Yes! Drupal remains one of top 3 web development platforms. It security is superb. Websites lie the White House still run on Drupal and its actually very popular in the U.S. So we will continue to speak of Drupal in the feature.

thariodamaniac:
Drupal in 2019... U try o

Drupal Webform, since its inclusion in the set of Drupal modules has proved to be very useful as a solution to add contact forms. This plugin has made the whole process seamless. So, in this tutorial for beginners, I will give you an introduction to Drupal Webform and further discuss its advantages with the steps to add it.



What are Drupal Weform?
Why we need Drupal Webform?
How to add Drupal Webform?
Steps to add Drupal Webform
Step 1. Login to your account with your Drupal ID
Step 2. Select “Manage” tab
Step 3. Select “Extend” tab
Step 4. Select “Webform” and Click “Install”
Step 5. Select “Structure” tab
Step 6. Select “Webforms” from the list of installed modules
What are components of Dashboard of Drupal Webform?
How to do Customization in Drupal Webform?
Drupal Webforms: Conclusion

Read full article: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/886/How-to-Add-Drupal-Webform-to-your-Website.html

The WordPress Gutenberg has been met with strong criticism regarding its rollout, that should not be a reason not to try it. Gutenberg is the future of WordPress. If you are still skeptical about Gutenberg, this post is for you. Below, we will share with you 12 exciting Gutenberg features that should make you switch to Gutenberg right now.

What you will find in this article:

A Brief Introduction to the Gutenberg Block Editor
Feature 1: Copy-Pasting Google Docs to Gutenberg
Feature 2: Insert Blocks with the Slash Command
Feature 3: Drag and Drop Images from your Device Directly to Gutenberg
Feature 4: Adding Links by Pasting
Feature 5: Top Toolbar, Spotlight Mode, and Full-Screen Mode
Feature 5.1: Top Toolbar (Started as Unified Toolbar)
Feature 5.2: Spotlight Mode
Feature 5.3: Full-Screen mode
Feature 6: Reusable Blocks
Feature 7: Keyboard Shortcuts
Feature 8: HTML Anchor to Create Anchor Links
Feature 9: Content Structure and Block Navigation
Feature 10: Button blocks
Feature 11: Use Drag and Drop to rearrange the Blocks
Feature 12: Copy All Blocks
Final Thoughts


A Brief Introduction to the Gutenberg Block Editor

Gutenberg was available for testing before its official release. Since its release with WordPress 5.0, it got some mixed reviews from the community. It’s important to remember that people tend to overlook some things, especially when they don’t know much about them. Since we were all beginners at Gutenberg when it was introduced, it was a little unfair to come to any conclusions about whether it’s good or bad.

Read full post: https://www.todhost.com/blog/wordpress-gutenberg-tips-and-tricks-you-should-know.html

In this tutorial on how to manage payments and shipping in OpenCart we will cover the following:

How to Install vQmod Extension

How to Install new Language in OpenCart

How to Install vQmod Extension


This tutorial will guide you how to install the vQmod on an existing OpenCart installation. If you host your website on our OpenCart Hosting package, you can request a free vQmod installation.

Before installing additional modules, generate a full backup of your OpenCart website. This way, if something goes wrong with OpenCart, you will have a working copy of your website that can be restored.

To extend your OpenCart with vQmod, you will need to:

Step 1: Download vQmod
Step 2: Extract and Upload the Files
Step 3: Install and Activate vQmod

Read full post: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/885/How-to-manage-extensions-and-themes-in-OpenCart.html

In this tutorial on how to manage payments and shipping in OpenCart we will cover the following:

How to setup Geo Locations and Tax Rates

How to configure Shipping Methods

How to configure Payment Methods


How to setup Geo Locations and Tax Rates



In this tutorial we will show you how to create different Geo Zones and apply tax rates per geo location. This is useful when you plan to reach customers from different geo locations and would like to apply custom tax rates for each location.
When you complete this tutorial, you will know how to:

Step 1: Create Geo Zones
Step 2: Create Tax Rates

Create Geo Zones

First, let's create a geo zone. For the purpose of this tutorial we will create a Geo Zone for US. To begin, please login into your OpenCart admin dashboard and navigate to the System → Localization → Geo Zones.

On the next page you will see all existing geo zones. To add a new one click on the Insert button. Fill in the name Geo Zone name and Description on the next page and click on the Add Geo Zone button.

In the Country settings, select the desired country and the zone or leave it to all zones if you would like to create a country-wide geo location.

When you are ready with your settings save your zone by clicking on the Save button. Now you should see your new Geo Zone in the list.


Read full tutorial: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/884/How-to-manage-payments-and-shipping-in-OpenCart.html

Domain name change is something we often have to do especially when our business purpose changes and we need a new extension to reflect the changes. When businesses and blogs rename or merge, old domains sometimes get left behind. Security researchers say expired domains can put data at risk. In this post, we take a look at that in greater detail.

Scammers may set up fake shops on expired domains and use them to steal credit card data from unwary bargain hunters. Or they may target email accounts linked to the domain to scam clients, steal company secrets and break into employees’ shopping and travel accounts.

Prevention is as easy as renewing and protecting all your domains—but that’s not always simple, especially if you own a lot of domains. Here’s what you need to know about your risks when a domain expires and how to keep yours current.
register domain name.

What Happens When Domains Expire?

The first thing you need to know is that when domains expire, they’re available to anyone who wants to pay to register them. They’re also easy to find online, through sites that offer expired domain name searches and lists of recently expired domains to bid on. Some buyers buy expired domains for legitimate projects. Others are not so ethical.
Your expired domain could end up as a fake online store

Criminal gangs snap up expired domains to turn them into phishing sites. That damages the brands that lose their domains, the brands impersonated by the scammers, and shoppers who fall for the scam.

Security blogger Brian Krebs profiled a photographer whose old portfolio domain was turned into a fake athletic shoe store after her registration lapsed. Thieves used it to steal credit card data for resale on the dark web.
example of expired domain used to steal credit card data

For the photographer, the damage went beyond the loss of her website. She had no way to access social media accounts that were linked to her domain email address, because the scammers changed her passwords. Now the domain that used to host her portfolio redirects to the official adidas website, after adidas and Reebok sued the scammers who exploited her expired domain along with hundreds of others.

source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/hackers-exploit-expired-domains-to-steal-vital-data.html

Google: sponsored content is okay as long as you use nofollow links



It’s okay to have sponsored content on your website as long as you use nofollow links in the sponsored content. Google will see the content as a part of your website then. That’s what Google’s webmaster team said on Twitter.

Hi again, Dan! That's correct. If you don't mind that this content is seen as a part of your website, then just using rel=nofollow would be suitable. If you don't want it seen as a part of your site in search, using noindex would be better than robots.txt.
— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc)

Paid links should always contain the nofollow attribute


This statement is not new. Google’s Quality Guidelines say that paid links (for example links in sponsored content) should use the nofollow attribute:

“Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines. Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that may violate our guidelines: […] Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank.”

If there is any kind of compensation for a link, it is better to use the rel=nofollow attribute in the link to avoid Google penalties.
Sponsored content should not exceed your own content

According to Google’s content policies, sponsored content should not exceed your own content:



“Advertising and other paid promotional material on your pages should not exceed your content. We do not allow content that conceals or misrepresents sponsored content as independent, editorial content.

“Sponsorship, including, but not limited to, ownership or affiliate interest, payment, or material support, should be clearly disclosed to readers. The subject of sponsored content should not focus on the sponsor without clear disclosure.”

If you want to avoid that Google sees the sponsored content as a part of your website, use the robots noindex tag on the page with the sponsored content.

Read more: https://www.todhost.com/announcements/74/September-2019-News-Update.html

An error 404 occurs on every website that undergoes changes in URL, and redesign.. It occurs when you click on a link, but instead of getting the site you want, an error pops up indicating that the requested page is not available. Something along the lines of '404 Not Found'. A 404 error is the standardized HTTP status code. The message is sent from the webserver of an online presence, to the web browser (usually the client) that sent the HTTP request. The browser then displays this error code.

Of all potential errors that can be found on your WordPress website, Error 404 is one of the frustrating ones for both you and your site visitors. Stumbling upon Error 404 is not something that you want your first-time visitors to experience. Also, a 404 can be an indicator that there were some changes, and you should add a 301 redirect for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes.

This post is to clear some things up and help everyone get their WordPress site working correctly again. We will cover:

What is the Error 404 Not Found?
What Does the Error 404 Mean?
What can Cause the 404 Error?
Variations of Error 404 Not Found
The Impact of Error 404 on SEO
The Impact of Error 404 on Site Performance
How to Fix the 404 Error on WordPress?
Update the Permalinks of Your WordPress Website
Find the Cause via Debugging
Using FTP for Fixing the 404 Error
Set Up 301 Redirects For Renamed or Moved Content
Use cPanel for Redirects
Fix WordPress 404 Error (Internet Explorer)
How to Create Your Error 404 Not Found Page
How to Monitor 404 Errors Going Forward
Option 1 – Google Analytics
Option 2 – WordPress Plugin
Option 3 – Third-Party Audit Tool
Option 4 – Google Search Console
Last Words

Read more: https://www.todhost.com/blog/how-to-fix-error-404-not-found-on-your-wordpress-site.html

In this tutorial on managing your products and categories in OpenCart, we will cover the following:

How to Add Product Categories in OpenCart

How to set up product attributes in OpenCart

How to add products to your store in OpenCart

In this tutorial we will show you how to add product categories in your OpenCart store. Product categories are used to organize your products to make it easier for your customers and visitors to find the exact product they are looking for. You can categorize your products as you find it suitable for your product portfolio. Furthermore, a product can be added to more than one category in case you find it suitable.

In order to add a new product category in OpenCart you will need to login into your OpenCart admin panel and navigate to the Catalog dropdown from the main navigation menu.

This will redirect you to the OpenCart categories list. In case you have demo data installed on your OpenCart you should see some demo categories already created. You can easily remove these categories by selecting them via the check box row and clicking the Delete button on the top right corner of your screen.

To add a new category, please click on the Insert button located at the upper right corner of your screen.

On the next page you have a few fields to fill in with the characteristics of your product category. You are completely free to input the data that most suits your needs and best describe your products that will be added to this category later.

For this tutorial we will use some demo data to create a new category. First, we should input the Category Name as well as some data for the search engines such as the meta tags and meta keywords. You can leave the last 2 empty or fill them later.

Next, you can input some category description. This information is used to help your customers to get better idea of the products organized in this section. If you believe your category name is self-explanatory you may leave this field empty or fill it later.

When you are done on this page you should refer to the next tab from the tabs navigation called Data. Here you can specify if this is a subcategory by setting a parent category. If a parent category is set the newly created category will be set as a child category. You can select a parent category by start typing an already existing category name in the Parent field.

Additionally, you should select the store for which your category will be added. OpenCart support a multi-store configuration which makes this field mandatory. If you have a single store configuration you should check the "Default" store to make the category active for your store.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you will be able to set an image for the category and the sort number of the category. If you would like this category to be your first one in any list on your website you should set this to zero. Make sure your category status is set to Enabled to have this category active when created.

From the last tab in the tab navigation of this page you may choose the layout of the category. Leave this unchanged if you do not have any custom category layout for this section.

When you are ready with your new category settings, please click Save at the upper right corner of your screen to create your product category.

Read more: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/883/How-to-Manage-Products-and-Categories-in-OpenCart.html

Google Maps is one platform for optimizing your business locally. Optimizing for local searches has been found to be very effective in gaining new inquiries and sales. In fact, according to report by Search Engine Watch, “there is a 20.1% increase in clicks to call, clicks for directions, and clicks to a business’s website” with Google My Business (GMB) interactions when comparing stats from 2017 and 2018. This is quite huge and should not be taken lightly! But in order to generate these clicks, your website’s GMB profile needs to be visible to interested searchers.


To give your business the highest probability of showing up in Google Maps for searches relevant to your business, we have provided a checklist below of GMB optimizations to help you achieve this.

1. Create or claim your Google My Business profile

The first thing you need to do is actually create your Google My Business profile.

Follow these steps to set up your Google My Business Listing

Step 1: Log into the Google Account you want associated with your business (or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one).
Step 2: Go to google.com/business and select “Start now” in the top right-hand corner.
Step 3: Enter your business name.
Step 4: Enter your business address.
Step 5: If you go to your customers’ locations, rather than having them come to you, check the box “I deliver goods and services to my customers.” And if you work out of your house or another address you don’t want publicly shown, Check “Hide my address (it's not a store) Only show region.” Finally, select your Delivery area.
Step 6: Choose your business category. Try to choose the most accurate category possible -- you’re essentially telling Google which type of customers should see your business listing.
Step 7: Add your business phone number or website.
Step 8: Choose a verification option. If you’re not ready to verify your business yet, click “Try a different method” → “Later.”


How to Verify Your Business on Google

There are several ways to verify your GMB listing:

By postcard
By phone
By email
Instant verification
Bulk verification


Postcard Verification

Step 1: If you aren't already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you're already logged in, you'll be at the verification step.)
Step 2: Make sure your business address is correct. Optional: Add a contact name -- that's who the postcard will be addressed to.
Step 3: Click "Mail." The postcard should reach you in five days -- make sure you don't edit your business name, address, or category (or request a new code) before it comes, because this could delay the process.
Step 4: Once you've gotten the postcard, log into Google My Business. If you have more than one business location, select the location you want to verify. If you only have one, select "Verify now."
Step 5: In the Code field, enter the five-digit verification code on your postcard. Click "Submit."

If your postcard never shows up, or you lose it, you can request a new code by signing into Google My Business and clicking the "Request another code" blue banner at the top of the screen.

Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/a-checklist-for-optimizing-your-website-in-google-maps.html

This post shares Googles report on how they fight fake business profiles on Google Maps. This post originally appeared on the Google blog. Happy reading.


Google Maps helps people explore, navigate and get things done—and increasingly people are using Google Maps to find local businesses. Over the years, Google has added more than 200 million places to Google Maps and every month connect people to businesses more than nine billion times, including more than one billion phone calls and three billion requests for directions.

To help people find the places and businesses they're looking for—both big and small—Local Guides, business owners and people using Maps every day can contribute to business information. Google gets millions of contributions each day (like new business profiles, reviews, star ratings, and more) and the vast majority of these contributions are helpful and accurate. But occasionally, business scammers take advantage of local listings to make a profit. They do things like charge business owners for services that are actually free, defraud customers by posing as real businesses, and impersonate real businesses to secure leads and then sell them. Even though fake business profiles are a small percentage of the overall business profiles on Google, local business scammers have been a thorn in the internet’s side for over a decade. They even existed back when business listings were printed, bound and delivered to your doorstep. Google take these issues very seriously and have been using a wide array of techniques and approaches to limit abuse on their platforms.



These scammers use a wide range of deceptive techniques to try to game our system—as Google shuts them down, they change their techniques, and the cycle continues. Although it’s important to note that Google makes it easy for legitimate businesses to get their business profiles on Google, they’ve also implemented strict policies and created tools that enable people to flag these issues so they can take action. It’s a constant balancing act and Google is continually working on new and better ways to fight these scams using a variety of ever-evolving manual and automated systems. But Google can’t share too many details about these efforts without running the risk of actually helping scammers find new ways to beat their systems—which defeats the purpose of all the work they do.

Google understands the concerns of those people and businesses impacted by local business scammers and back in 2017 announced the progress they have made. There was still work to be done then and there’s still work to be done now. Google has an entire team dedicated to addressing these issues and taking constant action to remove profiles that violate their policies. Here’s more information about the progress Googgle has made against this type of abuse last year:


Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/how-to-fight-fake-business-profiles-on-google-maps.html

OpenCart provides you with the ability to set your store under maintenance. While having this mode activated, visitors will not be able to browser your product catalog or submit new orders. Only you as logged administrator will be able to access the full version of your website. This is a perfect solution if you plan to perform updates, perform changes on your website or update your catalog.


Further Reading

How to install OpenCart on a live server
How to install an Opencart template
Important Steps After an OpenCart Installation
OpenCart Configuration Tutorial


How to Activate the OpenCart Maintenance Mode

To activate the OpenCart Maintenance mode, please login your OpenCat admin panel and refer to the System>Settings section via the menu on the left.

OpenCart Settings Menu

From the store list page click on the edit icon for your store and proceed to the Server tab from the tab navigation.

OpenCart Server Settings

On the server tab page scroll down and locate the Maintenance Mode radio button.

OpenCart Maintenance Mode

Set the Maintenance Mode to On and save your settings to enable it. Your store should be under maintenance now.

OpenCart Maintenance message

Please note that if you are logged as admin in your OpenCart store you will be able to access the store frontend. To see the maintenance message, please logout and refresh your store home page.


Further Reading

How to install OpenCart on a live server
How to install an Opencart template
Important Steps After an OpenCart Installation
OpenCart Configuration Tutorial

OpenCart Error Reporting

If you experience any technical difficulties with your OpenCart store it might be a good idea to enable the OpenCart error reporting. These options will help you debug the issue by providing you with additional information on what exactly went wrong with your script.

OpenCart supports two different options for error reporting. On the one hand, you may enable the general error reporting which will display the errors directly into your browser or you can activate the error logging which will write all errors into a file located in your OpenCart installation directory.

The inconvenience of the first method is that all of your visitors will be able to see the errors displayed on your website but see the errors directly via your browser may help you narrow down the problem.

To activate the error reporting, please login your OpenCart Admin dashboard and navigate to the Settings menu.

OpenCart Settings Menu

From the Store list click on the edit icon next to your store name and proceed to the Server settings tab.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the Error reporting options.

OpenCart Error Reporting Options

If you enable the Display Error option, your site errors will be directly visible on your website. In case you would like to have all errors logged, enable the Log Errors option and make sure you have a valid error log name.

If you enable the Log Errors option you will be able to read your error log either by directly downloading it from your OpenCart root directory or via the Admin Dashboard. To access the Error log via the admin area of your OpenCart, please refer to the Error Logs section via the main navigation menu.

OpenCart Error Logs

Be advised that your OpenCart error log might get quite large in case your OpenCart generates a lot of warnings or errors.

Clear OpenCart error log

In case you have the Log Errors option enable you should regularly check the error log and clear it via the Clear Log option.


Further Reading

How to install OpenCart on a live server
How to install an Opencart template
Important Steps After an OpenCart Installation
OpenCart Configuration Tutorial

Backup OpenCart Database

OpenCart provides an easy to use interface to backup and export tables or your entire OpenCart database. If you would like to create a backup of your OpenCart database, please login your OpenCart admin dashboard and navigate to the Backup/Restore section via the main navigation menu.

From the 'Backup & Restore' click on the Select All option to mark all of your OpenCart tables and use the export button at the top right corner of your screen.

Be advised that exporting your OpenCart database might take some time depending on the size of your database. In case you need to have only a specific table exported, click on the Unselect All option and mark only the desired table(s) you would like to download.

As soon as your database is exported your browser will automatically begin the download process. You can store the database backup on your computer and use it to restore your database or tables any time via the import feature.


Further Reading

How to install OpenCart on a live server
How to install an Opencart template
Important Steps After an OpenCart Installation
OpenCart Configuration Tutorial

Restore OpenCart Database

OpenCart provides a user-friendly interface to restore your store database backup by uploading it via the Admin Dashboard. Depending on your backup, you can restore a single table or the entire OpenCart database via the Backup/Restore section.

To access the Backup/Restore section, please login your OpenCart Admin Dashboard and click on the link via the main navigation menu.

To import your database backup, click on the Browse button and select the database dump from your local computer. When you are sure that the correct SQL file is selected, click on the Import button at the top right corner of your screen.

Be advised that importing and restoring your OpenCart database might take some time depending on the size of your database.

When the process is complete you will see the Success notification.

Source: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/882/OpenCart-Maintenance-Tutorial.html

Joomla extensions do significantly improve the functionality of your Joomla website. From security, SEO, site speed and other functionalties, extensions are of great importance. They can enhance your Joomla site front end and improve the experience of your visitors. They can enhance your Joomla administrator panel and help you administer your site more efficiently. It's hard to imagine a website without Joomla extensions.

In this blog post, you will find our list of best Joomla extensions that we would recommend for almost any Joomla site.

Here is our list. Please note that the order does not mean any preference.

1. JCE (Joomla Content Editor)

Extension Price. The basic Core version is free. The enhanced Professional version costs 26 Euros.

Extension Description. JCE is the best WYSIWYG extension in Joomla. It's reliable, hassle free, and packed with easy-to-use editing features. It gives you the power to create the kind of content you want, without limitations, and without needing to know or learn HTML, XHTML, or CSS.

Key Features

Includes advanced Image, File and Link handling, plugin support, and an Administration interface for editor configuration.

Office-like functions and familiar buttons make formatting simple
Upload, rename, delete, cut/copy/paste images and insert them into your articles using an intuitive and familiar interface
Create Links to Categories, Articles, Weblinks and Contacts in your site using a unique and practical Link Browser
Easily tab between WYSIWYG, Code and Preview modes.
Create Tables, edit Styles, format text and more...
Integrated Spellchecking using your browser's Spellchecker
Fine-grained control over the editor layout and features with Editor Profiles assigned by area, component, usergroup and user


2. Akeeba Backup

Extension Price. The basic Core version is free. The enhanced Professional version costs 40 Euros for one year.

Extension Description. This is a one-click backup and recovery solution with multiple backup formats. It's the best extension in Joomla for backing up your site. Akeeba Backup has a great documentation, excellent support, and many reviews from happy customers.

Key Features:

The Configuration Wizard configures itself for optimal operation with your site, automatically.
The fastest and most reliable native PHP backup engine.
One click backup.
Integrated restoration for same server restoration.
Site transfer wizard. Transfer your site between servers fast and easily.
Restore with Akeeba Kickstart (free of charge script): restore extracting the backup directly on the server; no need to upload thousands of files by FTP!
Choose between standard ZIP or highly efficient JPA archive format.
Exclude specific files, folders.
Exclude specific database tables or their contents.
Unattended backup mode (CRON job scheduling), fully compatible with Webcron.org
Archives can be restored on any host. Useful for transferring your site between subdomains/hosts or even to/from your local testing server (e.g. XAMPP, WAMPServer, MAMP, etc).

Read full post at https://www.todhost.com/blog/best-joomla-extensions-recommended-for-every-website.html

We are sorry that we do not offer dot com.ng domains at the moment.

johndik:
Hi can I get a .com.ng domain from your company?

The OpenCart software is one of the most easy-to-use opensource applications providing all core functionalities required to start an online store. It is completely open-source which means you can download, install, use or modify OpenCart free of charge without any legal limitations and start your online business in just few minutes.

OpenCart has hundreds of Payment gateways and Shipping modules integrations available so you can easily start receiving payments and handle your clients' orders. Additionally, OpenCart comes with a powerful, yet intuitive Administrative Dashboard through which you can easily manage your store, customers, orders and products without the need of any programming or technical knowledge.

General Settings

Before start selling your products on your newly installed OpenCart store you will want to configure the basic settings of your store such as your store name, address, logo and other basic configuration options. To do this you will need to login your OpenCart admin panel with the administrative username and password you have set during the installation process.

To access your OpenCart, please refer to http://yourdomain.com/admin -- you should replace 'yourdomain.com' with your actual domain name.

When you login your OpenCart Admin Dashboard you will be displayed with a general overview of your store. To access the General Settings menu, please refer to System → Settings from the main navigation on the top.

On the next page, please click on the Edit link next to your store name.

This will redirect you to the General Settings tab via which you can change your Store name, physical address, email and telephone/fax.

Next, click on the Store tab from the sub navigation menu to input your Store Title and Meta Tag Description. You can also change your OpenCart template via the Template drop down menu or select a different Default Layout.

To configure your OpenCart Store Local Settings, please click on the Local tab from the sub navigation menu. Here you can change your store country, region/state, store language, currency, length and weight class.

The rest of the tabs in this section will be reviewed in details in our following sections.

Read full tutorial at https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/881/OpenCart-Configuration-Tutorial.html

Security should be everyone's concern. Our experience have shown that small website owners who don’t use WordPress security plugins think that only those websites with huge traffic are prone to malicious attacks. The reality is that just because your website is small, doesn’t mean that your site is not going to be the target of malicious attacks.


In fact, small websites are actually an easier target for hackers because most of them don’t take any safety precautions to protect their site from hackers. Unless you take any safety precautions quickly, you could be allowing the bad guys to sabotage your online business.


This post on the best WordPress security plugins wants to make sure everybody is protecting their WordPress from hackers.

When it comes to choosing a WP protection plugin, there is no one size fits all solution. Each one is unique in terms of the features it offers.

Take a look at each one of them below, and install those products that you believe best suit your needs.


https://www.todhost.com/blog/wordpress-security-plugins-compared-to-find-which-works-best.html

Speed is important for user experience and Google also love fast websites. Talking about website speed is something we continually do to encourage website owners take advantage of the benefits of a fast loading website. So today we’re going to share with you everything we know about speeding up your WordPress website, all in this one ultimate guide. Whether you’re just starting to use WordPress or are a seasoned developer, you’ll find something useful in this post!

Over 34% of the web is now powered by WordPress. While this is awesome, it also means there are thousands of different themes, plugins, and technologies all having to coexist. For the everyday WordPress user, this can quickly turn into a nightmare when their site starts to bottleneck and they don’t know why or even where to start troubleshooting.

Today we’ll be diving into applicable steps you can take right now to see speed improvements on your own WordPress sites. We’ll also share some resources that have been invaluable to us.


Here are the areas we cover in this post:

WordPress Site Types: Static or Dynamic
Choose High-Performance WordPress Hosting
Choose a Server Closest to Your Visitors
Premium DNS is Better Than Free DNS
Your WordPress Theme Matters
The Lowdown on WordPress Plugins
Optimal WordPress Settings
Why Cache Is so Important
Image Optimization Is a Must
Fine-Tune Your Database
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Offload Media and Email When Needed
How to Find Bottlenecks and Slow Plugins
Recommendations on Back-End Optimization
Tips on Front-End Optimization
Always Optimize with Mobile-First in Mind
Read fukk blog post at https://www.todhost.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-wordpress-speed-optimization.html

Website performance optimization is the focal point of technologically superior website designs and the primary factor dictating success for modern online businesses. After all, unimpressive website performance kills a businesses’ bottom line when the torture of waiting for slow Web pages to load frustrates visitors into seeking alternatives.

We created the following in-depth speed optimization guide to show you how important it is to have a fast loading, snappy website! In the following guide, we’ll try to explain the technical details while at the same time provide you with easy to follow instructions that you can start implementing right away! We hope you’ll find it valuable and perhaps share-worthy!


Speed Performance sells!

Lightning-fast page load speed amplifies visitor engagement, retention, and boosts sales. Instantaneous website response leads to higher conversion rates, and every 1 second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16 percent, page views by 11 percent and conversion rates by 7 percent according to a recent Aberdeen Group research.


Key Aspects of Website Speed Optimization:

1 – Introduction to Website Speed Optimization
2 – Website Performance Impacts Business Success
3 – Speed Optimized Mobile Website Overshadows Desktop
4 – Common Business Mistakes that Kill Website Performance
5 – Website Speed Testing – Identify Performance Bottlenecks!
6 – How to Improve Website Speed?

Read full blog posts: https://www.todhost.com/blog/basic-website-speed-optimization-guide.html

Understanding Googles ranking signals had been the top most desire of search engine optimization specialists and webmasters. Because Google makes hundreds of adjustments to their algorithm every year, it is a good idea to put your focus on the most important among the ranking factors that make the difference and determine the success or failure of your online business.

To begin with, determining the most important factors is not so easy as it requires an analysis of thousands or millions of websites coupled with your experience to make a decision.

Luckily for us, SEMrush undertook the projject, performed this analysis, Ranking Factors and has made the data publicly available. Analyzing and understanding this data can help you understand how to adjust your digital marketing strategy, and which changes you can implement to improve your visibility.

So here we go with the top 7 most important ranking factors you should be paying attention to.

Read full blog post at: https://www.todhost.com/blog/the-top-most-important-google-ranking-factors.html

The powered by WordPress link usually come with a free theme installed from the WordPress theme directory and will usually appear in the footer of your site. If you’re running the default theme, it’ll definitely be there, if it is a custom theme, it will be a link to the website of the theme developer.

More resources: What you should know about optimizing your WordPress website for speed

Most developers wouldn't want an advert link to their theme developer and will prefer their customized link instead to promote their business. The most common practice is to keep the footer for information about you: your site, your business, or your brand?

In WordPress, the problem is not whether the “powered By WordPress” message can be removed but how to do it. The method you will use in removing it will depend on the way the developer has added it to the theme. Sometimes, this would rquire some investigative work to locate the file where this linkk is located and them removing or editing it.

More resources: Top 5 Security Issues with WordPress and How to Fix Them

So in this post, you will learn how to remove the “powered by WordPress” message and link. But before we go into that, let us consider a few things about removing the "powered by WordPress"

1. How to Remove “Powered By WordPress” with a Plugin
2. How to Remove “Powered By WordPress” Manually
3. When would you want to remove “Powered By WordPress””
4. How Not to Remove “Powered By WordPress
5. Are you allowed to remove the message?
6. How to Remove “Powered By WordPress” Using a Function
7. How to replace the “Powered By WordPress” with your custom code

Read full post: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/877/How-to-Remove-the-Powered-by-WordPress-Footer-Link.html

Maintaining a healthy WordPress is fundamentally important for every website manager. From optimization tips, to security, to maintenance, running updates and lots more, we need to implement best practices to be sure we are free from hackers, stay safe and healthy.

Fortunately, the release of WordPress 5.2, came with some great features and improvements for the WordPress CMS Being the most popular CMS today. We will in this post examine some basic tips necessary to keep your WordPress website healthy.

Your WordPress site health can be based on tests your WordPress website passes successfully. If you pass all of them, your score would be 100%. As it focuses on ensuring that your site is up to date, healthy, and secure, the Site Health Score is, undoubtedly, something that will help make the web better.

Is Site Health Score Percentage Actually Important?

The simple and straight answer to this will be yes! You will find out that most of the tests your website will have to pass for a good site health score are performance and security related. So, passing the site health test simply means you are up-to-date with security and performance for your WordPress website. Most people would like their website to run smoothly and be as likable as possible. Seeing a 100% score will give you the reassurance that your WordPress website is performing exceptionally well.

We are aware that people are naturally highly competitive and will strive for the precious 100% score. Because of that, we decided to share some tips on how to get that perfect score on your website. In fact, this goal is not as hard to accomplish, as some may expect. So, let’s get on with the guide!
1. Update Your WordPress Version

The first test your WordPress website must pass is the update test. It is important that you maintain a healthy WordPress website by keeping up with the latest updates. That simply means you have to be running the latest version. It is extremely important that you ensure you are run the latest version of WordPress. Please note that prior to performing the actual update of your WordPress platform, it is important that you ensure a full backup of the current website is performed.

To proceed with the actual upgrade, you will have to log into the WordPress Dashboard, go to Update (Dashboard → Update), and then click on the “Update Now” button. After doing that, make sure you don’t click back or try reloading the page. Usually, you would only need to wait a few seconds. Also, keep note that your website will be in maintenance mode during the time your WordPress version is being updated.

Following the installation of WordPress 5.2, go to Tools → Site Health to check your score.

When you go there, you will see that this tool helps you a lot in your way to the perfect score. You will be able to see not only your current score but also all the recommended improvements. Additionally, you can check out every test that your website has already passed.

We’ve managed to get these awesome 100% score, and we will help you accomplish it for your website. It’s fairly easy.

Read full blog post: https://www.todhost.com/blog/how-to-maintain-a-healthy-wordpress-website.html

After a successful installation of your osCommerce ecommerce website, you now need to set it up with the basic configuration. This tutorial details the key configuration you will need to undertae after an osCommerce installation.

How to locate osCommerce configuration files
How to Configure store information in osCommerce
Manage Payment Modules
Manage Shipping Methods
Manage currencies
Manage Tax Rates
Manage Customers in osCommerce

Read full article at:: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/875/osCommerce-Configuration-Tutorial.html

Think of a reseller hosting that is so simple and easy - allowing unlimited bandwidth and disk space overselling.

What that mean? It simply means you can use up all your allocated disk space on unlimited websites.

Order now: https://www.todhost.com/reseller-hosting.php

There is only one valid definition of business: to create customers. It is the customer who determines what the business is. Because its purpose is to create customers, any business has two basic functions:

marketing (customer orientation)
innovation

This far-sighted quotation came from Peter Drucker (1973) and it was originally said in 1954. Relationship marketing is critically important for every business. After a client is won, they have to be kept and what keeps them is the relationship between the company and the clients.

Businesses must maintain their clients because clients keep the business running. Getting customers is one thing, but keeping them is a whole different story.

Customer loyalty can ensure a strong long-term relationship with your business. But customers do not just become loyal, their loyalty is tied to the relationship between them and the business and this is a fuction of how they are managed. Having the right tools to manage customers can help you deliver what they need and rightly guide you in the right direction to winning their loyalty.

Also read:Conversion Rate Optimization - How to turn prospects into customers

This post details a practical guide to effective relationship marketing that kkeeps your customers, build a longterm relationship and bring success to the business.

Know Your Customers
Build a Customer Service Team
Create Q&A Templates
Implement the A.C.A.F. Customer Feedback Loop
Build an Automated Customer Support Process
Work Towards a Better Customer Experience
Setup Specific Customer Retention Actions
Reward Loyal Customers
Set up a Referral Program
Follow Up With Sales Number and Customer Feedback Metrics
Invest in CRM and Other Technology
Create Valuable Content Based on Customers’ Questions

Read more: https://www.todhost.com/blog/a-practical-guide-to-relationship-marketing.html

How to Improve the Security of your WordPress Website

WordPress is the most widely used Content Management System (CMS) and basically everyone can have access to its default code no matter if that person is a simple user, hacker or a developer. The default code of the WordPress platform is secured enough and there are no reports recently for weak elements that might cause your website to be compromised.

In some cases however, the users or the developers uses resources which are distributed not by the authors of the platform but from 3rd parties which might not pass the required integrity test. Usually using a free resource such as plugin or a template on your website does not always mean that it will lack security or you will face similar issues with it. However commonly used free templates or plugins are not secured enough and they are in some cases providing security holes which the attackers of your website might take serious advantage of to brea into your website and cause problems.

Basically there are few ways to deface or hack user website build with WordPress. The most commonly used method is for a malicious file to be uploaded on the website and then executed directly so it can provide a web interface to the hackers. With the help of that web interface the attackers can basically do anything with your website..

To improve the security of your WordPress, here are the basic steps you need to follow:

Step 1: Disable PHP Execution
Step 2: Protect Account Registration and Contact Forms
Step 3: Activate the Akismet Plugin
Disable PHP execution

There are two directories in your WordPress that are writable by default. The /wp-includes/ directory contains themes and plug-ins which can create files on their own and the /wp-content/uploads/ directory is used by the users to upload content on your website so both of these folders must be writeable. Unfortunately, this brings security vulnerability with the PHP files in those folders. A malicious PHP file can be uploaded and executed in order to compromise your website and even the entire server on which it is situated. As changing the write permissions is not a good solution in this case, you can instead remove the execution permissions on files with the extension PHP. In this tutorial, we will show you a few ways to do this depending on your configuration, rights and specific needs using the .htaccess file or the Apache configuration file.

Read full post: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/874/How-to-Improve-the-Security-of-your-WordPress-Website.html

Duplicate content is something that is affecting the performance of miliions of websites and esppecially because Google frowns at it, it is worth given some attention to address. In this post, you will learn about duplicate content, what it is and how you can fix it in specific cases.

1. What Is Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is simply the content you use on your website which has been already written by someone, somewhere else. So, if you copy a piece of content off one website, paste and then publish it on your website, then you have duplicate content. Google frowns at it as it represents some form or attempt to manipulate the Search Engines.

Duplicate content is one major behavior which affect website quality, it has many sides and can be caused by many things. It could be due to some technical difficulties or unintentional mistakes and can also be a deliberate action. Before we move on to greater details, let us first understand what content duplication actually is.

On the web, duplicate content is when the same (or very similar) content is found on at least two different URLs.

One key thing here to keep in mind is that the content is already on Google indexed pages. Again, even though the content could appear on another website, if Google doesn’t have the original version of the copied content in its index, then it can’t really consider it duplicate content, even though it is!

Another take away here is that old content which is completely revamped using some content management software, turning them and the images into text and then using may not be right from a copyright point of view, but it should pass Google’s duplication filters. This wouldn't be encouraged but Google is not likely to see it as duplicate content.

I would actually recommend publications which are moving from print to digital should repurpose old content in their magazines on their websites.

We know Google loves quality content on websites. So, for evergreen contents that is not yet indexed and is still is new and original, you can publish it and not incure any penalty for duplicate content.

Furthermore, you can modify an existing content, enrich it and turn it into something like How people used to do optimize websites in the 90s’. You can keep the content identical this way (although a small original introduction might be required) and it will still pass the duplicate content test. The discussion on what amounts to duplicate content is big and ongong.

The other big issue is what is the solution to duplicate content. It is important to understand that there isn’t one single solution for fixing duplicate content issues. This is because there are very many scenarios representing content duplication. And so, there are multiple solutions and one of them might be better than the other. We will look further into these solutions and problems and hope that we can provide answers to most of the uestions you will have on content duplication.

However, we must first get some other things clear to better understand the nature of duplicate content. Then we will analyze different scenarios and give solutions for each and every one of them.

2. How Google Handles Duplicate Content

There’s a lot of content out there in the world. Compared to that, Google knows only about a small part of it. To be able to truly say if the content on your site has been copied, Google would have to know every piece of paper that has ever been written, which is impossible.

When you publish something on your website, it takes a while for Google to crawl and index it. If your site is popular and you publish content often, Google will crawl it more often. This means it can index the content sooner.

If you publish rarely, Google will probably not crawl your site so often and it might not index the content very quickly. Once a piece of content is indexed, Google can then relate other content to it to see if it’s duplicate or not.

Read full blog post at https://www.todhost.com/blog/effects-of-duplicate-content-on-seo-and-google-rankings.html

Drupal is the world's third most widely used Content Management System. Like any other major platform such as WordPress and Joomla, Drupal security is also a big concern for business owners. With the increase in Drupal’s popularity, the chances of a Drupal site coming under cyber attack are higher than ever. Thus, you can never take your website’s security for granted. In fact, security is a continuous process that needs your attention at all times. Because the security breach will not only affect your website resources but also put your website reputation at stake.


Drupal is an extremely powerful system and it has numerous security modules to prevent any breaches. It is good practice to make use of Drupal security modules to the minimize security of your Drupal website. This post takes you through the steps and actions you need to take to boost your Drupal security. We have carefully selected a list of must-have Drupal security modules that will boost your Drupal website security and help you escape any potential cyber-attack. Take a look


Read full post:: https://www.todhost.com/blog/best-drupal-security-modules.html

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After a successful installation of your Simple Machine Forum (SMF) software, the next steps is to configure the website. These involve the following:

Managing the Core Features in SMF
Configuring the basic options
Configure the SMTP
Install modules
Install Themes

Managing the Core Features in SMF

In order to access the core features page, you should first log in as administrator of your forum. Then simply navigate to Administration Center. Navigate to the Configuration tab on the main menu and then Core Features.

On this page you will be able to activate or deactivate the included features of SMF. Note that in order to apply the changes, after performing the same, you need to press the Save button.

The available core features that you can use are:

Calendar - This feature can be used to show forum events, holidays, and user birthdays
Advanced Profile Fields - This feature can be used to hide standard profile fields, or add a new one. The administrators can also choose whether or not certain profile fields show up at the registration screen
Karma - This is the SMF reputation system.It is an optional feature that shows the popularity of a certain member.
Moderation, Administration and User Logs - This will log all actions taken as a moderator or administrator. This also allows moderators and administrators look at any actions that a user has done in their profile
Post Moderation - If this feature is enabled, moderators can choose boards in which all posts need to be approved, which membergroups need to have their posts moderated
Paid Subscriptions - This allows users to change their membergroup, get more access, and more
Report Generation - If this feature has been enabled, administrators may generate reports as to how the forum is set up, what features are enabled
Warning System - This functionality allows administrators and moderators to issue warnings to users; it also includes advanced functionality for automatically removing user rights as their warning level increases. Note to take full advantage of this function "Post Moderation" should be enabled
Search Engine Tracking - Enabling this feature will allow administrators to track search engines as they index your forum.

Read full post: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/873/SMF-Configuration-Tutorial.html

WordPress still remains the most popular Content Management System (CMS) with so many websites being built with it. WordPress popularity has also made it a target for hackers, with tens of thousands of websites getting infected with malware, becoming the sources of phishing schemes and getting blacklisted by search engines. In this guide, we will put our best efforts to cover everything you need to know about WordPress security, including a comprehensive list of do-it-yourself WordPress security tips for hands-on website owners. We will try to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to protect your website against even the most determined attacker.

Read full blog post:WordPress Security: The Complete Guide https://www.todhost.com/blog/wordpress-security-the-complete-guide.html

Backing up your website is important for several reasons. One being that in case of emergency you will have a copy of your website which you can use for restoring the website to a previous functional state. In this tutorial, we take you through the steps you need to take to backup your WordPress website and how to restore your WordPress website backup. This process equally applies to many other Content Management Systems (CMS).
How to Backup Your WordPress Website

In WordPress, the process of generating the backup is quite straight forward and we will explain it in details in this tutorial. WordPress is a php/MySQL driven platform and so you are required to perform the backup on two stages.

To create a backup of WordPress, you need to take the following steps:

Step 1: Back up the files
Step 2: Back up the Database
Back up your files

The first step you need to take is to backup the files for your website. This can be easily done via the FTP service for your account. If you are not quite sure how to use this service or if you are not entirely familiar with it please check our FTP tutorial series.

Once you connect to the FTP service for your website and access the root folder for your website (where the WordPress files are located) you will need to download them in a folder on your local computer.

Once you are done downloading the files you will need to backup the database your website is usin

Read full tutorial: https://www.todhost.com/knowledgebase/872/How-to-Backup-and-Restore-the-backup-of-a-WordPress-Website.html