What a week this has been and it’s only half over!
On Monday I get an email from a client who has been neglecting to protect her online reputation by neglecting her blog. She’s now busily meeting with lawyers to try to trademark her branding elements – something I suspect would be easier to do had she been maintaining her blog under the domain name she registered. At least she would be ranking #1 on her term – which is what started the fuss.
Yesterday, I got a phone call from Truly Nolen telling me that they’re sorry for the “misunderstanding” and that my account will be removed from collections. Ah, the power of social media. Don’t let ANYONE tell you that your blog is worthless.
I give Truly Nolen props on two issues. First, they were obviously “on top” of managing their online reputation. They came, they saw, they replied and they followed up with me. I’ll also give them props for handling this over the phone. They really didn’t have ANY defense and it was truly wise to handle this situation “offline” – because if they had sent me an email with the absolutely LAME excuses I was given on the phone for why it happened, I would NOT have been able to resist posting it here. But, they picked up the phone and it ended amicably.
So it’s been an eventful week thus far. I’ve got not one but TWO great “blogging and social media are da bomb” stories to share.
However, this morning I got to see the ugly side of the web. I got an email this morning from another client – this one is asking me to look into a website I did for her about 4 years ago. When I go to visit the site, I see this:
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – there is NO SUCH THING AS A SET IT AND FORGET IT WEBSITE!!!
This is especially true if you’re running a website with a popular and “easy to use” CMS system such as WordPress.
If you’ve been ignoring the beg screen in WordPress – you know, the one that asks you to upgrade your installation to the latest version – allow THIS to be your wake up call!!!
If you think no one is visiting your blog – if you think it’s not “worth” hacking – check out how busy Askimet has been on your behalf. I tell my clients that a busy Askimet is a sign of a blog that is hitting the mark when it comes to targeting attractive keywords. Even if visitors aren’t commenting – if the spammers are trying to get comments from your site – then someone who knows how to set up a spambot thinks your site is worth a try at an incoming link.
If Askimet isn’t working hard protecting you from spam comments – then MAYBE you don’t have anything to worry about – and instead you should get to work creating a blog that spammers WANT to hack! Seriously, if you’re not the bell of the blogging ball – you should be!!! Pick up a copy of the 8 Week Power Blog Launch. On a positive note, I got another email last week was from a client who’s been using the system and who had to upgrade her hosting package to get more bandwidth to handle all the traffic she’s been getting!!
NOTE TO SELF: I should start posting POSITIVE emails instead of just the negative ones!! Though I must admit, I don’t think my client thought it was a positive email when she sent it.
Waking up to a message that you’re over your bandwidth is a GOOD thing – assuming you’re not using Bluehost as your hosting provider. Waking up to the message above isn’t!!! Make sure you don’t EVER see the message above being displayed on your URL – go ahead – bite the bullet. Upgrade your WordPress installation NOW!!!
An ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.
What!?! A lot of spam caught by Akismet is a good thing on another level! Who knew? Thank you!
Betsy Wuebkers last blog post..NETBOOKS – LESS IS MORE THESE DAYS
Hi Kathy – Good for you. I’m glad you kicked Simply Nolen’s online ass. I had to change my post about them. And I can’t get Betty’s ditty out of my head.
I would have cried if I’d been your friend and woke up to see that on my site. Too scary. Since the crap with Bluehost – mine is so secure that Askimet could probably take a months holiday.
BTW I owe you an email soon. Before the chest infection and all the other stuff happened, you were asking me about something and I haven’t forgot.
Betsy – it means you’re loved by the unlovable! 🙂
Cath – I know! It made me SICK to see that when I logged in! She wrote me back and said, “That 1 click install may have been easy, but I lost years of blood, sweat and tears.”
THAT made me want to cry as well!
Excellent wakeup call! I’ll be sharing this with my network – thanks for posting it.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coachs last blog post..Squelching Unquenchable Rage
Hi Kathy – I don’t get many comments but I get about 25 spam per day on one of my sites and about 15 per day on another (neither of which is on the link to this comment). However, Bluehost is my provider. What’s the deal with them? I know Cath had some sort of problem with them, but don’t know the whole story.
Valeries last blog post..Domestic Abuse – My Two Cents Worth
Barbara,
I’m ALWAYS preaching from the pulpit of “updating your installations” – especially on easy “one click” software with Fantastico !
Valerie,
Cath had a problem with Bluehost when her blog got too popular. She exceeded the bandwidth limitations and they shut her blog down without warning.
Just to be on the safe side – be sure to back up your database regularly. If you’ve got a backup of your database, you can switch hosts quite easily if you run into problems. (It doesn’t matter WHO you’re hosting with – you should ALWAYS backup your database – especially before you upgrade your software such as WordPress!)
You tell it straight and even though some of your posts could be considered negative we still need that straight-shooting, tell it all approach. Kathy it’s obvious that you do business in the real world and it’s there that shit happens. What I like about your posts is you don’t just bitch but you provide the solutions as well.
Tom Volkar / Delightful Works last blog post..How To Get the Best Career Advice
Tom,
Thanks for the supportive words!!! BTW – it’s obvious you’re right out there on the “front lines” of the “real world” as well. It’s not always pretty out here – but it is often interesting!!!