Tutorials

How to Choose an Effective Domain Name

November 3, 2017 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

What Are The Best Top Level Domains (TLDs)?

Before understanding how to choose an effective domain name you must first understand which TLDs are most valuable. The list below is written with the assumption that the domain name represents a commercial business. This domain list of value is called a domain fallback hierarchy.

Domain Name Fallback Hierarchy of Value

The following describes the most recognizable TLD naming convention. #1 Is the best and value drops off from there. The list explains TLDs from most recognizable to least.

.COM Short Word No Dash – This is the 800-pound Gorilla of TLDs. If you find a short (under six to eight characters) one, buy it right away and keep it forever.
.NET Short Word No Dash – This is an excellent fallback. It’s fully recognized and acceptable.
.COM Two Short Words No Dash – Make sure words are not too long. RedDog is good RedPneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis NOT GOOD, yes that’s a word.
.COM Two Short Words One Dash
.NET Two Short Words No Dash
.NET Two Short Words No Dash
.BIZ Short Word No Dash.
.COM Three Words No Dash – The shorter the total characters the better. Do The Words Have a ring to them? For Example BlueToothBreakdown.com It’s long but it rings.
.COM Three Words With Dashes – Keep those characters short.

Do you agree with this fallback Hierarchy? Reply Below.

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Below is a Working Example of a Fallback Hierarchy of Value for “Joe’s Automotive”

joes.com – If this was available it would be worth THOUSANDS of dollars.
joes.net
joesautomotive.com
joes-automotive.com
joesautomotive.net
joes-automotive.net
joes.biz
joesautomotiverepair.com
joes-automotive-repair.com – The Word “Automotive” is long for this one. The users should consider “Car” or “Auto” for three words with dashes.

After creating your list check them all at one time by visiting Dynadot. Dynadot will check availability on all the domains all at one time. Aweseom eh? Don’t forget to check off “I entered complete domain names with TLDs.”

No Success? Try A Few New Words Like:

Joes Car Automotive
Joes Car Repair
Joes Repair
Joes Car Fix
Joes Garage
Joes Car Garage
Joes Automotive Garage

Each name above will be tested against the .com .net with dashes / without dashes hierarchy system explained above.

If after testing these names you still don’t get positive results it’s time to go farther with descriptive names. Below reviews three websites that will help with name suggestions.

1. Coolnameideas.com: Excellent for the person who has naming flexibility. The site asks for keywords and things like business benefits, style, and type. Answering these questions will modify the returned list. Clicked suggested names will display if the name is available as a .com and let you know if the name is available as a Twitter handle.

2. Domainnamesoup.com: This site allows you to enter words and it returns suggestions. The site will let you see if .com and .us are available. It also has a “Wizard” button that remixes your submitted words. You can continue to remix words with the “Wizard” button until you find the name you want.

Still No Joy? – Consider Fivver For Help On How to Choose an Effective Domain Name

You can hire help at fivver.com to do the work for you but make damn sure the person your hiring is of solid character. They could be a domain squatter in sheep’s clothing. They could buy the domain you’re looking for right out from underneath you. Execute due diligence!

Do you agree on this these techniques on how to choose an effective domain name? I’d like your opinion on it? I’d be especially interested in what you think about future awareness of longer TLDs. Will they ever be recognized? Would it make sense to buy them? Reply below.

I hope this helps you with your website venture.

Unknown or Invalid JPEG Marker Type

July 10, 2017 By Tom Collins

A Simple Approach to Fixing The Unknown or Invalid JPEG Marker Type

So your working with JPEGS in Photoshop and you have encountered the prompt you see above, right? This page will explain how to fix the invalid jpeg marker type the simple way. It’s a bit tedious but it works like a charm. Many suggest using software

Converting photo files is not the only thing this site can do.

to fix the problem with software but this is too complex. I recommend not installing software when you can avoid it. Who wants the computer bloat right? Go to http://www.online-convert.com and convert the image to a TIFF. Then open it back up in Photoshop and save it back to a JPEG. Boom! Problem solved 🙂

Here’s the direct link to convert form corrupt JPEG to TIFF.

CONVERT TO TIFF

This is 100%, has no bogus signup, and is safe and secure.

Invalid JPEG Marker Why — Why Does It Happen? HellifIKnow 😉

Why The Unkown or Invalid JPEG Marker Type Error Happens In The First Place

Saved with a non JPEG extension
Saving the image directly to a removable hard drive or thumb drive. They copy command sometimes damages the file.
Sometimes the computer your using damages the file when you apply JPEG compression. Consider not using compression and see what happens.

I know what it feels like when you’re in work mode and you’re stopped in your tracks with this kind of problem. I hope this information gets you back on track fast.

How to Make Updates To WordPress

September 22, 2016 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Video Tutorial Series

Reviewing The Admin Panel

A summary of the different sections of your admin panel.

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Admin Danger
Areas

Scott shows you four areas to avoid, so you don’t crash your site.

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Adding New
Pages

Scott explains how to add new pages to your WordPress website.

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Reducing Large
Photo Sizes

Scott explains how to shrink down your JPEGS, so they load fast.

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Mobile Ready
Content

Scott explains how to build content columns that work in mobile.

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Add a Page to
the Navigation

Scott shows how to build a new page and add it to your nav bar.

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Safely Update
Your Site

Learn how to make a full site backup and safely update your site.

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Creating A
New User

If you wish to give control to a coworker, view this tutorial.

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Huge Email
Attachments

Learn how to send big files via email with the use of your site.

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Check WordPress For Cryptophp

December 1, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

CryptoPHP Backdoor Greg Gurev at MySherpa sent me an email about a backdoor program that has been proliferating on Drupal, Joomla and WordPress CMS systems this month. MySherpa is a very popular managed IT firm in Wilmington Delaware and Greg is very aware of what’s up with the industry. Needless to say when I get a virus warning from him I look into it. Sure enough everyone is talking about it and many have been infected.

Upon further research it appears the backdoor installs itself into CMS sites via pirated versions of paid themes and plugins. I don’t venture down that road so the red flag in my brain lowered a bit. As I continued to read I learned that a company called Fox-IT in the Netherlands was the company that discovered the vulnerability. They wrote an in depth white paper about the hack. Below is what I extracted from the 50 page document.

Its All About Black Hat SEO Strategy

The software is a backdoor because it creates an opening for a third party server to add content to your site. The reason is to inject links and content to websites into your site pages. This is then read by Google as a back link which gives that site receiving the link better rank. There are also some instances of folks being redirected to a Justin Bieber youtube video which I believe is a fate worse then death. So to boil it down, this backdoor allows a third party to manipulate your content so another website can receive higher rank on Google. It’s the ultimate black hat SEO play.

How To Check WordPress For Cryptophp

Removing Cryptophp is fairly simple. What you do is copy your entire site to your computer and search it for a specific shortcode.

Do the following;

Create A New Duplicator Package: If you don’t have the duplicator plugin I highly recommend it. Its the fastest way to get a copy of all WordPress site files on your local computer. Here’s a video tutorial on how to use it if you’re not familiar with it.
Download And Uncompress Your Duplicator Package: The end result is to have a copy of all your site files on your hard drive.
Search for the following include call in your site files. “<?php include(‘images/social.png’); ?> The search program I use is called Easy Find.

If your search finds the PHP call, it’s time to remove the offending template file or plugin. If the call resides in your theme, you’re going to have to use another (rebuild your site) or buy the actual theme. If you’ve pirated themes or plugins and got infected, well that’s a shame. Remember, the hackers are fueled by greed and love to prey on low level pirates. Stay clear of that activity and you won’t have trouble.

Blogging Tips and Resources For Improved Google Rank

October 1, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Writing A Blog Post

Below is a no-nonsense list of crucial tips and resources to help you drive traffic to your site. I also am including information on how to manipulate the content for improved rank at Google.

Blog Topic Resources

Google Trends – Use Top Charts and consider receiving emails with “Subscriptions”
Topsy.com – this is a blog / twitter topic finder.
Hashtagify.me
Buzzsumo.com
Quora.com
Reddit.com

Blogging Tips for SEO Rank

Apply the following to your content to gain better rank with Google:

No less than 300 words.
A photo of yourself should be posted within the article. This reinforces the personal approach.
Do not exceed more than two posts a week.
Repeat your keywords a few times in content body. Use them naturally.
External links (off site) are also good. Linking to smaller sites at first is the best strategy
Limit your paragraphs to five to seven sentences.
Use your keyword within the first 100 words in your post.
Place your call to action, re: “Call us” or “Sign Up,” in the middle of your content area. It’s a better placement.
Use at least one relevant image. Impactful images are best. Make sure they are compressed so they load fast.
Create an expectation with paragraph one.
Bold, italicize, and underline your keywords or phrases containing your keywords.
Use actionable phrases. Sell Google+ when possible.
Kill all post spam in your comment area.
Never post on the day you wrote it. You will find errors on day two.
Read your posts aloud before going live. This will help you find errors.
Respond to those who have commented on your post.
Main headers and sub headers:
- Reduce header length. Say it with less.
- Start with a number in your page title / page name. For example “10 Best…” or “5 Fastest…”
- Include keywords in the beginning of your page titles / headers.

Activities To Avoid

Copying content from any other website.
Creating an epic header and not meeting the expectation.
Over-stuffing your posts with keywords, placing them unnaturally.
Degrading value by posting at an unnatural frequency.
Uploading large photos (greater than 50K) to the post. Load time must be fast.
Being negative.
Neglecting to give credit to those who have supplied content or photos. Link back to their site.
Poor spelling and bad grammar.

Optimize Your Content For The Google Spiders

Make sure page metas, XML site maps, and Headers all are sharpened for Google.
Image names and alt tag must reflect keywords.
Keywords may need to be adjusted because the words are too narrow.
Change all internal links to absolute. Let the copycats send you traffic.
Use the Yoast SEO plugin. Its fantastic! If you doubt my recommendation, take note of the total amount of downloads on this page.

The Post is Finished. Now What?

Post the new blog link to your business Facebook page. FYI: The Yoast SEO plugin will allow you to change the image and message that Facebook uses to create the post. Check the “Social” tab.
Blog summary to Google+.
Submit the blog to Stumbleupon.com.

Keep Your Expectations In Check

Success does not happen right away. It will take a while (usually months) for traffic to build.
The valuable content always wins.
5% of your content creates 90% of your traffic. This is true for most posters.
Do not give up. People are interested in your content.

I hope these blogging tips help you. Come back again. I’m sure there will be more info soon.

Embed Columns With Visual Composer

July 13, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Nest or Embed Columns in Visual Composer

Visual Composer is a versatile plugin allowing you to create website content layouts that work on all screen sizes. Nesting content containers is easy but not overly obvious. Here’s how it’s done.

Step One: Start by clicking the plus sign under the words “Visual Composer.” You’ll immediately be shown a list of elements. Click the “Row” selection in the upper right area of the window. The elements menu vanishes and you’re left with a grey (empty) container. Let’s assume this new container will contain two columns. Simply click the second tab on the left with the horizontal lines. Now select the double column icon (two sets of horizontal lines). Your page should now show a grey container with two columns.

Step Two: Click the plus sign on the left side column. You will be shown the elements menu once again. Click “Row” in the upper left again. BOOM! Now you have nested one container inside a single column! Now you can create complex layouts that still work in mobile view.

Now the next question that I’ve been asked is: “Can you keep nesting?” The simple answer is Nope! Visual Composer is famous because it automatically scaffolds content in cell phones. If you were to go beyond three nested containers you’d need more computing power than the Titan super computer. But seriously, where there’s a will I’m sure there is a way. If you know how it’s done contact me. I’d love to learn how you figured it out.

nested container visual composer

Visual Composer is one of many WordPress plugins that are fantastic. The provided design flexibility combined with the many extensions and great support makes this software a game changer in the WordPress space. It’s one of the many reasons why WordPress is the best content management software on planet Earth.

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