Category: WordPress

How to increase the level of security and protect your blog or company website from cyber criminals attacks and hacking? Meet the 4 best plugins for keeping your WordPress website secure!

Is it worth installing WP security plugins?

WordPress website security plugins are extensions that should be installed at the very beginning, before we even start creating content for the website. These are tools that allow you to protect your website against unauthorized access and attacks by cyber criminals.

Their task is to monitor website traffic, scan files, detect suspicious logins and malware, as well as notify the user about detected threats. Thanks to them, you can minimize the risk of data loss, virus infections and protect yourself against spam, extortion and internet fraud.

Best plugins for keeping your WordPress website secure

iThemes Security

iThemes Security (previous name: Better WP Security) is a very simple and intuitive plugin, the task of which is to protect a website created in WordPress against hacker attacks. The extension eliminates gaps in the website, generates strong and difficult to break passwords, supports two-way authorization, blocks bots and restricts access to the control panel by unauthorized users.

The plugin is integrated with Google reCAPTCHA, so you can further increase protection. iThemes Security also monitors and logs website activities, such as editing files. This is one of the strongest security features for WordPress on the market!

Sucuri Security WP Plugin

Sucuri Security is an extension designed to scan your website for malware and notify you of any unwanted login attempts. The extension is available in a free and paid version (extended with a firewall).

Sucuri Security allows you to scan malware and analyze file integrity on an ongoing basis. This solution is dedicated to advanced users. To provide the website with the maximum level of security, it is worth using it in conjunction with the iThemes Security or Jetpack plugin.

All In One WP Security and Firewall

All In One WP Security and Firewall is one of the best free plugins for comprehensive security in WordPress site. The extension protects databases and files, protects against copying and spam in comments, and blocks the so-called. password guessers. The plugin has extensive anti-spam filters and adds a firewall to your website that protects against unwanted logins. The extension is easy to use, and clear and transparent monitoring and ongoing website security assessment suggest how to ensure maximum protection.

Jetpack

Jetpack is a very extensive and multifunctional plugin that ensures the security of websites and blogs created in WordPress. As part of free protection, the user can count on blocking suspicious activities on the website and a firewall. After purchasing the license, the user can count on daily site scans, automated data recovery and technical support from the developers of the extension.

Other ways to increase WordPress security

Remember that good plugins aren’t everything. If you are going to build a website based on WordPress, it is worth taking care of security at the level of hosting selection. Always choose trusted hosting plans that offer backup and high security.

An important rule, thanks to which you can take care of security, is regular software update. Information about the availability of updates is displayed in the administration panel and on the WordPress website. Less advanced users should use the automatic update feature to protect their sites properly.

Other ways to increase the security of your website:

• Creating a new user account and assigning administrative privileges to it
• Avoiding using the default “admin” account created in WordPress
• Avoiding easy-to-guess usernames, using an e-mail address instead of a username
• Using only reputable sites for downloading themes and plugins to minimize the risk of attack
• Use of strong login passwords containing: uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols (minimum 10 alphanumeric characters)
• Backup
• Use of an SSL certificate
• Hides access to wp-config.php, .htaccess and .htpasswd files
• Using two-factor authentication, e.g. as a result of integrating WordPress with Google Authenticator

Now almost every WordPress site has various plugins, both simply increasing the speed of its loading, and calling on visitors to take various actions: whether it’s a subscription to a newsletter or a blog, or a tempting offer with a promotion.

Of course, you can do without these auxiliary tools. Only here the attention of users must be captured in the very first seconds of visiting the page, because according to the research of Jakob Nielsen, the decision to stay on the site or leave is made by users within 10 seconds.

Converting visitors into loyal customers is not an easy task, but it is quite possible thanks to useful plugins. With them, you will arouse the interest of users in your product on the site immediately upon visiting it.

In this article,  we will take a look at 5 popular WordPress plugins to increase sales and help you choose the tool that is right for you.

 

1. SeedProd

SeedProd is a landing page plugin. It is very easy to use and friendly for beginners. It is a block-based editor with all the useful design blocks you need to create an effective landing page.

With SeedProd, you can add dynamic content for better personalization with the dynamic text replacement feature. This plugin also allows you to use a custom domain for any landing page.

Pros:

– It is possible to add dynamic content for better personalization.

– There are built-in conversion tools, such as countdown timers, notification bars, and so on.

– Integrates with WooCommerce and other popular WordPress plugins like OptinMonster, WPForms, MemberPress and more.

– Can create custom WordPress pages like 404, login pages, maintenance mode.

– With the new update, the plugin can now be used to create completely custom WordPress themes without writing a line of code.

Cons:

– SeedProd does not offer advanced features that other plugins have.

Cost: free.

2. WooCommerce

 

WooCommerce is the leading eCommerce store system for the WordPress universe. With just one click, this plugin turns a WordPress blog into a fully equipped online store. The main advantages are simplicity and versatility.

And if you have a ready-made online store, then with the plugin you can quickly create new product-focused landing pages to increase your sales and custom pages: shopping carts and checkout pages with SeedProd. The coolest thing is that you can do all this yourself – without programming knowledge and involving a developer.

Pros:

– Quick setup with WooCommerce wizard, knowledge of HTML and CSS is usually not required.

– Great flexibility: WooCommerce adapts to all kinds of online stores, regardless of their market niche or products.

– WooCommerce can be configured to sell any product. It can also be adapted to partner systems and other business models.

– Security: the platform is regularly updated to provide and enhance the protection of your projects.

Cons:

– The plugin does not include items such as an SSL certificate or backup tools for creating backups.

– The WooCommerce plugin is free, thanks to open source code, which means that any user, designer or programmer can change it.

Plugin cost: free.

3. Autoptimize

Autoptimize is a plugin for improving performance and speeding up the loading time of a WordPress site. The fact is that when creating a site, you need to create and use heavy HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and so on. And the more complex the site, the more files it compiles, which can negatively affect speed. But Autoptimize will easily solve this problem.

Pros:

– Minimization: Remove unnecessary code.

– Aggregation: Combining scripts and files to reduce network requests.

– Image optimization by setting images to load when visitors scroll.

– Loading scripts in the background to optimize page loading.

– There is browser caching.

Cons:

– Pretty complex customization options.

– Limited critical CSS.

– Lacks advanced caching features.

Plugin cost: Basic functionality is free. Premium version – from $249.

4. W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is a plugin that optimizes WordPress sites by caching static HTML files, With this optimization comes several other benefits: an increase in visitor time spent on the site, the ability to see caching statistics to get information about the performance of any enabled feature, minification for files (HTML, CSS, JS) and database. However, the speed of the site also depends on good web hosting.

Pros:

– Optimizes site loading speed and reduces site data usage.

– Integrates with other WordPress plugins.

– Relatively easy to set up and maintain.

– Supports a wide range of CDNs.

– Lots of features in the free version. The Pro version offers additional features that are great for further improvements.

Cons:

– For simple tasks (such as setting up plugins, setting up a CDN), an additional fee is provided, even in the Pro version.

– Does not offer DNS prefetching for external resources.

– No built-in ability to offer image conversion to WebP.

Plugin cost: free, but there is additional functionality for a fee.

 

5. OptinMonster

OptinMonster creates pop-ups that can be used to advertise discounts on certain products or services, encourage customers to proceed with their checkout, collect information via email. All this is necessary to maintain customer loyalty.

Also, the plugin can even be used to create side forms that don’t “pop up” and get in the way of users. This is a good alternative for visitors who are tired of seeing the same pop-ups compulsively appearing over and over again.

Pros:

– Easy to use, thanks to an intuitive interface.

– Many customization options and ready-made templates: pop-ups for every taste.

– Customizable Responsive Windows OptinMonster allows you to add personalized messages to your customers in targeted popups thanks to their smart technology.

– Windows are perfectly optimized for the mobile version of the site.

– Unlimited pop-ups.

Cons:

– No updates to popup templates, which can cause users to get bored with the design, resulting in lower lead rates and sales.

– Complicated setup: You need to run the setup on the SAAS OptinMonster site and complete it on your WordPress site using the API plugin – newbies can get confused.

– No free plan.

Plugin cost: from $9 per month.

 

WordPress plugins allow you to communicate with users and provide them with a better experience by improving the speed of loading the site and the navigation of its visitors, and therefore improve sales.