The websites will be moved behind the scenes and you will receive more storage, faster load times and maximum security. My monthly fee for hosting will only go up enough to help pay for these improvements. It will be $16 per month instead of $12, a small hike for optimum hosting.

I also have some clients using shared hosting with Bluehost. I encourage these clients to take advantage of this great discount on improved security and speed. Bluehost will handle the move for a reduced fee. This will be easier for you, as I will be doing the billing instead of Bluehost and I can handle all of your questions.

More and more, security is a key issue with websites and I’m looking forward to offering a product my clients can trust. I will be in touch with more information and you can call me at any time.

Unfortunately, these updates that are necessary can also cause a disruption in productivity. My e-commerce set up includes several other pieces of payment software that may not be syncing to the new code Paypal presents. The problem is I just don’t know, so I enlisted Paypal Techs to help solve the issue. Still to be resolved. I won’t bore you with the back and forth that has ensued!

If you have annoyances with your website that you can’t solve, let me know and I will try to help you. Extra time purchased on the subscription can be used for these problems. I may be able to fix the problem myself or handle the calls needed to get the job done.

CLUE #1: No one refers to me as DEBORAH ANN, so that is clue number one, albeit not necessarily a red flag.

CLUE #2: Now look at the link. It starts with http://… Most reputable sites, especially domain companies will be using httpS://… The S is for secure and many of us in the know have changed ours two years ago. And again, we see the signature area missing the S on http://.

CLUE #3: Look inside the link. A real url will be simpler. For instance it would read something like …bluehost.com/account/reactivation.html. Instead, we see “bluehost.com/cyberlegosite.com/account/reactivation .html. This is a fake site. Now here is your red flag!

CLUE #4: So if you have been unlucky enough to actually experience malware on your Bluehost site you might have taken the bait and clicked the link. Like me, you’d hopefully get the warning below. If you missed the first few clues, do pay attention to any warning…and call your web site manager to check it out!

P.S. I had a chat with Bluehost and they confirmed it was malware and they have been getting a lot of reports on this today.

In the meantime, those of us who can work from home are doing so, and this includes me updating your websites at once or twice every week to keep it safe. Rest assured, I am keeping a lookout for any potential viruses that might be lurking. If you want weekly security updates please contact me and we can add it to your service. My program has the potential to add services that may be useful to you. But because they cost more, I don’t include them in the normal subscription.

Today, I made Divi Theme updates to over 30 websites, two Woo Commerce database updates that had to be done manually, over 20 plugin updates to various client websites. There were no scammy comments to delete. One website’s dashboard recommended I check on a potential virus. I had the Manage WP program review it and it was declared safe. All sites are backing up fine so no corrections were needed.

These are the things I check on every week…

Until next month stay safe and take advantage of your down time with family and loved ones.

For a limited time, free to current clients who pay for regular Web Care, I am offering to print a data driven report of your website upon request. This will include Security Checks, SEO / Analytics, and Broken Links, as analyzed by the software that has been handling your web updates.

By appointment, over a cup of coffee, we will sit and go over your website together, maybe something we haven’t done in awhile. Let me help you make a plan for updating your site’s outdated theme or layout, and improve content and user experience. We can discuss what is still working and what is broken or if your website is becoming “stale”.

Your company has grown and your website needs to mirror that. Let’s meet to discuss goals for 2020 and beyond! Email me to request your report and set up a meeting by phone or in person. I look forward to it!

In order to serve you better and improve my services I am creating and sending you a check-box survey in the next week. I hope that you can find time to answer a few questions and add a comment. Perhaps I can offer a new service that you need or more options. Your input will be very valuable and I welcome your suggestions. Again, thanks for your trust in Perugi Design and have a Healthy and Happy New Year!

SECURITY: Weekly updating of your software, WordPress, Theme, and Plugins, will help keep up with security assaults. You may not realize that malware and spam is an ongoing problem for small websites too. The robots sweep through looking for vulnerabilities without discretion to find a place to insert their bad code. Your site becomes the conduit through which the virus  spreads. WordPress itself updates over twelve times a year, then the Themes and Plugins follow suit. Perugi Design uses state of the art software to approve these updates each week or more often, if prompted. If there is a problem, it is hunted down and addressed.

BACKUPS: Your site can go down for various reasons. Sometimes, it gets infected, sometimes the code or php software is outdated. Perugi backups your website once a month, so that it can be restored to a previous, uncontaminated version. If you blog often or have an e-commerce site, you may want to back up once a week. Knowing that you have a safe version of your website that can be immediately restored is reassuring. Each week, I look to make sure your site has been backing up, so you have a fresh version for a possible restore.

CONFLICTS: I will know when the software is not updating. There can be several reasons. It was not updated automatically and the plugin or theme must be downloaded from the developer and reinstalled manually. The plugin is not being updated and was abandoned by the developer. This happens more often than I would like. And the reason I recommend only well established plugins with good ongoing support. There are also plugins that conflict with each other, with the theme or with other software. I will let you know when this is an issue before changing any plugins running on your website.

UPDATING PHP: PHP is the back end scripting language that is used by WordPress, offers a lot of resources, such as commands, functions and codes, which can easily be rewritten and used without incurring any cost. The PHP software does not always get updated by the hosting company and will need to be updated manually or by calling the host company. This is something we look for in our updating process.

NOTE: Necessary changes made that require extra time are billable. It may take up to an hour or more to rectify the problem on your hosting dashboard or calling and speaking with a hosting representative. Only the weekly updating “Manage WP” process is covered by the $10 monthly fee.

Owners of these businesses have busy schedules and sometimes the attention to their website is stop and go. We travel, get ill, have sick relatives and generally just get overwhelmed with too much to do. That’s ok. It allows me to juggle the work and attend to emergencies that sometimes come up from time to time.

A few weeks ago three of our sites went down because of a needed php upgrade which is done on the server. The php 7.1 is a large update that came after a big update to WordPress. All three website’s php were updated and the sites came back immediately. Then, another site was in need of repair and down due to old coding and software. I spent hours on the phone with two Buehost technicians testing and figuring out how to repair a broken website that had been updated to php 7.1. We reverted the php to 5.6 but it was still broken. That particular site was set up by an associate over three years ago, and she came out of retirement to the rescue by reverting it back to php 5.4. It’s theme had been dropped by the developer and could not be updated. Needless to say I am remaking that website into one that can be updated without errors.

I make weekly software updates to all websites that subscribe to the Web Care Plan (see Services page). I also back up your site monthly, or more often at your request. These backups are in addition to ones you may (or may not be) getting through your hosting company. Folks at Bluehost recommend having more than one backup of your website on hand. I use these backups to restore your website if something brings it down, such as malware or unusual circumstances such as those I discussed above.

I understand that your website is important to you and your business and I work hard when you need it most, to get your site back up and running fast!