Archive for the ‘reviews’ Category

The wSecure plugin is a good choice for hardening WordPress admin security to prevent malicious visitors from your login page. The first defense to protect your admin login credentials is creating a unique user name instead of the default login name “admin”.

Using the term “admin” for a user name gives hackers half the info they need to access your WordPress site, so all they have to do is guess the password. Don’t be cute about your password either. Make it difficult to guess, and don’t have a universal password for every online account you own.

People crying in forums about their website being hacked are usually to blame because of poor security strategy. Check out the top 500 worst passwords of all time to see if yours is listed.

Hacking a site is not about a person going to your site and manually trying to gain access. They’re automated with scripts to input millions of user name and password combos without pressing a key. Pick unique names for your user and password to avoid getting hacked.

The culprits are happy to gain entry to a handful of websites and don’t mind if their robot has to try a million to get access to just a few.

Go beyond picking hard to guess user names and passwords. The wSecure plugin free download creates a secret pathway to the admin login page. It’s hard to disguise the fact you have a WordPress based site. Nearly all use the standard login page at [your domain]/wp-admin/, so getting to the login boxes is easy.

The wSecure plugin allows you to easily “disguise” the path with another level of security, so people going to [your domain]/wp-admin/ login page to attempt to gain access are automatically and instantly redirected to your home page. Follow the link in the previous paragraph to learn more about wSecure, and then consider adding the extra level of protection for hardening WordPress admin security.

This WordPress page comments tutorial explains how to easily set the WordPress 3.x page no comments setting without code edits. Comment settings for blog posts and pages are controlled under the admin menu option for Settings, and then Discussion, yet the only choice is a check box to allow comments, or not.

People want a better choice to allow or not allow WordPress page comments without affecting blog posts.

Custom web design clients with the WordPress platform as a CMS Content Management System usually want comments on blog posts, but not on pages. As WordPress continues to gain popularity as a CMS solution, it doesn’t make sense to have static looking pages like the Home page, About Us, or Contact forms with an option to leave comments.

The ability to add, edit, or delete content without advanced technical skills means “keep it simple” for novice site owners. Currently as of the date of this tutorial, a formal feature request to set the default for pages and posts independently under the setting for discussions remains open 6 months after the request was made.

Easy Solution for WordPress 3.x Website Page Comments Settings

This illustrated tutorial provides an easy 3 step process for setting “no comments” on WordPress 3.x pages while you are actually creating a new page. Note: Illustrations are smaller than actual size.

Click any illustration for an enlarged full size view.

Step One: Click

Click the “Screen Options” in the far upper right of your admin edit screen next to the Help button.

Step Two: Check

Check the box for “Discussion” from the popup section that appears.

Step Three: Uncheck

Uncheck the box for “Allow comments” further down the page just below the page text edit box.

If you overlooked the settings and notice pages have the comment section, return to the page edit in admin and follow these same steps.

Publish your new page and the comment section will not be displayed at the bottom of the published page. If you are doing an edit of selections on an existing page, select the “Update” button instead of “Publish”. You’re done.

Again, this WordPress page comments tutorial is a fast and easy solution as of the date of this post to the current WordPress version 3.3.1. Once the feature request is implemented in a future WordPress update this tutorial may not be needed.

The best solution is WordPress core files that provide a separate allow comments checkbox for posts, and another for pages, so you never have to remember to reset it for new pages in the future.

Maybe the WordPress team will surprise us and make the default setting already unchecked for allow comments on pages!

The website optimization strategy in the SEO for 2012 Report tutorial released last month works, and this case study provides evidence. You must invest time to improve and promote your website to achieve online success.

A recent custom cms web design implementing the principles in that seo search engine optimization strategy blog post has performed beyond expectations in less than 2 months.

Launched on 4 December 2011, the new dog rescue custom cms website for Lifeline Dog Rescue, a division of Central Florida Weimaraner & Dog Rescue, Inc., demonstrates remarkable success.

In summary, the first strategy for attracting search engine traffic begins with providing a positive visitor experience by creating high quality original content often. You cannot launch a new website and then ignore adding fresh content if you want to motivate happy visitors to return.

Likewise, a dynamic site that changes often will attract search engines to return and index updates frequently.

The second strategy is creating off site content in social communities that directs visitors to your website. The seo report recommends becoming active on social network websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Flickr. A key feature on this new custom cms web design is social network icons linking to those sites and social bookmarking sites.

Those icons and links make social interaction easy. Being active on social networks and interacting with your contacts provides real time off site quality content that enhances your positive reputation for visitors and search engines.

Consider the following milestones achieved with the custom cms web design and social network accounts for Lifeline Dog Rescue. Clues to the success may be found by viewing the social site icons and statistics at the bottom of their home page.

In less than 7 weeks as of 31 January 2012, the stats show 92 likes on Facebook, 146 tweets on Twitter, 2 Google plus one shares, and 16 links to social bookmarking sites. Keep in mind those numbers are just for their home page.

Next, consider Alexa traffic numbers for the Lifeline website. Lower ranking indicates higher traffic in comparison to competition between 100+ million other websites. Lifeline launched ranked at 16 million. As of the date of this post the rank is 797,404. Any number under 1 million puts your website in the top 1%.

Stats tracking likewise shows 1) a steady increase in traffic, 2) a very low bounce rate meaning visitors land on one page and continue to expore more pages, plus 3) the rate of return visitors continues to climb which indicates popularity.

Why does this seo search engine optimization strategy work so well? It depends on quality content and natural methods for attracting search engines. The strategy is forward looking and considers the importance of human interaction and not just mathematical algorithms of Google crawlers to determine website ranking.

Is it simple? Yes. Is it easy? Not really. You must still invest time on website content and social connections. Site owners who recognize and implement this simple strategy will reap the benefits of staying ahead of their competitors who do not.

View and download the 2012 SEO Design Strategy Tutorial (pdf, 13 pgs., 96kb) and then apply these principles of website success.

When your personal computer performance slows down and makes you miserable you may want to consider CCleaner and Defraggler to boost pc speed. A custom web design client recently asked us to replace a few photos on their website, then couldn’t see the new graphics later after the work was done.

The reply and pc speed tutorial and review of CCleaner and Defraggler from Piriform may help other website owners, so here’s the email to the client explaining what happened, why, and the solution when old web page graphics persist after replacement photos are uploaded:

Those new photographs are there as referenced. Your computer is displaying old versions stored on your computer. Here’s why, and the solution.

Your computer stores temporary text and graphic files or cache, of web pages you visit, and displays those on return visits. Some genius software geek at Microsoft decided saving a nanosecond a billion times over a lifetime was important without realizing a billion times is just one second.

What makes things worse with all those temporary files is over time your computer speed becomes sluggish.

Follow this tutorial to view missing replacement website graphics: For a fast solution press the browser top menu refresh button or the shortcut top row F5 key once. If still missing, or do this first, do a hard refresh. Hold the CTRL key and press the F5 key once. When I encounter a graphic that doesn’t update to the latest when doing changes I jump right to the hard refresh.

Computers come with built in software tools to clean up cached temporary files and other fragmented file storage that slows down computer speed and performance. I prefer third party methods rather than the default Windows tools, and use CCleaner and Defraggler free computer maintenance software from Piriform. Learn more or download those (not just trial software – actually free) at http://www.piriform.com/products.

Running those 2 programs every 3-6 months helps keep your computer up to speed.

Piriform offers other computer related informational or maintenance software including Recuva and Speccy, as well.

Take a moment to peek into the future with this Google+ social network video preview from the official Google YouTube account.

Google tried a social network type application called Wave that flopped to some extent and some think Google+ (pronounced as in Google-plus) will be a winner. From the video you’ll see that they overcome some of the pitfalls of the top social sites, Twitter and Facebook, by avoiding sharing too much information.

The idea of defining multiple circles of “friends” so that content you post may be selectively shared is excellent. I am personally amazed at the number of young people publicly trashing their boss, using profanity, or admitting facts that could come back to haunt them in a job interview later in life, or worse. Divorce attorneys already use social content to gain advantage for their clients.

I think the overall plan for Google+ is a winner and expect they will soon dominate online social interaction in ways we could only imagine a few short years ago.

The cropped graphic as shown below is from a memorabilia newsletter html design launched within the last week and shows the top portion of the March 2011 edition of the Memorabilia News Bulletin for web design client Mainstream Memorabilia.

Each edition consists of 3 sections including an intro plus opt out info, discount price specials info, and an insider’s view of the memorabilia industry. 3 celebrity photos of autographed memorabilia are used and cropped to fit the format to decorate each section.

Links are included to their website pages for home, specials, contact, and their blog. Additional links across the bottom allow for changing preferences or unsubscribing per CAN-SPAM Act requirements.

For those in web design who work to the latest code standards, learning newsletter design may be a shock because you cannot use all the latest techniques of xhtml and css for a wow first impression. Literally, you must use code and basic html tags from 15 years ago including tables for layout.

This I learned the hard way in the testing phase of the news bulletin design for Mainstream Memorabilia.

The layout for an email newsletter template design must be simple and rigid. The reason you almost have to unlearn how you code is tables for layout and basic html code from 15 years ago will display properly in the widest range of email programs.

A 600 pixel wide standard newsletter layout works best, plus it gives a full view in most preview panes of the majority of email software programs.

For me, and after hit and miss climbing the learning curve, the evidence was in actual results during testing. After a few disasters the final design has the wow factor we wanted despite any code limitations, and the client is very pleased with the look and technical functions.

Mainstream Memorabilia is owned by memorabilia industry insiders with years of past experience in film and television production. They have the contacts for providing quality, selection, and value in celebrity autographed items, so visit their custom online store website that I just happened to design.

While there, you may want to sign up and subscribe to the memorabilia news bulletins, too!

Out of curiosity being in the custom cms web design business I researched www domain name statistics and found out there are over 100 million websites and 1 trillion pages in 2011.

Of all www domain names registered 30 percent are not renewed so they expire, and 37 percent of all active domain names have either a one page website or zero content. Resellers grab domain names to hold in inventory on speculation, so that could explain many of the 37 percent with little or no content. We’re left to wonder about that 30 percent who pay to register a domain and then do nothing with it and let it expire.

That’s just 2 interesting www domain name statistics I encountered during a recent search to get an update on the total number of domains and total number of web pages as of today. The closest I could come was older data with estimates, yet at least that puts the numbers in perspective.

As usual, Wikipedia provides credible domain stats data including reference to a Google announcement, and I quote “On July 25, 2008, Google software engineers Jesse Alpert and Nissan Hajaj announced that Google Search had discovered one trillion unique URLs”. In addition, the Wikipedia article cited “As of May 2009, over 109.5 million websites operated.”

With over 100 million websites and 1 trillion pages as of 2011, I feel confident about long term job security for anyone with the drive, ambition, and talent to offer custom web design services. Don’t worry about the competition because they can’t do it alone.

At 37% out of 100 million www domains that’s 37 million websites with one page or none that need web design help!

Part of having a WordPress platform to combine a blog format and custom cms web design is the flexibility to create content rich websites for a wide variety of business models.

When considering a suitable custom content management system for an online store, you may want to reference this list and 12 WordPress eCommerce plugin reviews.

Each is a summary of WordPress plugins suitable for running an online store except 1 which is designed to manage online auctions.

7 are free plugins and 5 are premium for sale by the developer.

User ratings are based on votes as of January 2011 on WordPress.org, and I have not yet tested or used any.

Plugins are listed in alphabetical order.

Dippsy User Rated: 3.5
Specialty: Digital Downloads
Author Description: An easy to use PayPal e-commerce solution with only downloadable goods in mind, hassle free installaton and many configurable settings.
Comments: Long list of features. Author is responsive to inquiries.

eShop User Rated: 4.5
Specialty: Products
Author Description: eShop is an accessible shopping cart plugin for WordPress, packed with various features.
Comments: Long list of features. Author is responsive to inquiries.

Image Store User Rated: 4.0
Specialty: Images
Author Description: Image Store(ImStore) is a image gallery and store plugin for WordPress with a slideshow and paypal integration.
Comments: Includes a feature for download after purchase. Author is responsive to inquiries.

PHPurchase User Rated: PAID (from $49)
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: PHPurchase has a very rich set of features that lets you easily and powerfully manage your online store with WordPress.
Comments: Well documented online support. Multi-site and developer licenses available.

Shopp User Rated: PAID ($55 base and up)
Specialty: Products
Author Description: Shopp is an e-commerce plugin that adds a feature rich online store to your WordPress powered website or blog.
Comments: Necessary gateway and shipping options may add $50 or more to single (or multi developer) license.

ShopperPress User Rated: PAID ($79)
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: This is the ideal solution for anyone starting their own online store selling their own products or services, affiliate products or even ebooks, music or file downloads!
Comments: Discounted from $199 to $79 for unlimited installations. Real Estate, Classifieds, others, too.

StorePress User Rated: PAID (from $50)
Specialty: Products
Author Description: StorePress is a premium WordPress theme, fully coded and packed with scripts that will allow you to transform your WordPress blog into a veritable e-commerce virtual store.
Comments: Single, mixed, or dev license plus offer other niche themes like auctions, classifieds, reviews.

WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin User Rated: PAID ($50 single, or dev $249)
Specialty: Products or Digital Downloads
Author Description: The WordPress Shopping Cart plugin gives you the ability to quickly and seamlessly integrate an online shop with a fully functional shopping cart interface into any WordPress website.
Comments: Excellent online support and documention, plus offer 12 other specialty e-commerce related plugins.

WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart User Rated: 4.5
Specialty: Products
Author Description: Very easy to use Simple WordPress Paypal Shopping Cart Plugin. Great for selling products online in one click from your WordPress site.
Comments: Developer also has premium eStore plugin for digital products or eMember for membership sites.

WP Auctions User Rated: 3.0
Specialty: Auctions
Author Description: WP Auctions is a revolutionary plugin which allows you to host auctions on your blog or website and to sell anything.
Comments: Well documented. Free version is a sidebar widget only. Premium versions allow post/page auctions.

WP E-Commerce User Rated: 3.0
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: WP e-Commerce is a free bolt-on shopping cart that lets customers buy your products, services and digital downloads online.
Comments: Excellent support documention, plus premium upgrades are available for downloadable, members, others.

wpStoreCart User Rated: 4.0
Specialty: Products or Digital Downloads
Author Description: Quickly and easily sell your physical and digital downloads using your new or existing WordPress website.
Comments: Well documented help files and forum, plus offer a $29 premium Pro version with bundled extended functions.

My advice is investigating each WordPress plugin that seems of interest. Most have links to demo stores or live websites that are using the plugin, so take the opportunity to do some comparison shopping before making a choice.

Do-it-yourself custom cms web design site owners need to understand the importance of optimizing their text content for search engines. This SEO or Search Engine Optimization tutorial explains free online tools for tweaking content such as testing in DupeFree Pro and SEO keyword density. Watch this video for details. (0:10:34 min./sec.)

Follow these links to download the free resources mentioned in the video:
DupeFree Pro for tweaking and testing keyword density
GridinSoft Notepad Lite customizable text editor review

Learning how to attract search engine traffic using content optimization is important for site owners who choose a cms content management system web design so they can control and manage their website. Optimized content using this tutorial can help.

An important tool in writing cms web design optimized content for search engine optimization is keyword research. For small site owners the web design and online research tools at Keyword Discovery are by subscription yet they do offer a keyword discovery truly free trial.

Here’s a graphic of part of the search page (slightly smaller than actual size):

If you want a custom web design that can compete online you need to know what site visitors type when they search for someone like you, not phrases that you know about your product or service and imagine people will search. You will probably be surprised at phrases in the search results that you did not consider. Your research will allow you to adjust key words in your web design and attract more traffic.

The free online tool version of Keyword Discovery has less features such as only the top 10 results for a given search phrase and a limit of 50 searches per day, yet that is usually enough unless you’re in the business of offering seo or web design services to clients. Unlike some seo software free trials that have a time limit, there is no expiration date.

Here’s how to get started optimizing your custom cms web design. KeywordDiscovery.com is owned by Trellian, so visit the Keyword Discover signup page and submit your request for a Trellian account and then check your email. Click the activation link in the confirming email then log-in to begin using the tool.

Finally, there’s a great online keyword discovery tutorial (html) or view and download their Quick Start Guide (pdf).