When it comes to content management systems, there are few options that you are going to want to look into. The basic of options will have you dumping a blogspot.com URL into a web hosting plan, and showcasing the data. If that’s not what you want to do, then perhaps you’ll want to invest in a solution such as WordPress. Setting up a WordPress blog is a good solution for both your content management elements and blogging as a whole. Whether you want to have a standalone WordPress blog or you want to use that as a major way to build a website, it’s a simple solution and it’s free.
Most major web hosting accounts today will allow you to have a WordPress blog installed with the push of a button. You just click through, answer a few questions, and within a matter of moments, you’ll have a full blog installed that you can update and start posting to. Setting up a WordPress blog is the easy party, the harder part, or at least time consuming part is securing it. Right now most of the older WordPress blog software is easy to hack, and some pages within 1 line of code can be entered and isolated for a variety of nefarious reasons. It’s for that simple reason that you should install this and then lock it down through a few tips and tricks. The following are a few things that you can do to lockdown your WordPress blog.
Akismet
The first thing that you need to do is set this up. It’s part of the basic spam protection system that all major WordPress blogs will have. You’ll need to set yourself up with a unique password and code, but you can get that with ease. Once installed, you’ll have a basic layer of protection. It’s important that you look into doing this immediately after you install your page, otherwise you’re going to end up losing out in the future. Akismet is a good way to get started, but you’ll need more than just this to outsmart hackers and lock down your WordPress blog.
Change Admin
The standard username for every WordPress blog installation is admin or administrator. Go into the backend and delete that, adding the admin privileges to your own custom username and password. Do not rely on anything that is default, otherwise you’re going to end up getting flooded with spam, and perhaps even get a PHP redirect hooked onto your index page. Protecting your page is paramount, so don’t allow yourself to lose focus here.
Turn On Moderation
Do not let your comments go unfiltered, turn on moderation and lock down old posts so that people cannot comment after a certain amount of time. You’ll find that if you have a limited window of commenting in place, you will have an audience that will comment faster, knowing that they can’t do so at any given moment. Moderation also deters hackers and spammers from hitting your WordPress blog.
Security Plugins
Look for plugins that are going to help your security. There’s a plethora of them that you can get for free, but if you want to pay for a solution, then go for it. The goal is to lock down your comments, admin pages, and all of your site’s dynamic pages in order to ensure that no one can isolate any elements of your WordPress blog and end up causing havoc. Security plugins are free or low cost and can help you get moving forward with relative ease.
Strong Password
The simplest way to ensure that your site is getting secured and your WordPress is secure, is to ensure that your password has a mix of letters, and numbers. Make sure that they are non-sequential, or your WordPress blog will eventually get hit. This is a good thing to consider up front, so don’t delay in setting this up, and then changing it from time to time.
Perhaps one of the easiest things that you can do on top of the aforementioned is to look into updating your software from time to time. Don’t just install WordPress blog software and leave it alone for years, that will cause you to lose a great deal of protection. Always install the latest updates that are secure and focus on building your blog and content with care. Do not just install this and leave it blank, or leave it without updates, you’ll end up losing out. Take your time, and build on the right components, so that you are able to gain leverage over time.
