I've had two WordPress blogs hacked into formerly. That was at a time when I was doing virtually no online advertising, and until I found time to deal with the situation (weeks later), these sites were penalized in the main search engines. They were not eliminated, however the ratings were reduced.
Since scare tactics seem to be what drives some people to take clean hacked wordpress site a bit more seriously, or at least start considering the issue, let me shoot a couple of scare tactics your way.
Truth is, there is no way to stop an intrusion if your own site is targeted by a capable master of this script. Everything you are about to read below are a few measures you can take to quickly minimize the risk. Odds are a hacker would prefer picking easier victim, another, if your WordPress site is protected.
First in line is creating a password for your account. Passwords must be Your Domain Name made with numbers and special characters. You make plus shifted letters and may combine them. Smarter passwords can be your gateway to zero hackers. Make difficult passwords that you can think of.
Now we're getting into things specific to WordPress. Whenever you install WordPress, you have to edit the file config-sample.php and rename it to config.php. You need to install the database details there.
Utilizing a plugin for WordPress security only makes sense. Backups need to be performed on a click reference regular basis. Do not become a victim because of not being proactive about your site!