WordPress.org has become more popular in the last few years. Those who wanted slick websites started turning to WordPress’s creative open community for options outside of the way the platform had traditionally been used for blogging. There are numerous professional website templates available for affordable prices, and there are a wide assortment of plugins to choose from when it comes to integrating helpful tools into the admin. panel. For those who want to build from scratch, the sky is the limit.
A while back we featured a blog about how we worked with a university in Ecuador to build a WordPress website (below screenshot from http://www.casagrande.edu.ec/).
We have also seen where merchants are looking to WordPress for online store options too. Our in-house WordPress development expert, Tim Whitacre, has worked with the ecommerce side of WordPress store plugins for years. He says the best WordPress store plugin is Jigo Shop. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s the best WordPress shop plugin for everyone, so it’s worth researching WordPress forums, etc. for yourself to see what WordPress shop plugin looks best to you. The main thing according to Whitacre is to, “First figure out what you are selling… tangible or digital only as that will usually make a heavy difference.
Once you’re in place with a nice WordPress website and ecommerce plugin, it’s critical to look into security options, as a breach can compromise everything. Hacking is on the rise, especially from sophisticated operations in places like China (like this recent NPR article suggests) which focus on using methods of advanced persistent threat to steal key intellectual property. One group of Chinese hackers is suspected of hacking Nortel for ten years before being stopped, so it’s important for online businesses to take security seriously and take daily steps to detect and prevent it.
We wrote a blog a while back that should prove useful: Hack Protection Tips For WordPress Beginners. Getting a really solid database backup solution set up in case of any incidents and even other plugins like Akismet set up to block spam and other attacks (and there will be tons of it, especially for high ranking WP sites) is a good start. Whiteacre says, “As long as you are careful with your plugins and keep both plugins and WordPress up to date you should be 99% good.”
“For those still worried, there is a solution by WordPress called “VaultPress” – – it does cost a monthly fee and I’d suggest that it’s more for larger websites,” Whitacre says.
What eCommerce and security plugins do you use for WordPress?
