Yesterday I emailed my mailing list (you can get on it by filling in the form to the right of this page) and told them about a new service I’m offering.

Sometimes you just need one answer for something that’s taking you hours you just don’t have to figure out. All the answers you find on the ‘net are gobbledygook geek speak and make absolutely no sense. You need a clear answer you can understand and do right away.

So I decided to offer a very small, inexpensive service for those times.

I’ll answer your question via email (PDF or short video) or via Skype Screen Sharing, provided the question isn’t too complex. If it is, I’ll get back to you and discuss what’s required to answer your question.

And since I’ve set aside an hour each day JUST for this service, you can be sure you’ll get your answer quickly.

For the next 10 people to sign up, I’m offering 30% off the actual price of the service.

Go here to find out more!

Some of my clients have come across something similar to this nasty little error message after updating to WordPress 3.0:
Warning: call_user_func(extract_terms::update_taxonomy_count) [function.call-user-func]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback in .....wp-includes/taxonomy.php on line 2056

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at .../wp-includes/taxonomy.php:2056) in ...../wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 890

After futzing around and asking questions about how they upgraded, I found that none of them deactivated their plugins first.

Just to refresh your memory, here are the basic steps for upgrading using WordPress’s built-in upgrade tool:

1. Back up your database and your wp-contents folder
2. Deactivate all your plugins
3. Upgrade (plugins first, WordPress second)
4. Reactivate your plugins
5. Test

Reactivating your plugins one-by-one and testing (that is, reloading your site and publishing or re-publishing a post) after you activate each one is important, and time consuming. But it’s the first thing I do whenever a WordPress site is throwing scary-looking errors.

If you still have problems, and WordPress is still throwing up errors, try switching to the default theme (in WP 3.0 it’s TwentyTen), and reloading your site. Sometimes themes that haven’t been updated in a while can conflict with some code in a new update.

If you’re still having trouble with your WP 3.0 install and are this close to tossing your computer out the window, put the computer down, take a deep breath, and get in touch with me.

My family’s Greek, and we own an olive farm.

Recently my dad decided to start importing the oil as well as some other food stuff (honey, hand-made pasta) from the area where he was born and where the farm is today. So he asked me to put up a website for our new family business.

And of course I obliged! May I present: MalvasiaUSA.com.

I used the theme “Vigilance” by The Theme Foundry (yep, it’s an affiliate link). That’s the same one I’m using at this moment for WPChick.com. You can see how flexible the theme is and why I like it so much.

The header is a combination of an old public-domain drawing of Monemvasia and the logo that my sister drew. She also drew the olive branch that’s on the label. This is definitely a family affair!

Anywho, I do have an ulterior motive for posting this site here… I want to ask you to bookmark it or keep an eye out, or subscribe to the news so you can order my family’s olive oil when we start selling from the site. Ok?

It really is the best stuff out there (and I’m not just saying that).

If you haven’t been following me on Twitter, you won’t know that I have a guest post up on a site run by a delightful Aussie weirdo called Be Awesome Online. Go read!

And another thing. You may notice to the right of this page a very spiffy ebook cover created by this guy for a mere $5! Now, I’m no one to encourage cheap design, or cheap anything. But I couldn’t resist.

So I plunked down the $5 and waited to see what would happen. And I was very pleased. I had a great experience, the work was done quickly and it was perfect. I most definitely couldn’t have done better myself.

here’s the full-sized cover:

Here’s installment #2 of the WPChick Video Guide on securing your WordPress site.

This video will show you how to install a plugin that will automatically email you a backup of your database regularly. You can tell it to send you a backup once or twice a day, once a week or hourly. Very handy.

So click the play button below!

There are several other backup plugins including those that will back up to the cloud (that is, virtual storage space somewhere on the internets). I chose WP-DB-Backup because it’s the easiest to set up, doesn’t require a lot of fiddling and just works.

Just in case you want to check out some other backup plugins for WordPress, here’s a quick list:
iDrive Plugin – backs up your database to your iDrive account.
BackupBuddy – backs up everything including your site files and database.
BlogVault – will back up your database and your site files.

And keep an eye out for Automattic’s upcoming WordPress Backup service, VaultPress.

If video embedding has you flummoxed, keep reading…

To embed a video you used to have to copy and paste a big hunk of code in your WordPress post. Crazy, eh?

Well, no more searching for the embed code for your video!

WordPress 3.0 makes use of a dealie (technically a “protocol”) called oEmbed which will automatically transform your simple video link (i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfh4Mhp-a6U) into this:

All you have to do is take the URL (web address) of your video—something you can copy & paste from your web browser address bar—and paste it into your post. Simple!

Now, if you want a bit of control over the size of your video, you can add a little extra code, but it won’t hurt… Making the video 300 pixels wide looks like this:

aaannnd… it looks like this:

This nifty little dealie works with YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, blip.tv or any number of other video hosting sites. Check out the WordPress codex for a full list.

Now, if you want to make all videos to be 300 pixels wide by default (that is, you don’t even have to do the embed code), go to Settings > Media on your dashboard and under the Embeds area, type in 300 for the width. Make sure you hit the save changes button to save that change. It’ll look a little like this:

So, no more digging and searching and hair-pulling (or crying for that matter) to figure out how to add video to your site!

Welcome to the very first installment of Secure Your WordPress Site Without Bursting into Tears!

In this video we’re going to get rid of the admin account. In versions prior to 3.0, WordPress automatically created a user account named “admin.” Most site owners never change this, so hackers can take advantage of only having to crack the password instead of both the password and the user name.

In version 3.0, during installation you can now specify your very own username.

So now for the video!

Don’t miss the next video! Sign up for the mailing list on the right side of this page to get updates on this series.

And remember… there’s no tears in WordPress.

And as always, before you update back up your site files using FTP or your web host’s back up feature and your database.

I mean it. (insert picture of me staring at you with squinty eyes…)

Now on to the fun stuff.

Upgrading is as simple as clicking a button.

First, disable all your plugins.

Next, click the linky at the top of your pre-WordPress 3.0 admin that tells you there’s a new version.

And finally, click the “upgrade automatically” button. Look at it go!

You should now have Thelonius installed.

Here’s a video walkthrough of the new features to get you acquainted with what’s changed:

p.s. If you do encounter trouble don’t hesitate to contact me! I’ll be upgrading all my sites one by one today.

This past week I dealt with a client of mine who had three sites hacked at the same time. She didn’t have a recent backup, and her web host had just deleted all of her files and their backup failed. So she had to start from scratch. Because of this I decided to do a quick video series on securing your WordPress site.

Each step should take you less than 5 minutes to do on your own, and when you’re done, your blog should have some basic security measures in place as well as recent backups of your site database and files.

Here’s what I’m going to cover:

1. Get rid of the “admin” account: The admin account is the default account that gets created whenever you install WordPress version 2.9.2 or earlier. WordPress 3.0 eliminates this altogether, allowing you to choose your user name, but if you’ve installed your blog before the 3.0 final release, you may be stuck with an account called “admin.” I’ll show you how to get rid of this and how to create a new, more secure user name and password.
2. Automatically back up your database: I think the best way to deal with a hacked website is to have a recent backup of your database so all you have to do is wipe out the hacked database and restore the backup. I’ll show you how to install a simple plugin that will allow you to get back ups sent directly to your email daily, weekly or monthly.
3. Back up your WordPress site files: Backing up your site files as well as your database is another step in a quick recovery after a hack. I’ll show you two methods, one using your web host’s built-in features (using a web host that has CPanel) and one using an FTP program. You only need to do this when you first set up your site and every time you do major changes like upgrades or theme changes.
4. KeepWordPress updated: Your first line of defense is always to keep WordPress updated to the latest stable version. Hackers target older versions because there are vulnerabilities that newer versions have patched. There really is no excuse any more for not updating WordPress since they made it so easy a few versions back. I’ll show you the proper procedure to update your WordPress site.
5. Lock down your admin login: Some hackers use brute force to log in to your WordPress admin once they know your user name (which is why we’re getting rid of the “admin” user account). With a simple plugin you can stop brute force attacks by limiting how many times an incorrect user name/password combination is accepted.
6. Remove the WordPress version from your code: When you view the source of most WordPress sites, you can see what version of WordPress you’re running. Hackers can use this information to target that version’s vulnerabilities. I’ll show you two different ways to remove this from your site’s header information.

If you do at least these six things to your WordPress sites, you’ll be way ahead of the game. These steps will not make you completely hack-proof. But you can do something to make it harder for hackers to get into your site.

Since you’ll have a recent backup of your database and files after this series, if you DO get hacked, you’ll be back up in no time.

So, if this sounds good to you, please leave a comment. If it doesn’t, please leave a comment letting me know what you would prefer to see from WPChick. If I spend days working on this series and you don’t really want it, I’ll feel a kinda silly.

Since my new services are things I haven’t offered before (but have done with some of my clients during our WordPress coaching sessions) I want to see if anyone would be willing to be a part of the pilot programs.

I would like 2 Pilot Testers for:

The New WPChick Blog Strategy System

With my Blog Strategy System, I’ll show you exactly what you need to do to increase your exposure, position yourself as an expert and get search engines to love you*. All this will help you reach your right people and get more clients.

After a quick questionnaire and 30-minute phone conversation, I’ll come up with a personalized Blog Strategy that includes:

• an editorial calendar
• suggestions for building community and exposure
• design and layout recommendations
• unlimited (reasonably) email access to me for any questions or concerns you may have for 2 weeks

The New WPChick Social Media Strategy System

With my new Social Media Strategy System, you won’t be confused any more about how to use the three biggest social media platforms—Twitter, FaceBook & LinkedIn—to reach out to your ideal customers, gain exposure for your business and brand, and get more clients.

After a short questionnaire and quick phone consultation, I’ll come up with a personalized Social Media Strategy that includes:

• installation of all the plugins you need to be able to share your blog posts and pages easily with most social media sites
• a quick n’ dirty guide for each social media platform
• weekly calendar of to-do’s for each social media platform

Normally, these packages would cost $297.

I am offering them for only $99 for the first two to sign up for each system.

In return all I want is honest feedback and if you’re satisfied a good word or two as a testimonial or case study.

So, if you’re interested, you can buy right now by selecting which one you’d like and clicking the “Buy Now” button:

Pilot Programs

Blog Strategy $99.00 Social Media Strategy $99.00

E-Mail Address

*A note regarding Search Engines: I can’t guarantee results. However in the first few months of launching WPChick, using nothing but a decent theme, good titles and regular blog posts, I reached the first page of Google Search Results for “WordPress Coaching.” As of the writing of this page, I’m second on the Google results for the same terms.