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Cavanaugh Interactive

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Website Security

Caution: Endangered Website Ahead

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Website Updates

The Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on your daily activities, your family life, and last but not least, your business.

So it’s no surprise if you ignored your website since March. But after nine months of neglect, I recommend scheduling five critical tasks to ensure your site will be reliable and safe early next year—when you will need it most.

Website Rescue Checklist:

  1. Update site components. In a WordPress site, check for plug-in updates, which are highly susceptible to security breaches or software conflicts that will slow down or crash your website. Try to keep the number of plug-ins at a minimum, because they will also slow the site down—even if they’re inactive.
  2. Study site statistics. Is your site connected to Google Analytics? It should be because traffic data is an important indicator of how successful your site is in attracting your target audience(s). Did you know that you can set up reports that analyze specific visitor demographics? Visitor information can be extremely valuable in planning for 2021.,/li>
  3. Visit the site yourself. Why? Because you may find unexpected opportunities to add value. 2021 will be the year when going digital is a major outcome. If you’ve been a late adopter, now’s the time to discover what it will take to maximize your online presence/sales. You must go where your buyers are and there’s no doubt about the trend towards buying just about everything online.
  4. Ask someone else to visit your website. if a trusted client or friend jots down notes about what s/he finds, you may get some very helpful feedback Compare their comments with what you found. If there are matches, focus on what needs to be done—not to mention the unexpected, fresh ideas revealed.
  5. Match your marketing plan goals with the condition of your website. Is your site up to the challenge of your 2021 marketing goals? Here’s where the rubber meets the road. If your site needs software updates, is potentially insecure, has outdated content, is reporting unsatisfactory traffic, then you must pinpoint specific inadequacies and fix them before initiating any marketing initiatives.

This checklist represents general rules for ensuring site safety and reliability. More work may be needed if your site has custom features for profit (e.g., shopping cart) or clarity (blog posts).

Don’t underestimate the impact of a faulty site in potential downtime, lost revenue, and your own aggravation in fixing a mess as a result of neglect.

The best advice I can give about the condition of your website is don’t get caught by surprise.

Not sure how to handle updates yourself? Play it safe. Just email me or call at 414-771-8906 to arrange a consult. Don’t delay any longer. The website you save may be your own.

What’s the Worst Thing That Can Happen to Your Website?

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Red Screen of Death

If your website has been hacked, spammed, or otherwise compromised, you will suffer more consequences than just the “Red Screen of Death” (above). Your site will be flagged by Google as unsafe. If your hosting service receives alerts from either software or visitors, they will immediately take your site offline. Poof! Your business reputation is shot, your marketing at a standstill, and you’ve got a major issue to fix right now!

If you think your site is immune, think again. Over the past few months I’ve re-launched four websites that were either: 1) lost when the hosting server crashed; or 2) hijacked by overseas hackers who also inserted malware on the server, threatening other websites.

One site was online for 15 years and the other three for seven years, respectively. Each one occurred just before the launch a critical marketing campaign designed to increase the owner’s income. Each needed either recovery or a rebuild. They were a nightmarish mess!

So what happened? None of these sites were kept up-to-date by updating security software or performing routine plug-in checkups. And so each website grew more and more vulnerable over time. Sites like this are a prime target for gremlins and nasties up to no good.

I don’t want this to happen to you. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Save yourself both sleepless nights and lost revenue by making your site bulletproof now!

I offer a “Website Oil Change” package that includes a review of key safeguards that protect your site and keep it running at maximum speed. I use safety measures based on my own personal experience in treating vulnerable websites.

Even if your site has crashed or been compromised, I can help.

Want to learn more? Just email me or call 414.771.8906.

I hope to hear from you soon—before disaster strikes!

Nancy

P.S. If you hire me to handle site updates, you will receive a 10% discount on any other additions and/or improvements you’d like to make while we’re at it.

Google to Flag All “http” Pages as Insecure by January 2018

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Google security warning

If your website address uses the label http:// Google will soon display a red security notice that the site is insecure. The warning will become more prominent as time goes on, eventually flagging all web pages without extra security encryption.

Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS,” Chrome Security Team Emily Schechter said.

Hosting companies are making it easy to add an extra layer of security by installing a “Secure Socket Layer” (SSL) Certificate. Currently, the web has more than 50 percent of its traffic encrypted, so at this point your site may be a “late adopter” in danger of getting flagged as insecure.

WordPress is the most popular publishing platform on the web, powering almost 30 percent of all websites. If you have a WordPress site and have any kind of contact form set up, that page may already be flagged by Google as a security threat in the newest version of Google Chrome v.62, just released in October. Soon, that warning will extend to all your other pages, creating the impression that your site isn’t safe and should be avoided.

What Should I Do?

If your website is still using http://, here are some logical steps about what to do next:

• You need an SSL certificate to enable https on your site. This sets up a more secure connection between your site and visitors, preventing “man-in-the-middle attacks” and verifying site ownership. Benefit: Visitors see you’re protecting their sensitive information and you’re less likely to suffer a site hack.

• Be sure to purchase the right kind of certificate. A single certificate is issued for one domain name, but there are multi-domain and wildcard certificates as well. Benefit: Your business is verified as the owner of the domain name.

• If you already have an SSL certificate installed, make sure it’s up to date and robust. If purchased from your hosting service, make sure they offer technical support. (Do you check your smoke alarm battery periodically? Making sure your site is running up to date is pretty much the same thing!)

• Verify that your HTTPS pages can be crawled and indexed by Google to maintain site rankings.

Here’s How to Begin:

  1. Check your website for http:// and if that’s your connection, you need an SSL certificate to protect your site from the Google warning that your site is “insecure.”
  2. Check with your webmaster (if you have one) about securing your site.
  3. If you don’t have an “official” webmaster, contact your web designer—the person who set up your site in the first place. That person should be able to help you choose the right certificate and get it installed.

Don’t hesitate to ensure your site’s credibility. The clock is ticking and all too soon you’ll see the dreaded warning sign on your site telling visitors your site is not secure.

Not sure about resolving this issue soon? I love to help people solve technical problems. Just call Nancy at 414.771.8906 or email nancy@cavanaughinteractive.biz.

Who’s Taking Care of Your Website?

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Your website is critical to the success of your overall marketing plan. It cannot be launched and then ignored.

Because prospects often research your website and social media sites before taking action, your website gives them that all-important first impression of your business.

How do you plan to meet viewers’ expectations? You should:

  • Make sure your site is mobile-responsive. Did you know that more than 50 percent of visitors to your site are using mobile devices? In addition, Google’s directive for a user friendly, mobile-responsive experience is now critical to your website’s visibility and success. If your site “works,” you will be rewarded with a ranking boost.
  • Update the site on a regular basis—especially if it’s a WordPress site. Many updates address security issues associated with WordPress and plug-ins, and minimize the chance of hacking or site crashes.
  • Plan regular site backups. Do you know how often your hosting service backs up your website? Do they back up all your files? Do you understand how to restore a site that’s been hacked?

A poorly functioning website is a major concern that can damage your image and credibility. Worse yet, a website hack that results in a major crash is not worth the “It won’t happen to me” attitude.

Why not turn over the time-consuming task of maintaining your website to someone who’s experienced?

I’d be happy to do a quick review for a small fee. The time spent evaluating your site might be worth thousands of dollars in recovery costs if you continue to ignore the overall condition of your website.

P.S. You’ll be surprised at the variety of maintenance plans I offer—from nominal monthly subscriptions to pay-as-you-go plans.

P.P.S. Special Offer: The first 10 people who sign up will get my evaluation at a 50% discount. Offer ends July 31, 2017. Just contact me or call 414.771.8906.

Are you ready for some business?

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Growth chart

The 2017 economic forecast for small businesses is bright. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, optimism levels after the election of Donald Trump rose to heights not seen in nearly a year. Two factors shaping this attitude are promises of tax reform and government deregulation. The result? More entrepreneurial startups and small business expansion.

That’s the good news. The bad news is your business might not be ready to grow.

Are you insured for growth?

Planning an online marketing campaign soon? Then you’ll need an “insurance policy” beforehand to make sure it rolls out smoothly.

  • Get your website updated. Your website is your hub in the digital universe. It’s the only online territory you truly own. But without regular checkups, you’re tempting disaster. Do you have a WordPress site? Today, more than 30% of all websites are WordPress-based and require updates to ensure security. Is it older than 2-3 years? Without certain precautions, it can be hacked to deploy pornographic spam, illicit drug sales, and hidden links to disreputable sites. Not to mention wiping out your software and files. That’s bad enough! If Google finds out, your domain and host server will be blacklisted and site visibility plunge to zero. I have experience in site recovery and prefer to work on making sure my clients’ sites are protected in advance.
  • Make sure your site is mobile-responsive. Did you know that more than 50% of visitors are using mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) to access websites? If your site lacks responsiveness, chances are those visitors won’t come back.
  • Update your mailing lists. If you have a MailChimp or Constant Contact account, make sure your lists are current. You can either edit online or download a csv file. If you have a MailChimp plug-in for WordPress, make sure that sign-ups are imported into the correct list.
  • Plan to create a landing page for each promotion; i.e., a page specifically developed to capture business as part of that campaign. Hint: It’s usually not part of site navigation because it’s devoted to one purpose only.
  • Automate sales. There’s a boom coming for businesses willing to adopt ecommerce. Customers prefer to buy online and this is a huge opportunity for any small business willing to sell via their website.
  • Monitor site traffic. Is your site connected to Google Analytics? If you launch a campaign, you need to check site traffic to monitor target audiences, pages visited—any data you need to learn the campaign is working. Otherwise, how can you be sure how many qualified leads are coming from your campaign?
  • Monitor keywords. Did you know you can monitor the ongoing success of keyword phrases used on your website? Google offers a Search Console that connects with Yoast, a popular WordPress plug-in, to keep you up to date on popular keywords and site indexing.

Need reassurance? Ask me for a website analysis. Call 414.771.8906 or email nancy@cavanaughinteractive.biz. If it’s a WordPress site, all I need is your log-in credentials.

Get some peace of mind about how to proceed with your growth plans. I’m here to help with suggestions and answer your questions.

Google to label your website as “not secure”

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Google security updateBeginning in January 2017, Google Chrome will label all insecure (unencrypted) websites as “not secure.” Up until now, most websites are accessed using “http” instead of “https”—which adds an extra layer of security for those sites handling highly confidential online transactions like online banking and online shopping order forms.

This new policy was adopted because it’s easy for a hacker to hijack any “http” website and send visitors to an imposter location that features pornography, illegal drugs, and other nefarious activities.

What difference does it make? Why should I care?

If you do not take action to add extra security to your website, visitors will see a “not secure” warning. Over time, Google will label all non-https sites with an exclamation mark (“!”) and red text.

Currently Google Chrome browser is used by 72.5 percent of web users—a commanding lead over Firefox (16.3), Internet Explorer (5.3), and Safari (3.5). Because their browser is dominant, there’s no avoiding the inevitable warning labels that will discourage visitors from entering your site.

Adopting “https” has three major benefits:

  • Customer information cannot be intercepted.
  • Visitors can verify you are a registered business that owns the domain name.
  • Customers are more likely to trust and purchase from encrypted sites.

What can I do to fix this?

To upgrade your website to secure “https,” you need to purchase a TLS certificate (formerly SSL) and modify site settings to use “https” for web pages.

Can I hire someone to handle this?

Absolutely! Cavanaugh Interactive has 20 years of experience in managing evolving web technologies. In addition to the cost of the certificate, I can handle the migration and perform any necessary link/image checks to ensure the site is fully functional and secure.

If you have any questions, please let me know. We’re here to help!

 

“My website is down!”

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My website is down!The warning is alarming: Suddenly your WordPress login doesn’t work. An odd message displays: Site access has been locked for 24 hours! Tech support at your hosting service reports that someone in the Ukraine tried to hack the site by testing various passwords. After 30 attempts, the system locked the user out.

When you check to see if your site is still working, only the Home page comes up. Now what?

All sorts of wild speculations cross your mind. Why was the site compromised? How do I get it back? What could possibly make it a target for hacking?

A security breach like this is more common than you think. Your site can be hacked and used as a platform for taking people who go to your site to other sites like online gambling, sexual performance drugs, and pornography. One reason this happens is because the WordPress software application and plug-ins need regular updating. That’s how a hacker gains access to a site.

Basic maintenance guidelines

It’s important to understand that a WordPress site does require ongoing maintenance. Keeping on top of updates involves more than just clicking an Update button. That’s because WordPress sites are built using open code created by different developers. Incompatibilities in the code could result in vulnerability to hacking—especially if outdated plug-ins aren’t upgraded regularly to beef up security.

So a regular maintenance inspection is important to prevent site hacking and hijacking. Following is a checklist for a WordPress site:

  • WordPress platform. This software runs the site.
  • WordPress theme. This software gives the site its look and functionality.
  • Plug-ins. These items help the site function and give it abilities to have such things as the contact form.
  • Site back-ups. This includes the database and all site files. This is most important in case your site has to be restored.
  • Without regular maintenance, your website is an easy target to be hacked and used as a conduit for gambling, sex drugs, and porn.

How long has it been since your site software was checked? I can upgrade all software, plug-ins and back up the database and files.

If you don’t mind your website, it won’t mind you!

P.S. I can keep your site safe and give you peace of mind. I encourage you to take action before it’s too late.