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Archive for Security

Is The WiFi Safe Here?

Let’s talk about WiFi safety. From the classic movie The Marathon Man there’s the quote, Is It Safe? Many of us think of the internet like electricity, it works or it doesn’t. The computer is either connected or not.  But internet access is more complicated than that, and your wifi safety needs to be considered when planning on doing any WordPress administration/editing on your computer.

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When SEO Works Against You

Back in 2007, we had a client who needed a simple static website for her local small business. “Shelly” was thrilled with the design we created for her. The website was basic with location and service details, while the back-end was fully SEO’d.

In 2015, we caught up with Shelly to chat about her website. She told us that over the last year, she hired a SEO company who promised her the moon. Shelly was frustrated because customers were no longer coming to the website and she was looking for solutions. If only half of the promises came true, this would have been a win for Shelly and her business.

Unfortunately, not a single sale came from those services. Thousands of dollars later, Shelly fired the vendor, but that didn’t end her SEO troubles.
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29 WordPress Plugins to Start Your Site With

Here is a list of WordPress Plugins that we use on almost every site we build. We see these as foundational to the process of building and maintaining a healthy, useful and productive WordPress site. We have had good experiences with all of these and recommend them for the purposes outlined here.

WordPress Plugins That We Use and Recommend

One caveat! Please don’t install a bunch of recommended WordPress plugins from anyone’s list without first learning what each one does and how to use each one. You will only frustrate yourself and have a really ugly time wrestling with your website.

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Site Security and ‘Why Can’t I Work on My Site?’

I’m sure most people reading this post have heard the saying, “there’s only so many hours in a day.” And you may be wondering how site security relates to the time management. For most, the saying points to the wise use of our 24 hours each day. You can be productive or let the time waste away.

That idea is not lost on any hacker. To a hacker trying to break into a website – your website – they will try to use as much of every available hour to get in (often using automated software at lightning speed).

A thief’s attempting to rob a bank vault may have the same idea. They would like to get into the vault when the bank is closed, no one is looking and escape without being caught. But the bank security experts have something to make that difficult. The vault has a timer that only allows the vault to open during certain times of a given day. We see the same protection at fast food restaurants and convenience stores.

The principle is sound. Lock it up for a large part of each day so no one can get inside.

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Can You Prove That You Really Own Your Website?

Wouldn’t it be scary to think that you may have signed the ‘title’ of your web domain over to a stranger? I’m not trying to scare you, but a little healthy respect is good for your business. Do you think you’re too small an operation to think about this now? Could you have already given it all away? Maybe you don’t think you have. Are you sure? Can you prove ownership in a court of law? Do your really own your website? Does the ‘title’ have an expiration date? If it does, do you know when that is? If there’s a typographical error in the company name, or address, do you know how to fix it?

What to do?

First priority for you as a current or future domain owner; SAFEGUARD THE ‘title’ to your internet property! Because no-one else can do that for you as well as you can. Given the opportunity, there will always be those aiming to steal it out from under your very nose. Even the folks that aren’t out to ‘get you’ can make a mistake that can cost you hours-and-hours of work to repair.

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Why Should You Care About Password Strength?

Doubting the need to consider password strength is risky business. It’s like asking “Why do I need to show identification to take money out of my bank account?” Once, I even heard someone say “But nobody would want to hack into my site. There’s nothing worth stealing…”

I believe this points out that society today has an attitude of apathy. Take a few moments and think it through. The purpose of a key and lock is to protect whatever is valuable behind that lock. Your password (the key) is what lets you open the lock (login screen) and get at what’s being protected by the lock. If the your password is weak, how much protection does it afford you? IF you still don’t believe me, please, call me right after someone empties your bank accounts and ask that question again.

“The biggest security flaw today, according to Sean Ahrens, who heads Aon’s security practice from Chicago: “We’re in an era of complacency. We only get ratcheted up after something happens.” — Article ‘Complacency lets the bad guys in, workplace security expert says’ by Steve Jordan 11/10/2014

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