Face Rocked By The TimThumb Vulnerability

Posted on January 12, 2012 by cldnails

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Offending outdated themes and plugins updated, injected code removed, and security measures taken.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

Posted on December 13, 2011 by cldnails

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

Posted on December 8, 2011 by cldnails

[ad#toppostleft]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.

How To Only Offer United States As Shipping Option In ShopperPress

Posted on October 13, 2011 by cldnails

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.

Associate-O-Matic Update, The Amazon Store Builder

Posted on June 12, 2010 by cldnails

Perhaps you have forgot about the affiliate tool known as Associate-O-Matic or AOM, but it hasn’t forgot about you. The creators of the once popular Amazon store builder software has continued to update their software and offer some great new features. Since I started using this affiliate script 2 years ago it’s gone through a number of updates and everyone has improved usability, features, and opportunities for commissions.

If you are not familiar with Associate-O-Matic, it’s a script that automates building a store from Amazon products based on your keywords. AOM features a number of customization options, from design, searches, home page listings, and even custom pages. The software itself is very diverse and can allow for unique niche store pages to be built.

On May 25th the Associate-O-Matic team released an update which enabled parts searching through Amazon automotive. I’ve personally experienced an increase in conversions from this little widget that I enable on all my store pages. You can see an example of the Parts Finder feature in Associate-O-Matic in my Key Ring Store.

Yesterday, on June 11th the AOM released yet another update which squashed a few bugs and enabled a new design function. The AOM update allows options for rounded corners in your store. But it’s not just cosmetic updates this time around, AOM version 4.4.1 also utilizes the latest Amazon API.

I’d recommend anyone download Associate-O-Matic and add it to your arsenal of affiliate site building tools. There is a free version available, but 10% of your clicks will use the AOM Amazon affiliate ID. The paid version of AOM is just $99 for the first year, then $20 thereafter, which includes all updates and added features.

List of 365 Social Bookmarking Sites

Posted on June 6, 2010 by cldnails

Burhan Khan has offered a great service by building a list of 365 Social Bookmarking sites to submit your content to. Although not a big deal, you must download the XLS file and then open it in your spreadsheet reader of choice. However, with advancements in Google Doc technology since the last time this was updated I decided to publish it online, so no download is necessary.

To view the link list of social bookmarking sites, simply follow this link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AgBfK31o2BjUdHM5OUJWVG5VWkFkSTYxMy0yWFV3UHc&gid=0

To use simply click on the links within the spreadsheet document.

Updating Social Bookmarking List

Throughout the next couple of days I’ll be combing through the list and removing sites that are no longer available. Furthermore, I intend to update the social bookmarking list with other sites that I’ve found to keep the number high. I am well aware that a lot has changed in since 2008, but I felt this was a solid building block for building a list and modifying to fit my present needs. As I update the spreadsheet the link above will automatically be updated within 5 minutes of my edit. So, bookmarking the Google Document link above will be suffiicient to stay up to date.

If you are looking to download the original XLS file, please visit Burhan Khans website.

Benefits Of Submitting To Social Bookmarking Sites

The number one benefit of submitting links to social bookmarking sites is traffic. There is also a side benefit to SEO, which includes receiving a backlink to your webpage. Google and other search engines recognize this link as a type of ‘vote’ for your page and will help in raising your site’s visibility in the search engine results pages.

Niche Site Platform Coupon

Posted on May 18, 2010 by cldnails

September Coupon Code Update $20 Off: WIZARDSPECIAL

Simply enter ‘WIZARDSPECIAL‘ into the coupon code section at purchase to receive $20 Off.

Niche Site Platform Coupon Article

I’m a sucker for buying new tools to automate my affiliate marketing and site building, so you can see why Niche Site Platform appealed to me. I just purchased the script today, but already I’m noticing how it can help diversify my affiliate earnings, at least from a phpBay and BANS perspective. It has a lot of things in common, but it’s also providing me a new outlet to automate my CJ, Linkshare, and Amazon affiliate link building.

The normal price for Niche Site Platform is $79, which is supposedly marked down from over $100. The Niche Site Platform just launched at the end of April, so I was surprised to find a working coupon code. The coupon is good for $10 off the purchase price.

$10 Off Niche Site Platform Coupon – A7BAA9090F

Those familiar with BANS will feel right at home using Niche Store Platform and for the price it’s hard to pass up. Also, buying NSP now will allow you to get ahead of the curve of all the site spamming and the inevitable ding from Google in the upcoming year. Be an early adopter and buy Niche Store Platform now, you won’t regret it.

As a reminder, I don’t promote any products that I don’t personally use. Although I’ve just purchased it, I’m already pleasantly surprised with the possibilities. Expect a full blown review of Niche Store Platform in the upcoming days.

[box type="info"]New coupon code! $20 OFF Enter the coupon code WIZARDSPECIAL. Coupon code good only for a limited time, so buy now. I’ll update again when more or better coupons become available.[/box]

Chitika Premium Failuires With YPN

Posted on May 6, 2010 by cldnails

Chitika has skipped over the downward spiral and jumped right off the back of the slide. I’ve been using Chitika for 1 year this month and never before have I seen such a drastic change in policy, earnings, impressions, and general contempt from support in dealing with issues. On April 28, 2010 my Chitika Premium impressions dropped from an average of 2,700 per day to just 3. You can guess what my earnings have done.

Domain Review and Approval

It all started when Chitika announced that they were taking on advertisers from the Yahoo Publisher Network, which then required all domains to be approved and reviewed. This review process went above and beyond previous requirements to be a Chitika Premium publisher, although no guidelines have been published or responded to in support tickets.

In addition, even though I had already received Premium ad approval on 2 of my domains, the system now required me to submit every domain Chitika ads would be shown on. This change in policy was ushered in via email and an automatic sign up to Chitika Select , which promised increased impressions and revenue. Review of a publishers domains were not supposed to take more than 3 weeks, however that was more than 5 weeks ago and my domains have still not been reviewed.

Generic Responses To Drop In Impressions and Revenue

The worst part about this whole ordeal is the actual feedback and responses I’m getting form the Chitika team. Originally in May of 2009 when I signed up with them, the support team was outgoing, easy to contact, and offered plenty of advice to get going and maximize my earnings. However, lately it takes longer to get a response and even then most are canned copy and paste explanations that never really address my questions.

My last support ticket with them took 4 different replies before I could get anything close to an actual response from a real person. Even after this, I was still left with more questions than answers, most dealing with what kind of guidelines are set for a domain to be approved for Chitika Premium.

Good Enough For Testimonial But Not For Chitika Premium

Another downfall with the latest changes going on at Chitika, which are closer relating to the eBay Partner Network, are that their testimonial pages are filled with publishers who used the old Chitika system. One of the testimonials proudly displayed on their testimonial review page is one of my own, which is a far cry from how I feel now about the company and Ad network. I’ve requested my testimonial removed, since its not an accurate representation of how I feel about Chitika anymore and I would encourage others to do the same.

It’s disappointing after a year of publishing for Chitika that now I’m thrown to the curb, without so much as an explanation. Looking back I’m embarrassed at all the people I referred to Chitika and glorified the program as the next step in online advertising and earning potential for publishers. Shame on you Chitika.

Conversion Failing of Their Own Design

It’s no secret that the success of Chitika ads were due to the image in place next to the text advertisement. Many people were using this technique with Google Adsense, until it became obvious that such clicks converted far lower than normal display methods for advertisers. Adsense was quick to change policies and prohibit the use of images next to their advertisements on a web page.

Chitika adopted and fleshed out the potential for higher traffic and higher earnings through volume clicks, with the help from the images next to ads. But it looks like YPN has decided that they want higher converting traffic from a network of publishers molded and supportive of the way Chitika was. Their own ad design allowed for lower converting traffic for advertisers, but now they are punishing the publisher for their mistakes.

Pending Further Review

Lastly, one of my sites is pending further review, which means they are looking into ways to bring my abysmal impressions back up. Yet this domain is still not good enough for Chitika Premium ads, so what’s the point? My automotive website has been good enough to draw advertising campaigns from large automotive companies from all over the world, who have continued to use my site as a way to advertise their product. How is it not good enough for Chitika Premium? How do I make it better and improve performance for Chitika Premium? Without published guidelines it’s anyone’s guess.

I hate playing these types of games with advertising companies and the changes in Chitika remind me too much of EPN. I’ve already removed the majority of my Chitika code from my sites, not that they will miss me, but I’m hurt, angry, and plan on letting everyone that I can know about what I’ve experienced.

Alternate Post Title – 1 year Chitika Review, Stay AWAY!

Use Chrome For Keyword Density

Posted on February 25, 2010 by cldnails

I’ve stumbled across a great function of Google Chrome to easily find out what kind of keyword density I’m putting into my posts. Actually, the function within the Google Chrome browser will provide feedback on exactly how many times a word is used on the open page and highlight where that word can be found.

To search the keyword, simply press Ctrl+F, which will bring a drop down in the top right of the browser to enter a search term. After entering the search term the keyword will be highlighted on the page. Within the drop down search menu will be a 1 of XX, displaying how many times the keyword was used on the page.

This neat little Chrome trick will help in increasing or decreasing the density of keywords being used on an article. Although it’s also a great tool to use when searching for specific information on a HUGE page full of irrelevant text.

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