The site is Befuddle and it looks like a script is inserting some code into the foot of all the Wordpress (version 2.6) files that end index.php. Each day I’ve edited each of the files affected but three days on the bounce it returns at approximately 8:50pm.

The code includes a list of urls and begin

text block fishka

div name=fishka id=”fishka

I viewed one of the links via Firefox and Norton Inernet Security immediately popped up saying ‘A recent attempt to attack your computer was blocked’. This came from softwareclicks2.com.
I’ve been made aware of these hacks as I noticed that the last login dates and times for my sites don’t tally with when I’ve actually last looked at them.

I’ve since changed my ftp password but am wondering if there’s a flaw with one of the plug-ins. Here are the list of files compromised.

• /index.php
• /wp-content/index.php
• /wp-content/plugins/headspace2/modules/page/noindex.php
• /wp-content/themes/default/index.php
• /wp-content/themes/classic/index.php
• /wp-content/themes/befuddle/index.php

I’ve been in touch with my host and they say that ‘an account can easily be exploited due to insecure script/backdated scripts’.

I’ve seen all my WordPress sites hacked at some point but this one is persistant and I’m not sure of how to get rid of it.

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See, it’s up Here, across there and all the way down there too.

Well I thought I’d add the free WordPress plugin myself but use it to advertise your sites for free.

All you’ve got to do is talk to me.

So, if you’re talking to me. Add your insight to my blog posts and the best relevant one liners within the comments will be highlighted above. Some links will go direct to the post whilst others can go direct to your site.

I’ve customised the strip so that it doesn’t look like a blatant advertising slot. With a MaxBlog Press Stripe Ad you can:

• Create an unlimited amount of stripe ads
• Choose the frequency of display and give each ad it’s own weight
• Customize the look and feel of the ads to match your blog’s layout
• Choose to have it static, or to hover at the top of you blog while scrolling down
• Advertise an affiliate link, links to your own products, or special “timed” offers and promotions

I look forward to reading and approving more of your comments.

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The sale was for Yes Asia on the Webgains network and the user had searched for “yes asia coupons”. I can see from StatCounter that the user was from Singapore and was using Google Singapore.

The reason the page was removed was because I put some draft copy on for the first two days of its soft launch. I then disabled the WordPress posts as I changed the tone of the copy being posted.

Voucher Diary currently only includes a dozen posts but I am impressed with its position in Google already for some decent search terms. One of the pages is number one for a search phrase that I’d love my other site Shop Codes to be in. As it is, it’s for a merchant where the code has just expired.

I’ve not yet thought of the best approach to handle these expired posts/pages. The nature of Voucher Diary is that the posts will expire as soon as the codes do. That’s the whole objective – highlight expiring voucher codes. So I’ll have a play with that over the weekend.

Good to see that a sale was made from abroad too and maybe Voucher Diary has opportunity to promote other International merchants.

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Voucher Diary is the third (but not final) stage of my WordPress experiment.

Experiment 1 – 1234 Codes

In January I launched 1234codes as a back-up to my Shop Codes content. It was effectively the same content but on another domain. I wanted to see how Google compared both sites and in particular the pages. Google preferred 1234codes and the Shop Codes pages were often in the Supplemental index.

Experiment 2 – Shop Codes – bite size

I then upgraded WordPress but in the process lost my content so I implemented a WordPress blog within the Shop Codes site. Calling it ‘Shop Codes – bite size‘ it was the same content but with a different navigation structure and a lot less graphic intensive. Again I could compare how Google treated the same content within the same domain.

During July, Google listed both pages together in the SERPS. If you performed a search for ‘Comet’ say, the first result for my site would be the original Shop Codes page and the second indented result would be the ‘bite size’ version.

I then went away on holiday for three weeks and didn’t perform any site updates. I came back to find that Google had again changed the way it displayed my site in the results. This was at the same time they removed their Supplemental Index.

This time around the ‘bite size’ pages were getting top billing but the original Shop Codes merchants pages were hidden a little deeper.

So in both cases it was clear that Google preferred the cleaner build of the WordPress pages rather than my hand crafted own.

With ‘bite size’ I am having template issues, in that it always reverts back to the original design, so I have spent a few evenings searching for the best free designs available, looking for one that will stick.

Experiment 3 – Voucher Diary

Whilst browsing WordPress themes I found two designs that were designed to look like a diary. I’m sat on several domain names that I’ve not touched since I’ve purchased them and so I thought it would be an appropriate time to have a play with ‘Voucher Diary’.

The focus of ‘Voucher Diary’ will be to display codes that are new or about to expire. I’d not launched this sooner as I don’t have a CMS but Word Press has a plug-in or two you can use to handle expired posts.

I launched it with duplicate content to begin with, allowing me time to find a design and category structure I was comfortable with.

I then looked at the tone of the content and thought best it should be written in a diary style. So I am currently playing with having a male and female guest characters updating the content.

And that’s where I am today. I’ve still got design and content to modify until I’m satisfied with the final product but it’s good to see that it is being indexed by Google already.

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So June dipped a lot but it was only a huge blow because I was used to better times. However, this happened to be a little wake up call. Now that the audience wasn’t there I knew I could “tinker” with the site and basically have nothing to lose.

Google didn’t stop delivering traffic to my site. It just didn’t link to many “shop” pages, instead it was just happy to send me people to my home page.

So the traffic is back (maybe another 30 days?) and one or more of these beliefs and actions helped it along the way …

FIX 1: Add a search box to the home page.

Before I could please the search engines I had to take care of the visitors. I previously didn’t have a search on my site as I want people to navigate past related items, click links and not go for the easy option. With a search they may not see related offers.

FIX 2: Change page titles.

I’d already gotten into the habit of producing dynamic page titles dependant on the content. If I didn’t have a code say for Argos, I wouldn’t say I had in the titles or other meta data. Each time I add a new offer to the page, the page title reflects the new offer. And if the search engine is saying that my site is offering a June offer but it’s now July’s offer. That’s a bad reflection on their part and not my site. They just need to come and spider a bit more frequently.

FIX 3. Re-write all urls.

I re-wrote all my urls so that they were consistent. I used to serve the same pages at different urls so the keywords within them would be highlighted in the search result pages. This resulted in duplicate content and unintentional spidering and lots of pages going straight into the supplemental index.

FIX 4. Remove distractions.

I had a Wordpress version of my site which was only a few months old. It was effectively a duplicate copy but without the heavy images and a better url structure. When my Shop Codes traffic dipped, it wasn’t a surprise to see that one of my major competitor sites, happened to be myself. So rather go with that one, I killed it, albeit not totally intentionally.

FIX 5. Grab that tail
Once my site was taking its shape it was time to look at the content on the pages. I’ve decided to target three keyword phrases for each merchant I promote. As an example for Petmeds, I am explicitly looking to tap the market of users searching for “Petmeds Coupon Code”.

FIX 6. Use the meta tools to be descriptive
My targeted keywords were moved to the front of the page titles and repeated in the description. I’m a firm believer that sites that stuff their descriptions with repeated keywords will soon fall from grace. Look again at the Petmeds example above. The page title and description say exactly what is on the page. OK, I may not receive visitors searching for “Petmeds voucher code” but don’t bet against it. Simplicity wins. On that note, one of my next tasks is to make sure all pages include no more than five keywords.

FIX 7. Diversify.

I’ve now got an RSS feed and a newsletter that goes out every other day with 50 subscribers. That’s approximately one new sign-up per day. In both cases the content is being pushed to different audiences. My codes are syndicated on other sites and with email, subscribers can browse at their leisure.

FIX 8. Add more distractions.

Knowing that my Wordpress blog was doing well for itself on another domain, I brought it ‘inside’. Some of these new pages were quickly indexed and started ranking higher than the ‘originals’ which were in the Supplemental.

FIX 9. Truly believe content is king.

With unique content or a unique spin on the same content, a site will stand out. So I continued to press for new exclusive codes and continued to update the regular offers long into the night, despite knowing not so many people would get to see the information. Once the content is not updated then the search engines have a right not to visit.

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I lost one of my WordPress websites this morning when I upgraded it. My site www.1234codes.co.uk [now redirecting elsewhere] was beginning to appear on page one of some Google queries and as a result was receiving a share of new unique visitors each day. So I thought I’d update it for the first time since its February launch as most of the content was dated.

So after spending Saturday pruning the content and uploading a few new offers, my plan for Sunday was to find a new theme for it.

On my travels though, I saw that WordPress 2.2 (”The latest stable release”) was available to download. The upgrade pages couldn’t stress any more that you needed to backup the database. So I did. More than once.

Then I uploaded the software via my hosting company Servage. Clicking two little links “Autoinstaller” and “install” ruined everything. All the content had gone. No problem I thought, I’ve got backups.

However, when I tried to import them it was reporting MySQL errors at me. And that’s where the WordPress site left me. “Support is closed for the weekend.”

So I’ve 301 redirected the site to my main site and for the foreseeable future 1234codes is closed for business.

That website only ever was an experiment to see how the search engines would treat it. So I have learned something at least. Don’t ever upgrade, be happy with what you’ve got!

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Today, this very site is on page two for that search term and is the 14th site listed; whilst my other new wordpress site 1234Codes.co.uk is a little behind on page 8. The cached version of that page which advertises Truprint shows that there’s a link labelled “Dixons – £30 Off Discount Voucher Code“.
Shop Codes has improved, it’s now on page 18. A jump of approximately seventy positions.

I’m going to update the text links within my site so that the Dixons links are worded slightly differently. Currently they read: “Dixons (£30 Off Codes).

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