Blog

  • Set the Time Properly in WordPress for Cron Jobs

    Telling your WordPress site the correct time is very important. It affects when your scheduled posts publish, which could impact when your RSS service picks them up. The site time also determines when the regular maintenance duties happen, like your site backup and emails being sent out. By default, WordPress uses a Cron job to calculate time. And, there are two ways to set the time in WordPress, and the Cron job may not recognize one of them, and daylight saving time may not recognize the other. Discover the best way to set this important feature of your site properly.

  • USB Microphone Review for G Plus Hangouts

    G+ Hangouts and Hangouts On Air are the future of social media. But, finding good gear at an affordable price proved to be tougher than I thought. I tried several mics and cameras in different combos as well as listening devices and finally found the perfect mix for me. See my honest review of the mics I tried and the perfect device I found, plus the settings and mix tips I’m using to produce stellar audio on a budget.

  • Out with CommentLuv and In with G+ Comments

    I’ve had CommentLuv Premium on a trial run for the last several months. It definitely had an impact on the number and type of comments I received on my blog. It’s also caused me a lot of work, which I wasn’t expecting. I’ve decided to remove it and in this post I’ll tell you why, along with tips for how to. And, I’ll give the skinny on the new Google Plus Comments plugin that everyone is talking about and why you don’t want to install it yet, the hurdles it will have to overcome, and why it promises to be a game changer like no other.

  • Global Brute Force Attacks on WordPress Sites

    For the past week there has been a rolling brute force attack on all major host providers that specifically targets the login of WordPress sites. According to the report by HostGator, it was a well-coordinated attack with over 90,000 IP addresses involved. The symptoms are a sluggish admin area after login, slow speeds, or trouble logging in. Read on for the steps that you can take to protect your site now and in the future.

  • Social Media Widget Plugin Injecting Spam

    On April 9th, 2013, the Sucuri blog reported that the Social Media Widget WordPress plugin was hiding spam and could inject it into your website. It has also since been removed from the WordPress Plugin Repository. In this video, I’ll show you what you need to do before you delete the plugin that will save you a ton of time. And I’ll show you how to set up another plugin called the Social Sharing Toolkit that pulls double duty for social follow and share.

  • Never Fear a Total Change for Your Site or Business

    There comes a time in every site owner’s career where they have to make a tough decision to completely change their business. That may mean gradual changes to their existing site or completely shutting down and doing something else. I’ve done both. In fact, I’m doing one of them now. I’m making sweeping changes to BlogAid for the sixth time in four years. I’m still here. And business is great! I’ll tell you why I never fear drawing a line in the sand, why starting over is the best thing ever, and how you can free your mind, Neo, to the truth that things can be completely different and brilliantly better than ever. Listen to the podcast.

  • Promote Your RSS to Email Before Google Reader Shuts Down

    You only have three months to ensure that your website traffic does not take a hit when Google Reader expires. It’s clear that Google is getting out of the RSS business and the Feedburner service will likely be next. Now is the time to start encouraging folks to move into a new RSS to Email subscription and keep your blog posts in front of your readers. Here are tips to help you and your blog fans make the transition.

  • Google Reader Shutdown Heralds the Rise of RSS to Email and G+ Users

    Google Reader will be gone by summer. Yesterday Google officially announced that on July 1, 2013 it will retire the most popular RSS feed reader available. Rumors have been swirling for a year about the demise of Google’s popular RSS feed delivery system, Feedburner, and this is just one more nail in the coffin. Read on to discover how this will radically impact millions who depend on these services to deliver and read countless blog posts. And, see what you need to do right now to prepare so you don’t lose your site readers, like setting up RSS to email options such as those found in MailChimp, Aweber, and FeedBlitz.