If anyone has experienced a home invasion, aka a break in, you will probably understand how I felt today…
I received a call from my web designer that my WordPress website was hacked. Initially I thought: “Oh, it’s no big deal, I’m not Sony or the CIA so I’ll be fine.” But as the minutes passed I began to fully understand what exactly this “hack” could have meant…
You see every time I logged into my WordPress website there was a big red backup button, telling me how many days since my last backup. After that number went beyond the 100 days mark it became a staple in my idea of what the home screen looked like. So I just never pushed it.
For those who work hard to grow their online presence through blogging or vlogging, you will understand why panic quickly set in. It’s not the listing data that was a big deal…it’s the Blogs…
The grueling hours of work involved with trying to craft the most optimized content to be searchable on old granddaddy Google, can be extremely exhausting. Here I was faced with losing it all? It was more than devastating. I quickly began trying to compile any and all drafts of my past blogs, community, real estate tips, rants…oh the rants!
As I scanned my pages of drafts it was pretty clear there were only a few sparse ideas and paragraphs there… hardly anything that resembled the beauty that was my home on the World Wide Web.
A few hours, many panic-stricken phone calls, and a few cups of tea later, I got the call.
Luckily my incredibly talented web man was able to retrieve most of the content, but it makes you wonder…”What’s the value in breaking into the website of a REALTOR® in a small town in Ontario?”
Through this chaotic mid-week meltdown I learned some invaluable lessons:
- Back everything up – In this world of cloud-based work environments we rely so heavily on automated backups that we sometimes lose track of what’s NOT getting backed up.
- Security is paramount – Perhaps the same passwords you used in high school for your first email address aren’t quite as secure as they once were…Update them!
- Know when to ask for help – If you’re going to make the investment of time and money to build your online presence you will at some point need help, so hire a professional to make the process easier and enjoyable for you.
Hopefully none of you will ever have to go through losing your website, data, or contact from hackers. If you do though, these simple lessons may just save your skin! Happy blogging!
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