Laying the Groundwork

Laying the Groundwork

Now that you have everything setup and in place, it’s time to lay a good solid foundation. I’m sure that you’ve heard that old saying “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” – web work is no different so we are going to install some software to help us out with just that.

Security

First in line is security, and some of the solutions that I prefer to use are: Wordfence, Sucuri, or iThemes Security. I’m not going to go step-by-step for any of these, but please make the time to visit their respective links above and weigh your options with free vs paid features & the like. Another tidbit that I like to take a look at before installing a plugin is what kind of support are they giving to their paid customers, as well as the free ones. I do not expect top-notch support as a free customer, but it does tell a LOT about a person or company to see how they are treating their audience. JS  Be sure to check out the plugin’s website as well as the WordPress plugin repo for this.

Backups

The next step to covering our ass is to put a backup solution in place that will work for us, even as we sleep. The plugin that I have a bit of a soft spot for is Updraft. It has a clean and easy to use interface, allows remote backups, and you have several options as far as the frequency of backups to choose from.

A good rule of thumb that I’ve found to decide how frequently to perform a backup is dependent on how often the site is updated. For example, if you only update a couple times monthly then a monthly or bi-weekly backup will more than cover you. However, if you are cranking out new content daily, or are having a developer or designer update your site’s look or functionality then every 4 hours may be more suitable.

Here’s the thing, if I couldn’t restore my last 4 hours of work, how much time would I lose? If it’s notta, then another option is probably my best bet.

Another setting to consider here is how many copies (or sets) of backups do I need to keep? Once again, let’s take a look at what will be lost if I delete that data – then decide based on when I’m not holding my breath at the mere thought of deleting one of those.

Conclusion

With a good solid foundation built, we can now move forward into adding content and various features to your site. And yes, I am well aware that there are other plugins that most of you use to initially build out a WordPress site – so feel free to share any tips or suggestions you have in the comments below.

The next phase in this series will be focused on setting up the initial plugins and accounts for SEO and Google Analytics so check back soon to follow along.

 

Be sure to go check out Gratisography to see other great photos besides the featured image in this post. 🙂

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