Business / Corporation – The A2 Posting https://www.a2hosting.com/blog The Official Blog for A2 Hosting Tue, 08 Mar 2022 16:55:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.1 What Is a CSS Framework? (And When to Use 6 Popular Options) https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/css-frameworks/ Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:39:58 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=11339 Used by 96.2 percent of all websites, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a hugely popular language. However, coding a website or application from scratch can feel like you’re reinventing the …

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Used by 96.2 percent of all websites, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a hugely popular language. However, coding a website or application from scratch can feel like you’re reinventing the wheel, when you really should be focusing on what makes your project unique.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of CSS frameworks that can fast-track the design and development process. By opting for a framework, you can create standardized, higher-quality code, with less time and hassle.

In this post, we’ll discuss what CSS frameworks are and why you may want to consider using one for your next project. We’ll then share advice on how to find the framework that’s right for you, before exploring six popular CSS frameworks. Let’s get started!

An Introduction to CSS Frameworks

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) controls the presentation of a document that’s written in a markup language such as HTML. Unlike some other languages, CSS creates a separation between presentation and content. This gives you more flexibility in how you display your content.

This language also promotes code reuse, as multiple pages can use the formatting defined in a single CSS file. This can reduce complexity and repetition, while also improving your project’s performance, such as by reducing your website’s page loading times.

Many different systems use CSS. This includes WordPress themes, which uses CSS to output the data generated by this popular Content Management System (CMS). Every WordPress theme contains a single style.css file:

The WordPress theme editor.

Although you can write pure CSS, many designers and developers choose to use a CSS framework. This is a collection of stylesheets that provide a basic structure and classes for common elements.

You can use these pre-prepared stylesheets as a reference for resolving problems of a similar nature. Alternatively, you can override the framework’s generic functionality for your specific use case.

There can be some confusion about when to use a framework, and when it makes more sense to opt for a library. With libraries, you control when this technology performs a particular function. The rest of your code exists independent from that library. However, with CSS frameworks the control flow is in the framework, and you’ll customize it in places to better suit your project.

Why You Might Want to Use a CSS Framework

CSS frameworks can reduce the amount of code you need to write. Instead of programming everything from scratch, these frameworks provide all the tools you need to spin up a basic UI.

You can then spend your time perfecting this interface to meet your project’s exact requirements. Since you’re not starting every project with a blank slate, you’ll have more time to focus on the specific features that make your site or app unique.

A CSS framework can also be useful for agencies and freelancers who manage multiple client sites. Using this tool, you can create a theme and then deploy it across countless websites. This can help you onboard new clients more quickly, and grow your business without drastically increasing your workload.

If you’re collaborating on a project with multiple people, a CSS framework can help you achieve consistency. For example, instead of each team member inventing their own class names, a CSS framework implements standardized naming conventions. This typically results in higher-quality code that’s easier to read and maintain.

When your code is consistent, you’ll also find it easier to onboard new team members or freelancers. It’s also worth remembering that just because your staff are happy in their role now doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stick around forever.

It’s smart to ensure that even if your head developer leaves, your project can continue. To make sure your project is never wholly reliant on a single person, it’s a good idea to implement a standardized approach that’s clearly defined and understood by everyone. A framework can help you achieve this uniformity across your project.

Factors to Consider When Using a CSS Framework

A CSS framework can be a valuable addition to your project. However, if you have little previous experience with CSS, then it’s important to familiarize yourself with this language before jumping into the world of frameworks.

By taking the time to master pure CSS, you’ll be better equipped to identify issues with your syntax. When you know how to achieve the desired results in pure CSS, you’ll also find it easier to scan your framework’s documentation for the information you need. This can boost your efficiency, particularly when it comes to problem-solving and troubleshooting.

We always recommend taking some time to sharpen your CSS knowledge before you start shopping around for a suitable framework. Depending on your previous experience and knowledge, this may require a significant amount of time and effort.

A CSS framework will also add to your project’s overhead. Depending on your project, this may include lots of unnecessary or irrelevant code that you don’t even use. Bloat is never good, but it makes zero sense to increase your project’s size without adding any value.

Since your project exists inside the CSS framework, this may be limiting for your application or website. If you rely on a framework too heavily, there’s also the risk that your finished project will look similar to other sites and apps that use the same framework. This can make your project blur into the background, when it should be standing out from the crowd.

How to Choose the Right CSS Framework

To start, your chosen framework should meet all of your project’s technical requirements. It’s also smart to look for characteristics that make this framework a good fit for your project. For example, a lightweight framework may be the perfect addition to a mobile-focused design, but it may be less ideal for a large, complicated application.

Over time, your project’s requirements will likely change. Although it’s impossible to predict the future, it’s always worth considering how your project might develop over the long-term. Your chosen CSS framework should be able to support your site or application as it evolves over months, and potentially even years.

When choosing any technology, it’s always smart to consider its ease of use. Even if you’re fluent in CSS, learning any new technology requires a big upfront investment. Every moment that you spend familiarizing yourself with your new framework is time that you could have invested directly into your project.

Ideally, your chosen framework will be intuitive, user-friendly, and have a gentle learning curve. This will minimize the time between installing the framework and starting to reap the benefits. If a framework is user-friendly, then you’re also much less likely to encounter major issues, including stumbling blocks that require you to pause development in order to research the problem.

When considering ease of use, it’s important to find out what support is available. Ideally, the framework will be backed by official documentation, tutorials, and perhaps even professional support.

You should also consider the level of community resources available, including third-party blogs, forums, and social media sites. An active community can be an invaluable source of additional support. You could even put your questions directly to the community via channels such as Stack Overflow.

6 Popular CSS Frameworks (And When To Use Them)

With so many CSS frameworks to choose from, picking just one isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the six most popular CSS frameworks. Along the way, we’ll help you make the right decision, by suggesting the kind of projects each framework is perfect for.

1. Bootstrap

Six popular CSS frameworks.

Originally named Twitter Blueprint and developed as a tool for internal teams, Bootstrap has since grown into one of the most popular CSS frameworks. Today, Bootstrap is used by around 22 percent of all websites, and its GitHub consists of over 20,000 commits from more than 2000 contributors.

To get started, you can download Bootstrap’s source Sass and JavaScript files from either Composer, Meteor, or the Node Package Manager (npm). You can also use the npm template repository to quickly generate a Bootstrap project, or check out any of the official examples, that are supported by extensive documentation.

All of this makes Bootstrap a great choice for anyone who’s new to CSS frameworks, or has limited pure CSS experience. This may include back-end developers who want to make some changes to their projects’ User Interface (UI). For these designers, Bootstrap provides templates for all of the most popular UI components, including alerts, tabs, forms, and dropdowns.

Bootstrap is also designed for responsive, mobile-first front-end development. This makes it a good fit for mobile projects.

If you do require additional support, Bootstrap has a large and active community on Stack Overflow. You can also access real-time support via the Bootstrap Slack channel.

2. Foundation

The Foundation CSS framework.

Foundation is a front-end framework for building websites, applications, and emails. Thanks to its Sass compiler, the responsive Foundation framework is ideal for creating projects fast.

Foundation favors clean, semantic code and takes a mobile-first approach. After ensuring that your project is fully compatible with mobile devices, you can add in more complexity for a fully-responsive design.

Foundation provides HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which is great for rapidly prototyping websites. If you’re using Foundation to create emails, this framework provides tested patterns that work with all of the major email clients, including Outlook. This can help you create emails that display and function correctly, regardless of how the recipients choose to access them.

Despite its speed, Foundation is far from a limited framework, and many developers use it to create large applications. It’s also highly customizable, which makes Foundation a good choice for designers who want to create a unique experience for their end users, and who aren’t afraid to dig into Foundation’s more complex features in order to achieve the desired result.

Despite its current status as an open-source project, Foundation was originally maintained by ZURB. Today, ZURB continues to offer a full program of tutorials, online courses, custom training, and even an official Foundation certification.

3. Skeleton

Six popular CSS frameworks.

The Skeleton framework is a small collection of CSS files that you can use to rapidly generate clean code and simple layouts. Coming in at under 400 lines of code, this bare-bones framework is a good fit for smaller projects, or projects that don’t require the utility of a larger, heavier solution.

As a lightweight framework, Skeleton shouldn’t add unnecessary bloat to your project, which can be particularly valuable for mobile designs. If you’re creating a mobile project, Skeleton has a well-structured grid that enables you to create a responsive layout with minimal hassle.

Skeleton provides a 12-column fluid grid with a maximum width of 960px. This grid shrinks according to the browser and device. However, if you need to alter the maximum width you can make that change with a single line of CSS.

Skeleton serves its scalable grid using media queries. It also provides a list of mobile-first queries for styling your project across multiple devices. All styles outside of a query apply to all devices, so larger devices are targeted for enhancement. This prevents small devices from having to parse large amounts of unnecessary CSS.

If you’re new to the world of CSS frameworks, Skeleton’s simplistic approach makes this a good framework for beginners. For CSS newcomers, it can even be a valuable learning tool before progressing to more complex and feature-rich frameworks.

Unlike some of the other CSS frameworks on this list, Skeleton is designed as a starting point that you can develop into something more substantial. It’s also worth noting that Skeleton’s lack of templates may become an issue if you try to use this framework in larger or more complex projects.

4. UIKit

The UI Kit CSS framework.

UIKit is a responsive, lightweight CSS framework that you can use to create clean and professional-looking interfaces. This framework defines all the core components such as table views, buttons, labels, and navigation controllers.

UIKit is also extensible, and supports a comprehensive collection of advanced components that are not bundled with the core framework. This includes parallax girds, dynamic pagination, and sliders.

Alongside CSS files, UIKit provides an autocomplete package for Sublime Text and Atom editors. Since users don’t have to repeatedly look up UIKit markups and class names, this framework is great for your overall productivity.

Unlike other frameworks such as Bootstrap and Foundation, UIKit breaks the layout into three components: grid, flex, and width. Instead of restricting you to a 12-column grid setup, UIKit gives you the flexibility to create as many columns as you require.

Over at the UIKit website, you’ll find extensive official documentation and a series of video tutorials. Despite these useful learning resources, we find that UK Kit is a more complex framework that’s best suited to experienced developers.

5. Semantic UI

The Semantic UI CSS framework.

Semantic UI is a framework for creating responsive layouts. Based on natural language principles, Semantic UI aims to make code readable and easier to understand by creating a shared vocabulary around UI.

To achieve this, Semantic UI treats words and classes as interchangeable concepts. All classes are human words and use syntax from natural languages, including noun/modifier relationships and word order. Semantic UI also uses plurality to link concepts intuitively. As a result, its code often resembles regular text.

Human-readable code and ease of use makes Semantic UI a great choice for anyone who’s new to the world of frameworks. If you do have previous experience, it’s worth noting that Semantic UI integrates with React, Angular, Meteor, Ember, and various other frameworks.

In addition to the functionality you’d typically expect from a CSS framework, Semantic UI provides simplified debugging and performance logging. This enables you to track down bottlenecks without digging through stack traces. These added extras make Semantic UI suitable for larger projects, including enterprise apps and websites.

6. Pure

There are various CSS frameworks to choose from, including Pure.

Built on Normalize.css, the Pure framework is a set of small, responsive CSS modules that provide layout and styling for native HTML elements. This includes many common UI components. Pure has a minimal and unopinionated design, so you should have no issues adding new CSS rules and overriding Pure.css with your own styles.

Coming in at 3.87B minified and gzipped, this is a simple, lightweight framework. If you only require a subset of Pure’s modules, you’ll save even more bandwidth. This makes Pure ideal for smaller projects, or any project that has modest requirements.

Its small footprint also means that Pure is a good choice for mobile projects, where you’re typically working with less memory. Even better, this framework is responsive out of the box, thanks to its use of Pure Grids and Vertical Menus. With Pure CSS, you can be confident that your UI will look and display correctly across a range of mobile and tablet devices.

Conclusion

Building applications and websites from scratch can quickly start to feel repetitive. Instead of wasting time coding the same elements over and over again, a CSS framework can handle this busywork for you.

If you’re still unsure which CSS framework is right for you, here’s a quick reminder of the six frameworks we covered earlier:

  1. Bootstrap: An open source framework that’s perfect for responsive, mobile-first front-end web development.
  2. Foundation: With an emphasis on speed, Foundation is ideal for rapid prototyping.
  3. Skeleton: Coming in at under 500 lines of code, this CSS framework is designed with mobile devices in mind.
  4. UIKit: A lightweight, modular framework that targets highly-experienced, professional developers.
  5. Semantic UI: This theming framework contains pre-built semantic components that can help you create professionally-designed, responsive websites.
  6. Pure: A collection of responsive CSS modules that have much to offer for mobile developers.

A CSS framework can be your secret weapon for developing professionally-designed websites and applications in record time. However, once you’re ready to send your project out into the world, you’ll still need somewhere to host it.

By choosing a provider that’s optimized for web frameworks, you can ensure that you’re getting the very best out of your finished project. At A2 Hosting, we’ve optimized our plans for a wide range of frameworks, including Bootstrap. We even offer 1-click framework setup!

 

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Does Website Migration Affect SEO? The Definitive Website Migration SEO Checklist. https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/does-website-migration-affect-seo-the-definitive-website-migration-seo-checklist/ Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:38:30 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12929 Whether or not you’re aware, website migration affects SEO. Anytime you make drastic changes to your website, you put your SEO at risk. Many web hosts offer free migration services, …

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Whether or not you’re aware, website migration affects SEO. Anytime you make drastic changes to your website, you put your SEO at risk. Many web hosts offer free migration services, or you may opt to migrate yourself using your developer. Still, although the migration is free, it doesn’t mean the migration is optimized for SEO. Our team migrates websites every day, and through our experience, we made our checklist to help your migration unfold smoothly without your SEO taking a hit. 

So, Does Website Migration Affect SEO? 

Any server change carries a slight SEO risk with or without modifications to your website,  but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You see, migrations primarily affect site speed. So if you’re migrating to a host like A2 Hosting, you’ll notice increased site speed. As loading time is a top SEO ranking consideration, this can only help you, not hurt you. Unfortunately, this means the opposite for migrating to a slower host (maybe it’ll make you think again about migrating to a cheaper host?). 

When users experience slow loading times, they’re less likely to revisit your site in the future, especially when more than 50% of visitors abandon a website if a page takes over 2 seconds to load. Since 2010, speed has been a ranking factor for desktop searches on Google. When researching new hosts, look for speed optimizations or determine how the web hosting company optimizes its servers for speed. 

For example, at A2 Hosting, we use only SSD and NVMe storage. “Our speed, your success” is our motto because we believe that speed is the most critical factor in attracting, maintaining, and increasing traffic and conversions. Additionally, our Turbo servers offer Litespeed caching, and specific servers also offer the AMD EPYC processors. When combined, these three elements contribute to lightning-fast speeds.  

A2 Hosting Turbo Plans
Our shared Turbo plans offer unlimited NVMe storage.

Changing web hosting providers can also come with risks, especially if you lose certain functionalities at the new host or move from Apache to Nginx or IIS (Internet Information Services). If you’re wary about changing hosts, talk with someone on our sales team about the process and ensure your server needs match up with what we can offer you. 

Now that we’ve discussed how website migrations affect SEO, let’s review the migration process. Use our SEO checklist to prepare your website for its migration:

  • 1. Set up a staging site on your new server. Before canceling your other web hosting plan, compare your existing site’s page load speeds against the new server’s load speeds. Hopefully, the new server improved your site speeds! 
  • 2. Pick a slow time. After testing your new site on the server, pick a quiet time to perform the DNS propagation. Your site may be down for up to 24 hours as the DNS propagates around the world, but choose a time when you experience low traffic, so you’re not missing opportunities for leads and conversions. 
  • 3. Perform checks on your site. For example, check the organic health of your website. Is there any penalization for spammy backlinks? Are your current backlinks relevant for the content? We recommend tracking your site’s domain authority with Moz Pro. 
  • 4. Crawl your site. With Moz Pro or ScreamingFrog, you can crawl your website to receive a full URL and content inventory. Then, you can fix issues while you’re staging your site and map old URLs to new URLs in your 301 redirect map.  
  • 5. Update Internal Links. Test your website and update internal links to avoid internal redirects or broken links. ScreamingFrog allows you to find internal links and their attached anchor text and their respective pages.
  • 6. Create a custom 404 page. When visitors experience a broken page, engage them with a custom 404 page. It should direct them to your homepage or additional pages on your website. Otherwise, a blank 404 page frustrates users and makes them want to close the browser tab altogether and find a site that works. 
  • 7. Update your Robots.txt file. The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages the crawler can or can’t request from your site. It lives at www.yoursite.com/robots.txt
  • 8. Test your website on mobile. Is your site responsive or rendering correctly on a mobile device? Google offers a Mobile-Friendly Test tool to determine if Google views your site as mobile-friendly. 
  • 9. Measure your performance post-launch. Once you’ve ensured your site launches appropriately, there are no broken pages or backlinks, your site is mobile-friendly, and you’ve updated your robots.txt file, analyze your performance after you launch your website. Check your ranking performance, organic traffic users/sessions, check for site crawl issues, and monitor your backlink profile. Track any 404 page traffic in your Google Analytics post-launch to catch and add any redirects to your 301 redirect file. 

SEO doesn’t need to be significant when migrating your website concern. With a few preparations, you can efficiently execute a website migration plan without worrying about lowering your website’s ranking. 

Related articles:

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What Is An Email Blacklist? https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/what-is-an-email-blacklist/ Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:31:23 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=13003 Have you ever emailed someone and didn’t receive a response? You may have wondered why your email went unanswered. The recipient may have simply been busy or didn’t see your …

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Have you ever emailed someone and didn’t receive a response? You may have wondered why your email went unanswered. The recipient may have simply been busy or didn’t see your email, but it’s also possible that the recipient’s email server blocked your email. One way an email server can block emails is by using a blacklist. This blog post will explain what an email blacklist is and how to avoid being blacklisted yourself.

What is an Email Blacklist? 

The email blacklist is an extensive database of public domains and IP addresses marked as suspicious for sending spam emails through the internet. It’s also known as DNSBL (Domain Name System-based Blackhole List) or RBL Real-time Blackhole List. Organizations like Email Service Providers (ESP), Internet Service Providers (ISP), and anti-spam agencies (ASA) use this list to detect, monitor and block any spam emails entering their network. 

Am I Blacklisted? What Are the Signs?

There are many signs to alert you of your IP’s status. When you’re blacklisted, you can’t send emails to the recipient’s mailbox properly. Now, this doesn’t mean you’re going to be blacklisted from every mail server in the world. If you’re blacklisted with one DNSBL service, there are hundreds more that may not have blacklisted you. A few key signs:

  1. There are an increased number of emails lost. 
  2. You experience deteriorating delivery rates.
  3. You find a high number of email bounce rates. 

 

These don’t confirm you’re blacklisted but are some warning signs. If you check a few of the boxes for delivery issues, you can now check to confirm the blacklisting of the domain or IP address. 

Checking Your IP address and Domain in an Email Blacklist Directory

There are various email blacklist services on the internet. It’s not practical to check every single one of them, but some applications maintain a list of live RBL (real-time blackhole list) directories to save your time. They provide a page dedicated to that RBL service and also offer a service to delist your domain or IP address. 

Here are a couple of popular RBL applications:

  • MXToolBox: This checks for domain blacklisting across multiple RBL lists. It provides detailed information and suggestions on your domain’s current status. 
  • MultiRBL: This is a free DNSBL lookup site that can scan 100+ DNSBL lists to check for domain blacklisting. It also details the steps to remove your domain from the blacklist. 

 

Malicious sites can be blacklisted by Google Safe Browsing, which will warn visitors of potentially unsafe pages. Dropmysite includes a feature that sends you alerts if your site is listed on this blacklist monitoring program – so take immediate corrective actions before it gets too late! A2 Hosting offers Dropmysite as an add-on cPanel plugin so that you can back up your data and monitor your websites. These services can help you actively monitor your IP address so that you can ensure swift delivery of all of your emails. 

Blacklists are an important tool for email deliverability. They help protect email users from spam and phishing emails and improve the deliverability of your legitimate email campaigns. If you’re not familiar with blacklists or aren’t sure if your IP address is on one, we encourage you to use a blacklist checking tool. Use this information to clean up your email practices and improve your chances of getting delivered to the inbox. If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to contact our support team 24/7/365!

Related Articles:

 

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How to Protect Your Website With cPanel (7 Essential Tips) https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/protect-website-cpanel/ Fri, 25 Feb 2022 15:27:11 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=11801 With malware attacks increasing by 385% in 2020, site security is more important than ever. However, keeping your site safe from ransomware, malware, and other malicious activity can be a …

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With malware attacks increasing by 385% in 2020, site security is more important than ever. However, keeping your site safe from ransomware, malware, and other malicious activity can be a challenging and time-consuming task. 

Fortunately, there are many ways to protect your website from the threat of malware and other cybersecurity issues. Many hosting providers enable customers to configure a range of site security settings using the popular Linux control dashboard cPanel

In this post, we’ll explain what website security is and why it’s important. We’ll also provide seven actionable tips that you can use to improve your site security and protect your website with cPanel. Ready? Let’s get started!

Why Protecting Your Website Is Important

It takes time and money to create a high-quality website for your business. However, without the right level of security, you could be putting your site at risk. 

According to cybersecurity statistics published by Forbes, one in three Americans have been a victim of ransomware attacks, and only five percent of companies ensure that their folders are properly protected.  That’s why it’s so important for site owners to take steps to secure their websites on a regular basis.

However, although protecting against cybercrime is one of the main benefits of maintaining good site security protocols, there are also some other benefits, including: 

  • It helps to keep your employees safe. In the same way that your website can be at risk of malware attacks, your workers can be too. Viruses can pass from device to device. Therefore, if your site becomes infected, the devices your team members use to access the site may become compromised too.
  • It can prevent your website from going down. Site owners should aim for as little website downtime as possible. Good cybersecurity measures can help you achieve this. By putting protective measures in place before attacks happen, you can prevent malware from causing issues that make you take your site offline to fix them. 
  • It can inspire confidence in your customers. For online businesses, reputation is everything, even when it comes to your website. By following good cybersecurity protocols and sharing this with your customers, you can help them feel safe and secure when using your site. 

Next, we’ll take a look at cPanel, a commonly used control panel for WordPress sites. You can use it to make your website more secure without investing in any expensive plugins. 

A Brief Introduction to cPanel

cPanel is a control application that enables you to carry out server tasks for your WordPress website:

The cPanel dashboard

It isn’t the only application of this type available, but it’s the most commonly used Linux control panel. cPanel provides users with an easy-to-use interface for carrying out essential server-side maintenance tasks, including:

  • File management
  • Database management 
  • Email management
  • Site backups 

It can make your site easier to manage due to its automated processes and 24/7 support team. As such, it could be worth considering if you’re looking to save time and effort on your website management.

There are also several ways in which you can use cPanel to enhance cybersecurity. Next, we’ll take a look at some of the things you can do to protect your website with this application. 

How to Protect Your Website With cPanel (7 Essential Tips)

There are many site security plugins that you can use to enhance your cybersecurity. However, many of these are premium plugins that aren’t available for free. By using cPanel, you can secure your website using tools already at your disposal, so you don’t have to spend a penny. Here are our top seven tips for protecting your website with cPanel.

1.  Update cPanel Regularly 

Outdated elements on your website can lead to serious vulnerabilities. This is also true for cPanel. If it isn’t up to date, you could be leaving your site open to attacks and breaches. 

Additionally, you could be missing out on access to new security features by using an outdated version. Updates are used to fix bugs, add new features, and improve the security of cPanel. As such, it could be a good idea to ensure that you are always using the latest version of the software.

The good news is that keeping cPanel up to date is fairly easy. Depending on your hosting package, you may not need to manually update it at all, as the system administrators may take care of it for you.

If you do need to update it manually, start by logging into WebHost Manager (WHM). In the upper right corner of the main WHM screen, you should be able to see the current version of cPanel you’re running:

The WHM dashboard showing the current version of cPanel

If a new version is available, you’ll also see a box just underneath this giving you the option to Update Now. All you have to do is click on this and wait for it to finish upgrading (it might take a while). Note that the Update Now box isn’t visible in the image above, as we’re currently already running the latest stable build. 

2. Choose Strong Passwords and Regularly Update Them

It’s imperative to ensure that all of your site entry points are protected by strong passwords. Without secure passwords in place, seasoned cybercriminals can easily infiltrate your site and install malware. 

Thankfully, with cPanel, it’s easy for you to reset your password. It even comes with a password generator to help you protect your site using strong credentials. To keep your site as safe as possible, it’s recommended that you change all passwords on a regular basis. Configuring them around once a month is usually sufficient. 

To change your cPanel password, log in and head to the Preferences tab, then click on Passwords and Security

The password and security section of the cPanel dashboard

Next, you’ll be prompted to input your old password, as well as your new updated password. You’ll also see a score that tells you how weak or strong your credentials are. If your chosen password is too weak, you might want to click on Password Generator instead. This will automatically generate a new, stronger login: 

The change password interface

Once you’ve done that, copy the generated password and paste it into the New Password field. Also, be sure to save it in a secure location that you can access in case you forget it and need a reminder. 

When you’re ready, click on Save Password Now! Once you’ve done that, your update should be complete, and you can start using your new credentials. 

3. Password Protect Your Vulnerable Directories 

In addition to having a strong password for your cPanel account, it’s equally important to password protect your vulnerable directories. Doing this in cPanel enables you to limit access to certain content for specific users.

Once you’ve added password protection to a directory, your site will prompt visitors to enter a username and password in their web browsers before they can access it. This helps to keep sensitive content secure from unauthorized access.

To add password protection to a directory, start by logging into cPanel. Next, scroll down to the Files section and click on Directory Privacy:

The cPanel dashboard with the Directory Privacy icon highlighted

Here, you should be able to see a list of all your directories. Click on Edit next to the name of the folder you want to protect. On the next page, tick the box next to the text that says Password protect this directory. Then, type in a name for the protected directory below and click on Save:

The directory privacy permissions interface showing a textbox where the user can enter a name for the protected directory

Once you’ve done that, you should see a brief ‘success’ message. Click on Go Back, then enter a Username and Password in the appropriate text boxes, and then click on Save.

Note: You can also automatically generate a strong password by clicking on the Password Generator button:

A screenshot of how to create a user in cPanel

If you ever want to remove the password protection, repeat the steps above to navigate to the directory again. Then, clear the Password protect this directory checkbox.

4. Enable cPHulk Brute-Force Protection

cPHulk is another useful service provided by cPanel that helps to protect your server against brute force attacks. These attacks involve an attacker using an automated system to attempt to guess your username and passwords by repeatedly trying different combinations in rapid succession.

Using cPHulk through cPanel will enable you to block the IP address or accounts exhibiting suspicious behavior automatically. This prevents attackers from carrying out any further attempts to log in, thus preventing them from gaining unauthorized access and installing malware on your site.

To enable CPHulk Brite-Force protection, you’ll first need to log in to WHM. From there, navigate to Security Center in the left-hand sidebar, and click on cPHulk Brute Force Protection:

A screenshot of where to find WHM CPHulk protection in cPanel

Next, you can toggle the button to ON to enable cPHulk protection:

A screenshot of how to turn cPHulk on

Once it’s enabled, you can tweak the Configuration Settings. For example, you can specify how many failed login attempts are required to lock IP addresses out, and how long they should be locked out for. Once you’re done making changes, click on Save:

A screenshot of cPHulk configuration settings

Note that aside from Configuration Settings, several other tabs are available on this page: Whitelist Management, Blacklist Management, and History Reports.

You can whitelist and blacklist certain IP addresses manually by navigating to the appropriate tab. This is useful in certain circumstances. For example, it may be a good idea to whitelist your own IP to avoid a lockout from your server.

If you ever need to see a log of what actions cPHulk has taken, you can do so by clicking on the History Reports tab. 

5. Protect Against Hotlinking 

Hotlinking (sometimes called ‘direct linking’) refers to when another website links out directly to content hosted on your website, such as image files. When visitors to their website load the page, your site serves the image files they see. This allows the other website to effectively ‘steal’ your bandwidth and use it to show pictures to their visitors. 

Naturally, this is something you’ll probably want to avoid. Fortunately, you can do so easily. All you have to do is configure hotlink protection using cPanel. Here’s how to go about it.

First, log in to cPanel and scroll down to the Security section. Then, click on the Hotlink Protection icon:

A screenshot of hotlink protection in cPanel

On the next page, you can toggle Hotlink protection ON or OFF. You can also change your configuration settings. For example, you might want to specify certain URLs that are allowed to access your files (cPanel will automatically populate this box with suggested local URLs):

A screenshot of how to configure hotlink protection

Next, you can also specify the specific file extensions you want to block direct access to by adding them to the Block direct access for the following extensions box (make sure you separate each file extension by a comma):

A screenshot of using block extensions box

Again, the above box should be automatically pre-populated with commonly hotlinked file extensions. However, you might want to add extra file extensions that aren’t already included. 

You can also add a URL to the Redirect requests to the following URL text box:

A screenshot of the redirect requests box

This will serve users from blocked sites with the specified URL page instead of the hotlinked file. Once you’re done making changes to the settings, just click on Submit.

6. Utilize Patchman by SITELOCK

Patchman is a really useful security service that helps to prevent your site from being hacked. Once installed, it will automatically scan your website for malware. If it detects any potential threats, it immediately emails you to notify you of them. If you don’t resolve the issue within 24 hours, Patchman will quarantine the affected files to protect your site:

A screenshot of the Patchman by SITELOCK homepage

Not only that, but Patchman also detects whether your WordPress, Drupa, or Joomla installation requires patching. Again, it will notify you of this by email and automatically apply the patch if you don’t fix it yourself within a week.

A2 Hosting has partnered with Patchman to provide our web hosting customers with free malware and vulnerability scans. Therefore, if you have a web hosting account with us, Patchman should already be enabled for your domain. 

However, if you want to manage your settings or carry out specific administrative tasks, you can do so by accessing the Patchman dashboard. To get to the dashboard, start by logging into cPanel, then click on Patchman in the Advanced section:

A screenshot of Patchman in cPanel

From here, you can run manual scans, view detected items and applications, and carry out manual actions. For example, you can review potential malware and choose to either ignore it or quarantine it:

A screenshot of the Patchman dashboard

Utilizing Patchman is one of the best ways to protect your website from security threats. However, not all hosting providers include access to it. Therefore, it may be a good idea to choose a hosting service provider that partners with the service.

7. Use Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

SFTP stands for Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol. As the name suggests, it’s a secure version of the regular File Transfer Protocol (FTP). It uses the Secure Shell protocol to encrypt transfers.

If you didn’t already know, FTP is how you transfer files between your computer and your hosting server to make them accessible to the public and vice-versa. These files are often confidential and may include sensitive data such as usernames and passwords.

The problem is that the original FTP protocol doesn’t encrypt this data, which leaves it vulnerable to interception by attackers. If you want to prevent hackers from getting access to your data, it’s recommended that you encrypt it by using STFP instead.

In order to transfer files using SFTP, you’ll need your main cPanel account’s private key for authentication. To find it, log in to cPanel and scroll down to the Security section. Then, click on SSH Access:

A screenshot of how to access SSH in cPanel]

On the next page, click on Manage SSH Keys:

A screenshot of how to manage SSH Keys

If you already have a public/private key pair, you can use those for SFTP transfers. If you don’t already have one, you can generate a new one by clicking on Generate a New Key:

Once you’ve generated a new key, go back to the Manage SSH Keys interface, and click on the Manage link next to the new key. Next, click on the Authorize button to allow it:

A screenshot of how to authorize SSH key

Go back and scroll down to Private Keys and click on View/Download. The next page should display your SSH key details. You can click on Download Key to save it somewhere safe to your computer:

A screenshot of the download key button

Once you’ve done all the above, your site is ready for an SFTP connection. You can open your preferred FTP client and use the private key you downloaded to connect via SFTP.

Conclusion

Keeping your site safe from malicious activity and malware is extremely important. Fortunately, cPanel offers you several ways to ensure that your site is secure and protected. 

Here’s a quick recap of how to protect your website using cPanel:

  1. Update cPanel regularly. 
  2. Choose strong passwords and update them regularly. 
  3. Password protect your vulnerable directories. 
  4. Enable cPHulk Brute-Force protection.
  5. Protect against hotlinking.
  6. Utilize Patchman by SITELOCK.
  7. Use Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

If you’re looking for a hosting provider that understands the importance of site security and reliable hosting, check out our affordable Linux hosting plans!

Image credit: Free-Photos.

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How to Add Paypal to Your WordPress Website Using WooCommerce https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/how-to-add-paypal-to-your-wordpress-website-using-woocommerce/ Wed, 09 Feb 2022 14:50:32 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=13021 WooCommerce is a fantastic open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress that allows you to seamlessly convert your WordPress site to an eCommerce site. It has a large library of extensions …

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WooCommerce is a fantastic open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress that allows you to seamlessly convert your WordPress site to an eCommerce site. It has a large library of extensions and themes for you to choose from and integrate into your WordPress eCommerce site to give it a professional look and functionality.

When you have an eCommerce site, ensuring a smooth payment process is critical to gaining conversions from leads that visit your site. WooCommerce allows you to configure various payment methods such as direct bank transfer, checks, cash on delivery, and Paypal to provide your customers with additional options for completing order transactions.

The WooCommerce PayPal Checkout extension allows your WordPress store to accept PayPal payments and makes use of customizable Smart Payment ButtonsTM. Customers who use PayPal Checkout can pay with PayPal or any major credit or debit card without ever leaving your website. Using this extension visitors can buy directly from your product pages and pay in 26 different currencies. This blog will walk you through the process of configuring and adding the WooCommerce PayPal Checkout for WordPress sites.

Installing the WooCommerce PayPal Checkout Plugin in WordPress

Note: Paypal Checkout Plugin is no longer available in the WooCommerce marketplace. You may use PayPal payments as it’s the upgraded option to this extension.

Follow these steps to install the WooCommerce PayPal Checkout in WordPress:

1. Log in to WordPress as an administrator.

2. In the search plugins, type “WordPress PayPal Checkout.” Install and activate the plugin pictured below:

PayPal App

3. After you’ve successfully installed the plugin, you’ll need to configure the PayPal checkout in WooCommerce.

Configuring the PayPal Checkout Process in WooCommerce

Follow these steps to set up the PayPal checkout process in WooCommerce.

On the WordPress Dashboard, in the left sidebar, click WooCommerce, and then click Settings. This will take you to the WooCommerce settings page, which has multiple tabs for various settings. To enable the payment method, navigate to the Payments tab.

Configuring Paypal Checkout

Enable the toggle button next to the PayPal checkout option on the Payment Methods page. To configure the PayPal Checkout settings, click Set up or Manage.

Enabling PayPal Checkout

.

You will then be directed to the PayPal Checkout page, where you can begin configuring various checkout settings. The process will begin with basic store information, then help you link your PayPal account, and finally assist you in configuring the checkout page’s look and feel, including payment and billing details.  

To begin configuring the PayPal checkout process, fill in the basic information about your store before moving on to linking the store to a PayPal account.

Configuring PayPal Checkout

  • Title – Choose the title shown to customers during checkout
  • Description – Add a description shown to customers if they use PayPal Checkout
  • Account Settings – Environment  – Select Live to accept payments and Sandbox to test payments.

Linking Paypal Account in WooCommerce

In WooCommerce, you can use the API settings to create or link an existing PayPal Account. To link it to your PayPal account, use the API credentials sections on the PayPal Checkout setup page, under the payment tape.

API Credentials

 

When you click the Setup or link an existing PayPal account button, you will be taken to the PayPal account login page.

Connecting PayPal to WooCommerce

Log in to your PayPal account, then click Activity on the top menu bar and select API Access.

PayPal Home Page

 

Next, scroll to NVP/SOAP API Integration (Classic) and click Manage API Credentials. Ensure Request an API Signature is checked and click Agree and Submit.

Request API Credentials

 

 Click Show to reveal API Username, password, and signature.

Removing the API Signature

Copy the API Username, Password, and Signature into your WooCommerce PayPal Checkout settings.

Copying API Information into PayPal Settings

In the PayPal-hosted Checkout Settings section, enter details such as your Brand Name,  your site or product name, images for logo and header, and so on to ensure the PayPal checkout page has the same look and feel as your website. The landing page is the URL that all customers see when they check out.

PayPal Hosted Checkout Settings

Additional payment confirmation details can be set in the Advanced Settings for further advanced settings of the checkout pages, such as shipping details.

Adding Shipping Details

Once you’ve finished filling out all of the settings, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to finish the PayPal Checkout configuration in WooCommerce.

Smart Payment Buttons™ PayPal Checkout Advanced Options

Smart Payment Buttons™ is an added benefit for US customers, as the feature provides relevant payment options such as PayPal and both Pay in 4 and PayPal Credit*, allowing your customers to buy now and pay later while you get paid upfront. Fill out the sections after the advance settings if you want to further customize the look and feel of the buttons or configure PayPal checkout pages. Please see the PayPal Checkout page for more information.

Have any questions or concerns? Contact our sales team today! Looking for a new Managed WordPress Hosting plan? We have you covered with our new Managed WordPress plans that simplify speed, security, and stability.

 

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A2 Hosting Supports Newest PHP Version 8.1 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/a2-hosting-supports-newest-php-version-8-1/ Mon, 24 Jan 2022 12:23:38 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12982 A2 Hosting is proud to announce that we are now supporting our customers on the latest version of PHP, Version 8.1. This means that you can take advantage of all …

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A2 Hosting is proud to announce that we are now supporting our customers on the latest version of PHP, Version 8.1. This means that you can take advantage of all the features and updates that this new release has to offer! One example is the addition of scalar-type hints for functions that will help improve security by preventing errors in your code. This is just one way we’re helping our clients stay ahead with their development needs.

This new PHP version has allowed popular frameworks like Symfony and WordPress to run on PHP 8.1, so you know that A2 Hosting’s servers will be able to support it! You can now take advantage of PHP 8.1 with your PHP applications hosted by us.

New Updates!

PHP 8.1 is the most recent release of PHP and features new updates, such as:

Scalar Type Hints

PHP will now receive better error messages when type hinting doesn’t match. This means that if you’re expecting a string and PHP receives an integer, PHP will throw a clear and concise error message to help you debug the issue easier. PHP will also not allow errors to occur when typing hinting at your PHP variables. This is just one of the ways PHP 8.1 helps you keep your PHP applications secure and bug-free!

Return Type Declarations

PHP 8.1 now supports return type declarations which means that PHP will be able to tell what kind of data you’re expecting back from a function. PHP 8.1 can not only help with security but also PHP performance as PHP will be able to execute the function and return the type of data you’ve requested without an extra step which speeds up PHP execution!

PHP 7 Compatibility

PHP 8.1 now has improved compatibility with PHP 7 so PHP developers don’t have to rewrite their PHP scripts for PHP 7. PHP 8.1 is backward compatible with PHP 7 so you don’t have to rewrite your code!

Contact Us Today

A2 Hosting is a leading provider of PHP hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 24/7 support team to help you get the most out of PHP 8.1, today! Our expert Guru Crew team can help you with any questions or concerns about your PHP application, PHP 8.1 support, or migrating to PHP 8.1! We are available 24/7/365.

 

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New Managed WordPress Enhanced Security Features with A2 Hosting https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/enhanced-managed-wordpress-security-features/ Mon, 24 Jan 2022 10:51:52 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12973 WordPress is the same age as A2 Hosting, and with 18 years of experience and hard work, it has become one of the most popular CMS on the internet. That …

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WordPress is the same age as A2 Hosting, and with 18 years of experience and hard work, it has become one of the most popular CMS on the internet. That being said, with excellence still comes room for error. It is important to note that all CMS systems and websites do get hacked and need to constantly update and improve their security systems and features to avoid any cyber security threats that they will face. To aid in this task and combat any security issues we made sure that website security was a top priority in the launch of A2 Hosting’s new Managed WordPress plans.

Looking to learn more in-depth about the security included with all these plans? Below is an explanation of the different security tools and features included and how this can help you make sure your website is safe and secure.

The Importance of Security on Websites Using WordPress

When there’s a huge demand for a script or CMS, there’s a good chance that hackers and attackers will be keeping an eye on websites using it. At any one time, there could be hundreds or thousands of attacks happening on the internet. This makes WordPress websites a target.

As such, hackers will always be scanning WordPress websites for vulnerable areas. This means website owners who don’t properly prepare and secure their WordPress sites may be at risk. This is why you need to keep the security on your website in tip-top shape! Below are the features we offer at A2 Hosting on our Managed WordPress plans to help ensure your security success.

Managed WordPress Security Features

A2 Hosting’s new Managed WordPress plans now come with a selection of enhanced security features that have been designed to support our users such as HackScan Protection, Reinforced DDoS Protection, and KernelCare. We’re including a complete breakdown below of three of the main tools we will be including in the plans and the different security features they provide our users:

WordPress Toolkit

We include different levels of cPanel’s WordPress Toolkit on all of our WordPress plans. Below are some of the main security perks:

  • 1-Click Hardening: Used to scan existing and new sites for settings that may be potentially vulnerable.
  • Automatic Hardening: This can keep your site safe through the auto-application of the industry’s best practices in security.
  • Mass Hardening: Scans all your sites for vulnerable settings while securing every site with just a click.
  • Security Rollback: In rare cases, security updates may create compatibility issues on your website. This feature will allow you to quickly revert the changes made.
  • Mass Updates: This allows you to execute updates for all of your website’s WordPress themes, core, and plugins.

Jetpack Security

We will also be including the popular Jetpack Plugin. This plugin comes with a multitude of security features including:

  • Automated Spam Filtering: Protects your site by keeping spam content away.
  • Brute Force Attack Protection: Works to keep your website safe by blocking unsafe login attempts from distributed attacks and malicious botnets.
  • Free Daily Malware Scans (Included with our Fly & Sell Plans): This feature automatically checks your site for vulnerabilities such as malware. You’ll also receive immediate alerts if Jetpack finds problems to be addressed quickly.

A2 Optimized

All of our plans also come with our plugin, A2 Optimized. We’ve focused on various security measures with A2 Optimized, which include the following:

  • Deny Direct Access to Configuration Files and Comment Form: This allows you to protect your configuration files by creating a Forbidden error to bots and web users who try to access WP configuration files.
  • Lock Editing of Plugins and Themes from the WP Admin: This prevents exploits to use the built-in editing capabilities of the WP Admin.
  • Login URL Change: With this, you can hide your wp-login and wp-admin pages, blocking off hackers from entry through brute force attacks.
  • Regenerate wp-config salts: WP salts and security keys help to secure the site’s login process along with the cookies that WordPress implements to authenticate users.
  • ReCAPTCHA on Comments and Login: Used to increase site security while decreasing spam by adding a CAPTCHA to the login screen and comment forms.
  • Unused Themes & Inactive Plugin Notifications: Themes and plugins with security flaws can still have an impact on the site. Having these notifications can help you better manage other features on your site for improved security.

cPanel Security Features

There is also a wide range of improvements to cPanel’s Security. This includes:

  • Directory Privacy: Blocks users who want to open a folder that you’ve designated for protection. They will first need to enter a username and password for access.
  • Free SSL Certificate (Free RapidSSL On Sell plans): This allows you to secure pages on your website so that details such as credit card numbers, logins, and more are sent encrypted instead of plain text.
  • Hotlink Protection: Stops your images from being used on other sites.
  • Imunify360: A comprehensive security suite for real-time and proactive website protection. It provides an all-in-one security solution that features a Web Application Firewall, an Intrusion Prevention and Detection system, a Network Firewall, Patch Management, and Real-time Antivirus protection.
  • IP Blocker: Blocks a range of IP addresses to stop hackers from getting access to your site.
  • Leech Protection: Stops users from publicly posting or sharing passwords to restricted areas of your site.
  • ModSecurity: Provides real-time monitoring for incoming threats and blocks malicious connections before reaching your WordPress website and applications.
  • Patchman: This scans your account for any outdated WP malware scripts, vulnerabilities, and applications. It will then fix any vulnerabilities without doing damage to the site.
  • SSH: Provides more secure file transfers.
  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): If turned on, it will require the app on your smartphone to provide a unique security code that you must input apart from your password when trying to log into your account.
  • Virus Scanner: Configurable scan of your account to identify any security threats.

Need Help? Ask Our Guru Crew

If you need support or just have a few WordPress Hosting questions, you can count on our expert Sales team! Working 24/7/365, our friendly and knowledgeable staff are more than happy to address any concerns or issues. You may also reach them via email, phone, or live chat, so you can get the answers you need when you need them.

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What is A2 Optimized (and how does it help your WordPress site)? https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/what-is-a2-optimized-and-how-does-it-help-your-wordpress-site/ Mon, 17 Jan 2022 22:26:13 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12966 You might see the name “A2 Optimized” and think, “it sounds like something that could help my site, but I’m not exactly sure how or why?” Optimized is a verb …

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You might see the name “A2 Optimized” and think, “it sounds like something that could help my site, but I’m not exactly sure how or why?” Optimized is a verb that’s tossed around in web hosting circles. You’ll see articles like “Auto-Optimizing Your Favorite Software” or “How to Optimize Your Website’s Performance.” But what does it mean other than, “it’ll probably help my site perform better?” To answer this familiar question, we’re going to review what A2 Optimized WordPress is and why it helps your WordPress site.

What does it mean to “optimize” your website?

Optimizing your website is the process of using tools, strategies, experiments, and analyses to improve your website’s performance with the end goal to drive more traffic to your website, increase conversions, and grow revenue. 

You may have heard of SEO or search engine optimization. SEO is only one aspect of optimization (albeit the most critical). 

Optimization combines a variety of dimensions for optimal website performance like

  • SEO
  • Your website’s content and landing pages
  • Analytics
  • UX (frontend)
  • Web development (backend)

What is A2 Optimized?

A2 Optimized is a WordPress optimizer. It combines various ideal WordPress configurations to enhance website performance and increase security.

Performance-enhancing

A2’s motto is “our speed, your success” and A2 Optimized is no exception. Our plugin enhances speed with:

  • Page caching – storing copies of your web pages in a temporary storage location for quicker access.
  • Object caching – storing database query results in a temporary storage location for quicker access.
  • Minifying (minimizing code) for HTML, CSS, and Javascript) in your web pages and script files.
  • GZip data compression – takes chunks of data and makes it smaller.
Secure

Secondly, A2 Optimized is secure by:

  • Denying direct access to configuration files.
  • Preventing bots from submitting to comment forms.
  • Cutting off the file editor in wp-admin.
  • Preventing plugins and themes from wp-admin tampering.
  • Disabling other bot-targeted services like XML-RPC.

A2 Optimized configures difficult settings so you don’t have to. If you’re not technically savvy, installing the W3 Total Cache plugin may prove challenging. But when Memcached is enabled for WordPress, A2 Optimized automatically installs the plugin for you. 

A2 Optimized combines the best caching features and enhanced security configurations making it the ideal WordPress plugin. And an extra bonus, it’s free and just as easy to install as it is to uninstall, so give it a try today to see if it’s right for you! 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is A2 Optimized free?

Yes, it is! 

Can I use A2 Optimized with any host?

Absolutely! A2 Optimized works with any WordPress-supporting host. However, A2 Hosting provides some of the fastest servers in the business, and also includes additional tools to speed up your site on our servers. 

Will A2 Optimized make all of my sites faster? That’s a guarantee?

A2 Optimized does speed up sites the majority of the time, but not all plugins and themes are created equal. 

If your site is slower after enabling caching in A2 Optimized, ensure you’re using the best plugins for your website by speaking with a developer.

Can I use A2 Optimized with WordFence?

A2 Optimized is compatible with the majority of features in WordFence, but we recommend disabling caching and logging in WordFence. Otherwise, if page caching in A2 Optimized is enabled, some WordFence features may not respond.

Related Links:

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The Best Free WordPress Plugins https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/the-best-free-wordpress-plugins/ Wed, 05 Jan 2022 18:46:38 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12865 Some say the best things in life are free and we tend to agree. Nothing tastes better than free coffee at the bank or businesses offering free water bottles (I …

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Some say the best things in life are free and we tend to agree. Nothing tastes better than free coffee at the bank or businesses offering free water bottles (I also make sure to grab a free lollipop every now and then). But in cases like WordPress which has over 54,000 free WordPress plugins, not every plugin is top dog. So, we thought, why make you filter through thousands of free WordPress plugins, when we can curate a list of a few of the best

So, let’s get started! 

Best Free SEO Plugin – Yoast

Yoast SEO logo

There’s no I in Team Yoast. With over 25,000 five-star reviews, there’s a reason Yoast has carved their place in the plugin marketplace since 2008.

Want to rank higher in search engines? This plugin is a necessity. They consider themselves a versatile everyman application for SEO users of all kinds–from bakery owners to corporate giants. 

Sure, there’s a Premium version, but Yoast SEO Free is packed with the most important features you’ll ever need. 

Here at A2 Hosting, we use Yoast for all of our blog posts and like good students, we double check our work before publishing it into the ether of the internet. 

What we love about YoastSEO: 

  • It automates mundane processes like writing titles and meta descriptions.
  • Offers advanced XML sitemaps so Google can better understand your site’s structure.
  • SEO analysis. 
  • Readability analysis. Arguably Yoast’s best feature. Yoast uses an algorithm to determine how user-friendly your post reads. They offer several checkpoints to increase reading accessibility for humans and search engines. 

 

Who it’s best for: Websites actively creating content. 

Best Free WordPress Optimizer – A2 Optimized

Smush logo

Lazy loading images evoke a picture of a tortoise waking up from a nap, but in fact, they’re part of what improves loading speeds. Neil Patel says people don’t have patience for slow websites with 40% abandoning a website taking longer than 3 seconds to load. 

Technically, this is under the SEO umbrella as well, but every website owner can benefit from optimizing their images. 

Images that are lazy loading mean they’re only loaded when users see them instead of loading all at once when the initial page loads. 

Smush literally smushes your images down, compressing them into a smaller size, without sacrificing the quality (this is called lossless compression). 

What we love about it: 

  • A user can compress or “bulk smush” up to 50 images in one click saving you the tedious task.
  • The ability to resize images. Larger files mean longer loading times. You can set max width and height dimensions.
  • No daily, monthly or annual limits for images up to 5MB in size. 
  • Faulty image detection to quickly locate images slowing down your site.

 

Who it’s best for: Websites with a large volume of images. 

Best Free WordPress Optimizer – A2 Optimized

A2 Optimized WP

Did you know that A2 Hosting has our own in-house WordPress plugin? 

That’s right. A2 Optimized was designed specifically to enhance and secure your WordPress website. Our experts have tested the best settings and functionality configurations of third-party plugins. 

What we love about it: 

  • Page caching capabilities. Storing full copies of webpages so that they can be accessed quicker by users and in turn speed up your site.
  • The ability to compress the size of HTML pages to provide page load improvements.
  • WordPress hardening rules to prevent browser access to specific files.
  • Bot prevention for comment forms.

 

Who it’s best for: Any WordPress user wanting to optimize and secure their site with minimal manual effort.

Conclusion

These are obviously only three plugins out of thousands, but they are our favorite, and frankly, practical and efficient for your WordPress needs, whatever they may be. 

If you have any questions about how A2 Hosting can help your website, contact our sales team today!  If you’re looking for a host for your WordPress website check out our new Managed WordPress Hosting plans!

Related Resources: 

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What is LiteSpeed? The Ultra-Fast Web Server You Should Know About https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/what-is-litespeed-the-ultra-fast-web-server-you-should-know-about/ Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:07:54 +0000 https://www.a2hosting.com/blog/?p=12777 Did you know that a one-second delay in your website’s load speed could be the difference between a closed sale and a lost customer? If your site load time exceeds …

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Did you know that a one-second delay in your website’s load speed could be the difference between a closed sale and a lost customer? If your site load time exceeds the recommended three-second mark, you will lose around 60% of your visitors. So, is there a way to make sure your website operates at its fastest? The short answer is: Yes, there is!

With our LiteSpeed Hosting solution, you address speed issues with a blazing-fast platform.  Read on to discover how it can help you build a site fit for the modern consumer.

What Is LiteSpeed?

LiteSpeed — a drop-in, speed-enhanced web server — is available with our Turbo packages. With LiteSpeed, our clients experience 20X faster page loads compared to traditional solutions. If you’re serious about boosting your site’s performance, you should make the switch to LiteSpeed.  Here’s why:

High-Performance

A slow website impacts your bounce rates, SEO rankings, and bottom line. With Litespeed, we take care of your site’s performance so you can focus on other high-value activities. Here’s what we can guarantee with our solutions:

  • 40% faster CPU performance
  • 2X faster to first byte
  • 9X more traffic capacity
  • 3X faster read/write speeds

Free Site Transfer

Are you ready to experience A2 Hosting but fear migrating to our servers on your own? Don’t worry; in most cases, we can move sites for free. Call our 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support for more information about our free site transfer.

With our worry-free migration services, you can eliminate all speed optimization barriers.

Developer Friendly

We’ve been serving various website needs since 2003, and we’ve always enabled our clients to enjoy the most popular development software. We support older versions, too! Here is some of the development software we can link to your account:

  • PHP 5.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, or 8.0
  • MySQL
  • 6/MariaDB
  • PostgreSQL 9.6
  • Python 3.4
  • PERL 5.10
  • Apache 2.4
  • js 12
  • FTP/SFTP
  • Free SSH Access
  • SSL & Free SSL

Perpetual Security

Recent cyber security statistics reveal that hackers attack 30,000 sites across the globe every day. With our Perpetual Security feature, we prevent our clients from falling victim to such attempts. A2 Hosting accounts come with free HackScan Protection to block malware before they can do any damage. Also, our reinforced distributed denial of service (DDoS) Protection boosts the likelihood of remaining online even after attacks.

Benefits of Turbo Plans

At A2 Hosting, our goal is to provide our clients with the best web hosting solutions that are both ultra-fast and reliable, like our Turbo plans. These are the options we offer for such services:

  • 40% faster CPU performance
  • 2x faster to first byte
  • Can handle 9x more traffic
  • Improved user experience with fast page loads
  • Better SEO rankings

Built for Speed

Below are some components that make our turbo plans super fast, apart from LiteSpeed Hosting:

  • Non-volatile memory express (NVMe): Through this component, we offer 3X faster read/write speeds.
  • HTTP/3: This feature is the new gold standard in providing faster and more reliable connections for sites and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
  • Edge Side Includes (ESI): With ESI, you don’t have to designate entire pages as non-cacheable. Instead, you can determine which portions can be cached and those that cannot.
  • Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC): This element is an ideal alternative to transmission control protocol (TCP). QUIC creates multiplexed connections between computers, which further enhances your website’s speed.

Advanced Caching Software

Every time someone visits your site, your server has to run a request to convert all information pieces to viewable parts in a web browser. This process sometimes causes sites to run slowly, but it doesn’t have to.

This process doesn’t vary much from visitor to visitor, making caching essential. Turning on your cache stores your files within a much faster random-access memory (RAM). When caching software, your site won’t have to run complicated processes. Instead, your server stores HTML files for a fast load speed.

Upgraded Server Hardware

At some point in your company’s life, peer-to-peer networking becomes insufficient. As you grow, your user demands will exceed the capacities of routers and shared storage devices. For this reason, upgraded server hardware can do wonders for your business.

With a trusty server on your side, you can manage email campaigns for more people, grant access to multiple users, and manage shared resources in the workplace.

Optimized Configurations

Our experts know our hosting infrastructure inside and out, making it easy to optimize our solutions for various sites. Whether you have a CSS, JS, or HTML site, we have the right hosting infrastructure to meet your needs.

With our optimized configurations, you can enjoy faster load times while reducing overall page size. We can help you save up to 80% bandwidth and boost your site’s performance tenfold.

The A2 Hosting Edge

A2 Hosting is nothing like your typical hosting company. We designed our Turbo plans for super speed, limited occupancy, and various performance add-ons to provide clients with the fastest web hosting services available anywhere.

With our solutions on your side, you can boost your user experience and conversion rates. Read on for more reasons to switch to A2 Hosting.

Super Speed

Fast web hosting servers allow you to customize your website in a way that addresses your unique requirements. These services are essential to thrive in the modern world.

Fast hosting leads to a quick load time — a crucial SEO component that encourages clients to hang around. Additionally, a fast website equates to better security and more revenue. If your slow internet is driving away clients, It’s time to say goodbye to mediocre hosting.

Guru Crew Support

With A2 Hosting, our exceptional services don’t end when you sign up with us. Our 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support proves it.

When you manage a company, you typically observe normal business hours. However, overseeing a website is a different story.

Websites require 24/7 support because anyone can access the internet from anywhere in the world. Any time of the day, you have visitors reading your content or making purchases. Every time you experience technical difficulties, you can lose traffic and credibility.

Whether you experience a breakdown or network outage, our support team will be there for you 24/7/365.

Money-Back Guarantee

We believe in all our groundbreaking solutions, inspiring us to offer a money-back guarantee. There’s nothing to lose but everything to gain from our offer, so why not give it a shot?

We don’t think you’ll cancel because we offer up to 20X faster web hosting to help you thrive in the modern world! However, if you do, we’ll give you a hassle-free refund. We hate breakups as much as the next person, but we won’t hold it against you.

99.9% Uptime Commitment

Uptime refers to a measure of system reliability expressed as a percentage of time a machine has been available. When hosting providers boast impressive uptime rates, it’s a good indication of high-performance servers. Our 24/7/365 support staff will get your site running in no time.

Upgrade Your Website Now

In today’s modern world, your website speed can make or break your online presence. A fast load time can boost your SEO, conversion, and sales efforts. Whether you need shared web or managed dedicated services, there’s an ideal Turbo Hosting for your needs. With its LiteSpeed Hosting feature, you never have to lose an online client again because of a slow website.

Contact our sales team today to discover how working with us can transform your business.  We’d love to help you achieve your 2022 business goals.

The post What is LiteSpeed? The Ultra-Fast Web Server You Should Know About appeared first on The A2 Posting.

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