Case Study
Overview
When SIUE first approached Altec Design their website had been hacked and was showing a warning message to all site visitors. Google was also showing a warning message on their search results page stating “this site has malicious code and could harm your computer”. The Altec team investigated the website and determined it was running an old version of WordPress and the server was also running an outdated version of PHP. Both factors allowed hackers to use a known exploit to gain access to their site and inject malicious code. After the initial diagnosis SIUE awarded Altec the project and outlined the following project goals:
- Clean and repair the current website
- Fix their Google search results so that the hacked site warning message was removed ASAP
- Move their current website to a more secure server managed by Altec Design
- Provide an estimate to build a new WordPress website that would be used long term
Cleaning The Hacked Website
The Altec team downloaded a copy of the current website and scanned every file to remove all malicious code. The site was then uploaded to a local development server and the WordPress core files along with all plugin files were updated. Once the website had been fully cleaned Altec installed additional WordPress security plugins and made changes to the sites .htaccess file to further limit access to sensitive login pages and file folders on the server. Altec then moved the completely cleaned website over to our secure server and updated the database passwords along with all user passwords.
Fixing Google Search Results
With the site completely restored it was now time to notify Google so that the warning message would be removed from search results. To do this the Altec team created and verified a Google Search Console account and submitted the website for re-indexation. Within 48 hours the website had been completely re-indexed and the warning message was removed from Google's search engine results page.
Building The New Website
During the initial proposal phase Altec had presented two options to SIUE. The first option was for Altec to design and build a custom WordPress theme. The second option was for SIUE to pick out a pre-built WordPress theme and have the Altec engineers install and customize the theme. SIUE chose the less time intensive option of selecting a pre-built theme and having Altec make a small list of updates and improvements to the theme. The total build process took 7 weeks to complete and the final cost was kept under $10,000 for the whole project, which meet the budget needs outlined by the client.
Ongoing Wordpress Management
To help ensure SIUE never has to go through the scary process of getting their website hacked again they also enrolled in our WordPress Management program. We are experts at keeping wordpress sites up and running, our WordPress management plans include:
- Offsite Backups
- Plugin Support/Maintenance
- Wordpress Core Updates
- Theme Support/Maintenance
- Daily Security Audits
- Advanced Site Caching & Load Optimization
Hear What Our Clients Think
Sam and Brian are an unbelievable asset to me personally and the multiple businesses I run. No matter what technology or digital project I throw at them; they can always handle and always shoot me straight and make sure I understand it in regular language. I honestly don’t know where our companies would be today without "the boys" because they power all things digital and we have a blast doing it. 
I get email after email, call after call from companies claiming they can make my SEO better. Well I am not interested in anything these marketers tell me because I have Alec Design doing my work. These guys are not only on top of the game, they convey to me options as they see fit. I was using a larger national operation before going to them, I now spend less and get better and more with "the guys" at Altec. 
Great Company! The folks at Altec Design have been instrumental in building a secure system to house our schedule and monitor our patient care. They always have our best interest in mind and we continue to call on them for advice whenever we can! 
Altec did a great job on our site. We were not 100% sure initially what all we needed to do to get our business online. Altec Design sat down with us a went over each step we needed to accomplish to get our website completed. Between our thorough understanding of our business and their technical know-how we ended up with a site that is the envy of our competition. Thanks a lot guys! 
As a fledgling startup trying comprised of two guys with zero technical/web skills, Sam helped hand hold us through the early stages of securing a website and developing an effective and simple site to communicate our businesses value proposition. He helped set up company emails, and pointed us to some great tools for other business assets (newsletter, analytics). They made everything in the process simple and easy. 
My experience with Altec Design has been awesome. They worked to accommodate my needs above my means at the time, and they built a website I was very happy with. It helped take my business to the next level! 
The guys at Altec really know how to communicate their knowledge and expertise on a human level. I've worked with other web design companies in the past and they may as well have been speaking Latin. Altec worked with me on our project with the care and patience you'd expect from a friend or family member. The projects we have partnered on are successful mainly because I understand all the steps and trust in Altec's experience.