That hacker set me out on a mission.

Over the last couple of years I’ve soaked up everything I could about WordPress security. I learned many of the tricks those malicious jerks use to hack blogs, I watched as plugin developers developed plugins to fight back, I engaged the WordPress forums and other users in conversations about the topic.

All this time, experience, and knowledge I’ve gained over those last couple of years have culminated into one single resource I’ve been working on.

It’s called WordPress Defender, and it’s mission is to help you to never wake up one morning with the same kind of broken heart my wife had.

It’s a 150 page guide jam packed with things you can do today to start protecting your WordPress blog from malicious attacks. And if you’re worried it might be over your head, don’t. I’ve taken special care to make sure any and everyone can follow it.

You even get over 1.5 hours of video (14 videos in all) where you can watch me in real time set up many of these security features.

3 Day Special Offer

Don’t wait too long, because for 3 days only (March 1st – 3rd 2010) you can get it all for nearly 50% off ($19.99). After that, the price will go up.

Now let me ask you, is your blog worth $20? Is it worth skipping that night at the movies to ensure your blog is protected?

And if you’re the affiliate type… it also comes with an affiliate program which pays out 40%.

So take the time, go check it out and let me know what you think.

And if you ever have a question about anything contained inside the book, you know where to find me.

Related posts:

1. Something New to Blogosphere is Coming, Thanks to a Broken Heart
2. So You Think Your Website is Secure? Am I Scaring You Yet? I Hope So…
3. 2 Easy Ways To Set Up A WordPress Firewall

No… it wasn’t me.

It wasn’t even someone she knew.

What I can tell you is that it was someone we’ve never met, never will meet, and someone we never want to meet.

Who was this person you ask?

First, let me tell you what happened.

My wife wanted to try her hand at being an entrepreneur and selling her very own line of jewelry through a website I helped her create. She loved the idea of owning her own business because at the time she was a wedding planner working full time for one of the hotel/casinos located here in Vegas. Not that she didn’t like the wedding industry, she did, but she wanted that dream of working from home.

Together, we spent months building her website and driving targeted traffic to it.

I was very proud of my wife, Lindsey. She managed to make $1,000 for a couple months in a row just through online sales. And with a new baby on the way, the extra income helped buy cloths, diapers, a new crib, etc.

I’ll never forget the look on Lindsey’s face the morning she turned around and asked, “John, what happened to my site?” Her beautiful online store was gone.

You see, my wife had a dream… and someone took that dream away from her.

They broke her heart.

Who was that person?

A hacker.

One Dream + One Website / One Hacker = 0

That was the day I set out on a mission. It was the day the blanket was pulled away from my eyes and I could see the true dark lit underground which surrounded me on the Web.

Most people don’t see it. Well, not until they get blindsided like we did.

That mission I set out on…

I plan to reveal it next Monday, March 1st 2010.

Make sure you’re there by subscribing to my RSS feed or email feed. Don’t let your dream get taken away like my wife’s did.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do

Andy Jenkins (a.k.a. The Video Boss) is releasing a set of videos showing us how we can use video to increase sales and conversions on our sites. I have to say, this video series is freaking awesome and well worth your time.

In the videos he shows us which camera to use, which programs he uses to create video slides, how the video’s message should be focused, and so much more.

If you sell products or services online, this is a must see video series. I definitely plan on following his advice and will be working on perfecting my video skills for our WordPress video tutorials site.

Andy does ask for your email address before you can watch the videos, f.y.i. But if you’re like me, you have a special email address for subscriptions so as to not clog up your primary email address.

Here’s the link to the tutorials (not an affiliate link): The Video Boss.

Related posts:

1. 1 Great Reason to Use blip.tv vs. YouTube for Videos
2. Videos To Help Craft A Better Website & Attract Attention
3. 30.1 Web Tools For Online Success And To Make Your Life Easier At The Same Time

This topic has been discussed many times over, like here and here. Those are two great articles to go read if this is your burning question, but let me add my two cents worth when also talking about making money…

The very first thing you need to do as a blogger is take a good look at yourself. Maybe go read my article Tips For Maximizing Your Potential and answer some of the questions about yourself I talk about there.

Defining and understanding your drive, passion, and what you as a person believe (and why you believe it) will allow you to really focus in on your goal and help you create that drive to achieve it.

So the question you’ll eventually have to ask yourself is, “Why am I starting a blog”.

Ok great, got that answered, what about posting frequency?

Over the years I’ve watched as some bloggers have gone from 7 blog postings per week down to 3, 5 postings a week down to 2, and on and on, each time reading about their reasons. Usually it seems the reason has to do with their focus changing a little or their workload becoming too high to keep up the high number of blog posts per week; and that’s ok.

When you’re new to blogging you don’t have to manage as much.

In general, I’d say if you’re just starting out, try posting 3 times per week if you can. That will give you a good gauge to see if you really like it and want to write more or less.

If your primary reason you started a blog was to make money through selling affiliate products, you might want to post more often because, well, the more you have out there the more likely someone will find it and make a purchase. It’s the rule of numbers. The guy with 200 articles with affiliate links has a better chance at making more money than the woman with only 30 articles.

If, however, you’re looking to make money online by creating or selling your own products, your time might be better spent working on those products and doing what you need to do to market them.

To put it simply, blogs aren’t the greatest tools for selling things, but they are great for making connections and building relationships, which is important. So if you want to sell something, you need to build a marketing strategy and spend lots of time executing it.

Bogging yourself down with having to write 7 blog posts a week could severely limit how much time you can spend on going out and making money.

And that’s my two cents worth.

Related posts:

1. Blogging For Money: What's The Best Way To Make A Profit?
2. 6 Things I Tell People Who Are Looking To Start A Blog
3. Choosing The Best Kind Of Affiliate Marketing For Your Website

Procrastination is the killer of all that is good, if you ask me. Let’s take blog security.

I don’t think there’s a person out there that after learning just how much of a problem WordPress hacking is that it’s a good idea to enhance the security of their blogs. However, something I’ve noticed over the years is that when it comes to securing their blogs, bloggers seem to be stuck in this *reactive* state.

They don’t do anything until something has been done to them… until something bad has been done to them.

I live in Las Vegas. Las Vegas seems to be on the “bad” list for just about everything, crime included. It’s sad that I don’t feel real safe at night, but at least I have a house alarm which makes me feel a little more comfortable. Yes it is a reactive security feature I’ve set up, but it’s a proactive step. Many people don’t install house alarms until guess what? …they get robbed.

Why is that?

Because they get scared. It seems being scared is a big motivator. I scared one person when I emailed them to let them know I found a huge security hole in their website. Take a look at what I found:

If you click on the image above you’ll see that those are all database backups someone did for their blog. I found this (as well as many others) online and ready for download. If I were a bad, bad person, I could have done a lot of damage here, but instead I emailed the website owner their security problem. Hopefully they fixed the problem.

Let Me Show You Why You Need to be Careful

Since scare tactics seem to be what drives some people to take action (or at the very least start thinking about the problem), let me shoot a few scare tactics your way.

Let’s pretend I’m Joe the Butt Hole Hacker. I have nothing better and more productive to do with my life than hack into people’s sites and blogs and make their lives miserable. I don’t care about all the hard work and time you’ve put into your blog, I just want to break it.

Here’s some things I might consider doing.

1. Hang out at a local coffee shop or some other public area where there is free Wi-Fi.

After spending a few days and hitting a few spots around town, I finally find a cafe which offers free, unsecured Wi-Fi and to my pleasure, there are a ton of people sitting around each day connecting their laptops to the “free” Internet service. I sit down and use my handy dandy Wi-Fi cracker tool and log myself into people’s computers… remember, they’re all on a shared network.

From there it’s easy, all I need to do is upload a virus or key logger program so I can track your keyboard movements. “Hey look at that, that girl over there is logging into her blog. Here, let me see what she’s typing in her username and password for something.”

Lesson: Don’t trust free Internet connections. At least make sure the place uses a secured Wi-Fi connection if you’re going to use it.

2. Create fake online profiles

Since I (our fictitious hacker Joe) has nothing better to do with my time, I’ll go ahead and set up some fake social media profiles. Here, let me go to your blog and check out who your friends are and who you trust.

Got ‘em.

Now let me head over to one of your friend’s sites and take a couple screen shots of their blog, personal photos, and note a few names.

Got it!

Now it’s time to sign up for a new Facebook account and use this person’s name and identity to pose as your friend. Once I get it all set up, I’ll be emailing you posing as your friend and asking you to be friends with me on Facebook (or Twitter, or whichever social site).

Cool, now we’re friends. “Hey buddy, I’ve started doing blog upgrades. Tell you what, if you’ll do a review of my Facebook page and give me a little feedback, I’ll upgrade your blog for you – no charge. I’ll just need your username and password.”

Or perhaps it’s your computer I want. Instead, maybe I’ll just befriend you on Facebook and send a link your way telling you, “You gotta see this video! Click this link here.”

Oops, did I forget to tell you that link is not really a video? It’s a virus I created just for you!

Lesson: Don’t trust anyone online at all times. Yes you might make friends and over time you might even trust them, unfortunately, someone can use that trust against you.

Case in point: the other day my wife was watching Dr. Phil in the other room and when I heard him say something, I got up, walked out of my office and asked her to rewind it (oh how I love TiVo).

Dr. Phil said that someone was posing as him online and asking people to do something, like download a file or something… sorry, I forget now what that was. He said it was a fake site and he has never asked someone to download anything of the sort.

3. Password Guessing

As I (our fictitious Joe the Butt Hole Hacker) knows, people have way too many usernames and passwords to remember. You’ve got Twitter, Facebook, your online banking, LinkedIn, two blog logins, FTP, web hosting, etc. accounts which all come with logins and passwords you need to remember.

If you’re one of the proactive ones, I might find it a little harder to crack your password. But if you’re one of the reactive ones, I might just get you.

According to an article in the NY Times, one of the most popular passwords going around these days is 123456.

Lesson: Do I really need to say it?

I understand that since the birth of the Internet as we know it, things have gotten a lot harder to control and secure. People in 2010 assimilate 10 times the amount of information each day than people did in 1980 (that’s not a scientific study I did, just logic). I understand it’s hard to have a different username and password for all your online profiles, unless you use a program like Roboform (PC and affiliate link) or 1Password (Mac), which I HIGHLY suggest.

But realize that online security is something you really need to start thinking about. Don’t just be the reactive type, take steps to start protecting yourself today. Don’t let Joe the Butt Hole Hacker make your life miserable and turn all that you’ve worked so hard in creating come crashing down in a matter of seconds.

The point of this article is to hopefully get those of you who don’t think much about online security to start thinking.

So, did I put a little scare into you? Or is this just information you accept and figure if it happens, it happens?

Related posts:

1. WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do

• made money
• lost money
• broke even
• posted articles regularly / not-so-regularly
• changed my blog design
• changed my blog’s web address

… you get the idea (been there done that).

Aside from being obnoxious and rude to people, here are my top 5 blogging mistakes new bloggers might make which can slow the growth of their blog and pocketbooks.

1. Domains and Hosting

After deciding you want to start a blog and choosing your topic, your next step is setting up your blog. Question is, do you go with a free blog, self hosted blog, get your own domain name, etc.?

There are a couple of ways to look at it, but for the most part a self hosted blog is your best bet. Here’s my criteria for whether or not you should go with a free blog.

A free blog is ok if: All you care about is your content. Free blogs are good if you want someone else to take care of all the security issues, upgrades, etc. If your only goal is to write and you don’t care much about making money and turning your blog into a business, a free blog is fine.

A free blog is not ok if: You want to turn your blog into a business; want full control of the design of your blog; your mind is telling you that you’ll upgrade to a self hosted blog one day down the road; etc.

Let’s face it, hosting and domain names are cheap. So don’t let me hear anyone say they don’t have the money right now.

The reason why I typically advise new bloggers to choose a self hosted blog and purchase their own domain name is because you never know where your blog will take you in the future and having to stop, bundle it all up, and transfer your blog to a new web host (and possibly a new domain name) will KILL your blog.

2. Insufficient Research

This could range from a wide array of topics which might include:

• Failure to do proper market research (is there anyone looking for what you have to offer?)
• Understanding the consequences I outlined in #1 above
• Research experts and their price point which could help boost your blog’s success
• Failure to watch, analyze, and understand what your statistics are telling you

Those are some of the basics. As with any venture, online or off, if you wish to be successful at what you do, you need to spend a little time researching. By researching, you can point your boat in the right direction.

3. Truly Understanding Niche Marketing

Understanding the ins and outs of niche marketing is an entire course all on its own. Something I’ve seen over the years as an entrepreneur, however, is that newbies to niche marketing think niche marketing mostly entails finding a small crowd or group from within a topic and sell their products / services to them.

The more focused your niche is and better your product or service can solve for them is what they’re told niche marketing is.

While that is true, most newbies don’t realize that it’s not just about finding a focused group to sell to, niche marketing is about positioning and perception.

If you’re new to blogging, finding a niche is great, but if you fail to position yourself as an expert or “go-to person” in your niche, you’ll fail.

Even if you’re not the real go-to person, make sure you are perceived that way. The power of perception is kind of like “the force” in Star Wars.

4. Improper Use or Lack of Scheduling

Ask any seasoned blogger about time management and you’re sure to get an earful. Unless their educated in time management, new bloggers I’ve talked to fail to realize just how much time and organization blogging requires.

Writing an ebook? Posting 3-5 times a week? Need to spend time with the kids? Gotta cook dinner? Want to read and comment on other blogs? Need to figure out how to get more clicks on that banner? Want to write a series of guest posts? Looking to start a newsletter?

… the list goes on and on.

In the beginning you might not think you need a time management schedule because you’re not doing all that yet, but you’re wrong. Time management is key to growing your blog, making more money, and generating traffic to your site.

Simply writing down goals with no mechanism or direction to get you there ain’t going to cut it!

Want a time scheduling outline for bloggers? Alex Fayle has a really cool time management sheet he uses to keep himself on track (I use it, too).

5. Blog Security

I suppose blog security may or may not keep you poor, depending on if you get hacked or not. Nevertheless, it’s so important I feel it deserves to be on this list.

Let’s face it, when you’re new to blogging, you’ve got a lot to think about and a lot to set up. The problem is, since you’re new you don’t even know which questions to ask yet.

Blog security seems to always take a back seat. New bloggers don’t realize though just how important this is. It’s kind of like that movie where you see someone gets sent to jail for the first time and doesn’t yet have the experience to know how to protect themselves or just how bad it is to bend over to pick up that soap.

Newbie bloggers in a similar way are prey.

They set up their blog and start thinking about making money and writing articles, not the fact that their blog is or very soon can become easily hackable, removed from Google, and worst of all… destroyed.

If you’re new to blogging, blog security should most definitely be high on your priority list. And if you’re not sure how to better secure your blog, just hire me and I’ll get you hooked up.

Bonus Tip For New Bloggers

Blog your passion and be real. Don’t try to make money from your blog, but rather let your blog make money for you.

Be yourself, find your own voice, and don’t force it. In time, you’ll find that’s a much better route to take.

There are of course a ton more tips I could hand out to help start your blog off on the right foot, but I’ll leave that for my upcoming newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you can be notified when my newsletter with tips like these is released.

In the meantime, here are a few other “blogging mistakes / tips” articles you might want to read (links open in a new tab):

• 5 Blogging Mistakes Beginners Make
• 7 Blogging Beginner Mistakes And How to Avoid Them
• Top 7 blog mistakes to avoid
• Beginner Basics for Making Money Online Using Blogs
• The Winnie the Pooh Guide to Blogging

Question: If you could go back to when you first started a blog and change something to help boost how long it took to get you to where you are today, what would you tell yourself?

Related posts:

1. The Top 7 Mistakes eBook Authors Make!
2. Aside From A Blogger, What Are You Really?
3. Start A Blog: Free or Paid? WordPress or Blogger?

I was visiting the Problogger forum the other day and came across a new blogger who had a question about how they should set up their website.

The scenario: Bill is starting a website which will consist of two parts:

1. A main site area where he will advertise his products and services
2. A blog… which he’ll use to generate traffic and brand awareness

Bill’s dilemma: Should he create his site as part static (html only) for his products and services and part WordPress for his blog – or – simply create the entire site as a WordPress site and simply place his blog in the /blog path?

Bill’s question sparked a number of replies, some for an all WordPress site and some for splitting it up as part static and part WordPress. Here’s my take…

If html and a little css doesn’t scare you, you might want to consider splitting things up; however, if you have no idea how to code in html and at the very least, toy with css, a full WordPress site might be the better option.

Personally, I like splitting up the two. I can sum it all up in two words: Upgrades and Security.

Consideration #1: Upgrades

Ask anyone who is a WordPress blogger about “upgrades” and you’ll hear it… upgrades are a pain in the butt. It seems every month there is a new release of WordPress and you are advised to upgrade immediately. The problem here is that many times after we upgrade WordPress, weird things can happen:

• Database errors
• Theme not displaying right
• Some plugins might no longer be compatible with your new version of WordPress

The list goes on and on and because of this, we are told to make sure and fully backup our sites before we attempt upgrades.

Now imaging for a moment if your entire site was made up by a WordPress installation and after you hit that “upgrade” button your ducks are no longer all lined up… that means “Database Error” to you and me.

Crap, now what? Your site is disabled and everyone who comes to your site to purchase your “super mommy night time slippers” get to see a big fat “Database Error” instead of your product. On the other hand, if your site was split up between a static site and WordPress blog, only your blog would be disabled and your visitors could still visit your site and make a purchase.

Consideration #2: Security Issues

WordPress sites are a little less secure because they require a database to run and also require PHP code to execute processes. Static sites, on the other hand, are a little more secure because there’s not much to exploit (i.e. crack into).

For the most part, to hack a static site a malicious hacker would need to obtain some information from you, such as your FTP login information. Another way might include them breaking into your web hosting server or possibly even breaking into someone else’s website which is hosted on the same server as yours.

However, for the most part WordPress is pretty well secure as long as you keep up with the upgrades. To that end, if you’re not comfortable with html and css, a full WordPress site might be the way to go because you can update your site very easily without the need to hire a professional.

The choice is yours and not one I can make for you. All I can do is give advice and help you to make an informed decision.

So what do you think? Do you have an all WordPress site but wish it were split up? What’s your opinion here?

Related posts:

1. SEO Q&A: Does It Matter Where My Website's Server Is Located?
2. 20.4 Ways People Scan Your Website
3. Is Your Website Web 2.0 or Corporate?

What is a blogger?

Well I could visit Wikipedia and look it up, but there’s no need for that; we all know what a blogger is, right?

But what are you, really?

Yeah yeah, I know – you’re a human being… ha ha; ok, no what I’m really talking about is have you ever stopped to think about why you’re a blogger and what your blogging purpose is?

Many of us know why we started a blog. My blog, for example, was started to:

A) Drive traffic to the WP Blog Host domain and generate brand awareness

B) Teach bloggers things I’ve learned as a blogger myself all along the way

But what does that make me? A blogger?

To me it sounds more like an online marketer.

So then I might own and run my own blog, and yes that makes me a blogger, but if I had to put a title to what I do, I’d say I’m an online marketer.

And if that’s the case, then maybe… just maybe I have gained a little more insight into what more I need to learn in order to help make my “job” a success.

True you might be an entrepreneur, but what exactly is it you do?

I once asked Darren Rowse this question: “So what exactly aside from a blogger do you consider yourself?”

His answer was “Web publisher”.

What About You?

So what’s that next level deep and more focused idea of what you are?

Because once you figure that out, you can then sail the ship in the right direction.

Related posts:

1. John’s Top 5 Crash and Burn Blogger Mistakes Which Keep You Poor
2. A-List Bloggers & Everyday Bloggers, They Do Things Differently

The other day I was busy recording a couple WordPress video tutorials while my 3-year old son, Joshua, sat quietly next to me watching me work.

When I was done he really wanted to sit up to the microphone and do a recording, so I figured, “Why not?”

In the beginning of most my videos I introduce myself as “John from WP Blog Host”, so naturally, that’s where he started.

Hope you all have a great Holiday season.

Related posts:

1. Introducing The New WP Blog Host Television Channel: wpbloghost.tv
2. How To Upgrade WordPress Manually Video
3. Blogging Bloopers, Outtakes, & Deleted Scenes 2

It’s also almost Christmas and she’s almost finished shopping for me. The other day she asked me if there was anything I wanted which pertained to blogging.

I thought, “Hmm . . . that’s a good question. What kinds of gifts can someone get for bloggers?”

I headed over to Amazon.com and began surfing around for gift ideas. Here are some ideas in case you’re ever in this situation.

Computer Hardware

Books & eBooks (downloadable books)

		WordPress SEO Secrets (eBook) If the blogger you’re buying for is a WordPress blogger (you may have to ask), then one of the most important things for them learning how to do is to drive people to their blog. WordPress SEO Secrets will help them learn how to set up their blog and insert key components into their articles so that search engine users can find them.

		31 Days to Build a Better Blog (eBook) I purchased this book and loved it, and so will the blogger you’re buying this for. This book is written by probably the world’s most known problogger, Darren Rowse. If there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s grow his blog and make money with it. In this eBook, he helps us blogger “build a better blog”. Well worth the money.

Write For The Web (eBook) If the blogger you know writes for a living, this is the eBook for them. Master copywriter James Chartrand of Men with Pens shows in this eBook how to get your writing business started and how to turn it into a real business. I have to say, this is the visually prettiest eBook I’ve ever seen, surpassed only by the content written in it. This book is a must have for not only writers, but bloggers who wish to learn how to write better articles for their blog and readers.

Software

		RoboForm Password Manager I cannot say enough about this product. I’ve used it every single day since I purchased it – many times a day, and if you buy it (or buy it for someone), you will too. Bloggers network on many different sites, such as Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook, etc. All these sites require a blogger to have a username and password. For security purposes, it’s important not to use the same password for every site. RoboForm remembers and stores all their usernames and passwords in one place, encrypted, and with one or two clicks a blogger can be taken to and logged into their accounts.

		SyncBackSE (for easy backups of websites) SyncBackSE is another product I use all the time and highly suggest for bloggers. Bloggers put LOTS of time and effort into building their website and getting everything to look and read just the way they want. Unfortunately, sometimes blogs break and unless the blogger has a working backup of their site, everything could be lost. Furthermore, many bloggers don’t bother to keep updated backups of their files because, well, it’s not a fun process. SyncBackSE makes it easy for them to back up all the files contained on their web hosting account. Once set up, it takes about two clicks and you’re done. Nice, simple, and effective. It can also be set up to work on autopilot, so the blogger never has to worry about it.

Gifts For Bloggers Wanting To Start Video Blogging

Between my blog and WP Blog Host’s Television Channel, I do a lot of video blogging. Here are the products I use (or have used) and know you can’t go wrong with if the blogger you know is looking to start video blogging.

Other Ideas

Trying to figure out what to give as a “blogger gift” can sometimes be challenging. It’s good to know what the blogger really wants or needs (though sometimes they don’t really know what they need if they’re still new to blogging).

- Sometimes bloggers have a “Donate” button or “Amazon Wishlist” in their blog’s sidebar (see mine on the right). Use these to send them money or browse items they’re telling you they want.

- Do you offer a service or have a talent you can offer as a present? Free web design, graphics, writing services . . . all that will work for a blogger. If you’re a copyrighter, for example, offer to rework some of the wording on your blogger friend’s website to help them increase readership and sales.

- If your blogger friend hosts their own blog (i.e. pay a monthly or yearly fee for web hosting), offer to pay one more year of hosting for them. If they don’t yet have hosting, we offer it here at WP Blog Host.

So there you have it, gift ideas for bloggers. Please note that many of the links provided in this article are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission if you link over to the products and buy. Of course, you are in no way obligated to use my affiliate links to purchase any of the above.

If you’re a blogger, what else do you think might make a good blogger gift?

Related posts:

1. A-List Bloggers & Everyday Bloggers, They Do Things Differently
2. 23 Kick-Ass Links From My StumbleUpon Account