Blog Maintenance - Website Services for Small Businesses

WordPress Security in Laymens Terms

June 12, 2012

Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar to you? If so, I think we can eliminate the fear and maybe even the entire spectacle! "1. My readers have let me know that when they click on linkhere.com they get a message saying I have a virus. What can I do?" "2. [I've sent them a notice that our monitoring partner has alerted us to a problem and we're dealing with it.] What's wrong? Does this mean I have a virus?!?!" "3. Google has blasted my site with the big red warning screen - I'm panicking!! What do I do?" "4. How can this happen!?!?" WordPress Security vs. The Bad … [Read more...]

6 Comments Blog, Blog Maintenance, Stay Secure, WordPress Basics

How to Remove SPAM in WordPress

November 4, 2011

How to spare your innocent eyes the onslaught of spam. Dealing with comment and form spam in WordPress and other sites, is a daily task for most of us. But I find that the spammers are getting smarter and sneakier and I want to protect YOU from THEM. Here's the why and how to stop spam in WordPress, specifically. Spam Devalues your Site When you are searching out the legitimacy of a site, what do you do? I have a quick look for content that makes sense, I look for ridiculous over-use of keywords and nonsensical links. If I find a lot of spam comments, or completely un-moderated … [Read more...]

4 Comments Blog, Blog Maintenance, Featured, Search Engine Optimization, Stay Secure, WordPress Basics

Easy Directions for WordPress Backups

October 25, 2011

You already know that WordPress backups are essential. Now let's talk the WordPress backups schedule, where to store them, and exactly how to do it in non-geeky terms. WordPress Backup Schedule You need to backup WordPress as often as it takes to not loose too much data. We recommend the following schedule based on the frequency of your new content. If you post content: 12 + times per day, backup WordPress database every 3 hours 1+ times per day, backup WordPress database once a day 2-3 times per week, backup WordPress database once a week Always backup the files (as … [Read more...]

4 Comments Blog, Blog Maintenance, Featured, How To, Stay Secure, WordPress Basics

New Features in WordPress 3.1

February 23, 2011

The much anticipated release of WordPress 3.1 happened this morning. Although I was excited to see some more geekery what I'm pleased as punch with, is the pretty blue admin theme. More on that below! Here's a few things you may be interested in - and how to get around them: In new blogs, the edit post screen will be more streamlined. This means the extra boxes will be hidden. To add, remove, or edit the number of viewable boxes, click on the "Screen Options" tab at the top of the screen. As I mentioned above, a refreshed blue admin theme is available. If you don't already use the … [Read more...]

0 Comments Announcements, Blog Maintenance

See the notice bar atop your WordPress site? CLICK IT!

January 3, 2011

Time for an immediate and important security UPGRADE to your WordPress site. How to Backup & Upgrade: Check your DBManager or Automatic Backup plugin to be sure you have a recent backup of the database. Go to your cpanel or web host and get a backup of the files in your public_html directory (usually with a click of your mouse). Go to the plugins screen, select the “active” button at the top. Select all plugins. Click on “bulk actions” drop down and select “Deactivate”. Go to Tools, upgrade. And click the button! While you’re there, you might as well select … [Read more...]

1 Comments Announcements, Blog Maintenance

Should I upgrade right away to WordPress 3.0?

June 19, 2010

Guess what question I'm asked most often these days? :) Usually, I'm not much of a risk taker, I'm not on the bleeding edge of anything much less technology. However, with WordPress 3.0 I'm 99% sure it is stable enough for ALL my clients to upgrade. I'll wait while you do that. --------------------- What to expect with WordPress 3.0 Now. Before you send me an email saying, "Cathy! Something's wrong - nothing happened!", let me tell you - nothing will happen. Small things in the WordPress Administration like: extra tabs under the side panels "site" instead of "blog" label in the … [Read more...]

3 Comments Blog Maintenance, Q & A

WordPress 2.9.1

January 5, 2010

There have been over a million downloads of WordPress 2.9, and with that, a lot of use! And, in true WordPress fashion, they have released a whole bunch of fixes. Most notably, a scheduling fix. A lot of you have had scheduled posts miss their publishing times due to the upgrade to 2.9 and your web host server configuration. For you folks, WordPress 2.9.1 is what you've been waiting for! I highly recommend this upgrade. How to: Check your DBManager or Automatic Backup plugin to be sure you have a recent backup of the database. Go to your cpanel or web host and get a backup of … [Read more...]