WordPress blogs can get hacked into fairly easily if the host has software that is outdated. Another thing that can put your WordPress blog at risk is if you don’t update the site and the plugins.

A friend of mine who is an art teacher at the local high school had her site hacked. She really didn’t have a clue how to fix it. Part of her problem was the hacker somehow got into the cpanel of the website where it was hosted (on Blue Host). Since that time, Blue Host may have increased security and they did send my friend a new, more secure password.

The hacker had made the home page say “by real_Karizma” and also made it impossible to edit any posts within the WordPress dashboard. When I logged into the cpanel, I was quite relieved to find that all the files and the databases were still there. Fixing the home page back to normal was easy. I replaced the index.php file that was in the folder of the theme that was in use. Fixing that file made the site look back like it should have when viewed in a browser. What took a bit longer to figure out was why, when logging into the WordPress site and not being able to see the entire dashboard. I was seeing the dashboard the way a user might see it if they did not have the administrator role.

I really didn’t want to take the entire site down, reinstall WordPress software and then restore the database to get all the content for the blog back on the site. My shortcut to this was to log back into the cpanel on the host and look at the database tables. (I backed up the database first using myphpadmin.)

Looking at the database tables in myphpadmin I noticed that there was data for the wp_users with the hacker’s name and email address. I deleted that user. That left the original user listed but the field code on the right side of the table had the number 2. I guessed (and it seemed to be a correct guess) that if I just changed that number 2 to a 1 that the user would have all the administrator roles assigned to them. To my delight, just changing that number in the database table fixed the problem!

The next thing to do was to update the blog to the latest WordPress version. Again, I lucked out that the plugins in use were compatible and the blog was still functioning correctly.

Technorati Tags: blog, fix, hacked, hacking, restore, undo, wordpress

I think there are too many automated commenting software tools around lately. I am using the Askimet plugin and another one to stop spam called:  WP-Spam Free, but they aren’t stopping the flood of ridiculous comments. I am about to make sure I am upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.  (I am not but will be as soon as I post this.)

I’ll try to post again to see if upgrading to WordPress 3.0.1 helps at all. I really don’t want to turn off the commenting features of my blog. So, if anyone has a tip to make these dumb comments stop, please let me know! Also, if I marked someone’s legitimate comment as spam, let me know and I will fix my error.

UPDATE: I looked up more ways to stop comment spam. In the WordPress Dashboard, under the Settings, there are a couple of places to either moderate or blacklist words commonly used in spam comments or you can enter the IP address of the spammers and moderate or blacklist those! Since I get repeat spam comments from some of the same people I used this feature (that I had not tried before) and so far it has successfully stopped most of the WordPress comment spam.

Technorati Tags: blogging, comments, Plugins, spam, wordpress

Here are a few things that are recommended to do – especially for those of you that host your own blog:

1,  Keep your version updated

2.  Update/ugrade your plugins

3.  Backup your database

Easy Way to Get the Latest Version of WordPress

The older, unpatched versions of WordPress (older than 2.8.4) are not secure and are vulnerable to being attacked by a worm that will infect your site. This is what WordPress.org says about it:

Right now there is a worm making its way around old, unpatched versions of WordPress. This particular worm, like many before it, is clever: it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.

These things are similar to doing routine maintenance on an automobile – and the ones I am recommending are as easy as putting in windshield wiper fluid or adding oil to your engine. I won’t recommend the ones that would be as difficult as doing a complete oil change (because I am too busy to do any of these things the long and boring way). So, my recommendations are to use more automated methods (which have been created by brilliant programmers for people like me to use – I am not a programmer).  I have written before about a plugin that helps you upgrade your WordPress to the latest version in an automated step-by-step process. And really, this is so easy! You don’t have to download software and know anything about programming. All you need to do is download a plugin and put it in the “plugins” folder. To get the plugin go here: Download Upgrade Plugin. Then you log into your wp-admin (WordPress admin) dashboard. Click on the Plugins on the left, activate your new plugin. Then, at the top of your WordPress administrative dashboard a prompt will appear that says, “Click Here to Automatically Upgrade WordPress to latest Version.” Basically, if you click that there will be instructions that walk you through upgrading. It’s so easy to do, and it will keep your site more secure.

Update/upgrade WordPress Plugins

I also think you should try to keep any plugins updated. Here is some good information on the WordPress.org site about site maintenance – http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Site_Maintenance. Ugrading plugins usually only requires you to click the “update now” links on the plugins page. Sometimes you may have to actually download the latest plugin and then upload it to your hosted files.

Keep Backups of your WordPress Database

After you get your site upgraded, there is also a plugin to use to have backups of the database (which holds all the posts, comments, user and other data for your blog). If you were ever to experience a site problem or hosting problem, you can use the backups to set your site back up. My favorite plugin for scheduling these backups is the WP-DB-Backup plugin. This one is really easy and can be downloaded here: WordPress Database Backup.

Technorati Tags: database, latest version, maintenace, Plugins, security, update, upgrade, virus, wordpress, worm

I think for new marketers who are trying to monetize blogs, or those who don’t want to spend time building a site (and instead want to write killer copy and do promotion) this affiliate theme builder for WordPress blogs is a great thing to try. There are levels of service available, too – the basic package is a one time payment of $97:

• Use Affiliate Theme on a single domain/website
• Six (6) unique page templates
• Access to Video Tutorials, Knowledge Base, and Support Forum AND Affiliate Interviews

Perhaps you realize that there are not too many things in the marketing world these days that don’t require a subscription – so take advantage of this offer which will require you to only pay once. There are other packages for those who wish to use these themes on multiple websites (and another package for super affiliates).

I recommend going to take the test drive, since it is hard to describe in words something that is so well explained visually here:

So as a “mini-review” I would say this  theme builder for affiliate marketing in wordpress blogs is going for a reasonable price and it saves you a ton of time.

Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, blogs, Internet Marketing, Themes, wordpress

For those who are new to these things offered on the world wide web, we’ll start with some information about blogs.

What is a blog?

You’ve probably been to one and didn’t even know it was a blog. Technically, a blog consists of pages on the Internet that are made with special software (in the case of this website, it’s made using WordPress). I won’t bore you with a list of all of the different software that is used, but the well-known blog writing tools are: WordPress, TypePad and Blogger.

What was once the main way to make pages for websites is changing. At one time most pages were written in a language called HTML. People could write pages using HTML code from scratch or using software that helps create the pages (such as DreamWeaver). This type of code isn’t that easy-to-use.

The inception of blogs made the whole process of writing content for the internet far easier because once the blog software is installed, the blogger only needed to select a template and start adding pages. No expertise in web writing code is necessary. This is why people can just post daily or weekly about any topic they want to write about (something that a static HTML website can not provide).

Another great thing about blog sites is the immediacy of feedback due to the way comments can be posted by readers.

Why do people make blogs?

We’ve all seen numerous blogs about celebrities and news. Some of my favorite blogs are about food, cooking and recipes. Or, those that show photos, jokes or artwork are always fun to look at. Some people’s blogs seem a bit egotistic in that they just talk about what they are doing and things they like. Basically blogging is about publishing. It helps if you have something of interest to talk about.

A newer trend in blogging is to blog about products and services and to sell them (to make money using a blog). And other sites are for providing interesting articles and education for the readers (and often also trying to make some money in the process.)

Why do companies have blogs on their websites?

Now that blogging has become so popular, businesses are starting to create blogs that discuss issues that are of interest to people in their company or industry. This is the newest trend – professional blogs. Many of these have content that has been written by paid professional writers. These business blogs are being made to increase traffic to websites. It has been found that creating a regular flow of articles and content on a site will make the searches for those topics being written about (based on the keywords used) show up in search engines (such as Google, Yahoo and MSN).

A good blog will attract readers and people will make links from their sites to it. The more the blog (or any other website for that matter) has sites linking to it – the more the search engines think the blog has importance. This will make the search engines give the site a better result in what is shown in search engine results.

This article is barely scratching the surface on the topic of blogging (but then we did say this was for internet “newbies”).

There will be more in-depth articles about how to make a successful blog and other more technical things such as how to install a blog. If you are interested in reading more, subscribe to our RSS feed or bookmark this site and visit us again.

Thanks…

WordPress Theme Studio Staff

Technorati Tags: blogger, blogging, blogs, business, make money online, publishing, templates, TypePad, websites, what is a blog, wordpress