I just want to take a minute to remind you to update your website backend  regularly! It’s critical that you keep all php software updated to the latest version (i.e. WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.) along with their themes, mods, and plugins.

Update your backend software regularly to avoid security risks. Once a software is updated hackers have all the information they need to attack the older versions still running on your website.

Updating can prevent a hack from happening to you!

The newest update to WordPress, version 3.3, has been released. Please update your WordPress install immediately to keep your website secure.

If you aren’t using WordPress yet, here’s something to think about – 1,000+ bloggers migrate each day from Google’s Blogger Blogspot to WordPress.

Google plans to change the name of Blogger to Google Blogs and integrate it with Google+, so this might be the time for you to transfer your Blogger blog to WordPress as well.

WordPress – biggest blog platform

WordPress is the most popular blogging software. Over 50 million people have chosen WordPress to power their blogs and use it to create beautiful and professional blogs.

WordPress is free and it is built by hundreds of community volunteers. WordPress features thousands of free plugins and design themes to help you make your blog stand out.

WordPress is ready to welcome the Google Blogspot bloggers. A free tool has been developed to import posts and comments from your Blogger account into your WordPress site.

“Blogger Importer” WordPress plugin has been used by more than 100,000 bloggers already!

Move from Blogger to WordPress

It is simple to move your Blogger Blogspot blog to WordPress. Here is the quick 7 step process:

1. Install a WordPress.org blog – click here to learn how.
2. In your WordPress Admin go to Tools – Import.
3. Click “Blogger” and on the pop-up click “Install Now”.
4. Click “Authorise” to tell Blogger to let WordPress access your account.
5. This will transfer you to a Google Account page. Click on “Grant Access”.
6. You will see the posts and comments on your Blogger blog. Click “Import”.
7. Assign the imported posts to your author name on your WordPress blog.

Your Blogspot Blogger posts and comments are on WordPress now – welcome to the world of WordPress!

Here’s a chart you may need when choosing the colors for your website.

Look for the link on the bottom to download the chart in PDF format and save it to keep a copy on your own computer. It’s larger and easier to view.

Download PDF

Design your own website?

Want to know a bit more about CSS?

Well, here’s a little cheat sheet to help you along the way.

Click to enlarge:

Here is a simple cheatsheet for the .htaccess file:

Enable Directory Browsing

Options +Indexes
## block a few types of files from showing
IndexIgnore *.wmv *.mp4 *.avi
Disable Directory Browsing

Options All -Indexes
Customize Error Messages

ErrorDocument 403 /forbidden.html
ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.html
ErrorDocument 500 /servererror.html
Get SSI working with HTML/SHTML

AddType text/html .html
AddType text/html .shtml
AddHandler server-parsed .html
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml
# AddHandler server-parsed .htm
Change Default Page (order is followed!)

DirectoryIndex myhome.htm index.htm index.php
Block Users from accessing the site

order deny,allow
deny from 202.54.122.33
deny from 8.70.44.53
deny from .spammers.com
allow from all
Allow only LAN users

order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from 192.168.0.0/24
Redirect Visitors to New Page/Directory

Redirect oldpage.html http://www.domainname.com/newpage.html
Redirect /olddir http://www.domainname.com/newdir/
Block site from specific referrers

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site-to-block\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} site-to-block-2\.com [NC]
RewriteRule .* – [F]
Block Hot Linking/Bandwidth hogging

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mydomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ – [F]
Want to show a “Stealing is Bad” message too?

Add this below the Hot Link Blocking code:

RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ http://www.mydomain.com/dontsteal.gif [R,L]
Stop .htaccess (or any other file) from being viewed
order allow,deny
deny from all

Avoid the 500 Error

# Avoid 500 error by passing charset
AddDefaultCharset utf-8
Grant CGI Access in a directory

Options +ExecCGI
AddHandler cgi-script cgi pl
# To enable all scripts in a directory use the following
# SetHandler cgi-script

WordPress released an update to version 3.14 on June 29th.

WordPress 3.1.4, available now, is a maintenance and security update for all previous versions.

This release fixes an issue that could allow a malicious Editor-level user to gain further access to the site. Thanks go to K. Gudinavicius of SEC Consult for bringing this to their attention. Version 3.1.4 also incorporates several other security fixes and hardening measures thanks to the work of WordPress developers Alexander Concha and Jon Cave of our security team.

If your server is not running PHP 5.2.13 you should make sure that you are currently using WordPress 3.1.4.

For all WebExHosting clients, the latest version of WordPress has arrived. WordPress 3.2 was released yesterday and you should update your wordpress install as soon as possible.

If you’ve ever heard Matt Mullenweg talk about the early days of WordPress, the South by Southwest (SxSW) Interactive festival that takes place each spring in Austin, TX usually crops up in the story. South by Southwest is in full swing right now, and WordPress has been all over the place.

On Friday the 11th, Matt was interviewed by John Battelle of Federated Media in front of a packed ballroom, talking about the future of WordPress. That night, the annual SxSW WordPress BBQ party played host to hundreds of WordPress users, developers, and businesspeople, and attendees got an extra treat this year in the form of a t-shirt made especially to commemorate WordPress and its Texas roots.

On Saturday the 12th, a second party co-hosted by the Austin WordPress Meetup Group and GeekAustin (and co-sponsored by the WordPress Foundation and WPEngine) brought together a similar crowd but with the addition of local WordPress community members who were not registered for the SxSW conference.

Read More…

Well Happy February!

I don’t know what part of the country you’re located in but here in Texas IT IS COLD. It’s only 18 degrees outside as I type this. Texas doesn’t see this kind of cold often and really is not prepared for it either.

According to our electric company there is a state mandate enforcing rolling blackouts due to the lack of electricity available. I don’t believe that this will affect our support ticket response time but if for some reason it takes longer than usual to hear from us please bear with us.

Oh and just so you know, the data centers will not be affected whatsoever.

Keep warm and safe. Spring is on it’s way.

Well, it’s a new year and we’re ready to jump in with both feet.

I always feel like each new year holds great promise and if you’re anything like me new ideas are already beginning to fill your head. Ideas, maybe even resolutions, to get fit, read more, find more time for family, or maybe to get out of debt.

We’re running a special for the month of January of 11% off any package we offer to help with that last idea. Every new business venture needs a website, sometimes it’s the website itself that’s the business.

If you’re looking to start something new, now’s the time. Don’t put it off.

Feel free to contact us if you have questions first. And don’t forget to use the promotion code of New-2011 when you sign up.

May we all be blessed with a wealth of prosperity in this new year.

And getting fit wouldn’t hurt either.

WebExHosting has revamped it’s look. We’ve also added this blog to keep in touch with our clients a little better. What do you think?

Let us know if there is something specific you’d like to see here.