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While many site owners are concerned about plagiarism and hackers, the fact is, that’s not how they get mugged. Believe it or not, most site owners don’t actually own their site including the content, graphics, the copyright or even their domain name.

Most website designers are honest people; however, they have to compete with thousands of other designers for business. When a potential client surfs online for a designer they are looking for two things, which are price and ease.

The ease comes from hiring someone who will take care of all the technical details by offering all-in-one packages that include purchase and setup of the domain and hosting along with the site design. Designers turn a profit on this setup by purchasing a large space on a host server and then reselling it to clients. They make enough profit on design and hosting to offer the domain name for free, which they usually obtain at a volume discount in the first place.

Why is all of this bad for the client? In short, the client pays for something they don’t actually own. Because of the way the package is set up, the designer cannot disclose the security information for the hosting or the domain name.

To protect themselves, designers usually retain the copyright to a site they design as well. That also includes all of the custom graphics and may include the content.

If the client ever has a falling out with the designer, or wants to change designers or hosts, they may suddenly find that they have no site at all. Because the designer is listed as the owner of the site, the hosting, and the domain, they can remove the site from public view at will and the client has no way to retrieve it.

The bottom line is that you can take some steps to protect yourself.

If you plan to hire a designer, consult with them to specify the host and server type that will work best with your site.

- Look for a host that includes a free domain.
- Obtain your own domain name and hosting even if doing so costs more.
- List yourself as the owner and your designer as the technical contact.
- Back up your site. If you’re on WordPress, use the Backup Plugin to download your site to your computer. If you have a static site, get a free FTP program and make a backup of your site on your own computer or ask your designer to provide you with a hard copy on CD.

More info on protecting your site.

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Immediately after installing a new self-hosted WordPress site, there are several steps you should take before creating posts or new pages. If your site is custom designed and installed by the creator, a few of these steps may have already been done for you. Please check with your designer for details. If you installed WordPress and plan to activate a theme yourself, you will definitely want to do all of these steps.

Update Your Profile

Following are the four settings you will want to change immediately.

Log in to your site. From the left sidebar links, click Users then Your Profile.

In the Name section, enter a Nickname. Choose carefully. This name will populate the Display Name field just below it as well. You will use this nickname as the name you want to display as the author of the posts.

From the Display name publicly as drop-down menu, choose the nickname you just entered.

In the Contact Info section, input the e-mail address you would like to use to receive notices from your site. These will include notifications such as someone leaving a comment on one of your posts or pages.

If your designer uploaded WordPress for you, check with them before doing this next step. If you uploaded WordPress yourself, scroll to the bottom of the page and find the New Password section. Input a new password.

Activate Your Theme

If your theme was custom designed and the creator has already uploaded it, you may skip this step. If you installed WordPress yourself, upload your theme and activate it.

Activate Plugins

There are two plugins that you will want to activate right away. Brief details are given here.

You will already find the plugin Akismet installed on your site. You will want to activate it because this plugin protects you from spam being entered in your post comments.

You will need to install the second plugin. It is WP-DB-Backup, which stands for WordPress DataBase Backup. Simply click the Add New sublink under Plugins and search for it by name. Follow the instructions in the chapter to install and activate it. All of your posts, comments, pages, and sidebar content are kept in the database. It’s a good idea to back it up routinely.

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The final touches are being put on the new WordPress.org series. The three volume set includes a 95 page Reference Manual detailing every element found on a WordPress site. The RSS Feeds book contains step-by-step instructions on two methods of setting up feeds on your site, including how to install the subscription links. The series rounds out with the Quick Start Guide that covers all the essentials of getting your site up and running from choosing a theme to making your first and even adding new pages.

Whether you are new to WordPress or have been running a site for a while, you will find the information in these books invaluable to getting the most from WordPress.

Be sure to subscribe to this blog to be immediately notified when the books become available.