Tips for a good website

Use With Caution: How to Avoid Image Copyright Violation

August 9, 2013 Beth Devine

Are you the paranoid type? Someone who looked into signing up for Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse after watching World War Z? Then you’ll understand the concern over image copyright violation.

For both zombie apocalypse and image copyright violation, however, it’s hardly overreacting to know the facts and stay safe.

As far as a zombie apocalypse goes, the CDC is your best bet for information. When it comes to avoiding a lawsuit over image use, it’s best to be very, very careful and use only images you are certain won’t come back to haunt you.

Like a zombie infection, it takes only one misuse to get caught. If you think it won’t happen to you, that it’s just paranoia, then go ahead. Post those photos from Google images. Share those pictures of celebrities. Misappropriate AP pictures for fun.

Good luck, my brazen friends of the Web, because you’re gonna need it.

Googling search terms on the subject proves it’s a topic with many warning labels applied. So, yes, use all images with caution.

Here are a few tips to use with your own impeccable common sense:

1. Know the Rules

Just like with safe sex, the only 100% way to avoid contamination is abstinence. But who wants to do that? I’m referring to using images here, by the way.

We already know that using images on your website and blog posts will improve search engine results, so abstinence is not recommended.

Start by familiarizing yourself with the rules of use for any website you use for images. They are all different. Some free photos require attribution, some require a link back, some aren’t for commercial use. Use your own photos where possible.

You know the drill by now. Use it properly. Know the risks. Stay safe.

I’m still talking about images.

2. Stay Safe with Creative Commons

When it comes to knowing your options, the Creative Commons license is a starting point, and their Creative Commons search page provides an all-access starting point for your image subject.

Remember to check each image for its CC license by following the link. This is only a search engine that directs you to content. You are responsible for determining that the images are actually registered under a CC license.

My favorite go-to site is Flickr’s Creative Commons, with six different license categories to choose from.

3. Use Free Image Sites

For every free photo site there are certain terms and conditions. Again, be sure to check each image for its “free” status. Another resource is Wikipedia’s list of public domain image resources. Read each site’s terms carefully.

The second largest resource, Pixabay, includes the warning, “Pixabay cannot be held responsible for any copyright violations, and cannot guarantee the legality of the Images stored in its system. If you want to make sure, always contact the photographers. You use the site and the photos at your own risk!”

These are the fears that compel us to abstinence.

Wikimedia Commons terms of use advises, among other things, “To determine the license that applies to the content that you seek to re-use or re-distribute, you should review the page footer, page history, and discussion page.”

When using images from Wikigallery.org, there are additional requirements, such as no alteration of the image or removal of the Wikigallery watermark.

A favorite of mine is Morguefile.com, whose license reads as liberally as it gets for creative use.

4. Delete All Images You’re Unsure Of

If you have any images that remain questionable, remove them! Going back through your site and reassessing each image for its appropriate use may aggravate you now, but a copyright lawsuit later will annoy you more.

As a Blogher who was sued writes, “If you’ve been using images without approval from the Internet on your blogs, know that you are probably violating copyright and could be sued for it.”

Don’t forget to also delete them from your server. In WordPress, this is simple. Just go to your media library, and under each photo you removed from your pages and posts, hit the delete permanently option.

5. What About Pinterest?

If you’ve pinned images to Pinterest that you deleted from your posts or web pages, delete these from your boards as well.

Pinterest is its own hotbed of potential liability. As the terms read, “You … are solely responsible for … Content you post to Pinterest.” The Legal Genealogist advises prudence in pinning which is similar to what you use for posting images to your own site.

6. Do a Reverse Image Check

Use TinEye.com to search for the origins of any images you wish to investigate. You can do up to 50 searches a day, or 150 searches per week, for free.

Proceed with caution, observe the fine print, and stay vigilant. The zombies are the least of your worries.

Flickr photo courtesy of csc1950.

Change Your Website, Change the World

July 18, 2013 Beth Devine

You don’t have to be Buddhist to appreciate the Dalai Lama’s Change Your Mind, Change the World conference. In fact, his basic premise to global well-being is to put aside such labels and focus on our common humanity.

How can we encourage this common good for humanity in our websites, our businesses, and our daily efforts to interact with others?

Michael Holmes, author of I Shall Raise Thee Up: Ancient Principles for Lasting Greatness, supplied three universal laws for achieving change.

Anyone who wishes to avoid repeated and lasting failure knows these laws. As Cecil B. DeMille said, “It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law.”

3 Laws to Change the World

1. Purpose

“The Law that states no person can achieve maximum effectiveness without knowing who and why they are.”

To know your purpose is to know how your unique gifts and position will affect change.

When determining your purpose, always consider your audience. When considering your audience, always ask what’s in it for them.

If you’re stuck in finding your purpose, think about what’s holding you back. Max Simon of Big Business Vision suggests that rather than focusing on how much it will cost to update your website or create a marketing plan, ask “what’s the cost of doing nothing?”

Focus on your purpose and how it will benefit your audience. How will your leadership bring them something worthwhile?

In “Modern Laws of Global Life, the Law of Purpose,” “the end result of an action is already contained in the original thought.” If we want to change the world, we must first change the purpose behind the action.

So make it a good one.

2. Persistence

“The law that states only through consistent and continuous effort can any plan, vision, or achievement be realized.”

As Paul Jun explains for any craftmanship: it’s a journey, not a destination. You’re in it for the long haul.

So what do you do for this long haul? Apply the Rule of Five.

Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul tells how he used this persistence principle to get his book onto the bestseller list for over a year. He uses the analogy of chopping down a tree.

“If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp ax, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down.”

The Rule of Five for you might include

emailing 5 potential customers
writing 5 blog posts
scheduling 5 interviews
calling 5 current customers

Like climbing a mountain, keep your eye on the summit or your purpose, but begin with taking measured steps and doing five specific things to get there.

Because you will get there.

3. Service

“The Law that states in order to be greatest of all one must be servant of all.”

A business owner wanting to make his company great.
An artist looking for recognition.
A speaker trying to make a difference.
A musician bending the rules.
A service provider going the extra mile.
A writer writing to impact for a common good.

What do the success of these people have in common? They make awesome!

(Seriously, check that link out. You do want to make awesome, don’t you?)

How you choose to interact with your audience becomes a way for you to engage in service for others. Changing the world, as Margaret Mead said, requires thoughtful and committed citizens.

Communicate something useful and true and don’t stop. For them. That’s the beginning of service, and making awesome.

The Dalai Lama believes “if we make consistent effort, based on proper education, we can change the world. We are selfish, that’s natural, but we need to be wisely selfish, not foolishly selfish. We have to concern ourselves more with others’ well-being, that’s the way to be wisely selfish.”

Sounds to me a lot like the 3 Laws to Change the World. Now let’s go out there and begin.

How to Keep Your WordPress Usernames Safe

June 28, 2013 Beth Devine

There’s a simple way for hackers to phish your username and then attempt to log in through your log in page.

First, finding your WordPress log in page is as easy as typing in this:

yourdomain.com/wp-login.php

Second, they can phish for your username by entering what’s called the author archive’s URL into the address bar:

yoursitename.com/?author=1

All hackers have to do is change the author number until the usernames come up. When I tried this on two different sites I have admin access to, not only did the usernames of authors come up, but the usernames of subscribers were also exposed.

As I changed the author number, the subscriber names either popped up on the web page with “Archives for” preceding the name (even though there are no archives/content for the names), or they appeared in a drop down box beneath the address bar, or in the browser tab.

Avoid the Danger of Username Theft

In the meantime, when an author is identified with admin rights, the hacker can attempt to access your site by brute force password attacks. This loophole for finding usernames in WordPress sites confirms the danger of two things.

1. A weak password needs updated.

WordPress offers password strength help here.

Your WordPress password is easily changed in your Users Profile under About Yourself.

2. For your username, don’t choose author name, admin, administrator, or any one of the targeted usernames.

See the list of targeted usernames in the recent brute-force attack here.

Your username can’t be changed in your WordPress profile. Follow my simple steps in How to Change Your WordPress Username through your Cpanel.

For every loophole there is an equally effective loophole filler. In a perfect World Wide Web, that is. Staying abreast of countermeasures against hackers requires constant vigilance and a few WordPress plugins to keep the invasion at bay and your usernames safe.

Keep Hackers Away With a Safe Slug

While the World Wide Web isn’t perfect, there are steps you can take to keep your site secure. The WordPress plugin that works to keep your usernames safe is WP Author Slug.

By automatically creating a different display name from the username, hackers are prevented from figuring out your log in name through the author archive’s URL. Instead, the URL will show a set display name and not the username that’s used to log in.

In case you’re wondering, the author “slug” is also known as your “nicename” and is the URL-friendly version of the website title with the author name. It is automatically generated by WordPress to look like this: example.com/author/authorname.

Just wanted to clear that bit of potential slug-confusion up. Nothing like visions of a slimy slug in your URL to ruin your day.

Good luck keeping your WordPress site secure and the loopholes plugged with safe slugs.

Content Marketing 101: Be a Teacher

June 10, 2013 Beth Devine

Good teachers spend time educating their students to be self-sufficient. They make sure students have the information they need to make educated decisions.

Imagine that. All you have to do to be a good teacher is give your customers what they need to make confident choices.

“The most important thing a website owner can do to optimize their website for search engines is to optimize their site for their customers,” Super Savvy Carolyn said about SEO and website success.

Combine this type of customer-focused thinking with a willingness to show your family jewels – the information they need, and you’ve got the formula for customer recognition.

Customer-Focused Thinking + Transparency/Authenticity = Empowering Your Customers

To give your customers what they need to know, start by answering their questions. This means getting all the employees who are involved in any customer relations to write down all the questions they’ve been asked.

Every question is a potential blog post, centered around your customer’s concerns and how best to satisfy their needs. Every blog post is a way to optimize your website for the user experience.

Search engines are trying to deliver the best search experience to users. So when you provide relevant content – by answering their questions – the search engines will be more likely to deliver up your website.

So why don’t more businesses blog?

Three common objections to blogging for your business come up.

1. You’re scared.

Scared to reveal what you know and might be asked to tell. Like pricing. Or reasons not to buy from you. Or who your competitors are.

2. It takes time.

To understand your prospective customer’s questions, you need dialog between teams. You need time to make it happen.

3. It costs – and the returns are slow.

Businesses would rather choose the old route of simply buying an ad rather than taking the plunge and be the teacher. They would rather be a bystander and let the competition be the turtle that wins the race.

Have you experienced these objections? How have you managed to overcome them? We discussed Reason #1 last week, using Marcus Sheridan and his inground fiberglass pools as an example to winning your customer’s trust through honest information.

As Seth Godin said, “If your project or organization depends on knowing things that other people don’t know (but could find out if they wanted to), your days are probably numbered.”

Stay tuned for more Content Marketing 101 and help with Reason #2, and get started blogging for your business.

Thanks to Katlene Niven for her adorable Flickr photo.

Content Marketing 101: Show ‘Em Your Family Jewels

June 3, 2013 Beth Devine

When should you let your customers in on those secret gems you’ve been holding back? You know, the things they are always asking but you’ve kept under wraps.

It’s time to open the doors to your treasure trove and show ’em your family jewels. The content marketing game in the digital world is on, and it’s your turn to show your best moves by showing your true self.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What does this mean, anyway?

It’s simple. Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion said it best in his New York Times interview on how he turned his pool sales company around.

Answer your customer’s questions. Rather than talk about your business, *yawn* give them the answers to the questions they are most likely to search for on the Internet.

When he said give them what they want to know, he didn’t pick and choose. The number one question his fiberglass pool customers ask is, “How much does it cost?” So he told them.

In his TEDx talk, Sheridan addressed the used-car-salesman stigma, something no one wants. So give them what they do want – the truth!

What happens when you dare to tell the truth? Besides sharing the family jewels, you’re also letting the proverbial skeletons out of the closet. This is just crazy, right?

Yes, especially when you’re scared of chasing people away.

Here’s the thing. Your potential customers want the truth, and when they see that you are giving it to them, and are also willing to give away information for free, they will begin to trust you.

Sheridan made another brilliant and brave move. He answered the second most asked question. He told them what the problems are with his product.

Two things are bound to happen when you embrace the truth. Your customers will decide you are honest, and when they do a search for the problems inherent with your product, your website will show up.

How scary is that? Your business shows up as an authority on the subject, you get more traffic, and you get the opportunity to share the benefits too. Remember the family jewels we were talking about?

It’s All Good

Truth and transparency will begin to change how your customers see you. Are you ready to be the business they choose simply because you are willing to be a teacher?

So how do you begin? How do you become a teacher who educates and not an information magpie who hoards?

In a digital world, it’s got to be accessible by the Internet, so that means creating content for your website. Content that teaches customers about your product or service. Content that answers their questions. Content that makes them tell their friends about you.

Stop by next week to see how to make Content Marketing 101 happen.

How to Change Your WordPress Username

May 28, 2013 Beth Devine

It’s nearly as scary to take the necessary steps to protect your website against hackers as the threat itself.

When venturing into your WordPress database, remember this: You won’t make a mess of things if you’ve done the research and know what you’re doing.

Follow these steps in changing your username and you’ll protect your website from becoming part of a zombie army of infected computers.

Staying Ahead of the Hackers

Your WordPress username tops the list of potential threats against site security. If you have “admin” or any of the other commonly used names (adm, admin1, administrator, manager, qwerty, root, test, support, user), or yours is on the list of the 1,000 username/password combinations used in the recent WordPress brute force attack, it’s time to change it.

Changing your WordPress username by deleting your original administrator profile left me queasy with anxiety, I’ll admit. I went so far as to create another user profile, but couldn’t hit the delete button.

Because I couldn’t find anyone online who has done it this way with a similar version of WordPress, I decided I wasn’t taking any chances.

Here’s how you do it without any fear of deleting your posts. All you have to do is access your cPanel. To do this, you’ll need to know your cPanel username and password. This is worthwhile to know, so it’s worth the trouble to find out.

1. Login to cPanel.

Enter your website name followed by cPanel into the browser tab, like this: example.com/cpanel. This will bring you to a login page similar to what you see here.

Enter your current cPanel username and password. (Check here to see if your password strength meets the criteria for hard-to-break.)

2. Scroll down to phpMyAdmin in the databases section.

Click on this to get to the database for WordPress.

3. Find your WordPress database in the left hand column.

It will look something like this, but might have your username preceding the _wrdp (I erased mine.)

Click on it.

4. Find wp_users in the left hand column and click on this to show your username list.

As an administrator, your information should be on the top row. Click on the Edit in the row that your username is listed. This will give you a new screen with parameters for your profile only.

Look for user_login (not user_nicename!) and change the username in the box where your current username is.

Now go to your WordPress login page and try logging in with your new username.

Remember, if you haven’t changed your password recently, do this as well. This is easily done through your WordPress dashboard.

Click on “Your Profile,” scroll down to the About Yourself section, and enter in your new password. You can also access your profile by hovering over your name in the top right corner and clicking on “Edit My Profile.”

Congratulations! You’ve taken the necessary precautions in protecting your website from brute force attacks. Don’t you feel more secure now?

How To Prevent Zombie Hack of Your WordPress Site

May 16, 2013 Beth Devine

When you’re the most popular system out there, you’re bound to be singled out and attacked by jealous rivals. Just look at Microsoft and Google. The jealous underdog, Microsoft, even launched a Scroogled campaign in an attempt to undermine their arch nemesis, Google, the clear favorite.

Hackers Seek Out WordPress Sites to Build Zombie Army

WordPress is an obvious target by web-surfing culprits, with over 65 million users around the world. The crime campaign of recent brute force attacks against WordPress sites is a sign that a jealous rival has resorted to subterfuge.

The password-guessing nature of these attacks means the perpetrators are scanning the Internet for WordPress installations and attempting to log in using a list of over 1,000 password and username combinations, infecting over 90,000 IP addresses in its recent campaign.

“The attacker is using a relatively weak botnet of home PCs in order to build a much larger botnet of beefy servers in preparation for a future attack,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince wrote in his blog post.

In other words, they are trying to build an army of zombies for future use in a cyber attack.

3 Things To Do Now

As a WordPress site owner, this means taking preventive action against becoming infected with a zombie-building virus. Take the advice of WordPress creator, Matt Mullenweg, and make three strategic moves to prevent hack of your WordPress site.

1. Change your password

There are several ways to change your password. The easiest way is to go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Users” in your toolbar. Next, click on “Your Profile” and scroll down to the About Yourself section and enter in your new password.

You can also access your profile by hovering over your name in the top right corner and clicking on “Edit My Profile.”

The password strength indicator will tell you when you’ve found a strong password. Check out WordPress tips to selecting a strong password, which includes what not to do when choosing a password.

2. If your username is “admin,” or a suspect on the hacker list, change that too.

Most of you probably chose something other than “admin” when creating your profile. However, if you have “admin” or a common variant (i.e., adm, admin1, administrator, manager, qwerty, root, test, support, user), change it immediately.

If your username is the name you commonly use on your blog or website, changing it is advised. Remember, changing your username is half of your site security.

Here’s the list of the username/passwords that the hackers used in the recent brute force attack. Nothing like a glimpse into the mind of a cyber criminal, if this does indeed offer one.

For a simple step-by-step to changing your username, go here.

3. Keep your WordPress site and all plugins updated.

You know that little number that pops up next to the plugins on your dashboard? That’s the number of plugins that needs updating at any given time.

Before updating a plugin, check to see that the new version is compatible with your theme by clicking on “View version details.” Then update one plugin at a time, checking on a separate tab to see that your website is still functioning with the reload button.

Doing a website backup is another wise step before updating plugins.

If this sounds neurotic to you, then you haven’t experienced website failure from plugin conflict. If your site does go down, you’ll need to deactivate the plugin. If you can’t access your site to do this, you’ll need to go through your FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

Regular plugin updates are very important in keeping malware and hackers from finding a weak link in your site. Out-of-date and old plugins have been updated for a reason, and hanging onto them is an invitation for hackers to wrangle their way in.

If you are a Web Savvy client, call us, or call your Web hosting company to help you.

If your WordPress site has already been hacked, check with your hosting provider.

Flickr photo from Gabriel GM

Authorship Markup: How to Survive the Digital Age and Stay on Top

April 18, 2013 Beth Devine

There’s a technological revolution going on. Anyone who wishes to survive this sweeping change must do two things, and they must do it now.

If you want your website content to stay on top in Google search results, it’s time to employ the old philosophy “better safe than sorry.” The safe thing is easy to do and risk free. If you choose to ignore the digital shift, that’s when you’ll be sorry.

Don’t Be Anonymous

The digital revolution requires authorship. This means, as Google chairman Eric Schmidt warned, you remain anonymous at the peril of irrelevance.

Thanks to Google authorship, it matters who you are. When your content is linked to your portable profile, your identity helps promote your website. In turn, your content will determine just how valuable an authority you are.

Yes, content is still king. But with a mug shot, the best content gets the higher click through rates.

The results showing a human face stand out from the crowd of the other faceless SERP listings. More users will be inclined to click on the identifiable headshot, don’t you think? Your authority and and their trust are two major incentives to sign up for authorship markup.

In addition to the main headline, there are two more live links which readers can click. The first lands on the author’s Google+ profile and the second lands on a dedicated page with search results using the author’s name or the search query.

How to Get Authorship Markup

Here are the two things you need to do to grab the spotlight and stay relevant.

1. Create a Google+ account.

Getting on the Google+ bandwagon has many benefits. The number one reason to join right now is, you guessed it, authorship markup.

Remember, Google+ is not a social network. It’s organized around topics and content. Copyblogger’s Brian Clark calls Google+ “the glue that unifies Google’s various offerings into a seamless whole.” In other words, Google+ is equivalent to Google.

2. Verify Google authorship on your website.

By linking your content to your Google+ profile, your authorship – photo, name, Google+ profile link – will appear in search results for the content you create. Google walks you through the steps, making it easier than ever to implement.

Choosing a Google+ Profile Image

Think of the increased visibility your website content will receive when you link your content to a genuine human being. Now think of which photo of your fabulous face to use.

Heat map studies show that the human eye zeroes in on an image over text, and more so when there is a smiling face. When the face is gazing toward the listing (turn your head to the left when snapping the photo), the reader will also be prompted to look in that direction. Finally, when the image is large and appealing, the clicks increase.

I’m thinking I need to update mine. ASAP.

If you don’t see authorship markup results immediately, don’t worry. It seems to take a few days, and not every search result shows your picture. At most, there will be one photo per page.

Look for more to follow on Author Rank and how your SEO will be affected.

A path for your 2013 web design

March 2, 2013 Beth Devine

Web Design Trends Infographic
Infographic by Trifunk

I love this infographic. It could be the outline for an initial web design consultation with new clients.

Knowing how hard it can be to extract content from some clients, this line cracked me up: “Are you sure? There must be a story in there somewhere. ”

The original blog post that went along with it has some fun samples of current trends. I particularly enjoyed the parallax scrolling examples. Even if you don’t know or care about “parallax scrolling” you’ll love playing with the 007 cars presentation, and Jess & Russ’ engagement timeline drew me in to their romance even though I was just there to see the technique.

Have some fun…check out the parallax scrolling at

Suave example: James Bond 007 Cars Evolution
Romantic example: Jess & Russ.

What You Know About Your Domain Registration Could Save Your Website’s Life

October 26, 2012 Beth Devine

Imagine turning on your computer one workday morning to find your email isn’t working. Not only that, but your website is gone. Your coffee goes cold as you frantically re-enter the information, checking another computer to see if yours is just acting up. No such luck.

You immediately phone your Web Savvy connection, because, fortunately, you have one. Super Savvy Carolyn jumps aboard to resolve your website woes. Like a Sherlock Holmes sleuth, she must piece together the puzzle, collecting the missing parts until she figures out what went wrong.

It’s often not a pretty sight.

As a website owner, it is important to know your domain name system and web hosting information. When you don’t have this critical information, your website’s lifespan could be abruptly cut short.

As in no website, no business.

Step 1. Your domain name.

Think of a giant telephone book for the internet where your website name, http://example.com, has a coordinating number, or IP address. Luckily, you don’t have to be concerned with the IP address numbers. It’s the domain name that matters, allowing users to easily navigate the web.

Your company domain name has an entry in the internet address book, where you pay an annual fee, much like you have to pay to own and operate your company in your town. Two commonly known domain name registrars are GoDaddy and Network Solutions, where people go to buy domain names for their website.

What you need to know is where you have your domain name registered.

Step 2. Your website hosting service.

This is the company that gives your website World Wide Web airtime space and connection. The hosting service is like the monthly rent you pay to keep your company store up and running. Instead of keeping your office doors open, it keeps your website working.

You also need to know who is hosting your website.

In the case of businesses, the web hosting service can be your one-stop provider. They can manage both domain registration and web hosting, safeguarding your website from internet death. If, however, you came with website in hand, your web hosting provider won’t necessarily have Step 1 and Step 2 details.

In order to keep the system free of glitches, you need to be aware of several things regarding these two steps.

Know your log in. Who is the administrative contact? What is the email on the account? What often happens is the email notification from the domain name registrant to pay the annual fee is overlooked. The email is either outdated, placed in spam, or simply goes unnoticed.

Know your password. Establish a system to retain this information for easy retrieval. It is important that you know how to access your domain name source to update it and keep it correct.

Know the contact person. Having one of the principals of your company as a contact, preferably as the name of the registrant, will allow you to keep a connection to your domain name should you move your website to another hosting service.

Know who bills you a monthly fee for your web hosting. If you’ve moved your website to another website hosting service, then you no longer need to pay for hosting at two providers. If you’re confused by what services should be closed, ask your current website hosting provider to review the information and make recommendations.

This knowledge eliminates not only possible website loss, but the extra fees you must pay should your domain name actually expire. The worst case is it expires long enough that it gets resold. Quelle horreur!

This is not a future you want for your website. Take the steps to be informed.

Flickr photo credit: Muffet