
Do you know that WordPress is older than Facebook and Twitter? It is therefore not surprising that WordPress as CMS has the largest market share. It fluctuates but WordPress always has more than 75% market share. This is partly because WordPress is an open source and free. You probably also have a webshop or website that runs on WordPress. That is why we are happy to give you some important tips.
1. Do not use illegal themes and plug-ins
We regularly notice that customers come to us because they have been flagged by Google because there is malware in their webshop or website. Your webshop or website will be blacklisted so you will no longer be visible in search results until the problem is solved. Nine out of ten times this is because customers want to save money by downloading a paid theme or plug-in from an illegal source. The code of this illegal theme or plug-in has been adjusted so that the malware ends up in your webshop or website.
Download only themes or plug-ins from well-known sources. In addition to the aforementioned negative effects, we often have to cancel out the negative effects for the customer. It is easier and cheaper to pay for a theme or plug-in if needed. You also support a developer who has put a lot of time and energy into a theme or plug-in.
2. Change the default username “admin”
We always deliver a WordPress webshop or website with a different username than the standard username “admin”. We do this because admin is the most common username on a WordPress webshop or website. This is the default username and many people don’t bother changing the username after installation. In the screenshot below you see a message that comes with the plug-in Simple History if someone tries to log in with incorrect information. If you use this plug-in, you will be shocked by the times that bots try to log in this way.

3. Remove unnecessary themes and plug-ins
By removing themes and plug-ins that you no longer use, your webshop or website becomes less vulnerable. Automatic bots scan the internet for WordPress webshops or websites where they look at which themes and plug-ins are installed. In doing so, they look at whether they can use known weaknesses in these themes or plug-ins to gain unauthorized access. If they succeed, these bots will automatically install malware. By removing unused themes and plug-ins you ensure that the chance of this happening is reduced. You are therefore less vulnerable.
Apart from the fact that you always have to remove unused plug-ins, it is a good idea to see if you really need all installed plug-ins. The more plug-ins you use, the slower your webshop or website becomes. You often use plug-ins that do not add much, but make the loading time of your webshop or website significantly longer. This has a negative effect on your SEO ranking. The plug-in yields less and you can better remove them.
4. Use a caching plug-in
WordPress is an extensive CMS that consists of many codes. Today, 20% of WordPress consists of Javascript. This code is “heavy” and is not changed often. It is therefore a good idea to use a caching plug-in. This means that not all codes are requested from the server every time, but a flat file is. This speeds up the loading time of your pages, improving your ranking in search engines such as Google. In the event of major changes to the code, the flat file will be adjusted so that visitors will always see the newest page.
Install W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache today.
5. Install Limit Login Attempts Reloaded
The most common way to hack a webshop or website that uses WordPress is through a brute force attack. Many bots try endless combinations of username and password. This allows passwords or hashes to be easily cracked by a brute force attack. Your webshop or website is often requested by the same IP address. You depend on your hosting provider to solve this problem. The question is how quickly it blocks the IP address, which often requests your webshop or website.
Bots attack popular web shops or websites on average 2200 times a day, 15,000 times a week, 60,000 times a month.
WordPress itself does not have the option to limit the maximum number of login attempts. This is important to better secure your webshop or website. We recommend the plug-in Limit Login Attempts Reloaded for this.
Limit Login Attempts Reloaded blocks an IP address to prevent brute force attack attempts. This makes a brutal force attack difficult or impossible.
These are some important tips about using WordPress. We will shortly discuss various topics. New articles about the installation, themes, plug-ins, SEO and security. We are also happy to share our experience with Laravel, the PHP Framework For Web Artisans.
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A series about WordPress
It is important to us to inform about WordPress. Soon you will read a new article in this series.