Face Rocked By The TimThumb Vulnerability

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Well, here we are, months after the initial zero day vulnerability within the latest version of TimThumb and I'm still feeling the effects.  Unfortunately, for me, I'm a noob and didn't do as a complete a search as I should have.  Here I am, fat and happy figuring I cleaned up all my sites, updated all my plugins, themes, etc...yet I missed one.

I missed a theme update on an old blog, that came back and bit me in the ass.  Because of the TimThumb vulnerability the hackers were able to inject some code into my wp-config file, allowing themselves access whenever their little hearts desired.  But, several, several, many hours later I've now done what I think can be done.

Offending outdated themes and plugins updated, injected code removed, and security measures taken.  Hell, I even took the time to update every single password I've ever used and hopefully used some strong enough to keep people out.

Lesson learned, I need to spend more time on internet security, especially since my server is quickly becoming my livelihood.

5 Minutes With WordPress 3.3

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Waking up to a new roll out of WordPress, version 3.3 is now available for automatic update from the WordPress dashboard.  Now, I actually hate going through and updating websites, inevitably something breaks, with a theme, plugin, or something.  However, this morning I decided to jump in head first and see exactly how much another WP update can rock my world, at least after 5 mins of playing.

Fly Out Notifications

Ok, flyout notifications on new features is pretty damn cool.  Any questions I might have had about the new layout were answered as soon as the update was complete.  The notifications are clean, can be turned off or x'd out, not too obtrusive.  I'm actually looking forward to see how future theme makers can utilize this same feature for self customization, instead of bloated control panels.

Fly Out Tabs

Finally, I don't have to go through and drop down the tabs on the side of the menu, I never understood how this was a smart update.  Thankfully, now you can simply hover over a menu item and the sub-menu will fly out for easy selection.

WordPress 3.3 and Elegant Themes

As of right now, nothing seems broken in my theme.  It always gives me little butterflies when I can upgrade to the latest version of WordPress and not completely wreck the theme I'm using.  This theme was created by Elegant Themes and although they update their themes on a regular basis, it's always nerve wracking going through the process of checking all the links and various widget placements.

So, there you have it, my 5 Minute of WordPress 3.3.  Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

Google AdWords Automatic Payment Declined

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Had a first this afternoon, apparently Google AdWords notified me that my bank denied the credit card on file for automatically making Google Adwords payments.  This denial of payment immediately put my currently running ads on pause and put my account in default until action was taken.  So, I immediately contacted Fifth Third Bank to see what was going on.

According to 5/3 Bank my they authorized the transaction and confirmed that the payment had went through.  After a brief conversation I also confirmed that my account was in good standing and there was no reason to put my account on hold, all transactions have been authorized and would be so in the future.  Keep in mind, this account has used the same payment method for over a year, payments going off without a hitch every month, but now supposedly declined.  Time to call Google.

I've never called Google before, so I was concerned my experience would involve being on hold for hours and get someone who's accent was difficult to understand over the phone.  Thankfully, neither of my perceptions were accurate, I actually spoke with someone within 2 mins and the person was fluent in English and spoke knowledgeably about the issue I was having.

Unfortunately, the customer service rep at Google I spoke with didn't have an answer for my problem.  His best suggestion was for me to wait 24 hours, without offering any other solutions.  After pressing he agreed to send me an email to reply to, which I was instructed to send proof that the transaction went through.  The bigger problem, my account remains paused until this issue is rectified, unless I want to risk being double billed and add more forms of payment.

Anyone else gone through this problem with automatic payments being denied in their Google AdWords account?  Think it will work itself out in the next 24 hours?  I guess we will see, I'll update back here.

Incredible Phone Storage Space Is Getting Low – Fix

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The HTC Incredible has been an amazing phone for me and works 99% of the time.  However, I've been running into an error, where it reports that my phone storage space is getting low.  Now, I have verified that my space is in fact not getting low, so we have a bug in the software.  Problem is, HTC does not recognize the bug, so no official fix exists, other than to simply do a hard reset.

Doing a hard reset means that you lose all of your applications, settings, and themes.  Basically you are forcing your phone back to the way it was when you first turned it on.  No thanks.  Thankfully, I've found another solution, which although may need to be repeated, is simple and effective.

To fix the Phone Storage Space is Getting Low error message, simply follow the steps below:

1.)Menu>Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>All (Tab)

2.)Then find the Facebook Application.

3.)After selecting the Facebook application click the 'Clear Data' button.

Now, the Phone Storage Space is Getting Low error should be removed and your phone working properly.  This may need to be repeated from time to time, but is a much easier fix for the HTC Incredible than doing a hard reset, that is until the next update hopefully fixes this problem.

Google Merchants Datafeed Error

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So, I've been using the Google Merchants and having success through Google Shopping, up until a few weeks ago.  Now, I'm still getting clicks, and my products are still showing up in search, however I'm getting datafeed errors.  The reason for the errors is not very clear.

On the Merchants dashboard it states that all of my products have errors, which need to be fixed.  The link below the announcement takes me to my datafeed quality report and states to fix the problems listed below.  Only problem, there are no problems listed below.

Google Merchants Datafeed

Datafeed Quality

How To Only Offer United States As Shipping Option In ShopperPress

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If you are like me, you only want to offer shipping to the United States.  Unfortunately, despite all the positives behind Shopperpress, there is just no intuitive way to limit the countries available during checkout.  However, there is a simple fix, it just requires the editing of a single file.

1. Find _countrylist.php, which is located in the shopperpress theme folder.

2. Simply delete all the lines of code including other countries, except for the US and the first option, that sets the value at 0.

3. Save the file and replace the existing _countrylist.php with your edited one.

The reason we keep the very first line of code within the php file is to force a choice by the user.  By selecting the US, even though that's their only option, it will still bring up the drop down menu for state selection.  This seemed to be the easiest and most fluid option for checkout and disallow other countries.  I simply cannot ship to Pakistan for the same price I ship to Illinois. ;)

Yahoo Advertiser Closure Fees

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Ok, so I know I haven't used the Yahoo Advertising service in forever, but actually closing my account and taking my money?  Apparently, if you don't use your Yahoo Advertiser account for so long, they close it down and steal whatever money you had setting in the account, up to the $25 closing fee.  Not a lot of money, but considering how awful the return was, I'd suspect Yahoo is making more money from closing accounts than retaining customers.

Somehow, according to the email correspondence from Yahoo, the account had remained inactive for about 24 months.  2 years!?  Hell, had no idea I even had an advertising account for that long.  However, goes to show how much potential the Yahoo advertising network had for me, personally.

I understand the need to close the account, but I was given no notice of the impending doom.  Perhaps 30 days or so to let me spend my remaining few dollars would have been nice.  It's frustrating, because unlike Google Adsense you are required to preload your advertising account at Yahoo, instead of being billed every month.  So, add funds, stop a campaign halfway and BAM, dollars resting in an account you forget about for 2 years.

Lesson learned and a warning to others.  Empty that old Yahoo advertiser account.

Reddit Self Serve Advertising Review

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I've decided to do a brief review on Reddit self serve advertising, which allows you to create your own sponsored link and get it published at the top of Reddit.com or on sub reddits. The ability to post on subreddits only, allows for extremely targeted traffic. For example, posting in the Technology subreddit would be a great place to advertise computer components or anything tech related you are interested in selling.  However, for my first self serve ad, I choose for it to be ran site wide.

I chose to advertise my Auto News site, in an attempt to increase readership and more importantly RSS subscribers.  I was not selling anything directly, so I can't quite recommend Reddit as a place to get sales...yet.  However, I did find that I got some fairly cheap visitors to my site, who were generally interested in my content, using bounce rates as a gauge of interest.

Setting Up Your Self Serve Ad on Reddit

For starters, getting an ad setup is very easy and probably requires less than 5 mins of work.  The ad buyer simply needs to choose where they want their sponsored link placed, add a thumbnail image (not required), and add a link Title.  The buyer is then allowed to choose whether they want to allow for comments, which could possible make or break certain types of ads on this social bookmarking site.  I chose to not allow comments.

After your sponsored link has been created, simply input the amount of money you are willing to spend per day on that Ad being shown.  One downside is that sponsored link placements can only be placed 24 hours in advance, no immediate gratification.  Then you chose how long you want your self-served ad to run, allowing for the budget you entered previously.

How Reddit Self Serve Advertising Works

Buying a sponsored link on Reddit does not guarantee a certain number of clicks or views.  Reddit will take the total amount of self serve ads for the specified day, then break it down by who bid the most.  The link views are then shown based on the amount you are spending.  For example, if two advertisers picked the same day and both bid $100, each persons sponsored link will be shown 50% of the time.  If one buyer would spend just $30 per day and the other spend $70, the first person's ad will only be shown 30% of the time, regardless of how many click sit actually generates.

Reddit does a good job of showing you how popular certain days are, so it's possible to get a ton of views for next to nothing on low self-serve ad traffic days.  I choose a day through the week which had little advertising, so I feel I got a good value for my money.

My Experience With Reddit Self Serve Ads

I ran my ad for 3 days and spent a total of $60, which obviously equals the minimum $20 per day budget.  This self serve ad campaign resulted in 25,708 unique views of my sponsored link and 722 unique clicks through to my site.  Again, I wasn't selling anything direct, so it's hard to gauge, other than bounce rate, how well these visitors would convert.  However, I think it does a good job of showing the potential traffic from such a small investment.

Ultimately I ended up with an extra 40 RSS subscribers and I've received return visits from people who most likely bookmarked my site after clicking on my sponsored link.  I was happy with the pittance of an advertising investment and look forward to testing out some new landing pages, seeing what converts, and finding out what Redditors are actually buying.

The Future Of Reddit Self-Serve Advertising

My guess is that self-serve advertising on Reddit won't be around for much longer.  Recently they posted on their official blog that they are hurting for money and while the self-serve advertising is nice, it's not enough to pay the bills and expand Reddit.  To be honest, it's a bit insulting that the engineers of Reddit are holding on their hands for money, instead of going after other viable advertising opportunities.  Hell, we already provide all the content, now they want some of our money?

Again, I'm going to try and start another sponsored link campaign, this time with a product for sale.  I'll be back soon to post the results.

Reddit Self Serve Advertising Results

Reddit Self Serve Advertising Results

eStore Theme For WordPress

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ElegantThemes.com is about to release a new theme called eStore, that will transform your WordPress blog into a full blown store front.  The theme focuses on nested menu's, price listing on each posts thumbnail, and a design that will keep visitors coming back.  Unlimited access to the eStore Theme and the rest of their catalog can be had for just $19.95.

Theme Value

All of the themes I've been using from ElegantThemes.com have been coded beautifully and easily customized to fit your site's niche or needs.  Although the initial cost of $19.95 gets you access to all the themes for 1 year, even if you decide to cancel your subscription, you are free to use the downloaded themes forever and on as many sites as you want.  Bar none, this is possibly the best money I've ever spent on my websites, which contributes to the sites marketing and conversion.

Theme Options

Each theme from Elegant Themes comes jam packed with easily configurable options.  All themes also include an ePanel that allows you to configure each and every aspect of the wordpress theme.  In addition, included in each download, are PSD files, which can easily be modified and tweaked.

Elegant Themes also includes WP themes for product websites, business sites, and even personal blogs.  All are beautiful, are updated to work with the latest wordpress releases, and include the latest blog technology.

WordPress Theme Uses

As soon as the eStore WordPress theme is released later this month, I plan on putting it to good use.  I have a number of websites running phpBay that will benefit from having a professional store layout.  Furthermore, with the release of phpZon and other affiliate plugins, it will be simple to produce a quality and high converting wordpress store front.

Sign Up To Elegant Themes Now

I'd recommend signing up to ElegantThemes.com for the price, value, and support.  Included in your yearly subscription is a support forum, where the designers and coders are readily on hand to answer any questions.  What few I've had, have been answered within 24 hours.  No doubt as the inventory of themes increases, the price will go up, so by signing up now you are locking in the value.

eStore WordPress Theme