How to Install a Spam Filter on Your WordPress Blog
Spam is taking over our lives but there is something that you can do about catching it on your blog before your email box fills up each day with male enhancement drug offers, diet pill offers and those pesky Nigerian solicitors who drop by to let you know that your millions of dollars are waiting for you.
To block and reduce spam on your self-hosted WordPress blog, I use and recommend Akismet.
Akismet comes pre-installed on new WordPress installations so all you need to do is activate the plugin. Do this by navigating to WP Dashboard > Plugins. You will find Akismet Plugin in Installed Plugins. Click the “Activate” button.
Now you will see a yellow highlighted message at the top of your WP dashboard asking you to enter your Akismet API key.
Go to Akismet and register for your key.
The default setting will look like they want you to pay $36 for the key. Grab the slide and shift it left until it registers $0 and then proceed with your registration. Be sure to use an email address that you have access to as they will email the key to you.
Return to your WP dashboard, click on the “Enter yoru Akismet API key” highlighted message and copy and paste your emailed key there. Click the update options button and your key will be verified. If the key is valid you will see this screenshot:
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Scareware Attacks On The Rise
I don’t know if this is something you can attribute to the economy or not, but scareware attacks are on the rise. What is scareware? You know those pop-up windows that seemingly come out of nowhere to tell you that your computer has been infected with a virus? That is scareware. These applications are being built solely to steal personal information and spread viruses online.
Recently companies like Google, Twitter and the New York Times found themselves being exploited by hackers as part of a massive attack on consumers. The Better Business Bureau is offering advice on how to protect computers and personal information from scareware which can appear on even the most trusted websites.
Scareware Popup
There are steps you can take to protect your personal information and your computer. By staying wary and never letting your guard down, you can avoid a lot of heartache and angst.
Protect your computer. Install updates to your operating system and purchase antivirus software from a name you recognize and trust and be sure to keep that software up to date. Some of the leading anti-virus software providers are Norton (Symantec), McAfee, and AVG.
Make sure that all security patches and updates are installed for your web browser and programs such as Adobe Flash Player.
Take immediate action if you believe that you are the victim of a scareware attack. If you receive a scareware popup window (see images below), force the window to close through your task manager. To do this on a PC, hold down the ctrl, alt and delete keys simultaneously, open your task manager, find the browser in the list of running programs and click “end task.” Once you have closed the window, run your anti-virus scan to make sure that nothing awful happened.
Stay alert and err on the side of caution when you are unsure of anything.
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Start Living With Passion
27 Questions to Find Your Passion Created by Scott Dinsmore
Guidance: You are the only one who can find your passion – It’s inside you and just has to be uncovered. Use the below to explore what lights you on fire. Don’t rush through these. Go somewhere quiet, with no internet and dedicate at least 2-3 hours to developing your answers. Some may apply more than others. That’s fine. Allow your mind to run wild. These questions will only be useful if you allow them to.
It’s time to start living with passion!
1. What makes you happiest in your life? What excites you?
2. What do you do that makes you feel invincible?
3. What do people thank you for?
4. What are you ridiculously good at? What are your precious gifts?
5. Who do you look up to? Who are your mentors? Who inspires you? Why?
6. When was the last time you massively over-delivered on something? What was it and why did you work so damn hard?
7. When was the last time you were in a state of flow, in the zone and totally lost track of time? What were you doing?
8. Imagine you won $158 million in the lottery. It’s now three months later. How will you spend tomorrow?
9. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
10. If you could have or do anything, what would it be?
11. What topics do you find yourself continuously arguing or defending with others? What beliefs does your stance represent?
12. What makes you most angry about the state of the world? With unlimited resources how could you fix it?
13. What are you most afraid of for the next generation, whether you have kids or not?
14. What do you love helping people with? How do you most commonly help others?
15. What’s your favorite section in the bookstore? What’s the first magazine you’d pick up at the grocery store?
16. When was the last time you couldn’t sleep because you were so excited about what you had to work on? What was it?
17. If you trusted that your art (your creativity) would support your life, How would you live?
18. Out of all your current work roles, what would you gladly do for free?
19. If you were able to be a member of the audience at your own funeral (in 100 years or so) what would you want to hear people say?
20. What do you want to be remembered for – what dent do you want to have put in the world?
21. What do your friends always tell you you’d be good at, that you should do for a living (i.e. “he’d make a great…)? If you don’t remember, then go ask five of them.
22. What are you naturally curious about?
23. If you had a free hour to surf the internet, what would you explore?
24. Think back to when you were 5 or10 years old. What did you want to be when you grew up? Anything goes. What skills and metaphors do these represent (i.e. pilot may be a symbol for freedom)?
25. If you could write a book to help the world, that is guaranteed to be a best seller, what would the title be? What’s it about?
26. What careers do you find yourself dreaming of? What jobs do others have that you wish were yours?
27. What 3-5 dream jobs or businesses can you imagine that would firmly embody your core beliefs about the world. Sky’s the limit.
And a bonus…
28. What revolution do you want to lead?
Scott Dinsmore has created a FREE 2012 Goal Setting and Action Workbook that you can download here. I have!
read more$400 + in Holiday Gifts and Goodies – But you have to act fast!
It’s always fun to see companies get into the Holiday spirit… especially when they give great and usable stuff away!
The WishList team is doing just that for all their WishList Member customers.
Anyone who buys WishList Member before Dec. 31st, 2011 will get a whole bunch of extra gifts (valued at $400+) at no extra charge.
This gift package includes:
1) 1000+ Custom Drawn Icons
2) Custom Membership Site Graphics
3) Our Top 3 Kick-Butt Plugins
4) 3-Module Membership Site Basics Course
It’s an awesome package and people are loving it. And who doesn’t love getting what we call in the Deep South, “lagniappe”. (A lagniappe is a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase (such as a 13th doughnut when buying a dozen). This is some serious lagniappe!
…BUT…
This gift package is only available for those who purchase BEFORE December 31st, 2011 @ 11pm PST.
I run multiple membership sites for my clients and for myself and ALL of them are build using Wishlist Member.
We wish you a safe, happy, healthy and PROSPEROUS New Year!
Your Partner In Success,
Denise Griffitts
read moreAffiliate Marketing Terms Defined
For new online marketers it can get a little confusing trying to define what some of the more common affiliate marketing terms are. This quick explanation should help.
Affiliate Program: This is a system that is built to track sales by third parties. The third party’s incentive to sell is defined by the affiliate program owner and is usually a percentage of the sale or a pre-determined one time payout. A high quality affiliate program will include a control panel to view traffic and sales, obtain sales materials for the product or service that you (the affiliate) is marketing, and the ability to keep in touch with the affiliate with news and updates.
Affiliate: An affiliate (you) is simply a person who signs up to sell another merchants product or service. The affiliate (you) is paid a commission for each sale they create for the merchant.
For example, one of the greatest affiliate marketers I know is Rosalind Gardner, author of the Super Affiliate Handbook. This book is one of the very first books that I purchased online as a download and is an important part of my entrepreneurial library. I also recommend and promote it as an affiliate, which is exactly what I am doing now as an illustration. I know Rosalind. I have followed her career and business advice for many years. I have interviewed her several times on my Internet radio show, Your Partner In Success Radio. So am I confident that I am promoting one heck of a product? Yes. In fact, let’s make that a “Hell Yes!” I greatly admire Rosalind’s work and am hoping that if you are interested at all in affiliate marketing that you will purchase and study her book and follow her on her blog. She is in my opinion, quite simply the best person to learn affiliate marketing from. If nothing else, connect with her on her blog and on Facebook!
Some of my favorite affiliate programs:
- ClickBank
- Commission Junction (CJ.com)
- Shareasale
What you need to know:
When I mention a product or service in my blogs, I give you my word that I am using it myself and think enough of it to endorse it. I NEVER promote a product or service that I am not fully familiar with and that I don’t use for myself in my own life or business. More often than not the link is my affiliate link, and if you click through using my link and purchase something, I will get paid. Not all links are affiliate links however, as I am always willing to share great advice, tips, products or services from people who do not have affiliate programs set up.
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