Throughout this week I will be posting some tips on how to keep your website (and other accounts) as secure as possible from malicious activity or unwanted intruders.

The first topic I am going to discuss is by far the easiest and most commonly use way of account exploitation: Easy Passwords.

With password cracker software out there and hackers getting smarter, it’s cheesecake for them to get owner access to your account that should be protected.

Examples of weak, vulnerable passwords:

• kelly824 (my name and day of birth) seriously, that’s easy information and anyone can figure that out.
• letmein
• opensesame
• p@ssword123
• fluffy

And the list can go on and on. You never really want to use a password (especially when it comes to your bank account) that can be found in the dictionary or a name, or any numbers that are identifiable such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc. It’s just too easy for people to crack and most sites that get hacked are done so because the admin password has been compromised.

Examples of strong passwords:

• b@b8!llA
• MSte790eq (if only numbers and letters are allowed, no special characters.)
• h!t0Pt@b1e

Password Recommendations:

• Use UPPERCASE and lowercase letters
• Use Numbers
• If allowed, use special characters such as !@#$&
• Do NOT use any easily identifiable names or numbers
• Ideally, you want your password to be as long as possible, but please try not to use a password less than 8 characters.

Have trouble remembering passwords, try KeePass Password Safe. Keeps your passwords on your computer, but encrypted and ready for you to copy and paste.

Remember, it’s the littlest things that can go so far, the same goes with website security.

Well, now that I have my new look, you won’t be getting me to be quiet… so check my blog often!

Also, follow us on Twitter @Twenty70Hosting and ask us about our i.am.blogger package!

I believe in active communication with clients, 100%. You can find me conversating (I don’t think that’s a word, but it is today!) with clients on Twitter, they have my personal e-mail address, Twenty70′s Facebook Page, in person! I don’t believe in signing up a client and forgetting about them. That’s simply not how I roll.

I promote my clients. If you’ve got a business or blog, I give free shameless plugs. Your success is just as important to me as my own.

I offer full or partial sponsorships to special events such as the BlogHer Conference or any other event/conference that you need/want to attend. While I can’t sponsor everyone (I wish I could!) please feel free to contact me at kelly.m@twenty70hosting.com with any requests!

We pay attention to you and never give generic responses. Say goodbye to predefined replies! Every correspondence will be genuine, kind, and informative.

The true owners of Twenty70 are the clients, we work for you.

What is a hosting boutique you ask? Well, we specialize in single website hosting only. We do not and will not offer reseller packages for the purpose of reselling our disk space. When writing up Twenty70′s business model, it just didn’t fit in with my targeted market.

Want $5 hosting for your blog? Follow @Twenty70hosting on Twitter and tell us! What’s more, never pay for a domain name again! So what are you waiting for? Follow us!

The time has come, however, to present to you the winners of the 5 free hosting accounts and the Grand Prize winner of $500 buck-o-roos towards BlogHer 2010. If you didn’t win, THAT’S OK! Another partial sponsorship may be on the horizon…

Also, a special thanks to Random.org for randomly selecting the winners. I <3 Randomness.

So are you ready for the winners?

Drum Roll Please!

Our five lucky winners for One Year of Free Web Hosting…

• @SafireCat
• @TheFootBallWife
• @TiffanyRyan
• @Juliane2004
• @HealthyKids

w00t!! Please shoot me an e-mail at kelly.m@twenty70hosting.com if you’re interested in making the move!

And now…. the person who grabs the $500 for BlogHer use.

Who is Number 9?

Sam, aka: @TemptingMama was assigned number 9!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS @TEMPTINGMAMA, YOU WON!

Who’s excited?! I’m excited! I hope that with everyone’s support, I can do a few more of these partial sponsorships before BlogHer ’10 arrives in August! Anything to help out my awesome peeps!

@suzi_MN I want to know how easy it is to move my blogger blog to Twenty70Hosting? Please say easy. #twenty70

Easy! If you install WordPress, there is this nice little “Import” button that imports all of your posts/comments. Also you’ll have easy install themes/plugins/widgets all for free and ready for your use!

@amydpp Dear #twenty70 haven’t heard you mention #drupal yet. You have?

We have! This is one of the 100+ software programs available for installation via “Softaculous”.

@ebaywickedlove @twenty70hosting My domain name is up for renewal. Does it matter who I renew with? If I’m switching to you? #twenty70hosting

Negative, does not matter.

@KidtoGrownUp What will happen with my @KidtoGrownUp email account that is through google if I move to self hosting #twenty70

If you have a google apps account, I can set your MX entries to use Google Mail or you can forward you e-mail to your google address.

@heirtoblair So you bill annually, but at the beginning of the year, mid-year…? Is there a monthly option? #twenty70

We offer three payment tiers: Monthly, Annual, and Biennially. All payments are due on the first of the month. If you sign up before the 15th of any month, you will pay a prorated amount and at the 1st of the next month, receive your regular monthly or annual invoice (whichever you chose).

If you pay after the 15th of the month, the prorated amount of time used for the sign up month is added to your next months/years invoice.

Today if you were to sign up with a monthly payment term, you’d pay $8.58 and your next invoice would be due on May 1, 2010.

If you were to sign up an annual payment term, you’d pay the remaining five days of March and renew on March 1, 2011.

Did I thoroughly confuse everyone?

@militaryfamof8 is there any widget that I can use now to keep my followers on [Friend Connect], if I move with you? #twenty70

For WordPress? Yes, http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-friendsconnect-widget/

@the818 So you personally handle all accounts? Because I am seriously unhappy with my host. #Twenty70

Yes.

@KidtoGrownUp Why is wordpress the leader in self hosted #twenty70

I would say it’s because it’s free, has a ton of free templates, free plugin’s and widgets, still being upgraded and made better. And it’s easy use!

@MomStart If someone hacks into a database from a website and google flags the site as a spam site will you help owner fix #twenty70

Absolutely. If Google flags a site as spam it not only hurts the client but it hurts us because it reflects that we host spam on our servers, which we do not.

@Bucksome What is acceptable down time for a web hosting company? #twenty70

No matter how much (or how little) you pay for hosting services, you deserve the best uptime possible. I don’t like the term “You get what you pay for” because it’s not always true. With that said, there are two reasons for downtime. Unexpected, out of-the-blue “Is my site down?” and planned maintenance downtime for server maintenance such as hardware upgrades, OS updates, software recompiles, etc.  I think that 99.9% uptime (which is 43 minutes downtime for the whole month) is an ideal standard in the real world for unexpected downtime. While all companies strive for 100% uptime, I’m just being realistic. Abuse can occur on the server causing inaccessibility, a Denial of Service (DoS) attack could happen, it’s just up to the provider to mitigate and resolve the issues as quickly as possible. For planned maintenance such as a complete server upgrade and restore on to newer, faster hardware, the downtime can be between one hour and eight hours (99.0% uptime for the month). Of course, a company planning scheduled maintenance should give ample notice to their clients so they can prepare. Also, these maintenance times are generally during the overnight period and during off-peak hours.

@thefootballwife If I were to use my own software to update the look of my blog, how easy is it to upload all the files using your web hosting? #twenty70

Super easy! cPanel has a built in File Manager where you can upload and manage your files but we also have the ability to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol). With free FTP client FileZilla you can upload, download, move multiple files and even directories even faster.

@heirtoblair Do you offer any design help, or are we on our own there? What about static pages & other domains? #twenty70

While I will help if I can, I wouldn’t rely on me. I hope soon though, I can hire a designer to help permanently.

@the818 Readers can’t access me from work computers, but my site isn’t dirty or anything. Can you fix that? #twenty70

Unfortunately, the IT department at their respective work places probably have filters in place to restrict what employees can surf on the web while working. They can try to surf your site through a proxy such as anonymouse.org but chances are that they’ve blocked that too. It’s not a matter of dirty material, IT departments do this at the request of the employer to keep employee productivity high and keep them focused on the work at hand. Sadly, I cannot say that switching to twenty70 will resolve that problem. It may or may not, depending on how your site is being blocked.

@amydpp (because I can) can #twenty70 hosting cure an earache? (DON’T EVEN TELL ME THAT DOESN’T COUNT!)

Apparently not! I still have one! *sniffle* LoL

@jennamariebee @Twenty70Hosting Can I install wordpress with you guys? #twenty70

Yes, you can install wordpress with us. In fact, it can be installed with just one click with Softaculous.

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