IT Will Never Happen To Me€¦ · ACCOUNT DELETED, NO WARNING, NO BACKUP I had web hosting with YAHOO! web hosting. I was in the process of looking for a job, so many potential employers

IT Will Never Happen To Me:

WORDPRESS HORROR STORIES

Customize your plan with Virtuallinda, Brand Architect & Designer www.virtuallinda.com | [email protected]

©2019 Virtuallinda Media LLC | page 2 of 16

Most people never think about it until it happens,

and the consequences can be deadly. One day

your site goes down. For every minute that your

potential customers can’t find out about your

business online… YOUR BUSINESS IS CLOSED!

Or even worse, it's been hacked and all of your

customers' information has been compromised.

The hackers have ripped off the personal data and sold it, posing as you. Not

only have you lost your website, but also your customers' trust.

An alarming number of websites don't have the proper security they should

have. Security tools should be a basic component of any website, especially if

you're handling financial or other sensitive user data. Even if you have a

small site, if you're handling customer data, you're a target for hackers.

Without proper security, your site is wide open to attack.

All too often, people don't think about website security until it's too late and

all is lost. But if you're proactive and you ensure that your site is secure

from the very beginning, you can prevent this from happening to you.

Always Update—THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP! Whenever you're offered a new security update, get it. Don't put it off.

Security software is safest when it's straight out of the box. This is important

for your OWN computer and also for WordPress. Over time, hackers play





with the program and figure out its weaknesses so that they can get through

them. Updates patch up these weaknesses. If your security software

isn't updated, it's full of holes that hackers can exploit.

JUST BE SURE TO BACKUP YOUR SITE PROPERLY BEFORE YOU DO THIS!!

WordPress does warn you multiple times before you do any upgrades.

Don’t ignore this!!

The Worst Case Scenario There's an old saying that "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean

they're not all out to get you." Unfortunately, this is the best attitude to have

when you're online. Hackers spend all day, every day trying to crack websites.

When assessing your risk, always imagine the worst-case scenario and

what it would mean for your business to be hacked or offline!

Backups prepare you for when disaster strikes.

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups





TERMS OF SERVICE: http://www.hostgator.com/tos

Hostgator & Other Cheap Hosts Do Not Guarantee Backups

FAQs: http://support.hostgator.com/articles/pre-sales-policies/ rules-terms-of-service/backup-policy-do-you-provide-backups





ACCOUNT DELETED, NO WARNING, NO BACKUP

I had web hosting with YAHOO! web hosting. I was in the process of looking for a job, so many potential employers were going to look at my site. One day, it was gone. YAHOO! web hosting had no idea what happened, and they did not have backup! Luckily, I DID and I was online again with a new company quickly.

WordPress Sites Under Attack!





The Keys to Your Online Kingdom

I’ve worked with several clients that had their old web designer

purchase their hosting or domain names. You NEVER want to have

someone other than YOU own this. This is YOUR BRAND online. Make sure

that it’s totally in your name. All of the companies I recommend have great

help—call them if you need assistance purchasing.

BE CAREFUL WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR WEBSITE

It’s rather common for clients not to be sure who has access to their passwords…old web designers or employees or more. I’ve also had clients pass along passwords to additional tech companies – one turned over full access to their eCommerce site to a company overseas. It only takes one bad seed to put your site at risk!





ONLY TRUST ACCESS TO YOUR WEB SERVER TO EXPERTS

Another client had just hired someone new to be their tech guru and wanted him to have FULL ACCESS to all of their accounts – hosting and WordPress. I urged them to at least wait until I got back to the office so I could talk to him directly. Twenty minutes later the site was totally down. It took my team AND the web host two days to figure out what happened – he was “playing around” on the web server and TOTALLY DELETED THE ENTIRE FOLDER WITH THE WEBSITE.

Hosting companies MAY SOMETIMES be able to restore your files (there is a charge), as is the charge for my team’s time. The new staff member claimed they did nothing wrong, although I did know exactly what computer did it at what time. You really have to be sure that the people with access ARE EXPERTS!





Don’t Get Hacked Common WordPress Malware Infections

http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2012/10/09/

four-malware-infections-wordpress/

SITE NEVER UPGRADED, GOT HACKED WITH OBSCENE CONTENT!

I had to work for several hours to remove it as it was done using a security hole in WordPress. Your site is running software, which can get infected with malware if you don’t do upgrades or monitor for hacks. It was a very complex process to resolve, involving hours of R&D to trace what happened.





Hostgator Warning

http://blog.hostgator.com/2013/04/11/global-wordpress-brute-force-flood/

TERMS OF SERVICE: http://www.hostgator.com/tos





WordPress Updates If you're running your site on WordPress, it will occasionally offer updates.

These updates are offered for the exact same reason – to plug up

weaknesses. You'll see an alert on your dashboard when it needs to be

updated and all you have to do is click it.

Like software updates, this should be done immediately whenever an update

is offered. Just make sure your entire blog is backed up first.

YOU MUST RUN A FULL BACKUP BEFORE DOING THE UPDATE

OR RISK HAVING YOUR SITE HAVE PROBLEMS THAT ARE DIFFICULT

OR IMPOSSIBLE TO FIX. If you are not technical,

do not attempt to do this yourself!

DIY UPGRADE TURNED THE SITE INTO A BLACK WHITE SCREEN!

Another client had a friend upgrade it, and they ignored all of the warnings before proceeding. Their site went down during a big event, and they lost sales and exposure to a big audience. Our team was called as an emergency and was able to fix it. This was an additional rush expense. The “friend” claimed they had not seen any warnings – but really they just clicked before reading!





CODE CAN GO CRAZY AT ANY TIME!

Sometimes the problem is with the plugin itself. One of the most popular photo gallery plugins, NextGen Gallery released a major upgrade. I did the routine upgrades on several high-profile websites.

The website was severely broken – it was showing code instead of photos and messing up the layout. Now ask yourself… what would you have done next?

I carefully “rolled back” to a previous version (although many people DELETED the plugin when this happened, which deleted all of their galleries). The sites were “fixed” by the undo, while I researched the proper fix via posts in the tech forums to fully solve ASAP.

DIY UPGRADE WITH NO BACKUP = SITE NEEDED TO BE REBUILT!

Another client tried to upgrade themselves, without running a backup first. An unknown problem occurred and the site went down. After 2 hours of our time, we still could not figure out the problem because it’s very difficult to try and troubleshoot this way. We do bill hourly for this type of troubleshooting. Without a backup, the site was not able to be recovered. The entire site would need to be rebuilt from scratch.





PLUGIN UPDATES CAN CRASH YOUR WORDPRESS SITE

Numerous times I’ve put together plugins and themes only to find that SOMETHING doesn’t work right. I’ve seen images not loading, the site being slow, layout changes… you name it. This has happened when they were first installed, and also after upgrading the WordPress software. I’ve had plugins crash the ENTIRE SITE and I’ve had to use FTP to manually remove the files to even be able to access the site through a web browser.

I have a multi-step process for taking care of

WordPress sites. That’s your first line of

defense. If you’re on a shared webhost

(Bluehost, HostGator, etc.) your site is backed up

daily and copied to AmazonS3 (in case

something happens to the web server). It’s in a

format that can be restored quickly (unlike the backups you get from your

cheap web host if you are lucky…they still have to be completely

reassembled to rebuilt a working site).

But now I recommend including PREMIUM WORDPRESS HOSTING that also

includes security updates, daily backups, and a “stage” site to test out

changes before you publish them to your live site. That’s all included in our

premium maintenance plan, and it’s really the best option for your website.





IF SOMETHING HAPPENS, I can troubleshoot faster with our experience.

And we can restore a backup, so you’ll have minimum downtime. Focus

on YOUR business & outsource the care of your WordPress site to my team!

DON’T BECOME THE NEXT WORDPRESS HORROR STORY! www.virtuallinda.com/maintenance

P.S. - If you REALLY WANT TO DO-IT-YOURSELF, you can also schedule a 30-

minute consultation call with me. For just $99, I’ll help walk you through my

recommended setup.

Contact me to schedule your consultation: www.virtuallinda.com/contact

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

Don't worry, you don't have to guess which services you need! You can rely on my expertiseto guide you step-by-step and get your problems solved. I'll consider your budget, timeframe,what can be done yourself or by additional team members and more. You can then use myservices to fill in the gaps to reach your goals. Your custom solution may include:

The Brand Builder Toolbox: PORTFOLIO 14

As Needed

STRATEGY• Business Planning• Marketing Messages• Sales Funnels• Networking & Referrals• Tactics & Strategies• Focusing Ideas• Brainstorming• Productivity Tips• Training & Resources

DESIGN• Logos & Brand Identity• Websites• Marketing Materials• Customizing Templates

TECH• Do-It-Yourself Solutions• Tech Solutions & Setup• Online Reviews• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• Google Tools

MARKETING• Business Cards• Postcards & Brochures• Flyers• Promotional Materials• Print Ads• PowerPoints• Event Signage• Social Media• Email Marketing• Videos

All services include access to recommended Training & Resources for additional help.Brand Builder Blocks & Packages are valid for 120-days.

30 MINUTES$99

2 HOURS$350 or2 x $185

10 HOURS$1600 or4 x $415

5 HOURS$850 or3 x $295

20 HOURS$2900 or4 x $750

Flexible pricing for both Custom Solutions or Targeted Packages:

• BRAND BUILDER BLOCKS give you a custom blend of services.

• TARGETED PACKAGES address specific challenges.

Price points are the same for both. Time is used to create a blend ofstrategy, design, marketing & tech support. Work at your own paceto reach your desired results. Purchase as needed. VIEW DETAILS »

Use my "toolbox" of modular solutions to create a custom fit.

https://www.virtuallinda.com/services/

https://www.virtuallinda.com/training/

https://www.virtuallinda.com/resources/

https://www.virtuallinda.com/services/

DESIGN PORTFOLIOBring your vision to life with a brand identity, website, business cards & other marketing.

Law Firm of Abraham & Bauer www.abrahambauer.com Legal Services

Live Towson www.livetowson.com Community News & Real Estate

Elite Health Services www.elitehealthservices.com Physical Therapy Services

ROCACP www.rocacp.org Insurance Services

The Sun Today www.thesuntoday.org Science Education

Real Life Real Estate Training www.rlretraining.com Online Training

Dominican Republic Vacations www.dominicanvacations.net Travel Services

F&M Auto Repair www.f-mautorepair.com Auto Repair

SF&C Insurance www.sfandc.com Insurance Services

Enig Associates www.enig.org Science & Engineering Services

Marc Steiner & CEM www.steinershow.org Podcasting / Non-Profit

Full Spectrum Productivity www.fullspectrumproductivity.com Coaching & Consulting

Anna Renault www.annarenault.com Author, Speaker & More

The Brand Builder Toolbox: PORTFOLIO 15

All of these examples use my recommended WordPress theme, which can be customized to your specific needs!

Examples

View more examples at www.virtuallinda.com/portfolio

https://www.abrahambauer.com/

https://www.livetowson.com/

https://www.elitehealthservices.com/

https://www.rocacp.org/

http://www.thesuntoday.org/

https://www.rlretraining.com/

https://www.dominicanvacations.net/

https://www.f-mautorepair.com/

http://www.sfandc.com/

https://www.enig.org/

https://www.steinershow.org/

http://www.fullspectrumproductivity.com/

https://www.annarenault.com/

https://www.virtuallinda.com/portfolio/



www.virtuallinda.com

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IT Will Never Happen To Me€¦ · ACCOUNT DELETED, NO WARNING, NO BACKUP I had web hosting with YAHOO! web hosting. I was in the process of looking for a job, so many potential employers