**Update: both problems below are solved!! I'm doing a jig around the house. Leaving the post up anyway so that you can learn about my favorite people and helpful resources. Cheers!** I am taking a break from my regularly scheduled programming to fix two urgent blog issues at the moment:
- My blog has been hacked. In a possibly related issue (but not sure if they're linked)...
- My new posts are not publishing to the RSS feed; therefore you are not being notified of new posts (via email or RSS). It's like a tree falling in the forrest -- if you don't know when I post, then I have no blog!
I will be taking a short break from adding content so that we can focus on getting these issues fixed. This is my baby and I didn't realize how much my LIFE revolves around my blog (for better or for worse) until this all went down. A piece of my heart breaks when my blog does!
I'm feeling calm at the moment only because I am graced with the help of three (yes three!) rockstar men who you should absolutely know about. For bloggers: I also want to share some of the tools that they've shared with me.
My Heros:
- Willie Jackson -- who got me all squared away back-up wise after my laptop was stolen in March. He is a WordPress security and optimization machine.
- Robert Granholm -- an incredible developer recommended by my good friend Cath Duncan, who has put in hours with me troubleshooting the RSS issue even though we've never met or talked.
- Andrew Norcross -- a self-described (and confirmed by the masses) WordPress ninja who is the go-to guy for just about anyone and everyone on the Internet. He discovered that my blog had been hacked, and kindly pointed me to the right place to get it fixed.
Tools every blogger should know about:
- VaultPress -- "Complete website backup and security that's as simple as WordPress itself"
- Arq -- "Online back-up for Mac" that syncs files on your desktop to the cloud. Connects directly with...
- Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) -- Fast, super cheap storage for the Internet. I'm using this to back-up all my files (not just blog related). Storing about 40GB is currently costing me $8/month. Amazing. Some alternatives: Drop Box, SugarSync, and now iCloud. I use CyberDuck as my FTP client when I want to manually move files to/from S3.
- Sucuri Security -- Annual service that protects your blog from malware and preforms a clean-up within four hours.
Any other awesome security or storage-related tools we should all know about? Share them in the comments por favor.
That's it for now...wish us luck getting this train back on track! And stay tuned...an exciting redesign is in the works by the lovely Nina Cross -- my rockstar girl addition to the team :)
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Last book tour stop -- join us in Los Angeles if you can!
If you’re in the LA area, click here to RSVP for the event at 7pm on Tuesday, June 14 put on by Scott Asai of Growing Forward — we’d love to see you there!
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Support the Kidney Raffle
Speaking of Cath (one of my very favorite coaches and writers), her inspiring week-long Kidney Raffle begins today with some killer prizes (14 total packages from your favorite personal development bloggers and coaches). Cath has put her heart and soul into this project, and Robert (mentioned above) did an amazing job with the website and technical side of everything.
About the raffle in Cath's own words:
Last year, Cath and Andy Duncan’s one and only daughter (who they named Juggernaut) died at 5 months gestation because of Cath’s hereditary kidney condition. As part of Cath’s journey back to hope and strength, she committed to raising funds for kidney research and a dedicated team of friends has joined her campaign. Now you can also do your part to help fund this critical research and also get some wonderful inspiration in return.
Get some inspiration & join us to BE AN INSPIRATION…
Your favorite teachers, coaches and authors have generously donated their best work for you to stand a chance to win in our 14 free raffle draws. We’re not talking about cheap E-Books or low-value give-aways… We’re talking high-value, “inner-circle” prizes, annual memberships, premium 1-on-1 coaching with people like Jonathan Fields, Adam Baker and Fabeku Fatunmise, and even some prizes that you can no longer buy even if you wanted to pay top dollar for it!
Extreme generosity, contribution and teamwork that makes a difference is inspiring, isn’t it? We’re asking you to join their ranks and be an inspiration by making a donation of your own. 100% of your donation will go to the Kidney Foundation.