58. Let’s Pay Less: Do I Need to Pay for Website Security?

[00:00:00] Stephanie: We know how important it is to keep our blogs secure, but how much security should we be paying for? Let's chat about it. Welcome back to the podcast. We've been answering listener questions all month to celebrate a full year of pay less for traffic. But since it's the last Saturday of the month, we're going to answer a question with a let's pay less twist.

[00:00:35] If you're new to the podcast, the last episode of the month is a discussion of a popular budget buster in the marketing space. We analyze the pros and cons so that you can decide if it's something you need to pay for or if your marketing dollars are better spent elsewhere. And this episode is not going to be any exception to my usual rule that I do not make a recommendation one way or the other because only you know your situation.

[00:01:01] And so let's dive in. This week we are going to talk about website security. There are many different security plugins that can help you block hackers and improve your website's overall security. But is this additional security measure actually a necessity? Before we dive into this topic, I need to make an additional disclaimer.

[00:01:23] Website security is a super important topic and I don't want anyone to think that this episode is meant to be a recommendation of any kind. Only you know the circumstances of your website setup, and so it's important that you do your due diligence surrounding anything discussed in this episode. All right.

[00:01:43] With all of that out of the way, let's talk about the importance of website security because there's no denying that it's essential to keep your website free of malware. As your website becomes more and more essential to your business income, it becomes more and more important to keep it up and running.

[00:02:00] You don't want your website to be vulnerable to security breaches, which can cause significant downtime for your business. This malware that I speak of comes in a lot of different forms. It might be adware that displays unwanted ads on your website. It could be ransomware that hijacks a website until a ransom is paid.

[00:02:21] Key loggers can steal protected information and so on and so on. We know how creative hackers can be, and I think we've all heard the horror stories of different computer viruses. But before you immediately open your wallet for a security plugin that is advertised as essential for keeping your website free from malware, it's important to weigh your options.

[00:02:47] When you're analyzing the security of your website, it's important to note that there are different layers of security that are available to you, and this starts at the top with WordPress itself. Building your site using WordPress means that you do have some security features built in, like two factor identification and things like that.

[00:03:06] So keeping WordPress updated can go a long way in keeping your website secure. Next is your choice of web host. And so when you think about your hosting provider, your website is a potential source of vulnerability for the actual web host. And so they don't wanna be infiltrated by hackers anymore than you want someone to hack your website.

[00:03:29] And so your host likely layers on additional protection for your website. Because it is in their best interest that your website is secure as well. And so the protection that they provide usually includes protection from brute force attacks. There are usually firewalls, malware detection, malware removal, and then site backups.

[00:03:55] And then finally, some people like the peace of mind of having an additional layer of security on their website. There are many premium plugins available that can provide additional protection for a website, but is that final layer really necessary? So let's talk about the pros and cons. First, let's talk about the pros of additional website security.

[00:04:19] Obviously there's an additional layer of protection, but it goes deeper than that. When I was brushing up on the security measures provided by my host, in preparation for this episode, I discovered some interesting wording, and so I'm going to quote directly from my host's website. So they said, quote, we scan your websites for malware every day.

[00:04:42] We can clean most of the malware files as soon as we find them. However, sometimes the workload is heavy and we may not be able to get to your site as soon as it is infected. That is why you need to monitor your website for suspicious behavior. You may find out that your website has been hacked or compromised before us, so please make sure to check out our guide about what you can do in those cases.

[00:05:07] End quote. So this is why many people turn to third party plugins to fill in the gap between when something happens and then when something is done about it. Because like my host admitted on their website, there can be a lag between when they discover it and when they're able to help you with it. Many bloggers swear by security plugins because they just provide peace of mind in case something does go wrong and their host can't help them right away.

[00:05:39] And honestly, I feel like that is the main pro for paying for a security plugin. It's just the peace of mind and the additional security. But now we have to address the cons. First, as always, in this series, is the additional cost. While most of the popular security plugins do have a free version, the services offered in that free version are usually limited to what your host likely does for you already, and so I'm talking about the things like malware detection and firewall protection.

[00:06:12] Those are often already provided for you through your host, so that means you usually need to pay for a premium plugin in order to get access to those additional security features. And the price tags for these plugins can vary. I saw that additional protection can range from $36 to $200 per year. So really it is not a huge cost by any means for the additional peace of mind.

[00:06:42] But there's another thing to consider. The second con to these additional security measures is that adding that extra layer of security actually adds a layer of complication to your website. It is super easy to break things when you add more protection than you actually need because the features you activate through the plugin can mess with the security features that are already provided by your host.

[00:07:13] And then, as we've discussed in a previous episode. Incompatibility from plugins can cause some pretty dramatic website mishaps. And so anytime you add a plugin of any kind to your website, you're running that risk of incompatibility, but there's something about these security plugins that make it even more risky.

[00:07:36] Ultimately, only you can decide if the peace of mind and additional protection are worth the cost and potential complication for your website. But before you open your wallet for a premium security plugin, I would recommend contacting your host to ask them about any potential compatibility issues with the plugin you're considering.

[00:07:57] And then, as I mentioned before, hosts have a lot of skin in the game when it comes to the security of your website, so I am sure they would be happy to answer your website specific questions. I hope that this episode has given you some food for thought when it comes to keeping your website secure. If you have a budget buster you'd like me to address in this series, you can submit your idea on my website.

[00:08:20] Just head over to stephanie royer solutions.com/podcast to fill out the form and I'll get to it soon.