by Nick Throlson | Feb 7, 2013 | Guest Post, Website Security
When you have a website, the last thing you want to deal with is a hacker. There are few things that can cause more frustration than a hacker attack. They can cause many problems for you such as deleting or altering your files, putting malicious content that spreads malware on your site and getting your site blacklisted by search engines, not to mention threatening all of your hard work. This is why it is detrimental that you learn how to protect your site from cyber crime. You need to therefore take defensive action on a daily basis so that you can strengthen your website against any unauthorized intrusions.
Have Security Programs in Place
You?ll need security plugins such as malware scanners and firewalls so you can prevent an intrusion. Keep all of these virus protection programs up to date, and if you run a business your employees should run a total virus scan each day from their own workstation. Anyone responsible for LAN should also be doing this daily on the server.
Update Your Website Software on a Regular Basis
You should be regularly updating the website platform software that you use, as updates become available. Drupal, WordPress and Joomla are commonly used platforms and they all release security software updates periodically. Many times these updates are to fix the vulnerabilities in the versions that are already being used. Plugin software should also be updated whenever new releases become available.
Be aware of plugins made by third parties. Most of them are useful and helpful programs, however hackers have made their own versions which once installed on your website?s server will create much trouble with your files. You should only be using accredited plugins and themes which have been checked for any malicious content beforehand.
Made Access to Your Website Difficult
When learning how to protect your site from cyber crime, you should also learn how to make access to your website difficult. You need to replace the admin default username, and then make a very complicated password that contains a combination of numbers, letters and symbols. Hackers will look for simple logins weaknesses on your site, and the more advanced bots will search the Internet to look for default login data. Make sure your file permissions are restricted for administrators only and limit the permissions for any other authorized users. You should also consider a security key if your site does not automatically have one, as this will further encrypt your website data in cookies, which are the temporary text files that will have your browsing and login data in them.
Keep Up-to-Date with Your Computer and Network Security
Since hackers are finding less ways to attack a website directly, they have created flank attacks by making viruses which will infect computers or local area networks. These viruses will go through the networks and computer looking for FTP login weaknesses, getting the FTP user information and then indirectly accessing the websites. When a hacker has gotten in to your server files by FTP, they get past the file permissions and then act as the administrator and change your existing files or delete files. Plus, they can also upload malicious links or software to your website?s server.
To avoid this sort of attack you need to update your software on a regular basis and install anti-virus and firewall software. Plus, you should scan your computer regularly for malware. Don?t click on any links that seem suspicious, or any files in emails from anyone you don?t know because they can take your computer to sites that are infected and which will download the malware without you even knowing it.
Directory Listing
Lastly, check to see if your server allows directly listing, as this will let anyone see what the contents of your directory by typing in the web address and folder name. If you can type in your website name and a folder name and see the contents, you need to talk to the web host right away and get it disabled.?
Yim Virak is an experienced web marketer, he show people how to get exposure to the blog and make money from the website and he also provides InMotion Hosting review and bonus on his blog . ?
by Nick Throlson | Feb 6, 2013 | Guest Post, Web Design
In an ever evolving digital landscape it is important for businesses, and individuals to maintain a proper online reputation. Such a task is often made difficult in a world shaped by facebook pictures, user reviews and disgruntled employee's taking to the twitter-sphere.It can become almost impossible not only to keep track of what is being said
about your company,?never mind?trying to respond to it all!
This is where Google's new “Me on the Web” tool comes in play, this new tool included ?on your Google Dashboard, allows you to monitor what is being said about your business (or related search term), and with this?google reputation management?option allowing you to gather your results in nearly real time you can finally have a competitive edge in tackling the otherwise staggering task of managing your
online reputation.
“Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you ? whether a mention in a blog post, a photo tag or a reply to a public status update,” Google explains, gone are the days when the information about your brand was a controlled and well crafted marketing piece, in this modern age you are an open dialogue between users everywhere with minimal control over your own identity.
Luckily however Google's been sure to provide links to help you deal with unwanted content, and to give you further insights into how you can manage your online identity; and with a growing number of digital marketing companies
delving into the world of online reputation management you can rest assured that you can hire someone to take care of the mountain of alerts you get when it all becomes to much.
As reputation management?continues to progress its important to remember a few key important factors to secure both your brand and personal data:
1. Review all facebook security settings each month, not only is it very easy to make a mistake and post something publically but with the continued revisions not only to facebook security policy but also the fundamental changes to their control panel data can quickly change.
2. Insure to keep backups of corporate social media account passwords in an offline and secure environment, also keep note of which employees have access and be sure that termination contracts include a clause disallowing their use of these accounts.?3. Set up ?Me on The Web? to search for company name, key employee names, key email addresses, phone numbers, and unique keywords (such as a unique service/product name). It can also be helpful to put in variations with?spelling mistakes in them as sometimes slanderous claims don?t come from the most reliable sources!?
Janet McKenzie is a marketing associate for a new york based reputation management company specializing in corporate clients at?http://www.synqk.com
by Nick Throlson | Feb 1, 2013 | Guest Post, Web Design, WordPress
If you have logged into your WordPress and found an alert to update, then this article is one you might want to read.
You see, WordPress gets updated a lot. Sometimes the updates are small security fixes. However, once a year or so, there is a major update.
Before we continue, I want you to think about something. When you see that WordPress released an update, what do you do?
- Do you update right away?
- Do you wait?
- Do you ask your theme developer for compatibility?
- Do you look at your plugins for updates related to compatibility?
- Do you do something else?
The reason I ask is because with WordPress 3.5, there was a fairly major change in the core source code, that affected many WordPress theme and plugin developers. As the community guy for a company who develops WordPress photography themes, I can tell you first hand that the release of WordPress 3.5 drastically changed the daily activities of each employee for a few days.
Without going into too much nerdy details, WordPress changed some of the code that many themes and plugins relied on. So in turn, development had to be made (by many companies) to add a workaround. In addition to the development time for the workaround, we had to do a lot of internal testing on various environments, and then release an update to all of our users.
That short story is pretty much what sparked the question I stated above. So I went on Quora and Google Plus to ask communities the same question I just asked you. Here are some of the answers I received.
- Richard Saasta on Google Plus said he does a full backup using BackupBuddy. He then updates WordPress and verifies that everything is working correctly. If something goes awry, he then has a clean backup that can be reverted to.
- Tony Davis on Google Plus said that he keeps a separate domain with the exact theme and plugins of his other install. He will do an update in that test environment before making an update to the live site.
- Mickey Mellen on Quora said that he updates his plugins daily, and because most of his websites run the same plugins that he will update one of the smaller sites first, and once verified he will roll out updates to the rest.
At this point you might be wondering how I deal with WordPress updates on my own website. I did a lot of research on good web hosts, and in the end decided on going with a WordPress specific host, WP Engine. ?One of the big advantages of hosting with WP Engine is that they handle the WordPress core updates. (They won't touch your theme or plugins) Another big advantage is the built-in staging option. So whenever a WordPress update is imminent WP Engine sends an email to users with a time frame when all users will be updated. They instruct users to take advantage of the staging feature and to update a test site. The beauty of the staging site is that it is identical to your live site. Doing this can verify if a site will fail with a WordPress update, before going through with the update on the live site. Make sense? So my workflow is as follows:
- WordPress update released
- WP Engines emails a deadline before the site will automatically be updated
- I create a new staging environment
- I manually update the staging environment to the latest WordPress
- Test everything
- If something fails, I email WP Engine to say “please do not update me because XYZ”
Make better sense?
Now that I have gone through all of that, I want to ask you again. When you see that WordPress released an update, what do you do? Now that you've read the article, will you do something different?
Thanks for reading,
Scott
Scott Wyden Kivowitz is a NJ photographer and the Community & Blog Wrangler at Photocrati.?
by Nick Throlson | Dec 19, 2012 | Guest Post
The average person receives such a multitude of marketing?messages every day that your message has to stand out from the crowd if it is
to have even the slightest chance of being read. ?Personalization is a great way to achieve?this.
A good Email Marketing platform will make this easy for?you.? You should be able to address the?email to each recipient in just a couple of click of the mouse.? A ?Dear Peter? email is bound to be better?received than an impersonal ?Dear Sir?.? Perhaps?including more personal data, like their location etc., could also serve to?boost their confidence in your brand.? As?time passes and you build your database you can incorporate clients? lifestyle,?professional and perhaps even personal history into your messages.? At which point the reader will not even?notice to start with that they are reading a bulk email, and if the content is?of interest to them, by the time they do?realize, they will continue reading?anyway.
Data segmentation
The best email marketing services will allow you to easily?create dynamic content in just a few simple steps.? Imagine you have a clothes store and wish to?send out a campaign with your newest lines.?Data segmentation will allow different readers to receive different?content.? Perhaps the younger ladies?would be interested in the new party dresses while the more mature man would?certainly not be.? Instead of sending the?entire line to every one of your subscribers, each person can receive content?that they may be interested in, based on their age, location, past purchases?and any other data that you have gained from them as subscribers.
Personal email = Sales
By sending this more personalized information out to your?clients, it is if you are showing an interest in them personally.? They will receive an email which includes?their name and products they are genuinely interested in, rather than generic?copy.? This kind of service can only help?to improve their loyalty to your brand and so ensure future sales and possibly?up sells?and cross sells as well.
Personalized email marketing is basically the opposite of?spam, rather than unsolicited messages which the consumer never requested.? They receive genuine content, which they have?asked to receive which is tailored to them.?As well as being less likely to end up in the spam folder, these?messages are also three times more likely to be opened than a generic marketing?message.
Author bio: Stuart Wooster writes on behalf of email marketing company Brother?Mailer, and enjoys writing about digital marketing topics.
by Nick Throlson | Dec 14, 2012 | Affiliate Marketing, Guest Post
If you want?to be a successful affiliate marketer, you need to build up a good mailing?list. If you don?t have an email list, then you are throwing away money.? A mailing list offers you an easy way to stay?in touch with interested customers and potential customers, keeping them?informed about your products and increasing the chances of them coming back to?your site to make a purchase.
If you don?t?have a list, it?s much harder to bring visitors back to your site, and you will?be forced to rely on other (potentially expensive) forms of marketing just to?keep your traffic at its current level, let alone bring in new visitors.? Fortunately, modern list management tools?make it easy to stay in touch with your customers.
The Basics of List Building
To build your?mailing list, all you need is a good autoresponder service. Popular third party?services include Fluttermail, GetResponse and Aweber.? If you have the technical skills to run your?own list, you could try Infinite Responder, an open source mailing application
that has a lot of useful features including scheduled mailing, newsletter style?mail bursts, and easy to configure bounce handling.
Once you?ve?decided what you want to use to send your email messages, you need to get?people to sign up to your list.? If you?simply add an opt-in form to your website, you might get a couple of signups,?but it will take a long time for your list to get big enough for you to?effectively monetize it.? Consider?running a competition, or offering a free ebook download as an incentive to get?people to join your list.
The Importance of Opt-In
It is vital that you require people to opt in to your list.?Do not add people to your list without obtaining their consent first of
all.? Sending unsolicited emails is against the law in many parts of the world, and even in areas where the law?permits the sending of unsolicited emails, you could be breaching the terms of?service of your hosting agreement.? Do you really want to risk losing your domain name and hosting because you wanted?to cheat and make your mailing list subscriber figures look better?
By using an opt-in mailing list, and making it easy for people to opt out or suspend their?subscription if they are going on holiday for a while, you keep your customers?happy, and promote your business as an honest and reputable one.
What to Do With Your List
Once you have a list, you need to make it work for you.?Send out regular emails (but don?t overload people?s inboxes by sending
multiple mails per day!), with useful tips, interesting articles, and perhaps?even the occasional freebie or money off voucher.
Don?t make every email a sales pitch.? Give out free?information, and make at least half of your emails entertaining or informative.? When you want to promote a product, start by adding some gentle pre-sells to your regular newsletter, and then send out a hard sell email. The pre-sells should have got your subscribers thinking about your product, and they?ll be more receptive to your final sales
pitch.
Be consistent with your newsletter. If you think you?ll struggle to write a newsletter every?week, spend a day or two preparing a large batch of emails, and schedule them?so that you don?t have to worry about doing any more writing for a few months.
Once you have a good list of subscribers prepared, you?ll wonder how your site survived in?your pre-list days!?
This guest post was written by the team at Twist Digital ? please?visit their affiliate directory??or join in the discussions at?the affiliate forum?.?
by Nick Throlson | Dec 12, 2012 | Affiliate Marketing, Guest Post
CES is just?around the corner, and SXSW 2013 is due not long after that, as well as Affiliate Summit West so now is a good time to start planning next year?s conferences. Here are a few tips to help you?stay fit and healthy, have a good time, and get your money?s worth out of the?tech conferences you attend.
1. Pack?Practically
Try to keep?the amount of stuff you take with you on conference trips to a minimum.? If you can avoid checking bags for
conferences that require flying to get to, then that will save you a lot of?time.
Try to limit?your packing to the gadgets you actually need.?Do you really need to take your laptop or will a tablet PC do the job?
Will you actually use your video camera? Is a Dictaphone necessary or can you?record conference sessions on your mobile? The less you have to carry, the?better.
2. Dress?for a Long Day on Your Feet
Looking smart?is important, but you don?t have to sacrifice comfort.? At most conferences, you would look out of?place if you dressed like you were heading to a wedding. A smart pair of?trousers, a clean shirt, and a pair of dark coloured, smart but comfortable?shoes is all you really need.
Be sure to?break in the shoes you take well before the conference ? especially for events?such as CES, which have several halls full of exhibits to explore.
3. Take?Hi and Low Tech Equipment
Even though?you?re going to a tech conference, you will inevitably end up needing to use an?old fashioned pen for something.? That something may be filling out entry forms for a competition, taking notes when?your tablet PC?s battery lets you down, or scrawling a reminder on the back of?a business card.
4. Use?the Networking Opportunities
While it?s?tempting to fill your entire day with conference sessions, that?s probably not?the best use of your time. It is a good idea to go to the keynotes, and the?conference sessions that are especially interesting to you, so that you can ask?questions and meet the speaker. If a session doesn?t particularly appeal to?you, don?t go just to fill up the day.There?s a good chance that the slides for the session will be available?online, so leave that session and spend that time exploring the booths or?meeting people.
5. Take?Breaks
Build in some?time in your schedule to have a drink, eat, visit the bathroom, or just chill?out and read through the conference booklet. Remember that a lot of conference?sessions over-run, people are late for meetings, and trade shows are generally?chaotic.? If you try to fill your day with?back to back sessions, meetings and appointments, things will go wrong.
6. Look?after Your Health
The?post-conference flu is not something you want to come down with.? One look at any tech conference hashtag will?tell you how prevalent colds, flus and stomach bugs are. Some basic precautions?such as eating healthy, taking a multi-vitamin, and washing your hands?frequently will help to stave off bugs.?Carrying some painkillers in your conference bag will make you popular
on the last day, too!
7. Do?Your Homework
Before the?conference, make a list of sessions you want to go to, people you want to meet,?and stands you want to visit. On the opening morning of the conference, arrive?early and spend a few minutes checking the calendar for schedule changes sothat you can finalize your plans for the rest of the week.
8. Charge?Your Mobile
If you plan?on Tweeting from the conference, charge your mobile in your hotel room every?night, and bring the charger with you so that you can top-up from power outlets?at the venue.? You may want to consider?bringing a spare battery or a portable charger just in case.? Even if your phone lasts for several days?during normal use at home, there?s a good chance the extra use it will get at?the conference will drain the battery.
9. Book Early
If you know?what conferences you want to go to next year, book the flights and hotels well?in advance.? If you leave booking until?the last minute, you could end up having to stay well out of town, and you?ll?pay far more for your flights. Booking early will let you take advantage of?cheaper prices, and a far better selection of hotels.
10.? FollowUp
When you get?home, sort through the stack of business cards that you collected, and send?emails to everyone that you spoke to.? If?you use LinkedIN or any similar services, send them a connection invitation.?It?s always a good idea to stay in touch with contacts that you make through?networking at conferences. Even a casual connection can? be valuable later in your career.?
About the author:
Crispin Jones writes for?Name Badges international??? experts in staff name badges and corporate name badges.
When you have a website, the last thing you want to deal with is a hacker. There are few things that can cause more frustration than a hacker attack. They can cause many problems for you such as deleting or altering your files, putting malicious content that spreads malware on your site and getting your site blacklisted by search engines, not to mention threatening all of your hard work. This is why it is detrimental that you learn how to protect your site from cyber crime. You need to therefore take defensive action on a daily basis so that you can strengthen your website against any unauthorized intrusions.
In an ever evolving digital landscape it is important for businesses, and individuals to maintain a proper online reputation. Such a task is often made difficult in a world shaped by facebook pictures, user reviews and disgruntled employee's taking to the twitter-sphere.It can become almost impossible not only to keep track of what is being said
The average person receives such a multitude of marketing?messages every day that your message has to stand out from the crowd if it is
