WordPress is a strong, secure platform on which to build a site, until it isn’t.
Let me explain that.
A former client of mine (who’s once again a client of mine) wanted me to look at his site because it wasn’t working. I built it a few years ago and it’s been in his hands since.
I could show you the front of his site but it’s all white right now. In WordPress it’s called the White Screen of Death. That’s a good thing because it means that WordPress isn’t working right now. If it was, you would be seeing porn and plenty of it!
Things like this make me want to cry. I’m sure the client wants to cry as well.
The first thing I did was look into the files on his server. I did this using what is called an FTP Client. I saw the usual WordPress related files but then there was a file I saw that shouldn’t have been there.
I looked a little deeper into it and started seeing literally thousands of files that were not supposed to be there. Looking at just a few of the files I could tell this was bad bad stuff.
At this point, there’s two options available.
- BURN IT ALL – wipe the server clean and start fresh again.
- HIRE AN EXPERT – maybe, just maybe an expert with the right tools can go thru all of the files and scrub the site clean. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. If it doesn’t you are back to Option #1, burn it all down and start again.
Either way, this is going to cost a pretty penny to fix.
The thing that makes me sad is that ALL OF THIS was avoidable. Everything.
All you have to do is keep your site backed up on a regular basis and keep your site up to date.
I know that sounds easy. I know you get busy doing other things and forget. I also know that WordPress doesn’t give you the tools to automatically do this, so you forget. It’s human nature.
I can tell you from personal experience – nothing feels worse than losing your entire website. Yes, it happened to me.
I mentioned before I was working on a complete managed website package. One that had a lower entry cost, and zero worries. The package included automatic backup of all of your content daily, complete backup of everything (database, themes, and files) on a weekly basis, managed updates so your site is always current, protection from malicious attacks and hacks before they happen, and a host of other things.
Those three things… automatic backup, updates, and hacker protection are the most important in the scenario above. I hadn’t thought about it until today but if I pulled just those three items out from my package and offer them to everyone that would be something of value – right?
So there it is. I don’t have a nifty looking package to show, I haven’t even built a page or this yet. But I do have the tools and the know how to start protecting your site right now.
If you want peace of mind if you want to enjoy your website without worry, is it worth $54 dollars a month to you? If it is, just let me know. Mike@AreWeConnected.com
If it isn’t, can you let me know when it happens to you? I hope it doesn’t, but it could.
Mike Mueller
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and wants a really small one). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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