(Frequently Asked Questions)
What do I need to check before I install a site using WordPressDirect?
Before you attempt an installation on YOUR hosting provider, you should type the address of the site into a browser and verify that you get an Index-of listing. If we host it for you, then you don’t need to do this step.
Can’t you answer my ticket faster?
You can help us answer your tickets faster by making sure you put the following in the ticket…
First, whether we are hosting it or whether you are and if you are, who the hosting company is. We also need to know whether you have more than one domain on the host now and whether you also used WHM to create the domain Finally, paste the installation folder you used (from the field in site setting) into the ticket.
Please review tickets you have filed
We answer ALL tickets filed. In many cases we have answered tickets that have then sat for a day or more awaiting client input. Please log into your helpdesk account with the same username/password as your WordPressDirect login details and review the tickets listed in the right sidebar to check their status. Please provide any requested information.
Please watch this video to see what you need to do;
—>Using the WPD Support Ticket System
And please don’t reply to ticket emails.
If you run out of installs, please file a ticket in Billing
(even if you are a free member)
If you file a ticket for the Billing Department stating that you’ve used up your 3 installs, we can upgrade your account to a membership level called 30DCPLUS that temporarily allows you to do more installations but otherwise has the limitations of free accounts. At some point in the following week, we will clear your failed installations and reset your account to FREE status.
What hosting companies are supported?
Here is the table of supported/unsupported. BlueHost and HostMonster implement a component called Ioncube differently than most. In order to be supported you need to configure your account as shown in the video…
Configure Ioncube on Bluehost (or HostMonster)
WPD Supported Hosting Providers
- Hostgator (must include DB access - without @ in ftp)
- Midphase
- BlueHost (using Ioncube config video)
- HostMonster (using Ioncube config video)
- Dreamhost (soon - pending testing completion)
- Other cPanel hosts not listed on the right
Hosting Providers NOT Supported
- GoDaddy
- 1and1
- Powerweb
- NetFirms
- HostGo
- 000webhost.com
Can I use your WPD service and software on a WP site I already have?
To use it on an existing site, your existing site must be on a supported hosting company. If it is, then please import the site into WPD so we are aware of the blog’s settings. We do not allow you to upload your own themes into our gallery due to security issues. However, you are free to FTP any theme you like to your site and use it.
If I don’t have a hosting provider, how many sites can I host with you?
Free members can host their first site on our domains. All paid members can host 3 sites on our domains. After that, you need to have your own hosting providers.
Does your Terms of Service give you ownership over my content?
We tried to write this so that we would make it clear that we do NOT own your content but somehow the wording makes it sound like we do. We’ll change it and post the revised text to the TOS and the 30DC forums.
Does the Free membership bill me after 30 days?
No. The Free membership is free forever. Enjoy!
How do I cancel my account?
To downgrade your membership with WordPressDirect to free , simply cancel your subscription with Paypal. We will handle all the rest! We do this to ensure that rebilling cannot happen erroneously.
What happens if I cancel my account?
All sites hosted by you are yours forever. Even if we host them, don’t worry, your sites will not be destroyed if you cancel. They will remain exactly as they are when you cancel your membership. However, if we host them, you will not have FTP access to them.
If the system cannot re-bill you (because you have cancelled your billing in Paypal) it will suspend your account and you will not have access until we re-assign you as a Free member. You will still be able to file a support ticket while suspended, or to re-instate your account at a future time if you wish.
While suspended, you can still change the site using the WordPress WP-Admin area of your blog, but you will no longer be able to modify it via WordPressDirect.com. Your sites are normal Wordpress sites on your hosting, so you can freely FTP and install any plugins or themes you want at any time. Finally, if cancelled, any automatic posting done using our software will stop functioning.
Why is my site showing Adsense?
If adsense is in the theme, it will likely show up and just show Public Service ads. You can turn off adsense on any theme by removing your Adsense number from the ‘website settings’ area.
Aren’t the Wordpress version and plugins out of date?
The template install used is based on Wordpress 2.5.x since 2.6 came out about a week before the challenge. We intend to update the template install to 2.6.x when possible after it is sufficiently tested.
There are WordPress-weenies in the world who will gripe about this.
The plugin set was personally selected by GuruBob to be the most effective SEO mix for the 30DC sites, and we attempted to use the latest versions of all the plugins compatible with 2.5.x in the template install.
Help! I ran out of installs because they failed and I don’t have a site!
If you are a Free user who runs into trouble this way, we will make your account a membership level called 30DCPLUS which allows you to do more installations but otherwise has the limitations of free accounts. At some point in the next week, we will clear your failed installations and reset your account the FREE status.
How do I add an aweber Opt-in form to the Sale Offer area of my blog?
In aweber, go to the page that gives you the form code for your signup form. Grab the HTML version. In WordpressDirect, go to your site sittings and go to ‘Ads and Banner Setup’. In the ‘Sale Offer’ area, choose the ‘html’ button from the toolbar above the editing field. Paste the form code into the popup and save it.
Save the Sale Offer and it will appear in your sidebar.
Where can I find some good RSS feeds to use with the RSS Poster?
There are lots of places where you can find RSS feeds on many topics. Searching for “RSS Directory” is a good start. Here are some general feed links to try if you want to get started with the RSS Poster. Replace %KEYWORD% with a search keyword when using;
Technorati http://feeds.technorati.com/feed/posts/tag/%KEYWORD%
Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/search?q=%KEYWORD%&ql=en
Yahoo News http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=%KEYWORD%
What is auto-posting? Doesn’t it create duplicate content? Is it legal?
The way we and Ed Dale teach the usage of the site does not rely on any content auto-posting features. The goal is to produce a high quality site, including relevant content from many sources related to your niche. The auto-posters have a very valid use in this regard and do not simply fill your site with junk if used as we suggest. It is legal as long as we comply with the Terms of the content sources.
Some pieces of software get the content from User Generated sources using their Application Programming Interfaces (API) with API keys they have issued to us. For YouTube videos (for instance), we are simply automating the embedding of links that YouTube provides/encourages and that users would be doing manually anyway. In other cases we provide proper attribution as required by the Yahoo Terms of Service for instance.
The way we encourage users to post using these tools in a way that enhances their site is covered in our How-It-Works section under Tutorial 3 - Be Your Site’s Editor With Supervised Posting.
Some pieces of our software use content either freely distributed (eZines, etc) or outsourced by the site owner (PLR). The way we combine content on the site ensures that the pages are unique. Although this has been extensively tested both by us and Ed’s technical team, Google is known for changing their algorithms at any time.
BOTTOM LINE: We are an installation service. You can be as white hat as you like with our service and never use any of the auto-posting software if you desire.
I don’t trust you guys. You look shifty. Aren’t you going to take control of my keyword phrases if they are hosted on your site?
We are a pretty shifty looking bunch, it’s true. But only because we’re from Boston! Which is wicked-pissah, BTW.
WPD certainly does not control your keyword phrase in any way. All on-page work you have done you can take with you. What you give up is the work you have done to give the site authority using off-page factors like incoming links. Since you are building the link network to a site which is a subdomain of one of our domains, they will always point there.
The quick answer is to get your own hosting and do the off-page work to a domain that you own. The only reason the subdomains are available is to provide a convenience to those who don’t want to deal with domains, hosting, pointing nameservers and waiting for DNS propogation.
OK - but you guys still suck. A bunch of your themes are messed up.
We are a pretty sucky bunch, it’s true. But only because we’re from Boston! Which is STILL wicked-pissah, BTW.
Themes in Wordpress are an abstract art form. Sometimes the themes are busted by the script we have to run on them to enable our functionality. We need some major help with reviewing the themes. We just can’t get to them all and still answer support tickets.
Can you guys help? If you find a theme that has a problem, clicking theme info in your site settings will bring you to a page where you can comment and also report a broken theme. We’d really appreciate your feedback on themes!
