andydidyk.com

Bear with me, this site will likey be taken down sporadically as I try to implement some new security features. I haven’t found conclusive proof that I’ve been hacked, but Google Webmaster Tools is reporting some major spam keywords in my keywords report (that aren’t being caught by other keyword analysis). Words such as the names for major drugs, porn, software piracy, etc.

For the record, this really isn’t fun. I’ve had to take over two months off of writing regularly just to try and fix all of this stuff in my spare time. On the other hand, I’ve learned a ton about internet security and the importance of taking some basic precautions when running an open sourced CMS, such as Wordpress. I’ve also learned quite a bit about the down-and-dirty world of Search Engine Optimization (something n-tara interactive has lots of experts on but until recently I was but a mere novice in understanding).

Special thanks to Nick Rice, who is always one step ahead of me. I’ll try his suggestions on a couple of Wordpress plugins (Ask Apache and Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam) and manually checking my HTML source code, and I’ll report back soon.

In spite of some of my previous criticisms of Facebook, I have finally taken the plunge and signed up for a Facebook page. At first, it was simply a practical tactic to try and maintain some traffic to site during my difficulties with Google, but I’ve since continued to use it and update it to finally see what exactly my peers had said I was missing out on. A couple of initial observations:

1. It’s fun to get friend invitations from both your current cadre of friends and from people you haven’t spoken to in years.

2. 99% of the communication I’ve received thus far has, in fact, confirmed my initial assertions about Facebook: fun, but not much more than interesting entertainment for now.

3. I can absolutely understand the immense economic value of marketing on a network like Facebook. The opportunity to use the data contained within posts, status updates, associtions, groups, etc., is like having the largest and most detailed marketing database available. Oh, and did I mention that the majority of Facebook users fall within the most desirable demographic in terms of discretionary income?

4. Every interactive agency should have a Facebook and Myspace strategy for their clients if their target audience’s demographics (and attitudes!) fall within the required parameters.

5. Within a few days of joining, my Facebook page rocketed up to the #1 search result in Google for my name. In addtion to the day-to-day banter being fun, it’s also another great way for potential clients to find me (although I wish this site would get re-indexed by Google a little faster).

I know these observations are probably pretty obvious to anyone who has already joined, but for professional folks who don’t find a lot of value in it at first, I can say it’s probably worth setting a page up and seeing what happens.

Well, I’m writing this blog while sitting at a Starbucks (fortunately, it hasn’t been closed yet and isn’t slated to be). It’s a great place to write, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at how cliche it is to be blogging at Starbucks.

As an update, it turns out that my blog was, in fact, dropped from Google. It hasn’t yet been reinstated, despite repeated attempts to contact Google and the filing of a formal complaint. A good friend and former co-worker, Peter Cook, did a little digging for me and discovered that I was a victim of a “splog,” or a “spam blog,” that basically installed a Wordpress plugin that scours the web for recent blog posts with certain keywords and then downloads the post and automatically posts it on the splog.

Because this guy, who for ethical purposes will remain nameless as will his URL, was doing this with thousands of advertising and marketing blog posts per day, his traffic went through the roof, and it made it seem as if every blog from whom he stole content (because of my more modest traffic rankings) was stealing it from the splog! Google’s algorithms know no mercy, and thus it looked like I was the thief from the more “established” site and that I was duplicating his content. Not fun. Or cool at all.

I’ve learned a lot from this experience, and I want to share some excellent resources with all of you in case you find yourself a victim of a splog, or of anyone who steals your content. I want to give credit where credit is due, because without this specific online resource, I would have been lost.

If you suspect that someone has stolen your content, go to Lorelle’s blog on Wordpress. It’s the most comprehensive, one-step-at-a-time approach to dealing with content theft I was able to find. The cut-and-paste letters and forms really helped me as I escalated steps in order to get my content removed.

I’m still not entirely sure why I don’t have any post content showing up in Google, but I’m going to keep posting, do some reading on SEO for blogs, and hopefully everything will work itself out.

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UPDATE: one or two of my blog posts have started resurfacing on Google, but I haven’t received a notice from them as to why. I guess that’s pretty good though. The really good news is that the splog has been vanquished! The deceitful practice has been replaced with a simple site stating that the domain is for sale. Ahh, vindication.

UPDATE AGAIN: Also, the guy posted my emails to him on his blog stating that it was a “one sided conversation” accusing him of content theft. Lovely, eh? He stole it, whether intentionally or through a plugin, and I’m glad he took it down. And someone else bought the URL, so at least I don’t have to worry about that guy anymore.