Lesson 4 from the Fall 2015 class of WordPress for beginners covering security, maintenance, backups, Jetpack, and Gravatars

1. WordPress for Beginners
Fall 2015 John A Logan College
Lesson 4: Security, Backups and Maintenance

2. Why is security so important?
Just like your house, you do not want anyone getting your important information.
Security is most important before something happens.

3. What can I do to keep my site secure?
1. Never use “admin” as a username or “password” as a password
2. Use secure passwords. The easier it is for you to remember the easier it is to be
hacked.
3. Update your site when you see updates needing to be made (Red circle with a
number in it beside the word “Dashboard”
4. Pay attention to your site. No one knows it better than you and you know when
something “isn’t right”
5. Use security plugins like iThemes Security, WordFence or BruteProtect (Jetpack)
6. Keep backups of your site

4. What is site maintenance?
It is the updating, backing-up, inspection, and testing of your website. Websites are not
fix it and forget it.

5. What is a backup and why do I need one?
Backups are a zipped file of everything in your file manager and database.
It is always a good measure to have a backup of your site that is not saved on the server
for if something bad was to happen. A site could become infected with malware, code
edited and the site broken, or something can go wrong with an update.
With a backup, nothing is ever permanent, because you can always revert the site back
to what it was before you started with the backup.

6. Popular Plugins to use for security,
maintenance, and backups.
1. iThemes Security- Basic WordPress Security
2. UpDraftPlus- Makes a backup of your site (Already installed)
3. Jetpack (multi-use plugin)
4. Akismet- Comment Spam
5. Yoast SEO- SEO helper
6. WP Optimize- Easy database cleaner
7. Ninja Forms- forms

7. Installing Jetpack
1. Go to plugins-add new
2. In the search bar type in “Jetpack”
3. Click “install now”
4. Once installed click “activate”
5. You will need to connect your WordPress.com account with your Jetpack plugin.
This is so the plugin can use the servers at WordPress.com to help your site work
more effeciently.
6. Once connected go to Jetpack-settings

8. Configuring Jetpack
We will go down the list in the Jetpack settings either turning on/off components and
what they do.
Beautiful Math- You will not need this ever unless you are making an algebraic style
website
Carousel- Jetpack’s Photo Gallery plugin. Great for portfolios and shopping
Comments- Jetpack’s comment structure. Please activate if you want to use
comments on your site
Contact Form- If you want a simple contact us page with no other forms on your
website, this is the best one to use.

9. Configuring Jetpack continued...
Custom CSS- You will not need this unless you learn CSS
Custom Content Types- This is for if you want custom pages on your site
Enhanced Distribution- Please keep this feature on. It pushes new content to the
search engines faster than if you only hit publish
Extra Sidebar Widgets- Gives you more options to use in widgets. Please leave turned
on
Gravatar Hovercards- Allows the use of Gravatar Hovercards
Infinite Scroll- (Theme Specific) If your theme allows Infinate scroll then all of your
blog posts can be on the same page

10. Configuring Jetpack continued...
Likes- Just like on Facebook, let readers like your pages or posts
Manage- Allows you to update your self-hosted website along with any
WordPress.com accounts from one simple dashboard. Use if you have a number of
websites
Markdown- Will not need unless you know how to write in Markdown
Mobile Theme- If your theme is not responsive, it helps your site look better on
mobile devices
Monitor- Please turn on. It will send you an email whenever your site goes down and
when it comes back up again

11. Configuring Jetpack continued...
Omnisearch- Searches posts, pages, comments, media, and plugins. On by default.
Photon- Caching for your pictures. On by default
Post by Email
Protect- Used to be called BruteProtect. Now Jetpack’s built in brute force
protection
Publicize- Share your new posts and pages with social media (Will configure later)
Related Posts- Shows 3 other posts on a post that is related by tags or category
Sharing- Gives options for readers to share your posts

12. Configuring Jetpack Continued...
Single Sign On- Use your WordPress.com login to login to all of your self hosted
websites
Site Icon (now in core so can be ignored)
Site Stats- See how many views you have had on your site
Site Verification- Google, Bing, and Pinterest Authorship
Spelling and Grammar
Subscriptions- Readers can sign up to have your new content be sent to them in
email

13. Configuring Jetpack Continued...
VideoPress (Paid Feature)- Show videos on your site without using YouTube
WP.me Shortlinks- changes your URL to a shortend link for sharing
Widget Visibility- Gives you the option to have the choice of what pages widgets do or
do not show on.
VaultPress (Paid Feature)- Jetpack’s backup feature

14. Setting up a Gravatar account
Gravatar is a globally recognized avatar that follows you from site to site appearing
beside your name when you do things like comment or post a blog. Avatars help
identify you and your blogs.
1. Go to en.gravatar.com
2. Click Create your own gravatar
3. You can use your WordPress.com account or make a new one
4. Add the emails you wish to connect your account to
5. Add an image (can be done later or from your phone)

15. Homework:
Start collecting media for
your site and writing
content.