This wasn’t a question submitted, this problem is ongoing for anyone who sells digital products online.

This doesn’t just cover WordPress, this is ANY site that sells digital products.

Think about it:

You spend all this time and energy building your product, you save it on your hosts server or, better, you utilize Amazon’s S3 service.

But then, guess what?

If you are keeping track of your visitor stats and what visitors are doing/seeing on your site, you may notice one day that someone has been downloading your product but not through the normal channels after purchase.

You have a hacker (of sorts). You see, even when you think you’ve done all you can, someone out there, with a little knowledge (doesn’t take much) can do a few simple Google searches and find your protected product. Then they can download without paying and share with everyone.

Now granted, when you decided to sell a digital product, you have to expect that there will be people who steal it and those who pay for it, but share it with others. Those are NOT lost sales. Those people weren’t going to buy the product anyway but, if you have some affiliate links sprinkled through the content, you may make a buck or two off that pilfered product.

I’m not going to explain how to do these Google searches (or how to get into Amazon S3 folders) because I don’t feel like teaching some wanna-be beginner hacker how to do this.

If they want to learn that bad, they can search the internet for someone explaining it. That’s how I learned how, examining what these hackers do and how, and finding ways to better protect my clients.

Now NOTHING is fool-proof so no matter what you do, short of removing the file from the internet completely, there is always a chance someone will crack your security.
Some things I recommend to help (some are affiliate links so I get a few cents if you click and sign up):

-Use a service like Ejunkie: files are kept on their secure servers and payment can be processed several different ways

-Install DL Guard to protect your downloads on your hosts server

- Check the permission settings for your folders on your hosts server

-Make sure when you submit a sitemap to Google, the list does not include the folders you store your products.

- Make buyers become members of your site to be able to download. There are many Membership site scripts but Amember is one of the most secure.

If you’d like me to test YOUR security, I’m giving away 30 spots.

The first 30 people to contact me with their URL and the product they are curious about, I’ll test your system for free.

~C

Dear Christina,

I’ve run into a cool little feature on a few websites I frequent and I’m wondering how they do it.

On the website, if you decide to copy a section of text and paste it in, say Word or Twitter, it automatically adds a link back to the original site.

Example:

This- “Why not get everything taken care of in one place?”

Pastes as this-

“Why not get everything taken care of in one place?”

Normally I wouldn’t post anything here if it wasn’t strictly related to WordPress in some way but, I am very proud of my new partner project.

I wrote the following article to help others and to announce The Chrysalis Plan: Nurturing Your Journey to Success.

Feel free to leave comments about the points mentioned as well as the new project.

~Christina

7 Mistakes People Make When They Decide to Start Their Own Business

I have to tell you, I am not a public speaker.

I get stage fright if having to stand in front of people and talk is even implied.

I was coaxed (by many) to say “yes” when I was asked by Darlene Gonzalez from A Virtual Perception Podcast to be interviewed for her weekly show.

I readied myself by repeating in my head “it’s only 1 person I’m talking to” & “they can’t see you”  LOL

Darlene made it very easy and we had fun doing it. So if you want to learn more about me, what I do and why I love WordPress, be sure to listen in over here.

You can listen online, or download it to listen later. It’s over 40 min long so be aware. Plus, be sure to take note of the Exciting New project I’ve been working on. I mention it at the end there. 

~Christina

Thanks. I await your wisdom.

Dear Taneesha,

A great question!

A back-up schedule depends on the type of site you have.

A blog changes content all the time so you would want to back-up at least once a week.

A business website, that only changes once in a great while, could do fine with once a month or once every two months.

I rely on this plugin to back up ALL of my WP sites. You can search for it from your dashboard – WP-DB-Backup.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS back-up everything before installing the newest version of WordPress.

Use an ftp client to download your theme files as well (located in wp-content/themes).

Follow the instruction for the backup plugin to do it correctly and have the backup emailed to you or downloaded to your computer. Keep the files in a safe place and always keep the latest two versions. I say keep two because if one becomes corrupt you have a shot at still having a good copy.

Hope that helps,

~Christina

Dear Christina,

I have a blog on wordpress.com and am tired of the limited functionality of it. Can I move all my blog posts over to a self-hosted, wordpress.org site easily?

NoName

Dear NoName,

Moving your posts from .com to .org is quite easy actually.

First, you need to purchase hosting and a domain name for your new blog. I recommend either Startlogic or JustHost as I have used both and know they are easy to work with.

Next you need to install WordPress and then choose a theme and get it installed, as well as any plugins you’d like to have.

The final step is to use the “export” function on your .com blog. The resulting file will contain your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags – not your text widget contents.

Now just use the “import” function on your new .org blog and you should see all of your content where it belongs.

In rare instances, when trying to “import” you may get an error message. At this point, make sure you exported correctly and that your .org site is completely updated. If this does not fix the problem you’ll need to check with WordPress support to try and figure it out.

I don’t use .com at all (never have) but I know people who have been wondering how to do this so figured I could give some basic instructions. If you require further help working with .com, you’ll have to check in at their forum.

~Christina

Recently I got together up with a friend to form a partnership for a new project. This is quite the undertaking for us both and it’s made me really test the workings of WordPress and what it can do.

It has definitely risen up to the challenge. I already love WP but this process has given me some more reasons to love it and that, in turn, is raising my skill level.

Our NEW BIG PROJECT (that I plan to share with you all when we are ready) involves  memberships. This means we needed to find the best way to secure our content so only members could access it. We also needed to be able to have multiple membership levels for various sections.

I tried out all of the available membership plugins that I could find reviews on (not going to name names) and when I say all, I mean ALL.

Everyone of them had a free trial period so I would read all about it, download and install it, then test it out. Then, after all the tweaking and setting up, I would start playing around with the different features and started finding that the cost for the plugin was not the only cost. Each one was easily integrated with other programs such as autoresponders, payment gateways & affiliate tracking programs.

That’s great BUT, all of those cost more money. So in the end our starting costs would average about $200-400 but then some of those “extras” had a monthly fees. Not my idea of smart business.

Then I happened onto an old forum post that caught my interest. The poster mentioned how this membership plugin did everything I needed but it was all included in the script, no “extras” needed, unless I wanted to use them instead. And you couldn’t beat the price!

So I ventured over to Digital Access Pass and found everything I had been looking for the last few months.

Digital Access Pass (DAP) is the ultimate in membership software. It works so seamlessly with WP but, *BONUS* you can use it on plain ole’ HTML sites too!

They have a complete, no restrictions, 30 day free trial. And their customer service is absolutely the BEST I’ve encountered.

When I first tried to install it on my test site I found that my host did not support one of the things needed to run DAP, I opened a support ticket and Veena was quick to reply and offer to contact my host directly and see if it could be added.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted it, my host could not add this little piece of the puzzle. Bummer!

After having the opportunity to test DAP using a friends installation, I decided moving hosts for the NEW BIG PROJECT site had to be done so I did some research and found a host that worked well with DAP & it was cheaper than my previous host.

I (& my partner) couldn’t be happier with my decision. She is less technically inclined than I and DAP is so user-friendly she will have no problem making changes on the fly.

I fully recommend you go visit their site, look around, read everything you can then hop over to the blog where Ravi(the developer) provides updates on new features, add-ons & future additions.

Good Luck with your membership site and stay tuned for information about our NEW BIG PROJECT!

~Christina

Dear Christina,

I’ve really screwed up this time. I’m moving my WP site to a new host and I changed the DNS settings before exporting my database and WP files.

I’m unable to access the dashboard now and my old host is being uncooperative (account is active till end of the month).  Do you have any ideas for me or should I just forget it & start fresh?

Mary H Ruth-Virtual Writing & Communications Solutions

Dear Mary,

We’ve discussed this privately through email already but I wanted to share this with my readers.  Unfortunately, you are having to start from scratch with your site but, look at it as a lesson learned. One you’ll NEVER have to learn again.

For anyone else contemplating a move, here are the steps to take to ensure you do it correctly and safely.

Moving from one host to another:

First and foremost, BACKUP EVERYTHING to your own computer.

• use plugin WP-DB-Backup to have your entire database backed up and either download it to your computer or have it emailed to you. Be sure to write down the name of the database, username and password
• Using your favorite FTP program, download your entire WordPress installation files (wp-admin, wp-content & everything else)

Place everything in a folder named “old blog”

Now, only if the domain name is changing, go back to your dashboard under “settings –>general”  you’ll need to change the listed URL to the new one. Then backup and download your database and WP installation files again. Save to a folder named “new blog”.

You can change your DNS settings at this point.

Most hosts have the “quick install” option for WP. In that case, use it to get WP set up easily on your new host.

Now you just need to get your old database files into your new database. You can do this through phpmyadmin if you have access. Please check with your hosting company to get instructions on how to upload the database files. There are too many ways to do this (depending on host) that it would take me forever to cover them all.

Generally you will need to set up a new database and name it the same as your old database. Also set user and password the same. Then upload the old database file into the new database.

Only if you changed domain name: You have to open your old database file (unzip it and open in notepad) and replace all instances of your old domain name to the new one. You can use the “find-replace” option in notepad to make sure you got them all.

When you do that and go to yourdomain.com/wp-login.php you will be told your database needs to be updated, which is fine. Run the process (very quick) and all your old posts should be available now.

Now you’ll need to sign into your new host by FTP and upload your WP installation files, overwriting the one that were installed with the “quick install”.

**If you get a “database”  error at your URL after uploading, you have to open up your wp-config.php file in notepad and make sure database name, username & password all match what is set in your new hosting account.

You’ll have to go through each setting on the dashboard to make sure all are set the way you want them. Also you’ll need to set your theme.

Guess what? You just did that all by yourself! Not as bad as you thought, huh?

~Christina

Today is my birthday but I wanted to send out a big THANK YOU to all of my visitors.

I love being able to help you all and hope you’ll keep submitting questions for me to answer.

Sometimes business gets in the way but, I always try to answer quickly and I appreciate everyone who takes the time to send along their questions.

If you ever send me a question and I don’t respond, please send it again. I won’t take it as nagging, I promise .

I won’t be updating again till after the new year but I will be available for your questions, they just won’t be answered here till after 1/1/10.

So send them along and I can start the year off with tons of answers for everyone.

Thanks again & Happy Holidays!

~Christina

Dear Christina,

I’d like to add a tip sheet in pdf or Word format to my WP website and blog. Is there a plugin for doing this? If not, how may this be done?

Thanks,

Janine -Your Virtual Wizard

Janine,

I’m going to assume you want to have this document available for your readers to download.

You just need to upload the pdf or doc to your media library and then link to it in a post, page or widget. In a post or page you would need the write the test you want clickable and then use the insert media buttons at the top of the WYSIWYG editor to connect the two.

For a widget you’ll need to use the following code

for a text link— <a href=”url to your doc”>Text</a>

for an image link— <a href=”url to your doc”><img src=”url to image in media library”></a>

~Christina