Over the last several years website security has become a necessity. If you don’t have any security in place, you will get hacked. Google is even punishing websites that don’t have it. It’s a big deal.
Your first layer of security is having an ssl certificate installed on your website. If you don’t have ssl, you will be flagged as “unsafe” by the internet. It will limit your traffic and send your seo plummeting down to the depths of nowhereville.
The way you tell if you have an ssl certificate installed is by this very important little letter in the url: “s“.
This is how it appears if the website does not have ssl: http://www.mauramcmahon.com/
This is how it appears if the website does have ssl: https://www.mauramcmahon.com/
After you get set with your ssl certificate, you also need some security monitoring software in place. There are a variety of free and paid programs like WordFence, iThemes Security, and Sucuri. Get a free one if you can’t afford a paid one. It will add another layer of protection.
My favorite paid security is offered by Sucuri. I have it installed on my websites and I recommend it to all my clients. I’ve been using it for years and I love it. If you’re interested in learning more about it, click here to visit their website. They offer 24/7 monitoring, firewall protection and clean up if you do get hacked. Their prices are pretty reasonable, it’s a few hundred dollars per year.
If you’d like to chat about it or need help, just reach out and I will help you figure it all out.