Podcasts about ithemes security pro

After a time formatting bug caused a 24-hour delay, WordPress 6.2, code-named “Dolphy”, was released on March 29th. According to core contributor Jean-Baptiste Audras, 607 people from at least 50 countries were part of the release squad.Perhaps the biggest development in 6.2 is that the “beta” label has been removed from the Site Editor. The feature was first added in WordPress 5.9 and has undergone steady improvements. A new interface has been implemented this time around.Other enhancements include a revamped UI for both the Block Inserter and individual block controls. Direct access to Openverse media has also been added, allowing users to search, download, and insert openly-licensed content into their sites.For a rundown of key features, check out a handy guide from GoDaddy's Courtney Robertson. Links You Shouldn't MissWordPress.com alerted users that its access to the Twitter API was suspended on April 4. No specific reason was provided by Twitter. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the API powers Jetpack's Social Sharing feature. The situation was in limbo for a few hours, but service was eventually restored. During the outage, users couldn't automatically tweet out new content from their websites. Ironically (or not), Twitter recently announced a “new era of transparency” at the company.WordPress core contributor Mario Santos recently posted a proposal outlining the Interactivity API. This would enable developers to build blocks that are interactive on the front end. Santos notes examples including the ability to “heart” a post and performing an instant search. The project is currently experimental. A plugin is available for testing.The makers of Beaver Builder have announced the launch of Assistant Pro. It's a cloud storage and community template platform. Free page builder templates available for download. In addition, a marketplace allows users to both buy and sell. Templates can also be stored in the cloud and shared with team members.A couple of popular commercial plugins have released critical security fixes. Elementor Pro patched a vulnerability that impacted sites running the page builder in conjunction with WooCommerce. Meanwhile, Advanced Custom Fields PRO patched a PHP object injection vulnerability. If you use either plugin, be sure to update to the latest version.The name iThemes has long been recognizable in the WordPress ecosystem. The maker of popular plugins like BackupBuddy and iThemes Security Pro has undergone a name change. In order to better reflect their products, the company has announced a rebrand to SolidWP. iThemes customers shouldn't notice any pricing changes or support disruption during the transition.Links You Shouldn't MissWordPress.com alerted users that its access to the Twitter API was suspended on April 4. No specific reason was provided by Twitter. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the API powers Jetpack's Social Sharing feature. The situation was in limbo for a few hours, but service was eventually restored. During the outage, users couldn't automatically tweet out new content from their websites. Ironically (or not), Twitter recently announced a “new era of transparency” at the company.WordPress core contributor Mario Santos recently posted a proposal outlining the Interactivity API. This would enable developers to build blocks that are interactive on the front end. Santos notes examples including the ability to “heart” a post and performing an instant search. The project is currently experimental. A plugin is available for testing.The makers of Beaver Builder have announced the launch of Assistant Pro. It's a cloud storage and community template platform. Free page builder templates available for download. In addition, a marketplace allows users to both buy and sell. Templates can also be stored in the cloud and shared with team members.A couple of popular commercial plugins have released critical security fixes. Elementor Pro patched a vulnerability that impacted sites running the page builder in conjunction with WooCommerce. Meanwhile, Advanced Custom Fields PRO patched a PHP object injection vulnerability. If you use either plugin, be sure to update to the latest version.The name iThemes has long been recognizable in the WordPress ecosystem. The maker of popular plugins like BackupBuddy and iThemes Security Pro has undergone a name change. In order to better reflect their products, the company has announced a rebrand to SolidWP. iThemes customers shouldn't notice any pricing changes or support disruption during the transition. ★ Support this podcast ★

Plugins mentioned during this episode:Sucuri: https://sucuri.net/ iThemes Security Pro: https://ithemes.com/security/ WPScan: https://wpscan.com/Wordfence: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/ General Info:If you want to get a hold of us, or you would like to be a guest on our show simply click here: https://www.lbmsllc.com/contact-us/Is there a topic you would like us to cover? Send an email to info@lbmsllc.com or simply call 888-416-7752Want a free evaluation of your digital marketing presence? Simply click here: https://www.lbmsllc.com/online-presence-report/and we'll send you a free snapshot report to get started.For a copy of my book, 7 Steps to Recession-Proofing Your Business, click this link: https://www.lbmsllc.com/bookConnect With Us On Social Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lbmsllcInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lbmsllc/Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbmsllcLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/local-business-marketing-solutionsAlignable: https://www.alignable.com/fanwood-nj/local-business-marketing-solutionsConnect With Frank Directly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fdemming/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC97CxzX4YnOazsF39DOe34A

Gutenberg, WordPress 3.8 Release, WooCommerce & Jetpack WordPress 5.8 is still marching along with modifications for release in July. Eighteen bugs and fixes were applied from Release 3 concentrating on polishing existing default themes, fixing bugs in the new block Widget screen, and squashing Editor bugs collected during beta. WPTavern posted a review of the Gutenberg 10 updates in the plugin. The Query and Query Loop blocks were renamed, hopefully clearing up all the confusion for end users. The Query Loop block has been renamed to Post Template to better represent its purpose within Query, whereas the Query block label now refers to it as Query Loop. I enjoyed Justin Tadlock's take on WordPress theme lock-in, in the block-era. “I do not necessarily see this as a Bad Thing. We have always had these little silos in the WordPress ecosystem, and they have mostly worked out.” WooCommerce News. The first release candidate is now available for WooCommerce 5. The planned release date is July 13. Jetpack launched a new mobile app. Automattic has launched a new mobile app for Jetpack, available on iOS and Android. The app features an array of Jetpack-specific features, including: Backups and restoresSecurity scanningActivity monitoringSite statsAnd more Security in the news Ithemes Security Pro 7 was released with significant improvements and a redesigned interface. Tony Perez writes on NOC about how we communicate #wordpress and #security. People focus on all the tools and configurations, and not enough on the actions they're trying to prevent. He covers his approach in this article about WordPress in the Enterprise. According to ehackingnews.com Over 800 million WordPress-linked records are leaked in this misconfigured cloud database associated with DreamHost, a popular WordPress hosting platform. A fix was made “within hours” of the discovery. Grabbag Ninja Forms celebrates 10 years! Congratulations to James Laws and Kevin Stover. https://twitter.com/jameslaws/status/1409589138257371141?s=21WPEngine is now offering Local 6.0 Pro free for everyone. As of June 29, 2021, everyone has access to Local Pro tools and features for free. This is another great tool for developing locally.Alex Standiford at WP Dev Academy released his new course that teaches how to build modern, scale-able WordPress plugins quickly. If you’re a developer looking to up your WordPress game, this course is for you. Just how competitive is the membership plugin space? Learn how Paid Memberships Pro has grown over the last 8 years in my interview with Jason Coleman on the Matt Report.

My strategy for securing WordPress websites. The internet is filled with unscrupulous people. Are you doing everything you can to ensure your clients’ portion of it is safe by securing their WordPress websites? I recently published a podcast episode and article on earning extra income by offering website maintenance plans. Part of that strategy is making sure the websites you manage are secure. I received many questions afterwards asking how I secure my clients’ WordPress websites. There are many ways and many tools available for securing a WordPress website. Here is the method that works for me. WordPress Security. Those two words, “WordPress Security” may sound intimidating to the uninitiated. Let me assure you they’re not. If I can learn how to do this, so can you. I’m not a programmer. I’m not even a developer. I’m just a WordPress user who figured out a security strategy that works for me. What is WordPress Security? WordPress security involves putting measures in place to decrease the chance of someone compromising a website. If you sell WordPress Security as part of your website maintenance plan, be sure to tell your clients there are no guarantees. If a skilled hacker is determined to gain access to a website, they will, and there’s not much you can do to prevent it. The purpose of Website security is to make it as difficult as possible for them, so they leave your site alone and go in search of an easier target. Most hacking attempts are easily preventable with a few simple measures. Here’s what I do. Securing Account Login. By default, every WordPress installation provides easy access for administrators to gain entry to a site through the URL domainname.com/wp-login.php. This default makes the WordPress login page the most attacked part of any website. So how do you secure the account login? Hide the backend I use iThemes Security Pro to hide the backend of every website and replace the login page with something else. If anyone tries entering the site via the /wp-login.php page, they’ll be taken to a 404 page not found page instead. This is more of security by obscurity, and is not a very strong strategy, but if it helps prevent automated bots and such, then why not do it? iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Advanced > Hide Backend Force the use of a strong password. The stronger the password, the harder it is to crack. Forcing a strong password makes it more difficult to gain access to a site. iThemes Security Pro allows me to force the use of strong passwords. New site users must enter a strong password to create their account, and existing site users are forced to update their weak password when they next log in. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Password Requirements Prevent the use of compromised passwords. One of the main vulnerabilities of passwords is their reuse. Many people think up a good password, but then they use it everywhere. All it takes is for one database breach containing their user name and password, and a hacker can gain access to wherever the two are used in combination. iThemes Security Pro connects to the haveibeenpwned API and refuses any compromised passwords. As part of this prevention method, I recommend all my clients use a Password Manager such as 1Password to create strong, unique passwords for every site they visit. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Password Requirements Limit Login Attempts. Even a strong password may be guessed if given enough time. So as an extra measure, I turn on Brute Force Protection in iThemes Security Pro to prevent the number of failed login attempts. I have it set so that three failed login attempts will lock a user out of the site for 15 minutes. After their third lockout, it bans the IP address from even viewing the website. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Local Brute Force Protection Two-Factor Authentication. Two-Factor Authentication, sometimes called 2FA, adds an extra step to the login process. The way it works is after entering a username and password; users must enter a temporary six-digit code to gain access to the site. This code can be obtained from a predetermined list, one that’s emailed to the user, or, my preferred method, using an App on a smartphone such as Google Authenticator. Google Authenticator generates a new unique code every 30 seconds. When logging into a website with Two-Factor Authentication, you must enter the code from the app and press the login button before the code expires. The only way to gain access to a website protected by 2FA is to have the user name and password, plus have access to the smartphone tied to the account. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Two-Factor Authentication (This is a PRO feature) Passwordless Login I want to mention Passwordless Login as a security option, but note that I don’t use this method myself. I explain why, later. Passwordless login is a way to gain access to a website without entering a password or a 2FA code. To use Passwordless Login, you enter your email address on the login page then check your email for a “magic link” that grants you access to the website. No password or Two-Factor Authentication code required. Passwordless login is secure because it requires access to the email account associated with the site. Although Passwordless Login is very secure and works great for clients, I don’t use this method. I sometimes need to access to a client’s website through their account instead of my admin account. I wouldn’t be able to access a site with Passwordless Login since I don’t have access to my client’s email account. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Passwordless Login (This is a PRO feature) WordPress Site Monitoring Now that the account login is secure, the next thing I turn to is site monitoring. I want to know when something happens to one of my client’s website. Security Logs WordPress security logs are an excellent resource for seeing what is happening with a site. If a website gets hacked, the security logs will have the best information to help you recover. To be honest, I don’t understand most of what the security logs contain. But I know where they are, and how to download and share them if I need to get an expert involved in fixing a compromised site. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Logs Monitor File changes iThemes Security Pro allows me to monitor when files on a website change. This is a great way to know when someone had gained access to a site. Be warned; this feature will also notify you of every change and update you make to the site. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > File Change Detection Scanning for Malware iThemes Security Pro regularity scans and notifies me if it detects malware on a website. This has saved me in the past when a client’s site became compromised. I was able to fix the issue before it escalated. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Site Scan Scheduling (This is a PRO feature) Themes and Plugin Management Delete unrequired and inactive themes and plugins. It’s much easier to hack into a website if it has outdated themes and plugins installed. The first step in theme and plugin management is to deactivate and delete any unrequited or unused plugins. You can always reinstall a plugin should it be needed. Also, make sure you acquire your plugins from reputable sources. I’ve seen some questionable WordPress Plugin bundles recently offering thousands of dollars worth of premium plugins for next to nothing. These plugins may work, but they may also be compromised. It’s not worth risking your business or reputation over. Keep active plugins and themes updated. As far as security is concerned, when it comes to the WordPress Core, Themes and Plugins, the best rule of thumb is to keep everything updated. Many updates are to patch security vulnerabilities. iThemes Security Pro has a nice feature called Version Management that allows a site to automatically update itself as new versions of the WordPress core, themes and plugins are released. Although handy, I leave almost all of this feature off. I prefer updating plugins myself. Should something on the site break during an update, I want to know right away. The only option I turn on is the “Auto Update if Fixes Vulnerability” option. This allows updates only if it fixes a security issue. iThemes Security Pro > Security > Settings > Version Management (This is a PRO feature) Manually updating the WordPress Core, Themes and Plugins. For updating my client website, I use iThemes Sync, a WordPress manager. iThemes Sync allows me to monitor and update all my clients’ websites from one dashboard. iThemes Sync sends me daily emails telling me what plugins and themes have updates available. I can log into iThems Sync and perform all the updates from the one dashboard without having to log into each website individually, saving me time. The basic version of iThemes Sync is free for up to 10 websites. Domain security. Whenever registering a domain, I highly suggest you include domain privacy. Some hosts include domain privacy while others charge an extra fee. Domain Privacy hides the domain owner’s contact information from the public. Without domain privacy, a domain owner’s email address, mailing address and phone number are available for anyone to see. Since it’s common to use the same email address to register a domain and access the associated website, without domain privacy, you’re handing hackers half of the login information they need. That’s my WordPress Security plan. That’s it. That’s what I do to secure my clients’ WordPress websites. This is not meant to be an add for iThemes. There are many tools you can use to do the same things I do. Some of them possibly better and maybe less expensive than what I use. But I’ve been using the iThemes programs for several years, and I know, and I trust them. And so far, knock on wood, they’ve worked for me. What's your strategy for securing WordPress websites? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode.

Do you offer Website Maintenance to your web clients? [sc name="pod_ad"]Offering Website maintenance is a great way to make extra money while putting in minimal effort. It’s right up there with print brokering as a way to supplement your design income. Way back in episode 9 of the podcast, I shared 12 ways designers can earn extra income. On that episode, I mentioned making extra income by offering to host your client’s websites. Since then, I’ve made a few changes to the way I operate. I no longer provide web hosting on its own. Instead, I offer website maintenance, and I make a lot more money doing so. And so can you. The typical lifecycle of a web design project. A client approaches you to design and build their new website. You agree on a price, get the contracts signed and receive your deposit. You get to work on their site. When it’s ready, you present your client with their new website. You make any requested adjustments until they’re thrilled with what you did for them. They pay the balance owing to the project, and you launch their site. The client is happy with their new website. You’re pleased with the money you earned—end of the story. Once this process is over, you may or may not hear from that client again until they need a new website in a few years. That’s providing they don’t meet another web designer between now and then. If they do, then all bets are off. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By offering a website maintenance plan as part of your web design services, you retain that client on the books, and chances are when they need new web work in the future, they’ll turn to you because of your ongoing relationship. Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to earn a recurring monthly income that gives your clients piece of mind while costing you very little in return? If you are not offering a website maintenance plan as part of your services, you’re leaving easy money on the table. Offering a website maintenance plan doesn’t require much tech knowledge. The best part of a website maintenance plan is if done right, you don’t need much tech knowledge. I didn’t know much when I started. And to be honest, there’s still a lot I don’t know. But I don’t have to know much for my plan to work. What a website maintenance plan looks like. Website maintenance plans differ from designer to designer. However, let me break down what my website maintenance plan looks like. When I started offering website hosting in 2005, I charged my clients $12/month. When I switched from hosting static HTML sites to hosting WordPress websites, I raised my hosting fee to $35/month. Then I attended WordCamp Ottawa and met a fellow designer whose business was very similar to my own. However, instead of just hosting his client’s websites, he was offering a website maintenance plan. After hearing about his success, I immediately implemented it in my business. I raised my price to $69/month and expanded my offering from simple hosting to a full-fledged website maintenance service. Some web designers may find $69 per month expensive. But it’s not. I know designers who charge much more than I do for their website maintenance plans. Look at it this way, if you’re building $500 or $800 websites for clients. Then yes, they’ll find $69/month expensive. However, a client who pays several thousand dollars for a website, won’t hesitate to pay $69 or more each month to keep their investment safe. That’s what a web maintenance plan offers, safety and peace of mind. My website maintenance plan consists of: Managed WordPress hosting (I have a shared hosting plan that I divide and resell to my clients.) Premium licence fees for themes and plugins. Unlimited email accounts for the client’s domain name. An SSL Certificate for their site. Malware Scans. Weekly WordPress Core, Theme and Plugin updates. Daily website backups to an offsite storage location. Enhanced Website Security. Uptime Monitoring. In return for these monthly services, my clients get a stress-free website. They don’t have to worry about their website getting hacked. They don’t have to about keeping their site updated. They don’t have to worry about evolving security measures. They don’t have to learn how to manage their own website. Instead, my clients can concentrate on growing their business, knowing that I’m taking care of their website for them. Over 90% of my website clients see the value in my maintenance plan and sign up without hesitation. Variations on website maintenance plans. Some web designers offer a certain number of non-carryover hours as part of their monthly plan that allows a client to request small updates to their site. I don’t provide this. If a client wants changes to their website, I bill them extra. Some web designers offer to maintain their client’s website regardless of where the site is hosted. I don’t provide this either. If one of my clients wants me to manage their site, I insist they host it with me. This way, I’m familiar with the web host, which makes it easier to fix any problems that may arise. A website maintenance plan is not a lot of work. Maintaining a WordPress website doesn’t require a whole lot of effort. Other than keeping WordPress, the theme and the plugins updated, there’s rarely anything to do. Most of the work is done before launching the site and continues working month after month without any input required. I use SiteGround to host my clients’ websites. They help me set things up, and their 24/7 support means I can count on them should I need help with anything. Here’s what I install on every client website I maintain. SSL certificate (Your web host may be able to help you with this). A backup plugin (I use BackupBuddy from iThemes) A security plugin (I use iThemes Security Pro) Malware scanning (I use both iThemes Security Pro and SiteGround for this). Uptime monitoring. (I let SiteGround monitor the site uptime for me.) Should anything go wrong with a website, If it crashes during a plugin update, or gets hacked, I can quickly restore it by reverting to a previous backup and have it up and running again in less than 30 minutes. That’s it. There’s nothing else for me to do. Except collect $69/month from the client. It’s that easy. How to start offering a website maintenance plan. The first thing you need to offer website maintenance is a web host. There are many great web hosts you can choose from, but as stated previously, I recommend SiteGround. A good web host can help you with most of the hard work. When taking over an existing website, a good web host can help you migrate it to their platform. A good web host can help you install SSL Certificates. A good web host can help you update and add DNS Zone records as required. A good web host can help you troubleshoot site issues that may arise. Basically, a good web host will help you do the things you’re not comfortable doing. Once you've chosen a web host, the next thing you need are plugins to manage your security and backups. I prefer iThemes plugins for this, but there are many other good ones you can choose. Finally, if you want to get serious and maintain a growing number of websites, you'll want a way to minimize your time. iThemes Sync is the platform I use to maintain all my client websites. From one dashboard, you can monitor, update, backup and restore all the sites you manage, saving you precious time every month. Website maintenance doesn’t require a lot of time. On average, I spend less than 5 minutes per month, maintaining each client’s website. Of course, not all of the $69 I collect goes into my pocket. I have to pay for the hosting fees, the SSL certificates (if they require something other than a free one.) Theme and premium plugin licenses, etc. So maintaining ten client websites takes less than one hour per month at $69 each, which turns into a great hourly rate. But what if something goes wrong? I suggest you put a small percentage of your monthly fee aside in case of an emergency. In the rare case that something goes wrong with a client’s site that is beyond your abilities to fix, you can easily hire an expert to handle it for you. What to look for in a web host. Here are some things to look for when searching for a web host for your clients’ websites. Dedicated WordPress server: Shows they understand WordPress. Reputation: Look at reviews. Cost: Get the best bang for your buck, but be careful of dirt-cheap hosting services. Performance: What servers and OS are they using? Scalability: Can you upgrade or grow should the need arise? Uptime: Look for 99% uptime or higher. 99.9% is best. Nobody can guarantee 100% uptime. 24/7 Customer Support via phone, chat or email. Help/Training Resources: Document library to help you learn or get out of a jam. Security: Good to have, but doesn’t replace a premium security plugin. Bandwidth: Make sure they don’t limit you based on site traffic. Storage: Unlimited websites doesn’t mean as many as you want. Read the fine print. Domain Names: Good if you don’t already have a service for managing domains. Email: If you offer email as part of your website maintenance plan. Site Migration: It makes it easy to move a site from another host. Ease of Use: An easy to use backend. CDN: Servers web files from various locations around the globe. File Access: FTP or File Manager for when you need to poke around. Exit Strategy: Easy to leave should you want to migrate to a different web host. Additional Services: Backups, Malware scanning, Updates etc. As I’ve already mentioned several times, I recommend SiteGround as a great web host with all of these features. Website maintenance is the best form of passive income for web designers. Offering a website maintenance plan is a great way to supplement your design income. I estimate between 30%-40% of my annual income is from monthly website maintenance payments. This recurring income allows me to continue earning money while on vacation or at a conference. You can do the same. You’re already designing the websites for your clients. Why not go the extra step and offer them the peace of mind of a worry-free website by providing a website maintenance plan? Both you and your clients will benefit from it. You can thank me later.

Brenda Cadman is a website educator and owns Bon Accord Creative, a website education and web development company based in Charlottetown, on beautiful Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. After spending nearly 20 years supporting small businesses with their websites, she now has a keen interest and focus on empowering wedding industry and other creative professionals to build their website confidence and to learn how to better protect their websites. SM Links IG: Instagram.com/brendacadman FB: Facebook.com/bonaccordcreative Website: BonAccordCreative.com Links Mentioned: Free Website Planning Checklist: https://bonaccordcreative.com/free-website-guide/ Create a Better Website Podcast: https://bonaccordcreative.com/podcast/ Episode 3: How to Choose Your Website Platform: https://bonaccordcreative.com/podcast/episode-3/ VaultPress: https://vaultpress.com/ LastPass: https://lastpass.com/ Sucuri: https://sucuri.net/ iThemes Security Pro: https://sucuri.net/ Wordfence: https://www.wordfence.com/ Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/ Asana: https://asana.com Google Docs: https://drive.google.com/drive/ Evernote: https://evernote.com/ Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/ Credits: Try musicbed for free! - http://share.mscbd.fm/weddingvideoboss Your subscription to Musicbed includes: - Unlimited music for all of your wedding films - Access to a curated roster with hundreds of artists and composers, including CHPTRS, Tim Halperin, The Light The Heat, Tony Anderson, Chad Lawson, and more. Also, browse dozens of curated playlists like Romantic, Uplifting Acoustic, Cinematic, and more. - Full clearance to upload to all social media and streaming platforms, including quick YouTube clearance with SyncIDTM. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs4f-7m3H2K562O3Lb01xcw LIKE THE PAGE! https://www.facebook.com/weddingbossness JOIN THE GROUP! /www.facebook.com/groups/weddingbossness/ The Wedding Video Boss Podcast hosted by Paul Santiago BossIG: www.instagram.com/weddingbossness BoffoIG: www.instagram.com/boffovideo Website: www.thebossness.com If you're lazy, go here: linktr.ee/howtopaul Special thanks to Chris Holt for the sexy headshot Music credits: Season 1 : Isaac Joel - Azophi, Isaac Joel - Adler, Isaac Joel - Obliqua and Isaac Joel - Clavius from www.SoundStripe.com Season 2 : Yung Koolade - Rise, Isaac Joel - Two Leaf Anemone, Yung Koolade - Shee give me that good love from www.SoundStripe.com Check out our podcasting host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free, no credit card required, forever. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-ea71ad for 40% off for 4 months, and support Wedding Bossness.

In today’s episode we dive in and look at the premium security, iThemes Security Pro.

Das Update eines Plugins ist schnell durchgeführt- der Schaden der dadurch auf deiner Website entstehen kann ist jedoch nicht so leicht behoben. Vorsicht ist hier definitiv besser als Nachsicht. Eigentlich liegt es nah: Wenn deine Website von bestimmten Plugins abhängig ist, dann bist du ebenso von der Lauffähigkeit dieser Plugins abhängig. Das kann ein ziemliches Risiko beherbergen, wenn das Update Fehler beherbergt. Erst kürzlich gab es eine vorweihnachtliche Bescherung mit der Veröffentlichung des WordPress 5.0 Core-Updates. Viele WordPress-Benutzer installierten das Update jedoch, ohne einen Testdurchlauf zu starten und zu überprüfen ob jenes Update auf ihrer Website überhaupt funktioniert. Das Ergebnis war bei einigen Websites fatal: Oftmals funktionierte nichts auf der Website mehr richtig. Dieses Problem lässt sich jedoch umgehen, wie du in dieser Episode lernen wirst. Die einfachste Möglichkeit ist das Einrichten einer Test- oder Staging-Umgebung. Im Idealfall sind hier alle aktuellen Inhalte deiner Website eins zu eins vorhanden. Hier ist es dir nun möglich in einer risikofreien Zone jegliche Updates zu testen. Ein konkurrenzfreies Plugin das dir hierbei behilflich sein kann, ist Migrate DB Pro. Es erlaubt dir deinen bestehenden Live-Inhalt in eine Testumgebung zu kopieren. Wie genau du mit diesem Plugin Zeit und Nerven sparst erklärt dir André in dieser Episode. Der WordPress Hoster Raidboxes bietet dir ebenfalls eine Staging-Umgebung, also quasi eine zweite WordPress-Installation in der du bequem Updates überprüfen kannst, bevor du sie veröffentlichst. Neben dem Testing ist es enorm wichtig Prävention zu betreiben. Lerne in dieser Episode, warum du niemals auf Backups verzichten solltest und wie du so die generelle Sicherheit deiner Website erhöhst. Plugins wie BackupBuddy oder iThemes Security Pro helfen dir haarsträubende Szenarien, wie beim oben beschrieben WordPress-Update, zu umgehen. Als letztes Plugin stellt dir André WP Security Audit Log vor. Dieses Plugin unterstützt dich darin die „behind the scenes“ deiner WordPress im Auge zu behalten. Das ermöglicht dir zum einen immer auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben was deine WordPress-Benutzer für Änderungen treffen und lässt dich zum anderen sicher sein, dass du nichts durchgehen lässt, was nicht vorhergesehen war. Mache deine Website sicher und drücke gleich Play!

Is your design life and personal life balanced? Face it, being a home-based graphic designer is challenging enough without having your design life interrupted by the personal life that surrounds you each and every day. Not only do you have to deal with clients and deadlines but you also have to deal with family and friends who for some reason think that since you work from home, you must be available whenever they need you. It’challengingng to say the least. The problem is When you work from home, not only are you always at home, but you are also always at work. So keeping that work/life balance is not an easy task. I go into greater detail about all of this in the podcast so be sure to listen. Here are the four tips I discuss to help you maintain some semblance of balance. Set Boundaries between your personal and design life. No matter what your family and friends may think, the fact of the matter is even though you are at home, you are still at work. You need to set boundaries for them, so they recognize the difference and ask them to respect your workday. That means limiting phone calls, pop-in visits, social nudges, requests to go out, etc. Everything they do that can become a distraction from your work. Divide your living space and workspace I talked about having your own workspace in episode 88 A Designer’s Home Office Essentials, and I’m going to talk about it again today. When you are working from home it’s imperative you have a workspace that is separate from your living space. Your dining room table isn’t good enough unless that the only thing it’s used for, and everyone in your household knows it. Having a separate room with a door is even better. Choose a room or a section of a room specifically to use as your design studio and only use that space for your work. This is especially important if you have children. Having a dedicated workspace will accomplish two things: Whenever you enter your workspace, you will know you are at work. You’ll instantly have that work mindset that allows you to focus on the projects at hand. And then, when you get up and leave your workspace you will know you are no longer at work. Having a dedicated workspace will teach your family members to respect your space and your time. If you’re sitting in the living room with your laptop on your lap, your family doesn’t know if you are working or simply checking out the latest gossip on social media. But if you go into your designated workspace there’s no question about what you're up to. Even young kids can be taught not to disturb mommy or daddy when they are in their workspace. Take Breaks If you worked at an office or agency, you would be reminded to take regular breaks, and you would be given a designated time for lunch. Don’t forgo these perks just because you’re working from home. Sometimes, working in isolation can be a distraction in itself for the important things. I’m guilty of this as well. The fact of the matter is, It doesn’t matter how busy you are at work, it's important that you take breaks. Stop for lunch, stop for snacks, stop just to stretch. Get out of the house if you can. Take your dog for a walk. Stand on your front porch or balcony and breath in some outside air. Go out for a coffee if that’s your thing. Taking breaks is good for you both physically and mentally. It get’s your blood flowing, and it clears your head which helps your creativity. Enjoy family time outside your design life Family time is very important. It doesn’t matter if you are still living with your parents, you bunk with a boyfriend or girlfriend or you’re married with kids.  It’s important that you spend time with the people that are important in your life. When you’re working from home, it’s very tempting to hunker down and spend as much time as you can on that big project you’re working on. It’s easy to ignore everything that is going on around you. The problem is, it’s not healthy to do so. You need to leave your office space and live a life outside of your design life. My working hours are from 9-5, just like if I was working for an agency or design studio. I suggest you do something similar and let your clients know these boundaries. If you have clients in different time zones or around the world, clearly define to them what hours you can be reached by phone or email. Yes, there will be times that you'll need to burn the midnight oil, and being a home-based designer makes that very convenient, but it should be an exception, not a regular occurrence. Plus, there is no reason for your clients to know what time of day you are working on their projects. There you have it, balancing your design life and your personal life. Set boundaries with family and friends, define your workspace, learn to take breaks, and be sure to enjoy your personal life outside of your design life. If you can remember these four things, you will be a much healthier and happier designer. How do you balance your personal and design life? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week I don't have a question of the week this week, but I would love to answer yours in a future episode. Submit your question by visiting the feedback page. Tip of the week Two Factor Authentication Two Factor Authentication is a simple way to add valuable security to a website. Two Factor Authentication adds one extra step to the WordPress login process making it that much harder for hackers to gain access to the website. I use iThemes Security Pro for my Two Factor Authentication coupled with the Google Authenticator App (available on IOS and Android). Every time I log into one of my client's websites I'm asked to input a time-sensitive authentication code. I open the App on my iPhone, choose the appropriate client website and retrieve the six-digit code to complete my login. Each code has a lifespan of only 30 seconds so if it takes me too long to enter it on the login screen the login attempt fails and it asks me for another code. The time sensitivity of the activation codes is what makes Two Factor Authentication so secure. Hackers only have 30 seconds to try and guess a 6-digit code before they have to start again. And that's only after they have successfully guessed the username and password for the site. Hence the added security. If you have a WordPress website, or you manage your client's websites, I highly suggest you look into some manner of implementing Two Factor Authentication. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Welcome to episode 40 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 15, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the dangers posed by IoT (Internet of Things) hacks, the new 802.11ax wifi standard which will bring greater capacity to our networks, strategies to address fake news, and the ongoing demise of Twitter from a financial / investment perspective. They also discussed automation and the danger it poses to middle class jobs, a recent Guardian editorial piece about rejecting standardization in schools, and the amazing capabilities technology has brought us in the last 20 years. Geeks of the week included iThemes Security Pro for WordPress (Wes) and the "3-2-1 backup strategy (Jason). Please refer to our podcast shownotes for links to all referenced articles, videos, and resources from the show, and take a few minutes to complete our listener survey on http://wfryer.me/edtechsr.