Securing Your Sites

Securing your sites is an absolute must. To avoid the risk of having your websites flagged by Google for being unsafe…

If you are going to do Business online securing your sites is crucial.  This is especially true if you are collecting leads or selling anything from your website. If you have not secured your site then you really should read this now…

You may have already noticed an unsecure warning in your browser. Especially if you are using the Chrome browser. Or when you go to an older sites. Google and the search engines want their users to be safe when using the internet so they want every site to have safe encryption, use a quality SSL certificate and safe practices on websites.

While I have used the paid services my host offers, I found there were hassles when I came to update those services. I could have got the company to fix that, but the first time I set up The SSL certificate it took three days for my site to change over. That is not good when your in the midst of building a website.

This is how I am securing My Sites

I prefer to use Cloudflare.Cloudflare offer a a free service to secure your website. This is all you need to get started. It is relatively easy to add your site to Cloudflare. You will notice Cloudflare delivers your website a lot faster than your initial website because it is not loading all the data from your site.  The search engines want your sites to load fast and for you that is crucial if you want their continued traffic.

The most important thing I found is that it puts a barrier between your site and potential hackers. Now I have been the victim of these unscrupulous people so anything that I can do to protect my sites I will do. Before I do anything first I secure wordpress. Click the link to learn more. With Cloudflare turned on. It is virtually impossible for the average hacker to reach your site. As your website is delivered by Cloudflare rather than your website.  At least that is how I see it.

Securing your Sites on Cloudflare

I use a plugin on my site to handle all the technical setup required to secure the site and connect it to Cloudflare. No matter what plugin you use or if you know how to manually set up your site the first thing you must do is add your site to Cloudflare and wait until everything is clear and ready to go. This part is essential. Or when you set up your plugin you can get locked out of your site.

Learn From My Experience

After writing up my brand new website to the point I was ready to take it live. It was time to add my site to Cloudflare. Before getting the site indexed with the search engines.  All routine practice. I set up Cloudflare, changed my name savers to theirs. It all looked in place. I had the green button on the front page.  What I did not check was that the actual SSL Certificate status was active. To check this, under your Domain name you click the box that says Crypto. You need a green light to be showing.

Back on my site I uploaded and activated the WP Easy SSL plugin from Mark Hess and Michael Thomas. This plugin is so easy to use. At the same time it is a powerful little plugin that does all the technical changes to your site to set up Cloudflare and change your site over to https. I was instantly locked out of my site which is normal. But I could not get back in.  I checked the instructions as I should have done before I activated the plugin only to find the Cloudflare certificate was not ready.

I did manage to get back in via my Site Management system and save my content. So learn from my experience… be patient and double check that everything is in place.  Then you activate the WP Easy SSL plugin or which ever plugin you use to set up and secure your site. Do not do what I done and Completely restart the website from scratch. All though I like the new design of the new version of my site, I could have saved myself a lot of time editing and rewriting content. Check your site email for a recovery email if this should happen to you.

When is the best time to Secure Your Sites

There does not appear to be a lot of data on when you should secure your site. I used to believe it was better to wait until the site was developed. Then I added it to Cloudflare for the simple way it works.  You do not want to be updating your site every few minutes as you would when you are in development mode.

But I have since changed my mind. I now setup Cloudflare from the very start. It is easier to update an empty site if something goes wrong than a full one. Once Cloudflare is setup you can then turn on developer mode. While you are developing your site and having lots of refreshes. Then turn it off when your finished updating.

A second thing that will help your website is to write your content in Notepad. Then you add it to your site. This will speed up the process on your page and save you updating all the time. Save the article in your Domain folder.  Should there be any problems which there should not be if you follow these simple instructions. You can also use this content to develop an in-depth instructional PDF to compliment your post or page.

I hope this has helped you in securing your sites and saved you making the same mistakes I made.