website-security, costs, etc

B

beginner-HRF

New member

Hello everyone

I wonder whether you could assist me, please

After a long pause, due to issues outside my control, I’m back hoping to set up a website for selling & showcasing my songs.

(regarding Non-wordpress websites) I’ve had a bit of a shock when reading, all over the internet, of the threats against websites, and of the necessary mitigations. Domain-lock, privacy-protection, registrar/registry-lock, SSL security, whois protection, etc etc.

Moreover, at least one of those security “tools” is very costly (I suppose we get what we pay for).

Can I avoid or, at least, postpone some of those expenses?? If so, how??

In advance, thank you very much for your kind help

Christian
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You don't need a domain lock, you just need to turn off domain transfer in your settings.

There's plenty of hosting companies to choose from that allow you to upload your files and point your domain name to the files. Some like GoDaddy and Dreamhost will allow you to register the domain name and host files with them. Once you have the website built and uploaded, most hosts also offer free SSL certificates (like Let's Encrypt).

I personally use Namecheap to register my domains, then I point them over to my host/files at Dreamhost. Domains costs $8-15 /year to register, and my fairly robust shared file hosting plan with Dreamhost is $13 /month.

Instead of managing my own music player on my site, I upload the files to Soundcloud and use their api/plugin on my site as the music player.

Avoid 'extra security' for anything you're doing. It's all upsell. Set a strong password on your account(s), disable domain transfers, and don't use software on your website other than players like I described (Soundcloud).

None of this is complicated but it's probably daunting if you haven't done it and haven't already made the mental connections between how all these things interoperate.

Check out my project's very simple website for an idea of what I mean. https://www.the-boogeymen.com
 
For over ten years I ran a download site, with minimal understanding of the complexities. People heard a sample, clicked buy and would be sent an encrypted download link which then delivered them the mp3, and triggered a payment by PayPal. It worked flawlessly and apart from idiots, the few warnings I got when the host (which was Dreamhost too) said unusual activity had been experienced but the site was secure, didn't cause issues. it was php based, but adding the new stuff was just a case of uploading a new track and a bit of code for each one, and creating a new PayPal item for the payment. Every time we released a new piece of music, I had to go back and re-learn how to do it, and only recently have we switched it off when it ran it's course and download quantity just died off.
 
rob aylestone said:
For over ten years I ran a download site, with minimal understanding of the complexities. People heard a sample, clicked buy and would be sent an encrypted download link which then delivered them the mp3, and triggered a payment by PayPal. It worked flawlessly and apart from idiots, the few warnings I got when the host (which was Dreamhost too) said unusual activity had been experienced but the site was secure, didn't cause issues. it was php based, but adding the new stuff was just a case of uploading a new track and a bit of code for each one, and creating a new PayPal item for the payment. Every time we released a new piece of music, I had to go back and re-learn how to do it, and only recently have we switched it off when it ran it's course and download quantity just died off.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you could just start doing that on Bandcamp instead?
 
I'd seriously look at something like Bandcamp rather than go the DIY route. You can become part of a whole eco-system there and you don't have all the headaches of running your own site.
 
Totally agree. When we started, there was no option available and we had to do it. It worked, and was safe, but took a lot of my time. The only thing was that many of our customers were thick, so would pay for something they then had no clue how to do anything with. If you are not computer/phone literate and want to play the music, many can’t do it! We kept a few CDs for exactly this!
 

Hello everyone

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for being so helpful

I’ve been looking into BandCamp, ReverbNation, SoundCloud, and others

On Trustpilot, Sitejabber, etc etc, there are customer-reviews.

Quite a few of those reviews are very negative, some even nightmarish.

I get the feeling that having my own website could (perhaps) help mitigate some of the nasty problems that allegedly seem to plague sites like SoundCloud, BandCamp, YouTube, etc etc.

So (God help me…...) I guess I’ll try to set up my own website, and upload some of my songs/tracks ALSO on BandCamp, SoundCloud, YouTube, etc etc

Not ideal, but then again……

Cheers

Christian

​
 
From the security angle, running a website is a tricky business.
My website is just static HTML.
I considered allowing people to submit comments, but that immediately provides a way in for hackers to take control.
My music is available for free, to the zero people interested in it.
 
I have a website but it's a hassle to maintain so I signed up with Bandcamp and will let the website go soon. You can definitely do more with your own website but I have found that Bandcamp meets my basic needs and I'm good with that.
 
markmann said:
I have a website but it's a hassle to maintain so I signed up with Bandcamp and will let the website go soon. You can definitely do more with your own website but I have found that Bandcamp meets my basic needs and I'm good with that.
Click to expand...
I didn't even know you could customize Bandcamp that much; looks cool; was it tricky?
 
On one site I swapped the wordpress for somethin simple - Adobe Muse, as it happens, and find it funny that as I didn't remove the wordpress folders, people still try to get in there and I get warnings about unauthorised access attempts. For me, its a good reason to just keep simple because I can't afford the time to mess around. Mind you, beginner hasn't been about since october
 
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