When I first started hosting my own blog I was a little weary about upgrading Wordpress.   I wasn’t sure why I should be doing it and manually upgrading it was just a pain.  I was worried that I’d accidentally miscopy files, or delete files, and screw up my entire infrastructure.  Now, I know upgrading is vital…

• Why?  Security Patches! As hackers find security holes, wordpress releases patches to close these vulnerabilities.  The last thing you want is a hacker taking over your website causing you to lose control, goodwill, and advertisers.  Secondly, wordpress is also releasing new features to make your life easier…  Who doesn’t want to make their life easier?
• How?  Wordpress Automatic Upgrade Plugin!  This plugin allows for one click easy upgrading of your wordpress engine.  With this you pretty much have o excuse to not upgrade, it even provides options to backup parts of your blog in case something goes wrong.  Just as a quick note, I usually disable the plugin when I’m not actively upgrading (no need to have it running). 

Happy Upgrading.

Times are tough right now, so why not make some money where we can. Here are some of the programs I use, how they work, and what you can make…

1. Gomez Peer:  The Gomez Peer is a Java-based application that runs in the background of your PC, with a little application window that you can have open on your desktop.  It uses a peer-to-peer system to utilize unused PC power for various projects, and you get paid for every minute you contribute.  It’s secure and I have had no issues with it and you can set how much you want your machine utlizied.  It has a low payout of just $5 (meaning you get paid everytime you accumulate $5).  You can expect to make about $5 a month just running one PC and you can add as many PC’s as you want to your account.  Also you can refer other users and make a small % from what they make.  $5 a month doesn’t sound like much, but you get it for doing absolutely nothing, and it covers that unlimited texting plan you just bought…
2. ING Direct:  Open a savings or checking account with them and start earning interest.  Rates aren’t amazingly high right now, but why not get a few extra dollars a month just for putting your money here?  You can transfer your money out as much as you want so no worries about it being tied up like in a CD.  Better yet, contact me for a referral email and when you open an account with an initial deposit of $250 you will automatically get $25 (and I get $10!).  Personally, I enjoy getting money via interest… I bet you will as well…
3. Predictify:  Predictify is a website where registered users “predict” (read: guess) the answers to questions and get paid out based on their accuracy.  How much you make is based on how good you are, but it is easy to make hundreds if you’re paying attention.  Let me invite/refer you and I get a 10% bonus (same for you when you invite your friends).  At the least, you can have some fun answering the questions that interest you.
4. Moola.com:  This is a website that provides games you can play against other users for money.  How much you win depends on your skill, but it’s fairly easy to make money quick and they offer options such as filling out surveys to get cash.  It’s free to join but you need an invitation.  I have some left, you can use them if you follow the link here.
5. Text Link Ads:  Requires website/blog: This site allows website and blog owners to sell text ads.  The program is different from adsense primarily because you host the same text ads for the time period they have purchased and you are paid a $ amount per month just for displaying it, not pay per click.  Also, the payout system is great since they will pay you whatever amount you make each month (like 6+ dollars a month per ad).
6. Review Me:  Requires website/blog:  Get paid for reviewing websites in your area.  You can either be contacted to review sites for a price that you set, or you can review websites that have open campaigns for $5-$15.  Payout levels are not too high so they are easily attainable.
7. Problogger Job Boards:  Are you an able blogger?  Someone who is a good writer and wants to take a crack at it?  Problogger has a great job board for blog writers.  Take a look, there is a likely something that is a good fit for you.
8. Google Adsense:  Requires website/blog:  Google’s contextual pay per click advertising program.  Throw an ad up on your site and wait for clicks to make money.  Unfortunately the payout is high, $100.  Some tips I have for you from my experience – video ads pay better than text, clicks in the mornings pay more than at night (because of billing cycles).
9. Amazon Associates:  Requires website/blog:  Become an Amazon associate and make a % for all sales made through links you provide.  You can even have your own amazon storefront.  Depends on the products you link to and the amount you sell, the dollars can add up quickly!  It is worth a shot if you have a website or blog that talks about products often.
10. Do legit work from home – Amazon’s Mechanical Turk Program:    Here, companies post tasks that machines cannot easily do, but that are relatively simple for humans. You choose the assignments you want, and, on completion, are credited with payment to your Amazon account. Payout is pretty low – $10.
11. Sell the stuff you don’t use on Craigslist or Ebay:  you know how this works.  List what you want to sell on craiglist/ebay… sell it.

Good Luck!

The last few months my passion for blogging has really been… low.  First, I was busy with studying, then I was unmotivated, and recently I only wanted to write about things that I didn’t want aired to the general public.  Tonight I decided to go with that.  I’m going to write about those thoughts and feelings, but they will be password protected.

If you want access to these, get a hold of me and I will give you the password.  If you know me, you know how to contact me, if not, post a comment asking for access.

Sorry about the odd hiatus from posting. I had lost access to the blog due to a glitch, but all is well now!

A few days ago I mentioned that my blog had dropped in search result rankings and I wasn’t sure why.  Well, now I know.  My blog had been attacked by a malicious link injector.  I had upgraded my wordpress to overcome this but the upgrade did not remove the code in my template files!  I just cleared all of it up and hope this fixes my problem…

Every guide I read to blogging advises that you find a niche, focus on it, and keep that focus throughout your posts.  Unfortunately, this is a step I have not taken.  I post jokes, tips and tricks for your pc, things about law school, about bloging, among other things.  Sometimes, like right now, I wonder if it would have been wise to take on a focus or if i should take one on now.

An example of some focused blogs include Gizmodo, Lifehacker, PerezHilton, and on the legal end something like the blog this NJ Elder Law Attorney has (discussing elder law, family law, and estate planning).  Being a law student I could write about topics such as the NJ Elder Law Attorney has written about “Social Security Administration Links with Special Emphasis on SSI and Special Needs Trusts,” divorce mediations, and negotiations.  His blog is a great resource on family law, elder law, dispute reolution in these areas, and estate planing.  Take a look.  All of these are great focused blogs, but I just don’t think taking on a focus like this would be right for me.  I’d likely lose my drive to post, making what used to be a fun hobby a chore.

In the end, I say just have fun with your blog!

Up until about 3 weeks ago if you used the search phrase “mofomon’s blog” on Google, Mofomon’s Blog would come up as the number one result.  You know, since you searched for it and that is the title of this website.  Everything was running smoothly, wonderfully, accurately.

Now, well go try it, Mofomon’s Blog – this blog – does not come up until the second page!!!  What went wrong?

Honestly, I don’t know.  If someone can lend an SEO hand and let me know I would really appreciate it.

Wouldn’t you think this blog would end up as the #1 result when you search for Mofomon’s Blog?

EDIT/UPDATE:
It turns out that at the time my blog had been attacked by spammers who exploited a security hole in wordpress. They had filled my headers and pages with spam text which dropped me down in rankings. As soon as I updated wordpress and cleaned out the damage they had done, everything returned back to normal. My SEO understanding was sound… I just hadn’t considered a security exploitation as the cause of the drop.

Upgrading your wordpress install is vital considering the updates generally contain important security patches.

You could follow the Wordpress guide here or the extended guide, and manually upgrade it risking accidentally deleting your theme file….

OR

You could install the automatic wordpress upgrade plugin and let it take care of everything for you, even creating the necessary backup files.

This plugin is likely the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I just used it a few days ago to update my install to the newest build.  Wonderful.

A few updates:

I’ve continued to add to the “Where I get deals” section in my sidebar. That area will continue to grow over the coming days with companies, coupons, and other deals. This time I added a few more companies that I enjoy shopping at, and a Buy.com coupon ($5 of $75 purchase of music/movies/games), for those of you who are new customers, here is a link to $5 off $100+ on any purchase at buy.com.

Enjoy!

I have a few other promotional coupons for buy.com as well, so if you would like anything else, leave a comment and I can see what I can do for you.

I am not the quickest on updating my wordpress usually.  It takes me a week or two, between law school and work its a little hard to dedicate the time to upgrading when I am terrified I am break something.  In the meantime, while I am lagging behind updates, its important to make sure that hackers have not been exploiting security holes patched by the next upgrade.  The best way I’ve found to monitor this is by using a great simple plugin called “wordpress exploit scanner.”  You can get it here, just put it into your plugins folder, go to plugins off your dashboard, and run it.  Just a quick note, it will pick up the names of exploits in the plugin file when you run it, so don’t get scared when things come up, just follow the file path and see if its from the plugin, or your blog.

Good luck, hope your blog is safe.