Is your website safely protected for your quick rise to fame and fortune?

As an author, it may come faster than you think. One way to prepare for it now is to safely password-protect your website and other web properties.

Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, or have your website and or blog, making sure that your content is kept as safe as possible is worth taking a few moments to do.

Creating tough passwords is your first wall of defense. Just as it is no longer safe to leave the keys in your car when you park on a busy street, it is no longer safe to assume that no one will steal your identity, information, or use your email for spamming purposes.

Often people will create a password that is easy to remember or has some relationship to what their site is about. While this certainly makes it much easier to remember, it also makes it much easier to break into.

Here are five tips to create a great password.

1. Use both upper and lowercase characters

2. Include numbers but do not use your phone, address, or zip code.

3. Use symbols such as ! ” ? $ ? % ^ & * ( ) _ – + = {

[ } ] : ; @ ’ ~ # | \ < , >. ? /

4. Mix up the letters, numbers and symbols in a random pattern.

5. When you change your password, make it very different from previous ones.

If you find it difficult to come up with a password that is rough, tough, and practically unsolvable, you might want to use a site called StrongPasswordGenerator.com. This site will automatically create a 15-character password that is hacker-proof.