But by changing a few things in the WordPress theme CSS, we updated all the sites in no time.  I can imagine the pain this would have generated going through traditional channels, but one of the most beautiful things about WordPress is the way it empowers the end user.  The marketing/editorial crew is often held hostage by layers of bureaucracy and hurdles from the design & tech crew.  With a fundamental understanting of CSS and the WordPress structure, anyone can now make changes to their site.  With websites, sometimes it’s just a splinter in your finger, and everyone is chomping at the bit to turn it into brain surgery.

These sites have been instrumental in differentiating their product from the competition, and it’s great to see them updated each week with fresh content, and there’s still drive to keep the look fresh and clean.

A new WordPress vulnerability came across my news feed this morning. It seems like there’s always something new floating around that sounds incredibly scary.  Here’s some info on the new hijinx, and an update here:

Hackers are compromising WordPress 3.2.1 blogs in order to infect their visitors with the notorious TDSS rootkit, according to researchers from Web security firm Websense.

It’s not clear how the websites are being compromised, but there are publicly known exploits for vulnerabilities that affect WordPress 3.2.1, which is an older version of the popular blog publishing platform.

Sounds scary but there are some simple things you can do with your  wordpress site so you can sleep easier at night.

• Run a daily backup of your database using a simple plugin like WP-DB-Backup
• Have a copy of your wp-content folder on your local computer
• Keep your WordPress install updated with the latest version
• Update your plugins and get rid of the ones you tried and don’t use
• The same with your themes.  Remove the themes that didn’t work out.

With these simple practices, if the worst happens, getting back up and running is a fairly uncomplicated scenario.  It’s the little things that can make all the difference when something is compromised.

There will always be things out of your control like a random attack on your site, but make sure to take care of the things you can control.

You can check out the end result here: http://sicularassociates.com. It’s clean, professional, and most importantly, crawling up in the search results.

It’s fairly simple with just a couple of options in the admin.  Download and activate the plugin, then you’ll see a new line under “Settings” called “Admin Bar Options.”  Click that, you’ll see a page with two options.  I check them both but use your best judgment.  Now you can enjoy complete freedom from that sometimes oppressive admin bar.

The schedule on this project, like a lot of other projects in 2011, was tight. It was done over the last two weeks of the year, which is always a weird time since half of the planet seems to be on vacation. So there were no reindeer games at Thicksole this year, but launching a site at the end of the year is a strong way to close it out. Plus the way this looks and operates, I’m really happy with the results!

• An update site: pull news from todays headlines and show how they relate to your book or books (example: Wiley Business Updates)
• One author with many titles (example:  Jeffrey Krames)
• Topic expert  (example: True Cost of Happiness)
• Single theme/design across many sites – save money, build a brand, and cover many topics.  Example: Wiley update sites for Business, Accounting, Finance, and Management.
• Pre announcement site.   (Example: About OSEO)
• Evolved announcement site.  This was set up to build buzz about a coming product but turned into it’s own site with considerable traffic.  (Example:  About OBO)
• WordPress site into iPhone app (if you have the content, would it be useful in a mobile environment?)
• A marketing hub for email sign ups and social media
• Topic site with multiple contributors
• Brochure site – more static and less interesting maybe but at least you’ll turn up in a search!
• Location based site – where things happen (example: Wiley ES Backyard)
• Ask an Expert.  (Example: Wiley iWonder)
• Exclusive site for members or instructors (we built this for Wiley Accounting)
• Video site  for product support  (again, we built this for Wiley Accounting)
• Site transplant – move an old static site into CMS (Example: Wiley IFRS)
• Repurposed content – take pieces of a book put to posts.
• Create a book – you wouldn’t be the first author that created a book from a series of posts
• Thing a day site.  Everyday post a new photo, idea, video, etc.  It’s a great discipline.

So if you want to try one of these ideas, go for it.  The good news is today, the expense of building a site is LOW and there’s no lifetime commitment.  You can pull the plug early and try something else until you find the site you want to take the long walk with.

So, I put together some quotes from Seth Godin that I’ll point to over and over again in 2012.

Seth Godin’s Advice for Authors:

From “Advice for Authors” (July 2005)

So, what’s my best advice?

Build an asset. Large numbers of influential people who read your blog or read your emails or watch your TV show or love your restaurant or or or…

Then, put your idea into a format where it will spread fast. That could be an ebook (a free one) or a pamphlet (a cheap one–the Joy of Jello sold millions and millions of copies at a dollar or less).

Then, if your idea catches on, you can sell the souvenir edition. The book. The thing people keep on their shelf or lend out or get from the library. Books are wonderful (I own too many!) but they’re not necessarily the best vessel for spreading your idea.

And the punchline, of course, is that if you do all these things, you won’t need a publisher. And that’s exactly when a publisher will want you! That’s the sort of author publishers do the best with.

From “Advice for Authors” (August 2006)

#2: The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you’ll need later.

From “The Last Hardcover” (November 2011)

Permission is still the most important and valuable asset of the web (and of publishing). The core group of 50,000 subscribers to the Domino blog made all the difference in getting the word out and turning each of our books into a bestseller. It still amazes me how few online merchants and traditional publishers (and even authors) have done the hard work necessary to create this asset. If you’re an author in search of success and you don’t pursue this with singleminded passion, you’re making a serious error. (See #2 on my advice for authors post from five years ago, or the last part of my other advice for authors post from six years ago.)

From “The Most Important Page on the Web is the Page You Build Yourself” (December 2011)

Lifestyle media isn’t a fad. It’s what human beings have been doing forever, with a brief, recent interruption for a hundred years of professional media along the way. That interruption is fading away, and lifestyle media is resurging. People publish. Instead of denigrating user-generated content (what an obscure way to describe human stories), marketers need to understand that this is what we care about.

We shouldn’t be surprised when someone chooses to publish their photos, their words, their art or their opinions. We should be surprised when they don’t.

Permission is still the most important and valuable asset of the web (and of publishing). The core group of 50,000 subscribers to the Domino blog made all the difference in getting the word out and turning each of our books into a bestseller. It still amazes me how few online merchants and traditional publishers (and even authors) have done the hard work necessary to create this asset. If you’re an author in search of success and you don’t pursue this with singleminded passion, you’re making a serious error. (See #2 on my advice for authors post from five years ago, or the last part of my other advice for authors post from six years ago.)

So, if you have a book, or are thinking about writing one in the next 3 years, start a blog today. It doesn’t have to be through me of course. But, before the end of the year (30 days?!), I’m going to give you some simple tools to start your own site if you’re a writer. The best platform in the business (WordPress) with a few themes designed specifically for writers. Stay tuned. It’s coming up fast.

When I published The End of Faith in 2004, I created this website as an afterthought. In fact, I remember feeling silly asking my publisher to put the web address on the dust jacket, not knowing if there was any point in doing so. While my website has since become the hub of everything I have accomplished as an author, it took me years to understand its utility, and I only began blogging a few months ago. Clearly, I am a slow learner. But many other authors are still pretending that the Internet doesn’t exist. Some will surely see their careers suffer as a result. One fact now seems undeniable: The future of the written word is (mostly or entirely) digital.

I’ve been a proponent of “every author should have a website” since I worked in the book publishing business.  And of course, as a web guy that specializes in sites for authors and publishers, there’s nothing I’d like more than to have my inbox loaded with requests of “help me get started!”.  But another thing I realized is there’s still a technology gap between those that blog and those that don’t.  Guys like me need to make the process simpler and with less friction.  The whole process from design to training has to be streamlined and painless.

Already with every WordPress site we ship, we include an hour or two of training either in person or via GoToMeeting.  We also have a PDF handout that clients can keep at the desk in case something slips their mind.  But it’s not enough.  We tech folk have to make it easier for non-techs to take control of their sites and grow their own digital platforms with great content.