Do you know what it feels like to be the only one in a crowd that doesn’t fit in? Perhaps some of your blog’s readers feel this way too….

Tangent Time – Seeing Gomez

Earlier this month I went to see Gomez perform at the Hi-Fi bar in Melbourne. I wasn’t planning on heading into it, but at the last minute a mate rang and asked me if I wanted a free ticket.

I said yes straight away – for starters I know a few Gomez songs and like them and secondly… it was a free ticket to a sold out show and I’m always up for a freebie!

As I say, I know a few Gomez songs, but would never have called myself a big fan.

This hit home to me a couple of songs into their set when I looked around at the audience of 1000 and saw virtually every other person in the room with their hands in the air, singing screaming along with every word.

These were fanatical fans – they loved Gomez. Not only did they know every word, they knew what song was being played the instant a chord was played, they got all the in jokes that the band said and they were all decked out in Gomez gear.

I loved the show – but as it went on I increasingly felt like something of an impostor – I didn’t fit in and I knew it.

As I drove home from the show in the early hours of he morning (smelling like smoke and with ringing ears) I reflected a little on how I felt as ‘the odd one out’ at the show. It struck me that it’s not an uncommon feeling.

The Odd One Out

“One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?”

Almost any place that people gather together around a common interest or activity something happens between them that forms them into some type of community.

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Brian’s released a new video over at Tubetorial in his 7 Steps to Creating and Selling Niche Information Products series. This one is on working out what to make your product about.

I like Brian’s approach because he doesn’t go in for the hype that surrounds a lot of information products and emphasizes that you need to produce something that is based upon the need of the customer.

While this is pretty basic business sense I think it’s worth stating over and over again both when thinking about information products but also when it comes to blogging.

Your blog will never be successful unless you’re writing about something that customers need or want.

He then goes on to share some ways to come up with ideas for info products (which can again be applied to choosing a topic for a blog). His main points:

• Improve on an existing topic
• Solve a New Problem
• Share existing expertise

He expands upon each in the video.

More on choosing a blog topic here (and here).

Don’t let your domain names expire.

Easy to do – especially if you’re changing your email addresses around.

PS: I’ve been going with 10 year domain registrations recently to help with this – but also because a patent released by Google last year indicated that they look at length of domain registration when ranking a domain. I’m not sure what weight it has – but it all adds up (plus it means I only have to embarrassingly explain why I didn’t renew it every decade instead of every year or two)

Quite a few people have asked me questions about ProBlogger being hacked last week. Questions have ranged from ‘do you know who did it?’ to ‘have you found out how they did it?’ to ‘how can we protect ourselves from being hacked?’

By the way – my blogging buddy Andy Wibbels has had his blog hacked in the last couple of days also and his blog is currently down. This is unfortunately becoming more common.

I’m not going to go into great detail of what happened, how or who it was (I’m not sure how wise it is to get into those details for a variety of reasons) but I will make a few general comments and give a few pieces of advice when it comes to blog security and protection.

Disclaimer – I am not (and never will be) an expert in web security. Don’t take my advice as gospel for all systems/set ups and seek professional advice if in doubt.

1. Update your Blog Software - blog platforms periodically update their versions for a variety of reasons one of which is security. Old versions of some platforms expose your blog and server to being hacked.

2. Keep an Eye on Dead Blogs – I suspect that of the 50 million or so blogs that technorati are tracking that many of them are non active blogs on old blogging platforms. One of the dangers of retiring a blog and not updating it is that you can have old and un-updated blogging platforms sitting on your server which could prove to be a vulnerability in your set up. Even if you’re not actively updating a ‘dead blog’ you should consider updating it’s version.

3. Backup your Blog – being hacked does happen, even to the smartest bloggers from time to time. When it does happen you need to have some way of getting your blog back up and running and a backup is an essential part of this.

4. Protect Your Passwords – this goes without saying but I’m constantly surprised by the stories I hear of people using obvious passwords or giving them out. Basic password protection strategies and common sense should prevail.

5. Choose Your Host Carefully - I am in the fortunate position of having a quality host who offers me personal and comprehensive help in those times when things go wrong. Without this I don’t know what I’d have done.

As I say above, I’m no blog security expert and I would invite those that have expertise and experience in this area to comment below for the benefit of the wider blogging community.

If you’ve written or know of posts on this topic with good solid advice please feel free to give us links to them below as it’d be helpful to have a bit of a collection of advice on the topic.