{"id":23399,"date":"2019-08-06T15:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T20:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=23399"},"modified":"2019-09-04T16:37:37","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:37:37","slug":"maintain-secure-website-best-practice-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/maintain-secure-website-best-practice-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Maintain and Secure Your Website [Your Best Practice Guide]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is part of HostGator\u2019s Web Pros Series. In this series, we feature articles from our team of experts here at HostGator. Our Product Managers, Linux Administrators, Marketers, and Tech Support engineers share their best tips for getting the most of your website. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintenance and stability are two of those concepts that often get brushed aside. Sure, they\u2019re great, but are they exciting? Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s much more exciting to talk about innovating, creating, and inventing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, excitement isn\u2019t always a good thing. It\u2019s thrilling to experience huge traffic spikes when your latest blog post goes viral. It\u2019s also thrilling-and not in a good way-when your site crashes because you ignored some base-level maintenance tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s often during those thrilling-in-a-bad-way times that we look at maintenance and stability with fresh eyes. Suddenly, these concepts look a lot more attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s article is all about encouraging you to give website maintenance and stability the attention it deserves-by regularly following the best practices that create a stable, secure website. When things are stable, you can enjoy the thrill of a traffic spike-without the nagging worry that your site can\u2019t quite support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over nearly a decade of working with HostGator customers, I\u2019ve seen firsthand what works, what doesn\u2019t, and what really<\/em> doesn\u2019t when it comes to maintaining and supporting a stable, stress-free website. Today, I\u2019m sharing those learnings with you. If you want to enjoy peace of mind as a website owner, consider these best practices your guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s dig in, shall we? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"best<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

7 Best Practices to Follow for a Stable and Secure Website <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: The best way to enjoy a stable and secure website is to start with the most secure, stable environment you\u2019ve got. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you\u2019re reading this while you\u2019re in the phases of brainstorming your site, getting ready to register your domain name and select your hosting package, go ahead and give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back. You\u2019re reading this at the perfect time. Implement these best practices now, and you\u2019ll officially start with the most secure, stable environment possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said that, it\u2019s never too late, and the best time is always now! There are always actions you take to make your website more stable and secure, whether your site is a year old or five. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the great news. You can get pretty darn secure with fairly low effort on your part. You don\u2019t have to be a tech genius to enjoy a secure website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow a few simple best practices, like the ones I outline below, and you make it a whole lot harder for the bad guys. That\u2019s what counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Stay up to date on updates.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve launched your site, you want to keep things updated as frequently as possible. That includes your server, your CMS or builder software, and any plugins you may be using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping up with updates is the best way to keep your website secure. Many people get afraid of updating their website because they don\u2019t want it to break-but that\u2019s why you have backups (more on this in a second)! If something seems off after an update, you can quickly restore and it\u2019s no big deal. Then, you simply wait for the developer to release a fix, and you try the update again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real risk with updates is delaying them. The more time you let pass between updates, the higher your risk. It\u2019s easier (and less risky) to update from 1.1 to 1.2, and 1.2 to 1.3, and so on, then it is to update from 1.1 to 2.0 when there\u2019s been 10 versions in between. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each subsequent update you ignore, your website becomes incrementally less secure. But keep up with regular updates, and you have nothing to be afraid of. That\u2019s why at HostGator, once you install WordPress with HostGator, we keep it updated on your behalf. You\u2019ll still need to update your plugins and themes, but we\u2019ll handle the core WordPress updates for you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updates are so effective it’s almost funny. Embrace them! A regularly updated website is a well-defended website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Use secure, unguessable passwords<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s 2019, but passwords are still critically important. When it comes to creating a secure password<\/a>, make sure you do these three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Make them hard. <\/strong>Create a unique combination that\u2019s not a word from the dictionary or a phrase clearly identifiable to you. Include at least 12 characters of numbers, symbols, and upper and lower case letters. <\/li>
  2. Don\u2019t reuse them. <\/strong>Every account you create should have its own unique password. Every single one. <\/li>
  3. Change them often. <\/strong>Set up a calendar reminder to go through and update your passwords every few months. A password manager like LastPass, KeePassX, iCloud Keychain, or Google Password Manager can be a good tool for this.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This password guidance applies to your hosting account, your cPanel, and your CMS logins. It also applies to every user to whom you grant access to your site (speaking of which, you should keep a detailed list of these folks so you can revoke their access when needed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Need help creating a password?<\/em><\/strong> Try HostGator\u2019s free Secure Password Generator<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"hostgator<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    3. Make your user names just as secure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Password security is still important, but in 2019, a secure password isn\u2019t enough. Your user names need to be just as secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If possible, follow the same three tips I outlined above when creating your usernames. Your usernames should be just as tough to guess, and just as unique, as your passwords-and you should update them just as frequently, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Those same brute force attacks that go after passwords are equally effective at cracking usernames. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take my name, for example. Automated software can easily start hammering through all the Sean Dundons in the world, eventually guessing that my username is sdundon, seandundon, or some other variant. What\u2019s not as easy? Figuring out that my username is SD4812abb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t let the 'name'\u009d in username confuse you. It\u2019s better to have a username that anonymizes you, versus one that makes it clear you\u2019re the person behind the account. Just as you wouldn\u2019t use your social security number as your email address, you shouldn\u2019t use your name as your user id. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Back up your website often, and in more than one place<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s something scary to think about. In the modern internet age, it\u2019s safe to assume that every website will become compromised at some point, just like everyone\u2019s home or car will inevitably be broken into. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s something even scarier: It takes 197 days on average<\/strong><\/a> before you find out you\u2019ve been compromised and someone\u2019s accessed your website data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your website getting hacked is bad luck. Not being prepared to boot it back up is bad business, when you consider the number of easy, automatic, and low-cost website backup services<\/a> you have out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At HostGator, we have CodeGuard<\/a>. Even the most basic plan starts at just a couple bucks a month, and includes automatic daily backups for 5 websites, unlimited databases and files, and 3 restores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once you purchase CodeGuard, you\u2019ll need to login to your HostGator portal to start the backups<\/a>. Click the Hosting<\/em> tab on the left, then Manage<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"set<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    On the next screen, you\u2019ll click Manage<\/em> again under CodeGuard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"manage<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    This will take you to the CodeGuard dashboard. There, CodeGuard will begin an initial backup<\/a> on your website. Once that\u2019s finished, CodeGuard will continue making automatic daily backups whenever there is a change to your website. You don\u2019t have to do anything else – it really is that easy. Moving forward, you can follow these same steps to login to the HostGator portal and check the status of your CodeGuard backups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"codeguard<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Regardless of which website backup service you use, I strongly recommend the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n