WordPress is urging anyone who has a self-hosted WordPress blog to update as soon as possible. (Your blog is self-hosted if you have it installed on your own domain. If your blog url is something like yourblog.wordpress.com.)

Right now there is a worm making its way around old, unpatched versions of WordPress. This particular worm, like many before it, is clever: it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.

The tactics are new, but the strategy is not. Where this particular worm messes up is in the “clean up” phase: it doesn’t hide itself well and the blogger notices that all his links are broken, which causes him to dig deeper and notice the extent of the damage. Where worms of old would do childish things like defacing your site, the new ones are silent and invisible, so you only notice them when they screw up (as this one did) or your site gets removed from Google for having spam and malware on it.

For more information, see the WordPress blog.

Technorati Tags: Wordpress, blogging

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I have a great analogy that I use to explain to people why they should set up their new blog on their own domain. Most of the people I’m talking about already have a website for their business, or are in the process of creating one, but also want a blog to go along with it. They see free blog sites like Wordpress.com, Blogger, and others and since they’re easy to set up, think they should sign up. But while free hosting sites can be great for certain uses, I usually encourage people to set their blog up on their own domain (also called self-hosting), along with the rest of their website.

So why should you set up your blog on your own domain?

Think of it like this…

At Christmas time, there’s this one neighborhood where everybody decorates their house with one strand of Christmas lights. The festive lights make for a really pretty sight – it’s one long block of light after twinkling light. And when people walk down the street they take a look at the lights on each house and say “awww…how pretty” time after time after time.

Now, there’s a guy named Joe who lives in the neighborhood and even though he owns two houses on one block, you’d never know it. They’re at opposite ends of the street and just like everybody else, every year he puts one strand of lights on each house.

One year Joe gets a great idea. He decides to skip putting lights on one of his houses so he can put both of his strands of lights on the other house. Now all of a sudden, he has twice as many lights on his house than any of his neighbors! And when it starts getting dark and everybody in the neighborhood turns their lights on, things are a bit different. People walking down the street still say “awww…how pretty” but when they get to Joe’s house, they actually stop! He smiles as he hears comments like “WOW! That’s awesome,” “Look at all those lights,” and “This is the best house on the block!” People spend time in front of his house enjoying the best light show in the neighborhood. And later, they tell their friends about the great light show at Joe Cool’s house.

Now, back to you…

If you’re thinking of doing a website at www.yourowndomain.com and a blog at yourblog.blogspot.com, think about Joe. Then think of your blog as a strand of Christmas lights…you want those lights (your blog!) on your own domain right along with your website!

When you add your blog to the same domain as your website it’s going to add more content (more lights!) to your place online. That additional content will give your visitors and the search engines more to look at. And, since you’ll be updating your blog regularly (uh huh…that’s part of blogging!) that will keep your visitors coming back for more. It’ll also help the search engines notice you more…and who doesn’t want to be noticed by search engines?!

So get your blog on your own domain and turn those lights on!

Still uncertain about the whole  thing? Check out this post- A free Wordpress blog can really cost you – at Social Media Therapy.

Just as an aside. . .

I want to mention that doing some additional blogging on other websites, such as tumblr, can be a great way to add to your who social media strategy – but that’s a whole ‘nother post!

If you’re thinking of setting up a blog, but don’t know where to start, let me know. I have a blog setup package that can get you blogging in no time!  Contact me for more info.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, free blogging sites

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