10 WordPress Plugins That Will Quickly Help You Get More Traffic

Do you want to get more traffic to your WordPress site? There are several WordPress plugins that can help boost traffic and user engagement on your website. In this article, we will show you 10 WordPress plugins that will quickly help you get more traffic.

1. OptinMonster

Did you know that more than 70% of people who visit your website today will never come back again. That’s where OptinMonster comes in. It helps you convert visitors into email subscribers.

OptinMonster allow you to tracks user’s behavior and show them a targeted message at the precise moment they are about to leave, so you can convert them into email subscribers.

See our case study of how we increased our email subscribers by 600% using OptinMonster.

2. Floating Social Bar

There are thousands of WordPress plugins that allow you to add social sharing buttons. However, most of them are complicated, has too many unwanted social networks, and they slow down your website.

Floating social bar is super fast and has only the most popular social networks. You can set it to stick at the top of your posts when users scroll down. You can also add it at the end of your posts. We use a slightly modified version of Floating Social Bar on WPBeginner.

3. Revive Old Posts (Former Tweet Old Post)

Too often new users create a blog post, share it once, and then leave it to die in their archive pages.

Revive old posts make your old posts work for you by keeping them alive on your social profiles. It allows you to automatically share your old posts on Twitter and Facebook at regular intervals.

See our guide on how to automatically share your old WordPress posts for detailed instructions.

4. WP to Buffer

Buffer allows you to schedule updates for your social media profiles. WP to Buffer plugin automatically adds your WordPress posts to the Buffer queue. This way you can totally automate all the social media sharing you have to do after publishing a post.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to schedule WordPress posts for social media with Buffer.

5. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin with the most comprehensive set of tools to optimize your website. You can add meta tags, XML sitemaps, breadcrumbs navigation, and even import your Google search console data into WordPress.

Yoast SEO also helps you optimize your website for social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. You can add thumbnails for facebook, and Twitter cards, etc.

See our guide on how to install and setup Yoast SEO in WordPress for step by step instructions.

6. Inline Related Posts

Inlined Related Posts shows links to related posts inside your articles. This works really well for long articles because users are already engaged with the content and are much more likely to check out similar content. This increases your pageviews and the time users spend on your website.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to add inline related posts in WordPress. You may also want to check out our list of 5 best related posts plugins for WordPress.

7. WordPress Popular Posts

WordPress popular posts plugin allows you to highlight the best content on your website thus bringing even more attention to them and increasing engagement.

It allows you to display your popular posts based on pageviews or comments. You can also display the list with post thumbnails and can even choose popular posts by day, week, or month.

You may also want to checkout our list of 5 best popular posts plugins for WordPress.

8. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded

Traffic and user engagement go hand in hand on website. Comments are the perfect tool to boost user engagement. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin allows your users to subscribe to comments on your articles. This lets them get an email notification whenever there is a new comment on the articles they have subscribed.

See our guide on how to allow users to subscribe to comments in WordPress

You can also combine it with other plugins to improve WordPress comments and boost user engagement and traffic at the same time.

9. Click to Tweet

This plugin allows you to add a click to tweet box in your WordPress posts. You can strategically place click to tweet boxes in your articles with your own quotes.

It is very effective and helps you bring more users from Twitter to your WordPress site. See our guide on how to add click to Tweet boxes in your WordPress posts for detailed instructions.

10. Instant Articles for WP

Facebook has opened Instant Articles for all publishers. Instant Articles for WP is the official plugin to help you setup your WordPress site for Facebook Instant Articles.

Due to the incredible page load speed, Instant Articles are more likely to be clicked and shared on Facebook. This not only brings more traffic to your website, but will also help you increase your Facebook page reach.

For detailed step-by-step instructions see our guide on how to setup Facebook Instant Articles for WordPress.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress plugins to get more traffic on your website. You may also want to check out these 19 actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 10 WordPress Plugins That Will Quickly Help You Get More Traffic appeared first on WPBeginner.

What is A/B Testing and How Can It Help Your Site?

alt="What is A/B Testing and How Can It Help Your Site?" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a-b-test-on-writework-500x286_c.jpg" />

I once heard A/B testing described as the internet equivalent of sex in high school: everyone says they are doing it, but few really are.  A/B testing is simply the systematic process of testing various elements of your website to understand how subtle changes affect user behavior.  By employing testing strategies, you can increase your conversions, improve open rates on email marketing campaigns, and drive visitor focus to a specific area of your website (i.e. drawing their eye to your email sign-up form).

So How Do I Know If I Need to be A/B Testing?

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That’s a great question, and the answer is really easy: you do.

Let me explain. If you are anything less than 100% satisfied with the performance of all your efforts online, then testing needs to be part of your toolkit. Do you wish more people visited your site?  Bought your products?  Increased your profit per customer?  Clicked on your ads?

Of course you do.

Marketers and web professionals are, by nature, creative people.  Inspiration strikes and projects take shape, websites are put on the internet, products are created.  That’s the beauty of the entrepreneurial spirit – the speed at which life can be breathed into a product that has the potential to solve real problems, attract customers, and positively influence both the world and your bank account is staggering.

But when reality sets in and things aren’t moving as well as you’d like, or they are moving but you want to increaclass="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6385" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a-b-test-on-writework.jpg" alt="a-b test on writework" width="750" height="430" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a-b-test-on-writework.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a-b-test-on-writework-300x172.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />se the capture of data, revenue, and attention, the application of more systematic tools such as A/B testing can dramatically accelerate the rate at which you reach those goals.

A Primer on Testing

So A/B testing is simply a way to say that you’re testing a single variable.  Let me explain.  When a visitor lands on your website, she sees your opt-in box.  It is blue.  In an A/B test scenario, when a second visitor lands on your site, everything is exactly the same except for the color of your opt-in – now it’s red.  Using simple software tool such as Google Optimizer, you repeat this experiment over the course of a few days and several hundred visitors to your site.

At the end of the test, you look at the results and you find out that only 3% of visitors signed up when your opt-in was blue, but 5% signed up if it was red.  Right now you may be thinking, 3% – 5%.  So what? Well, let’s assume your site receives 1000 visitors per day.  That adds up to an additional 7,300 people that will join your mailing list this year, thanks to one simple change.

Over time, you may continue to test additional variables – what if you tested out two different headlines, or incentives for signing up?  Or what if you moved the position of the box to a different place on your website?  Either of these factors could have an increased impact on your conversion rates, allowing you to improve on them over time.

More sophisticated testing – called multivariate testing – allows you to test multiple variables at the same time such as different combinations of color and headlines for example.  This can put you closer to your optimal conversions even more quickly, but are more complex to manage. If you need multivariate testing, I would recommend hiring an expert to conduct this for you.  Plus the results that you’ll see when employing testing for the first time, those incremental improvements in the ability to persuade website visitors to follow your calls to action, are often enough.  When dipping a toe into the pool of testing, start by looking at single variables to improve.

How Do I Know What to Test?

A common question from website owners is how to know href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/inbound-marketing/ab-testing-the-top-five-things-to-test/">which variable to test.  The following list will get you started in terms of looking at different features that you might want to prioritize to quickly improve bottom-line effecting results.

Opt-in to your email list If you operate a website and are collecting emails, that’s a great thing.  An email list is your most valuable asset, in the instance of your site getting de-indexed, issues with your hosting provider, or any other problems, an email list allows you to still immediately reach your customers.  So look at variables that could be affecting your opt-ins, such as placement of the box, color of the box, what information you’re asking for, the language you’re using, and more.

Email headlines If you do a lot of email marketing, consider conducting an A/B test on your headline with 10% of your list.  Write two versions of the headline and send those out.  Then compare conversion rates, and use the headline with the higher open rate on the remaining 90% of your list.

Call to actions What’s the big call to action on your page?  For example, if you operate a site that sells vitamins, your call to action is to get people to buy your product.  So take a look at all the ways you invite them buy.  Maybe it’s through the placement of a “shop” link in the menu bar.  Could you position that differently?  Turn it a color that makes it “pop” more?  If you are selling the same product through a squeeze page, consider looking at factors as simple as the difference between “Buy Now!” and “Click Here to Order!”  Isolate the individual factors that communicate your call to actions and refine them for maximum conversions.

I’m convinced – so how do I get started?

In a future post, we’ll look at the technological aspects of A/B testing.  But if you’re ready to dive in and want an easy to use and low cost (free) solution, Google offers a tool called rel="nofollow" href="http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer" target="_blank">Google Optimizer and recently launched Google Content Experiments (see video below) that you can start the process within minutes.

src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TGrujIh2H0I" width="600" height="338" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">

If you’re interested in learning more, or seeing specific case studies of A/B testing in action, check-out the following recommended reading:

• href="http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/08/12/google-website-optimizer-case-study/" rel="nofollow">Google Website Optimizer Case Study
• href="http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/a-b-testing-case-study-navigation-menu/" rel="nofollow">A/B Testing Case Study On Navigation Menu
• href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31634/A-B-Testing-in-Action-3-Real-Life-Marketing-Experiments.aspx" rel="nofollow">A/B Testing In Action: 3 Real Life Marketing Experiments
• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/inbound-marketing/ab-testing-the-top-five-things-to-test/" rel="nofollow">A/B Testing: The Top 5 Things To Test
• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/inbound-marketing/ab-testing-part-2-the-technical-how-tos/" rel="nofollow">The Technical How-to in A/B Testing

Page 23 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

25 tools that will help you run your online business

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Running an online business is one of the most challenging things you will do during your lifetime. Whether you’re a solo-preneur or managing several employees, it’s worth investing in a few tools that will help make life easier and keep your business on track.

Social Media Management Tools

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/0731-3.jpg" alt="Online Business Tools" width="750px" />

Social media management tools are useful for keeping track of the level of client engagement through your social media accounts, and saving you time through update scheduling. Different social media services and software packages perform slightly different tasks, however all provide the ability to schedule posts for different networks, keep track of online interactions and analyze statistics for each post.

Popular social media management tools include rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hootsuite.com/" target="_blank">Hootsuite, rel="nofollow" href="https://seesmic.com/" target="_blank">Seesmic, href="http://sendible.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sendible and rel="nofollow" href="http://sproutsocial.com/" target="_blank">Sprout Social. Seesmic is free while the service is still in Beta, Hootsuite has a free service that offers basic management tools, and a subscription service with more features, while Sendible and Sprout Social both require monthly subscriptions, with a variety of packages available.

Scheduling tools and calendars

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/0731-4.jpg" alt="Online Business Tools" width="750px" />

Keeping track of client appointments, meetings, important dates and your life is key for running an online business, and there are a number of helpful services that not only help you organize your own life but also help you organize meetings with others too.

href="http://www.tungle.me/Home/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tungle.me is a scheduling service that lets you create your own private calendar and a public profile, allowing you to keep track of what’s happening in your life and giving others the chance to book appointments with you.

href="http://livepage.apple.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Doodle and rel="nofollow" href="http://whenisgood.net/" target="_blank">When is Good are simple yet effective scheduling systems that enable you to arrange group meetings. Simply use either service to create a poll containing meeting time options, send it to the participants and they will vote for their preferred slot.

rel="nofollow" href="http://www.scheduly.com/" target="_blank">Scheduly is a service specifically designed for managing client appointments. You can specify which hours you’re available, your client picks their desired time, and you can both make appointments quickly and efficiently without spending time exchanging emails.

Online Storage

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/0731-5.jpg" alt="Online Business Tools" width="750px" />

Online storage is useful for several reasons. Not only does it free up space on your hard drive, and prevent unexpected data loss, but it also allows you to access documents from different locations and different machines.

rel="nofollow" href="https://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox is a storage and sharing space that enables you to upload files for your own use, and share them with other people too. Files can be in any format, and you can access 2GB of storage for free.

rel="nofollow" href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Google docs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings, and store them in your Google account. You can share documents with other people, and give them permission either to view or edit files.

rel="nofollow" href="https://mozy.com/" target="_blank">Mozy is an online data back-up service. Mozypro is especially designed for businesses and you can choose from different packages and price plans depending on your storage needs. Once you’ve backed up your data, you can sync it to multiple computers, and access your files from a mobile device using the Mozy app.

Time and Task Management

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Creating effective time and task management systems will improve your efficiency and keep your business running smoothly. Whether you’re a business owner or employee, using a personal productivity tool to keep track of your task list will reduce your stress levels and help you stay on top of what you need to do.

rel="nofollow" href="http://culturedcode.com/things/" target="_blank">Things is a simple yet effective Mac and mobile application that is based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done system. You can sync your account between multiple devices, schedule tasks to appear on a certain date in the future, and create different projects.

rel="nofollow" href="http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/" target="_blank">Omnifocus is similar to Things in that it runs on Mac computers and mobile devices, and is also based on Getting Things Done. This program, however, is more suitable for complex project management, as it includes contexts – where you will be when you can do a task – and the ability to capture emails, messages and similar with a few taps of the keyboard.

Finances

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Keeping track of invoices, incomings and outgoings is crucial to the success of your business. Good record-keeping alleviates some of the stress associated with tax season, and using proper finance tools to receive and record payments will save you time and energy, especially if you don’t have an in-house accounting department.

rel="nofollow" href="https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_home&country_lang.x=true" target="_blank">PayPal and rel="nofollow" href="https://payments.amazon.co.uk/home" target="_blank">Amazon payments are two online systems you can use to receive payments through your website. Both charge fees, and the amount depends on the value of what you’re selling. They provide an easy way for clients to give you their money, and you can use the services to produce monthly and yearly statistics on your product sales and overall income.

rel="nofollow" href="http://www.contractpal.com/" target="_blank">ContractPal develops custom web applications that can help you turn processes that are traditionally paper-based, such as contracts, into cloud-based services. This provides clients with a quick and easy way to sign contracts, rather than dealing with the hassle of signing and scanning or sending papers.

rel="nofollow" href="http://www.freshbooks.com/uk/" target="_blank">Freshbooks is an online service that provides invoicing, billing and accounting software. Using Freshbooks, you can keep track of time spent on a project, send invoices to clients, receive payments and keep track of your money.

href="http://liteaccounting.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LiteAccounting is similar to Freshbooks, but offers a more basic service, so is more suitable for businesses on a smaller budget who have simpler invoicing needs. LiteAccounting allows you to create and send invoices as PDFs, and receive payments via PayPal. The website offers different user packages, but the basic service is free.

Collaborations

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When running a bricks-and-mortar business, collaborations usually involve face-to-face meetings, or even working in the same office. Collaborating online presents different challenges, especially if you have colleagues, partners or employees who work from a different time zone or country. Help is at hand, however, and there are several software packages designed to help collaborators work on projects together, wherever in the world they might be.

href="http://www.skrbl.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">skrbl takes the concept of the whiteboard and makes it digital. Perfect for brainstorming, providing feedback and sharing documents, this service also provides a bulletin board so you can have separate project discussions.

href="http://sosius.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sosius is a hosted online workspace, where you can store, share and collaborate on documents and projects. As well as sharing files and images, you can host group IM and video chats, and engage in secure screen sharing.

href="http://basecamp.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Basecamp is one of the most popular online collaboration apps available. A cross between a task management system and a shared online workspace, the program allows you to keep track of your projects, delegation, roles and deadlines. You can also invite clients, vendors and contractors to take part, and store files so anyone can access and use them.

Conferences, Calls and Meetings

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Conference calls are an inevitable part of running an online business, so you need to find a system that won’t let you down. Free services like Skype are suitable for individual calls, however using special software designed to host calls for two or more people will help your business look more professional and give you peace of mind that you’re using a dependable service.

href="http://www.persony.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Persony allows you to host and attend meetings from your desktop or mobile device. Offering voice or video web conferencing, you can conduct calls through a browser with no download required.

href="http://www.gotomeeting.com/fec/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GoToMeeting is a service that provides a range of products designed to host online conference calls, video chats and presentations. If your business provides webinars, GoToMeeting enables you to present to large groups of people, and run polls among your audience. You can also conduct group training, and upload teaching materials and tests.

Email

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An email list is a strong tool for every online business, as it contains people who have directly expressed an interest in finding out more about your products and services. With a potential customer base at your fingertips, you need to make sure you manage your lists in a way that will benefit your business.

href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/mailchimp" target="_blank">Mailchimp helps you to track signups, create emails and newsletters, and provide statistics on opens and clickthroughs. With a variety of templates to choose from, this email handler lets you create professional autoresponders and email campaigns at a low cost.

href="hhttp://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/aweber" target="_blank">Aweber specializes in email marketing services. It offers similar features to Mailchimp, allowing you to create and send customized emails, track and analyze statistics, and integrate third-party applications.

Page 23 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

7 Tips to Help Secure Your Website Against Hacking Attacks

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The Web is not just about business. Billions of pages and blog entries are written every day, every second, by small website owners and bloggers looking to share their views with the world. That’s the charm of the Web: it provides a space for everyone, and for any kind of project.

Endless possibilities.

But the Internet is also a wild jungle: it hides dangers at every corner and nothing you make use of is even merely close to foolproof magic. If you run a non-profit or a solopreneur business online, in particular, you realize that moving all transactions to the Web can translate into extra caution in regard of your services.

Security is a truly crucial aspect to take in consideration when you plan your website: how can I secure my content and hard work against attackers? How can I provide the best possible user experience? These are questions you should ask yourself every time you update your website.

Why This Article and Why 7 Tips

Securing your site in an easy, n00b-ish way can be more utopia than reality, but that doesn’t mean someone who’s not a programmer or a computer scientist can’t add some security to their website. I chose seven tips that are both easy to apply and in-depth enough to tickle your curiosity on security issues, so that YOU will become — slowly but relentlessly — your own web security expert. All tips are specific to web hacking and I will also introduce techniques you can use to test your website for security holes. Don’t worry: nothing too hard to do, but it’s important that you become acquainted with the simple tools and techniques that can ward off attacks, for your projects’ sake. :)

Have fun!

Tip #1 — Spend A Little More Mind Power On Your Passwords

Number one web security hole is the use of the same password across more websites/webservices. A hacker that gets to figure out one password will have figured out all your passwords and will have easy access to all of your data, whether it’s your blog or your PayPal account. Keeping a list of your password(s) on paper or file isn’t a safe alternative either (unless you password-protect your files) because someone who hacks your computer will get easy access to your database.

But what if you can’t come up with a decent password?

1. Use href="http://www.safepasswd.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a strong password generator to generate a hard-to-crack password, inclusive of alphanumeric and alternative symbols. The more random or pseudo-random a string of symbols is (i.e. the password’s symbols have no internal memory, they are unrelated with each other, so every symbol has equal chances to come after another), the safer it is.
2. Use href="http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Password Safe to save and encrypt all of your passwords, which you can unlock by remembering a passphrase. The program uses the href="http://www.schneier.com/twofish.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Twofish algorithm to encrypt all passwords Password Safe is a Windows open-source project developed by Bruce Schneier. If you don’t use Windows, href="https://github.com/zdia/gorilla/wiki/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Password Gorilla is a valid open-source alternative to Password Safe.

Here’s a front view of Password Safe with a database named ‘Websites’:

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/1216-1.jpg" alt="Password Safe Program View" width="750" />

Here’s the details of a file inside of the ‘Websites’ database:

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/1216-2.jpg" alt="Password Safe File View" width="750" />

 

Tip #2 — Take Good Care Of Your Scripts

It’s well known that website scripts and CMS platforms are the primary vehicle of hacking attacks. If you host scripts written in PHP, ASP and JavaScript, know that they may have security holes and bugs that their developers might have overlooked. Aside from contacting the developer immediately upon discovery of one of the above-mentioned issues, there are non-technical methods you can use to ensure your scripts won’t damage you:

• Read your script’s version document thoroughly: it often contains details on patches and bug fixes
• List to your software installer’s or administration panel’s or even Google’s (through Webmaster Tools) warnings: if you need to update or edit/remove a file, do it
• Don’t install every existing plugin: check compatibilities and security notes first.

Also — and this is perhaps the most important factor — always, always keep your scripts and CMS’s up to date. The latest package of a software usually contains patches for the previous version’s bugs and security issues.

Example: WordPress upgrade warning from Softaculous

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/1216-3.jpg" alt="Softaculous Upgrade Warning" width="750" />

Tip #3 — Perform Regular Folder And Administration Panel Checks

Sometimes hackers intrude into your site quietly, sneaky as cats, but they leave disasters behind: site spoofs, media files containing virus, executables and recoded webpages. Check your folders regularly, at least once every two weeks, to make sure nothing’s wrong with your files. Should you spot files you don’t recognize, remove them immediately. If that doesn’t work, contact your web host and get assistance (this is when you need a href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/compare-best-five-hosting/">good web host the most). In such cases:

• Change your administration panel password (and username, if possible)
• Perform a check of all files to see if they have been damaged
• If you have an antivirus installed, run it.

Tip #4 — Secure Authentication

Web Security experts make use of a lot of methods to provide optimal safety to the systems and web transactions they work on: public key cryptography, chains of trust, signatures, SSL and TSL (Transport Layer Security). While you should definitely learn something about cryptography, it’s important that you start with learning how to use simple multi-factor authentication tools readied for you by experts:

• href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/shieldpass-two-factor-authentication/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ShieldPass
• href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-authenticator/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Google Authenticator
• href="http://blog.duosecurity.com/2011/07/duo-two-factor-authentication-for-drupal-sites/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Duo Drupal

Why do you need href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">multi-factor authentication? Because it will take to know your username, password AND your use-once-then-dispose token to gain access to your content; otherwise, access will be denied.

If you can, find an expert to tutor you as you learn about web security, or use online tutorials and courses.

Tip #5 — Beware of DDoS Attacks

Denial of Service attacks are fast-evolving and dangerous, together with server hijacking and the replacement of your services with spoof ones.

A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">DDoS attack forces the server in a state where its normal services don’t work, and the whole system is no longer available to end users.

What could cause a DDoS attack?

• An open network configuration
• Bugged, non-upgraded applications
• Unsecured server configuration
• No maintenance and/or monitoring of network activity

Inform your ISP about this form of attack and get informed, too. What your website host can do is to configure each server with a list of alternative DNS addresses, so when the default DNS becomes unavailable, the whole website will still work. A hacker can only have success in his actions when he gets to block ALL of the servers on the list — tough job, don’t you think? Another counter-measure can be the filtering of all incoming packets with unusual timings and/or from high-risk IP addresses. Your host should be knowledgeable about Denial of Service attacks, so discuss with them on DDoS prevention.

Tip #6 — Secure FTP Access With SFTP

Nothing changes for you, it works just like normal FTP, but SFTP, or Secure FTP, comes with a lot of benefits, security-wise:

• It uses SSH to encrypt data and commands during file transfer
• It uses the client’s server’s public keys to validate the server upon connection, to ensure it’s not an intermediary
• It makes it impossible to a hacker to listen to your network traffic

The problem with the ‘regular’ FTP command is that it’s not encrypted: all uploads and downloads to and from the server are transmitted as clear data.

To access FTP via command line (if you’re a Unix/Linux/Mac OS user) you can use

sftp username@host

or just download a free FTP program that supports SFTP, such as href="http://filezilla-project.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">FileZilla (open-source).

Tip #7 — Learn About SQL Injection To Protect Your Site Against It

Beware of this nasty hacking method, keep your scripts up to date and immediately contact the script developer if you run into a security breach. Here’s how to run a simple test:

• Enter the following SQL code into your web form (username and password):
  ' OR 't'='t'; --
  which becomes, at SQL level (see my previous article on SQL database management via phpMyAdmin for reference):
  SELECT * FROM users WHERE userid='admin' AND password='' OR 't'='t' ; -- '
• Does it return your database content?

The code might work (I say ‘might’ because you could be lucky to have installed a very safe script) because ‘t’=’t’ is a mathematically true statement, so the SQL request will be always executed. A knowledgeable hacker could construct very elaborate SQL statements to achieve his goals, so make sure to contact the script developer and get assistance if the script you use is easily attackable. Or change script.

BONUS Tip #1 — Regularly Check Your Administration Panel Logs

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2012/1216-4.jpg" alt="cPanel Logs Section" width="750" />

Your administration panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.) comes with built-in tools for traffic analysis, access and security logs that you should keep an eye on at least once a week.

If you use cPanel, I recommend you check your style="text-decoration: underline;">Analog Stats tool every two days, as the tool shows detailed reports one:

• HTTP requests
• Monthly/Daily/Hourly reports of traffic activity
• Referrers, Browsers and OS’s your traffic came from

Logs tools are the first your should look into when you believe your website has been attacked.

BONUS Tip #2 — Perform Bi-Weekly Backups

Backup every two weeks, or every week, if you can. With plugins like href="http://honey-babe.net/2011/online-backup-for-wordpress/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Online Backup for WordPress, you could even backup every day or every three days. What counts is that you constantly download fresh copies of your content, ready to be restored if something bad happens along the way. This article showed you what kind of attacks your website could undergo, and how to fight and prevent them, but your strongest weapon is really this: style="text-decoration: underline;">Backup. It’s the only way to return your website to its original state, as if a hacker could never play his dirty tricks.

Summary

So, what do you need to do, essentially?

1. Learn. Knowledge is power! Learn about cryptography, DDoS and SQL Injection, cross-site scripting (XSS) and other types of attacks. Everything and anything that can help you develop a complete sight of what’s going on when your website gets hacked. The more you know, the more you can do to counter-attack.
2. Keep up to date. With discoveries, tools and scripts upgrades. This article has stressed the importance of upgrading and updating your site software to ensure a more solid protection against attackers.
3. Perform regular checks and backups. If you backup, you can restore!
4. Report. When things go out of your control, report issues to script developers, authorities, and your host. They can do what you can’t.

Security Tricks From Software Engineering

Software Engineering is a charming field that every good engineer and computer scientist must learn about to apply when they develop software. But did you know it works the other way round, too? You — the user — can use Software Engineering concepts to make intelligent choices among site software offered to you from developers. You can:

1. Understand that a bug can bring to severe hacking of your systems and data loss
2. Learn about the 4 dimensions of dependability and use them to your advantage: availability, reliability, safety, and security
3. Identify all your possible security concerns: loss of sensitive/important data, failure of certain services, high reconstruction costs (time, money).

What Should You Ask Yourself Before Installing and Using a Script?

DependabilityCan I trust this software?

width="100%">bgcolor="#dddddd">AvailabilityIs the script easily available to me? Is its developer contactable to get help from?bgcolor="#dddddd">ReliabilityDoes the script perform well? Does it have bugs or give me problems when I perform relevant actions to my goals?bgcolor="#dddddd">SafetyDo malfunctions and bugs severely affect security and performance?bgcolor="#dddddd">SecurityDoes the software have a built-in security module? Is it something I can manage?bgcolor="#dddddd">RepairabilityIf something goes wrong, can I manage it?bgcolor="#dddddd">MaintainabilityAm I able to maintain this software on my own?bgcolor="#dddddd">SurvivalWill the software still work under attack? Can I recover well from the attack?

Table of Vulnerabilities

width="100%">bgcolor="#dddddd">Softwarebugs; transparent data transmission; errors; public logsbgcolor="#dddddd">Humanlow strength passwords; unprotected directories; disclosure of
sensitive data; lack of system maintenance and update/upgrade

Resources For Further Reading

In April 2012 SourceForge.net released a white paper about href="http://resource.sourceforge.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pb08,ywa8,54g,8lfr,2z5a,9nsl,kq37" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">10 Web Security Tips for its newsletter subscribers, an easy-to-read document you can use to develop further knowledge of the whole web security matter. It contains ten in-depth web security tips, which fueled inspiration to write the article your about to finish reading. Another good resource is Steve Gibson’s href="https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">overview on password security, a nice introductory article to the secrets behind safe password usage. If you’re interested in Web Security in all its aspects, Google Code put up a wonderful, easy-to-follow href="http://code.google.com/intl/it/edu/security/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">online course on the subject. :)

Page 22 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

10 Tips to Help You Find Time to Blog

alt="10 Tips to Help You Find Time to Blog" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-3-500x346_c.jpg" />

style="text-align: center;">

Being a freelance blog writer is great gig to fill the time if you are in between jobs, or children, or have lots of spare time on your hands.  The question is, once your schedule changes and free time becomes a thing of the past, how do you find time to blog? Every blogger needs help improving his or her time management.  Rather than abandoning blogging when things get busy or during an emergency, here are some ways that you can create more time for your blog in your hectic schedule.

1. Schedule times to blog and market.

Yes, you need to market your blog, in addition to writing it!  For example, I write in the afternoon, edit and set up posts in later afternoon, and market early the next morning.  Remember that part of setting up your post includes search engine optimization, customizing images, and making your headline intriguing.  In addition, you may need about a half an hour or so to promote your post to your interested audience or blogger groups.  Be creative: for example, you don’t always need to use the same title and hashtag for a tweet if it fits diverse readers.  You can schedule different days of the week for regular topics, such as giveaways on Mondays or curating news on Friday.  “Wordless Wednesdays” has been a popular one for many years, but I would recommend doing something unique to your blog instead.

2. Reduce how often you post – or reduce your post lengths.

Many bloggers believe that to stay visible they need to run content daily.  That really depends on your market and what you are posting.  If you are running a deal blog, posts must be timely, so you will need to find time to blog and promote daily, but you can help yourself by creating posts that are both concise and search engine friendly.  This is the kind of practice that will help you become a more professional writer.  Other niches, however, can take more time between postings. The best idea is to determine when your target market is viewing content in your niche (href="/social-media/5-easy-steps-to-get-10000-followers/">see last week’s discussion) and to use that as to create a schedule.

3. Use your digital calendar program – and any other calendars – to their fullest.

I’m one of those people who needs a lot of reminders, so I always schedule my digital calendar, sync it with my phone, and have a paper calendar on hand to duplicate times.  Schedule blocks of time to blog throughout the day, and don’t just use your calendar as a reminder, use it as a full-fledged productivity tool by keeping track of when you are most productive.  You may need to chart yourself for a while in order to schedule best times and enough minutes to produce quality content. For more tips on writing faster, check out Rachel Aaron’s post (and book), “href="http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html" target="_blank">How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day.”

4. Incorporate great productivity tools.

style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter wp-image-1065 border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-2.jpg" alt="WordPress Editorial Calendar " width="750" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-2.jpg 615w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-2-300x182.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px" />

There are tons of productivity tools available to keep bloggers organized.  I recommend sticking to the free ones if you are just starting your own blog.  Great apps such as the href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/editorial-calendar/">Editorial Calendar Plugin for WordPress, href="http://www.picmonkey.com/">PicMonkey for photo editing, href="https://evernote.com/">Evernote to keep track of notes, ideas, files and more, and href="http://evernote.com/skitch/">Skitch for screenshots will help you manage and create great content quickly.  You should also check out the numerous productivity tools for writers, like href="http://writeordie.com/" target="_blank">Write or Die which imposes consequences when you STOP typing, or href="http://www.ommwriter.com/">Omniwriter, which eliminates distractions while you write, and href="http://macfreedom.com/about">Freedom, which actually blocks time-wasting websites as you write (Pinterest, anyone?)

5. No idea is wasted.

You’re going to need content – lots of content – and not just for your blog.  You’ll be more useful to your followers if you use social media for unique content other than blog posts.  That means keeping track of sites that speak to your niche using forums and RSS feeds, monitoring the Pinterest boards of leaders in your niche, and using href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Google alerts to monitor topics on the web.  Follow what’s trending on Twitter, and relevant hash tags, and keep engaged with your groups on Facebook.  Finally, remember to keep eye on the news for hot topics, politics, and current events that affect your blog topic, even if it’s rare.

6. Take multiple photos of everything.

style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter wp-image-1066 border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-3.jpg" alt="Beautiful Bubble" width="750" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-3.jpg 600w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/0506-3-300x208.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />

Get really comfortable with photography.  That means taking out your camera at every opportunity you can. (Note, you may not be allowed to shoot certain things, like a shopping trip or people without permission.)  Don’t just take photos; take lots of them!  Adjust settings, light, turn flash on and off – see what works and what doesn’t for different pictures.  Remember you can’t take too many digital photos, but you can waste time reshooting when the 1 or 2 you took that look crummy.  This is especially critical if you are taking product photos or looking for that great shot of your child.

7. Set social media to autopost.

Incorporating social media plugins and tools to automatically update your social media will help keep you be more productive.  For Facebook, I recommend the Networked Blogs application.  In addition to allowing you to set up feeds to Twitter or Facebook, you can also use this as a blog reader and set targets o follow and read.  Use href="http://twitterfeed.com/" target="_blank">TwitterFeed.com to feed your blog’s RSS to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or you can select an app in LinkedIn and connect your blog directly.  You should also  schedule tweets and Facebook posts throughout the week with different titles and hashtags to reach a larger audience.

8. Organize your content so that anyone can reach you easily.

Once your blog starts to grow, organizations are going to want to contact you – and so are the spammers.  I recommend putting your email address on your blog, and you can use a plugin like href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/obfuscate-email/">Obfuscate E-mail, making it harder for hackers to scrape.  Since there’s no way to entirely avoid spam, it’s a good idea to set up multiple ways to reach you, in case that critical email lands in spam.  Set up a contact form on your blog, and if you have a business, customize the information you want to collect.  I recommend the href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/">Contact Form Plugin for WordPress.  Finally, you can opt to put your phone number on your site, but only if you have a business phone line – don’t publish a private phone.  Instead, you can add your Skype phone info, or integrate Skype into your blog via a plugin.  Finally, make sure you put all your social media on every blog page as well.

9. Make sure your information on your static pages is clear, correct, and informative.

You should always have an about page that clearly lists who you are, what your blog is about, and who you are trying to reach – and what you DON’T do (run ads, accept guest posts, etc.). As you grow, it’s a good idea to post your blog statistics, using Google Analytics to see how your blog is performing and growing.  This will cut down on email from visitors you do not wish to work with. Remember that the more information you post describing your blog’s mission, the more likely the contacts you get will be properly directed.

10. Recruit a regular guest blogger.

Think you can’t find a guest blogger?  Think again.  Lots of newbie bloggers are eager to promote their blogs to a larger audience.  Find out your href="http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php">Google page rank, then find bloggers who have a lower page rank than you or a smaller audience. If you can’t find any, recruit some brand new bloggers. You’ll need to have a relationship with them, so seek out bloggers you already know.  If no one you know fits this bill right now, spend some of your marketing time building relationships.  Make sure that when you recruit bloggers, their writing fits your blog, and that they know your expectations and guidelines.  Also, avoid granting them administrative access to your blog.  It’s easy enough to set up users with limited access if you’re using WordPress.  This is a great step to further your career as a freelance blog writer, and will give you experience in copyediting and managing a team.

These ideas and productivity tools will help you find time to blog when your time is short or you are unavailable.  Set up these practices now, so you can be prepared when you are too busy to blog.

Photo credit: title="Xenia" href="http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/85278" target="_blank">Xenia and href="http://www.morguefile.com/creative/carunan" target="_blank">Carunan.

Page 20 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

An Easy Formula to Help You Write a Great Blog Post Faster

alt="An Easy Formula to Help You Write a Great Blog Post Faster" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/speed-blogging-500x333_c.jpg" />

According to WordPress, as of March 14, 2014, there were 76,774,818 WordPress sites around the world. In addition to those blogs, there are ones residing on different platforms or hosted solutions like Blogger.com. More importantly than how may blogs there are, are how many people are reading those blogs.

In that same report, WordPress states that:

“Over 409 million people view more than 13.1 billion pages each month.

id="attachment_8990" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-copy-writing/an-easy-formula-to-help-you-write-a-great-blog-post-faster/attachment/wordpress-stats/" rel="attachment wp-att-8990">class="size-full wp-image-8990" alt="wordpress stats" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wordpress-stats.png" width="750" height="349" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wordpress-stats.png 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wordpress-stats-300x139.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />class="wp-caption-text">Screenshot from WordPress.com