WordPress - Technotions

WordPress Security Plugins

We encourage you to check here for information regarding WordPress security updates. At Technotions.com, we take website security very seriously. In this regard, we subscribe to many security-related services to ensure we are constantly updated. Additionally, we can advise you on what we think are the best WordPress security plugins and WordPress security plugin best practices.

Regularly checking for WordPress security updates is essential to ensure your website’s safety and WordPress security updates to ensure the safety and security of your website. WordPress regularly releases security updates to fix vulnerabilities and prevent malicious attacks. You can check for updates in the WordPress dashboard, and keeping your website updated to the latest version is recommended. In addition, using strong passwords, limiting login attempts, using a security plugin (firewall), and maintaining website backups in case of any security breaches are essential.

Here are some best practices for some critical factors in WordPress website security.

Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A WAF is a software firewall that sits between your website server and the internet, monitoring and filtering incoming traffic. Various WAF plugins such as Wordfence, Sucuri, and iThemes Security are available for WordPress. These plugins can help protect your website from common security threats like SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), and brute-force attacks.

Restrict access to wp-admin

Your website’s wp-admin directory is the heart of your WordPress site, where you manage everything from content to plugins and themes. It is essential to restrict access to this directory by allowing only authorized users to access it. You can use a plugin like Wordfence to add two-factor authentication or limit access to specific IP addresses.

You can secure your website with HTTPS

HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP that encrypts the communication between your website and the user’s browser. By installing an SSL/TLS certificate and enabling HTTPS, you can protect your website from man-in-the-middle attacks, where an attacker intercepts the communication between the user and the website.
Disable file editing in WordPress: By default, WordPress allows users with admin access to edit PHP files directly from the WordPress dashboard. This can be a security risk, as an attacker can access your website by exploiting vulnerabilities in these files. You can disable file editing by adding the following line of code to your wp-config.php file:

define( ‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true );

Regularly update your plugins, themes, and WordPress core

WordPress and its plugins and themes are constantly updated to fix security vulnerabilities and bugs. Keeping your website up-to-date with the latest versions is essential to ensure the best security. You can enable automatic updates for WordPress core, plugins, and themes to ensure they are always up-to-date.

These are some best practices to secure your WordPress website with a firewall. However, it is essential to remember that security is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and updates to avoid potential threats. Contact Technotions to get an immediate free consultation.

We recommend Wordfence as a primary firewall. Below are updates from the Wordfence Intelligence Group.

Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (Mar 27, 2023 to Apr 2, 2023)

Building a WordPress Website

I’m often asked, “How much will it cost to rebuild my website?”. That’s a difficult question to answer without getting some critical information first. Whether building a WordPress website from scratch or rebuilding an existing site, planning the project is still the same. A quick note: rebuilding a website is the same as building a site from scratch, with one exception. If you have an existing site, some or all of the content can be re-purposed for the new site.

Technotions has a process that we follow. You can see it here

Building a website requires careful planning and consideration of various factors to ensure its success. A brief summary of the requirements for building a website can be categorized into six main areas:

Purpose and Goals

The first step in building a new website is to identify the purpose and goals of the website. This includes defining the target audience, the type of content that will be published on the website, and the desired outcomes.

Design and User Experience

The design of a website is crucial in attracting and retaining visitors. The website should be designed to meet the target audience’s needs and provide an excellent user experience. The website design should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and user-friendly.

Content

Content is the foundation of any website. The website should have high-quality, relevant, engaging content that meets the target audience’s needs. The content should be well-organized and easy to navigate. Another critical factor is to decide how vital Search Engine Optimization (SEO) driven content will be. In other words, how high do you want to be ranked on Google searches?

Functionality

The website’s functionality is essential in providing a great user experience. The website should be fast, responsive, and easy to use. The website should have features and functionalities that meet the target audience’s needs. Is the site’s intended purpose to provide the company with a web presence (“Brochureware”), or is the purpose to drive traffic to the site and company? Will this be an eCommerce site? What’s the expected transaction volume?

Security and Performance

Security and performance are crucial in building a successful website. The website should be secure, and all user data should be protected. Another critical factor is to have some estimation of the expected site traffic. The website should load quickly, and the server should be reliable to ensure the website’s performance.

Marketing and Analytics

Marketing and analytics are essential in promoting the website and measuring its success. The website should be optimized for search engines and have tools for tracking user behavior and analyzing website performance.

A successful website requires careful planning, a user-friendly design, high-quality content, excellent functionality, security and performance, and marketing and analytics tools.

The Website Design Process

Designing a website involves several steps that need to be followed systematically to create a functionally effective and appealing website. This is Technotions’ typical process.

Step 1:

To get started, we need to define your site goals. What is the primary purpose of your website? Setting goals will help you determine the type of website you need and the features it should have.

Step 2:

The domain name is the address that people will use to access your website. We’ll need to choose a domain name that is easy to remember, relevant to your business, and available for registration.

Step 3:

Web hosting is the service that allows you to publish your website on the internet. We can provide a few hosts that are reliable and affordable web hosting providers that will meet your needs.

Step 4:

Designing the site. The design of your website should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and aligned with your brand image.

Step 5:

We need to determine overall site functionality, in other words, what features your website needs to have. Will you need an online store, a contact form, a blog, or other specific needs?

Step 6:

Build the site with your design and functionality in mind. We’ll create a wireframe for the site that provides you with an exact design for the home page and all related inner pages.

Step 7:

Finally, we’ll add content to your website. We’ll create pages about your business, products or services, and contact details. If you plan to have a blog, we’ll help you create blog posts. Very importantly, these will provide value to your readers and help establish you as an expert in your industry.

We believe setting clear goals for your WordPress website is essential to ensure it effectively achieves its purpose. Your website’s goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

For example, your website goals may include increasing traffic and generating leads. Additionally, you may to improve user engagement, or establish brand authority. We’ll work with you to define these goals and ensure that your site meets or exceeds these goals.

Choosing the right domain name is vital for your website’s branding, visibility, and search engine optimization (SEO). When determining your domain name, consider a name that is short and memorable. Also easy to spell, pronounce, and relevant to your business or niche.

We’ll help you choose a domain extension that best suits your website’s purpose, such as .com, .org, or any of the multitude of domain name extensions available. Also, it’s essential to make sure that your domain name is unique and doesn’t infringe on any trademarks or copyrights.

Web hosting is essential for making your website available on the internet, allowing people to access it from anywhere in the world. The quality of your web hosting service can impact the speed and performance of your website, which can affect user experience and search engine rankings. Additionally, a reliable web hosting service ensures that your website is always up and running. We’ll guide you through this entire process.

We’ll help you select a host that has plans that allow for scalability. And that will make it easy to upgrade and expand as your online presence grows.

Website design is critical in attracting and retaining visitors, as it creates the first impression of your brand and communicates its values and message. We’ll design a website that will provide a positive user experience. While also making it easier for visitors to navigate, find information, and take the desired actions.

In particular, the design of your website can also impact its search engine optimization (SEO). Very importantly, search engines prioritize websites that are easy to use, visually appealing, and mobile-friendly.

Website functionality can include e-commerce, user registration, content management, or providing relevant content. Naturally, a well-functioning website can improve user experience, making it easier for visitors to interact with your site and achieve their goals.

We know that the functionality of your website can impact its performance. In any case, speed, reliability, and security will affect user satisfaction and search engine rankings.

We like to leverage WordPress and all its capabilities. We will build your site such that the site will allow you to create and maintain your the content without you needing extensive technical expertise.

In addition, we utilize the Divi Platform. Divi is a drag-and-drop WordPress theme that offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of design options to customize your site.

Unquestionably, building a website using WordPress and Divi allows for flexibility and scalability.

Adding content to a WordPress website with Divi is a straightforward process that can be done using the built-in visual editor. We’ll create your initial copy. Addionally, we’ll show you how to use Divi’s visual editor, which provides an intuitive interface for adding text, images, videos, and other media to your website’s pages and posts.

More importantly, once completed, we will show you how to use WordPress and Divi together, which inherently allows for easy content management.

As we have shown, designing a website requires careful planning and execution. By following these steps, Technotions will create a website that aligns with your business goals, appeals to your target audience, and provides a seamless user experience.

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The WordPress Platform

The WordPress Platform is one of the world’s most popular content management systems (CMS), with over 40% of websites on the internet using the platform. While WordPress is primarily known for its ease of use and flexibility, it is also a robust graphic design, development, and security tool.

In this post, we’ll deeply dive into how WordPress can be used to create stunning designs, develop custom functionality, and secure your website against threats.

WordPress Graphic Design

One of the great things about WordPress is the ability to customize your website’s look and feel effortlessly. WordPress offers many themes and templates that can be easily installed and customized. However, if you’re looking for something more unique, consider hiring a graphic designer to create a custom theme for your website.

Custom WordPress themes allow you to create a unique look and feel for your website that sets you apart from the competition. A skilled graphic designer can create a custom theme that aligns with your brand’s personality, message, and values. They can also ensure that your website is user-friendly, engaging, and optimized for search engines.

WordPress Development

WordPress offers tremendous flexibility when it comes to website development. WordPress can handle it all, whether you’re a small business owner looking to add a simple contact form to your website or a large corporation looking to develop a custom e-commerce platform.

WordPress development can include custom plugins and adding additional website features. Thousands of plugins are available for WordPress, but sometimes you need something specific outside the WordPress plugin repository. A skilled developer can create a custom plugin for your website that meets your particular needs.

In addition to custom development, WordPress offers a range of pre-built plugins and themes that can be easily installed and customized. These plugins and themes can add various features to your website, from social media integrations to e-commerce functionality.

WordPress Security

Website security is critical for any website owner, and WordPress is no exception. The platform is a popular target for hackers, making it essential to secure your website. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to keep your WordPress website safe.

The first step is to keep your WordPress installation up to date. WordPress regularly releases updates that include security fixes and other enhancements. It’s essential to keep your WordPress installation and its related plug-ins up to date to protect your website against known vulnerabilities.

The next step is to use strong passwords and usernames. Weak passwords and usernames can make it easy for hackers to gain access to your website. Using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols in your passwords will help protect your site from brute-force attacks.

Take a look at the portfolio of services that Technotions offers to help you achieve your project vision.

How Much is your Hacked Site Worth?

Do you have a hacked site? While contemporary threat actors primarily coordinate and conduct business through Telegram channels, compromised services and accounts are effectively a commodity, and access to them has become fundamental to the operation of many illicit online activities. As a result, “shops” offering these commodities have proliferated. Many of the shops in question make no effort to hide their purpose or discourage indexing by search engines and as such are technically on the “clearnet”. Many shops even use legitimate CDN and CAPTCHA providers.

From remote desktop instances providing cheap anonymity for attackers, to web shells used to proliferate SEO spam, to full access to webmail accounts used for social engineering and identity theft, these shops offer crucial tools for cybercriminals. As such, it’s equally important for defenders to have an overview of the capabilities available to even the most rudimentary adversaries, as well as some basic data about the economics involved. This is why, in today’s post, we’re publishing a white paper investigating six of these shops and providing an overview of their functionality, pricing, and the core goods and services they offer.