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Warning: Don’t Make This Stupid Website Security Mistake - DailyBlogTips

Warning: Don’t Make This Stupid Website Security Mistake - DailyBlogTips

Warning: Don’t Make This Stupid Website Security Mistake

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 05:41 AM PST

One of my less than happy memories as a blogger is from a couple of years ago.

It started with an email from a kind reader. Sadly, it was the sort of email that no blogger wants to receive, titled "Chrome is warning people off your site." The reader alerted me to a malware message appearing when he tried to visit my site Aliventures.

Not great news at any time … but I was right in the middle of running an ecourse on my site, and about to head off for a weekend conference.

After a long struggle to find out what was wrong and how to fix it, I learned that the malware had got in through an outdated plugin on an old website, running an old version of WordPress, that I'd not looked at in years.

And the reason the malware had infected my main site, Aliventures, was because I'd (unknowingly) made a really stupid mistake.

I kept all of my sites under a single FTP user account, with one username and password. I thought because the password was strong, and I was the only person who accessed the sites, this wouldn't cause any problems.

Wrong. Once the malware got in, it could affect any of the sites under that user account – including sites I hosted for friends, family and even a few clients.

Thankfully, a great security company, Sucuri, cleaned up the mess. (I have a monthly subscription to their service now, just for peace of mind.)

I learned an important lesson – if you run multiple websites, don't put them all under the same FTP account.

(Oh, and keep all your WordPress installations – including plugins! – up to date too.)

Have you ever faced a situation like this? What caused it, and what did you learn? Share your tips with us in the comments…

 

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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6 Shortcuts for Writing, Editing and Publishing a Post in Record Time - DailyBlogTips

6 Shortcuts for Writing, Editing and Publishing a Post in Record Time - DailyBlogTips

6 Shortcuts for Writing, Editing and Publishing a Post in Record Time

Posted: 13 Jan 2014 03:54 AM PST

Need to get a post out in a hurry? Or just want to be a more efficient writer?

These 6 shortcuts could potentially halve the time it takes you to write a post. (Let us know your results in the comments!)

I’ve chosen all these tips to be (a) straightforward and (b) suitable for both total beginners and more experienced bloggers.

Shortcut #1: Choose a Topic You Know Well

If you pick a post topic you know inside out, you can write your post with little or no additional research. You'll also often find that the words flow more easily, as you'll feel more confident.

(Sure, it's good to branch out into new topics sometimes – but not when you're in a hurry!)

Shortcut #2: Make a Plan First

Don't jump straight into your post without planning. That's like rushing into a race without knowing where the start and finish line are.

Take 3 – 5 minutes to make a plan: a list of key points to cover. It'll keep you on track (and motivate you to carry on).

Shortcut #3: Forward, Not Backward

A while back, Daniel wrote a great post titled Never Hit the Backspace. When you're writing, don't stop to edit. That comes later.

If you have to quickly correct a typo or restart a sentence, I'll let you get away with that … but don't struggle over whole paragraphs. If you're stuck, see the next shortcut!

Shortcut #4: Leave Blanks, Come Back and Edit

The previous section looked like this in my first draft:

shortcut-3-draft

(And that image just said [screenshot].)

If you  need a fact, statistic, post title, link, etc, just leave a placeholder and come back to it when you're editing. It's much quicker to get all these done at once, instead of constantly breaking the flow of your writing to look things up.

Shortcut #5: When in Doubt, Cut

Now you're onto the editing – and you've come across a tricky sentence or two. You're struggling to reword it to make it clearer or more compelling.

Stop. Don't struggle. Just cut that sentence (or paragraph). Can you do without it? Then move on.

(If you really need it, try splitting it into shorter sentences.)

Shortcut #6: Keep the Formatting Simple

I'm a big fan of formatting – but you don't need to spend half an hour perfecting every post you publish. Choose a less than perfect image (or none at all). Put in subheadings but leave out bold text.

(Plus, too much formatting – bold, italic and even coloured text everywhere – can look as offputting as none at all.)

That's it – you're done! Hit publish. If you need to, you can go back and tweak later.

Let me know how you got on in the comments.

 

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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