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Website Security. Icon Is A White Outline Padlock With A Tick In The Middle On A Dark Grey Background

Website Security

Website Security

Securing your website against attacks is important, with injection attacks on the rise and criminals (I don’t want to use the term hackers – this refers to a skillful and enthusiastic programmer or user and not a criminal as it is commonly used) attempting to access your website for their own purpose.

Over the next few days, I am going to look at ways to secure your website against most attacks.

One of the ways to protect your website is to write some code in the websites’ .htaccess file (every website will have one). Unfortunately, the .htaccess file is also one of the main ways criminals gain access to your website.

So, it makes sense to protect the .htaccess file first.

To protect the .htaccess file requires you adding a short piece of code to the file:

# STRONG HTACCESS PROTECTION
<Files ~ "^.*.([Hh][Tt][Aa])">
order allow,deny
deny from all
satisfy all
</Files>

Add this to the .htaccess file in the root of your website (i.e. not in any folder) – if you cannot see a .htaccess file it may be hidden by your host – you may need to approach them to allow you to alter it.

In most cases you will be able to edit the .htaccess file (even if you have to create on – use a simple text editor such as Notepad in Windows and make sure that the file is saved as .htaccess – do not allow the editor to add any extensions (such as .txt) by selecting all files in the save as box of the save dialogue.

This code works by denying the ability to files with the combinations of Hh Tt Aa in their name – unless you have used this combination as the start of file names it will only work to deny outside use of the .htaccess file – by using upper and lower case you are covering all bases.

I am now going to concentrate on WordPress sites. WordPress has grown to be the most popular “off-the-shelf” CMS by far.

An obvious way to secure your WordPress website would be to only allow Admin access from a certain IP address. This is an excellent way to ensure that only you have access to your website.

Some considerations before you do this though. If your ISP has given you a dynamic IP address (and most do), then you would need to alter the allowed IP address every time that your IP address changes – this will happen every time you reboot your rooter. There are two possible answers to this; ask your ISP for a static IP address (they will charge you for this) or use a service such as DynamicDNS – this is a free service that gives you a static IP address and will respond to all the changes in IP addresses that your router will go through; maintaining your static IP address automatically.

OK to ensure that the WordPress Admin panel can only be accessed via your computer (or computers at your address) add the following to your .HTACCESS file. (See our earlier guide about the .HTACCESS file).

order deny, allow

allow from 202.090.21.1 (replace with your IP address)

deny from all

That is it, job done!

Web Design Basics - Html Course By Esthetig Web Design. Icon Shows A Whiteboard With Mountains And A Circle For The Sun, A Pen, A Light Bulb And A Cloud Around The Whiteboard.

Web design basics

Web Design Basics

In the past, I have looked at marketing your website, a very basic HTML course, choosing images and fonts for your website. Web Design Basics is going to guide you through the whole process of designing a website. First things first, let’s get the planning started.

Before you Begin

When looking at web design basics we need to start right at the beginning and ensure we plan correctly and have everything in place.

Strategy > Plan > build > Promote

Strategy

Plan

  • What information does the site need to give? Here you need to look at databases; what information/data does your website need to gather and where will it be stored.
  • Create a sitemap for the website – this will help you determine the navigation structure
  • Put a drawing together of how the overall website will look and any sub-page special features (be consistent though, don’t want your visitors thinking they are on a different website).
  • What calls to action will your website include? Good marketing practice dictates every page that sells something (a service or a product) must have a call to action – don’t forget even pages such as your contact page may need a call to action, especially if you are hoping to encourage people to sign up to a newsletter.
  • What is the brand identity for the website? This should match your company in the real world.
  • Are there any special requirements for the code language? (Will your site be HTML, PHP, ASP etc)
  • If you are using content-management or e-commerce systems do you require a bespoke system or are you happy to use a robust “off-the-shelf” system such as WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Zen Cart and so on.

Build

  • Valid code is vital – make sure that your developer adheres to standards established by the W3 Consortium.
  • Content Management System needs to be put into place
  • E-Commerce platform needs to be built
  • Elements such as movies, buttons, banners etc need to be built a this stage
  • The database/source needs to be built
  • Test and implement the site.

Promote

  • Search Engine Indexing – add your website to the major Search Engines (but don’t forget the smaller niche ones too!).
  • Search Engine Optimisation – On page optimisation should have been completed in the build stage; but further enhancement of your site needs to be carried out here.
  • Email and Mailshots are great tools to get the message about your new website across quickly – getting to the top of a search engine for your chosen keyword/phrase will be much more successful if your campaign includes real-world advertising thrown into the mix.
  • Keyword research – recheck at this point to ensure your keywords/phrase are the most effective.
  • Social marketing – will you use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc? You should use a selection of these in every campaign for your website – which you will choose may be down to personal preference. But also, consider which your target market is using – if the demographic group you are targeting tend to favour a particular platform you MUST also use that platform.
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