WordPress is a content management system that I recommend for the following reasons:

1. WordPress is for free

On that offer websites that you can have for free such as websnadně, webnode and the like, you have to pay for functions such as the e-shop, the contact form or the blog. You can have these features completely free of charge without any monthly fees in WordPress. Of course, you still need to pay for the web hosting and the domain. WordPress is created by hundreds of volunteers from the community and this system provides very effective solutions for creating a great website, a blog or an e-shop, or a forum.

2. Simplicity and speed of the system

WordPress is also known for its simplicity. You do not need any programming skills to manage or edit the content. With a media library, you can easily save and easily add photos, videos, and audio files to your website. It also isn’t a problem to throw in WordPress Youtube videos, PDF files or audio. The possibility of writing articles is a matter of course. It is also worth mentioning the feature that has saved my nerves several times – the fact that the articles you write are automatically saved every time you add something.

3. A multitude of themes

If you want a simple website, you can choose from a number of free templates. Some are not worth much, but with a longer selection you can come across a great theme. But if you want to have a proper website, you can choose from paid themes. A one-time purchase of a theme will save you a lot of worries. These themes are regularly updated, you have 6 months of support from the developers, and most importantly, the themes look great. Some of them contain complex solutions for real estate agencies, so that you can manage the entire system of adding advertisements yourself. But you can also find themes with which you can create an online car bazaar, or job offers. You can explore these themes on the ThemeForest website.

4. A multitude of plugins

For WordPress, there are thousands of modules and themes that allow you to turn your site into just about anything you can imagine. With the WooCommerce plugin, you can create an e-shop in a short time. It will also take you a short time to create a discussion forum with the bbPress plugin. Contact forms with Contact Form 7 is fun as well. But if you are looking for a more demanding plugin, I recommend looking at CodeCanyon.

5. The WordPress community

The community is what makes WordPress more than just a system. The community of people who adore this software meets once a month in larger cities at WordPress meetups. WordCamps are also organized around the world, where people talk and give interesting lectures. In Bratislava, WordCamp is organized annually as well. WordCamp Bratislava 2016, which I attended, was my first, and there was a great atmosphere and interesting lectures. This camp takes only one day, with lectures in two different halls. One hall is for beginners and the other is meant for developers.

6. A blog, an e-shop, or a forum in a short time

In 2012, when I was still choosing what software to use for creating this blog, WordPress was my choice. At that time, it was used mainly for blogging. Thanks to its simplicity, it has also spread to complex websites. Thanks to the fact that WordPress has a number of free plugins, you can turn your website into a multifunctional e-shop or forum in a short time by installing the plugin, just as I wrote above.

7. Experts will advise you with WordPress

I am one of them. I have been working with WordPress for several years and this blog has been running on it since 2012, when I started actively working with it. I help, edit, translate, advise, make the site multilingual, secure, etc. I also make demanding custom adjustments.

7. Mobile display has several themes

Many people are already surfing the web via their smartphone or tablet. WordPress is a modern software and its themes, whether premium or free, include responsiveness for most devices. Without special editing or programming, your site will also be optimized for smartphones, but of course it must be programmed for that specific theme.

8. Updates and safety

WordPress itself is secure against attacks and hackers, but you may not always be able to check the security of your website. In particular, keep up with regular updates and use complicated passwords. Also avoid old plugins that are not updated. If you want to make sure and secure the site at a professional level, you can try out my services.

9. Easy connections with other systems

Combining your WordPress site with services like MailChimp, which makes it easy to manage your newsletter, or with Google Analytics, which makes it possible to monitor statistics, can be done in just a few minutes. Additionally, its simple connection to social networks will save you a lot of time. You can have an Android application for your website within a few hours.

10. SEO is optimized and customized for Google

WordPress itself is well-optimized for Google search engines, but sometimes it is necessary to set it well in the very core. You can also use a number of SEO plugins that are free. I especially recommend Yoast SEO.

Prispevok 10 Reasons Why You Should Use WordPress for Your Website appeared first on Michael Šubák IT BLOG | BestRanger.eu.

I’ve been working with WordPress since 2012 when I founded this blog. I’ve learned a lot through it, and I now use my experience professionally as a WordPress developer. Here are some of the most important tips every WordPress owner should follow.

1. Updates are essential

WordPress is open-source, just like the Android operating system, Mozilla Firefox browser, or VLC media player. This means it’s free to download, modify, and share. The advantage is that developers can read and edit the code. The downside, however, is that it may be more vulnerable to attacks if not properly maintained.

That’s why it’s crucial to always keep WordPress and all its plugins updated. Using outdated versions makes your website susceptible to known vulnerabilities. I’ve had to clean malware from compromised websites multiple times – in most cases, simply keeping everything updated would have prevented it.

2. WordPress has system requirements

For your website to run smoothly, your server needs to meet certain technical requirements – such as the PHP version, database version, and so on. These depend on your hosting provider. To ensure your site runs flawlessly with the latest WordPress version, your hosting should support at least:

• PHP version 8.3 or greater.
• MySQL version 8.0 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.6 or greater.
• HTTPS support

I can say with certainty that the WordPress web hosting from WordPress webhosting from Websupport.

3. Free themes can be risky

WordPress is free, you can download free plugins that allow you to add functions. Often, however, some plugins are designed so that you have to pay if you want more extensibility. Some themes are also done this way, the author is constantly updating his theme if someone buys the full version of the theme. But what about themes that don’t have the option of expanding to the full version? It often happens that these themes remain out of date for several years, and then very little is enough to make your website vulnerable.

The worst thing you can do is to download, or have a “programmer” add a theme that has been downloaded from the Internet, the so-called nulled theme. These are usually with a small script that either captures something, has an exploit in it, or you’re lucky and it contains nothing. But even that is difficult to update, and here we get back to point no. 1. I would definitely not start an e-shop on a free theme, as WooCommerce itself has regular updates, and if the theme remains still and you update your WooCommerce, there may be malfunctions.

4. You should have an SSL certificate installed

If your site is still running at http: // instead of https: //, you should fix it by July 2018. If you use web hosting such as WebSupport, then you have the opportunity to use a free SSL Certificate called Let’s Encrypt. In July, websites without https and also your website will be marked as unsecured by a warning at the website address in the browser. The SSL Certificate is thus no longer only necessary for every single e-shop and every single company that has a website, but it also applies to ordinary sites, and blogs. An SSL certificate has several advantages:

1. Your website will be marked with a handle and “safely” will be displayed next to it
2. Your website will be higher in Google search
3. Your website will not be able to be exploited by a Man-in-the-middle attack, thus protecting yourself, as well as your customers who log on to the website

If you have any problems with deploying the https protocol, feel free to contact me.

5. Websites have to be protected

What I wrote above is true, you need to update WordPress whenever possible. But additionally, the WordFence plugin should not be missing from your website, it is very helpful when searching for malware. It regularly scans files and notifies you of out-of-date plugins, it also checks each file for malwares, and notifies you. Its free version has several other benefits:

• Notifies of the login of website administrators
• Limits the number of incorrect password entries
• Blocks spam addresses from abroad that try to log in to your website
• Blocks the entry of vulnerable parameters that could allow attackers to gain access to the website

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security (Free, WordPress) →

However, WordFence needs to be set up very well, because sometimes it can be a big burden for the website, as it can use the full max_memory_limit and thus slow down the site.

6. Use a child theme for customizations

I often face the situation that a website was created for a client, and adjustments were made directly in the theme. This has two solutions only, to leave it at that and wait until WordPress and other plugins are updated and bugs come up and edits are deleted, or a child theme is created. So basically the child theme is a derived theme that uses its modified php files, and loads those files that are not modified from the original theme. This step is intended for more advanced users, but if you want to intervene in a programmed theme, you should definitely create a derived theme for smoothness and updating. Especially when updating WordPress.

Other recommendations

Naturally, there are still many things you should know if you have a website, whether it runs using WordPress or not. These include e.g. checking the consent to the processing of personal data in the form, SEO settings, site maps, not displaying errors, having properly secured chmod settings, caching, etc. But this is more challenging for the user and administrator of the WordPress website. However, you can have your WordPress website checked by a professional to avoid problems with the website.

Prispevok 6 Things You Should Know If You Have a WordPress Website appeared first on Michael Šubák IT BLOG | BestRanger.eu.