Do you know what’s under the hood of your site?
One of the best things about WordPress is that it has a low barrier to entry. It’s open source, it has tons of online help and resources, and there are hundreds of plugins to extend its functionality. While we love all of those things about WordPress, I’d like to point out some potential issues that may arise so you can be prepared.
Developers are not created equal
It’s a wonderful and frightening thing that there are so many WordPress developers out there. For every reputable agency, there are just as many feigning expertise. When you partner with a developer, you’re trusting them to do more than make you a pretty website; you need to make sure it’s secure, flexible, and scalable. Many developers out there, sometimes through no fault of their own, just don’t have the experience or knowledge needed to make sure they’re doing everything needed to keep a modern WordPress site in working condition.
Security in layers
Often the biggest issue presented to us by new clients is security. Many people, some developers included, think a simple login screen is enough to make a site secure. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are security vulnerabilities in every website, and WordPress is no exception. But with common sense and some know-how, these vulnerabilities can easily be avoided. Making sure your sites files are up to date, ensuring your permissions are set correctly, and checking your password strength are all easy steps than can stop a majority of threats to your site. Has your developer checked for these issues?
When it comes to security, there is more at risk than just your data. Users, customers, and clients all share data with your site in many different ways. If your site isn’t protected correctly, you might be creating problems for the end users of your site and that can really damage someone’s trust in your company. This is one of the scariest outcomes of having a poorly protected site.
Scalability in WordPress
Issues in your site can go beyond security and hidden bugs. A big problem often springs up when you try to grow a site that is inflexible and was not built with scalability in mind. Many developers today engage in bad practices such as hard coding, removing dynamic content, and locking layouts and styles away where you can’t edit them. These practices aren’t bad because of the results; sometimes these practices can make a very visually pleasing and functional site. But unfortunately, they crop up when it comes time to grow the business or alter some content. You may find yourself stuck relying on your developer to make changes that you should be able to make on your own.
Inflexibility is bad enough, but what happens when your developer hasn’t considered your growing popularity? If you run an ecommerce site and you go from 100 daily users to 1000, things might stop working as intended. WordPress has the ability to scale and grow, but these are things that need to be planned for. Sometimes it’s just a matter of upgrading your hosting. Other times a sever influx of users to your site may require more drastic structural changes. If your site slows down or timeouts due to demand, that can cost you money and you may lose some customers!
Protecting your investment
So, what can be done about these things? The first step is always to take the time to insure that best practices are being used on your site. Ask your site administrators what security measures are in place and if there is a plan built to ensure site scalability. You may already have an idea that something is wrong or an issue is there, but you might not know how to handle it. Information is your best weapon when arming yourself against threats to your business. The more you know about your site, the better prepared you can be to make proactive changes.
Americaneagle.com can help!
If you have concerns about your current WordPress site and want to know if everything is up to code, we can help! Americaneagle.com offers full WordPress site audits which take a deep look at your site’s code. We identify issues with security, scalability, best practices for coding, site maintainability, site health, and more. Contact Americaneagle.com today and get the information you need to keep your site safe!
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