Everyone with an email address has experienced some type of email virus alarm or online post warning you to “forward this message to everyone you know” to protect them from dire consequences. It’s time to remind readers to take a trojan virus reality check and get the facts before forwarding any alarm email or message.

In most cases you can determine if the warning being passed on is real or a hoax in a couple of minutes. Otherwise, you could be wasting resources by perpetuating an online chain letter effect, or hurt your reputation for being like Henny Penny (“…the sky is falling”) if it’s a hoax and not real.

Here’s an example of a recent post on Facebook about the koobface virus.

Virus spreading like wildfire on FaceBook! It is a trojan worm called koobface. It will steal your info, invade your system and shut it down! DO NOT open the link Barack Obama Clinton Scandal! If SmartGirl15 requests you, don’t accept it; it is a virus. If somebody on your list adds her then you get the virus too! Please copy and paste to your wall.

There is a virus version of koobface circulating on Facebook (and MySpace), yet slightly different than described in the post. Here’s a link to details on Urban Legends at snopes.com which is always a great place to check out any alarming messages about virus threats.

After documenting details of the real threat, the last paragraph explains the Obama/Clinton and SmartGirl versions were each a variation and hoax of the real virus. The “do not open” advice given in the post is still excellent any time you encounter something suspicious.

Think twice and take that trojan virus reality check by doing a search on Urban Legends before you forward any email warning alert.

A quality web design with seo search engine optimization will help attract backlinks from other websites. Achieve links you earn and deserve naturally and avoid the dangers of being tempted to trade, buy, or sell links. I never accept link exchange requests.

Most emails for link requests go to Dear Webmaster, or something like that and very impersonal. Toss those emails without reading past the greeting. The best links are those links you earn and deserve without any correspondence or request between sites. A site that links to you voluntarily without contacting you or expecting something in return is the ideal backlink.

Two-way links are also called reciprocal links and those are more or less useless for boosting your seo ranking. Three-way link agreements may seem ideal, yet they are not best practice: Site 1 links to site 2 who links to site 3 who links to site 1. It gives the deceptive appearance of independent “votes” for sites worth linking to. The truth is Google supercomputers look for the 3-way link schemes and they get zero value or perhaps a negative penalty if widespread and blatant.

The best links to your site are those you earn and do not ask for, pay for, or solicit in any way. If your business is truly outstanding and a related site links to you (one-way only) then those have seo value when found by Google.

Years ago you could pay to have ranked sites link to you and Google would mistake those paid “votes” as voluntary endorsements and assign very high value for site reputation. The paid link schemes fell apart in 2007 when en masse Google banned those sites to oblivion who were using deceptive seo methods by trading in buying or selling links.

The phrase “add original quality content often” is still the magnet to attract natural links and positive Google search results. Provide an exceptional visitor experience and the backlinks from other sites will come naturally. For web design and seo success the best links are still those links you earn and deserve.

Spice up your blog design with photo or graphic illustrations to enhance the look and value to readers. This blog illustration design tutorial shows how I did just that on my personal blog Growin’ Up in Maine on a recent blog post about a childhood story called First Plane Ride Ever.

Follow the link above to read the story and see the blog design illustration.

The finished Piper Cub plane illustration is shown larger than actual size as used on the blog post to make the tutorial easier for viewers to imagine how to combine elements into an illustration.

Here is the step by step plane illustration tutorial in 4 graphics marked A through D and explained below.

• Graphic A: Original Piper Cub photo from Wikimedia Commons prior to any crop or edit of markings
• Graphic B: Graphic elements including the plane cropped, text to be added, and alternate plane markings
• Graphic C: Crop of personal sky and fluffy cloud photo I took and chose as a replacement background
• Graphic D: Final illustration actual size 300×200 as used on the blog post for a more dramatic look

The original Piper Cub photo (A) was cropped to remove the background, and then (B) graphic elements for the illustration were created: plane (resized and different angle), text caption, and new plane markings “July 1957″. The photo (C) is an original that I took recently of a blue Florida sky and fluffy clouds used as a replacement background, and then (D) shows the finished illustration actual size. Edits were done using Xara Xtreme software.

The personal blog about Growin’ Up in Maine has over 100 childhood stories that feature a photo or graphic illustration on every post. While having a graphic for every post adds pressure to staying creative, even an interesting graphic on every other post is better than none. Perhaps this blog illustration design tutorial will help readers become inspired.

It’s that time of year again when I release free custom business card calendar artwork, so the 2011 business card calendar download is now available.

As always, you do not have to register or reveal an email address, so click the card graphic to the right or use this link for your free 2011 business card calendar download (zip folder, 1.3mb size). Artwork is in 300dpi JPG CMYK 4-color ready for print.

Just like last year the zip folder includes 3 versions with your choice of backgrounds in light granite, grey marble, or plain white. The free 2010 business card calendar for this year is still available for download, also.

Each card design is oversized at 3.625″ x 2.125″ for USA standard business card size to allow bleed for 1/16th trim on each side to 3.5 x 2.0 after printing. Like the artwork? Please take a moment to comment about the free 2011 business card artwork or tell a friend and send them a link to this page. Thanks.

We support Kiva, a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose slogan is “loans that change lives” with a mission to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Imagine the idea of random acts of kindness and helping someone realize the dream of a better life for their family by offering funds in the form of microloan support through Kiva. If you are an active customer for my design services then a portion of your fee for custom cms web design or matching artwork may have already helped a Kiva entrepreneur.

The Kiva community allows a person to invest a nominal amount towards microloans to entrepreneurs mostly in poorer countries who would not otherwise qualify for a traditional loan. You get to choose a specific entrepreneur by trade and geography after reading their bio and history.

As of November 2009, Kiva had facilitated over $100 million in loans in their first 4 years since incorporating in 2005. Understand that lending to the working poor through Kiva involves risk of principal loss, yet you can place as little as $25 towards helping prequalified persons attempting to make a better life for their families.

Kiva does not guarantee repayment. Kiva does not offer any financial return on your loan. However, the principal repayment rate is greater than 98% to date, so helping ease poverty and seeing that success rate is very gratifying. Once repaid you may withdraw the funds from your account, loan it again to another needy person, or donate it all to Kiva.

Note: A 15% donation added at checkout to funds the first time you lend is voluntary and may be declined, yet helps defray Kiva operating costs. You have other Kiva donation options on future microfinance loan purchases from 0-20%, also. The donation portion for USA lenders is tax deductible.

Visit their website to learn more about helping people help themselves with microloan support through Kiva. While there, visit my microloan lender page to see profiles of entrepreneurs I helped.

The computer hard drive storage capacity setup on my pc 3 years ago seemed like a forever solution until just recently. Imagine the shock of seeing a computer alert warning that open capacity on the 250Gb hard drive storage was dangerously low at 4%.

Rather than buy a new pc my solution was the WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN 1Tb External Hard Drive from Western Digital. The photo here shows the new My Book Essential 1Tb hard drive on my desk next to the pc tower. You can buy alternate capacity of 500Gb or 2Tb, also.

Once installed, mouse over the WD icon in the taskbar and it indicates storage used as a percentage plus a temperature indicator with “ok”.

The photo shown has the box (left) and actual external drive (right). My Book is an appropriate name. At approximately 7″ tall with air vents on 3 sides the add-on is shaped like a small thick book.

The backup system chosen 3 years ago was a Western Digital 250Gb external hard drive at $150 plus separate backup software for $100 for $250 total. The new WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN 1Tb external hard drive has 4x the storage for $99 (July 2010), plus includes excellent backup software that installs automatically. Thus total cost for bigger and better was cut more than half.

In 2007 I never imagined filling up a 250Gb hard drive. By the time I need a 2Tb drive I’ll be overdue for a new pc. The plug and play setup and installation of the WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN 1Tb was surprisingly fast and simple.

I was mildly disappointed that the software does not mirror my folder structure but splits storage into folders by file type: system, pictures, other, music, movies, mail, and documents. I archive and sometimes delete by entire project folder not by individual files, so I went to the WD forum for archive advice.

One solution from the WD community forum is keep two copies of the file you would delete or archive with one as the “original” and one on the “backup” drive so you have them stored in different locations. I’ve decided to store 50Gb of the original files on the retired WD 250Gb drive. There are already backups on the new external drive, so now I can safely remove them from my computer to free up storage space.

Overall I’m pleased with the great value and ease of use of the WDBAAF0010HBK-NESN. In particular I was very impressed with the software, the speed of the initial backup, and the automated real time backup function. The automation instead of manual backups means my 2007 post Surviving the Inevitable Hard Drive Crash warning about regular backups is now even easier with an external hard drive upgrade.

Recent completed web design work includes multiple cms and blog conversions done for the Mountridge LLC family of websites including: AdamsHomeownerServices.com, MainStreamMemorabilia.com, and AdamsFloridaServices.com.

Both Adams sites were converted from static pages to a custom cms content management system which allows the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7. The MainStream Memorabilia online store website was updated with a bolder look. All 3 Mountridge LLC websites include custom matching WordPress designs that were converted from Blogger.

Visit each blog for news or advice about products and services from the following links, and then use top navigation to view the matching look of their main websites.

Adams Homeowner Services handles Florida vacation or long term rental property, the MainStream Memorabilia e-commerce store offers movie and tv star autographed memorabilia, and Adams Florida Services specializes in residential or commercial Orlando area landscape and lawn service.

Inspiration for writing website content as part of web design, and especially the pressure for new blog post content, can be relieved somewhat if you recognize opportunity. Earlier today I had that type of experience involving web copywriting, and decided the topic was worthy of sharing here as the anatomy of a published article.

Ever help someone with a problem as part of your job by providing free advice? The good will generated is worth donating that solution with no strings attached, yet take it another step and document the story as a blog post so others know just what you did to make a difference in a person’s life.

If you’re away from the computer when inspiration strikes, jot down a short note as a reminder of the new blog post topic for later. Do that often during the day and you’ll never run out of ideas for blog posts. Here’s what happened today, and the timeline.

8:43 a.m. – Replied to an email with advice for writing effective blog post content
9:00 a.m. – Used notes from the tips I sent earlier to begin a formal advice article
1:15 p.m. – Article finished and began submitting it to my top 20 article directories
2:27 p.m. – Email confirmation received from EzineArticles.com acknowledging receipt
4:03 p.m. – Email message confirms EzineArticles.com approved and published my article*

Acts of kindness in business may be repaid by others who become new customers by observing or learning about how you treat people. I think of that whenever I’m doing custom cms web design and offering free advice.

What began as a helpful email reply to an acquaintance early this morning evolved into a full article submitted, approved, and published by the end of the day. That article will generate backlinks and site traffic because I recognized the opportunity to share expertise relating to web design.

Curious? Read the article entitled My Golden Rule Writing for the Web with advanced tips about writing website content.

*Footnote: For authors wondering about an article being submitted and then approved and published in just 96 minutes, those are true times down to the minute. EzineArticles.com gives expedited reviews to Platinum level authors like me. Read about another benefit of being a platinum author here.

This month marks one year since my son Roger launched the custom cms web design for Haggetts Aluminum in Florida. Just last month the owner mentioned how pleased they are with sales coming from the website. It makes my day to get happy web design client feedback since Roger chose a career in website design and took over the CodeRepair.com site.

The team at Haggetts is very busy and they credit the performance of their website as the key reason.

A quality web design with proper optimization will attract traffic from search engines. The real goal is to make a positive first impression so those visitors stay and become customers. It’s great knowing my son, who’s slogan is “The next generation in custom website design”, has made a difference for Haggetts Aluminum.

Check out the custom home page awning factory video tour showing how they manufacture custom aluminum awnings. That 2-1/2 minute video presentation is a dynamic sales tool 24/7 with the factory tour, background music, and narration.

Does your website attract search engine traffic and make a positive first impression? If not and you’re ready for a new custom cms web design or makeover of an existing website, contact us today for a prompt review and quote, or follow the link in the first paragraph to check out Roger at CodeRepair.com.

The rule for acceptable domain names allows letters, numbers, hyphens, and periods only. For corporations and especially attorneys who include the & symbol in their name, the ampersand you use on your letterhead must be written out as “and” if you want that in your domain name. Ampersand is not allowed in domain names.

The ampersand is a reserved character in html used in code for displaying special characters and symbols. While it may not be used in a domain name, it can be displayed as text on a web page. Most people type each instance of ampersand as a single character located above the number 7 on your keyboard which is pressed while holding the shift key.

To properly display the ampersand in web page text it cannot be typed as a single character. The code to indicate the single symbol to mean the word “and” is &. Otherwise, browsers encounter just the symbol & in the html code without the extra 4 characters and it signals a special character follows immediately.

To get the & to display properly in that last paragraph of this post I actually had to type & and post in html mode. Each time just & is used in the html it is a code error per W3C, so enter it properly where it is allowed and remember the “and symbol” is not allowed in domain names.

Bonus Tip: Protect your brand when choosing a domain name. Here’s a tip if your company name includes the ampersand & symbol and you decide to use the company name but leave out the word “and” in your domain name. My advice is using the one you like yet get both, as well.

To illustrate, AT&T originally chose just the ATT.com domain, and so a squatter grabbed ATandT.com likely thinking it was a gold mine. Follow this link to read the details and the ruling in the AT&T complaint filed 8 years ago. They prevailed. It took less than 90 days. Following atandt.com automatically forwards to att.com.

Squatters typically inflate the price to transfer a domain for less than the legal cost of arbitration. They’re hoping you do not have the inclination, budget, or attorneys on staff to fight. So while it’s true ampersand is not allowed in domain names, you may still want to register the company name using the word “and” to avoid potential headaches later.