If you’re new to the WordPress community, there are some  awesome beginner-friendly hacks that can help ease your webiste experience.  

Compress Website Images to    Increase Website Load Time: 

This is a hack that your Average Joe WordPress user might not be familiar with. Compress your website’s images by reducing the file sizes to help increase your website’s load time. This saves your visitors precious time and decreases bounce rates.

Google’s research showed that the chance of a bounce increased by:

• 32% when a page load time went from one to three seconds

• 90% when the page load time went from one to five seconds

• 123% if a site takes up to 10 seconds to load

That last one is absolutely bonkers! But we see how important speeding up the site loading is for users (and business). And there are tons of online tools that you can use for compressing images.

>> READ MORE: My WordPress Site is Slow, How Do I Speed It Up?

 Set Up Your Gravatar for Increased Personalization: 

Gravatar is acronym of Globally Recognized Avatar – a service that integrates with WordPress and provides user pictures to attach to your account.

Having a personalized picture gives you a clear identity among other websites, and it appears when you post something on your website such as a reply on someone’s post.

Since Gravatar is integrated with WordPress, all you need to do is go to your profile section on WordPress and scroll down to the Profile Picture section. Click on the Gravatar and upload whichever picture you like the most.  

 Edit Permalinks for Increased Optimization: 

As the name suggests, Permalinks refer to permanent links that include the address of your website or individual blog posts. While WordPress generates Permalinks on its own, the default settings might not be your desired results (or your audience’s).

To avoid the undesirable links, you can keep the links SEO friendly by editing it under your settings. Just go to the dashboard, add your settings, and select Permalinks.

While there are many structures available to choose from, it’s recommended to select Post Name to strengthen the SEO.      

 SECURITY GUIDES  FOR WORDPRESS IN 2022:

A report states that 30,000 websites are hacked daily around the world. Any website that’s exposed to cybersecurity attacks can experience serious damage to the business. If your website is ever hacked, your plugins, logins, passwords, and personal information can be leaked.

SSL or Security Socket Layer Certificate helps you assess encrypted information that passes through the website. This information is includes payment details and logins – also, it warns visitors against insecure websites, which Google then shuns. Your number one priority while running a WordPress website is to have a secure site, so getting an SSL certificate is important. The good news is that websites like Bluehost offer free SSL security plans.

>> RELATED READING: Understanding Encrypted Traffic (The Invisible Website Killer)

Install a Backup Solution as one of the best defenses against WordPress attacks. Backups allow you to restore information in case of any malfunction or attack. While there are many backlinks out there for you to use, we recommend you to opt for Amazon, Stash, or Dropbox.

Secure Plugins can help trace the record of failed login attempts, malware scanning, and more. After installing a backup, consider setting up an auditing and monitoring system to keep track of your website activity.

Use Web Application Firewall (WAF) as it’s one of the best website security plugins that protects your WordPress site from unwanted traffic like bots. A website firewall prevents any harmful traffic from reaching your website by blocking it at the gateway. We recommend using WAF – web security plugin by miniOrange. It has a rich feature set for both the free and premium plans.

Move your website to HTTPS/SSL for additional security by encrypting the data being transmitted over the network. Enabling SSL shifts the website to using HTTPS instead of HTTP, and a padlock sign appears next to the URL or the website address.

We’ve talked extensively about this process in a previous blog. Read more about migrating from HTTP to HTTPS for a more secure site here.

Restrict login attempts to frustrate and other malware. WordPress by default allows users to attempt to login as many times as they wish, exposing your site to brute force attacks. Follow the procedures below:         

1. Install and activate the Login LockDown plugin.

2. Upon activation, visit Settings » Login LockDown page to setup the plugin.

3. Set the number of failed login attempts to a number like 3 and retry period restriction to at least 30 minutes.

We also suggest setting up two-factor authentication where users must log in using two separate methods of verification. The first is your login and password, while the second needs you to authenticate with a different device or app.

To install and activate the Two-Factor Authentication plugin,

» go to the WordPress admin sidebar and click on the ‘Two Factor Auth’ link

» download and launch an authenticator app on your mobile device

» scan the QR code shown on the website by tapping add on the mobile app

» enter the code displayed in the app into the website to confirm and authenticate the app.