If only we could read minds. Courtesy Paramount Pictures

The other day my wife emailed me a link to a “What’s Your Personality Type?” quiz (PersonalityType.com).

At first I wasn’t too interested but after hearing the results from her test I was intrigued and headed over to the site to take the quiz. It asked me a few questions about what type of person I am, such as do I often say whatever comes to my mind or do I hold things back? It also asked me questions about how organized I am and orderly I like my universe; I prefer orderly, however, with 2 young children running around all day . . . you get the picture

So you’re probably curious as to what personality type I am, aren’t you?

I was awarded with the INTJ personality type. “Yes thank you, I accept this award and I’d like to thank my mother, father, beautiful wife . . .”

The other day Akemi, author of the blog Yes To Me, asked me a few questions in regards to my SEO tips article which I thought deserved a better answer than a quick reply in the comment section.

If you have a question regarding SEO, please feel free to ask below.

SEO Q&A’s

What is duplicate content and how is it created?

Duplicate content is when different URLs show the exact same content. Many times, as in the case with most blogs, duplicate content is generated automatically.

Let’s take for example my article, 20.4 Ways People Scan Your Website. When Googlebot comes to my blog and collects and records a list of URLs on my site, it will notice the following URLs all contain the content of my 20.4 Ways People Scan Your Website article (links open in a new tab):

• http://eventurebiz.com/blog/204-ways-people-scan-your-website/
  (the article’s actual page I want Google to index)
• http://eventurebiz.com/blog/?s=20.4+Ways+People+Scan+Your+Website
  (found through my search box)

This article is for those of you who want to start a blog but aren’t sure what the best way to start one might be. We’ll look at helping you answer the following questions and end with an open discussion for questions.

1. Should I go with a free blog OR spend a little money and purchase my own web hosting?
2. Which program should I use - WordPress or Blogger?
3. Where should I host my WordPress Blog?
4. Conclusion and open discussion.

When I first came to the conclusion that I wanted to start a blog, I treated my decision just like I would any other business venture I might enter into.

The first thing I did was examine what everyone else was using. I quickly noticed most bloggers were using WordPress and had their blog hosted on their own domain (which means they opted to pay for a web hosting account).

Image by Roo Reynolds

We’ve reached the end in our series on how to better secure your WordPress blog. It’s been a bumpy road, but we made it.

The techniques I’ve shown here are by no means exhaustive and I don’t want to give you a false feeling that your blog is fully secured. However, the steps I’ve laid out should provide a decent amount of protection.

Many times these attackers are nothing more than kids who have a program which finds hundreds, if not thousands of login pages all accessible on the Web and will run a set number of algorithms to hack these sites while the kid pulls his corn dogs out of the microwave and gets back to his Play Station game.

The key here then is to accomplish two things:

1. Create a series of road blocks and redirects for anyone other than you who tries to access sensitive WordPress directories (like your login page).

Imagine if there were a file where anyone could go to and easily see such things as your:

• Password
• Database Name
• Server Name
• Information About Your Database

Doesn’t sound like the kind of file you’d want just laying around easily accessible, does it?

Well I got news for you, there is such a file that exists, it’s called wp-config.php.

By default, web browsers shouldn’t be able to display the contents of a .php file, however, as we all know, nothing is set in stone. Obviously, this is an important file you are going to want to protect if you run a blog powered by WordPress. Here’s a quick way to limit access to your wp-config.php file using .htaccess.

Protect wp-config.php With .htaccess

As we saw in Post 4: Setting Up .htaccess in this series, the .htaccess file is vital to the security of your website. It’s also relatively easy to set up - just create a file and name it .htaccess and then paste in some code.

Down Fluffy, down!

Your blog is an extension of you.

It learns as you do. When you need a break, it takes a break. And if it had a lower back it would probably hurt just as yours does.

You’ve spent precious hours, months, even years building your blog to what it is today. Though you felt guilty not spending more time with the family, you knew in your gut what you’re doing here is to help your family in the long run.

It’s morning and the sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon to wake the world up. You sit at your desk, turn on your computer while sipping your Kona coffee - life’s great. You head over to your blog ready to read and answer comments when suddenly your stomach tightens and you feel as though the oxygen has been sucked out of the room.