API Network - Clever Internet Ideas

Caller ID'ing Your Callers

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:23:37 -0500

This isn't about real estate, rather just something that hit me while I was driving today in the rain -- when my phone rang. This post involved my cell phone and a car. I'm guessing most real estate folks have these things -- so there's my relevance.

The caller ID thing on cell phones suck! I pay for caller ID each month, but my cell phone only seems to know the number, never the name associated with it -- unless of course I have them in my phone address book. Seeing ten digits flash on a tiny screen, that's not caller ID.

I don't like hitting REDIAL just because someone called me. There are too many telemarketers just holding their breath I do just that to validate that I'm a live consumer willing to respond to a simple missed call.

I started with Google but that doesn't always work as phone tracking is not their biz. There are lots of others that hold data about unknown calls with direct experiences of call receivers. It's a simple premise: Allow people to create topics as phone numbers, then let anyone post about that number. Telemarketers will quickly have their intentions known to search engines. Here's one site that allows you to start a thread about a number -- or see if someone already has some info about the number. If you click the below URL you'll see what people are saying about 237-6959:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-608-237-6959

Maybe not always accurate, sometimes no info at all. But the number that had called me five times in one day-- they had LOTS of comments about their evil telemarketing intentions. (i don't really mean they were evil... everyone has to make a living :)

Another one I liked:

numberinvestigator.com allowing you to do the same thing of punching in a number, but to not see what others think, more about the physical aspect. It also provides information about where the number was created (e.g., Ameritech, Verizon..) Gives some other stats such as population, housing units, square miles. Anway, I'm convinced it works because it found me:

http://numberinvestigator.com/phone/734-622-0231.html

And the best part about my listing:

Caller Type: No Complaints

Anyway, if you're curious about the an unknown call, give these a try. If you find better, please share!

Kase at apin.com

Managing Rentals: Low Cost, Simple and Web-Based

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:15:20 -0500

Dingo and Joomla, two open source products that are extremely low cost, would be an excellent start to help automate a property management operation. While Dingo and Joomla would be a good start, it’s likely that eventually more ingredients would be needed to make this a fully effective system. At first glance, you would need the following functions to build a low-cost, easy-entry, online property management system.

Broadcast/Publish News (Joomla)

Broadcasting/publishing of public information, both to renters and to property owers/managers. A way to attract both renters and potentianlly building owners. This is the basic function of the Joomla portion of a website. It does this well, is easy to learn and maintain.

Task Management (Dingo)

Taking care of rental properties is not something you want to attempt with sticky notes. Face it, you will have multiple groups asking lots of different things. There must be a central way to record everything to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. In addition, you will need a way to delegate to others and just as important, a bread crumb trail so you know who said/did what when. If you are involved in getting things fixed, there are other important issues like liability, insurance, security and getting people paid.

Display The Properties (Mosets Hot Property)

Potential renters will want to see an inventory of available properties with images, features and all relavent information necessary for renters to make this decision: Do I want to go look at it?

Contact People to Follow-up (Joomla)

A contact management system to keep track of property owners, managers and renters and everyone else in the loop.

The above are some snips from a 7 page PDF that covers this topic. If would care to read more, the entire PDF can be obtained by clicking Manaaging Rental Properties with Dingo and Joomla

Generating Leads: Why Wouldn't This Work?

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:02:17 -0500

A was brainstorming with a friend recently about lead generation and she was contemplating on which search terms to put more money. She had tried up'ing her daily spend, but all she was getting was more clicks, not more business.

Google and Yahoo are now the Yellow Pages. (I still can't believe they print and deliver those big books) If today Google and the rest dropped you from their database it would not be unreasonable to freak-out until that problem was fixed.

It certainly does make sense to pay for leads, but paying for the wrong clicks will drain the ad budget and you'll end up with people who maybe will view your home page for two seconds, then bounce.

Sidebar: If you want to experiment with your pay per click ROI, here's a handy form from metamend.com

Clicks are great. Traffic is a must. But you want relevant traffic otherwise, it's like going to the bar to find a wedding cake. Imagine if the bar owner had to pay for the person to get to the bar, only to learn a tall cake was the only thing on his mind.

Ok, everyone knows what seach term relavance is. Enough enough.

Before I get to the brainstormy part, I want to contrast what people are currently paying for clicks in Ann Arbor. Here are some numbers I compiled by viewing the source code of three reasonably well established agents in this area, then combined it with current market value of their search terms. (I made up some of those headings, like TSL and SPM, but they are real numbers ... see below for definitions)

Someone willing to pay almost $12 per click on the search term "ann arbor home" -- is it any wonder that Google opened today at $348.99 is currently up $5.13‎?

If you're a baker, to catch the person looking for a wedding cake, it's better to go hang out where they sell Better Bride magazines. Waiting at the bar might work, but it will take a lot longer for a click to convert to a lead.

Now for the brainstormy part

As a real estate agent, you want to know when people are moving, so why not cozy-up with a moving/ transport company? Not everyone will have an agent when they begin getting moving quotes, and if they're new to the area, your well designed website will still be of value to them. Maybe they're renting while they look or this could just be your chance to meet someone new in the area to expand your circle of influence.

I called this company to ask if they would entertain such an idea and the owner seemed very open to it.

The relationship could be one of simple banner exchange, destination city specific targeted ads, or the purchasing of email addresses. (Currently they don't sell their data, but my hunch is that nobody has ever made them an offer)

So am I missing something? What's the downside to this?

Finding Your Stolen Mobile Phone: Good Luck

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:04:03 -0600

Yes, it's true. Unless you're carrying around some museum piece, your mobile phone has a tiny GPS in it. Even if you have a cheapo crappy one, it still has one in it as near the end of 2005, all cell phone carriers were required to provide the ability to trace cell phone calls to a location within 100 meters or less.

This morning I had my phone stolen while I sat in a bagel shop sipping expensive coffee. I figured I would call my carrier and ask them to assist. I could at least find out who might be calling what numbers and, at best, where the phone is.

They could do neither. They said the last call my phone had made was 15 hours earlier. (I had made a call an an hour before it went missing.)

According to the tech support group, the on-board GPS serves two purposes.

1. Finding you in 911 situations
2. GPS enabled applications

If you call 911, the call includes GPS location data so maybe they can find you. The GPS application... that's the on-screen mapping software to help you find your way when you're in unfamiliar terrain. If you have an iPhone, I'm sure you know what I'm referring to.

Anyway, don't bother calling your carrier when you're phone is stolen unless you can get the thief to dial 911, even then, you're still out of the loop.

There is one other option: Location Based Services (LBS)

These are companies that produce phone-based applications that run on certain phones. You download the application into your phone, create an account on their site, and you can watch your phone move down the street as a red dot.

A few of them:

http://www.loopt.com
http://www.accutracking.com
http://www.mapquestfindme.com
http://www.wherify.com

Some of these work even if the phone is powered off. Be aware, it's not nice/somtimes illegal to do this to people without their consent. (Of course, kids that have phones you're providing... I think you could get away with that one, at least legally.)

Bottom line, don't turn your back next time you're having a bagel or maybe even easier, keep your phone in your pocket.

Taskhopper Dingo: Better Than Sticky Notes

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:21:17 -0600

Today we released our fist version of our new task manager called Taskhopper Dingo. It's a product that runs within Joomla, a content management system, to keep track of three things: Clients (or leads), Projects (or properties) and whatever tasks are necessary to convert leads to clients and clients to sales.

Whenever I talk to agents, or anyone in a similar self-directed business, where many tasks must be juggled without hitting the ground, I am always amazed at how many different ways we go about trying to accomplish the same end. The image below to the left, you might recognize as that invention in the late 60s that revolutionized how we remember important to-dos. (I think might also have been responsible for the most security breaches once computer systems started asking for IDs and passwords)

The use of adhesive-based paper squares isn't really the best way to keep track of what needs to be done next. I had one person describe to me their version of using yellow note pads to maintain order in their client-property-task world. It all seemed to make sense until I asked,

"Ok, so you have 15 leads, 10 properties and some number of tasks for each. With all those yellow note pads, how do you know what's most important today? (They actually said they use color coded sticky notes)

Even better, "How do you possibly ever take a vacation? How can you share this with your team?"

Dingo, unlike sticky paper, is software you plug into a Joomla website. Using the login feature you, and others in your group, can record details about clients, properties and the tasks required to convert leads into sales. (Visitors and clients don't see it... only those on your team)

It's a pretty good fit for multi-agent offices where there is a true sense of teamwork. Even if you don't have Joomla based website, it still may be something you might want to consider. (Joomla/Dingo is easy to learn and a low-cost solution so you could run a separate website just to keep tasks in order)

We're putting together some reasons Dingo might be something that fits into your world. In the meantime, if you would like to try it, just drop me a note. I'm glad to share with anyone willing to give us some feedback.

Useless Backups Makes Time Travel Possible

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:43:20 -0600

Everyone always talks about "backing up your data" which is of course a good thing. In fact, not backing up can be considered an act of corporate negligence as it takes very little time for the data to quickly exceed the value of whatever holds it. Replacing a hard drive is cheap and easy. Replacing a thousand iTunes, not quite as quick and easy.

There's the other side to a backup process. It's called business resumption or data restoration. It's what you do after something bad happens.

Yesterday was a good example of when something simple turns into something ugly.

About a week ago we had a technical hiccup on the server. We made some quick checks; all seemed fine. We were busy and nobody was complaining. About 2am yesterday, one of our servers was auto-updated with some new software. The update overwrote/reset something that made certain services stop. e.g., http is a service. When you ask for a web page, the web server software listens and responds via http. We tried to restart the services, but they were not behaving.

Without getting into the details, we asked the data center for help and within a few hours, the server was back, but our data wasn't. What we didn't know was that the hiccup a week previous was related to our backup system. When we went to restore our data, it was corrupt so we were backing up garbage.

Restoring bad data is like going back in time. Ever write a long post and then have your browser crash? Imagine a one that you wrote for five days.

So, moral of the story:

1. Don't ignore hardware/software warning messages. This is true with computers just as it is in life.

2. Make sure your backups contain data that prevent you from time travel. (i.e., run a test to make sure they work)

3. Have a written business resumption process so that when something does happen, you have a reliable checklist that anyone can follow.

PS. I realize that most don't run their own servers, so then replace "server" with "laptop" or whatever your primary computer is where important data resides. Everything above applies to any device that holds data that exceeds the value of the container.

Ann Arbor Tech Firm Seeks New Office Space

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:54:47 -0600

Fully unrelated to the excellent people who run/maintain our current building, we have decided to find new office space. We've been in the same place for one year, and when we started it was only intended as an interim location. So we've given notice and need to make some fast plans for a new corporate home.

I've concluded we don't have sufficient time to find the perfect space, so my plan B (or now plan A) is to see if perhaps there are any existing businesses with some unused space we can rent starting next month. (December 1st) We are flexible on this and would be fine with just a few hundred square feet.

In case this is your first time reading, we are an established internet design firm. We are ideal tenants with excellent references. We're quiet, don't spend all that much time in the office and pay on time. Perhaps there's a real estate office out there that might like to have an internet company within shouting range?

If you might know of any shared space available in the Ypsi-Ann Arbor area please drop me a note.

Thanks!

Kase

PS. That's a picture of the sun as it sets in Targu Mures, Romania. This was a shot taken from our hotel when we were there last week.

Survive the Housing Crisis: Open Source Will Open Doors

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:16:42 -0500

During an undeclared recession like this one, it can be advantageous to reassess your business strategies. The phone may be ringing less, and you can use that time to take inventory of where you are and where you would like to be in terms of technology. Take advantage of this opportunity to cut costs and increase efficiency so that you’ll be able to take on as much as you want to when business picks up again. Here are seven excellent tools to aid you in your improvement endeavors:

1. Joomla - A Content Management System

Joomla allows you to quickly build professional websites and intranet sites. Every detail can be customized and you have full control of everything that goes on the site because you manage the source code. The Joomla extensions database has almost 4000 existing plug-ins, allowing it to do just about anything you could possibly need it to do. Joomla costs nothing to obtain; you will, however, need someone to install and support it.

This doesn’t have to be an expensive super-hacker, though – anyone who operates a Wordpress site or a Facebook page can become a Joomla webmaster in a pinch. Should you need real technical help, Joomla pros are now easy to find and inexpensive to hire.

2. Taskhopper Dingo - Juggling Many Tasks for Many Clients

In an office where there are more projects than people, some type of online task manager is a must. Taskhopper Dingo is a plug-in for Joomla that’s truly ideal for keeping track of who needs to do what – and when. Imagine an admin answering the phone: rather than writing down the details of the call on paper or sending an e-mail, the message is placed into Dingo. If the note is about a particular client, an e-mail (or text message, if you so choose) is automatically sent to the agent-in-charge so follow-up can be swift and effective.

Using Dingo can keep client information separate if that's a requirement, but it also allows you to share information so that different project managers can communicate with one another.

3. Property Listing Plug-in

This tool allows you to quickly and easily publish your properties to the web; from there, your customers can view unlimited photos, use mortgage calculators and take virtual tours, schedule a showing, use a comprehensive search engine to discover different properties, and more. This plug-in offers you the opportunity to manage your office as well as individual agents, who can assume online ownership of their properties.

Customers can even e-mail a friend when they come across a property of particular interest. This is a must-have for real-estate agents who want to stay ahead during these tough times.

4. vTiger - Client Relations Management

This is where you keep all the names and numbers that make your business world go round. This is not a Joomla product, but that’s okay because you really don't want to mingle your CRM with your public website – that could be confusing. What does vTiger do? Essentially, it performs the typical CRM tasks: lead management, account & contact management, opportunity management, campaign management, mass mailing, e-mail templates, Mail Merge templates, “to do” lists, meetings and calls, shared calendars, e-mail notifications, Outlook plug-in, Thunderbird extension, 20 pre-built reports, custom fields…you get the idea.

Remember, all these tools are open source, which means that you’re free to take them in whichever direction you choose.

5. gnuCash - A Quickbooks/MS-Money Replacement

This tool will help you keep track of income and expenses from all of your accounts. Small business features allow you to manage customers, vendors and projects, and help you with invoicing as well as accounts receivable/accounts payable. gnuCash can even communicate with your bank (using the same technology protocol as Quickbooks). Everything can be extracted into reports and presented as graphs. Switching to gnuCash from other accounting software is easy because it can import data from MS Money and Quicken.

6. Open Office 3.0 - Spreadsheets, Writing, Presenting

Dump Microsoft Office! OpenOffice provides a great alternative to existing commercial office suites. It comes with the following tools: word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress), drawing and graphing (Draw), equations and formulae (Math) and a database tool which also builds reports and forms (Base). All components are multi-platform and multilingual.

This is not an online product – rather, it’s one that you download and install on your PC. It works great in Windows and Linux.

7. Ubuntu Linux - A Windows Replacement

Dump Windows! If you purchase a new laptop at just about any retail store you have one choice: Windows Vista. But that doesn't mean you have to keep it. Ubuntu runs Firefox, OpenOffice and everything else above. Why dump Windows? Because it's loaded with bugs and lots of other nasty software designed to force you to upgrade constantly. It's an endless loop of expensive frustration, but there’s a better way!

Here's the tricky part of all this: Change.

Asking people to change their behavior patterns is no easy task. Habits and routines can really hinder technological adaptation, but that doesn’t mean that technology will stop evolving. We’ve just got to roll with the punches.

I've been involved with hundreds, maybe thousands of projects and the failed ones share a theme in common: the end users didn't want to change their ways, or what was delivered was not compelling enough to make them switch. Most unsuccessful endeavors are characterized by uninvolved stakeholders and general ennui. Yuck. Nobody wants that.

We’d like to help one agent become bigger, better, and more efficient, so we’re offering the following:

An analysis of your current technology
Hosting and installation of the open source products listed above
Support and training to help make sure everything runs smoothly

We will provide these services, at no charge, to the agent who proves that s/he wants it most and will put it to the best use. This will be no obligations, no strings attached, nothing for you to pay, no Fear Factor-like hoops for you to jump through (I don’t want to see you eat a scorpion any more than you want to nosh on it).

So give it some thought and comment about what makes you an active stakeholder in the revamp/overhaul of your existing office technology. We'll choose the winner in early December, and if it’s you (and it very well could be), you’ll be on the path to technological nirvana in no time.

PS. We have intentionally not included a blogging product because we know the really good agents do that here! :)

prevedvsem123.cn eats Wordpress sites for lunch

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:56:46 -0500

The domain name was created 18 days ago and is said to be owned by someone named MichellGregory. The IP address says the server may reside somewhere in the Ukraine. The contact information for the site lists Michell as somewhere in the 2767729 zip code with a phone number of 1-387-900 fax: 1-387-900. I tried calling but couldn't get through. Hmmm. Maybe I'll drop him a letter in the mail.

I would like to talk to Michell. I would even pay for lunch just to find out how he might be connected to a recent attack on a number of websites, (one I cared about) that ruined yet another weekend, and most of today, cleaning up after some hackers that spewed their code like some out of control school kids with an attitude problem.

I understand hackers with a cause. We were here! You suck! Obama is Satan. John and Sarah are a perfect match. Whatever. I would never spend my time this way, but i understand it.

Sites that hijack your traffic, and redirect you to pay-per-click adult sites. I get it. It's nasty, but it's a monetary model with a history of generating revenue.

Here's the Warning

If you run a Wordpress site, or any CMS, be alert to any unusual errors. You might see a simple PHP error, either from the front or the admin side of a site. In our case, one of our users was unable to upload a file. Could have just been some harmless permissions setting. What I found was pretty scary.

First some remote access software had been installed on the site. It gave anyone with knowledge to that location full file access to the entire server. A script had been run that appended and inserted some java script into just about every index.html along with random PHP files. (Not actually a great hack, as it should have prepended the code, rather than tacking it on to the end) And inserting it randomly into PHP files? That's a bad plan as all that will do is alert people to the problem. Anyway, it was a mess. Without a clean backup plan, the site would have been toast.

If you should run into this, you can check out Stephan Miller's blog as that's where we exchanged some notes about this today when it was still unfolding.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Don't trust your hosting company to fix these types of events. If they do, consider yourself lucky. Make sure YOU are doing your own backups and have actually tested the restore process.

Hey Michell. If you're reading this, drop me a note. Lunch is on me.

Really Expensive Free Software

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:32:04 -0500

I've made a few comments in a post by Bill Kennedy that deals with the topic of switching from Top Producer to possibly Outlook. In his post and in a few of the comments, there were references to Outlook being free.

Yesterday I stumbled across an old document that reminded me of how expensive free things can be.

In the old days, I was the IT guy at a company that had about 400 PCs. When the decision to switch to Outlook was made, the 78 page document to the left was created to answer *most* of the questions that would arise. While this had been designed for users, everyone knows, most don't like to read the manual. What followed was a long bumpy ride that consumed many months of tech support to get everyone comfortable with the new and improved email system.

Granted you likely don't have 400 PCs in your office but even for one, there still can be 78 pages of things to write about adjusting from the old to the new.

But my point is not to bash Outlook. This is about switching from one thing to another. That could be converting your old website to a CMS-based version, going from Top Producer to Outlook or changing mobile phone carriers. Regardless of the initial price, they all have conversion costs that will consume your time and money.

If you're planning a conversion, take the time to write down what's required, then prioritize based on your business processes. Going from Top Producer to a plug-in enhanced version of Outlook might work, but without that list of priorities, you run the risk of learning how expensive free software can be.

Another Simple Way To Generate Leads

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:06:21 -0500

To reach my goal of ... I will help my clients purchase or sell ... I will time block and lead generate an average of x hours per day and I will feed my database with y mets and z haven't mets each week.

All the sales gurus preach this: Have a mission statement. And every sales mission statement I've ever seen includes getting leads into the database.

Here's another way to feed the database using some simple, inexpensive technology.

In my many years of helping non-profits, the one thing that's a common theme: A few people handle communications via their own email list, maybe something contained in AOL or an Outlook address book. When others in the group want to broadcast a message, they do a reply-all and hope that version of the list contains everyone.

The big downside you already know: Duplicate data means

a.) The lists will not be the same and b.) It's a real pain to maintain.

Simple solution is to use a hosted mail list.

This puts all the names in one place and each message to the group ends with Click here to add or drop from the list. This makes it almost self-maintaining. You can make the list private so that only those on the list can broadcast information. It's a perfect solution and simple/cheap to implement.

Getting back to generating leads...

Assuming someone needs an agent, what are the four reasons people don't select you?

They don't know you
They don't know you're in real estate
Your offer to provide a service isn't convincing
They don't like/trust you

This idea can't help you with 3 or 4. Sorry. But the first two... absolutely.

The Idea

Volunteer to help support a high school athletic program using a hosted mailing list. (A hosted mailing list is one that you control, unlike something you can get from Yahoo.) For a large high school, a JV tennis team can easily have 100 names in the list.

Don't worry. This idea requires very little of your time.

A hosted list means you purchase a domain name, then host it so that it has some type of home page onto which you place useful links so that people go there. This is also where you include a Contact page that points back to your site.

It's Cheap, Simple and It Works

A domain name costs ~ $10 per year. It's possible your current host will allow you to add domains to your existing account. If not, this part will run ~ $75 per year. To install Joomla, or the CMS of your choice, and build the list: Maybe 2 hours. Then spend maybe another hour or two adding some links.

Total start-up cost for the first year: ~$130 ... then it drops to $85/yr for subsequent seasons. (or $10/yr if your host allows multiple domains)

Here's a fully functioning site that was done in one afternoon.

(We used Joomla and Mailman, but Wordpress and any other would be just as good)

Tip: Make sure whatever host you choose allows mailing lists. Many have disabled this because of spammers. Also, if you don't have a hosting account that allows you to add domains, then get one. They don't cost much and if you plan to implement ideas like this, you don't want to be spending $85 for each new domain. (Here's the host I recommend. The "Baby" account allows multiple domains)

ahhh... one more thing: Never never never use the list for anything related to your business. Also, don't take the list and stuff it into your list. This is passive lead generation, a way to put your face, name and a link to your website on the email list host site.

How to Waste a Perfectly Good Sunday...

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:27:17 -0500

..Upgrade from Wordpress 2.5 to 2.6

Wanting to help someone learn about how to upgrade, and to help the owner of a Wordpress site, I figured Sunday was a good day to go from an old Wordpress version to a newer one. I had done tens of hundreds of similar upgrades but none of that mattered as I failed miserably.

Here's how it normally goes when upgrading a content management system, including Wordpress:

Backup the site
Copy over the new files
Run an upgrade script
Test it

The bulk of the time is usually #2, waiting for files to copy. In the case of 2.6.1 of Wordpress, that's about 564 files in 74 directories, just over 4 megs of data. Even at a slow WiFi cafe, that's maybe 15 minutes.

After doing the backup, something caught my eye. A shortcut! I love shortcuts. Who could resist?

After a quick click, the home page of the site was looking good which meant I was 99% done. I just needed to confirm the backend (admin) part was good-to-go. It was horribly not ready: I had encountered the often feared Wordpress white-screen-of-death:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted

(tried to allocate 77824 bytes) on .../template.php on line 498

Fatal PHP errors. Big deal. They sound scary, but stuff like this is usually something simple. Seriously, an extra space at the end of a config file can make things ugly, fast. I rolled up the sleeves and took a look at the file that was complaining: template.php.

Seriously. This is how template.php begins. This is the hello to all those who may venture in searching for a clue. No official Wordpress header telling who wrote it, the type of license, where to go to report bugs.

Big mess and ugly.

When the source code of the software you're trying to fix begins with someone saying it's a big mess, and ugly... that's your cue to look elsewhere for a solution.

Ok, fine. Forget template.php. Forget this fatal memory stuff. I'm comfortable admitting I can't solve this via line 498. So what's next? What I should have done first: Ask Google.

33,000+ refereneces to "fatal error" and Wordpress. Hmmm. I'm thinking I'm not the first one to stumble into this briar patch. Looks like these guys might have already gone down this road.

Ok. Fine. No problem. I hosed the site. I've done that before. Not all that terrible. Restore from backup. Problem was likely that quickie shortcut Fantastico thing. I should have gone from 2.5 to 2.6.1... After 20 minutes of copying and cursing, WP 2.5 was back. ahhh

Now to do it correctly: I'll do the upgrade from 2.5 to 2.6.1 ... but manually this time. After another half hour of copying files, I had trashed the site again. Same error, same template.php file, just a different number of bytes.

Ugh.

So ... back to 2.5 we went, for the second time, which is where it sits today.

My moral of the story:

If you're thinking about running your own Wordpress site, be aware that upgrades are required on a regular basis but just because they release a new one doesn't mean it's better than what you have.

Google before you start the upgrade.

Make sure the person/company that does the original install will be available for upgrades. Don't assume that links like "Click here to upgrade" work.

Before you decide to venture off to toil in your own Wordpress garden, make sure you have fully embraced and understand ActiveRain. Consider AR as must-have training. Once you master all of what's here, then consider building your own.

Searching for solutions to fatal memory errors is no way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

PS. I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is ... and will post what I find later this week when I get around to testing my hunch.

Are Fake Felons Scaring Away Buyers?

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:50:28 -0500

Ever get those notes from "friends" telling you to send this to everyone you know to protect them from whatever? I received one of those today and I couldn't resist taking a peek.

Here's an example of how some people get traffic-- lots of it using a fake database filled with felons. Ok, I'm not suggesting you do this, but it's always a good thing to watch what others do. In this case, it's a spoof site that people have taken as fact. It's almost something I would expect to see from TheOnion.

They've only been around since the start of the year and they were up to almost 1 million uniques (uniques=different people) by April. They're down to just over 600,000/month now. (To put this in perspective, ActiveRain had about 600,000 in April '08)

I didn't spend too much time reading, but after a few minutes their method was clear. It was enough realism that visitors would start forwarding before reading the details -- or even trying the same search twice. e.g., Some of the criminals in my area are showing up in the University golf course. Not near it, I'm talking on the 7th fairway.

Here's an example of why it shouldn't take too much reading to figure out this isn't real: (from their About page)

Can I help by suggesting someone who needs to be listed?

Yes you can! Just use our contact page, and we’ll get them added in a hot hurry. Usually we verify it, but usually we don’t have the needed time or resources to insure it is valid. Please use this tool with honesty and integrity.

(Their "terms of service" page is even funnier.)

Anyway... here it is. It's good for a laugh, interesting to see how others generate lots of traffic, useful to understand how clever techies/scammers will monetize traffic based on real looking fake data and crappy landing pages. (Also good to know in case you hear of buyers being scared to attend your next open house)

All I ask is please don't click any of their "sponsor ads" as they're already making enough money from this. PS. It's ok to forward this post to everyone you know... I've confirmed it's real :)

Generate Leads With a Pinch of Fun

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:44:48 -0500

Every year about this time we let others know about some software we developed over at League.com. It's a pickem pool based on the NFL season. Pretty simple, you join, make a group, invite others, make your picks, then go watch the game.

What's different this year: We are distributing the software, renamed as jPickem so you can run your own football pool on your own domain (website).

Why do this? Because you will attract new visitors with football. You'll have something fresh to talk about at social gatherings, something new to Twitter about. It may even generate a few leads.

And as we all know, clawing your way to the top of any keyword in Google takes either time or lots of money. There's another way to generate traffic. Add something to your site that people want to do, something people enjoy. Something people will talk about. Something people will share with others. Sure, you may have a terrific new listing, an open house with fresh baked cookies, but none of those are about fun and you'll attract new visitors with a little fun.

Hey! football is considered by many to be fun :)

If the idea of mashing football into your real estate website just doesn't sit well, that's ok! I wouldn't put it into APIN.COM -- totally makes sense. What you can do instead is spend the $50/year, purchase some .INFO variant of your existing website and host your pickem pool there. You can even promote you, your listings and your open houses within your new football pickem pool.

We know this works. This will pull new visitors and drive new traffic to your existing site ... and for 18 weeks every year, you can add some football fun for your clients and potential buyers/sellers.

To try it, go to League.com and join -- it's free. If you want to consider running your own ... jPickem.com

PS. A Pickem pool is not fantasy football. It's way simple. You pick the team, you assign your confidence to that pick. That's all there is to it. Here's an exmple of what it looks like for users to make picks. ANYONE can play. Zero football knowledge required.

New Security Alert in Joomla

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:19:24 -0500

People often get all freaked out when they hear about security flaws in content management systems like Joomla. This is the nature of the beast. You shouldn't be worried if your CMS-based website has security holes as much as if the developers are fixing them quickly. In this case, it was fixed on the same day it was reported.

If you are running a Joomla site, I've posted the alert details here.

Likely you're not running a Joomla website, maybe you run Wordpress or something custom, this is still an opportunity for me to remind you that ALL database driven software can have security issues.

If you've not had your site updated recently, AND if you have data you care about, have your tech make sure you're current. Upgrading is fast, inexpensive and far less painful than when someone emails you with,

"Hey, looks like your site has been hacked/hijacked."

Tired of Running Ads That Don't Pull? Romance The Architecture!

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:40:29 -0500

We are about to launch a website to boost effectiveness of real estate ads. Here's some of our copy from one of the stories to come...

Several years ago when I was ready to sell my home, I knew that I might have a small problem. My home was a large, 1920s bungalow. If you live in the Midwest, you know that a bungalow style is very common and does not translate to what I would call a popular style in a higher price range.

Granted, my home was extremely attractive--for a bungalow, that is. It had great overhanging roof lines supported by ornate "piano key" soffits. All brick, except for some stucco with tudor-style beams, and accentuated with many dormers, the house actually had a very majestic air about it. It was so large it took up most of the city-sized lot that it sat upon-another problem I had to face.

What could I do to enhance the market of this type of architecture? How was I going to attract the right buyer to a "showing?" First, I focused on the positive elements. This magnificent home had gorgeous maple floors, extravagant use of oak trim, solid oak doors, leaded stained glass china cabinets, an updated kitchen, and over 3,000 square feet of great family living space.

Next I went about correcting the small lot problem. In addition to the reality of this large home sitting on a small city lot was a 3 1/2 car garage. Needless to say, the rear yard was comprised mostly of concrete. So, an elevated deck was erected, large enough to easily hold 10 to 15 people. This eliminated much of the grass to cut in the back yard, while adding valuable space for outdoor entertaining.

Before I ran my first ad, I went to the library and did some research on bungalows. All I could come up with was another name for bungalow: the "craftsman." Any pzazz in that name?

"Hey, I just bought a 4-bedroom craftsman." I don't think so.

As I mulled over many books, I happened to flip to a page which described older homes with pictures of notable owners. One in particular showed the family home of Shakespeare's wife. It had overhanging roofs, many dormers--with a little imagination, it could be my bungalow!

Shakespeare's wife's family name was Hathaway, and her name was Anne. I could feel the karma!

I advertised my home as an Anne Hathaway Bungalow, and the first two buyers who viewed my home submitted offers. Yes, indeed, I can honestly report that the first person who viewed my home bought it.

The buyers later told me they were not looking for a bungalow, they were looking for a traditional colonial. But the ad for an "Anne Hathaway Bungalow" intrigued them enough to warrant a look-see.

I call that kind of marketing "romancing the architecture." Don't just call it a cape cod; use descriptives like Boston Cape Cod, Williamsburg Cape Cod, etc. Call a salt box colonial and Quaker Colonial, and on and on . . . Empower your advertising, romance the architecture, and you will reap the rewards of attracting the right buyers.

[fyi: this is a true story... and plenty more to come]

Finding New Techies: Spend 45 Minutes, Save Lots

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:23:43 -0500

When you decide you want some new technology, hopefully you already have a relationship with a person who knows what you want. But every so often, you'll need to find someone new. People move on, sometimes they just fade away, sometimes what you want isn't what they do.

When you go shopping for a new tech company to support you, do a little homework first by documenting what you have and what you need. This is a 45 minute exercise and it will help you avoid having to tell the same story more than once. This is a one, two page max, document that has three parts: The Summary, Technology and Deliverables.

A. Exec Summary

1. Your team - A short paragraph of your group with emphasis on how members interact with the technology. e.g., Is there at least one person in the office that will be able to handle basic maintenance?

2. Current state - Describe what you have now. Try to include metrics like number of pages if you're asking for someone to convert the site. e.g., Type site:your_domain.com into Google to count pages.

3. Future state - What do you need to new site to do? e.g., We want a place on the home page where people can enter their name and email address and then have that inserted into our contact manager for follow-up. Also, it should send a text message to our phones to let us know leads are waiting to be answered.

4. What's broken? - If there's something about the site that's not working, list that here. e.g., When you go to page xyz, the screen turns black and funny music starts to play.

B. Technology

1. Current - e.g., Our existing site is old HTML that was created years ago. We don't really know what technology it's using. ... or We are running an version 1.2 of Wordpress.

2. Hosting - Where you are hosted is important if you are requesting some new technology. e.g., If you wanted us to install Joomla for you and you told us you were on PowWeb or 1and1, we would know immediately that you would need to change hosts or find someone else to do the work. (Not all hosts are well suited for all applications)

3. Registrar - Where are your domain names held? If you need to move your site to another host, you'll need to not only know where your names are held but also the ID/password to make changes. Finding the registrar is the easy part. We've run into projects that screeched to a halt because some ex-employee owned the domain name, who of course, could no longer be located.

C. Deliverables

1. Your desired timeline - When does this have to be done? I've seen a two week project drag on for a year. If you don't have a deadline, then make one up. Developers are better with deadlines. (Also, timelines have milestones. Things never get done all at once.)

2. Expectations/Exclusions - e.g., Must display indentically in both Firefox and IE. Must include all valid HTML when tested via validator.w3.org. Email accounts must connect to Outlook... We do not need this connected to our email drip system...

3. Support expectations - How much help will you need when it's done? Training? Who gets alerted if the server croaks at 2am? Who do you call when something breaks? It's normal to expect at least a month of support when a new site is installed. Write down the expectations for short and long term support.

4. A budget/payment schedule - How much do you have to spend and how will you release it to them? e.g., 25% to start, 25% when milestone 2 is hit, the balance when it's installed and running on our server. (If you don't know how much it will cost, then leave the budget part out -- but include the payment terms) This is an ideal starting point to obtain quotes you can compare.

FYI: The cost for web work can be all over the map. I can take the same specification and get quotes from $500 to $5000. (I've done this as a test locally and the range for a simple 8 page site ranged from $1,400 to $5,400) A high price does not guarantee high quality. Quality is the result of what standards a person uses to guide their work.

Little Weasels You Want To Choke

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:24:07 -0500

Years ago, hacker implied "very smart person" but today it's often "smart person you want to choke."

Over the last few days I've spent many hours cleaning up the mess left behind by some guy that "wanted the challenge" of erasing some useful data, then replacing it with his own.

His method of attack: Stealing/sniffing admin passwords.

What a little weasel.

Open source software like WordPress, Joomla and thousands of others all have one thing in common: They have a screen where you enter an ID and password to control your site. If weasels get hold of your login info, you too will be wanting to choke strangers many timezones aways.

When a site gets hacked, there are specific steps you take to get things back to normal.

1. Curse

This is the universal starting point, much like karate students use the "hee-ah" just before breaking a board. A good curse clears the mind, steadies the hand, but mustly just comes out because getting hacked almost always never comes at a convenient time.

2. Lock the site

It's a crime scene, so just like in Law and Order, get out the yellow tape and keep others from mucking up your evidence. I usually put up a message like, "We are upgrading today" followed by a smilely face. Not that he's watching, but you don't want to give the hacker the satisfaction of knowing how you really feel.

Note: If your site held important data, take the WEBSITE off line, not just the application. e.g., If you stored consumer credit info on your Wordpress, suspend the site, not just WordPress.

3. Assess damage

Sometimes the little weasels only change your home page. Another common/irritating payload: inserting Viagra and Xanax ads as posts or entries into a guest book. In addition to determining what they changed, you want to learn how they did it. Think of it as a burglary. You walk around to find out what's missing then figure out which door/window they used to gain access.

4. Fix it

If you have a pre-hacked backup of your data, then it's a simple fix. Absent that, return to Step 1. Also, keep in mind "pre-hacked backup" means the backup was before your site was compromised. In some cases, I've seen hacked sites that went on running just fine for a month ... so by the time it was discovered, every backup was a different copy of the hacked site.

My Tips For Choke Avoidance

Tip 1: Don't Use Weak Passwords

A friend called me last week with some degree of panic. Their Wordpress site had been hacked on the 29th of July at about 7AM EST. I know this because the hacker reported it. That was so polite.

I'm not really sure what happened, all I know is that the site was defaced and data deleted. The hacker logged in as the admin, entered the correct password then acted like a fully disgruntled employee by deleting all users, all comments and about half the posts. Before they left, they uploaded their own home page so it was clear they had been there.

Within a few minutes after they finished, they headed over to Zone-H to report their accomplishment. (yes, there are sites dedicated to collecting information about attacked websites, and in many cases, the hackers are the ones reporting the crimes)

The hacker that vandalized my friend's site had done six others (all Wordpress) that same day. (maybe more, but that's all he reported to Zone-H)

I'm not really sure how he gained access, but I did confirm the admin password was weak.

Tip 2: Be Careful In WiFi Coffee Shops

99% of the time, when you are logging into your website control panel, you are sending your ID and password over an unsecured http connection. If your site is important to you, and you make changes from public locations, spend the $20 and encrypt the connection by adding an SSL certificate. (So you login via https) Another way: Use a Verizon/Sprint card to connect as sniffing data there is much more difficult.

Tip 3: Cancel Accounts When Employees Leave

Kill IDs as soon as they depart. Even if they weren't disgruntled, it's a door you don't want open. If you have to terminate someone, then cancel their IDs before they're released. There are many websites where the disgruntled can anonymously publish IDs and passwords so weasels can take credit for "cracking" your security.

Tip 4: Don't use Admin as the ID

Often when software is installed, admin is the default ID. Change that. Weasels need two things to get into your site: ID and password, If you use admin, you've already given them half of what they need to make your curse.

If you want to read more about what to do if you've been hacked... click me

Fine and then one day poof, my website was a mess

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:00:27 -0500

We get calls from others asking us to help with Joomla sites that have been abandoned by the original developer. When your techie/developer stops returning your calls, it's usually for a specific reason. This is not Joomla specific, and it's not because they lost your number or because they're too busy.

The most common reason:

You're no longer a good client and/or they don't like fixing bugs.

Don't take that personally. Well, at least don't start with that.

When a project is initiated, you're eager to see results and eager to pay. During this phase of the courtship, it's common to hear from your developer on a regular basis. They may even contact you to give you updates, status reports or just to make sure you're happy, much like the attentive waiter who keeps refilling your water glass.

Then fast-forward... your website is launched. It looks great and now it's just a matter of time before the leads start to roll in. You gladly pay the invoice and everyone is happy, especially the developer.

Then you get an email, "Hey, what's with your website? It looks kinda weird. It's messed up."

Geek-Flight: aka, "I'm Just Too Busy"

In modern web design, there are standards that should be followed. If they're not, "it's messed up" can result as not everyone views your site with the same browser. If your developer didn't try to follow standards, and your site layout is even slightly complex, there's a very good chance "it's messed up" will result. This discovery can result in what I call geek-flight.

At this point, your web person may suddenly become "very busy" with other work. Other geek-flight symptoms: Slow/no answering of emails, canceling meetings at the last minute for emergencies that aren't even urgent.

Here's how it works. Not with all developers, but lots of them -- when you ask for something to be created, they will generally do what they've done. If you ask a Wordpress developer to build you a site, you can guess what they're going to recommend. If you call me for advice, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to start sketching ideas with my Joomla crayons.

If your developer has a habit of not following standards, not documenting things, not doing multi-browser quality control, there's a darn good chance your site will end up with some problems. When these problems surface, it's reasonable for you to expect them to fix it at their cost. Was it your fault you didn't say, "My website needs to look the same in both IE and Firefox" -- well, yes actually. You should have said that.

Web pages are made up of HTML code. I'm sure you've done View/Page Source more than once to see how others are keywording their way to the top pages in Google. (by the way, that's a good thing to learn this way) HTML has strict rules, much like your copy has grammar and spelling rules. When you write new copy, you check it. If you're not a good checker, you have someone else edit/proof it. This is exactly how web developers are supposed to create websites.

Bad Attitudes About Bad Code

Here are the most common attitudes listed in order that I've heard them most often:

Validate? What's that?"
Validation doesn't help my search engine rankings. Who cares!"
My site looks fine - that's good enough"
Lots of websites don't validate - including top producers"
Validation means boring and ugly websites"

You should care about validation if you care about what potential customers see.

You've heard of WYSIWYG right? How about WYSINWOG? What You See Is Not What Others Get happens when you don't validate. It's true, you can be on page 1 of Google and have a site that doesn't even pass a validation test.

We're All Guilty

Being the curious person I am, I checked the top brokers/mega agents around here and not a single one passed. The best had 4 errors, the worst 495. (and this is on ONE PAGE of their website) One top agent and a major broker failed validation to the point of not even being able to count errors.

Our A2WiFi directory, now almost four years old, has 183 errors. (That means it's about time for an upgrade.) I checked two prominent local web designers... one had 21 errors, the other 95. ActiveRain...117 errors.

In the 17 sites I checked, only one passed... csszengarden (which by the way, is an example of how to build CSS/HTML perfect websites)

So next time you're planning to have some web work done, make sure your developer has standards they follow. Expect documentation that explains what they created, expect them to have a written process of how they build things and of course expect their code to pass a grammar and spelling test known as HTML validation.

How many errors do you have? Check it!

PS. If suddenly your site does develop problems related to bad code, it's likely the problem was always there. Good news: Fixing flawed code is not like failing an electrical inspection. It's possible that a quick duct-tape approach might work, applying just enough to get your site looking OK in all browsers. Bad News: If your site has hundreds of errors and is visually messed up, the path to validation can be a winding/expensive one.

Growing Some Organic Traffic with Images

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:09:16 -0500

Here's a simple, reasonably quick, inexpensive way to add to your traffic. Pick some aspect of your community, get your camera and start snapping. Collect basic info about each of the images and upload all to a gallery where it can serve as a image directory for that area. Not only is it quick and easy, it's also low maintenance, another form of inexpensive.

We built one for the city of Dexter, Michigan. It took about 20 hours of labor between snapping pics and then finding/entering data about each. Something like this could be started and finished in a week once you have the process down.

We hosted our own using Coppermine which I think is best if you want to own the traffic. The total launch cost looks something like this:

Hosting $70/yr (I recommend HostGator)
Domain Name $7
Photo Labor $100
Data Input Labor $300

First year cost: ~$500. Subsequent maintenance: $77/year.

Not sure how much traffic Dexter, Michigan will pull, likely not that much, but I'm sure the Google ads will cover that.

For smaller cities like Dexter, it works to grab every business. In larger communities go after something less generic. e.g., An image gallery of every hole on every golf course might develop a following. Rule of thumb, take pics of something that people enjoy or need.

So...if you're curious about what Dexter, Michigan looks like try

DexterCommerce.com

Footnote: When you're snapping pics, make sure to stay on public ground so that you don't grab something you don't own. Also a good idea to try to avoid getting faces of people in your gallery unless you get them to sign a waiver. You can take a public pic of anyone, but if you plan to use it commercially, a release form is a good practice.

Online Home Tours Made Simple, Kinda

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:51:52 -0500

Years ago I toiled as a computer programmer. Maybe you don't know this, but one of the bad traits of "my people" is that we often discount or trivialize the effort it takes to create software.

Because it had been a few years since I had written any code, I wanted to try an experiment to see if I could still do it -- and to remind myself of how terrible we are at estimating time. I succeeded at both. I could still write code and I could still not estimate time accurately.

The challenge: build a simple image gallery. I had a project where I needed something very basic and after some tiny research, I concluded that I could easily write something that would fit my needs, eh, in about a day. (a day of work is normally 8 hours, but to a programmer, that means you've got a full 24 hours to finish it)

The requirements for my project:

All thumbnails would be visible on one page.
No categories or albums
Easy to add things in the left and righ margins
A mouse-over on each would give some meaningful description
Clicking the thumbnail would zoom on the image
Zoomed images would have Previous-Next buttons
URLs could be easily added so that a link would be included in the zoomed image
Include a site map so search engines think more of it

Most of the requirements came from Picasa. If you do an export from that program, you get something pretty close to the above. But what it lacked was the nice mouse-over on the thumbs, the URL link in to zooms, a site map, no real easy way to add things into margins...

After about 23 hours, my new program was done... kind of. I named it SIMGAL (SIMple GALlery) and what started with the objective of *simple* is not all that simple to use. Another reason you don't want one programmer defining what simple means. (I'll send a dozen new Titelist golf balls to anyone who can create a gallery with SIMGAL)

Getting back to my effort compared to a Picasa export. Just so we're on the same page, this is what a Picasa export looks like.

Here's the SIMGAL version of those same images:

Mine does do *everything* I wanted it to -- except the simple to use part.

Example of the embedded URL at the top of the page

,,, and the simple site map

Anyway, even though nobody will ever use SIMGAL other than perhaps a demonstration of why you should resist the urge to create your own-- it was still a fun exercise.

There are three basic ways to show others images

1. Host Your Own (put them on a domain under your full control)

2. RE Specific Virtual Tours (realtourvision, firsthometour...)

3. Public Galleries (yahoo, google...)

Host Your Own - If you don't know how or want to FTP files, then forget about this. Using Picasa Export (or SIMGAL) is can be simple, but it requires you at understand a program like FileZilla and have FTP access to your own site. Many don't want to mess with this or don't have time to learn something new. The upside: Images can be a great way to keep visitors on your site. Hosting your own can be cheap. Search engines will see your site as having more value when people stick around longer.

If you're doing more than just one page of images, then using an open source product like Coppermine is always a great choice. It's simple/quick to install, configures quickly and most can learn how to upload images in minutes. (Here's a recent Coppermine project that I'll blog about in my next post)

RE Virt Tours - Many excellent ones out there but they can get pricey. Like the public galleries, you're often paying them to host the images which means they're getting the benefit of the traffic you send.

PUblic Galleries Picasaweb and Flickr are so well known I'd be wasting space writing about them. I don't know how popular these are for doing home tours, but the biggest downside would be the ease with which visitors can go elsewhere and the lack of branding for you. Great for sharing your last vacation, not so great for showing a home online.

Here's a final example of a SIMGAL online tour. To work on that free dozen golfballs, your quest would begin here.

Using free email - avoid being a bonehead

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:28:17 -0500

It just makes me cringe when someone in business sends me an email and instead of their domain, they have @comcast.net or even worse, @aol.com. That to me screams they're either clueless or they just don't care. Most common lame excuse: "I've had this address for a long time and it would be too much work to change."

That's a pretty bad attitude if you're using email for business.

There is a good reason to use a service like gMail and you can configure it so that your domain (website) continues to get the branding visibility it requires.

Let's start with some email basics. There are two ways to store mail.

On the server (a.k.a IMAP)
On your hard drive (a.k.a POP)

Good example of a POP account would be when you install Thunderbird to your laptop. Each time you connect to your account, it drains the messages from your web server and dumps everything into a local inbox on your hard drive.

Benefit: Your web server inbox should never fill. Once you download your mail, you can perform a backup. Drawback: If you need to get to your mail when you are without your laptop, then you're stuck reading only the new stuff.

Using an IMAP type of account (which means mail stays on the server) you can use what's called a "web client" to read/reply.

Benefit: You can generally get your email from any web connected browser. If it's your web server, you can schedule backups to run every day without you even thinking about it.

Drawbacks: Some web clients suck; Some office networks block access to ports where web clients run; Some web clients don't allow you to change the reply-to address. Some (actually most) free web services have no customer service. If one morning you wake up to find your mail all gone, it may in fact, be all gone. In some cases, you can't do backups of your mail.

Rather than listing all the web clients that suck, and for the sake of keeping this concise, I'll stick to gMail -- which doesn't suck. If any of the following apply to you, then a gMail switch is worthy of consideration:

1. Your current server has an inbox limit that's low and people send you huge files that can cause "inbox full" error messages. (or you just never delete anything, which will eventually produce the same condition)

2. Your current web client makes you want to kick something

3. You use Outlook (or any other email product) locally and realize it's not a good solution because you need to get your mail when you're not at your PC.

4. Your office network has ports blocked (it's a security thing) so you can't get to your mail.

Assuming one of the above apply to you, here's how you can use gMail to make things better:

Step 1 - Create a gMail account (simple enough) You can pick any cryptic email name you want as you'll not be showing that to clients anyway.

Step 2 - After you login, go to Settings

Step 3 - Click the Account tab

Step 4 - Edit Info

Step 5 - Set your name to First name/Phone number. Make it really simple for people to call you. Then change the reply-to so it matches your address from your website.

Now all that's left is to create what's called a forward account on your website. If you have access to your own control panel, it will look something like this:

(If you don't have cPanel type access to your account, you may need to contact your hosting company to help set the forwarder)

Remember that if you are having full inbox issues on your server to delete your existing account. (Of course, only do this after you have drained all your email from it first!) And by the way, there is no simple way to transfer all your old email to gMail -- so you'll need to consider this your fresh start. One more thing, if you store your address book online, make sure you export that data too! (that can be imported into gMail with little effort)

Now people will be able to write you via you@your_domain.com, which will immediately bounce to gMail. When you reply from there, they will see YourName/Phone number in the From line and when they hit reply, it will go back to your_domain.com. (They will be able to see the message was sent from gMail but as long as you have configured the reply-to with your domain, you'll have accomplished your goal of keeping your domain in front of them.)

Editors, Images and Pain Mitigation

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:56:30 -0500

With the advancement of content management systems like Joomla, Wordpress and even ActiveRain, the adding and maintenance of posts becomes a snap because the need for HTML skills are replaced with WYSIWYG editors.

Some thoughts on this:

1. No standards exist to make editors all behave the same way
2. Some editors don't work all that well
3. Manipulating images can make people cranky

On Standards

What I've found is that some believe their lack of computer/web experience is the root of their frustration, not realizing that even web savvy users, if forced to use the same tools, feel the same pain. This is why many hard core web authors prefer to compose in text and insert their own HTML along the way.

However, in the open source world, there are a few very popular editors such as TinyMCE, which is what AR
uses here. You can see that some aspects of the editor are identical to what's used in Joomla and Wordpress:

Because it's open source, developers can choose to add or remove certain features based on needs. (Notice how in Joomla, there's an extra tab called Advanced which AR has removed)

On Editors that Suck

If you've spent anytime with the editor in version 2.3.x of Wordpress you have undoubtedly uttered "this thing sucks" more than once. If you're running any version previous to 2.5 a nice surprise is waiting for you when you upgrade as the editor has been much improved. That alone is worth the upgrade effort. Here's what the new editor looks like:

Images

When writing a blog or updating any type of web page, inserting an image is one of the parts that people often
fumble over. Like it or not, cropping and resizing images is part of what all web authors/editors have to deal with on a regular basis.   Thumbnailing (making images smaller) can be made simple with a few tips/tools.

There's nothing wrong with using MS-Paint, but that can't be your only tool. One reason: Paint can't resize images. One way to manually thumbnail an image is to use Picasa with Paint.   You adjust the size of the thumbnail image, then copy/paste into Paint where you can crop and save.   Here are the steps to do that.

One of my fave image tools is something called Picture Resizer which allows you to quickly thumbnail an image by dragging the target image on top of the program.   What I like about it -- there is no user interface to learn.   You name the program according to what size thumbnail you want to create... that's it.

So in this case, the r200.exe will generate 200 pixel wide images. If you want 150 wide images, then you would need only to rename the program to r150.exe.

If you appreciate simplicity, you'll love Picture Resizer 2.0. (oh, and it's free too)

http://rw-designer.com/picture-resize

My other favorite is Thumbnailer from a company called Smaller Animals.

I use this when I'm watermarking a group of images but is also excellent when you're doing edge fades. Thumbnailer is only $25 and their customer support is quite awesome.

What Is Needed To Build a Good Website Proposal?

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:03:24 -0500

Someone recently asked what does it take to write a good website proposal? They didn't tell what the site was, what it would do, if it already existed, ... all they had was a maximum budget.

Here was my answer:

The construction cost of a website is based on what it does and how much function/content is required to achieve that end. So to state a maximum budget without knowing what you're building is like saying you will not pay more than x for painting an unknown house.

A good proposal accurately represents end user expectations and unless the development is simple, the statement of work must include the customer as one of the active members of the development team.

Most poorly implemented websites result from designers not know how and/or customers not knowing what.

Customers are usually not so good at explaining their vision, often because they don't have one, and technical people sometimes are too eager based on what they think will suffice, or worse, what they did last time.

A good proposal includes:

- an explanation of the process that will be used (see design process below)

- at least one customer stakeholder being part of the group

- a list of tangible deliverables (what does the customer get?)

- a delivery timeline that ties to a payment schedule

- the conditions (e.g., same stakeholder must remain in the project for the duration)

- the exclusions (e.g., the price does not include lunch or beer)

Here's an example of a design process that we have used in the past to help educate clients. And here's another doc that has been useful when customers want a proposal when no blueprint exists.

In the end, a good proposal contains only enough information so to produce a win-win result and for that, there is no boilerplate.

One size does not fit all.

Buying Search Terms Outside the Norm

E.Kasey Kasemodel - Ann Arbor, Mi - Tech Advice (API Network Corp) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:28:41 -0500

Recently we updated a2WiFi.com because we were holding the Best Of Awards and decided to expand the Google ads from one to four. What's interesting about this? Well, not sure if it's really interesting at all... but we used to get nothing but WiFi related ads. How to install one, where to buy WiFi gear, other hotspot directories...

Now just about every ad is about home values, apartment hunting and foreclosure listings.

Our keyword density hasn't changed... we still put at least one WiFi or wireless internet into each post. Guess this must be a sign of the times... that internet savvy agents are purchasing search terms outside the norm.

By the way, if you're from the Ann Arbor area, there are three bars in contention for the best WiFi place to have a beer while you check the MLX. If you are into such activity, you're invited to cast your vote.