WordPress has, for a lot of people, become the de facto platform for running a website. It doesn’t matter whether that website is just for some personal blogging, or a professional site where business is conducted, it’s an easy, powerful, versatile platform to use. In fact, WordPress now powers more than 25% of all websites. Whenever someone I know is thinking of making a website, I always point them to WordPress. Then I point them towards finding some secure WordPress hosting.
The reason for this, is, as with any popular platform, once something goes big, illegal activities inevitably center around it. The very popularity of WordPress means that, like popular operating systems such as Windows or iOS, hackers, pirates and other unethical programmers will seek to take advantage of weaknesses and flaws. The reason for that is simple; a more popular platform means more people on it, and more people means more opportunity for easy money through theft, data ransom techniques or just mischief, like viruses to disrupt computer operation.
If you want to make sure this type of intrusion into your website is kept to a minimum, I strongly recommend you start looking for secure WordPress hosting and here’s how you do it.
Gauge Your Own Ability & Outsource The Rest
First and foremost, you need to honestly look at yourself and assess your own technology and web literacy. Just how much about keeping a website secure can you actually do yourself? If you’ve got a lot of proficiency in software and web security, then you may not need to worry about secure WordPress hosting, because you can do this type of constant maintenance yourself. However, are you willing to devote the time required?
And if you’re not technically proficient, what are your plans to keep your website safe if you don’t want to rely on secure WordPress hosting? Do you know someone willing to do this for you? Or are you simply taking the “herd” approach of assuming that because your website is one of hundreds of millions on the Internet, it will be ignored because there are so many other more tempting targets around?
Start Evaluating Your Secure WordPress Hosting Needs
If you’re going to be looking for secure WordPress hosting, one of the things you should do that will make your job easier, and that of your potential host, is figuring out what you need. Someone that is running a website strictly for marketing and promotional purposes, for example, is going to have less severe security demands than someone who does both affiliate marketing and even has a virtual store that sells some products and require sensitive financial information.
Look at what your website will be used for, and what level of security you will actually require. The needs you have may affect your available choices and possible candidates for secure WordPress hosting. If a company doesn’t offer you the security you need to protect sensitive client data, for example, then you need to cross them off the list and keep looking.
Research The Security At Different WordPress Hosting Companies
As with any other work online, Internet research is critical when you are looking at secure WordPress hosting. Once you know what you need, you must compile a list of possible secure WordPress hosting candidates and then look up each one, individually, and in depth. Make sure that what they are offering actually aligns with your security needs.
More importantly, research these companies to ensure that they are legitimate. Scams abound everywhere, and, unfortunately, secure WordPress hosting is no exception. If you don’t do proper research on a company that is promising to protect your data, you could inadvertently end up volunteering that sensitive information to the people you are trying to keep it away from. If a secure WordPress hosting service makes amazing claims at low prices, or simply seems too good to be true, investigate for yourself in greater depth. Chances are, anything that is an absurdly good deal is unlikely to be legitimate or safe.
Read User Reviews
Even when a secure WordPress hosting service is legitimate, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the right one for you. Just as important as functionality is the customer experience, something that applies to your own business practice. Look at user reviews of the services you’re considering and see which ones are rated highly by actual customers like yourself.
If a secure WordPress hosting service is, for example, fantastic as long as everything is working correctly, but falls apart and becomes an infuriating, almost impossible to tolerate experience if something goes wrong, and you need tech support, this is something you should know upfront. If a company makes a lot of promises, but only fulfills half of them, this will come out in user reviews, and should play an important role in making your final selection. In the end, the companies that review well in your areas of interest are the ones you should consider.
Get A Good Start
If you’re just beginning your search for secure WordPress hosting, WPengine is one service I think you should put on your list of candidates as you go through this process. They have an excellent, “enterprise grade” system of secure WordPress hosting that they apply universally to all clients. So whether you’re just starting your first website in affiliate marketing, or you’re overhauling your business website, where you regularly conduct sales, and want a new host, you get the same level of protection. WPengine doesn’t play favorites.
I also like the fact that they are constantly updating and evaluating their own internal security. And if something should happen “on their watch,” where your website gets hacked, they take responsibility. Rather than leaving you to your own devices to have to find another service to restore control—and pay for this yourself—they will repair and “purge” your website for free. They’ve also got the history and the customer reviews that prove that people trust their services. That’s why I feel this host should be on any list for considering candidates as your secure WordPress hosting service.
