is only 10% of the success of an electronic business. He, a successful economist, but a complete layman in everything related to the Internet, had no idea what SEO was, how to improve the efficiency of web pages, and why high response speed was important.
I had to enlighten him on the topic of security and stability, so important for the e-commerce resource that he was trying to develop. After a meaningful conversation, the customer made the right decision. He hired a competent administrator and chose a dedicated server for hosting the site – dedicated servers in the US. If you, like that client, are not very knowledgeable in all the subtleties of the network but strive to ensure that web pages bring good dividends, take 8 minutes to read the article.
Let’s talk briefly and to the point about how to ensure the speed, security, and stability of the site. It will also be interesting to read the material for novice administrators who are focused on professional growth and fruitful work.
What is a good website like?
Traffic, customers, conversion – these are the main task of any resource. In simple words, out of thousands of target sites, a network user should choose only one – yours. And then they have to go to a web page and buy information, a product or service. That’s why any electronic resource is created, developed, and operates. For this to happen, the site must not only have a bright design and contain useful content. It should appear in the top lines of search results, respond instantly to user actions, and guarantee the complete security of the personal data of buyers.
Most of these tasks can be solved by a properly selected server and WordPress. The popular website builder, which employs a third of all web resources, is convenient, intuitive, and simple. But this content management system can also be improved by a few simple steps.
Improving WordPress Security
Improving WordPress Security is crucial for any website, especially if it handles sensitive information or is involved in e-commerce. The steps outlined above will help ensure that your WordPress site remains secure and resistant to common threats.
One of the most effective ways to increase the security of the environment is to install the WordFence plugin. This is such an addition to the main software that helps to improve the basic functionality. WordFence Security is at the same time a scanner, antivirus, and firewall, allowing to:
- detect malware in installed software;
- repel external attacks on WordPress;
- analyze traffic and visitors (identify bots and search robots) in real-time;
- block suspicious IP addresses.
These are the main features of WordFence Security offered by the developers in the free version. These features alone are impressive. And this not to mention the premium version, which opens access to a huge number of useful options. It allows:
- block IP addresses from specific geographical regions – undesirable countries;
- perform automatic password auditing;
- provide two-step authentication via a message to a smartphone;
- schedule scanning (delayed start) according to a convenient schedule;
- configure the spam filter in the comments and on the feedback pages;
- do advanced analysis to improve the security and efficiency of the site.
It doesn’t matter if you choose WordFence Security in the basic version or Premium, you will get a lot of preferences anyway.
Speeding up WordPress
We’ve mentioned earlier that a dedicated server can give an effective site operation for a reason. Shared or private virtual hosting are inexpensive options for hosting a website. But they do not guarantee web resources the required high speed at traffic peaks. Therefore, rather than choosing a low-price solution, virtual hosting, you should better opt for the best result, provided by a dedicated server. It will easily cope with high traffic, and ensure the correct display of pages for PC users and for those who access the site via a smartphone. So, a reliable dedicated server is the key to high site speed.
Hint: Image optimization will help to increase the loading speed of web pages. Large files will take up a lot of space on the server. Therefore, before using images in publications, minimize their size. There are several effective plugins for the automatic optimization of images uploaded to WordPress. Use them and see the result.
Let’s ensure the stability of WordPress
Stability in IT is the smooth operation of web pages. No technical problems should cause downtime of the resource. At any time of the day or night, it should work. The more often failures occur, the worse the site looks in the eyes of search robots. Malfunctions make the e-business seem malicious, unstable, and suspicious. It stops appearing in the search results, traffic is falling rapidly, and sales are reduced to zero.
That is, the task of any administrator is to achieve minimal downtime. A few simple manipulations will help to solve it:
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Install the plugin to control downtime
First of all, you need to make sure that the site is functioning stably. Therefore, you should use a plugin that will monitor uptime. Such a technical addition will allow the site specialist to receive regular crash reports by e-mail, and notifications of forced downtime, if it happens.
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A dedicated server reduces the risk of downtime
Why is choosing a reliable server so important? It minimizes the downtime of the site. A trusted provider guarantees that the uptime of the resource will be 99.98%. What about the remaining two-hundredth of percent, the hoster leaves them for an unforeseen situation, which with a high probability will never happen.
Hint: The best option would be a dedicated server, the technical support of which is provided by a special service provider. This type of cooperation provides that the tenant receives a physical server for temporary use, which they later use to host a web resource on it. At the same time, the stable operation of the hardware is controlled by the hoster.
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Website Backup
Make sure that your software provides for the creation of backups of all pages of the site. If an electronic resource is hacked or attacked by malicious software, it will be possible to quickly restore the content and databases. There are several plugins that work with WordPress and allow you to automatically make backups from time to time.
Conclusion
My client had the wisdom to buy dedicated hosting from a reliable provider. And simple tips for improving the efficiency of the site allowed us to quickly develop it. Today, we still talk about the use of plugins that help to increase security, speed, and stability. I hope that after reading this story, you will make the right choice.
Thank you for reading!