How To Set Up A Linux Layer 7 Packet Classifier On CentOS 6

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Cheap Hosting for PBN

Cheap Hosting for PBN is probably among the greatest mistakes people make when they set up their personal blog networks. Why? Since there’s a great deal of incorrect information out there about the ideal method of hosting your own PBN. In the following guide, I’ll show you precisely how to host your PBN websites in away that they’ll never ever get discovered, just like if you’re a part of the Assassin’s Creed.

What You Will Learn

The significance of special IP addresses in personal site networks — what is the deal with exceptional C-Block IP addresses? Why is it important to get them to your PBN websites?

The 3 kinds of Cheap Hosting for PBN you can utilize for your PBN websites — SEO hosting (not utilize that), cheap hosting, hosting and reseller hosting.

The Significance Of Particular IP Addresses In Personal Blog Networks

I am certain that many people that are getting to the personal site network matter have wondered why they can not just host all of their PBN websites on a single hosting account or the reason why they can not utilize SEO hosting — and the response to this is fairly obvious for many.

The challenge is that the PBN would get discovered faster than the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s). Why? Well, that is pretty obvious also. I mean, besides the fact that every one of the sites will point to the very same nameservers, there is also the issue of the IPs.

Now, I am sure many have also heard of this word exceptional C-Block IP addresses although not all understand what this means. Therefore, allow me to start off this section by clarifying precisely this using an extremely simple illustration.

Most of us know the way the typical IPv4 addresses seem like right? Something like:

67.202.92.6

At this time you can see that the IP address is split by 3 dots that essentially split it into 4 segments i.e. AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD. And of course, the C-Block of this IP address is your third number. And that’s something quite important in regards to PBN websites.

The rule of thumb is that you would like to have, at least, exceptional C-Block IP addresses to your PBN websites. So what that Signifies is that something similar to the following Isn’t private and safe whatsoever:

67.202.92.6
67.202.92.7
67.202.92.8
67.202.92.9

Right? You are able to see that that C-Block of this IP address is exactly the exact same and that essentially changes the term “personal” on your PBN into the term “people”. So clearly, what we need is to our PBN websites to have at least exceptional C-Block IP addresses:

67.202.92.6
67.202.143.13
67.202.95.19
67.202.56.98

Obviously, the best case scenario will be to allow them to be wholly unique, however, again, the rule of thumb is that in minimum your C-Block ought to be unique. Alright, now that we cleared that from the way, let us look at the three hosting choices you have in regards to private site networks.

The 3 Kinds Of Cheap Hosting for PBN You Can Use For The PBN Websites

Alright, so you have found some great expired domains to your PBN and today you’re ready to set up sites on these and get started building top quality backlinks from the PBN to your cash websites. However, where do you sponsor each of these gorgeous domains available? Well, you essentially have three choices:

SEO hosting — again, just don’t take action.

Affordable hosting — feasible for small to medium sized personal site networks.

Reseller hosting — for bigger PBNs.

Let us begin with the first choice you’ve got and the one that you just should not ever go with.

SEO Hosting For PBN Websites

Right from the get-go, I firmly emphasized on the fact that SEO hosting is a really poor approach for personal blog networks. Why bother seeing it as an alternative? Since it amazes me just how a lot of individuals still proceed with this. I guess that is the power of advertising eh?

Anyhow, I will churn out a thousand reasons why to not go with SEO hosting to your PBN websites, but the simpler thing to do is that you just trust me. I mean, SEO hosting specifically targets individuals who wish to host sites for SEO purposes. What that creates is a really poor area.

Every one of these SEOs that host their own sites with SEO Hosting firms have their PBNs connecting to cash websites and not all of them understand what they’re doing this if somebody screws up something, they might not be the only one carrying a penalty from Google if you understand exactly what I mean.

The point is, just don’t proceed with SEO hosting. SEO hosting firms typically would have that specific same key word in their name or slogan somewhere so beware. Moving on to alternative number two — cheap hosting.

Affordable Hosting For PBN Websites

As I mentioned a little bit over, this really is the smartest choice for little to midsize private site networks. It’s a little bit time consuming since you’ll need to set up accounts with numerous hosting firms, but nowadays, all of these have created quite user friendly platforms which need only a couple clicks in your part so that it should not be a great deal of work that you set up your PBN websites.

Reseller Hosting For PBN Websites

For those unaware, reseller hosting is essentially the purchase price of hosting out of 1 firm and then reselling it to others — typically for a gain.
And that I will then apply these tools to market them to other individuals searching for cheap hosting and also create simple gain. Nonetheless, in the instance of a PBN, of course, we aren’t purchasing the reseller hosting because of its overall purpose, but instead, for the simple fact that it provides us precisely the things we desire for PBN hosting — special domain names, a great deal of space and bandwidth, also, in certain scenarios, exceptional C-Block IP addresses.

I mentioned in some specific instances because not all of reseller hosting programs provide this attribute and as we found in part one of this guide, we need our PBN websites to get at least exceptional C-Block IP addresses. Consequently, in case you opt to go for this strategy, you want to first discuss your requirements with the hosting firm where you intend on purchasing reseller hosting.

Now, a Couple of important things to notice about reseller hosting for PBN websites are:

You do not want it unless you’ve got 40 — 50 or more websites on your personal blog network.

You should not host all of your PBN websites on one reseller hosting accounts. Something like 10 — 15 percent is the overall limit.

You do not wish to link to exactly the exact same money website from more than 1 domain on precisely the exact same reseller hosting accounts. Therefore, in the event that you sponsor 10 PBN websites on one reseller account, you would like to restrict the links to one money site to just one of those 10 PBN websites.

Thus again, you have to understand what you’re doing in case you choose to choose reseller hosting. Do your research ahead, understand the overall rules of PBN security, and then choose the most suitable choice for your PBN.

Overview

So to summarize what we covered in this Cheap Hosting for PBN post, we all need is only a single sentence. Be certain that you use in the least special C-Block IP addresses for every PBN website, don’t use SEO hosting, utilize Cheap Hosting for PBN for small to medium sized personal site networks, and use reseller hosting for bigger PBNs.

You really do have the mix option wherein you may combine cheap hosting with reseller hosting to create your PBN much safer, therefore do also take this into account when you’re coming up with a strategy for the hosting of your personal blog network websites. You can host a number of those websites on some reseller hosting accounts and then host the remainder on cheap hosting accounts. However, no matter what you do, your number one priority ought to be security rather than cash saving.

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What is Bitcoin?

Should you keep current with all the web hosting business news you may have encounter ‘Bitcoin’.

It appears that barely a day goes by with no web host announcing they’ve embraced Bitcoin as a payment method.

However, is Bitcoin just another PayPal? Can it be a brand new money?

What’s Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a ‘cryptocurrency’ (or even ‘virtual money’) which may be utilized as a payment method, but it is not a physical money like pennies and dollars. It arrived on the scene in 2009 as a “peer reviewed” payment system that contested more conventional kinds of online payment.

Up until Bitcoin individuals had accepted the concept that a third party intermediary was required to create a payment on the net. Whether it had been a lender, or even a company like PayPal, the intermediary acted as the medium of transport, and naturally, took a commission for the services.

Without a middlemen so to speak, moving cash by Bitcoin means substantially lower transactional fees. And the other reasons, making Bitcoin incredibly appealing.

Who possesses Bitcoin?

Internet folklore has it that Bitcoin was made by Satoshi Nakamoto. Though Nakamoto’s name appeared on the first 2008 research paper that initially mentioned Bitcoin, he’s never been correctly identified.

Back in February 2014, Newsweek magazine failed to locate somebody named Satoshi Nakamoto they believed was that the Bitcoin founder, but after contested, the guy they discovered indicated that he understood nothing concerning the cryptocurrency!

Since that time several titles are indicated, culminating in Australian entrepreneur Craig S. Wright in late 2015. Other suggestions have included the title ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ was really passed around a succession of programmers who took turns using it.

While a person may indeed have established Bitcoin, it is just as listed data and isn’t so owned in the sense that a firm like ‘Paypal’ is possessed.

Can Be Bitcoin legitimate?

Bitcoin has had a chequered history. It’s at times been tagged a “electronic Ponzi scheme” and having an online technology, it’s been connected to the “Deep Web” or “Dark Web” — that is the 90 percent of the net that may only be obtained with a ‘Tor Browser Bundle’ (instead of Google Chrome!) .

This is the planet of ‘Silk Road’, drug dealing and other crime.

And since you do not need to use a title when you’re creating a Bitcoin trade, then it’s also the money of choice for hackers!

Besides associations using the murkier side of the world wide web, Bitcoin has had other issues.

MtGox, a top Bitcoin supplier, dropped in February 2014 leaving Bitcoin owners having tens of thousands of dollars worth of reductions.

Despite setbacks, Bitcoin has certainly come of age, and it has gone very much mainstream. As we mentioned at the start of the report, a growing number of web hosts accept Bitcoin, but also the likes of Microsoft today take it — and it will not get much more mainstream than that!

Other firms such as online travel booking service Expedia take Bitcoin, as does WordPress, and, as you may imagine, numerous pizza delivery providers accept Bitcoin!

What’s Bitcoin appreciated?

Bitcoin’s worth is set by a set of complicated mathematical formulas and above the previous year its worth has practically doubled.

As with other monies, it’s also valued based on what the market will cover it and also the quantity of action around the money.

Unlike conventional legal tender, there aren’t any Bitcoin coins and notes. A Bitcoin ledger exists that is in essence a listing of every Bitcoin trade that has ever taken place.

In the time of going to press on the worth of a single Bitcoin is well worth a staggering $2,841.25!

Its degree of expansion means that if you had purchased $1,000 of Bitcoin in 2010 you’d be a millionaire 35 occasions more than now!

I know I will make Bitcoins. How can I do this?

1 way you may make Bitcoins would be to you involve yourself in ‘Bitcoin mining’.

Bitcoin mining is the practice of incorporating trade records to Bitcoin’s people ledger of previous transactions.

‘Bitcoin miners’ get Bitcoins as a reward for doing so.

Having said that, nowadays you require a LOT of servers to create any real cash Bitcoin mining.

Exactly how extensive is Bitcoin?

Presently there are roughly 15 million Bitcoins ‘in flow’, however, the highest quantity of Bitcoins cannot exceed 21 million. This offers the money more stability when compared to other monies where printing cash is uncontrolled — Bitcoin is controlled and consequently has real price.

What’s Bitcoin controlled?

There’s a massive database of all Bitcoin trades past and current. A community of ‘nodes’ track when Bitcoins are sold and comprehend efforts to re-spend Bitcoins who have already been invested. It is a relatively stable system.

How can you utilize Bitcoin?

To utilize Bitcoin you have to set up a ‘virtual pocket’. Virtual pockets are offered via a range of sites — Blockchain being the most recognized.

As an alternative, you can purchase Bitcoin through internet exchanges. A number of the best known exchanges comprise Coinbase, LocalBitcoins, Kraken, BitStamp and BTC-e.

Believe it or not, Bitcoin ATMs are also now available, as are lots of Bitcoin mobile programs.

How can you get Bitcoin?

To acquire your Bitcoins you want a ‘Bitcoin speech’. Each wallet is related to an address.

It is possible to save digital pockets onto a computer hard disk or onto a cell phone, but recall — in case your hard disk fails or your cellular phone bricks, then your Bitcoins have gone forever!

To acquire your Bitcoins you will need a ‘Bitcoin speech’. Each wallet is related to an address.
It is possible to save digital pockets onto a computer hard disk or onto a cell phone, but recall — in case your hard disk fails or your cellular phone bricks, then your Bitcoins have gone forever!

How can you invest Bitcoin?

A Bitcoin address comprises 24-34 letters and numbers and Bitcoins are just transferred between addresses. As each pocket has a Bitcoin speech, sending and receiving cash is rather easy – Bitcoins are just eliminated from 1 pocket and additional to another.

Is it here to remain?

Whether Bitcoin is here to remain very much depends upon who you talk to.

A Forbes post in June 2017 inquires if Bitcoin is intending to “self-destruct” (Bitcoin Is At An All-Time High, But Can It Be About To Self-Destruct? ).

The issues Seem to lie inside the Bitcoin community itself:

“The power battle” this report implies is “within the apparently straightforward question of how to update the system to handle more trades”.

Though the tiniest Bitcoin unit is your “Satoshi” — just one hundred percent of a Bitcoin — its rising value means transport fees are rising and it is becoming almost unsuitable for some kinds of trades.

On the other hand, the overall consensus is that Bitcoin has got this way and it’s going to be here for the long haul!

How can I accept Bitcoin obligations for my (web hosting) company?

There are a vast selection of Merchant Services that will allow you to accept Bitcoin payments.

You might even use ‘Point-of-Sale’ hardware terminal alternatives like Coinkite, XBTerminal, and BitStraat.

These components are extremely reminiscent of the payment terminals it is possible to use for credit card transactions.

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Quality Shared Hosting

There are a variety of kinds of shared hosting plans suitable for different websites in regards to the tools or the shared hosting system they require. To decide on the most appropriate shared hosting service to your internet portal, you need to estimate what server-side computer software applications it requires, the number of daily visits you anticipate at the start and later on, in addition to any other special demands that might have to be fulfilled.

The most important selection for small web portals using a few hundred or even several million audiences is a shared hosting option. With this kind of internet space hosting, every user pays only to their strategy, which reduces the whole cost per person radically. There are numerous web hosting programs varying from a hosting company into another, offering different levels of hard disk storage space and bandwidth, distinct email address accounts quotas and so forth. The fact remains that you could purchase a program which can incorporate the specifications that your site actually needs. You aren’t going to need to pay plenty of money to get a package you won’t make use of, or end up using a small sized accounts that may not host the internet portal. We, in Vek Hosting, provide a huge choice of shared hosting packages suitable for personal or small business web sites which even offer pre-activated script-powered platforms such as Joomla, Mambo, Drupal or even WordPress – to leave matters easier. If you start with a low-price accounts and you need more features, updating to a greater strategy demands only a mouse click.

Shared web hosting – Negative Sides

A negative component of the shared web hosting platform is that the web servers have some applications platforms installed on them and you can’t activate extra software platforms. Some sites, notably online storefronts, require software to be installed on the server for them to operate, and using a shared web hosting environment, it is possible to activate only software applications which don’t require complete root-level accessibility.

Personal Digital Web Servers and Dedicated Servers

For internet portals which request complete server root access, or if your internet portal site has many 1000’s or perhaps 1 000 000’s of traffic daily, what you need is a virtual private servers or a dedicated server. A virtual private web hosting server is a software emulation of a dedicated alternative and it functions in precisely the same method.

Virtual Web Hosting Servers

Both options normally include complete root access and can be rebooted by means of a software application by the customer, autonomously from the internet hosting provider. Comparable to the shared website hosting programs, the virtual private servers along with the dedicated web hosting server programs include varied specifications based on just what the web hosting provider has to offer you. A VPS web server bundle has ensured data storage, random access memory and processor use quotas that could sometimes be enlarged for brief periods of time on state that you will find free tools on the physical server. Having a dedicated server, the only limit is that the hardware gear it’s using, and it may be configured by altering or appending components. A VPS web hosting server is easier to manage as it entails virtualization software, which may be used to restart it, to set up software applications, track data, etc. The management of a dedicated server is much more complicated, so this kind of account would preferably be used by educated users.

Dedicated Web Servers

However, some suppliers supply managed dedicated web server hosting alternatives where they operate hosting server management processes on behalf of their client. This is sometimes a portion of bundle or an additional feature.

Before Selecting…

Picking out the top hosting strategy is vital since it may have an impact on the correct operation of a web site. Before choosing an account, compare the advantages and disadvantages, analyze thoroughly all of the preconditions for the internet portal site to operate correctly, particularly if it’s script-based. And if you’re still in doubt that one is your most common shared hosting service to you, ask our live chat operators or phone us – our sales representatives will be delighted to assist you and answer all of your queries.

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OpenVZ Template Updates

We have recently updated our OpenVZ templates to the latest version. Please find a full list below.

OpenVZ Templates:

• CentOS 6
• CentOS 7
• Debian 7
• Debian 8
• Fedora 23
• Scientific 6
• Suse 13.1
• Suse 13.2
• Ubuntu 12.04
• Ubuntu 14.04
• Ubuntu 16.04
• Ubuntu 16.10

You can find more on our VPS page with all the details and prices (Starting from $3.49 a month).

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What are the benefits of Unmetered VPS Hosting?

Unmetered VPS Hosting is just one of the more recent kinds of web hosting which has just recently gained in popularity. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS hosting is a source of confusion for many people and companies trying to find a hosting company for their Web ventures. The cause of this is that it is in fact a hybrid of both shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

It’s no wonder why people are confused by the expression and are unsure whether it is going to suit their intentions and their web hosting needs. We will look to describe the advantages and disadvantages of VPS hosting to help you better decide if it’s acceptable for your endeavors.

Unmetered VPS Hosting Defined

A virtual private server is one which is partitioned so that it’s its own operating system, disk space, and bandwidth. What, precisely, does this imply? A physical server which resides in a data centre is utilized for VPS hosting. That server is subsequently divided into different spaces which produce its own virtual server. The account holder who’s placed on the virtual server sees only their digital surroundings and may reboot their server or use it as though it was their very own dedicated server.

The distance acts the same as a dedicated server but it is in actuality a part of a single physical server. As it serves as a dedicated server that is an excellent interim solution for websites that may require a dedicated server in the future but aren’t yet prepared for it. VPS hosting is a fantastic connection between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

Who Makes VPS Hosting?

Many hosting clients have a taste for VPS hosting since they have more control over their surroundings than they do using shared hosting. Even if they don’t need all of the system resources allocated to them at the VPS and also a shared environment is equally as appropriate, the management they’re afforded is well worth the additional expense.

For men and women who wish to possess dedicated hosting however are somewhat wary of the technical knowhow required, VPS hosting is a excellent starter package to get their feet wet. They could check it out and raise their skill set without committing to as much cash up front.

What Are the Advantages of Unmetered VPS Hosting?

Along with all kinds of web hosting, there are pros and cons to every and every one is appropriate to certain conditions. Generally there are lots of benefits of hosting your website on a virtual private server. These include:

A VPS hosting accounts is more affordable than a whole dedicated hosting plan which employs a physical server.

Most VPS plans may be customized to satisfy your requirements so that you cover what you need but you don’t have to take care of any features you won’t ever need.

Most VPS hosting plans may be scalable. It is possible to begin off on your digital environment with the minimal amount of resources that you desire and then as you increase slowly boost your hosting plan to accommodate your requirements. You don’t need to cover excessive funds you still haven’t grown into.

You’ve got far more control on your digital server in relation to the with shared hosting. You will probably have root access and the capacity to use scripts which might not be permitted from the shared hosting environment.

You’ve got exactly the identical technical support just like shared hosting for many issues.

You are able to pick from semi managed hosting in which the hosting company manages any maintenance and fully managed solutions.

Are There some downsides to Unmetered VPS Hosting?

Unmetered VPS Hosting, even in concept, is a excellent way to get the help of a dedicated server minus the cost related to that. But, there are a few possible problems that can happen with VPS hosting. The most important disadvantage from a fiscal standpoint is the fact that it’s more expensive than shared hosting. For websites which don’t require a dedicated hosting service, the price might be prohibitive. Although it isn’t quite as expensive as committed, it’s also typically far more expensive than common.

From a services perspective, however, the problem may be a lot greater. Some web hosts provide VPS hosting but don’t devote the resources appropriately. This might cause problems down the line in case a specific site utilizes its sources at peak levels. The cause of this is that the hosting company might have more than sold its distance, banking on the chance that every account on the physical server won’t use its allocated shop of resources. But if they do, then it might lead to server problems that will influence the rest of the websites on the server. A way to fight this is to make certain that you’re mindful of the number of digital balances are on the server at the same time.

VPS hosting is a terrific connection between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. It s main benefit is the capability to have total control over the hosting environment as you’d get at a dedicated hosting package minus the price tag. There are a couple of issues you might encounter if the server doesn’t manage VPS properly but if they do and you are able to afford the slightly higher cost, it’s a excellent alternative.

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What is Cloud Website Hosting?

What’s cloud website hosting really? The term ‘cloud’ seems to be somewhat contemporary in the present computing, World Wide Web and hosting. Yet, just a few actually understand what cloud hosting is. Perhaps it’s a smart idea to educate yourself about cloud website hosting services. To create an extremely lengthy narrative short, we’ll first explain to you exactly what cloud hosting isn’t.

Cloud Website Hosting Isn’t Restricted to a Remote Data Storage Exclusively.

Supplying a remote disk storage assistance, which includes one single information storage tool for many users, doesn’t turn any given hosting provider into a real cloud site hosting company.

The cPanel hosting suppliers dub the capability to provide remote disk storage alternatives a cloud website hosting solution. Until today there’s not anything bad about the cloud designation, but… we’re talking website hosting solutions, not distant file storage alternatives for corporate or individual functions. There is always one “however”, is not there? It is not enough to dub a shared hosting option, driven with a single-server hosting environment, just such as cPanel, a “cloud website hosting” service. This is so as the other elements of the whole web hosting platform has to be working in precisely the same way – this doesn’t apply only to the remote disk storage. The other services included in the whole hosting process also need to be distant, isolated and “clouded”. And that is very problematical. An extremely scanty variety of web hosting companies can really do it.

It Entails Domain Names, E-mailboxes, Databases, Document Transfer Protocols, Control Panels, etc..

Cloud website hosting isn’t restricted to a distant disk storage only. We’re discussing a hosting agency, serving loads of domains, sites, e-mailboxes, etc., are we not?
To dub a web hosting service that a “cloud website hosting” one needs far more than supplying plainly distant disc storage mounts (or likely servers). The email server(s) need to be devoted simply to the email linked services. Doing nothing else than those particular missions. There could be just one single or perchance that a whole group of email servers, based on the complete server load generated. To get a genuine cloud website hosting option, the remote database servers must be functioning as one, irrespective of their actual volume. Executing nothing distinct. The exact same is valid for its consumers’ web hosting CPs, the FTP, etc.

You will find Cloud Domain Name Servers (DNSs) too.

The DNSs (Domain Name Servers) of a true cloud website hosting services supplier will encourage multiple datacenter places on various continents.

Here is an example of a Domain Name Server of an Actual cloud website hosting solutions supplier:

dns1.quickclickhsoting.com
dns2.quickclickhosting.com

If this type of Domain Name Server is provided by your hosting services supplier, it’s not a guarantee that There’s a cloud hosting system in use, but you may definitely be sure if you see a Domain Name Server like the one under:

dns784.hostgator.com

dns785.hostgator.com

That there is not any cloud hosting system. This kind of Domain Names Server only demonstrates that the web hosting system in usage is one-server based. Maybe it is cPanel. CPanel is a one-server hosting solution also holds a market share of over 98%. In cPanel’s instance, one single physical server is liable for all hosting services (internet, email, DNS, databases, FTP, CP(s), internet documents, etc.).

Remote File Storage – The Warped Guide of Cloud Website Hosting.

Thus, a cloud website hosting solution isn’t restricted just to some remote disk storage alternative, as numerous hosting firms wish it had been. Unluckily for them, if this was true, the majority of the file web hosting providers could have been categorized as cloud web hosting ones long past! They aren’t categorized as such, since they just provide file web hosting options, not cloud web hosting solutions. The file web hosting platform is really very easy, compared with all the web hosting platform. The distant disk storage system isn’t a cloud hosting system. It can’t be, as it is merely one easy constituent of the whole cloud hosting system. There is plenty more to be found from the cloud hosting system: the hosting CP cloud, the database clouds (MySQL, PostgreSQL), the Domain Name Server cloud, the FTP cloud, the email cloud along with… in the not too distant future, possibly a few new clouds we currently aren’t educated about will surface suddenly.

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Building an infinite Plex Media Server using Amazon Cloud Drive

Step 1  –  Get an Adequate VPS

Quick Click Hosting offer 3 options which are good for a Plex server. You can purchase here. Prices start from $3.49 for 30Gb SSD/256Mb RAM to $11.99 for 100Gb SSD/1Gb RAM. Use the promo code FDA57SNF1C during checkout when buying Business VPS SSD to receive a free upgrade to 2Gb RAM after purchase.

Step 2 — Installing Plex

To begin with, you are likely to need to SSH to your VPS. I work on Macs so that I use Terminal because of this. To do this you just type:

ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Replace the X’s with your own VPS IP address.

If it asks if to allow connections and save the machine, type yes. You will then have to put in your password to the root user on your own server, We will email this to you personally when you purchase your VPS.

Now we are in, we will need to download and set up Plex.

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Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Standout Client Testimonials

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new customers can be extremely difficult. Just trying to remain in business takes up a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.

In today’s web-based and social-driven economy, ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

Ignoring what your clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

You are also doing your business a great disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your products, services, client support, etc. User reviews, testimonials and case studies are effective ways of marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.

In this article, you will learn all you need to know to achieve better results online with knockout customer testimonials.

User Reviews

Legendary businessman and showman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Testimonials quoted directly from satisfied users are far more persuasive for drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.

There is clearly an untapped source opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews from their clients!

Reviews and customer testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your services or products.

Studies conducted by many marketing research companies all seem to point to the same inevitable conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying products, help users select products and help increase the number of sales.

Here are just some of the findings available to support this:

• According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company that researches and measures user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Web site visitors who interact with both user reviews and customer questions and answers are 105% more likely to purchase while visiting, and spend 11% more than visitors who don’t interact with UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2 2011).
• Customer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer, February 2010).

(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)

Adding Consumer Testimonials And Reviews And Online Reputation Management

Adding positive reviews to your site from customers who are thrilled with your services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.

Customer testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively or positively.

People may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook or a discussion thread about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your business and this could be costing you business.

This is where “online reputation management” becomes a vitally important aspect of your online success.

Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) may be be causing damage to your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a plugin for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your products through effective user review management: How To Easily Manage Your Online Reputation In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Creating Effective Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips

Testimonials, user reviews and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing. When you include your own user responses in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
• Help visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.

Below are some tips on creating testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in. This helps keep your testimonials “real”.
• Use photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces will draw the attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your content.
• Tell a story: Stories are so much more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s “horror story” and how your solution “came to the rescue” will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generalized statements about how “excellent” the customer service was and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: Add testimonials in your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you will have in your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your support when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “As a direct result of using your XYZ services, we were able to grow our profits by an additional $38,664 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ software has helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work you have helped them save, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent financial period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same customer testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out or have very few clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial everywhere on your web pages. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more customer testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
• Appeal to your target audience: As every infomercial featuring a celebrity endorsement, subject expert or “busy mom” knows, if you know who your target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become can be an extremely powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your best audience demographic.
• Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook wall praising your products or services, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Only use real testimonials. Your prospects need to see that the testimonials published on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with “made up” testimonials.

How To Get Client Testimonials

Ask For Testimonials

If you have just completed a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.

Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Include a text box for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
• Pull out your phone next time you visit a client or “hand over” a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to capture the client’s positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy for them. When clients send you positive written feedback that contains snippets of useful “testimonial” material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the best sections (only use what they have written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to save them time and let them know they are completely free to modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link To Their Site Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.

Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder broadcast. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your products or services. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to solicit testimonials from other members for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section On Your Site

Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section whenever you plan to add new testimonials in your site.

Useful Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for monitoring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about a heatmap analytics software you can add to your site to monitor visitor behavior here: Predicting User Behavior On Your WordPress Site Using Analytics Software – HeatMapTracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.

Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you then refer users to your “Testimonials” page.

Here are some great testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you publish a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.

Visit this site to download this plugin: Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.

Testimonials Widget makes plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and plugin support.

Go here to download the plugin: Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This is a premium plugin that provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
• Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. by adding a shortcode
• Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here to download and use this plugin: Testimonials Plugin

In Conclusion …

Client testimonials and user reviews are great sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews and feedback from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.

Additional Info

For additional sources of information and resources about creating effective testimonials read the articles below:

• Ecommerce Consumer Reviews: Why You Need Them And How To Use Them
• How To Create Captivating Customer Testimonials
• 5 Tips For Knockout Testimonials
• Make Customer Testimonials Meaningful
• Your 5-Minute Guide To Writing an Amazing LinkedIn Recommendation
• How To Get Great LinkedIn Recommendations

We also recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Disclaimer: We are not associated with WordPress or any of the WP products written about on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. The product details used in this review have been sourced from the plugin’s own website

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VPS Hosting 101 – A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Private Servers

Ask most site owners concerning hosting and they will gladly explain what shared, cloud and dedicated hosting is. Nevertheless, in regards to virtual private servers, plenty of them are not 100% sure exactly what VPS are what they are best suited to. Some do not even know there’s a VPS hosting choice. Therefore, to place everyone clearly from the film, this report will provide you a complete introduction to VPS.

What’s a VPS distinct to shared and dedicated hosting?
Shared hosting is somewhat like communal dwelling; basically, you rent a part of this host and share the sources: CPU (chips), memory and disc space, bandwidth, etc., with all the other users. This works nicely for many smaller sites as the speed, bandwidth, storage and reliability that you need usually function with no problem. However, for companies with larger requirements, the tools available can be overly restricted.

There are some possible problems with shared hosting: should a number of the other sites sharing the host hog tools it can affect your website’s performance and should they render themselves vulnerable to ailments or hacks, this can compromise your security.

If shared hosting could be likened to plenty of individuals sharing a huge home, VPS is the equivalent of dividing the huge house into numerous smaller apartments. Each VPS is another computing environment, isolated from others, using its own dedicated tools. Being a distinct entity with its own operating system ensures your information will not be compromised by additional clients’ vulnerabilities. In addition, it means that you can run any custom programs.

You have all of the disk space and computing tools at your disposal and control over which operating system and hardware that you would like to use, but this will make it the most expensive selection and is most suitable for companies that have bigger storage and processing requirements.

What are the advantages of VPS hosting?
Basically, VPS hosting provides site owners the chance to get lots of the characteristics of a dedicated server but at a cost that’s much closer the expense of shared hosting. That is just a few pennies over our high replicas, shared hosting option but considerably less than our cheapest dedicated host at $69.99mph. (* Costs at the time of book)

VPS also provides you the choice for fully managed hosting, complete administrative access, remote server access, and also the capacity to run custom applications programs. Additionally, you have considerably greater CPU bandwidth, RAM and storage at your disposal compared to shared hosting.

With improvements in virtualization and cloud computing systems, it appears increasingly probable that shared hosting has become yesterday’s entry level alternative. For new businesses starting up now, going straight for VPS is the far better choice. For site owners Which Are still using shared hosting, then you will find signs you should Search for this can tell you whether It May be time to update to VPS, these are:

A slow working site — a sign that you are hitting your shared hosting source limitations.
Your site has begun to have much increased traffic has significant peaks which it struggles to deal with.
Your organization needs to run customized programs so as to run its business.
Things to look for when Selecting a VPS hosting package
Not many VPS hosting is exactly the exact same and a few hosts provide far superior solutions and value for more than many others. Below is a listing of items you should look out for:

Entirely managed hosting
Many companies which use shared hosting do not possess the in-house technical experience to control a server and when that applies to you, you should start looking for a server that offers a fully managed service which preserves hardware, installs and upgrades your working system, and tracks your own server to get issues in order that it continues to function at optimal levels.

When you’ve got a problem on Friday night that you do not wish to wait till Monday morning until it’s possible to talk to a hosting provider, because of this, it’s absolutely essential your VPS host provides complete 24/7 support, such as technical assistance. A fantastic host should have different channels by which you are able to communicate: telephone, email, live chat, etc..

You should also verify that your service can give guidance on safety and program functionality.

Availability
You want a host that could guarantee your site will be online and will not be hampered by reliability difficulties.

Underpinning your whole operations is the hardware that your VPS is hosted on. If you would like a VPS that provides enterprise-class functionality, you will need to make certain your web server is investing in newer technologies such as super-fast SSD pushes and, the most recent Intel Xeon chips, high-speed DDR4 memory along with high performance RAID controllers.

Cost
Whilst cost is important when picking a VPS hosting packaging, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. It is a lot more important to take into account the value for money which you buy for the bundle you select. Because of this, it’s ideal to compare various services available carefully and to be certain you get all you need not only for today but or your future demands.

Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide will have given you a much clearer comprehension of virtual servers. You should now understand:

Exactly what a VPS is and how one is made
the gaps between shared hosting, VPS and dedicated hosting
the Advantages of VPS hosting
why and when You Should Think about shifting to VPS
exactly what to look for when Selecting a VPS hosting bundle
If you’re contemplating shifting to VPS, have a look at our exceptionally economical, fully handled VPS packages. Our VPS provide blisteringly quick, enterprise-class SSD storage, high-speed DDR4 memory along with the newest Intel Xeon processors — all backed up with our highly recognized 24/7 technical assistance.

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The advantages of Virtual Private Servers (VPS) versus shared and dedicated

For quite a long time the sole platform option in hosting has been between cheap shared servers or even high-cost dedicated servers.

This is accomplished through clever virtualisation software that produces and manages a variety of ‘virtual servers’ inside the shared hardware.
Every ‘virtual machine’ looks to the client’s applications, databases etc as if it actually was a dedicated host, with a preset memory dimensions, disk size and bandwidth. It allows the consumer to completely configure the environment for their particular application and safety requirements.

The virtualisation software protects that ‘virtual machine’ in the activities of other ‘ servers’ which are working on the identical physical hardware. Therefore, if another client’s program go ‘rogue’ due to a coding error or be swamped with online transactions, another ‘virtual servers’ would continue as normal. A significant crash within a ‘virtual machine’ will not impact others.

The virtualisation software which produces VPS potential has become quite advanced indeed and lately we have seen the entrance of Microsoft into the marketplace with their Hyper-V merchandise. This is powerful proof that the virtualisation strategy is quickly becoming mainstream, not only for hosting firms like individuals, but also for big IT users seeking to enhance the efficacy of the hardware utilisation.

The largest disadvantage of using a shared atmosphere for your sites or software is the effects of on your own system’s performance and reliability from the ones which you discuss with.

All you will need is among those other user’s software to crash badly along with the entire shared server would cease and require re-booting. Likewise another user’s site becoming popular would slow down the system to your software as they would have a disproportionate quantity of the shared system tools.

Beneath the VPS strategy these problems just disappear. It is as straightforward as that.

The virtualisation program protects every ‘virtual server’ in other people and isolates the vital resources which were configured.

It’s this isolation and protection that justifies the usage of Personal in the VPS name.

This demanded that the hosting provider to buy and configure new hardware for every client. This in turn meant that a significant capital investment upfront from the hoster and the accelerated ingestion of the data center space, electricity, community connections and so forth. As a result of this the fee to get dedicated servers was set high.

The VPS theory alters the hoster’s cost version substantially. Now, the hoster could offer a near-dedicated grade of service with shared hardware, which lowers the consumption of the information center racking, network and power connections. This price reduction is passed on the customer via reduced prices.

Another cost-related problem that utilizing VPS technology varies substantially simply comes into play following quite a few years of usage … hardware reset. This would lessen the possibility of failure in addition to allowing the client to benefit from developments on chips speeds and so forth.

The thought of refreshing the hardware following a period of constant still is true to get a VPS, however, the huge distinction is who pays. To get a dedicated server, the complete price of the replacement hardware has been borne by the consumer through the fee amounts, occasionally including a brand new installation fee also. Whereas at the VPS version, the cost is distributed over quite a few consumers, thus the prices can stay low during multi-year contracts when hardware refresh is contained.

Conclusion

Virtualisation has been quickly embraced by hosting companies in addition to big IT utilizing organisations. As a way it creates strong financial in addition to technical awareness and even reduces carbon footprints.

However, for many business computing demands virtualisation provides significant durability and functionality enhancements over using shared servers without no technical advantages.

If you want to chat through your hosting requirements and determine if it’s the VPS solution is of advantage, simply give us a call.

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Changing Web Hosting Service Providers

There are lots of reasons why individuals or companies wish to change to a new web hosting company. It could be as easy as insufficient storage space or bandwidth, or it might be on account of its customer service, or lack thereof.

Shifting to a new web hosting company may seem like an intimidating undertaking, but it does not need to be that complicated – there are just a couple of things to keep in mind.

Maintain your hosting account with your Current host open
It’s recommend that you maintain your existing hosting account active till you have completed the transition steps (ie. New account installation, file transfer, email creation and installation, DNS modification and propagation). This will ensure that your site and domain email accounts will be operating through the transition.

Choose a suitable new web hosting provider
Considerations include:

A) Form of OS (Windows vs. Linux) – it is dependent on the technologies your site needs. As an instance, if your website requires ASP, MSSQL, MSACCESS or alternative Microsoft-specific technologies, then you will have to find a Windows-platform web hosting program.

Create a backup copy of your Current website: download old account files
Ideally, files must be downloaded at exactly the same tree structure in which you would like to upload it afterwards. Also look for any file or chmod permissions you might to set on any folder or file. This is a rather easy task and can easily be accomplished by FTP.

But some free web hosting providers do not provide FTP access. This is especially true if you’re currently using a free Flash/drag-and-drop website development service (ie.

If this is true, you aren’t going to be able to download your existing files and will need to re-create your new files. You need to check to find out whether your new hosting provider offers a completely free site creator.

To avoid running into the exact same problem later on, make sure that your new web hosting provider provides FTP access.

Installation brand new (same) email addresses
To ensure that emails are appropriately received, it’s crucial to keep the identical email addresses, such as email aliases and forwarders.

DNS changes and propagation
Once you have uploaded your files into the new web hosting server and re-created your email accounts, you can go ahead and make the necessary domain name server (DNS) varies.

DNS is generally obtained once you have signed up with the brand new web hosting provider. You’ll have to replace your existing DNS settings using the new one – this is typically done through your domain management panel (your domain ).

The new DNS will take anywhere between 24-48 hours to spread, therefore the old hosting company is liable for email and website in the meantime.

Cancel your previous account.
Once your new account has been activated and your site and email services in your new hosting provider are up and running, you can move to have your previous account cancelled.

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Preventing WordPress From Brute Force Attacks

When you are the world’s leading CMS platform and the online publishing platform of choice used by millions of websites and loved by thousands of web developers and website designers, it’s inevitable that at some point in time, WordPress will come under attack from hackers wanting to score a “big win”.

In 2013, WordPress installations around the world were subjected to large-scale brute force attacks.

These attacks were caused by botnets (networks of infected computers programmed to attack other vulnerable computers).

Brute-Force Attacks

A brute-force attack is a technique used to break an encryption or authentication system by trying all possibilities.

(Source: Chinese University Of Hong Kong)

One of the many ways hackers use to try and break into WordPress sites is by trying to guess the site admin’s login username and password. This is achieved with software tools that can guess hundreds of login combinations in minutes.

If you’re using obvious login details, your website could be easily hacked by repeated attempts to guess your site’s login details.

This is called a “brute-force” attack.

Botnets

A botnet is a number of Internet-connected computers communicating with other similar machines in an effort to complete repetitive tasks and objectives. This can be as mundane as keeping control of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel, or it could be used to send spam email or participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks. The word botnet is a combination of the words robot and network.

(Source: Wikipedia/botnet)

“Botnets” are networks of private computers that have been infected with malicious code, which are then controlled remotely as a group, often without the unsuspecting computer owners even being aware that this is going on.

Botnets are regularly used to send mass spam emails.

Below is a screenshot taken from an online security monitoring site showing the locations of the command centers of ZeuS – a botnet that has been actively infecting computer networks all around the globe since 2009 …

(ZeuS is a botnet that has been actively compromising computer networks all around the world since 2009. Screenshot: SecureList.com)

These were well organized and highly distributed attacks. Over 90,000 IP addresses were identified by several hosting companies just in the initial attack, when the web was flooded with millions of attempts to force their way into WordPress user administration areas. The worldwide brute force attacks then continued, with over 30,000 WordPress blogs being hacked each day.

Coverage of this mass brute-force attack was reported by all of the major webhosting companiesand leading technology publications, such as Forbes, TechNews Daily, BBC News, PC Magazine, Tech Crunch, and even on the official website of the US Department of Homeland Security …

(Being the world’s most used CMS makes WordPress an obvious target for hacker attacks)

Does This Mean We Should Stop Using WordPress?

No. In fact, there are lots of very good reasons why you should choose WordPress if you are concerned at all about the security of your online presence.

To learn what makes WordPress a very secure web platform, read this article: Are Open Source CMS Platforms Like WordPress Secure?

It’s important to understand that, in the case of the brute force attack described above, no specific WordPress vulnerability was being exploited (the same script was also targeting sites built using other web applications like Joomla).

Mike Little, one of the co-founders of WordPress, said this about the botnet attacks:

It is a “simple” script that attempts to login using the admin login and a generated password. So if your password is too short or based on dictionary words it will be guessed and then the script can login legitimately and do whatever it wants including installing scripts (as plugins) or editing files. The attack tries to guess your password, if it succeeds, the most secure site in the world is wide open because they have your password.

(MikeLittle.org)

How To Protect Your WordPress Blog From Being Brute-Force Attacked – 10 Security Measures

You may think that your site has nothing to offer to hackers, but the reality is that every website has value to a malicious user.

If a hacker can find a software security flaw, your web site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target larger and more valued sites.

Additional undesirable consequences of having your site hacked include being blacklisted by search engines, having stealthy spam links advertising things like viagra, cheap offers on brand names, etc. in your content, malicious redirects to phishing sites, drive-by downloads (adding malicious software on your visitors’ computers), and lots of other nasties.

The reality is that software-driven bots are most likely trying to break into your website at this very moment. Whether they will break in or not, depends on how challenging you have made things for them to keep trying until they can work out a way to get access, or give up and go look for a less protected target.

How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?

Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security scan …

(WP Security Check Image source: Hackertarget.com)

You will see that the scan will display a number of results and information about your website setup …

(WP security scan results. Screenshot source: Hackertarget.com)

It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to see all of this information, then so can hackers.

(Product image: BlogDefender website)

The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories in your site are all valuable information to hackers, as this can inform them about any potential holes or weaknesses, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.

If your website is powered by WordPress and you’re not preventive steps to bolster the security of your site, then it’s practically guaranteed that, at some point in time, your site will be hacked, or at least targeted by bots, because these brute force attacks are systematically targeting WordPress sites worldwide!

When a website or blog gets broken into, blog owners can discover much to their dismay that they have been “locked out” of their own site, or notice that their files have been altered or even that their content has been entirely wiped out. Typically, sites will be infected with malicious software or viruses without the owner even being aware that a breach has taken place.

To help avoid the heartache (and significant financial loss) of discovering that your web site has been hacked into, below are ten simple, yet essential and effective security checks that will help to protect your WordPress site from being brute force attacked.

Note: Some of the recommended measures shown below need some technical understanding of how to modify core WordPress and/or server files. If you have no web skills, or don’t want to mess around with file code, then contact us, or ask your web host or a professional WordPress service provider for help.

***

Security Measure #1 – Get In Touch With Your Webhosting Service Provider

Get in touch with your hosting company and ask them exactly what security measures have been put in place to protect your site from brute force attacks, and what they do to ensure that your files and data get regularly backed up.

Check that your host backs up your server files and that, if disaster strikes, you can quickly and easily get your site back.

Security Measure #2 – Perform Complete WordPress Backups And Keep Your Site Frequently Updated

Never rely on your host for site backups. Instead, learn how to manage your WordPress site or get this service done for you and develop a habit of performing a complete site maintenance routine frequently (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, etc …)

A full WordPress maintenance routine ensures that:

• All unnecessary data and files are deleted,
• All WordPress data and files are free of errors, optimized and backed up,
• All WordPress software, plugins and themes are up-to-date,
• etc …

A complete WordPress maintenance routine looks like this …

(Maintaining your WordPress website frequently backed up and up-to-date is vitally important for WordPress security. Source: WPTrainMe.com)

Again, we cannot stress enough how important maintaining your WP website or blog frequently backed up and up-to-date is. WordPress site maintenance is not hard or time-consuming, but it must be done to ensure the security of your website or blog. If you don’t want to learn how to do WordPress site maintenance yourself, get someone else to do it but make sure this gets done. Backing up your website is the second most important thing you must do after making sure that your heart is still beating!

If you don’t want to back up your data manually, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Backup, Duplicate And Keep Your WordPress Websites Protected With Backup Creator WP Plugin

Security Measure #3 – Do Not Use “Admin” As Your Admin Username

The large scale brute-force attack on WordPress is mostly attempting to compromise site admin panels and gain access to sites by exploiting WP installations that used “admin” as the account name.

For reasons of website security, never set up sites with the username admin. This is the first area of potential vulnerability hackers will test. If your site’s user name is admin, then make sure you change it immediately.

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial created especially for WordPress admin users that shows you how to change your username, go here: How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Security Measure #4 – Use Strong Passwords

A “brute force” attack occurs when a malicious script persistently hits a username and password field with different strings of characters trying to guess the right login combination that will unlock your site.

Unless you put some measure in place to prevent the brute force attack (see further below for a couple of effective suggestions for doing this), the “bot” will just persist in attacking your site until it eventually gets access.

Weak passwords, therefore, become really easy targets for botnets. Make sure that you change your password to something that is at least eight or nine characters long, and that includes upper and lowercase letters, combined with “special” characters (e.g. %, $, *, etc).

Roboform is a password management program you can use to help you generate different secure login passwords …

(Roboform is a password software that lets you create different strong login passwords)

For a simple step-by-step tutorial created especially for WordPress users on how to change your login password, go here: How To Change WordPress Passwords

Security Measure #5 – Deny Access To Your WP Config File

The wp-config.php file allows WordPress to communicate with the database to store and retrieve data and is used to define advanced options for WordPress.

(wp-config.php file)

If hackers break into your WordPress site, they will search for the wp-config.php file, because this is the file that contains your WordPress database information, security keys, etc. Getting access to this information would allow someone to change anything in your database, create a user account, upload files and take control of your site.

To protect your WordPress site from attacks and even being used as part of a bot net, therefore, prevent people from being able to easily find your wp-config.php file. This requires knowing how to edit database information, move files around in your server and changing access permissions.

Security Measure #6 – Delete Or Rename Unnecessary Website Installation Files

Rename or delete the install.php, upgrade.php and readme.html files from your server.

These files are not required after installation and can be removed. If you don’t want to delete these files, just rename them.

Security Measure #7 – Keep Your WordPress Files, Themes And Plugins Up-To-Date

Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in earlier versions of WordPress that can be exploited, including outdated versions of themes and plugins.

Ensure that all of your software files, plugins, themes, etc. are always up to date.

Security Measure #8 – Disable Your WordPress Theme Editor

WordPress installations come with a built-in editor feature that lets the administrator edit plugin and theme files inside the dashboard area.

In WordPress, you can access your WordPress Theme Editor by selecting Appearance > Editor from the dashboard menu …

(The WordPress theme editor is accessible via the dashboard menu)

The WordPress theme editor lets anyone accessing your blog view and change your theme templates, and create mayhem on your site.

If you want to prevent unauthorized people from being able to access the WordPress Theme editor, you will need to disable it. This can be done by editing your wp-config.php file.

Security Measure #9 – Protect The Site’s Uploads Folder

The WordPress “uploads” folder contains all the media files that get uploaded to your WordPress site.

Normally, this folder is visible to anyone online. All a person needs to do to view all of the contents in the “uploads” folder is visit the directory using their web browser …

(WordPress uploads directory)

If any directories in your website have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious users, anyone could upload unauthorized file types or compromise the security of your website.

Protecting your directories will prevent online users from viewing your ‘uploads’ folder and other important directories. This can be done using plugins, setting file permissions, adding a blank index.php file (this is literally an empty file called “index.php”) to your uploads directory, and so on. Again, it’s best to ask for assistance from someone with experience if you are unsure about what to do.

Security Measure #10 – WordPress Security Plugins

Some great security plugins for WordPress are available that specifically address common security issues WordPress website owners face, such as preventing hackers from gaining access to vital areas of your site, protecting your website from malicious software, preventing unauthorized file uploads, etc.

Many WordPress plugins address some but not all areas of WordPress security. One security plugin that seems to do a comprehensive job of scanning, fixing and preventing issues that could lead to hackers accessing your files and damaging your site is SecureScanPro.

(SecureScanPro – total security software for WordPress)

SecureScanPro is easy to install and easy to use, and fixes most of the security issues that WordPress users need to address.

Another great plugin you may want to look at using is BlogDefender.

Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin

(Blog Defender Security Suite)

Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.

BlogDefender shows you where potential security holes in your web site are …

And lets you easily fix these …

If you don’t want to buy a security plugin like SecureScanPro or BlogDefender, you can use various free plugins, such as Limit Login Attempts …

WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like keeping your WordPress software, plugins and WordPress themes up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.

Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your sites.

As a final reminder, below is the advice given by a website security expert to all WordPress users following the large-scale brute-force attacks by botnets on WordPress in 2013 …

Owners of websites based on WordPress CMS must improve at least basic security settings and implement best practices such as the use of robust passwords and the accurate management of “admin” accounts.

Pierluigi Paganini, Chief Information Security Officer, Security Affairs

***

As you can see, WordPress security is of the utmost importance if you run a WordPress site. Hopefully this information will help prevent brute-force attacks on your WordPress site. If you need any further help or assistance with WordPress security, please contact us or consult a professional WordPress security specialist.

Also, do yourself a favor and subscribe to this site to receive notifications via email whenever we publish new information on WordPress security and reviews about WordPress security plugins.

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Is WordPress A Secure Website Platform?

In April 2013 a global brute-force attack struck WordPress installations across almost every WP hosting server in existence around the world.

These attacks were caused by botnets (networks of infected computers programmed to attack other sites with security vulnerabilities).

(WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS making it a frequent target for hacking attacks)

In March 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.

(Over 160,000 WordPress sites were attacked in a massive DDoS attack in early 2014. Image source: BlogDefender.com)

According to the Cnet report,

“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”

(Source: http://ift.tt/1LSDeye)

According to leading security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.

When attacks on WordPress sites take place on a worldwide scale, it’s natural for people to start asking if WordPress really is a secure software for building and running their sites.

WordPress often is targeted by hackers, due to its global popularity. But should you be concerned about WordPress as a secure web platform?

In this article you will learn some of the main reasons why you should consider using WordPress if you are at all concerned about website security.

Let’s start by looking at some facts …

Thousands of websites are hacked every year … not just WordPress sites!

The scale of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is rising, and it’s getting worse.

It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site … regardless of the web platform your website has been built with!

Since it’s no longer a matter of if, but when before your website is targeted by hackers, are there any advantages that WordPress can offer you in terms of security?

“Isn’t Open Source Software Highly Vulnerable?”

Many people will often try and argue that WordPress is not a safe platform for building and running a website or blog because having open source code means that anyone can view how the software runs.

Open-source CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use and anyone has access to the underlying code.

The argument against using WordPress, then, goes something like this: If anyone can examine the Open Source code for WordPress, then hackers can easily download the code and go through it in detail, searching for vulnerabilities in the code that can be exploited …

(It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when before your website will be targeted by hackers … WordPress or no WordPress!)

While it’s true that WordPress is a free program and hackers can easily go through the code searching for holes and weaknesses they can exploit (hackers can do the same with any software program), the fact that WordPress is a free, open-source application actually makes it more secure in several ways.

The reason for this is that WordPress is supported by a community of hundreds of software programmers, plugin developers and theme designers who are constantly working to help improve the software and make WordPress more secure …

(With WordPress, an open community of developers around the world is responsible for keeping the core application updated. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

WordPress evolves through the effort of a global volunteer community working around the clock to fix any issues detected by users. Everyone benefits from hundreds of web developers, designers and users who, at any one time, are focused on improving the software, fixing bugs and making WordPress safer for every user …

(WordPress is built and maintained by a large community of experienced web developers. Screenshot: WordPress.org)

The moment that a security hole is identified by developers or users, these are reported in user forums and addressed by the WordPress developers …

(WordPress is continually being improved upon by a huge community community of developers and users. Image source: make.wordpress.org)

The WordPress community support system, therefore, is quite formidable and anybody can contribute to the process of addressing security issues.

For example:

• If you find bugs and a security weakness, you can report these by emailing security@wordpress.org.
• If you find issues in a WP plugin, you can report these by sending an email to plugins@wordpress.org.

This is why the WordPress community is constantly releasing new security updates, and why you need to keep your WordPress sites and blogs regularly up-to-date …

(WordPress frequently releases new version updates to address security holes)

WordPress CMS Vs Proprietary CMS Platforms

Contrast what we have just discussed above with proprietary CMS technologies where often the responsibility for maintaining software security, fixing bugs, etc. falls to a small team of developers with limited resources and you will quickly understand the value of using WordPress to power your website or blog on a secure platform.

The WordPress CMS is free to download, use and modify, and thousands of volunteers and expert developers are continually working to improve the software. Can a proprietary technology company afford to employ as many developers and programmers and still deliver you a free CMS platform that you can download, use and modify as you wish?

WordPress Vs Other Open Source CMS Platforms

(CMS Platforms – WordPress, Joomla and Drupal)

Whilst on the topic of Open Source content management systems, there is valid research showing that the WordPress CMS is actually safer than other Open Source CMS platforms such as Drupal and Joomla.

For example, the chart below shows how many security vulnerabilities were discovered in each of these open source CMS platforms …

(WordPress experiences less security vulnerabilities than other CMS applications. Screenshot source: National Vulnerability Database)

Other studies show that, because WordPress is quite easy to use and to update, when sites using different CMS platforms were tested for security issues, sites run on WordPress had a significant degree of less exposure to risk …

(WordPress is more secure than other CMS platforms. Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)

WordPress Should Not Be Blamed

When WordPress sites are attacked en masse, don’t be too quick to blame WordPress.

According to a nonprofit organization that helps webmasters identify, remediate and prevent website compromises called StopBadware and security vendor Commtouch in a published report entitled “Compromised Websites: An Owner’s Perspective“, most website owners have no idea about the security threats their websites are exposed to, how to secure a website, or how to deal with compromised web security.

In fact, over 60% of webmasters surveyed in this report didn’t even know how their websites had been compromised after an attack …

(Many webmasters don’t know how their sites got hacked. Screenshot source: StopBadware.org)

Of more immediate concern for WordPress users, however, is the fact that many security-related issues result from users running sites with an outdated version of WordPress …

(Many security issues come from sites running an outdated WordPress version. Image: Sucuri.net)

When WordPress security issues were looked at in more detail, it was found that only around between 25% – 30% per cent of vulnerabilities discovered in 3rd-party code are found in the WordPress core software, while most security issues are found in plug-ins and extensions created by 3rd-party developers …

(WP Security Issues. Source: WebDesign.org)

Like all robust software platforms, WordPress is regularly updated to address new security problems that can arise. Improving security is always a concern, and to that end, you should always keep your WordPress site, plugins and themes up-to-date.

WordPress Is Used By Many Security-Conscious Businesses!

The amount of misinformation online about WordPress security has even led the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, to chime in and reply to posts online.

In an article entitled “A Bank Website on WordPress” posted on April 15, 2015 in his own blog, Matt wrote the following about WordPress security …

There’s a thread on Quora asking “I am powering a bank’s website using WordPress. What security measures should I take?” The answers have mostly been ignorant junk along the lines of “Oh NOES WP is INSECURE! let me take my money out of that bank”, so I wrote one myself, which I’ve copied below.

I agree there’s probably not a ton of benefit to having the online banking / billpay / etc portion of a bank’s website on WordPress, however there is no reason you couldn’t run the front-end and marketing side of the site on WordPress, and in fact you’d be leveraging WordPress’ strength as a content management platform that is flexible, customizable, and easy to update and maintain.

Matt then goes on to provide a couple of security tips, before stating the following …

For an example of a beautiful, responsive banking website built on WordPress, check out Gateway Bank of Mesa AZ. WordPress is also trusted to run sites for some of the largest and most security-conscious organizations in the world, including Facebook, SAP, Glenn Greenwald’s The Intercept, eBay, McAfee, Sophos, GNOME, Mozilla, MIT, Reuters, CNN, Google Ventures, NASA, and literally hundreds more.

As the most widely used CMS in the world, many people use and deploy the open source version of WordPress in a sub-optimal and insecure way, but the same could be said of Linux, Apache, MySQL, Node, Rails, Java, or any widely-used software. It is possible and actually not that hard to run WordPress in a way that is secure enough for a bank, government site, media site, or anything.

Millions of businesses, including banks, global corporations and e-commerce sites use WordPress to build their web presence, not just bloggers..

Other Areas That Can Affect WP Security

Other factors that can affect site security include things such as:

• No platform is completely protected from hacking. As many as 90% of all websites across all platforms are vulnerable to attack, mostly due to using outdated software.
• The biggest vulnerability in all content management systems seem to be the users themselves. An example of this is users ignoring good password security recommendations.
• Lack of constant monitoring. Security systems need to be regularly monitored, tested, updated and improved.
• Server setup. For example, websites on shared webhosting are only as safe as the least secure website on the hosting grid, so if someone else on your shared server gets their site hacked into, then every site on the shared server becomes vulnerable.

There’s No Reason To Avoid Using WordPress

As this article has hopefully shown, WordPress is as secure as most of the leading web platforms being used by businesses to build their presence online. As long as you implement basic web security measures and keep your WordPress software (and themes, plugins, etc.) updated, there’s really no reason not to use WordPress.

WordPress Security – Tips

To learn about ways to protect your WordPress site from brute-force attacks see this article: 10 Security Measures That Can Help To Prevent Brute-Force Attacks On WordPress

A vulnerable web site provides hackers with a valuable resource for launching distributed attacks, spreading malware and as a source of information theft. Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin makes your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets. Go here to learn more: Secure Your WP Blog From Bots And Hackers

If you are currently using an outdated version of WordPress make sure you back up everything before updating your software to benefit from the latest security updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their previous state.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here: Back Up, Copy & Protect Your WP Websites With Backup Creator Plugin For WP

Article References

For more information on the above, refer to the sites below:

• ITProPortal.com
• National Vulnerability Database
• BlogDefender.com
• UpAndUpStudios.com
• StopBadware.org
• Sucuri.net
• WebDesign.org
• Quora.com
• Ma.tt

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the security benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section or subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new articles or tutorials are published.

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