On several occasions, many clients resort to hire Freelancers when all other options they had at hand fails. Any seasoned freelancer will tell you that they have been offered hasty contracts and learnt their lessons out of the work.
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In this blog post, I will highlight some of the ground rules you should have in place before accepting to be rushed to complete a project.
The first rule is, take control of the situation. After the client has briefed you on their requirements for the contract, propose to them timelines to complete the contract. Don’t let them dictate to you timelines over the budget they have. Obviously, when they first reach out to you, they have a timeline they want the project delivered.
Don’t risk delivering shady job because you want to please the client. If you can work on the project on overtime in order to deliver on their stipulated timeline, mention it during negotiation.
Your time is valuable. In this case, tell the client about the amount you will charge if you offer to do their work on overtime. Many clients will offer to pay you good money as long you guarantee them that you will deliver quality and meet their proposed timelines. My Point is, don’t work overtime on a rush project unless you are getting paid for it.
Before getting into the negotiating table, put quality service on top your priority list. Analyze the job you are being offered and see how long it will take to deliver the best. Consider all factors when proposing timelines. If the job cant be done within the timeline that the client is proposing, refuse to take the job.
Let the client see how professional you are in your craft.
Conclusion
When you are in control, the probability of you winning the contract is very high. You earn respect and trust from the client. On top of that, you are in a position to ask for more money for extra time and effort.
I hope this article was helpful to you.
What ground rules do you have in place when negotiating for rush contracts? Let me know in the comments section below.
And if you need professional screencast video production services, you can request a free quote on www.techtubestudio.com.
Mindset is the key to success in freelancing. While we all learn from failures, there is a particular savage mindset that bars many freelancers who are talented in many fields from exploiting their full potential.
When one is gifted with many skills, greed creeps in. Many new and established freelancers are gifted hence they think that by offering services for every skill they possess, they will make more money and hence become stinking rich. I mean who doesn’t want to be rich anyway?. It is a fact we all do.
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Motivational gurus will tell you this ‘Challenge yourself and learn new skill every month.” This quote can only apply if you are not contented with your current skills and is looking for something you are passionate about. Otherwise, for what purpose should you learn the new skills anyway?”.
In this blogpost, I will share with you how to unbecome Jack of trades.
How Jack of All Trades Quote Apply in Freelancing
I will use my skillset as an example to break this down for you. I am aFreelance Video Producer. This therefore means I fall in the video production category. On a freelance platform like Upwork, video production is broken down into many other subcategories as shown in the screenshot below. This is a good place start and experiment on various related skills.
Jack of all Trades
You can be a jack of all trades when starting up. I suggest you don’t do it for a long time. Narrow down to something that you find exciting to do This is the most important stage. The problem most of the time is freelancers inability to settle on one skill after many years. This thus takes me to the next point.
The Greed That Comes Attached to Being a Jack of All Trades
I know of a guy in my village who offers basically every service. If someone needs veterinary service for their livestock – he is there, if you laptop crashes – he will fix it, if your toilet tap leak- he is the guy to call, if you need a surveyor to measure your land- he is the go to expert. I mean he does almost everything well. Such people are talented.
Their potential for success is very high. But the reality on the ground is, they are not that much successful at all. They live reckless life’s. They tend to be careless spenders and poor at saving their earnings.
This behavior is as a result of being greedy. When you are greedy to do every job, you will not have time to plan and invest your income. It’s common to think that you are achieving more by doing many things but in the real sense, you are loosing it. That is why I recommend narrowing down your ‘trades‘ to one skill that you love and it guarantees you constant income.
In Short, Don’t Be A ‘Jack of All Trades’
I applaud freelancers who are talented in many skills. Fact is, you cannot exhaust all the skills in this world. You will get tired, old and confused if are obsessed with learning everything without settling down on one thing.
Be the ‘Jack‘ when you are starting up and grow into a master of one. Mastery is where freedom lies.
Most freelancing jobs require that you use a certain software to do the job. If you have to offer lets say 6 skills that uses 6 different software’s, you will then need to pay for each software annually. On average, software cost about $200 a year. This means you will spend about $1200 a year on software’s alone. Then, more time perfecting your skills to use the software’s.
And don’t tell me about using cracked software’s because its professionally unacceptable.
One downside of this is that you may find yourself using one of the software 2 to 3 times a year for jobs with value of less than $200. This makes it a poor investment.
Conclusion
Being a Jack of All Trades at the beginning of your freelancing career and a Master of one at the end is good. Once you have found a skill that you are passionate about, become a master and stick to it. There will be high and low tides on your way up. The power lies in your persistence.
And that is it from me here. What freelancing skills have you mastered? I would like to know about it in the comments section below.
The courage to shift gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers to collaborate with you on a project requires a proper set of mind.
Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad classify wealth acquisition process in 4 categories that he calls ‘Cashflow Quadrant.’
Video – Shifting gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers
The first quadrant is Employee- who earns money by holding unto a job. His/her income is limited to monthly salary. The second quadrant is Self Employed- who works for himself or owns the job. He has control of what he does. Freelancers fall on this quadrant of self employed.
Transitioning from Freelancing to business requires courage, faith and change of mindset.
In this blogpost, I will point out different opportunities you should take advantage of as a freelancer and transition from Freelancing to business.
When You win Mega Contract
When you have a good reputation on any popular freelancing site, you will get hired for big projects. For example, I regularly get hired for high value contracts in video production. Since I am good at video editing, I prefer hire a script writer, voice over artist, 3D animator to help me where needed in the video production process.
Not everyone will do this. They would rather do the whole job and have all the money than hire a fellow freelancer. If you do this, you will limit yourself from growth. Also, you will find yourself always busy and not having time for yourself. Take advantage of such openings to start learning to hire and setting up your business or agency.
Temptation to Learn a Skill For The Sake of Money
Lets say, I get a well paying 3D animation contract for the first time. My first thought will be to learn how to model and animate 3D characters because the pay looks good. That will require me to dedicate a lot of time on learning how to do it perfectly. On the other hand, if I have a business mindset, I will do my math and hire a freelance expert in 3D animation to do the job.
At the end, I will worry less about doing the job and shift focus to commenting and criticizing on the completed work. At the end, we will both take credit for the job. I recommend freelancers to take this route so long as they are able to profit from the project and deliver quality service.
When You Are Travelling
I assume Freelancers plan and go for vacations at least once a year. With this said, if a long term client you have been working with sends you an e-mail on the day you are travelling and asks you to work on an urgent project, what will you do? Will you cancel your air ticket so as to attend to the client needs? Most freelancers will cancel their plans and get back to work.
But what if you could find someone with skills same as yours to step in for you and do the job at a lower fee? Wouldn’t that be great? That’s exactly what you should do, post the job for freelancers to apply and hire someone to do the job on your behalf. Once done, send the completed work to the client. Being able to reason this way alone might forever change your life.
This are 3 among the many instances that I suggest you hire a fellow freelancer to work with you. Small actions like this will stimulate your growth. You will be free to do many other exciting things in life.
And that’s it from me.
In what instances do you hire freelancers to collaborate with you? How has it changed your life? Share your feedback in the comments section below.
And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, you can request a FREE quote here.
In the past few months, I have found 5 new features I love on Camtasia 2021 software which I would like to share it with you today. This is based on my experience recording and editing screencast videos and my vlogs. At the end of this blog post, I will share my favorite feature that is available in all versions of Camtasia studio that I discovered 5 years ago.
Get Started Screen
The new get started screen is noticeable. It looks modern and sleek. The webinars, video tutorials and academy has been put together under one menu item called learning. Also, help link was not there in the earlier versions. While this is a good thing, I feel people will rarely use this link unless Camtasia program crashesš which rarely happens.
Camtasia 2021 Get Started Screen
Overall, I love the get started screen. It always reminds me that I am using the latest version of the softwareš.
Camtasia Recorder
There are two things I love about the Camtasia 2021 recorder. The first one is the new interface. It looks different. All the important controls are now modified and larger than before. By sliding on the respective buttons on each feature, I can choose what to record and what not to. For instance, by sliding the system audio button to the right, I chose to record system audio. Sliding it to the left, I turn it off.
Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder
The second thing I love about Camtasia 2021 recorder is not having to minimize the recorder while recording. This is unless its blocking the buttons I am suppose to click when recording the screens. Otherwise, by default, the recorder will not appear on your screen recordings like it used to in the previous versions. So you don’t have to worry about it. Its worth pointing out that you can enable and disable in under options menu.
Software Stability When Editing
With the latest windows update on August, I now experience more stability when editing video footage and screen recordings with motion graphics and video transitions combined. The software used to buffer a lot when loading motion graphics and previewing transitions.
The second occasion was when editing mobile screen recordings. In the past, I had to export mobile screencast videos and re-imported them to the timeline in order to better match with the voice overs due to lagging.
The new Camtasia 2021 looks like it has solved this. The loading now is seamless. But I don’t know how others editors find it. It will be interesting to know. Share your experience in the comments sections below.
New Transitions
This cannot go without saying. More than 100 transitions are now available for you to explore and use in Camtasia Studio 2021. I have found a couple of them I love and repeatedly use them across my vlogs.
Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder
It was designed to fit to all occasions depending on the video that you are working on. That’s why it’s worth trying Camtasia 2021 today.
New Feature I Find Not Useful
At this point I still find emphasize audio feature not any useful to me at all. This makes it my less favorite feature among the new features. I prefer to adjust audio points manually than use this feature. This is because I barely notice it’s impact when I apply it to my audios while editing videos on my timeline.
Camtasia 2021 Audio Effect
I have watched videos of people applying it and I am still not convincedš¤.
Do you find the Emphasize audio feature useful in your day to day edits? Let me know in the comments section below.
Custom Library
Finally my unto my favorite feature, custom library. This was there in the previous versions and with each update, it gets even better. It gives a sense of ownership.
Custom Library in Camtasia 2021
Each time I edit a video, I add one new template so that I don’t have to recreate motion graphic screens and transitions each time I produce a video. To do this, I group animated designs on my timeline and save it in the library under a name that I chose and a specific folder based on the project I am working on.
Next time I want the template, I will only drag it and drop it on top of the video I am editing.
This saves me a lot of time. You can modify a template as you go to suite your new requirements at hand and save it under a different name.
Remember you can download the latest version of Camtasia 2021 using the link here. Its free to try.
If you are a vlogger and is looking for a video editing software that is easiest to learn; then I recommend Camtasia 2021. It’s easy to learn using it.
The interface is clean and most settings are straight forward when it comes to customization.
Finally, if you need help to create and produce professional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a free quote here.
Was this article helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below.
Hiring the right freelancer as a first timer for your next project calls for experience in the online marketplace. Shockingly, most online marketers makes the process sound like its a walk in the park. Well, it may be so, if you have a combined background in human resourceš and online marketplace.
With this said, one must be ready to learn the new way as it is completely different from the traditional path.
Moreover, the process changes all the time but once you are in the loop, maneuvering through the changes will be very easy.
In this blog post, I will be covering the art of hiring a freelancer online faster.
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Identify a Trusted Freelance Marketplace
There are many online freelance marketplaces today. What differentiates is their business model. Also, some have all the skills in their databases while others specializes in a specific niche. E.g writing, transcriptions, video editing e.t.c
When scouting for a freelancer marketplace, look at your present and future needs. Apart from the skill that you need to hire for right now, ask yourself, will I need other skills in the future as your business grows? This way, you will be able to narrow down your search.
I recommend signing up on at least two freelance marketplaces with different business models. For instance, some freelancing platforms will require you to post a job and let freelancers send proposals. In others, you will just search for offers on a certain skill and pick a freelance based on their price and ratings from their past completed contracts.
Verification of your account is important for any new client signing up on any freelancing platform. Over the past few years, there has been a rise on malicious accounts being set up by scammers posing as clients only to end up disappearing with Freelancers completed work. Verifying your account will guarantee you protection. Also, when you post a job, it will be displayed to the right freelancers out there for them to send their proposals.
Be Brief and To The Point When You Post a Job-Use The Right Keywords
Everyday, hundreds of jobs are posted by different clients online on popular freelancing platforms. To stand out and get more proposals from freelancers, it’s important to be brief and to the point. Reserve other details to later during the interview once you have shortlisted the right candidate.
If you are searching for gigs or offers by different freelancers in a given platform, use the right keywords. For instance, video production has many other sub-categories. So if you are look for say Screencast video editor, use this exact keywords and you will only see freelancers offering screencast video services.
Once you have shortlisted freelancers, prioritize Freelancers who communicate promptly over everything. This is going by the fact that Freelancers are based in different parts of the world. You can hire anyone so long they communicate promptly and addresses your needs in a clear manner.
Ask them critical things that you value during the interview like their working hours, how they want milestones broken down, their proposed timelines over the timelines you propose to them e.t.c. This is key. Once, you find a freelancer who their response and communication satisfy you, hire them.
Dare to Negotiate
Negotiation should come last. Don’t be shy to ask if the freelancer you choose will be willing to give you a discount along the way if you work with them for a long term. Its ok if they refuse to give you a discount. Just go ahead and hire them.
It’s important to note that freelancers appreciate when you assign them high value projects and work with them for long term. They will be more open and confident in working on your project besides giving you more value for your money along the way.
Allow Them to Share Some of The Work They Complete On Their Social Media or Blog
Freelancers will be happy to post your business on social media or blog after you have worked with them for a while and still guarantee them more work in future. This in a long term will result in great partnership and friendship.
Conclusion
The art of hiring freelancers online is evolutionary. Once you set your foot here, maneuvering through is be easy. The most important thing is to stay positive. At the initial stages, the process will be costly, but in a long run, you will recoup your losses so long as you are persistent. So, Stay focused always.
Finally, I will like to know; have you hired freelancers online? Which is favorite freelancer marketplace? Share your response in the comments section below.
And if you need help to create and produce professsional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a quote for free here.
For feedback or recommendations regarding to this blogpost, you can contact me here.
Until next time, bye bye and take care.
Follow here on WordPress @cheptiony and on twitter @cheptiony
For the past few years, Freelancing has gotten the attention it deserved. As a result, it has shaped the way people approach business and entrepreneurship. Take for instance business man Elon Musk. When you hear his name, the first things that comes to your mind is TESLA, SpaceX, DOGECOIN just to name a few.
Businessman Elon Musk
He is an entrepreneur who has built great brands around his name. People trust anything that is associated with this entrepreneur. That is the direction in which most gifted entrepreneurs take today. They first try different things in order to identify what they love doing. When they find their passion, they then build great brands around it.
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In this blogpost, I will share ways in which Freelancing can help someone Find their passion and business idea they can run with.
The Effect of Freelancing
What freelancing does to someone’s mindset is it enable them to find their niche while making money in the process. In Kenya, most people start Freelance work as content writers. Once they understand how the online system works, they then slowly identify a niche that they love. e.g Video Editing.
Like any other activity, its not easy to start a business around your passion online. Its therefore important to never stop taking jobs on the freelancing sites like Upwork and Fiverr at your early stages. The income from the small contracts will keep you going as you build traction around your idea.
Once you have built a good client base around your idea, you can then stop taking small freelance contracts and commit to running your business full time.
Generally, Google products are designed for productivity including YouTube. Many YouTubers with great content that viewers love to watch have built brands around their names. The first step they took was to build trust from the viewers in their specific niche.
YouTube Market Place
Once they had gained trust from thousands of viewers, they launched their brands around what they share. In a nutshell, a Youtuber is a creative Freelancer when they start. They have freedom to create what they want.
It gets even better, the moment they launch their brands. Here, they transform into business owners.
This includes freelancing in websites like Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, Guru just to name a few. These are good places to start from if you are new to online marketplace and don’t know exactly which niche will work well for you.
If you are a video editor, you can choose a category on Creative Design and Animation. Within time, you will be able identify a niche for yourself besides understanding the terms of working with clients online. e.g payment methods to propose when working directly with the client e.t.c.
When I identified this niche, the first thing I did was to register a business and a website domain. From then, we have been able to get clients who directly contact us from the site and gives us contracts on a regular basis.
Among the services we offer include scripting, providing professional voice over and producing high quality easy to follow screencast videos. If you need help with screencast video production, you can request a free quote on our site at www.techtubestudio.com
Online service market place stands independent today as we speak. You can get most of the services online instantly. There are many freelancers online ready to handle any type of service that you are looking for at an affordable price.
If you want to establish a business that allows you to work anywhere offering services and the comfort of your laptop, then you can start that journey today as an online freelancer. Remember you have to put a lot of hours and investment to get this started.
And that is it from me here.
Do you think freelancing is shaping the path to entrepreneurship? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, request a free quote here. If you have any other questions or concerns regarding to this blogpost, let me know via e-mail on connect@cheptiony.com
A lot has changed when it comes to online security in the world of business and freelancing since covid-19 pandemic hit. In a report by National Technology Security Coalition, Over 770 million email addresses and 21 million unique passwords were exposed in a popular hacking forum after hosted in the cloud service MEGA in 2019. It became the single largest collection of breached personal credentials in history.
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While email is the top attack vector, hackers are using a variety of tricks to get your sensitive information aside e-mail. Increasingly, phishing involves SMS texting attacks against mobiles or the use of messaging on social media and gaming platforms.
Here are 3 things that I have done to protect my e-mails and blog from phishing and cyber attacks in 2021. These simple actions have positively impacted my life in freelancing and business.
I Unsubscribed to All Marketing E-mails and Deleted All Online Accounts I am Not Using
This may look simple and unnecessary but trust me, once you do it, your energy levels will rise to new heights. You will be more creative and positive towards life. I remember how my anxiety and addiction to phone disappeared after deleting my Facebook account in the year 2018. Its a decision I have never regretted.
Unsubscribe here
This inspired me to look into a number of other online products I was subscribed to.
Most people find themselves signing up to several products online because someone marketed it to them. Signing up to everything is dangerous in a long run. It can ruin your chances of success, waste your time and mess up your life.
Do Away With What is Not Adding Value to Your Life
My point here is, do away with what is not bringing you value in life. If you can’t let go, make it work for you for profits. Everything that you subscribe to must bring you value in life.
Only take a FREE course if you will be applying the skills gained in your day to day life.
Otherwise, ask yourself, for how long will you be consuming other people information and living in hope that things will miraculously change for you?
You have what it takes. It takes courage to clean your inbox from all the marketing e-mails that you wake up to every morning. There and then, you will have a clean slate to start creating your own life. Like in the bible we are the Genesis of creation.
I Embraced 2 Factor Authentication in All Accounts That Require Login
When I first heard about 2Factor authentication, I thought it was a scam. I tried creating very complicated passwords in order to avoid activating it. Little did I know that the 2 factor authentications was there for my own good.
2FA Authentication
I activated the 2FA as a security layer in 2021. My domain service provider recommended this to protect my e-mails.
To date I love it. It has helped me protect my online accounts. I use Microsoft Authenticator.
If you have not embraced it yet, I highly recommend that you start today.
I Purchased SSL Certificates for All My sites
Popular browsers like Google Chrome are beginning to mark HTTP websites as not secure. The best and fastest fix is getting an SSL certificate. Getting an SSL will completely change the way customers view your website. You will worry less about data theft, message forgeries or eavesdropping.
SSL Certificate cheptiony.com
With SSL certificate, your website URL will have https and a lock icon at the beginning and not http. This goes a long way in how e-mails associated with your website is delivered. Messages sent to you from your website contacts page will be encrypted.
I recommend getting an SSL certificate for your blog if you haven’t.
Conclusion
If you have your business presence online, invest in it. Seal all the loopholes that scammers may use to frustrate you and make your online business environment unbearable. If your provider recommends that you activate some security features that will help you build and grow your business online; don’t hesitate, implement them.
Optimize your business presence online.
Only focus on things that works and brings value to you.
As I go, what have you done at the height of pandemic that has positively changed your freelance life and business for the better?
Share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
Many freelancers and online entrepreneurs struggle to settle on a specific mobile application for their productivity. They find themselves rushing for the latest mobile app in the market and ditching what they are familiar with.
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Problem is, this behavior is addictive and not helpful in anyway. In todays blogpost, I will be showing you 3 useful productivity free tools that comes installed on your android phone that you can utilize as freelancer.
These tools are specifically useful to freelancers and anyone working online. Am certain that the same tools are available on apple phones as well.
Everyday, an app with similar features to what you already have installed on your phone comes into the market. To remain productive in your freelancing and business career, you need to always ask yourself why you are installing a new app.
Do you really need them?
Can what you already have serve the purpose?
It makes no sense to install an app similar to what you already have on your phone.
Here are 3 free tools with features that you need to be productive as an online entrepreneur.
Calculator
What? You never expected this, right! But hang on first.
Calculator is classified as a tool on android phones. In android 10 color OS, the calculator tool has new features. The first feature which is useful to freelancers working with global clients is the Exchange Rate feature. It has all currencies and its up to date. You just need to have your internet connection on to pull the latest exchange rate.
This feature comes in handy when quoting for a service. You can quickly check the exchange rate of your client currency verses yours. e.g United States Dollars to Kenya Shillings.
On top of the exchange rate feature, you may also need to use the unit converter. For instance, in my country, human weight is measured in Kilograms. In other countries like US, the same is measured in pounds. This feature is helpful for people in the fitness business. There are other units like length, Area, Volume, temperature, speed, power and pressure.
Clock
This is the second tool that is quite useful to freelancers. Freelancers and clients online work and live in different Time zones. For instance, I have clients in UK and Australia. Its therefore good to know the best time to communicate with your clients. When you open clock, you can see your time and location.
Here you can add new time for other locations that you are interested in. To do this, click on the +button, Type in the location name on search bar and select the Time zone. The new time zone will be added to your list. This is always useful as it helps you make the right decisions. Sometimes, it not worth taking jobs from clients in some time zones.
Screen Recording
Finally, we have the screen recorder. This is very useful to me and anyone who offers their services as a video producer. I help clients produce professional screencast videos. Occasionally, I take orders to produce demo videos for mobile apps.
Screen recording tool comes in handy. I can record unlimited screen videos in HD without downloading any app from Play store. Its important to note that you can record your voice alongside the screens when working a demo video for an app.
This tool is also useful to freelancers who do Mobile app reviews. They can quickly record screens and share. To access this app, just pull down the top menu on your phone, then choose screen recorder.
The tool will open up with floating controls on your screen. Click on it to start and stop recording. Use the cog setting feature to enable and disable sound recording. Also, you can see more features by tapping on more.
Click the x button to close.
Conclusion
Before I go, Its is important to note that there are other useful tools like Compass (for Chinese Feng Shui in your house) and Digital well being that records data of everything you do on your phone. If you find yourself not very productive, I suggest that you regularly check on the digital well being app to see which apps are robbing you most of your productive time.
The aim here is to be minimal and productive. This way, you can achieve more.
And that’s it from me here.
If you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can always request a quote for free here.
For any other concern or feedback, send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com
Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
For an exceedingly long time, I have been receiving several spam comments on my blog and I didn’t know how to deal with them apart from marking them as spam or deleting them.
How to Deal With Spam E-mails and Comments on Your Blog or Website
This was not until my hosting service provider, sent me a warning that the send e-mail service associated with one of my domains has been disabled. This meant that I could send any e-mails with e-mail addresses created on this domain. e.g connect@cheptiony.com
Here is a screenshot of the e-mail.
Upon my investigation, I realized the spam e-mails was originating from my blog.
I have some knowledge on WordPress. I can do basic edits. But for this case, I couldn’t fix. So, I had to hire a WordPress expert to fix it. It’s cheaper and less stressful.
The common reasons associated to a Sendmail/SMTP service deactivation are usually the following:
If account limits are reached,
Due to mass mailing
If majority of emails are subject to SPAM content.
In this blogpost, I will be explaining how to deal with spam comments and e-mails.
How Do You Identify Spam Comments and E-mails?
When you post a blogpost on WordPress, you have the choice of either enabling or disabling comments from readers. When you enable, you give readers a chance to comment and share their thoughts about your blogposts.
What many bloggers don’t know is that the comments section of a WordPress blog- when enabled-is vulnerable and subject to spam bot comments.
As a new blogger, you will be thrilled when you receive many comments on your blogposts. Alot of spam comments are positive. The comment authors say how much they were happy to read your posts without particularly pointing on anything you mentioned on the post.
Additionally, if you are keen, you will notice that they carry links to either pornography sites or Viagra affiliate links. This are usually products not in anyway associated with your site. Here is an example of a comment.
Spam bots are capable of sending mass e-mails through your contact us form on your blog. You can wake up to several e-mails on your inbox from different e-mail addresses but same IP location. These E-mails come with different subject lines e.g ‘Viagra Can Safe your Marriage.’ It’s really annoying if you are person who means business.
So how do you get rid of bots spamming your comments section and sending you spam emails via the contacts form on your website? Here are two easy ways;
Integrate reCAPTCHA
reCAPTCHA uses some simple script to stop spam bots from abusing the comments section of your blogposts. Also, its capable of stopping spam e-mails via the contact form on your blog or site.
Its one of the easiest and common ways to protect your forms from spam abuse. Most CAPTCHA solutions provide an audible version ensuring that even the blind people can complete the action.
Google ReCAPTCHA is a free tool that you can quickly add to your forms. If you are new to WordPress, you can engage a Freelance WordPress expert to help you out.
Integrate HONEYPOT Fields
Honeypot is a field within a form that users don’t see due to Java or CSS script. While legit users can’t see, spambots do. Spambots will search for comment elements like labels and input value. If Honeypot section is filled, the e-mail is marked as spam.
To add honeypot to your blog, again, I suggest you engage a WordPress expert. Alternatively, you can search on YouTube for videos that shows you how to do it.
Its important to note that there are many Freelance WordPress experts out there, who are ready to help you out on this at a price of doughnut and coffee! I mean you can afford to pay one without waiting to save money!
Finally, as a caution, it would help to change your e-mail login passwords and double check where you have your domains mailboxes connected. This is besides performing virus scan on your device to eliminate the possibility of your email account being used to send SPAM.
That’s all from me here.
Do you get spam comments and mass e-mails on your blog? Let me know in the comments section below.
If you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can request a free quote here. For any other enquiries, send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com.
There are two sure ways to upload a theme to WordPress for use on your blog or website. In this weeks Freelancing tip, I will show you two ways to upload a WordPress theme to your webhosting control panel in order customize it to suite your needs.
Two Ways to Upload a WordPress Theme
Its always important to know different ways to upload a WordPress theme incase one of them fails to work. This way, you will be able to pinpoint and troubleshoot any errors. e.g missing stylesheet.
Sometimes uploading a theme via the WordPress dashboard fails to work. I have experienced this a couple times when trying to upload a theme purchased from theme forest. If you encounter the same issue like I did, then try uploading the theme via the webhost cPanel.
To do this, login to your hosting account. On your hosting account cPanel dashboard, select File Manager.
Select File manager from your hosting cPanel Dashboard.
On the new window. Select the domain you want to upload the theme on your left. Your domain folder will expand. Select public_html>wp-content>themes.
Select domain>wp-content>themes
Using the icons on top (which varies depending on your hosting provider), click upload files. Select the theme you want to install and click upload.
Click Upload.
When done uploading, select the uploaded folder and click extract the files.
Go back to your WordPress themes page and you will see the new theme display. From there you can start customizing it to suite your needs.
And that is it from me today on Freelance tips. If you have any questions regarding to this video, let me know in the comments section below. Alternatively, you can send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com
