How To Protect Your WordPress Website Against Hackers And Bots

Hackers and bots are two of the biggest threats against WordPress websites. If you don’t take proactive measures to protect your site, then you can lose everything – your website files, your email list, your income, everything! If you want to avoid this scenario at all cost, then read this article.

 

Here are some basic measures you can follow to protect your site:

 

1. Make sure your version of WordPress is up to date

 

WordPress gets updated pretty regularly, and they do this for a good reason. With the sheer number of automated attacks carried out on WordPress websites daily, it’s important that the software is frequently updated to stop hackers, bots, and botnets in their tracks. If you don’t update your software, then it’s like you’re sending an invitation to hackers telling them to exploit the vulnerabilities in your non-updated software. 

 

2. Update your themes and plugins

 

Just like your core WordPress software, themes and plugins get updated from time to time as well. This is important so that these themes and plugins remain compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Also, if you don’t update, chances are hackers and bots will find something to exploit so they can access your site.

 

3. Backup your website regularly

 

For your peace of mind, it’s best to back up your website regularly. There are several plugins you can choose from on the WordPress.org Plugin Directory that offers automated daily backups. More importantly, you’d want to consider using a plugin that offers a 1-click restore feature. Even if your website gets hacked, you can still restore your site easily.

 

4. Use a strong and hard-to-guess username and password

 

You don’t want to use the old ‘admin’ username and password combination. That’s the first thing bots guess when they attack a site. You’re practically giving them free access to your site! For better security, you should use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Keep your login details in a secure location, or you can use a password manager to help keep your details safe.

 

5. Hire a WordPress security expert

 

Plugins can only do so much. In the end, bots are programmed by human hackers who can make these nasty pieces of computer code as sophisticated as they need to be. A human WordPress security expert is your best bet if you want to keep your site safe. They’ll come at a cost though so keep this in mind if you truly want to keep your WordPress site safe. 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

How To Build An Online Store In WordPress

WordPress may seem like a blogger’s platform, but nothing can be further from the truth. WordPress is an extremely versatile software. Themes and plugins help you change the way your site looks and functions with just a few mouse clicks. So, yes, it is entirely possible to build an online store in WordPress. In fact, millions of online stores are built on WordPress!

 

To begin, you’d need to have your own domain name and your own web hosting plan. Your domain name is your store’s name. It can be something like YourAwesomeStore.com or BuyMyProductNow.com. Domain names cost around $10-$15 per year. However, you can get it for free with some web hosting companies. 

 

For web hosting, you can choose to start with the basic plan just to see how things work. However, once your store starts gaining popularity and thousands of people visit your site every month, then you will need to upgrade to a more advanced hosting plan. Also, check if your web host offers a free SSL certificate for your plan. You’ll need this so you can accept payments on your website. 

 

Once you’ve purchased your domain name and web hosting, you can then install WordPress on your site. Some commercial web hosts feature 1-click WordPress install in their control panel or cPanel, so you may want to inquire about this with your web host.

 

With WordPress installed, you can proceed to download the WooCommerce plugin. The setup wizard will walk you through the basic store setup such as your store location, currency, payment methods, shipping and tax, etc. Once that’s done, you can start adding products to your online store. 

 

WooCommerce has a lot of features. For one, you can sell both physical and digital products on your site. You can accept online payments, bank transfers, even cash on delivery payments. You can define all aspects of your online business. So, it’s really not surprising that WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin on WordPress.org.

 

To change your store’s appearance, there are plenty of WooCommerce-compatible themes to choose from. The free Storefront theme looks great on WooCommerce sites, but if you want to make your site stand out, then consider buying a premium WooCommerce theme. With a well-designed and eye-catching storefront, more people will be willing to stay on your site and check out your products.  

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

5 Simple Ways To Optimize Your WordPress Website

Having the most stylish and the most beautiful website in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you’re the only one who visits it. You don’t want to be all alone admiring your website. Of course, you can pay for traffic by advertising on social media or other platforms. But, would you really want to pay thousands of dollars in advertising fees when you can get highly qualified and FREE traffic from Google? Probably not. 

 

This is why search engine optimization or SEO is so important for online businesses. You may be a blogger, an affiliate marketer, or an online store owner, and I think you’ll agree with me when I say that search engine traffic is the best source of traffic. 

 

Here are a few ways you can optimize your website for search engine traffic:

 

1.    Use a fast-loading theme

 

There are thousands of themes to choose from in WordPress.org. However, most of them will be slow. Google loves fast-loading sites, and you’d hate to find out your theme is causing your site to load slowly on people’s computers. 

 

2.    Add a sitemap

 

Help search engines crawl your website content faster so they can add it to their database. The earlier your content gets crawled, the faster you can get your site to appear on search engine pages.

 

3.    Install a caching plugin

 

There are a number of free caching plugins you can choose from. How it normally works is that it will generate a static HTML file of your web pages. This means that your web server will no longer have to serve up all your website files to each visitor. The static HTML files are lightweight, and this makes your site load faster on your visitor’s browser. 

 

4.    Use human-readable permalinks

 

WordPress gives you a few options for how you want your permalinks to appear. The SEO-friendly format recommended by search engines are those that make it easy for people (and search engines) to understand what your content is about. The most common format used by SEO-optimized websites is the post-name permalink format.

 

5.    Install a good SEO plugin

 

Yoast and All In One SEO Pack are two of the most popular SEO plugins. Choose which one you’d like to install, configure it properly, and you’ll have a nice SEO-optimized website soon.

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

5 Easy Steps To Create The Perfect Sales Page On Your WordPress Website

Sales and leads are the lifeblood of all online businesses. If you’re building your site on WordPress, then you’d be happy to know that creating attractive and high-converting sales pages is relatively easy on this platform. Read on to find out how you can create the perfect sales page on your WordPress site.

 

Step 1. Prepare your content

 

When preparing your content, it’s important to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself ‘why would I buy this product?’ Make your customer see just how useful your product is, and the benefits they’ll get if they purchase it. 

 

Make sure you use words that your audience uses. If you’re targeting an older audience, then you don’t want to use slang terms. Always keep your audience in your mind while you write your sales copy.

 

Step 2. Upload to your WordPress website

 

Once you’ve finished writing your content, it’s time to upload it to your website. Don’t forget to also upload your product-related images and videos as these will help your customers in making their decision. Try not to use stock photos. Instead, use real photos so that people can actually see your product in action.

 

Step 3. Design your sales page

 

If you’re not sure what the best design for your sales page is, you can go online to look for inspiration. With the help of a drag and drop page builder, building a sales page is even easier. You can easily drag a content module to your desired location. You can change colors and fonts easily, and do all sorts of customizations. 

 

Best of all, you don’t have to imagine what your sales page looks like. These drag and drop page builders are also WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors, so nothing is left to your imagination!

 

Step 4. Link to your payment processor

 

The most popular payment processors for online businesses are Stripe and PayPal. You’ll find plenty of plugins that makes integrating a payment processor easy. You just need to choose the best one that suits your needs.

 

Step 5. Publish your sales page

 

Now that you’ve got all important elements of your sales page in place, it’s time to publish it and announce it to the world. Don’t forget to check your sales page on the front end, and try buying your product yourself. Make sure there are no errors, and that your customers will have a great buying experience!

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

The Digital Marketing Lifestyle: The Benefits (Infographic)

The Digital Marketing Lifestyle: Staying Productive (Infographic)

The Digital Marketing Lifestyle: Deprogramming Your Old Lifestyle (Infographic)

The Digital Marketing Lifestyle: Programming The Digital Lifestyle (Infographic)

Digital Marketing Lifestyle Resource Sheet

Want to be a digital marketer and lead the lifestyle that you’ve always dreamed of? Then you need to change the way you approach it. It’s time to stop thinking about making money fast and instead, time to think about having fun making money. And also enjoying the money when you have it.

 

There are several resources that can help you to achieve that, so to continue your education, seek out these books!

 

The E-Myth Revisited

Book

 

The problem with many entrepreneurs is that they start their businesses with a completely false notion of what life will be like once they do. They set out thinking they will live the ‘American Dream’ and start making lots of money from a single idea.

Reality doesn’t quite work that way. And if you really want to be successful, then you need to realize this going in. This book will help you to understand rules that apply to any small business.

 

The Four Hour Workweek

Book

 

This book by Tim Ferriss is one of the absolute classics when it comes to working online and managing your work-life balance. This is one of the books I recommend to anyone starting out online and it’s an incredible wake-up call for many who have ended up stuck in jobs they don’t love. It’s about lifestyle design: about working to live and not living to work. It also contains tons of practical tips.

 

The Personal MBA

Book

 

This book by Josh Kaufman aims to teach an entire MBA course in a single volume. Okay, so that’s a pretty ambitious concept but the end result is undoubtedly impressive and it’s something that everyone should take a look at.

 

How to Save An Hour Every Day

Book

 

This book was written with a single goal: to help entrepreneurs and other folk to save more time. Saving time is crucial for a digital marketer as it will give you more time to work toward your goals and more time to enjoy outside of work.

 

Smart Passive Income

https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/

 

Smart Passive Income is a website from Pat Flynn that tells people how to make businesses that will be self-sustaining and provide passive income. Pat is a very friendly and likeable guy and the site provides real-world tips and candid insights into his own business. Highly recommended.

 

Headspace

App

 

If you’re someone who struggles with stress and managing your work/life balance, then getting an app like Headspace is highly recommended. This is a meditation app that will teach you the basics of mindfulness and help you to find moments of calm and to practice mental discipline. It’s game changing.

 

Warrior Forum

www.warriorforum.com

 

This is a forum for digital marketers to discuss their business. It’s a great place to find business partners, writing and web design services and more. What’s more is that it’s a great place to just chat with likeminded individuals and make genuine connections.

 

Nomadlist

https://nomadlist.com/chat/all_channels

For those that work on the move Nomad List is a fantastic place to meet people and find business partners. 

 

How Working Online Will Change You

Lots of articles have been written about the kind of person who becomes a blogger or an SEO, and the ways that you can make yourself better at blogging or running a website. What is less often discussed however, is how working online can actually change who you are as a person and influence your personal development. There are many ways that this can happen and a number of common effects that blogging can have on your personality and your attitudes. Read on to meet the person you might become... 

 

How Jobs Impact On Us 

 

I used to proudly claim that I hadn't changed, because I became a blogger and never bowed down to the man. I have no colleagues as a blogger meaning that there was no one for me to become ‘more alike’, but this in itself can have an effect on you. And likewise, working from home and earning passive income has probably had some impact on me too. Blogging/optimizing changes you just like any other job, only it changes you differently. Once I was self-aware enough to recognize this, I set about finding out what had changed about me. Here's what I came up with... 

 

Care Free 

 

I would say that compared to my other friends, I am more carefree and less restricted. While my friends have to work 9-5 jobs and get very stressed if they stay out too late one night, I can remain flexible and free to work when I choose and where I choose. If I'm honest, this has also led me to somewhat resent those people who aren't free to hang out because they have work the next day. I guess it's fair to say that I've become somewhat detached from the 'real world' and regular routine. 

 

Opinionated 

 

Writing online regularly has also made me somewhat opinionated. Sure, I'm opinionated in my views on employment (and self-employment), but I've also become very used to expressing myself a lot online and sharing my opinion. This undoubtedly crosses over into my daily life, as I tend to wax lyrical about pretty much any subject that I get the opportunity to talk about. 

 

Independence and Confidence

 

You also get a lot of confidence from working online. Once you’ve made money yourself – completely yourself – you realize you’re capable of anything. This helps you to feel more successful and generally means you get used to ‘being the boss’.

 

And with that comes increased independence too. You don’t rely on anyone, and you have countless projects to pass the time when you are alone.

 

An Unusual View of Money 

 

In some ways, being an online entrepreneur has made me stricter with my money. The money I've earned has been entirely down to my own effort and is a reflection of my success, so I feel more personally affronted when I spend it. On the other hand, though, I also think of money now very much in terms of overheads and profits. Spending a little money on a friend is just another 'overhead' and I can earn it back by working a little extra hard for a while. 

 

These are just some of the ways you change when you become a blogger or a digital marketer. Of course, the precise changes partly depend on who you are to begin with. Either way, expect to grow and change and to get more from the experience than you necessarily bargain for…

 

Power User Tips for Internet Marketers

Being a 'power user' is a term that sounds much cooler than it is. Actually of course this just means being able to 'work even quicker on the computer' which when you think about it isn't something you'd probably have bragged about back in the playground. 

 

Nevertheless, being a power user means that you can get more done, be more efficient and ultimately earn more and create more in a shorter timeframe - which is pretty cool. 

If you’re a digital marketer, then this is especially important. So read on and learn these power user tips that can help you work faster and smarter.

 

Use Google Keep 

 

Google Keep is a web app that Google designed with similar note-taking features to Evernote but a less steep learning curve. The concept is great - allowing you to quickly take a note in your browser then access it from your phone, and in practice it really is very convenient for accessing your ideas and photos from wherever you are in an intuitive, minimal and quick way. 

 

Use Your Bookmarks 

 

If you aren't using your bookmarks properly then you are missing out as they can help you to work a lot more quickly online. Bookmarks can let you navigate instantly to the pages you use regularly, and that can include your work e-mail or the collaborative site you use at work. If you want to prevent yourself from procrastinating so much in the morning, then just make the page you need for work your homepage - that way this will be the first thing you see, and you won't be tempted to browse Facebook before getting down to it. 

 

Better yet, consider using the Google Chrome app ‘join’ which can be used to send tabs, bookmarks and more directly from a phone to a PC and back again.

 

Get a Headset 

 

Having a headset for your computer can liberate your hands while you're talking on the phone or taking notes, and this can be incredibly useful for multitasking. Use a headset and you can chat to clients while answering e-mails, or dictate notes with voice recognition software. 

 

Learn Keyboard Shortcuts 

 

Learning keyboard shortcuts can save you a great deal of time when it comes to getting through large workloads. A few taps of your keys and you can have opened new documents replaced elements and saved and once you get used to doing this it will become almost like breathing. 

 

Have Multiple Monitors 

 

Working with multiple monitors is something that almost every power-user swears by. This way you have more screen real estate for running multiple applications and you won't find your workspace so crowded. If you don't have space for two monitors, then bear in mind you can use a television or even an Android tablet as your second screen (the latter of which will probably also impress colleagues). 

 

Another option is to get an ultrawide monitor, and studies suggest that this can increase your productivity by as much as 30%.

 

Organize Your Folders 

 

If you want to work as quickly and efficiently as possible then it pays to think ahead and to set everything up to be easy. One way to do this is to organize your folders so that everything you need is right at the top and in a logical place where you can find it quickly. 

 

The Best Places to Work if You Work Online

If you work online, then you have the freedom to be physically located anywhere in the world and to still earn an income. This is an amazing freedom that so few people are afforded, and it’s one of the top reasons that many of us are attracted to the notion of working online in the first place.

 

It’s a minor tragedy then, that so many people who manage to make their income online, will not take full advantage of this. So many people who work online equate this to working ‘from home’ in a very literal sense. That means working out of a home office, or working in bed. Sure, this has its appeal too, but it’s not exactly taking full advantage of this untethered way of working.

 

You can go anywhere if you work online. So where should you go?

 

Working Abroad

 

Of course, the natural conclusion is that working online should mean working abroad. That way, you can see more of the world, experience other cultures and truly live a kind of life that wouldn’t be possible any other way.

 

I have done this a fair bit myself. One of my favorite memories was finding a friend who also worked online and travelling to Croatia. There we explored and saw the sites during the day (and had some great adventures!) but in the evenings we would work in cafes and bars.

 

Sure, many people would rather be out partying during the evening, but my friend and I are introverts. And we love what we do. So, the idea of being able to sip a beer and watch the world go by, immersed in the atmosphere of the nightlife… it was incredible. One evening in particular, we worked in a bar listening to some Euro music while watching rain hit the cobbled streets outside and watching people pass by on their holidays. It was a great feeling and really made us grateful that we had the opportunity to work this way. On another occasion we hired a small log cabin from AirBnB in the mountains of Switzerland. There we worked while sipping tea and enjoying a view of the mountains from our wooden balcony.

 

For the Non-Digital Nomads

 

I’d like to point out at this junction that I am not a digital nomad. That is to say that I do come home in between trips and you can do the same. You don’t have to give up all your creature comforts or your relationships in order to enjoy travelling as you work. Working online means you can just travel more.

 

And even in your local area, there are no doubt more exotic and exciting places you can work. Anywhere with an internet connection where you won’t get kicked out can make a great place to get work done.

 

Working in a coffee shop is the most popular and sensible option. As long as you spend a little on coffee, you should be able to stay there as long as you like and most will have free wifi and power. Plus, you can enjoy people watching and listening to the background chatter, all while avoiding the many distractions and temptations that come from working at home. Libraries are great too!

 

The Most Useful Tech for Online Entrepreneurs

Are you interested in working online? Thinking of becoming a full-time entrepreneur? Then what you need to realize is that your lifestyle is going to change in some big ways. Simple things like no longer having an office and no longer having colleagues will make a huge difference to the way that you spend your days and your workflow.

 

And with those changes will come new requirements for your tech. In order to get the most work done, you will need specific hardware to help you get there. You will no longer be able to rely on an office desk being there every morning when you get into work. So what tech should you invest in? Here are some important and useful considerations.

 

A Laptop

 

Firstly, you will likely want a powerful computer for handling some of the more demanding parts of your work. If all you do is basic SEO, then you can get by with something simple, but if you intend on doing any video editing etc., then you’ll need something with some more impressive specifications.

 

Getting a laptop is also a good idea, because that way you’ll be able to work from anywhere. The only problem is that getting a computer that is at once highly powerful and highly mobile is not so easily done. 

 

Good options include: the Surface Pro, the Macbook, the Surface Book, the Razer Blade and the Dell XPS 13 and 15. My pick of the bunch has to be the XPS 15. This device comes with a Kaby Lake i7 processor, a GTX 1050 GPU, a 512TB SSD harddrive and 16 GB of RAM and is considerably less expensive than a Macbook.

 

A More Mobile Device

 

Something I highly recommend to any digital entrepreneur though, is that they also invest in an even more mobile device to work on. One of the great things about working online is having the freedom to be able to work from anywhere. Use something like the GPD pocket – a tiny 7” laptop – and you can slip it in your pocket when you’re done. Another option is to get a folding keyboard for your phone, such as the Microsoft Universal Folding Keyboard.

 

A Great Phone

 

You’ll find that you can also actually end up doing an awful lot of work on your phone. Whether you’re chatting with clients and business partners over Slack, or you’re managing your content via the WordPress app – there’s a surprising amount of work that can be done from a phone these days. Invest in a good one and consider the requirements of a power user: such as a large battery, lots of screen real estate for multitasking etc.

 

Kit Bag

 

You’ll also need the right bag for carrying your stuff around. If you’re going to stay productive, then you’ll need to be able to carry a lot with you and you’ll need to have all of this to hand when you need it.

 

Some things to keep in your bag should include:

 

·      Powerbank for getting extra charge

·      Portable harddrive for extra storage

·      Noise cancelling headphones for working on planes and trains