The real risk isn't visible from your desk — a hacked site often looks perfectly normal to you while mobile visitors get redirected to junk pages, and an SSL padlock gives false confidence since it protects the connection, not outdated plugins or weak logins. Studio 47 runs a full top-to-bottom check (access, backups, injected code, monitoring) instead of just selling a certificate, and is upfront when a basic brochure site doesn't need paid protection at all. The bigger issue: backups that silently stopped working months ago — worthless exactly when a storm-season outage forces you to rebuild fast.
Website Security plans starting at just $60 per month (Includes Hosting)
"Great leads and SEO/Website for my tub refinishing business that Mike has helped us with. He always is fast if we need any changes to our website or updates and we get a lot of leads from google thanks to Studio 47 Web Design!" - Google Review by Jordan Seech
If any of these things is true for you, you need to stop processing orders through your site immediately and arrange to have your website checked TODAY. - your website is suddenly loading more slowly - there are new, unknown pages on your site - traffic from mobile devices is being redirected to a site that isn’t yours - you’ve been receiving bounce-backs on spam sent from your domain - when you visit your site, Google/Chrome warns you that it contains malware or other security concerns.
When you access it on your own computer it will usually look totally fine. Here’s the part nobody tells you.
That means attackers want to keep your site up and running. Defacement was the order of the day in 2009, but now attackers want to make the most of your site and its resources by sending spam, adding undesirable pages, redirecting mobile traffic, etc. The longer they can avoid detection, the more they can make of your site.
You can’t see it directly so look for its effects instead.
Here’s another issue we come across on a weekly basis with local service business’ websites. Mobile redirect issues continue to fool many, many people. A customer in Royal Palm Beach clicks on your website via Google Maps on there iPhone only to be redirected to a sketchy offer page and now your business is out of luck. You sit at your desk and look at the website, everything is working correctly and you’ll never know why they didn’t call.
Not sure if there’s a problem? It’s pretty common, so don’t worry. When in doubt, it’s always OK to ask. Of course, just one strange page may mean nothing. However, one strange page + a noticeably slower site + an email about spam = a definite pattern.
Right now Snowbirds and new residents are searching for local contractors and salon operators. It’s peak season and Google is flagging businesses with Search Penalties. Each day your Google Business Listing stays unresolved, you’ll be losing valuable calls from new customers.
The majority of owners think security looks something like this: Often times security is seen as a piece of software to be implemented, forgotten about, and never thought of again. In reality, security is a top-to-bottom inspection similar to a contractor assessing your roof before quoting the project.
Let me outline our process:
We always get surprised when someone doesn’t understand this fifth step: it’s very common to look at a backup directory and find fourteen empty months. The plugin is installed. The schedule was properly set-up. Nothing raised a red flag. Backup silently stopped working.
Without them, a simple power flicker, which has been known to occur during hurricanes in Palm Beach County for a whole two days, could result in a week of panicked attempts to bring your website back up if your hosting goes down in the middle of an update, leaving you with a half-broken site. With them, we’ve been able to bring sites back together in an afternoon. We even rebuilt websites for contractors in Royal Palm Beach, FL, at the height of the season who would have missed valuable phone calls without an immediate call to action.
You'll get a concise, plain-english list of risks we identified, fixes we made, and things we're monitoring. Not a 40-page scan report no one is going to read.
We handle the techy stuff so you can carry on running your business.
Here's one we hear almost weekly from business owners here in Palm Beach County: "My host gave me an SSL, so I'm covered, right?" It's understandable to think so, as the padlock in your web browsers' address bars implies complete website security, and the web hosting industry does a pretty good job of touting SSLs as a security all-inclusive. However, an SSL is far from that.
SSL is non-negotiable. If someone is submitting their details through a form on your website, SSL encrypts that data between their phone and your server. Otherwise, anyone on the same wi-fi connection, such as at a coffee shop, can see that information. Google considers SSL to be table stakes now, and browsers will show a warning on sites that do not have an SSL certificate.
SSL protects the pipe but not the mailbox.
But a certificate doesn’t protect against using out-of-date plugins with known security holes. A certificate doesn’t protect against intruders who guess admin passwords. A certificate doesn’t alert you when bots have added junk pages to your website that offer knockoff handbags to anyone searching for your business’ name. We’ve been into plenty of hacked websites that have 400 junk pages that are indexed by the search engines AND have a perfectly valid certificate.
You think your website is “secure”, there’s a padlock by your URL, but a client calls the owner of a salon in Royal Palm Beach and tells her the booking page is taking them somewhere else. Outdated contact form, untouched since 2021.
SSL is important but is just one aspect of website security, albeit the most visible aspect. Effective security requires keeping software up-to-date, monitoring logins, checking for unauthorized changes, having a working backup you can restore from etc etc.
You’ve been checking for the padlock. Start checking when plugins were last updated, as it’ll tell you so much more than the padlock will.
Need help with Website security services? Call us for a Free Advertising Consultation today. Studio 47 Web Design is ready to help.
Let's be honest about something. Some of you don't need to pay anyone for this.
If your site is a low-risk site (a basic five-page brochure site for instance), then all of the above may well cover your needs. Most decent hosting accounts include a range of security measures such as SSL certificates, basic firewall protection, core updates and daily backups. Add strong passwords (and two-factor authentication), logging in once a month and responding to any alert emails from your web host if they notice anything amiss and you should be ok. Low-risk sites are those which don’t take payments, store customer data or have a login area.
There are three requirements for hosting that are key to a successful website. These include automatic backups with the ability to restore those backups, SSL, and automatic core updates. Before making a purchase, check to make sure that all of these options are available and functional. If all is well, you’re ready to get started.
If a website is due for a redesign within the next couple of months we’d strongly recommend putting any hardening on hold, as any money spent on the process is non-recoverable, and would be better spent on the build of a new website.
But what happens when your website involves some level of customer interaction? A contractor based near Southern Boulevard uses a form on his website to book an estimate and collects customer details such as addresses. A salon accepts deposits for appointments made over the internet. Storing customer data or processing payments greatly increases the level of risk involved with having a website. Other risk-increasing factors include having a booking plugin, a members area, an e-commerce store etc.
Another one that surprises us is plugins. Most sites might have some outdated plugins which haven’t been used for the last 2 years, or even a dozen untouched add-ons. Basic security provided by your host won’t typically include monitoring of outdated plugins. This is the most common oversight we see with otherwise working websites.
Most folks come to us after receiving two quotes that couldn’t be more different. One has a flat fee each month. The other is hourly rate to do the clean-up. Both quotes are legit. Both quotes. But, what they’re selling is not the same.
Typically there are 3 different pricing structures within the web security industry. Monthly/annual plans will include a variety of services like website monitoring, software updates, data backup and firewalls for a recurring fee. Other services will only service websites after a hack for an hourly rate or flat fee. Last, some of these services can be a la carte meaning that you can buy SSL certificates, data backups etc. For small service businesses, we recommend going with a monthly website security/maintenance plan. Prevention is almost always cheaper than recovery.
On the other hand, a five-page website for a lawn care company in Royal Palm Beach would be less of a complicated operation than a more involved site that had user accounts and the ability to save payment information, etc. Ultimately, size and architecture will be the biggest factors in price. The more plugins, etc. the site uses, the more doors and potential vulnerabilities that site has. If your site has been neglected for a year and is riddled with outdated software, there’s going to be some work to do before we get a maintenance and security plan started.
When something goes wrong and the site is down, you’ll be losing calls and business. Emergency clean-up can get very expensive because it’s an emergency. Expect to pay for malware removal, getting off of Google’s blocklist, and in some cases rebuilding damaged pages.
Before you hire anybody, ask these:
If a provider is reluctant to provide clear answers in writing, take this as a sign of how they are. Demand answers in writing.
Common questions about Website security services
Watch for slow load times, strange new pages, or mobile visitors getting redirected to junk sites. One odd page alone may mean nothing. But a slow site plus spam emails plus a strange redirect is a real pattern. If Chrome shows a red warning screen when you visit your own site, stop taking orders and get it checked right away.
No, SSL only encrypts data moving between a visitor's phone and your server. It does nothing to stop outdated plugins, weak logins, or hidden malware from being injected into your files. We hear this question weekly from Palm Beach County owners who assumed the padlock icon meant full protection. SSL is necessary, but it's just one piece of a real security check-up.
This is called a mobile redirect hack, and it's one of the most common issues we see with local service business sites. A customer taps your website from Google Maps on their iPhone and lands on a sketchy offer page instead. You'll never see it because desktop visits still look normal, which is exactly why the problem goes unnoticed until calls stop coming in.
It's a top-to-bottom inspection, not just one piece of software. We check for outdated plugins and themes, review who has login access, test the login page for weak passwords, confirm your SSL covers the whole site, verify backups restore, and scan files for hidden redirects. You get a plain-English list of risks found and fixes made, not a report nobody reads.
Backups are useless if they silently stop working, and that happens more often than you'd think. We regularly find backup folders with fourteen empty months even though the plugin looked installed and scheduled correctly. During hurricane season, power outages in Palm Beach County can knock hosting offline mid-update. With working backups, we can rebuild a broken site in an afternoon instead of losing a week of calls.
Very urgent, because every day it stays unresolved costs you new calls. Snowbirds and new residents are actively searching for local contractors and salons right now, and Google flags compromised sites with search penalties. If your Google Business Listing gets linked to a flagged site, you lose visibility exactly when demand is highest. Getting it checked today protects the calls you'd otherwise miss.
Call us now for your Free Consultation and get your phone ringing.