Why You Need to Protect Your Blog!

Posted by AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Wordpress Plugins | 4 comments

Aug 24, 11

If you are anything like me you truly enjoy blogging.  You take a great deal of time to research topics, you love to share what you know to help others and you take a great deal of pride in your writing technique.   When I create a blog I get the same natural high I receive when designing something beautiful for my clients.  This is my stress reliever and a big source of joy for me.

How You Can Protect Your Blog

So how would you feel after researching and writing out a blog for 2 or 3 hours and someone just decides to steal your content?  It happens everyday and yesterday it happened to me.  While checking my blog for comments, I noticed a trackback link that looked suspicious so I decided to see where it led.  I was hoping for a backlink from a fellow blogger with relevant content but instead what I found gave me a headache behind my right eye.  Someone had decided to copy a blog I had written regarding the need to update WordPress Themes.  Not only did they copy the content of my entire blog post, they copied the pictures on the blog and even copied my entire signature with my contact information in it.  I couldn’t believe it.

To make matters even worse they monetized my blog by placing “in text ad links” to almost every other word.  If you aren’t familiar with “in text ad links”, these are ads placed on words that make them look like links but when you mouse over them an ad pops up. Any link that I placed in the original blog they converted to an ad as well.  Unbelievable!!!! These people stole my blog and intend to make money on my content.

They did change some of the text, just enough for anyone to think that if I wrote that blog I was stupid or illiterate…. Either way this blog made me look like a fool and I don’t want any of my traffic going to that blog nor do I want them making money from my content.  I now also have to worry about page duplication issues, how it will hurt my search engine ranking and what if they decide to do it again?  Below I have listed a few steps to help you protect your blog.

3 Steps you can take to Protect Your Blog?

1. Include Terms of Service/Use on your blog.  If you are unsure how to do this you can visit Legal River and use their Free Terms of Service Generator.
2. Disable right click ability on your website.  Blog Protector is a wonderful WordPress plugin that disallows anyone from copying text or images directly from your blog. 
3. Copyright your blog

None of these options are full proof.  If someone wants your content bad enough, they may screen print it, actually type it out word for word or they can grab it from your RSS Feed service.

Copying someone’s content and using it as your own is a Copyright infringement and there are laws against such activities.  Enforcing these laws especially when the user is not located in your country can make things a bit more difficult.  If you happen to have a relentless trespasser you may need to take things a bit further and report them via their host service company.  You will first need to look them up and Whois.net can help you with that.

I hope you find the above information useful and feel free to add your own blog protection tips in the comments below.

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Having Trouble Updating Your WordPress Elegant Themes?

Posted by AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Wordpress, Wordpress Plugins | 7 comments

Aug 23, 11

Today I received a notice in my WordPress Control Panel (cPanel) that I needed to update several of my themes.  I often test themes, so I may have 20 or more themes on a specific site to play with and manipulate for use with my clients as needed.

Blog Updates Due Today!

So today when I received the notice to update every Elegant Theme I was using I attempted to update them from the WordPress cPanel like you would any other update.  Unfortunately this was not working and I was unable to update the themes via the cPanel.

How to update your Elegant Themes

Now I’m sure all seasoned WordPress users know how to correct this issue but for those of us who are new to WordPress this is what you need to do:

1. Delete all previous versions of Elegant Themes from your computer
2. Log into the Elegant Themes website and download the newest versions of all the themes you are using
3. Remember to unzip the files you need to replace on your WordPress site
4. Using an FTP program delete all unused WordPress Themes on all of your blogs (I use FileZilla)
5. Leave the Theme you have active alone we will fix that in a second
6. Back up your blog!!!!!!
7. Using an FTP program, upload the newest version of the Elegant Theme you have active on each of your blogs
8. Be sure to change your FTP settings to overwrite the old files.
9. Now you are all done… check your website to ensure it is running properly

Why you should NOT ignore this update

It is important to delete all the old Elegant Themes on your website as well as on your computer for security reasons.  Often updates are done to improve the usability of a theme… this time though, there was also an issue with WordPress Websites being hacked via a timthumb.php file included in most of the Elegant Themes.  This file renders your website vulnerable even if it isn’t being used.  This means that even themes you are not using and are inactive, could still pose a threat to your WordPress site.

It may also help to read what Elegant Themes has to say about this timthump.php issue as well as their security update.  Elegant Themes were not the only Themes affected by this timthumb.php issue.  You should do a thorough search of all your websites for this timthumb.php file.  Most people have just renamed the file “thumbs.php”.  I decided it was best to just delete all inactive themes until I had time to update them all with the most recent updated file.

I hope this helps any of you wondering why you couldn’t update your theme.  I also hope this helps you understand why you can’t afford to ignore any of your Elegant Theme Updates.

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Warning! Do Not Update Your Tweet Old Posts Plugin Just Yet!

Posted by AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Twitter, Wordpress, Wordpress Plugins | 21 comments

Aug 15, 11

Today while updating one of my blogs I received a notice via the WordPress  Dashboard that it was time to update a plugin.  The notice was for the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin, which made me cringe a bit.  The last time this plugin was triggered for an update, those of us who didn’t check our settings were sending out tweets with just the URL, which made it look as though you were spamming our followers.  Luckily Ileane Smith, of Basic Blog Tips sent me a Tweet about this update error, with a link to her blog that explained what needed to be done to correct it.  Problem solved…

Tweet Old Posts Error

Now forward to today, with me being fully aware that I might have to check the settings again, I began the “Tweet Old Posts” update.  When it was done, I froze with terror; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  My control panel was gone; all I had now was a white screen with some verbiage about a fatal error.   Not only was the error affecting my control panel, it was also appearing on the homepage and any other link to my website… OMG, I panicked and thought….  My website is gone!  I remembered Anderson Curry’s words, “You know you need to back up your blog girl, because some of the WordPress updates can jack your website up.” Anderson is always full of advice and even though I think I am a know it all (Cause I am) I hadn’t backed up my site so I was pissed and Anderson was right…  I should have backed up my site.

How to fix the “Tweet Old Posts” Fatal Error?  Well….

Fortunately I didn’t let myself get too crazy before I noticed the path that was given in the error.  It was simple, all I had to do was use an FTP program, follow the path and delete the Plugin which is exactly what I did, problem solved right?… except…. I need the plugin…   So, I tried to reinstall the plugin via download because “tweeting old posts” is an important tool for building traffic to my website.  It also serves as reminder to my followers about tips they may have forgotten.  I again got the same error but this time the error was only in control panel and this time the control panel didn’t disappear…. I know… not good… but Hey… My website was still in tact so I am happy about that.

So for those of you who use the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin I suggest you wait a few days before you do the update and let Ajay Matharu, the creator of this wonderful plugin, give us the all clear to ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

Update August 16th:  The power of the Internet and Social Media is a wonderful thing.  If you have already updated your “Tweet Old Posts” plugin and do not have the previous version saved somewhere.  Guorilla Media has found a website that will allow you to download the previous working version of the plugin.  For people like us who just can’t live without this plugin, you can download the previous version of the the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin here.   Thanks so much Guorilla Media to finding this solution. 

Update August 25th:  The “Tweet Old Posts” Plugin has been updated and is now functional.  I updated the plugin just yesterday and and suffered no crashes and it is Tweeting my posts perfectly.

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8 Tips for Building your Personal Brand on the Internet

Posted by AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah in Branding, Internet Marketing | 4 comments

Aug 11, 11

Building your Personal Brand

If you are a small business owner you should know by now that marketing on the internet requires more than just selling your services and products via your website.  Building your personal brand is just as important as building your business brand. The popularity of social media networks has caused business owners to attempt marketing via these platforms.  It isn’t as clean cut as you would think.  In light of recent politicians and their social media blunders you must educate your self on each platform works.  It is also important to understand that successfully marketing your brand online will take a great deal of time, effort and often requires you hire a professional to handle it for you.

1. Figure out your Niche.  It important to stay focused and specialize in one or two products or services instead of trying to do it all.  Spreading yourself thin takes away from your focus and confuses your users.  Narrowing your focus increases the success of your brand.
2. What makes you different from your competitors?  You need to know the following…. What makes you and your company special? What are your strengths?  What are your goals?  What is your purpose?  It is important to reflect on these questions and find the answers as early as possible, then build upon them with your message to your users.
3. Begin claiming ownership of your name by reserving your domain.  You also want set up profiles on social networks, bookmarking sites, etc. Be consistent by using this same name across every platform you plan to use.
4. Use social media monitoring tools to manage your personal brand. Begin keeping track of both your personal and business brand using monitoring tools.  I currently use SproutSocial, Hootsuite and Google Reader.  Start familiarizing yourself with
5. 

   Stand Out From your Competitors

   how to use these tools now.

6. Choose one picture and one logo and use it across the board.  Make sure the picture you choose is a good representation of you and conveys the image you want your users to feel about you as a symbol of our brand.  It is important to use these images consistantly to ensure that no matter where a user finds you they know they are in the right place.
7. Be authentic… It is important that you be yourself at all times. Your users want to get to know what is special about you and how that relates to your business brand.   You cannot be build trust by pretending to be something you are not.
8. Post / Blog /Tweet regularly.  Your users cannot adequately judge who you are unless they communicate with you.  What better way to start that communication than by writing blogs, tweeting, sharing interests and posting something attention grabbing?
9. Do not Sale yourself.  There are enough people out here spamming users… your efforts should be geared toward giving you users something they need.  Give them beneficial information that they can use and share with their friends and family.

This should be enough to get you started.  It is important to remember that you should be present for the conversation that is going to take place once you begin communicating.  This does not mean you have to stay online all day but you do need to check in and respond to your users when they comment or have questions.  Following the tips above is only the beginning; personal branding is an ongoing effort that cannot be neglected.  You are in this for the long haul so get ready…. It is now time to start building your personal brand.

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Are you having Trouble Linking YouTube to Your Klout Profile?

Posted by AriesGDIM / Tami Highbaugh-Abdullah in Klout, Social Media | 2 comments

Aug 04, 11

Are you having trouble linking your Youtube account to your Klout profile? I was and it was driving me nuts all day long.  No matter how many times I logged in and out of Klout or Youtube I kept getting an error message that said “forbidden”.  What the heck did that mean?

Google+ Conversation about Klout with Kim Beasley & Idrialis Castillo

I took my problem to Klout via Twitter and Facebook by posting messages stating I was having Klout connection issues.  I even tweeted using their hashtag #kloutchat;  I guess they were super busy today with everyone connecting because I never received a response.  I forgive you Klout… I totally understand being super busy.   No worries…..

So how did I fix the Klout & YouTube Connection Issue?  Well Google+, Twitter and Facebook friend +Kim Beasley jumped on the “Help Wagon” and tried to assist me with the problem.  She suggested several things, none of which worked at first but… I appreciated her effort and the fact that she didn’t give up on me.   She then suggested we crowd source the issue and brought in her Google+ friend +Idrialis Castillo who suggested that if I was using a chrome based browser that I clear my cache.  She even sent me a Cache Cleaner.  Then it dawned me… maybe I just need to use a different browser.  I had been trying to connect my YouTube channel using RockMelt (my browser boyfriend).  It was time I cheated on RockMelt with FireFox to see if I could resolve this issue.  I logged into Klout on the FireFox browser and then logged into my YouTube channel on the same browser and attempted to make the connection again… and bam it worked; I was connected.

If you are having problems connecting your YouTube channel to your Klout profile I hope that clearing your cache or using a different browser works for you.   Happy connecting and I wish you an ever-increasing Klout score.

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