Archive for September, 2009

Twitter is a “buzz” today because it appears cyber attacks are out in full force and Word Press users MUST upgrade their Word Press version to 2.8.4 to keep their blogs from getting “hacked”.

Upgrading and finding out if you need to upgrade is really easy and here is how you do it.  Images are at the bottom so you have visuals as well.

1. Log in to your WordPress account
2. On the left side of your screen, click on Tools
3. Click on Upgrade
4. If you need to upgrade, you will have the option to do so, if you are running the most current version, this is what it will look like.  I had already upgraded mine a month or so ago after I did experience a “cyber attack”.
   If your site has already been hacked, visit the post I created on how I recovered pretty quickly from my own personal attack.  I really wasn’t that difficult to do and I hope it helps you if indeed your site has been hacked by some jerk!!!
   

P.S. Thank you for taking your time to visit and hope you find the information useful. I hope to help you learn everything you want and need to know about blogging. I welcome your questions (site specific is good) and definitely your suggestions. I hope to answer your questions before they come up or when you find that you have one. By clicking on the Orange RSS Feed button on the left side of the screen, you will be automatically updated of new information available without having to "check in" to see what's new. It's the easiest way to keep up to date. Thanks again for stopping in, I value your time!

I have mentioned many times that the easiest way to add video to your site is by using “The Flip” video camera that is the size of a small cell phone or deck of cards and records in Hi-Definition.  The prices start at $149, so they are super cheap!  Here is a link to the blog about how easy it is to add media to your blog.

I just got word of a special. Here is the link to take advantage of the sale. Great Camera!!!! Seriously, I use mine all the time and don’t tell the IRS…but I use it for family stuff too!

$10 Off on Flip Camcorders with Coupon Code”Flip10“: Mino, MinoHD,Ultra, and UltraHD-Special Terms Apply Exp. 9/30/09

• One of the biggest struggles with any technology related business is learning what you need to know AND being able to keep up with it as it changes continually.

• A couple of years ago I stumbled upon the most amazing on-line video university that offered anything and everything IO needed to learn with over 81,350 Video Tutorials to chose from. I have been able to learn anything and everything I ever wanted to know about any subject I could think of when it comes to technology.  The best part is the cost! $30 a month! $30 a month for 24 hour access to over 81,000 videos to teach me whatever it is I need to know from blogging, SEO, website design, PHP, SQL and they even offer language courses now!  The name of the website I am speaking of is VTC.com, which stands for Video Training Company.  I myself have learned many of the important Adobe Creative Suite products like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Indesign and Illustrator by taking the courses.

• I won’t lie, there have been a few instructors that I simply couldn’t follow or keep up with the way the explained things, but for the most part, anytime I get stuck when it comes to technology, I can log in to my VTC account, do a search for the subject and find a tutorial, a VIDEO tutorial from some expert who will show me what I need to do, step by step. There have been many times when working in Photo Shop, which I learned how to use by taking VTC courses where I have gone back and watched the same video 6 times, because I forgot how to do whatever it was I needed to do because it had been awhile. I can go right back to that chapter in the training and get trained on it again it about five minutes. This is the other reason I really love the training offered through VTC, it isn’t like sitting in a class and hoping I got it the first time the teacher explained it. I can go back and review as many times as I like for my $30 a month fee.

• They do offer a free trial so you can see if their video training is right for you, with 14,200 free videos for you to check out. You are bound to find something you need to know with over 14,000 videos to choose from. Since this blog site is about blogging, maybe you should sample the training they offer on blogging! Here is the link to the blogging video training.

• I have referred many friends to this site and all have been pleased with what they found available. They even offer certain certifications on some classes. It is just a reall great place to keep up and continue learning. Register Here and try it out.

RoboForm – I use Roboform all day, every day and it saves me so0 much time and frustration!   With RoboForm, I am able to keep track of all my passwords, website links, affiliate sites I belong to and so much more.  Click here to check it out!

 

I keep all of my information on a flash drive that is with me at all times. I also keep a back up of it in my Drop Box in the event I loose my drive and then I always have access to my website addresses, log ins and passwords from anywhere in the world.

 

Drop Box - Can I tell you how many times I have been saved by my faithful dropbox, which costs me all of about $9/mo?  Dropbox keeps a copy of files on your hard drive out on the Internet and available from anywhere in the world!  At a seminar yesterday, we needed a Power Point Presentation that wasn’t with us badly.  No Problem!  Pulled up Drop Box, opened the file and was editing it within about 1 minute.  If my hard drive were to crash, while it would SUCK big time…I wouldn’t have the stress of having lost all of my data, because there is an exact copy of it out on the Internet in my Drop Box account.  I also love that it is fully automated!  Click here to check it out and save your data from being lost!

 

A spreadsheet – if you don’t have Roboform - If you get tired of logging in to my affiliate sites to get the same link codes over and over, keep them in a spreadsheet, and make sure to save it in your Drop Box.

 

I personally use the “safe notes” feature in Roboform, because my Roboform is always up and then I don’t have to keep opening files.  When I get a new link code that I know I will want to use again, I copy and paste it in to my Roboform.  All the links are all in one place and I just copy and paste from there.  My recommendation would be to use Microsoft Works, because every windows machine comes with it and you can open it anywhere, even when using a computer that doesn’t have MS Office.  Make sure to note the expiration dates of any of your link codes so you can update them when necessary.

 

Artisteer -  Generate Your Own Word Press themes in Artisteer.  I have mentioned this blogging tool several times because I use it so frequently.  I can create a custom theme in less than 5 minutes if I am in a hurry. I can also get really creative and spend as much time as needed to get it just perfect.  You need absolutely NO PREVIOUS DESIGN EXPERIENCE to use this tool and it is super user friendly and easy to learn.  I have created videos to help you learn even faster – click here to see how fast and easy it is.

Quick Press -  Have you read a great article or had a great thought, but didn’t have the time to write a complete blog?  I use the Quickpress feature in Word Press to make notes to myself about blogs I want to write.  I write some notes, save it as a draft and come back it to later so I don’t loose my thought or idea.  If it is going to be a good blog post, it will still be a good blog post two days later!  I wrote this particular blog post as a draft that I came back to later when I had the time to complete my thoughts on it.

 

Ring Central Phone and Fax- Ring Central is a time saver for bloggers or any small business owner.   This is the service that we use for PrinterBees that makes it “appear” we are in an office location vs. working from a home office.    You have the ability to create extensions for different departments that can all ring to one number, you can accept all of your faxes through Ring Central, to the same number.  All faxes come in through your email and they come through on a PDF so you don’t even have to worry about misplacing pieces of paper and they are very easy to forward to the person who needs to deal with it.  We are very happy customers of Ring Central.