It seems that when MediaTemple sets up a GS account they create and alias in the domains folder with permissions set to 777 (world read/write/execute). I’ve changed these permissions on my account to something more locked down like 755.

I noticed this on my main account, opened over two years ago, and on a new GS account I opened a couple months back intending to move my biggest site in order to spread my GPU load. I checked my fresh untouched account and it too was setup with a 777 alias.

I also now wonder if JohnnyA was a MediaTemple GS customer at one time and had noticed this vulnerability and build a script to exploit it. If so it should be easier to track him down and get his butt tossed in the slammer. Maybe then someone more ruthless than he can discover a way to exploit his backdoor. hahaha

I’ll let MediaTemple know what I found, but in the mean time you may want to lock this file down while your checking the permissions on all your folders and files.

There are some troubling lines of code though. For example these few lines change file permissions and edit for immediate or later code insertions. Although he’s using 0644 and not 777 which would make files wide open to public read/write/execute, which is even more curious.

if (!is_writable($b6)) @chmod($b6, 0644);

$b8 = @filemtime($b6);

@copy($a6,$a6.’1.php’);

@touch($b6,$b8,$b8);

@touch($a6.’1.php’,$b8,$b8);

Also check the file permission on your files via FTP and triple check your .htaccess file. I use WP-Super-Cache to rewrite the .htaccess file and help speed up performance.

There are some other plugins you can install like Exploit Scanner which seem to help you explore vulnerabilities. But I’ve not found any tool that words perfectly to block this JohnnyA.

I’ve alerted Google to the problem but if you run a WordPress Blog you should immediately check for unwanted administrators like johnnyA and delete.

When I find his code I’ll post again explaining how to remove his code. I’ll also try to find the hole in WordPress security.

My inbox is still crammed full of questions from new readers. The most common questions are:

• Where can a tiny house be parked?
• How much do they cost?
• How do I get started building one?

I’ll do some writing on these topics in the coming week to see if I can help shed some light on these popular topics.

Big thanks to Yahoo. It’s really wonderful to see this very important alternative housing topic covered so prominently. I also want to sincerely thank my friends Jay Shafer, and Steve Weissman over at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company!

Once a blog’s traffic increases to a certain level it becomes eligible for ad networks that pay per impression instead of per click like Google. Google limits you to three ad units per page. The benefit of adding another ad network is that you can theoretically double your ad revenue by doubling the number of ads on the page, as long as you don’t run into the downside of the law of diminishing returns by filling the page with ads.

I was running 7 ad spaces on TinyHouseDesign.com until today, but finally became dissatisfied with the pale green ads my second ad network was delivering. I also became very dissatisfied with their management when my sell-through rate dropped dramatically without any satisfactory explanation. I’ll keep one ad unit running in a prominent spot for a few months to see if this is just a temporary issue.

Catch-22 for Ad Networks

You see I think the main problem is that most of the advertising dollars out there right now are coming from large corporations that typically to focus on green-washing campaigns more than truly green endeavors. So ad networks are probably caught in a catch-22 just like most small businesses in America. They can either cling to their ethics and face ruin or accept a wider variety of advertising deals and survive.

Catch-22 for Bloggers

Green bloggers who rely on advertising revenue as their main source of income are also stuck in a hard spot. They can either choose to struggle and cut out these pale green ads or buck it up and let them continue running.

Thanks God for Day Jobs & Multiple Income Streams

Luckily for me I have a good day job. So instead of continuing to let these pale green ads run on TinyHouseDesign.com, I’ll refocus my attention on monetizing my site in other ways, like drawing more tiny house plans.

This also a good example of how pro-blogging really works, at least in my experience. It begins with a leap of faith and the writing must come from the heart. Actually that part should never stop. You’ll shout into the dark for quite some time and people may begin to listen. Then you’ll learn through comments and analytics what people are most interested in and focus on those topics. As more people subscribe and become regular readers traffic grows and slowly income streams develop. Progress often comes as spikes in traffic followed by higher bumpy plateaus, but grows steadily over time.

I never intend to leave my day job to blog full time because it’s a wonderful income stream all by itself. In other words my goal is to become completely debt free, not quit my day job. I think a lot of people make the mistake of making self employment a goal; I did once, but I think the goal should really be bigger than that.

I’ve made it about the lifestyle and life I want to live which is about becoming more self-sufficient and living more sustainably. Money and debt reduction are just tools I can use today for helping me achieve these goals.

Don’t get me wrong, you can make money blogging, but it seems most of the probloggers are so focused on selling the idea of blogging to schemers that they often sound like schemers themselves with all their ebooks, mentorships, and classes. I have no plans to ‘make money’ writing about blogging; I’ll stick to selling something of real value, tiny house plans. So in other words… what I’ll have to say about blogging will be free.

So if you want a slightly different tone I hope you’ll follow me at BasicSimplicity.com. I also setup a Twitter account specifically for Basic Simplicity theme and blogging tweets @basicsimplicity.

Every time you add a plugin you slow down your blog and eat up server processor time. This is often not a problem for low traffic blogs but as you get more traffic you’ll grow out of your shared hosting much faster. So it is best to only run plugins you really need or that provide valuable features.

You might also notice there are no statistics plugins on my list. This is because any type of plugin that logs user activity makes heavy demands on a server. I find that it’s much better to use something like Google Analytics for logging user data than weighing your own database down with so much extra work. It can also save you a bunch of money by allowing you to stay on a shared hosting platform longer.

My Must Have WordPress Plugin Recommendations

• Akismet – Stops spammers cold.
• Contact Form 7 – Simple contact form plugin.
• Google XML Sitemaps – Automated Google sitemap generator to improve SEO (search engine optimization).
• MobilePress – Automatically generates a mobile (and iPhone) version of your blog.
• PHPEnkoder – Automatically masks email addresses that are occasionally posted.
• Search Everything – Makes the built-in search work better.
• SexyBookmarks – Elegant social media promotion plugin.
• WordPress Database Backup – Your content is your most valuable asset. Be sure to keep a backup of all your blogs.
• WP Super Cache – Reduces the load on your server, specifically MySQL (the database) and speeds page loads.

If you are using any plugins you’d like to suggest I’d love to hear about them. Please post a comment.

Overview

What’s a Kindle? Amazon has developed a electronic tablet for reading electronic books.

A blog on Kindle? Amazon has opened Kindle up for reading blogs just like you would read an electronic book. Subscribers pay a monthly subscription fee to Amazon.

Why is there a subscription fee? There is no option to deliver the blog free on Kindle at this time. I guess Amazon is thinking that a small subscription fee is worth the convenience of reading blogs on Kindle.

Do I get paid? Blog publishers get 30% of the monthly subscription fee. The subscription rate pricing is determined by Amazon.

How To

Step 1. Create an Account: (Create your Kindle Publishing Account) You’ll need to provide your tax identification number (like Social Security Number), address, and answers to security questions like your mother’s maiden name, and other information just like you would for any affiliate account. This is not the same as your Amazon Associates account.

Step 2. Add a Blog: You’ll need to prepare the following graphic images and information before you’ll be able to complete their submission form:

Screenshot: This image must be 800×600 pixels or smaller and less than 1.0 MB. You must use GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP.

Masthead: This image must be 430×50 pixels or smaller and less than 1.0 MB. You must use GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP.

Blog Description: Write a concise description of your blog that surfaces the most popular features of your blog. I always refer to my Google Analytics account when trying to understand the most popular content on my blogs.

Keywords/Tags: They allow 128 characters worth of keywords/tags. Be sure to choose wisely because these are used when people search for Kindle content.

RSS Feed URL: I submitted my original WordPress generated RSS URL. I didn’t want my Kindle account to rely on my Feedburner RSS URL. If you don’t know what your RSS URL is just view source and look for a line of code that looks like this:

<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title=”Tiny House Design RSS Feed” href=”http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/feed/” />

The RSS URL in this example is: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/feed/

Submission Form: Here is a screenshot of their submission form. Just click the thumbnail to see the full size image.

Step 3. Wait for Approval: It takes up to 72 hours for Amazon to approve or reject your submission.

Conclusion

This seems like a really interesting way to monetize and promote a blog. I think it’s still too early to know if Kindle will be a big hit like the iPhone but it does make sense to jump in early and get your blog on Kindle. It takes little time and costs no money and has great potential.

The newest Kindle seems like a really nifty device. I like it mostly because it would make it easy to downsize the bulk of a library and reduce the number of possessions we own. As a simple living advocate and anti-consumerist it’s a little ironic that I’d actually see value in any consumer product but this one would actually reduce the books your have to store.

Create your Kindle Publishing Account

Update! Both blogs I submitted were approved and are now available on Amazon Kindle. Take a look:

• Tiny House Design
• Tiny House Living
  

The benefit of this is that Apache can take the load and MySQL burns up the servers processor, relatively speaking. My host, Media Temple, charges more money when you use more than your fair share of your shared server’s processor. This seems fair and I like Media Temple because their system can auto scale-up to take huge traffic days, and I’ve had several on Tiny House Design.

My testing has shown that WP Super Cache does reduce my cost because it lightens the load on MySQL. It also speeds up my page loads because Apache is incredibly efficient at serving up flat HTML pages and images.

So I highly recommend WP Super Cache but will also warn you to be sure to read all the installation documentation and learn how to back it out if you experience a crash.

Here are screenshots from my GPU usage (processor use) at Media Temple and Google Analytics during the same time period. As you can see traffic was flat and GPU usage remained low.

Above: Control panel on Media Temple that shows low GPU usage.
Below: Report on Google Analytics.