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How to Build a Company Website

Want to just get started? Click here to sign up for Bluehost and Zyro today.

Customers expect businesses to have a functioning company website so that they can learn more about their products and services.

Many business leaders assume they’ll need web building knowledge—or hire a professional web designer to make one. They don’t.

Instead, they can use web builders to create and launch your company website within minutes.

The Top-Rated Web Builders to Build a Company Website

Web builders have truly transformed web development. But which ones are worth your money?

  • Zyro – Best for keeping website costs low
  • Wix – Best website builder for your first website
  • Shopify – Best for building ecommerce websites
  • Bluehost – Best for WordPress websites
  • Squarespace – Best website builder for creators of all stripes
  • Weebly – Best for solopreneurs
  • GoDaddy – Best for building your website from your phone

You can read our full reviews for each website builder here.

5 Steps To Building a Company Website

Here are the five steps to building a company website:

  1. Get a Domain Name and Business Email
  2. Finalize Your Business Website Builder
  3. Get Started on Your Company Website
  4. Add More Optimized Website Content
  5. Get Your Website Out to the World

The Easy Parts of Building a Company Website

Building a website for your company used to be a difficult, tedious, and time-consuming process. Not anymore.

Today, we have web builders that automate most of the hard work. They let you build the website of your dream in just a few clicks, so you can get started on building an online presence right away.

Despite this, web builders are still extremely affordable, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank anytime soon.

You also have hundreds of thousands of templates and plugins available at your fingertips that can not only make your company website look on-brand and attractive but also ensure it performs well and is fast. 

The Difficult Parts of Building a Company Website

There are also a few hurdles you need to overcome when building a professional website.

Going overboard on your budget is one factor to keep in mind. Most website builders allow you to build your website either for free or at dirt cheap rates…until you get your domain and email address and add any basic-level functionality to it. In fact, a few solutions even charge you for speaking to customer support.

Finalizing a domain name is no easy task either. Considering there are over 1 billion websites in the world, there is no surety the domain name you like is available. You may have to spend hours brainstorming good domain names for your company website, which isn’t exactly an exciting prospect. 

You need to be careful when choosing templates, too. While you’ll find many customizable options, there will be limitations to how much design can be changed. This may be frustrating for those who have a very specific vision for their site.

Step 1: Get a Domain Name and Business Email

The very first step of building a company website is selecting a web domain name and getting a professional email address.

This helps visitors look your company up among the endless websites. Likewise, having a professional-looking email address adds to your business’s credibility.

Pick and Buy a Domain Name

No one else can have your domain. For instance, quicksprout.com is my website’s domain—and unless I don’t renew my subscription, no other brand can use it. Being the first thing customers see, domain names are also critical for making a solid first impression.

With so many things riding on your domain, you obviously don’t want to get this wrong. 

  • Align your domain name with your business
  • Keep it short, easy to spell, and remember
  • Include keywords relevant to your business
  • Skip abbreviations or unnecessary hyphens
  • Use top-level domain names, such as .com or .org

You’ll have to pay an initial cost of registering a domain that typically comes to $10-$12 per year, which gets renewed annually to keep it registered going forward. This helps secure your domain name and ensures nobody else can take it.

But don’t take your money out just yet—you can register your domain name for free when using a web builder. More on that in Step 2.

Create a Professional Company Email Address

Get a custom business email, preferably with G Suite. You have to pay a small subscription fee (starting at $6 per month), but Gmail’s top-notch security and reliability, along with the fact that professional emails make your business look more professional and established, makes it well worth it.

Step 2: Finalize Your Business Website Builder

Selecting the right business website builder is one of the most important steps of building your company website—one that takes deep research and dedication. But don’t worry, we’ll guide you through the process to simplify it for you.

Identify Which Web Builder Best Meets Your Requirements

The good news is you have a lot of options when it comes to web builders. The bad news is you have a lot of options that come to web builders.

Many of them can help you get your website online, but each one has different features, pricing, and level of customer support. Which one should you choose? Let’s find out.

Identify Important Features 

Every business is different. Some have a huge budget, while others prioritize money-saving. Some have tech-savvy teams, others may have team members who are beginners in tech.

Identify your organization’s unique requirements when selecting a website builder. As someone who has built several (high-performing) business websites, I choose platforms based on three factors:

  • User-friendliness
  • Customization
  • Monetization

You can always adjust the list based on what you think would be more appropriate for your business.

Sign Up With the Website Builder

Based on my requirements, Bluehost is usually my top pick. 

This is because I mostly work with WordPress websites, and since the platform comes recommended by WordPress.org, choosing Bluehost is really a no-brainer. Plus the fact that it’s affordable, user-friendly, and offers 24/7 customer service support and built-in security features doesn’t hurt.

Bluehost home page

Circling back to the domain name, Bluehost also offers users a free domain for the first year of your plan. As we said, you don’t need to worry about the money just yet.

If Bluehost sounds like the right fit, sign up here. The Basic plan starts at just $2.75 per month and is suitable for small websites. In case you have larger needs, you can always upgrade to Bluehost‘s premium plans. 

Besides Bluehost, you can also try the highly affordable Zyro and the super user-friendly Wix. Both of them come with powerful features and customizations, and require no previous site-building experience or knowledge.

Install the WordPress Software (Optional)

Whether or not you need to install WordPress depends on your choice of website builder. For instance, if you use an all-in-one website builder (think Squarespace), you can skip this step. But if you want to use WordPress (like I do) and a hosting company, your next task is installing the content management system (CMS).

Thanks to its intuitive dashboard and one-click WordPress installation feature, installing WordPress when you use Bluehost is super quick and easy. 

Here’s how you can download WordPress through Bluehost:

  1. Open your Bluehost dashboard.
  2. On the left-hand of the menu, select My Sites followed by Add Site and Create New Site.
  3. You should see the option to install WordPress or start working with Bluehost’s website builder. Select the Get Started option inside the WordPress box.
  4. Follow the displayed prompts, where you enter your website name and tagline. Click Next.
  5. Enter your email address and create a password for your new WordPress site. The installer will automatically start downloading and installing WordPress.
  6. Next, go to My Sites and select Manage Site. Click Login to WordPress.

Of course, WordPress installation will be different depending on your chosen web hosting provider. But you can always contact customer support for more help.

Step 3: Get Started on Your Company Website

Finally, we arrive at the fun part!

This is where you can make the more fun decisions concerning how your website looks and works. Here, I’ll go into more detail about selecting the right templates, plugins, and extensions for your company site.

Choose a Theme or Template

WordPress, along with other web builders like Squarespace, offers tons of optimized and attractive templates or themes you can easily customize for a more on-brand look. Moreover, most of them don’t cost a single penny either!

The following are the steps to access free template options on your WordPress dashboard:

  1. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Appearance followed by Themes.
Wordpress themes dashboard
  1. You’ll see a vast selection of free themes appear on your screen. Install and Activate the one you like the most. You can customize it later to suit your requirements. Alternatively, consider using premium WordPress business themes that include pre-built portfolios, page builder integration, and ecommerce pages if you have extra money to spend.

If you use Squarespace, for instance, you won’t have to leave the platform to activate themes. This is because the web builder lists all templates directly on its website, plus you can see each one of them at the click of a button.

Install Plugins and Extensions

If you want to make the most out of your company website, installing plugins (in WordPress) and extensions (in other web page builders) is a no-brainer.

You may feel tempted to install as many plugins and extensions as you can, especially when you have thousands of options available. But you should *only* pick the ones you genuinely need to avoid low page speeds and inadequate site performance.

The following are the common areas where installing plugins or extensions makes sense:

  • Website performance and optimization to build a fast-loading website
  • Security to protect your website against cybercriminals and other malicious actors
  • Database and file backups to protect your data in case anything goes wrong with your website
  • Search engine optimization (SEO) to help your business gain more visibility in the SERPs
  • Ecommerce to help your online business easily handle sales 

When choosing plugins or extensions, look for tools with high ratings and regular updates. You can also read feedback from previous users to determine whether installing the plugin is worth your time.

Wordpress page for Sucuri Security plugin showing ratings and reviews

Step 4: Add Optimized Website Content

You have a functioning website! Your next step is to add content that tells visitors more about your business and what they can expect from you.

Create the Necessary Web Pages

You don’t have to add a lot of content immediately, but it’s nice to have a rough structure in mind so you know how to proceed:

  • Homepage. Your homepage is the first thing visitors see when they visit. Ideally, you want it to be a short overview of your services, plus include clear navigation that takes them to other sections of your website.
  • Products. As the name suggests, this showcases your work and describes what you can do for your visitors. You can also name it as Services or Portfolio page if needed.
  • About. This is where you’ll share an engaging back story about your company and team members.
  • Contact. Include a contact form and impactful copy on your Contact page so that visitors feel encouraged to get in touch.
  • Blog. Having a well-maintained blog is an excellent content marketing tool to get more leads. While you don’t need a densely populated blog page right away (obviously), you can add a few introductory posts if you want.

Optimize Your Company Website for Search Engines

After making the web pages, you need to ensure people can find them—and optimizing your content for SEO is one of the most reliable ways to achieve this.

SEO is all about refining your content so that it ranks higher on the SERPs. The following are a few key practices to remember:

  • Include appropriate keywords in your web pages and blog posts
  • Optimize website speed
  • Add internal and external links throughout your website
  • Choose a responsive design so that your content works on all devices
  • Use post names in their permalinks

In WordPress, you can install SEO plugins like Yoast SEO that automatically scan your content and suggest content optimization tips.

Yoast SEO graphic with animated image of people huddled around laptop

Step 5: Get Your Website Out in the World

The moment has come when you finally hit Publish. But there are a few last things you shouldn’t ignore to ensure a successful launch that gives you a solid start.

Test Your Company Website

Show your website to a trusted confidant to get their honest opinion. Ask them to navigate your website to learn how someone may move around your website and where they may get stuck.

If your confidant gives you the go-ahead, congratulations! You’re set. But if they suggest a few improvements, take it in your stride. Start working on implementing the changes.

Don’t Stop After Hitting Publish

After making your website live, focus on spreading the word. Send an email to contacts or post on social media announcing your website’s launch. Regular site maintenance is also important to consistently deliver a good user experience.

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ExpectedConditions in Selenium

The majority of web products use AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), where elements on the page are loaded at varying time intervals. This can lead to timing issues when automation testing is performed using the Selenium framework. What if a test is run on a WebElement that is not present in the DOM? The findElement function will raise ElementNotVisibleException.

Here are other scenarios that can cause issues in Selenium due to the dynamic loading of elements:

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How to Start an LLC in New York

Want to get started right away? Click here to sign up for ZenBusiness and start your LLC today. 

Forming an LLC in New York can be a daunting experience for entrepreneurs, new and old alike. 

This isn’t always due to inexperience. Entrepreneurs and business owners have a ton of things to think about and the legal formalities of forming an LLC can take up much of their time.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to work with an online LLC service provider to do the job for you.

The best LLC service providers have a solid grasp of local laws and provide top-notch support to help you complete your LLC filing within your specified timeline and budget.

Let’s look at the various steps and requirements to create an LLC in New York.

The Top-Rated LLC Services to Form a Business in New York

When it comes to finding the right LLC service for your needs, there’s no shortage of options to choose from. To give you a head start on your search, we have shortlisted some of the best LLC services you can rely on. Ultimately, the right service for you would depend on your specific goals, budget, timelines, and the features and benefits you’re looking for. The services we recommend are:

You can read our full reviews of each LLC service here.

8 Steps to Starting an LLC in New York

Forming an LLC in the state of New York is an eight-step process. The formalities for LLC creation vary from state to state, so even if you have created LLCs in other states, you’d want to pay attention here to follow the specific guidelines for New York.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

  1. Pick a name for your LLC
  2. Provide a business address for official communication
  3. Choose a registered agent
  4. File Articles of Organization
  5. Publish the notice of LLC formation in two newspapers
  6. Create an LLC operating agreement
  7. Receive certification for LLC formation
  8. Obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

The Easy Parts of  Starting an LLC in New York

A plethora of online resources makes it relatively easy to find all the answers you need to set up your LLC. This means you no longer have to spend time and money on accountants and lawyers to file your Articles of Organizations and other documentation.

The United States is overall a business-friendly country. Within the US, the state of New York was rated the 22nd most business-friendly state in the country by CNBC. This puts it in the top 50% of the national ranking.

Anyone aged 18 years or older can start an LLC in New York. For LLC members, there are no age or residence limitations. They don’t even have to be listed in the Articles of Organization.

It’s a common misconception that setting up an LLC will require a lot of official paperwork, physical presence at various government offices, and a ton of other formalities. However, you can now form an LLC within a day with the help of a trusted LLC Service.

ZenBusiness page to create your LLC in minutes

ZenBusiness is a relatively new entrant in the ranks of prominent LLC Services and has made a name for itself right from the start. The service makes a solid first impression with its well-designed website that seamlessly guides visitors through all the steps they need to follow to set up an LLC.

ZenBusiness offers a variety of paid plans to suit the needs of different customers:

  • Starter at $49 per year
  • Pro at $129 per year
  • Premium at $299 per year

Regardless of the plan you choose, you’ll get help with LLC documentation, name search, and other formalities.

The Difficult Parts of Starting an LLC in New York

There are a number of challenges involved when starting an LLC in New York.

First off, you need to keep a close eye on the costs of LLC formation. Overall, it can be an expensive undertaking with state filing fees, franchise tax, legal fees, and various other government fees.

Then, there’s the hassle of documentation. If you’re an entrepreneur who has taken on the responsibility of completing all the documentation by yourself, you may find this part of the process time-consuming and confusing. This is why hiring an LLC Service with expertise in these areas is highly recommended.

When you’re starting an LLC, you also need to remember that LLCs are not allowed to issue any stock. Since this is often an easy way to raise capital, this is a major drawback for LLC owners.

Taxation is another important factor to consider. Unfortunately, New York has one of the most complicated business tax schemes in the country. Depending on how your LLC is set up, it may also be subject to a franchise tax.

Step 1: Pick a Name for Your LLC

The first step in setting up your LLC is to choose a suitable name. That sounds simple but make sure to do your research on New York’s LLC naming conventions. The name selection has to comply with these rules. The guidelines for naming are easily available online.

Follow New York’s Naming Conventions

Here are some of the most important rules for naming LLCs in New York:

  • Your LLC name should include the words “Limited Liability Company” or the abbreviation LLC or L.L.C.
  • The name should be easily distinguishable from the names of other LLCs, corporations, or limited partnerships listed with the New York State Department.
  • The name should not contain any prohibited words as listed under section 204 of the Limited Liability Company Law.
  • Certain words require the permission of additional state agencies before the filing of the Articles of Organization. For example, the words acceptance, bank, finance, investment, loan, mortgage, savings, trust, and guarantee require the approval of the Banking and Insurance Departments.

Make Sure the Domain Name is Available

When naming your LLC, you have to think strategically. Making sure the right domain is available for the name you want is a very important step in the process. We highly recommend running a quick search on domain websites and acquiring your desired domain as soon as you can before it’s taken by someone else.

Conducting Business Under an Assumed Name

If you want, you can conduct business under an informal or assumed name. Several entrepreneurs do this for various reasons, such as to have a different name for different geographic locations or to avoid negative publicity.

To make this happen, your LLC would require a Certificate of Assumed Name, also known as a DBA Certificate, where DBA stands for Doing Business As. The certificate has to be filed with the New York State Department of State (NYSDOS).

Once you have chosen a name for your LLC and have secured a domain name, the next step is to choose an LLC Service to complete the remaining formalities for you. For this task, we recommend ZenBusiness for top-notch business formation expertise and services.

Step 2: Provide a Business Address for Official Communication

The next step is to provide a physical address for your LLC. This is where all official communication is sent. For example, if your LLC gets sued, this is where the legal notice would arrive. 

Virtual Mailbox

If you’re unable to secure a physical address, you can opt for a virtual mailbox. Many online services offer this valuable feature for a modest fee. Once activated, you can use the service to view your mail online.

Get an Address From an LLC Service

You also have the option to register with an LLC service provider that would give you a mailing address and receive your mail on your behalf. This is especially beneficial for small businesses that run from private locations they don’t want to disclose.

Step 3: Choose a Registered Agent

A registered agent acts as your representative in case of legal or tax issues and provides a street address for postal communication.

Default Registered Agent

By default, all New York LLCs have the New York State Department of State as their registered agent. This means all your mail and legal notices are handled and forwarded to your registered address by the NYSDOS.

Additional Registered Agent

You can choose to appoint a registered agent as an additional agent. This could be your LLC service provider as well. 

The additional registered agent you appoint should be someone who can be available at a New York-based physical address during business hours to receive legal and tax documentation on your behalf.

They must be fully aware of the obligations and the responsibilities of the position.

Step 4: File Articles of Organization

The next step is to legally establish your LLC and inform the relevant authorities about its structure, stakeholders, and other useful information. This requires the filing of the Articles of Organization with the relevant state authority.

Filing the Articles of Organization in New York

The Articles of Organization is a legal document that lays out the basic information about your organization and legally establishes your LLC. For New York-based LLCs, the relevant form for this is the DOS 1336 that interested individuals can file with the New York State Division of Corporations.

Even though it sounds complicated, the process only involves filling out a simple form and submitting it online or via post.

Information Required to Complete the Articles of Organization

Before your start filling out the DOS 1336 form, have the following information handy:

  • The name of your LLC
  • The name of the New York county where the LLC would be based
  • A New York mailing address where the Secretary of State could mail legal documents to the LLC
  • The LLC organizer’s signature
  • The person setting up the LLC is required to sign the Articles and include their address

The filing process should cost you around $125.

Step 5: Publish the Notice of LLC Formation in Two Newspapers

Once the Articles of Organization have been filed, evidence has to be submitted that the formation of the LLC has been announced publicly.

Publishing the Notice

The LLC must publish a copy of the Articles of Organization or a notice about the formation of the LLC in two newspapers within 120 days of the formation of the company. However, these can’t be just any newspapers. The publications are designated by the county clerk where the LLC is based.

Certificate of Publication

Once the notice is published, the newspaper will provide an affidavit of publication. To complete the process, the Certificate of Publication, along with the affidavits of publication, need to be filed with the New York State Department of State.

Step 6: Create an LLC Operating Agreement

In the next step, you need to inform the government of how the LLC would be operating. The LLC uses the Operating Agreement to outline the financial arrangements between the members, how disputes between the members would be resolved, and other rules of business in the day-to-day operation of the LLC.

The Importance of an Operating Agreement

The state of New York requires LLC members to submit an Operating Agreement within 90 days of filing the Articles of Organization. Submitting an Operating Agreement isn’t compulsory by law, but is highly recommended in case legal disputes arise between the LLC members in the future.

In such a scenario, the Operating Agreement can make it easy to arrive at a swift resolution instead of the court making decisions based on state law, which may not be the ideal scenario for the LLC and its members.

What Does an Operating Agreement Include?

The common elements of an Operating Agreement are:

  • LLC’s name and principal address
  • Duration of the LLC
  • Name and address of the registered agent
  • Information about the Articles of Organization
  • Purpose of the business
  • Members and their contribution
  • The way profits and losses will be divided
  • Procedure for admitting new members, as well as outgoing members
  • Management of the LLC
  • Indemnification and liability clauses

Step 7: Receive a Certificate for LLC Formation

Once the LLC’s formation documents are submitted and approved, the state issues a certificate to confirm the legal formation of the LLC. The issuance of the certificate may take as long as seven weeks.

Upon receiving the certificate, the LLC can open up a bank account, receive an Employer Identification Number (EIN), and obtain business licenses.

Step 8: Obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Now that your LLC is set to conduct business, the last formality is to have it registered with the IRS as a tax-paying corporate entity. That’s where the Employer Identification Number (EIN) comes in.

What is an Employer Identification Number (EIN)?

The Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit number assigned to your LLC by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify and track it for taxation. It’s easy to obtain an EIN online or via post.

Purpose of the Employer Identification Number (EIN)

The EIN has three main purposes:

  • File taxes for your LLC at the state and federal levels
  • Open a business bank account
  • Hire employees
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Handling File Uploads With NestJS and MySQL

Many developers despise dealing with file uploads. This can be attributed to a lack of knowledge about the best approach to take or difficulties determining how to configure their NestJS application to handle file uploads. Many people may want to save their files directly to a MySQL database, or save image names and have the image saved on disk storage: it all depends on their preferences and the goals they want to achieve. This tutorial will teach you how to build a file uploading functionality using NestJS and MySQL.

Prerequisites

Before you begin following this tutorial, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

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Send Push Notifications to Users of Another App

As online shopping for products and services becomes more and more popular, new business opportunities have also arisen. To seize such opportunities, I recently developed an online shopping app, which I shall refer to in this article as "app B". Once you have developed an app, the next thing that you need to do is to promote the app and attract more users to use it. Since sending push messages to users is a widely used method for promoting apps and improving user engagement, I decided to do the same for my new app in order to deliver promotional information and various coupons to users, which hopefully should increase their engagement and interest.

However, I discovered a glaring problem straightaway. Since the app has just been released, it has few registered users, making it hard to achieve the desired promotional effect by just sending push messages to these users. What I needed to do was to send push messages to a large pool of existing users in order to get them to try out my new app. It suddenly occurred to me that I once developed a very popular short video app (which I shall refer to as "app A"), which has now accumulated thousands of registered users. Wouldn't it be great if there was a one-stop service that I can use to get app B to send push messages to the wide user base of app A, thus attracting users of app A to use app B?

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An Overview of DTrace and strace

Often,ee when debugging, we need to step outside of the comforting embrace of the IDE to reproduce or track an issue. In this series, I’d like to go over some tools you might find useful for these cases. I’ll try to limit myself to tools that are 100% debugging tools and not those that are useful for development testing.

For example, tools like curl or jq are remarkably useful. You can/should use them while debugging. But you probably used them while building and testing the feature. So you would already be familiar with them and should have some sense of what they do. I want to focus on tools that you would mostly reach for when debugging. In that sense, tools like SDKMan, etc. also make no sense here.

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What, Why, and Hows of WordPress Security Keys

Do you want to learn more about WordPress security keys and salts?

WordPress uses security keys to protect your website against hacking attempts. You can use them more efficiently to improve WordPress security.

In this article, we will discuss what are WordPress security keys and salts and why you should use them.

WordPress security keys guide for beginners

What are WordPress Security Keys and SALTs?

WordPress security keys are an encryption tool that protects login information by making it harder to decode.

These keys act just like real keys and are used to lock and unlock encrypted information such as passwords, keeping your WordPress site secure.

WordPress security keys diagram

Here is how it works.

Basically, when you log in to a WordPress website, your information is stored on your computer in cookies. This allows you to continue working on your website without the need to log in on each page load.

All information is stored in encrypted form by converting it into a string of alpha-numeric and special characters.

This encrypted data can be translated using WordPress security keys. Without the keys, this data is nearly impossible to crack.

These security keys are automatically generated by your WordPress site and stored in your WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php).

There are a total of four security keys:

  • AUTH_KEY
  • SECURE_AUTH_KEY
  • LOGGED_IN_KEY
  • NONCE_KEY

Apart from WordPress security keys, you’ll also find the following SALTs.

  • AUTH_SALT
  • SECURE_AUTH_SALT
  • LOGGED_IN_SALT
  • NONCE_SALT

Salts add extra information to your encrypted info which provides another layer of security to your encrypted data.

Why Use WordPress Security Keys?

WordPress security keys protect your website against hacking attempts by making your passwords secure.

For instance, a regular password with medium-level difficulty can be easily cracked using brute force attacks.

On the other hand, a password string like ‘7C17bd5b44d6c9c37c01468b20d89c35e576914c289f98685941accddf67bf32b49’ takes years to decrypt without knowing the security keys.

That’s why you should never share WordPress security keys with anyone and protect them as you would normally protect sensitive information online.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to use WordPress security keys to keep your WordPress site protected.

How to Use WordPress Security Keys?

Normally, you don’t need to do anything extra since in most cases WordPress will automatically generate and use security keys + salts on each new WordPress install.

You can view your WordPress security keys and salts by using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your WordPress hosting account control panel.

Simply connect to your website, and open the wp-config.php file. Inside it, you’ll see your WordPress security keys defined.

Security keys WordPress configuration file

However, depending on how you initially installed WordPress, your website may not have security keys defined at all.

If your security keys are empty, then don’t worry. You can easily add them manually by going to the WordPress Security Key Generator page to generate a new set of keys.

WordPress security key generator

Next, copy and paste these keys inside your wp-config.php file, and you are done.

You can use the same method to delete your current WordPress security keys and replace them with new keys.

Note: When you replace the security keys, all users will be forced to re-login which is great for security.

Regenerate WordPress Security Keys using a Plugin

If you suspect that your website is hacked, then you need to regenerate WordPress security keys and change your passwords.

You can manually copy and paste new security keys as mentioned above. However, a much easier approach would be using a plugin. This way you can also set a schedule to automatically regenerate security keys regularly.

1. Update WordPress Security Keys using Sucuri

The easiest way to automatically regenerate WordPress security keys by using Sucuri. It is one of the best WordPress security plugins on the market that protects your WordPress website against common threats.

Simply install and activate the Sucuri Security plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Sucuri Security » Settings page and switch to the Post-Hack tab.

Update security keys using Sucuri

From here, simply click on the Generate New Security Keys button under the ‘Update Secret Keys’ section.

Note: Regenerating new security keys will log you out of the WordPress admin area and you’ll need to login again.

Regenerate security keys

After that, revisit the Sucuri Security » Settings page and switch to the Post-Hack tab again.

Under the security keys section, enable the Automatic Secret Keys Updater by choosing a frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). Then click on the Submit button.

Automatically update security keys

Sucuri will now automatically reset your WordPress security keys based on the frequency you have chosen.

2. Update WordPress Security Keys using Salt Shaker

This method is for users who are not using Sucuri and need to automate security key regeneration.

First, you need to install and activate the Salt Shaker plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Tools » Salt Shaker page to configure plugin settings.

Update security keys with Salt Shaker

From here, you can set a schedule to automatically generate security keys. You can also just click on the ‘Change now’ button to immediately regenerate security keys.

We hope this article helped you understand what are WordPress security keys and how to use them. You may also want to see our guide on how to fix common WordPress errors, or see our expert pick of the must have WordPress plugins for your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What, Why, and Hows of WordPress Security Keys first appeared on WPBeginner.