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Category Archives: Website Administration
Change your WordPress prefix
One area of WordPress setup that many people miss is changing their database prefix. This is a setting in the wp-config.php file that determines what WordPress uses to talk to your database. By default WordPress adds wp_ to the front of all of your tables, but you should consider changing this to something very random.
Why? Well, an exploit has just surfaced for the 2.1.3 version of WordPress (and possibly previous versions) that allows someone to steal your admin password–but it only works if they know your WordPress prefix. Of course since most people haven’t changed this they know to use wp_.
Unfortunately it’s not a simple fix AFTER you have installed things. The prefix gets written to your entire database, so DON’T change it now after you’ve installed and are running, it’ll cause you to create an entirely new database within your current one, but not set to your current settings. The actual fix would be to download your database .sql file and use a text editor to change the entire thing (Ugh!).
Anyway, I’m updating my install tutorial to mention this important step.
Where’s All The Webcomic News Fit To Read?
Webcomics are not yet a mainstream news item on cnn.com, so where can you go to get information on new developments in the field? There are a wide number of blogs out there reporting and reviewing webcomics, two that I read are Fleen and Comixpedia. They also are pretty easy to submit news to (if it’s not trivial or spam), and in most cases you can expect them to post about it on their main page. It’s always good to know who’s out there and what they’re doing, especially when you are just getting started.
links: Fleen.com
Comixpedia.com
Little Tips No.1
During the discussion on a Webcomic panel I was part of at Balticon this weekend I was reminded of an important tip that I always tell people who are starting out: Even if your website will be hosted at a community website or some other site that you don’t own, the best idea is to buy a URL and point it at where your site will be.
What this means is, if you are on Drunk Duck or Webcomics Nation, or even at a friend’s webserver–if you go out and buy a domain name called say “TheBestComicYouKnow.com” and then forward to the actual website location (which might be Comicgenesis.com/TheBestComicYouKnow), whenever anyone links to your comic have them use the URL you bought, not the actual location.
Why? Well, if you get very successful you’ll eventually want to move to your own server or location using your bought URL, and you DON’T want links that mentioned you going to that old location at Comicgenesis–essentially you would end up losing those links and Google pagerank and any press or writeups since you aren’t there anymore (and don’t expect the old places to forward to your new location) –so they would go to a dead end, and traffic numbers and things on the Internet need to find you to be important.
It costs practically nothing to buy a URL per year ($15 or less per year) and forwarding costs almost nothing. In the end you’ll be thankful you thought ahead.
Things to Think About When Designing Your Site
This site hosts a list of questions for the web designer to think about before they get too far into making a crappy website. This is especially true for sites that really want to make money or gain a branding identity. It helps you understand in pretty plain terms why some design ideas may appeal to YOU, but have no value to a visitor and will actually make you lose customers or readers.
Link: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/04/20/10-rules-for-your-small-business-home-page/
How “Strong” is your Site?
This website has a tool that supposedly shows the “page strength” of your website (think overall popularity and exposure). A good tool to get some info on how many links and references there are out there to your website (they compile things like who’s linking to your site, Wikipedia references, what types of sites are referencing you, etc.). They have a few other tools also, but most require you to pay $$$ to use them.