WordPress for Beginners Fall 2015 John A Logan

College

Lesson 4: Security, Backups and Maintenance

Why is security so important?Just like your house, you do not want anyone getting your important information.

Security is most important before something happens.

What can I do to keep my site secure?1. Never use “admin” as a username or “password” as a password

2. Use secure passwords. The easier it is for you to remember the easier it is to be hacked.

3. Update your site when you see updates needing to be made (Red circle with a number in it beside the word “Dashboard”

4. Pay attention to your site. No one knows it better than you and you know when something “isn’t right”

5. Use security plugins like iThemes Security, WordFence or BruteProtect (Jetpack)

6. Keep backups of your site

What is site maintenance? It is the updating, backing-up, inspection, and testing of your website. Websites are not fix it and forget it.

What is a backup and why do I need one?Backups are a zipped file of everything in your file manager and database.

It is always a good measure to have a backup of your site that is not saved on the server for if something bad was to happen. A site could become infected with malware, code edited and the site broken, or something can go wrong with an update.

With a backup, nothing is ever permanent, because you can always revert the site back to what it was before you started with the backup.

Popular Plugins to use for security, maintenance, and backups.

1. iThemes Security- Basic WordPress Security

2. UpDraftPlus- Makes a backup of your site (Already installed)

3. Jetpack (multi-use plugin)

4. Akismet- Comment Spam

5. Yoast SEO- SEO helper

6. WP Optimize- Easy database cleaner

7. Ninja Forms- forms

Installing Jetpack1. Go to plugins-add new

2. In the search bar type in “Jetpack”

3. Click “install now”

4. Once installed click “activate”

5. You will need to connect your WordPress.com account with your Jetpack plugin. This is so the plugin can use the servers at WordPress.com to help your site work more effeciently.

6. Once connected go to Jetpack-settings

Configuring JetpackWe will go down the list in the Jetpack settings either turning on/off components and what they do.

Beautiful Math- You will not need this ever unless you are making an algebraic style website

Carousel- Jetpack’s Photo Gallery plugin. Great for portfolios and shopping

Comments- Jetpack’s comment structure. Please activate if you want to use comments on your site

Contact Form- If you want a simple contact us page with no other forms on your website, this is the best one to use.

Configuring Jetpack continued...Custom CSS- You will not need this unless you learn CSS

Custom Content Types- This is for if you want custom pages on your site

Enhanced Distribution- Please keep this feature on. It pushes new content to the search engines faster than if you only hit publish

Extra Sidebar Widgets- Gives you more options to use in widgets. Please leave turned on

Gravatar Hovercards- Allows the use of Gravatar Hovercards

Infinite Scroll- (Theme Specific) If your theme allows Infinate scroll then all of your blog posts can be on the same page

JSON API- you will not need to use

Configuring Jetpack continued...Likes- Just like on Facebook, let readers like your pages or posts

Manage- Allows you to update your self-hosted website along with any WordPress.com accounts from one simple dashboard. Use if you have a number of websites

Markdown- Will not need unless you know how to write in Markdown

Mobile Theme- If your theme is not responsive, it helps your site look better on mobile devices

Monitor- Please turn on. It will send you an email whenever your site goes down and when it comes back up again

Notifications- be notified when someone leaves a comment

Configuring Jetpack continued...Omnisearch- Searches posts, pages, comments, media, and plugins. On by default.

Photon- Caching for your pictures. On by default

Post by Email

Protect- Used to be called BruteProtect. Now Jetpack’s built in brute force protection

Publicize- Share your new posts and pages with social media (Will configure later)

Related Posts- Shows 3 other posts on a post that is related by tags or category

Sharing- Gives options for readers to share your posts

Shortcode embeds- Allows you to easily and safely embed media from other places in your site. With just one simple code, you can tell WordPress to embed YouTube, Flickr, and other media.

Configuring Jetpack Continued...Single Sign On- Use your WordPress.com login to login to all of your self hosted

websites

Site Icon (now in core so can be ignored)

Site Stats- See how many views you have had on your site

Site Verification- Google, Bing, and Pinterest Authorship

Spelling and Grammar

Subscriptions- Readers can sign up to have your new content be sent to them in email

Tiled Galleries- 3 different gallery styles to showcase pictures

Configuring Jetpack Continued...VideoPress (Paid Feature)- Show videos on your site without using YouTube

WP.me Shortlinks- changes your URL to a shortend link for sharing

Widget Visibility- Gives you the option to have the choice of what pages widgets do or do not show on.

VaultPress (Paid Feature)- Jetpack’s backup feature

Setting up a Gravatar accountGravatar is a globally recognized avatar that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post a blog. Avatars help identify you and your blogs.

1. Go to en.gravatar.com

2. Click Create your own gravatar

3. You can use your WordPress.com account or make a new one

4. Add the emails you wish to connect your account to

5. Add an image (can be done later or from your phone)

6. You are all done!

Homework:

Start collecting media for your site and writing content.