wwwSo you have a website for your business that isn’t that complicated. It tells visitors what you do, hopefully some examples of good results and how to get in touch with you. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done as far as communicating the most important elements, right?

Well, what would it mean to you if that website was down for a couple of weeks and prospects couldn't find you?

See, it’s easy to think that you don’t need to go to much trouble to protect a website that’s fairly basic. But the last thing you need is for some hacker to target the site and bring it down, causing you to lose out on potential opportunities.

That’s why it’s vital to keep these steps in mind:

1)   Keep your passwords complex.
You’d be shocked how many people choose passwords like, “Password12345.” Really! That’s practically like leaving the door to your house unlocked at all times. Then those same people are surprised when their online “house” is broken into by hackers. Don’t be one of them. Instead, try a combination of letters, numbers and unique characters in a password that’s obviously easy for you to remember but would be extremely difficult for someone else to guess. 

2)   Change your username from “Admin.”
When you’re set up on some websites, like WordPress, the username you start with until you change it is commonly “Admin.” If you leave it as is, it may send a signal to hackers that your site is a bit easier for them to try and get into.

How big of a deal is this? In just the last couple of years, there have been thousands upon thousands of attempts by hackers to guess usernames and passwords – by using the default username, they don’t even have to guess and you've just made their path to getting into your website that much easier. So, much like your password, give your username a special name that’s easier for you to remember but the bad guys can’t.

3)   When you’re asked to run a security update, do it.
Don’t worry – you don’t need to be a computer programmer to run a security update to your site. You just need to give permission for the update to go forward. So from time to time when you get a notification that your site is due for this type of update, do it. The more time that passes by and the more versions of security updates that you don’t run, the more vulnerable to hackers your website may become.

These relatively simple protective steps can help increase the chances that the right eyeballs from prospective customers view your website and the wrong people are kept far out of the picture. Which is right where they belong. Remember them for not only your site but also other sensitive places where company information is being stored, such as your email.