WordPress is the main choice for many website developers these days. It is very easy to use, and includes comes some great features. Above all, it has a powerful SEO capability. However, this popularity comes with increased risks. Just like every other popular software out there, WordPress attracts a large number of hackers. They will try to attack your site in a number of ways and if they succeed, your site may be at great risk. You end up paying a higher price as well as working hard to restore the reputation of your website. Instead of waiting for all this to happen, it is good to secure your website from the beginning. Here are some excellent ways you can secure your WordPress website:

1. Use a two factor authentication login

Two Factor Authentication
This is a simple but very effective way of ensuring that you keep your website safe from hackers attack. What you do in this case is to add another layer of protection. Anyone trying to login to your website will require another additional proof of ID in order to gain access. While a hacker may get your password right, the second layer of security might be hard for them to get through, which keeps your website safe. For this to happen, you just need to install a plugin like WP Google authentication plugin

2. Choose more secure passwords

Secure Passwords
The mistake many people make is in choosing passwords that are easier for them without thinking of how easy to guess they would be to hackers. The kind of password that you use will determine greatly how secure your website will be. Make it strong and keep changing it from time to time and you will not have to worry about hackers. In setting a password, use at least 10 characters. They should be a combination of uppercase, lowercase, special characters and numbers. There are password generating tools that can help you with this.

3. Employ login limits

Login Attempts
This simply means dropping the number of login attempts one can try out before they actually gain access. If the number of attempts is reduced, a determined hacker will not gain access in the end. In most cases, a hacker will try out several password combinations before they finally get it right. The number of attempts allowed will determine if they will succeed in the end or not. For this to work, you only need to lock your login retry on your Site’s login page.

4. Change login URL for your Admin

iThemes Security
The default admin login for WordPress will be very predictable for professional hackers. If you leave it like that, chances of your site being hacked into are high. You need to change it to something less predictable. This is something very easy and simple to do that will make it hard for any automated hacking to again access to your website. You only need to install a plugin for this, for instance the iThemes security plugin and your website will be more secure.

5. Set up a website lockdown and ban users

Website Lock Down
A lockdown feature may be required for failed login attempts. This will help prevent brute force attempts to hack into your website. The feature will help a lot in case there are several attempts with repetitive wrong passwords. What happens is that the site gets locked and you get notified immediately. The iThemes security plugin can help a lot in this case too.

6. Use SSL to encrypt data

SSL
Secure Socket Layer is a great way to protect the admin panel. Implementing SSL will ensure that data transfers between user browsers and server are secure. This makes it difficult for hackers to gain access in order to steal or even interfere with the data. Good thing is that it is very easy for one to get SSL certification for their WordPress website.

7. Use of email as login

Use of Email ID - Secure Your WordPress Website
Usernames are what is needed for one to login as default. However, using an email ID instead of your username will be safer for your website. The reason behind this is that usernames are very easy to guess especially by professional hackers. Email IDs are a bit hard to predict. Besides, every WordPress user account is always created using a unique email ID. This makes it even harder for hackers to login to any website. For this, you need just one plugin like the WP Email Login plugin.

8. Closely monitor your files

Monitor WordPress Site - Secure Your WordPress Website
This will help in boosting the level of security in your WordPress website. Monitoring your website’s files closely for any changes may help you know when there is an attack so as to act quickly. You can use such plugins as iThemes security or Wordfence.

9. Be careful when adding user accounts

Adding User - Secure Your WordPress Website
This is particularly necessary for those people who run WordPress blogs or multi-author blogs. If yours is such a website, you will constantly deal with many people accessing your admin panel. This makes one’s website more vulnerable to security attacks. There are plugins for this too, for instance Force Strong Passwords, which ensures that your users are using secure passwords all the time.

10. Regularly backup your website

Backup Buddy - Secure Your WordPress Website
Even with the most secure website, you need to keep an off-site backup just in case something happens. No one is prepared for attacks, which may make it hard for you to access your website. Instead of starting all over again, a backup will help save you time, energy and stress. There are plugins that can help with this too for instance backup buddy, VaultPress among others.

Ensuring that your WordPress website is safe is very important. Fortunately, there are many simple and very effective things that you can do in order to achieve just that. There are many plugins too, which have been created specifically to help WordPress users achieve the level of security they want in their website. With these, you can be sure to stay safe from hackers’ stress.