How do you look at failure?

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Shannon Lilly

This is just a quicky post but watch the video and comment below :)

Posted in Motivational | 3 Comments

Bloggers and Identity Theft

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Shannon Lilly

Did you know that identity theft is growing fast and that bloggers are now being targeted? Identity theft happens for a few reasons and bloggers need to be aware of why they are a big target for identity theft now more then ever!

Granted, identity theft can happen to anyone at anytime so staying on the lookout for it is always smart whether you are a blogger or not, however you may be asking yourself “how do I know if I am at risk for identity theft?” Easy, you put personal information (sometimes more then others because your a blogger and its your job to do so) out onto the net for the public eye to see.

Things like earnings reports, showing off that fancy new sports car or even talking about your new house, phone, computer or gaming system are all red flags you are throwing up to possible idenity thefters. Haven’t you heard of people who twitter they are leaving for the weekend and then there houses get robbed? Same principal applies here guys.

I try to follow one simple rule (need to know basis only). If your readers don’t NEED to know something then you have every right to keep it a secret and to yourself.

Don’t willingly divulge information that could put you at risk such as earnings and showing off those new toys you have acquired, your just asking for trouble.

So you may be asking yourself, what if I already have (shown off) but wan’t to correct the issues that are now haunting me (ie identity theft). I am so glad you asked ;)

Believe it or not there are actually tons of people and places online that can help you, so many in fact its sometimes hard to find out where they are and who the best choice is. Its really pretty simple, you can checkout reviews of the best identity theft protection providers. They are some of the best I have seen on the subject and really worth looking into!

With all that said, identity theft is a growing problem and we really have to help ourselves if we want to see any changes. Don’t wait, start making smart choices about what you put online and be sure you are protected!

Posted in Review Corner | 7 Comments

Spam comment pervention tips

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Shannon Lilly

Lately I have been talking a lot about comment spam but its an important issue that not many people seem to get right. I got asked via a FaceBook message from a reader what Captcha Comment Plugin I was using on the new re-design.

That question actually sparked this post, because although that one plugin does a fantastic job it takes more then 1 to tango! Today I will be listing some basic spam prevention techniques for comment spam!

The Plugins

SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam This is the plugin that puts the nice Captcha code on my comment section that MUST be filled out in order for a comment to get into my system. It works great and has eliminated about 90% of spam comments that I was getting! I highly recommend it! You can download the SI Captcha Anti-Spam plugin free of use!

Good Ol Akismet This is the old standard for WordPress blogs but it works wonders, already blocked over 4,000 spam comments for me! You can read all about it and get install instructions from this website.

AVH First Defense Against Spam Plugin This was an extra little plugin I installed just because it has proven to work for me and some friends since it came out. This plugin basically checks ips of spammers from the past and blocks them from commenting all on the fly. Worth installing! Checkout the download site and install it right away!

As with almost all the wordpress plugins out there, you can now install plugins on the fly from your wordpress admin panel. Read this post here that I wrote for a basic overview on doing that! Its under the “New Comment Protection (& Cleaned up Spam)” section of that post.

I will end this post with a video!

I hope you enjoyed learning how to prevent spam from getting onto your blog. Return the favor by signing up to my newsletter and be sure to tell your friends as well!

Posted in Blogging Tips, Videos, Wordpress | 5 Comments