There are basically two assets in every online business.
- Our customer list
- Our content (membership site, information products, etc)
Today I want to talk to you about content protection, but not in the ‘membership site’ sense.
I’m talking about site protection against hackers.
Although WordPress is an excellent platform for running a membership site, it is also prone to hacking.
Here are some interesting facts…
- 26 million of 36 million self hosted WordPress sites run little or no security
- It takes 152 days on average for a webmaster to notice they’ve been hacked
- There are over 200 WordPress core & plugin exploits
- Only 15% of webmasters have upgraded to the latest WordPress version
And the consequences to both your content and your customer list?
- Reduced Response from future mailers
- Long term loss of subscriber credibility
- Big increase in unsubscribers
- Substantial drop in mail marketing revenues
I’ve had sites hacked in the past… it’s a very uncomfortable experience. Since then I’ve put things in place to mitigate this risk as much as possible.
Here’s what I’ve done.
- Installed several free plugins that work together to address some of the bigger exploits in WordPress (watch the video)
- Installed a good backup application so you can restore your data (I recommend Backup Creator)
- Learned the ropes with it comes to WordPress security (here’s a good one… BlogDefender)
- Continue to stay on top of changes in WP security. As hackers continue to find holes in WordPress, new products are being developed to counter these attacks.
Follow these 4 steps in your business and protect your most valuable assets. It will save you a world of grief if you are the victim of an attack.
Trust me, it’s no fun, and it will cost your business money!
[S3VIDEO file=’hackers.mp4′]