WordPress 4.7.3 Security and Maintenance Release

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WordPress 4.7.3 became available today. This is a security release for all previous versions and it’s strongly recommended to update your sites immediately. The new version addresses six security issues that may put your website at risk of being hacked.

While WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically today, do it yourself (if you are confident enough) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

WordPress 4.7.2 Security and Maintenance Release

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WordPress 4.7.2 became available today. This is a security release for all previous versions and it’s strongly recommended to update your sites immediately. The new version addresses three security issues that may put your website at risk of being hacked.

While WordPress.org already started automatic background updates that do not require you to do anything it may take some time for them to get to your website. If it does not update automatically today, do it yourself (if you are confident enough) or contact Dusk Owl for help.

How to Set Up a Group Blog – Website Guides, Tips and Knowledge

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There are plenty of legitimate reasons to consider opening your blog up to more than one author. Maybe you’re part of a group of author-illustrators, and you all want to combine your reach and benefit from each other’s fan bases. Maybe you’re just tired of being responsible for each and every post yourself! Whatever the reason, sharing the blogging load requires setting up a specific group blog – not just giving your password to all of your friends.

WordPress 4.7.1 Security and Maintenance Release

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WordPress.org today announced the immediate availability of WordPress 4.7.1. This is a security release for all previous versions and it’s strongly recommended to update your sites immediately. WordPress versions 4.7 and earlier are affected by eight security issues that may put your website at risk of being hacked.

While WordPress performs such releases automatically, it takes time to do it from their end. After all, WordPress powers millions of websites. If your site has not been updated automatically today, do it yourself if you are confident enough or contact us for help.

For the love of blog – why every online business should maintain a blog

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The benefits of keeping a blog are so simple that it’s easy to overlook them in favor of more complex or trendy forms of digital marketing. Chris Woods explains how, when used correctly, a business blog can become a reliable and profitable tool in your content marketing strategy.

SQL Injection Vulnerability in Ninja Forms

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As part of their regular research audits for their Sucuri Firewall, Sucuri team discovered an SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the Ninja Forms plugin for WordPress, currently installed on 600,000+ websites.

A malicious individual using this bug could (among other things) leak the site’s usernames and hashed passwords. In certain configurations, it can also leak WordPress secret keys.

If you are not using the latest version of this plugin where the vulnerability has been fixed, update it as soon as possible or contact Dusk Owl for help with the update.

Keeping a Fresh Blog: What to Do with Your Old Blog Posts?

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In the blogging world, managing and maintaining your old content is the digital equivalent of cleaning out your rain gutters. You know you need to do it, but something else is always more urgent. Unfortunately, the longer you wait, the more risks you accumulate. And like the day you notice costly water damage, failure to maintain your blog can come back to haunt you.

Why Should You Care About Old Blog Posts?

The #1 reason why position #1 doesn’t matter

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As the layout of search engine results pages continues to change and evolve, columnist Rachel Lindteigen notes that being the top result may not be as important as it used to be.

Position #1 isn’t as important as being the direct answer. Focus on creating great content that’s useful to your audience, and target the queries that would send someone to your site. While simple answers such as “what is a substitute for self-rising flour” may not drive tons of traffic, queries like “how to hang drapes” will likely drive traffic and quite possibly revenue in time.

Rachel Lindteigen

The Anatomy of a Killer Landing Page

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Ever designed a landing page from scratch? It can be a scary undertaking. There you are, alone against the blank white page. Where do you start? What should you include? What should you not include? It doesn’t have to be so daunting. There are some common elements almost every landing page has. Pam Neely has rounded them up in this informative but easy to follow article.

5 Tips to Improve the Health of Your Email Marketing List

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Good email list hygiene is a best practice for any targeted, effective email marketing program. Email hygiene means that you scrutinize your email subscription list and remove invalid or non-responsive addresses.

A “clean list” means that you have a better chance of getting your emails delivered. Follow these 5 tips5 tips to improve the health of your email marketing campaigns.