One of the unique features of a blog, as compared to a standard website, is that a blog allows the reader to post comments about what they have read.

But what if you don’t want people leaving comments?  How do you prevent that?

It is a very simple process.  To disable comment on the whole site go to your WP Dashboard and go to Settings>Discussion>Default Article Settings.  Make sure the “Allow people to post comments on new articles” is unchecked.

Next go to “Other comment settings” and check the box called “Automatically close comments on articles older than x days”  Set this to 1 day.

Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Save Changes”  and you are done!

You can also close comments for a specific post.  Open your post and in the Visual Editor and scroll down to Discussion and uncheck  “Allow comments” and “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page.”  When you are done writing or editing your post click Publish or Update and comments for that post are disabled.

If you have any questions please contact The Blog Builder Guy.

Written By The Blog Builder Guy

How to Disable Comments in Your WordPress Blog is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

It is a good idea to keep prying eyes out of your blog directory.  Why? Well, #1, it’s nobody’s business what is in your directory and #2, there’s no telling what somebody might do with that information.  This is especially true is you have a membership site that people pay to access that information.  Or perhaps you have photos etc. that you only want to share with certain people like family members.

Keep your content safe from those who have no business seeing it.

Here is a simple way to protect the directory in your WordPress blog setup.  If you have any questions please let The Blog Builder Guy know!

Written By The Blog Builder Guy

Protect Your WordPress Directory is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

Creating a secure password is easy but trying to remember it is another thing altogether. Here are a couple of  techniques to create a secure password and make it easy to remember.

I picked the name of the creek that ran behind my house when I was a kid.  Now that might be okay but let’s take it a step further.
smokes creek and add a few things.

sMokes’cReek#295   I capitalized the 2nd letter of each word.  Then I added the apostrophe to make it a  possessive noun.  ( I was an English major what can I say? )  Then I added the number sign before the numbers which is the number of the house I grew up in.

So I’ve got 16 characters, which is great, and it is easy to remember.  And no I’m not using that password for anything.

How about using a nursery rhyme?  The Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe.

”ToLwLiAs.”  Every other letter is a capital with a period at the end and the whole thing enclosed in quotes.   Hard to crack but easy to remember.

As I mentioned before you should always use a different password for every log-in you have.   I recommend LastPass for this.  It’s free and it will even help you find secure passwords.  I’ve been using it for almost a year and it is quick and easy to setup and use.

Written By The Blog Builder Guy

Creating a Secure Password is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

In a previous post, Secure Passwords Are Hard to Hack, I mentioned that secure passwords are the first line of defense in keeping your website safe.   And not only your site but bank accounts, email addresses and whatever sites you log-in to on the internet.  Passwords are a big part of our online lives and secure ones are a must!  And, please, don’t use the same one for multiple sites.

Because remembering a secure password can be difficult, people generally go for something that is easy to remember.  I’ve been guilty of that myself and I learned my lesson the hard way!  Learn from my mistakes!

Most popular passwords:

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. lifehack
5. qwerty
6. abc123
7. 111111
8. monkey
9. consumer
10. 12345
11. 0
12. letmein
13. trustno1
14. iloveyou
15. 654321

I particularly like #8- monkey.  Who woulda thought!

Password Length

NASA recommends that passwords be at least 8 characters.  And they should use:

UPPER CASE LETTERS
lower case letters
0123456789   (numerals)
!@#$%^&*(),<?/+=    (special characters)

These are the types of passwords that you shouldn’t use:

• Dictionary words in any language

• Personal information such as your:
  Name
  Spouse or children’s names
  Birthdays
  Social Security Number
  Phone number
  Pet names

• Words that are spelled backwards, abbreviation or common misspellings.

With identity theft on the rise and hackers using more and more sophisticated tools it is essential that you have secure passwords.

In my next post I will offer some tips for creating strong passwords.  Until then remember…passwords are like your toothbrush, use a good one and don’t share it.

The Blog Builder Guy

The Most Popular Passwords is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

Update Your Blog to the Latest WP Version is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

Last century (1996) Bill Gates said that “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet.” From that came the phrase “content is king”.

With Google’s recent “Panda Update” also know as the Content Farm or Farmer update it can now be said that “Quality content is king.”

Google has changed their search engine ranking algorithm to try and eliminate sites with low quality content. And as you might expect it has angered many people whose sites dropped in the rankings. While on the other hand, those whose sites have risen in the rankings are very happy.

To quote from The Official Google Blog:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

So no matter which end of the rankings you fall on, this change points out one very important factor. If you want your site to rank high you MUST provide quality content. And Google’s new update just reinforces that point.

Google also made other changes to their algorithm.  And those changes were designed to eliminate sites that have a lot of advertising such as banner ad or display ads. So keep that in mind when adding affiliate links or even Google Adsense.

So in the end what does it mean for you as a website or blog owner?  Keep producing quality content whether it be words, video or audio.  Add value to your site and strive to educate your readers and engage them in conservation.

Do that and you will be fine and your readers will keep coming back for more and who knows they may even want to do business with you!!

Create Quality Content for Your Blog is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

With literally thousands of plugins available how do you tell the good from the not so good?  This video shows you how.  Visit Learning About WordPress to learn how easy it is to build a blog.

Is This a Good WordPress Plugin? is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

See how easy it is to add plugins to your blog setup.  And to learn more about WordPress visit Learning About WordPress.

Add Plugins To Your Blog Setup for More Functionality is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QU7jIKCQzQ[/youtube]

For more information about WordPress blogs and how to build one visit:

Learning About WordPress

Install a New Theme for Your Blog Setup is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

Try using QuickInstall to start your next blog setup.  It’s fast…very fast!  But you need to change the default ”admin” name to something more secure.  To learn more about WordPress security head on over to Learning About WordPress.

Build Your Blog Fast is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!