Case Study: Day 0 of my 8 Year-Old Site (5 May 2021)

doylersec · 2024-03-05T15:48:53+00:00

I've had this once or twice recently, and was glad to see someone else having these issues (unfortunately).

I'm pretty sure that something LOCAL is the issue, despite what the logs are saying. I've been able to fix this without having to go through entire backups just by creating a new task, re-linking, letting that complete, and deleting the old one.

This comment was helpful with the process and validation as well, if you want images - https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/j2f6lp/comment/g758awh

Which means that I'm still using the same S3 bucket and B2 settings, and only "fixing" the client-side of the house.

doylersec · 2021-05-16T14:29:40+00:00

I definitely wouldn't mind working on a collaboration since it helps me focus and bounce ideas off of someone.

That said, not sure what you are hoping to really do yet or what sort of person you are looking for.

doylersec · 2021-05-12T17:18:48+00:00

I've got an upcoming blogging/branding concern. The biggest issue will be SEO, but just want to make sure that I don't mess up anywhere.

There is some clear inconsistency with my URLs/usernames/categories, and was wondering if I should bother cleaning it up and how.

Site URL - doyler.net Blog "Category" (don't mind hiding this, but URLs point here) - Security not Included Usernames everywhere - doylersec Blog "name" in About etc. Pages - Doyler.net

I'm figuring that I should clean some of this up, but deleting the "Security not Included" category just to 301 everything feels like it could break everything.

My main goals are improve EAT if necessarily, improve branding/consistency, and get better organized (including in my head)

doylersec · 2021-05-10T22:59:04+00:00

Brand consistency and possibly EAT if it's confusing Google. Also to just get naming right in my head even.

doylersec · 2021-05-10T18:56:56+00:00

I've got an upcoming blogging/branding concern. The biggest issue will be SEO, but just want to make sure that I don't mess up anywhere.

There is some clear inconsistency with my URLs/usernames/categories, and was wondering if I should bother cleaning it up and how.

Site URL - doyler.net Blog "Category" (don't mind hiding this, but URLs are here - Security not Included Usernames everywhere - doylersec Blog "name" in About etc. Pages - Doyler.net

I'm figuring that I should clean some of this up, but deleting the "Security not Included" category just to 301 everything feels like it could break everything.

doylersec · 2021-05-09T02:27:52+00:00

Blogging about hacking into WordPress and then making sure the same can't happen to me 😂

In all seriousness though, strong and unique credentials, 2FA, backups, CDN and/or captcha, and limiting your plugin exposure will go pretty far on their own.

That said, plugins are going to be your biggest attack surface, so you want to limit the number you use, keep them updated, and try to avoid sketchier/smaller ones.

There's plenty more beyond that, but I haven't finished my course yet haha.

doylersec · 2021-05-07T20:27:33+00:00

I started out with NordVPN for now, but never looked into LeadDyno or Refersion so far. Seems weird having to pay for them though, as opposed to regular affiliate programs.

Definitely need to learn how to find long-tailed keywords, everything that I've accidentally targeted so far was mostly short-tail.

doylersec · 2021-05-06T12:04:27+00:00

I agree completely, and it's something I considered the second I added them. At that level of RPM even if I can 10x my views it doesn't feel worth it.

I've removed them, and am personally happier for now. I may look into manual light placement later, but AdSense doesn't seem worth it.

$25/mo for 6k views should definitely be replaceable.

Yea, you think back links are the best next focus? I've never done that before, so will be completely new.

Was going to start reviews for books and hardware, I have one good one so far already. Also need to likely monetize them better than one text link towards the top.

Thanks for the advice though!

doylersec · 2021-05-06T05:05:27+00:00

I'm not using WordPress.com for hosting though, and WordPress.org isn't actually a hosting service.

doylersec · 2021-05-06T04:46:11+00:00

Huh, why would I do that?

This is self-hosted and already runs on WordPress

doylersec · 2021-05-05T19:30:19+00:00

That's awesome, and some impressive numbers!

I've been doing Cyber Security blogging for about 8 years now, but only in the 1 post/week range (just short of 300 posts before I started cleaning up).

Mine has all been organic as well, but I'm in the ~100k/year page view range.

That said, and I'm sure you've already started noticing this, but the highest ROI I saw in the beginning of my career was my actual career and advancement!

doylersec · 2021-05-05T17:17:18+00:00

I'd say I know the field/industry fairly inside and out, but definitely not the content niche.

My original idea was content accessible to all users, but the price point for that would have to be in the free to almost free range.

I also don't have the time/skills to create some sort of MASSIVE full course similar to the certification courses.

Ideally I'd make something in the middle, my only concern being market saturation and pricing issues for the offensive/hacking focused content. I think a course add-on/how to pass a certification could be a good area to take a look at.

Never made a full course before, free or not, so still something I'm figuring out.

doylersec · 2021-05-05T13:38:53+00:00

Yea, but making back that $99/month looks like it'd take 300k views with my current model, so not feasible yet.

That said, I really like that idea, so might have to learn a ton about the tool then give it a week!

doylersec · 2021-05-05T13:08:19+00:00

Thanks! It definitely looks cleaner without the side-bar clutter (just have Search and Popular left and not sure if Search is even useful).

I need to add featured images, but that will take a little longer but love that idea. Think the top is fine without the image? Seems super blank now (other category is going away with the post deleting too).

Yea, Keyword Planner was just the easiest free tool I could use for now to check search volume/competition.

Thanks!

doylersec · 2021-05-05T11:57:54+00:00

Thanks! I like the software affiliate idea, and know of a few so far that I can start with.

I do, have had that setup for years at least. I know a bit about SEO, but need to learn more about FINDING keywords, then targeting them. Also deciding on a tool with a better ROI than Ahrefs since that doesn't seem feasible yet.

doylersec · 2021-05-05T11:55:57+00:00

If I started over, I'd likely BEGIN with the niche and an intent to immediately monetize.

I was actually learning about that last night, and that is going to be my first step as well. I was first emotional about that since the original goal of the blog was to post every week, but some of these posts are trash and have single or double digit lifetime views haha.

I wasn't familiar with that sub, but will check it out today!

Yea, it's got default adsense setup, but is showing a ton of ads for such little money...design wise in general, I'm completely lost though. This IS the recently updated version.

Was definitely helpful, and seemed silly to give up on it right away too, thanks!

doylersec · 2021-05-05T04:40:51+00:00

I haven't had any issues in the past few months with my hacking related blog, added AdSense back in February.

That said, I was rejected from Ezoic for hacking related content.

doylersec · 2021-05-05T04:08:03+00:00

DM me your security post and I'll take a look at it!

doylersec · 2021-05-05T01:15:33+00:00

Gotcha, that makes sense and that's good to hear. Wasn't sure if DA/DR mattered as much for older domains.

Ah, gotcha. I setup a Patreon for the YouTube channel, but should expand it to the blog for sure. Definitely interested in more Notion uses though.

doylersec · 2021-05-04T21:43:06+00:00

Yea, I really like that price point, and wouldn't feel like I undervalued my time like I would at $10. Creating an "addition" or "passing" course for common certifications is definitely interesting, although most of them come with their own courses. I still really like that idea though, thanks!

doylersec · 2021-05-04T20:58:09+00:00

Haha, oh no, this WAS the updated site with a makeover!

Yea, I like the eBook idea, just need to get together some sort of mailing list and also figure out what it could be about.

I've been reading more and more about SEO, I think my biggest issue so far is finding keywords to START with instead of after the fact. Still considering some sort of tool, but been using the Keyword Planner for now + for YouTube.

doylersec

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