Tim's Wee Part of the World » Website Design http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog Come along and join in. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:20:01 +0000 en hourly 1 Creating your Own Website isn’t difficult. http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:18:16 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=899

There is a new course that has been released that is called “Make WordPress Easy”.

This be being touted as the best WordPress “How To” ever released and this is not  just coming from it’s Creator “Ori Bengal”.

I’ll add in Ori’s own website where he raves on about lots of stuff…

9 Year Old Haylee has taken this course and she built herself one very impressive website where she now blogs on. You can take a look at her site at http://www.littlehandbigheart.com. Way to go Haylee!

Business Owners are using it to create or fix up someone elses efforts that they’ve already paid big dollars for.

Mums are using it to create websites for their friends. You’ll see in the video where one mum who had no experience with building a website, created one over the weekend. That’s one weekend which included taking the course and actually doing it!

Internet Marketers are using it to build their own websites.

If you have any reason to get yourself an Online Presence with a website, then you should seriously consider this.

Is it going to put Web Designers out of business?

Well the answer is NO! Why? Because there are folk who would rather just pay to get their sites done. They don’t have the time or the inclination to put in the time and effort to learn and do this. And that’s fine!

What it is going to do is create more Web Designers. By using this course to teach yourself how to create rather stunning websites will make it easy for you to get Web Design Work. Because you’ll know how to do it!

Everyday you meet someone that says…”We really need a website”… or… “Our Website sucks so bad and we’ve already spent so much on it,  what can we do?”

I’m even considering showing this to some of my website clients so they can do this for themselves. Yes I’ll be loosing money but I’m a busy lad and if I can help someone out by doing this who wants to get themself a website and Learn how to set it up and more importantly – update it – change it around to their liking… then I’m all for it.

It’s better than telling them to go somewhere else and potentially suffer the old… It costs lots and it takes forever and it’s not what we wanted…

I might even be able to throw some work at those that have taken the course for other sites if I get swamped! I’ll know they have the knowledge to do the job! The big plus for me is that I don’t have to train them!

Is it for everyone?

Well if you do need to create a website, you have two choices.

You can outsource it and that can lead to a can of worms if you don’t already know someone thats

  • capable,
  • will do the job you want and
  • not take forever doing it.

OR… you can spend ( at the time of writing ) two installments of $47 USD for a total of  $94USD and do it yourself and have your own website the way you want it to look!

Of Course Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting is extra… About $10 USD per year for a Domain Name and Hosting at around $8 a Month. Hostgator have a deal for $4.95 per month if it’s paid upfront for 12 months

Plus you’ll be able to make your own changes, how you want and when you want.

Plus you have the opportunity to create even more websites for yourself, friends or even paying clients.

The really nice thing is I’ll be picking up a few tips and tricks that I don’t know about. You never stop learning when it comes to website design and Ori has been doing this a lot longer than I have.  So getting access to his experience is going to put a feather in my cap!

Be Prepared for the Video!

The sales page for this product is one interesting Video… It s rather long, but you’ll get to see and hear the many folk from all walks of life who have used this and have had success!

It’s a very good example on how to make an interesting and factual Video presentation.

You can see it at Make WordPress Easy.

Ori on Youtube doing Standup

One of Ori’s Talents is his comedy. Here he is doing a Standup Gig somewhere…..
Is he funny? Well you be the judge

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/creating-your-own-website-isnt-difficult/feed 0 Why do Folk Say – Google Loves WordPress???? http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-do-folk-say-google-loves-wordpress http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-do-folk-say-google-loves-wordpress#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:37:37 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=889

This is something I hear all over the place… “Google loves WordPress”.

Simply put… It’s a very misleading statement!

Google doesn’t give one hoot if you are using WordPress or Not! It just doesn’t care!

Having a WordPress Website means diddly squat to Search Engines…

What WordPress does do…

What a WordPress Website does do is offer a format that Search Engines – like Google – do like.

It’s the Format… It’s nothing to do with WordPress…

Ok I’m probably sounding a bit pedantic ( possibly annoyingly fussy), but you can create any website with anything that follows the “rules” and have the Search Engines “love” your site just as much!

What WordPress does do is help… and I’ll say it again… help… you by giving you a platform that allows you to easily create a site that could be  “interesting” and “noteworthy” to any search engine.

So what are the “things” any website needs to have?

At the end of the day, your goal is to make it “easy” for a search engine to be able to gather as much information as it can from your website. Search Engines do not have ESP, and those, like Google, are aware of certain “tricks” some folk try to pull.

I know that while most of the search engines are automated in their “searching of sites” on the internet… don’t be so sure that there are not “real humans” also reviewing websites…

The job of the search engine ( the good ones ) is to provide, relevent, interesting and informative websites regarding the topic or subject that the “searcher” is looking for…

So all you have to do is to provide that content… There’s nothing mysterious or secret about that!

Content. Not just any ole rehashed rubbish. It must be Relevent, Interesting content. ( not something I can always claim fame to ).

A Site Title.

A Site Description.

H1 Tags in your pages Title. Just like a Document has a title…

Keywords. This is a contentious issue. Some advocate the “Stuffing” of  “keywords” ( keywords are the words or sentences that folk will type into a search engine when they are looking for something). My view is that, if you write naturally about any topic, the keywords will appear naturally.

I’m not huge on writing anything for the sake of being able to place these “treasured” keywords wrapped with junk text…

Titles in Links. These “add” information regarding the nature of the link.

Alt tags in images. Again, these add information about the image. Search Engines cant see your images or figure out what they are about. So this let’s you tell the search engines what the image is about.

Good Content. Did I mention that all ready?

Helpful pages to have… The Privacy, Terms and Conditions and Contact pages etc… These just give more credence to the site. You’ll see these at the bottom of most “good” websites. Their purpose is to give more information. On this site ( at the time of writing ) I’ve just got a Disclosure Page on this site.

So basically it’s the use of everything that you can do to assist the search engines in determining what your site, pages etc are all about. You help them and they’ll help you get found. Simple!

And WordPress makes this easier to do.

So the statement regarding WordPress and other website building scripts should be… “WordPress helps you build websites that Google will be able to figure out what your site is all about IF you do things correctly!”

Ok it’s a bit more long winded than the original statement, but it’s closer to what the actual situation is.

I’ve only touched on the basics here.

WordPress “out of the box” is missing one crucial item that you should have. The ability to add a title, descriptions and keywords for each of your posts…

So to fix that, there is a plugin called “All In One SEO” that gives you the ability to add these details.

I’ve found from experience, just how vital this one plugin is. Without it, I had ranked on page 2 of google for some keyword BUT the description google had found didn’t have anything to do whatsover with the post it had found. Yikes!!!!

So I quickly went back and found that I hadn’t filled in the fields that the “All in One SEO” plugin gives you… Once I filled those in and Google took another look, it got it right!

That’s an example of what happens when you make it Hard for Google as opposed to making it easier for Google to find out exactly what your post is actually about. Which makes everyone happy.

So there is some food for thought.

Cheers

Tim

 

 

 

 

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/why-do-folk-say-google-loves-wordpress/feed 0 You Could Get Paid for Your Graphic Designs http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/you-could-get-paid-for-your-graphic-designs http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/you-could-get-paid-for-your-graphic-designs#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 04:21:15 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=855

Ok all you budding or professional Graphic Designers… Here’s a very interesting Website I’ve just found…

http://www.99designs.com

Basically, a Client who wants a Graphic Assignment performed, posts it on the site and prepays an Amount that will go to the Creator of the Winning Design.

So unlike the outsourcing sites that work on a  Bidding system,  Each contesting Designer submits their Graphic to be considered by the client. Its a Design Contest where the Winner gets paid!

The Downside of this is, each designer has to actually put in the time to create a Submission. The Upside for everyone else is you get to see the kinds of  Designs that are created and those that win.

Which makes it a great resource for seeing what is achievable  and the kinds of things that a customer likes based upon their “Design Brief” .

It might Spark a few ideas for projects you might work on.

What Kind Of  Graphics do they work with?

Quite a few…There are

  • Logo Designs
  • Web Design
  • Business Cards
  • Icon Design
  • WordPress Themes
  • Stationary Design
  • Brochure Design
  • Print and Packaging
  • T-Shirt Design
  • Banner Ads

How does it work?

A Client Creates a Design Contest in one of the areas mentioned above, and sets a fixed price… Then the Designers come along ( it could be you! ) and submit their design concepts.  The Client can give feedback to the designers to help them create the Design they are looking for and at the end… The Client chooses the Winning Design and the Designer gets paid the Set Payment.

Now the Payments are not Shabby… It’s not like getting a Logo designed for $5 from fiverr.com. Just as a quick guide – Logos are around the $100-500 range, Website templates are in excess of $1000. So if you are pretty handy with Graphics, see a Contest that interests you, you might win and earn a few dollars…

It seems an interesting way to get into doing commercial graphics if you are starting out.. Well it’s one of many options available to you.

If You are Someone in need of High Quality Graphics…

maybe for your New Business Website, Stationary etc, it seems a very good place to get your job done. Plus you get to work with the Designers and you have final say on what you’ll accept. For the Client, this works out much better than having to look for someone by making a bid at an Outsourcing Site where you have to Select One and hope for the best…

Anyway, It’s one of those sites I’ll be keeping in mind for any future projects or in the case where someone I know needs some work done, or if I know some Budding Graphic Designers…

If you have used this service, I’d love to hear from you about the experience you had with them ( Good Or Bad!)

Cheers

Tim

 

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/you-could-get-paid-for-your-graphic-designs/feed 0 InternetIncomeAcademy – Webhosting http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:19:48 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=441

I just had to try out the Web hosting that’s included in the InternetIncomeAcademy members area.

What I had to do.

Register a domain name – I already have a bunch of them gathering dust so I chose http://www.virtualabandon.com

  1. Change the Nameserver Settings as indicated in the IIA members area for the hosting.
  2. Entered in the domain name www.virtualabandon.com into the Hosts Text box and clicked on the “HOST” button.

The hosting account was created and new entry appeared in my website list.

Then all you do is…

  1. Click on the Login Button and you are taken straight to your Cpanel for that website. That’s a nice feature. No extra passwords to remember.
  2. Under Cpanel – Click on the Fantasitco Icon and select the installation of WordPress.
  3. Follow the instructions and before you know it, you’ve got a simple wordpress site installed.

Note: There is a more automated way available via the members area I haven’t tried yet. Umm yeah I still get stuck on doing things the old way. Actually I normally dont use Fantatisco but I did this time to avoid the FTP step.

All it takes now is to login with the details you provided during the fantastico WordPress installation and you can do what you can do with any WordPress website.

I’m not sure as to the number of sites you can have but keep this in mind. These sites will only remain while you are a member. Which isn’t a big deal as the same applies if you are hosting them through anyone.

There are videos to explain each and every step so you won’t get lost…

I’ve not yet tested out the “Website builder” that is provided. That’ll be next.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-webhosting/feed 0 InternetIncomeAcademy – A breath of fresh air! http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:45:41 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=429

Note: The prices stated in this post are for the 1st 500 Members as this is a new program. So you can lock in the special discount offer.

Now I could start out by saying – It’s only $1 for the 1st 7 Days then it’s only $27 USD per month from then on….. but that probably won’t grab your attention, although it should. Yes’ it’s cheap to try out and Yes it’s quite affordable as a Training system, but is it a good one?

Well I went ahead and spent my $1 to see what it is all about. I’m always looking for good training programs and having been a part of some and helped build one, I have to say this really did impress me and I’m still smiling.

Why?

Well the first thing that made me smile was, I was just about to click on the pay button and spend my $1 fearing I was going to be presented with a One Time Offer where you “Pay X more dollars and get this and get that….” What happened was a page came up explaining what an OTO ( One Time Offer ) is and how it can be used to help monetize your website and the explanation was impressive. As it’s a training membership they decided to have it as a lesson and Not a way to get more dollars out of you.

Then you get to the next page which talks about how they are going to do live classes on setting up a profitable website from scratch. “Oh no here comes an OTO” so I thought. But these guys are clever! Instead they throw about a few prices on how much it could cost you and state quite clearly that it’s for Free and included in the membership.

Now the fun begins

Most times when you land in one of these “Training Programs” members pages you sit back dazzled by everything that’s available. But fear not! There is a step by step guide to help get you started. One thing that stops people dead in their tracks is being swamped by “stuff” and not knowing what to do first.

One of the main benefits of this system is that it is very Community based. And you are guided on how to become involved in it. The Videos included in these steps are very clear although the 2nd one is rather long , over 42 minutes BUT it explains everything and is a must “View” if you are serious in using this system to it’s fullest.

You get shown how to put up your image on your profile so that others can find out about You. A Section for success stories. If you need help with a website, or want to call out to the other members to JV or whatever it is, you can do so via the Jobs Board. So if you have skills, you can advertise them. It’s all about helping each other out and getting paid.

If you are stuck on website building, which is a skill you might not have time to master, they have a Website Builder. And you are taught how to use that. Setting up a WordPress site is also taught.

OutSourcing can be scary

I’m actually very wary of outsourcing as I’ve had to “fix up” others sites / scripts freinds of mine have had done by outsourced services. Well you and I now have access to the same Website designing team as these guys use so at least you can have some confidence they’ll be good. It’s a nice option to have if you ever need it. I’m not sure of the pricing although from experience I know that you get what you pay for.

Webhosting Included!

Now I had to watch this part of the Video twice just to make sure I got this bit right. You enter in the domain you’ve just registered, click a button and Boom you are hosted. It’s all explained in the hosting section. Then you can login into that websites Cpanel and do all of the magic stuff. And this is part of the membership? It’s too cheap but it’s part of the membership. See I’m still reeling from just finding out about that. I have to check this out more….

Calendar and Todo Section

This is getting crazy! There is a section you can list your Tasks you need to do. Always a handy feature and again I’ve seen this service only available on systems costing a whole lot more…

I’ve not even got into the learning center yet.

Next Stop – Learn the Fundamentals

There is a section – as part of the initial steps – to go over and learn the Fundamentals. Something which we all love to skip But if you are serious at making an income online it is essential you learn the basics.

Then there is a whole bunch of  “Tutorials” and they are all available so you can look at it all. If you are new I’d recommend starting at the beginning. In fact it wouldn’t hurt to do that no matter what level you are at now. Repetition never hurt and you never know what little snippets you don’t know.

There is a Forum

Yep, every good website like this has a Forum. I personally hold Forums in high regard. In fact without Forums I’d not know what I know today. One bad thing about Forums is a lot of people have what I call – “Forum Fear”. Either because they are uncertain on how to use it and are afraid of “Stuffing up” or just don’t feel comfortable in asking a question in fear of others reacting in a “not nice” way. Or never getting an answer…

Don’t be scared of a Forum that is part of a a membership system like this. One of the things you can be assured of is that the other members are in the same boat. Those who do know the answers will give them and if anyone does act in a not so nice manner will be quickly dealt with.

No Question is a Dumb Question

Something I’ll say till the end of my days, and probably after that as well. As I teach “techy stuff” , it’s one thing I’m often reminding my students of… Never be scared to ask. There is nothing worse being stuck on something that someone else knows the answer to. Which is why I do what I do with my teaching as seeing others struggle on stuff I know drives me nuts and I’ll always try to get an answer to them. Which I can in IIA, in the forum!

Internet marketing is no different. A Dumb Question is a question not asked!

This is an Extremely well thought out Program.

What hasn’t it got? I come up with website ideas and can write PHP and design databases till I’m blue in the face, so I can really appreciate what’s been put together in InternetIncomeAcademy. If you don’t even do mildy well with the systems and the lessons provided only means you never spent anytime in going through the steps ( checklist ) and gone over the fundamentals.

I’ve just completed my profile and I’m about to make some entries in the blog you get as part of this system, so I’m off to get stuck into this.

$1 for 7 days….. I hope that now you’ll be prepared to drop your Dollar and check this out. Make sure you go through the Steps and complete each one… Which you can do in , oh about an hour I’d say… Not forgetting the 42 minute “this is an explanation of the world of IIA” Video. Yes I watched it all.

If I find out anything really good about this I’ll let you know.

If you’ve skimmed the rest of this post – see above – I already have!

This is Great Value

$1 Dollar for 7 Days to kick the tyres then only $27 USD per month afterwards (For the 1st 500 Members) . I mean , this has more in it than the other programs I am in and while I like those ( cause I’ve written about them ) I would seriously look at this and see if it’s a good fit for you.

This is another great way to get you out in front of others in a internet marketing community. Get the training, get the tools ( which has exceeded my expectations and leaves some of the others for dead ) and do what it is you’ve been wanting to do – Making Sales!!!!!!!!!!

Spend $1 Today and get cracking

Spend your $1 at InternetIncomeAcademy and get cracking.  You’ve got 7 days to cancel if you decide it’s not for you so you’ve got nothing to loose. (The sales page is a Video – make sure you watch it and you’ll see everything I’ve mentioned above. It is long but it’s time well spent)

I’d love to hear your comments about this so please feel free to comment.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/internetincomeacademy-a-breath-of-fresh-air/feed 1 Being stopped dead in your tracks – but still smiling! http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/being-stopped-dead-in-your-tracks-but-still-smiling http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/being-stopped-dead-in-your-tracks-but-still-smiling#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:28:02 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=374

[ If you read this and feel you are getting a bit  lost in the small technical Mumbo Jumbo sections - don't fret - There is a story in this...So keep reading ]

Well it’s certainly been an exciting Easter Break!

I had all the intentions of getting a huge chunk of my new website up and running but that sort of came unstuck.

The site is coded up to the point of accepting registrations and being able to edit/update your profile.

It is all working wonderfully well on my development box…

[Oh, I like to write my own projects for a bit of fun just in case you haven't caught on yet.]

But then…

I decided I’d throw it up on my webhosting and see how it flies and to show some folk my upcoming masterpiece.

So I did just that, I created my hosting account – changed the DNS settings and it instantly popped up on the webpage.  So things were looking grand.

But then…

I got that very sad error message that I didn’t have execute script permissions on my database!!!!

Just to enlighten you if you are sitting thinking….”What does executing things have to do with this…”.

Well all my database “stuff” is written as Stored Procedures, which means – the functions that talk to the database are actually a part of the database itself.  Not to worry if that’s confusing… It’s something I will be showing you later if you are interested…

Apart from it being a very useful programming feature,  it does give you some added security. In short, it’s how it should be done.

So getting back to my dismay when I saw that hosting company had it disabled!!!!!!!!!!! What The!!!!! I promptly contacted support and they said “Yes, you can’t”. Most helpful.

After asking Why, I promptly joined up with another hosting company. And it all worked like a treat!

But then…

After I had successfully registered, I decided I had better update my profile. That’s what the instructions suggested I do. But this was the part where some new technique was being used. And… well a bit of it didn’t work!

By the way, remember that the script works flawlessy on my system.

Going back a week in time!

I’m using a PHP Framework called Codeigniter which I quite like even if it does have a few shortcomings.  Hey nothing is perfect but it is good to know what those imperfections are and how to fix/cope with them…

I knew it wasn’t going to do what I wanted it to with returning multiple data sets from the stored procedure. Which in another language means – I ask the Database two questions and should get back two answers.

In it’s current state, CodeIgniter only liked to deal with one answer at a time.

So I modified it to work. How I did that was to go right back to basics and so I wrote an installation script to create a new table and stored procedures based upon what I was using. Then I created a number of sample php scripts so I had a known starting point. It all worked nicely…

From that I created the changes needed in CodeIgniter to make it all happy and it was. It uses the same function calls deep down in it’s database class…

Back to now.

So having encountered this “Database deafness” on the second question, I loaded my original test scripts up on the same hosting account using the same Database etc.

Guess What???

Everything Worked!

Head scratching time.

I contacted the new webhosting company explaining my dilemma and they asked to see some code to replicate the problem. Of course they would! So I created a new page up on the site explaining everything…

So why am I smiling?

I still don’t have it working, but I did end up creating a wonderful script that works like a little framework of it’s own allowing you to create your code snippets with an accompanying HMTL file with some blurb and it creates the webpage display the “instructions: then it shows the actual PHP Code cause it reads in the actual file and then it executes and displays the results.

Now that has major applications for so many things. It’s a great tool to use to demonstrate some of the finer points of PHP and how you can make it work for you. Actually some of it came from another script we are working on in our PHP Class. That was good timing!

So what started out as some rough knockup code only I could love and appreciate, turned into something anyone can read it and follow along all built with a nice modular system.

You can see the results…

The result of all that is viewable up on the new website. Well the site itself is still under construction..

It’s located at Demonstration of Stored Procedures using MySQLi

So I’ve now got a lovely way to demonstrate my code, allowing the world to see it. There is link at the bottom regarding the Forum I’ve posted on about this so the conversation can continue there.

I’m still stuck though.

Everything works except for the CodeIgniter script on the webhosting account, where it has to work!

It’ll be a simple problem but I have gone to all the trouble to “write it out” and see what falls out.  It’s just this time I would appreciate some other eyes to view the problem and see what they can see that I cannot! It does happen sometimes!

So while I got stopped dead in my tracks on what I wanted to do, I’ve actually created something nice and useful.

If you do want to see/hear how I made the script, just come along to one of my classes. I am meant to have the details up on the webatories.com site.  So I had best go and fix that bit up.

Webatories.com

There is a LOT planned for this website – so feel free to register and you’ll be kept notified on it’s progress.
http://www.webatories.com

[Update]

It’s fixed – The problem was I had made some changes to the members database table which were being installed with a separate SQL file through phpmyadmin. And guess what – I hadn’t run it in this particular installation.

Long story short – when the Stored procedure was attempting to read back the results from the members table it encountered an error due to the table missing some fields. But the error is “silent”.

The affect is it never returns anything… which is exactly what was happening. So there you go…. It was simple and writing it out finally led to the solution. Also a good rest helped as well.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/being-stopped-dead-in-your-tracks-but-still-smiling/feed 0 More on Problem Solving. http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/more-on-problem-solving http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/more-on-problem-solving#comments Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:45:53 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=360

This post has come about – again – due to being in the middle of  creating a brand new Website using CodeIgniter ( A PHP Framework) , MySQL and Stored Procedures.

Don’t worry about what they are, but what happened is I went out on a limb and started delving into Stored Procedures that return multiple DataSets. Something I’ve not had to deal with up till now. And a long story Short – CodeIgniter was a bit short on letting me do that. I like CodeIgniter and once you get your head around it, it does let you create your wonderful masterpiece of a Script without having to worry about all the housekeeping code.

Anyway, retrieving the multiple Datasets just wasn’t happening. A shortfall of CodeIgniter.

So I had a problem on my hands.

What did I do to solve it?

Simple, I opened up my trusty Open Office Writer – created a new document called – “Using MySQL Stored Procedures -A .odt” and started writing out the problem.

It’s very  important to actually State the problem. Then you can start writing out what isn’t happening. What you think should happen and you’ll eventually get somewhere. The reason being you are writing down what you need to do and you’ll be writing down what you have done… That’s where this works wonderfully well.

Yes, it takes a little bit longer to do than just blast away. But guess what! Taking your time actually helps. Plus you’ll more than likely create yourself a guide on the problem and how you solved it.

Any light bulbs going off yet? If you know of others who might be having the same problem….you’ve just written an Ebook about it, or the makings of one.

Actually with my particular problem, I noted that it would be beneficial to go back to basics and I documented everything… The PHP Code I created. That Database Tables, The Stored procedures. I even came up with a way to automatically install my Database from a Script loaded with all my SQL statements. That got included so I don’t forget….

So I got the main script working and tinkered till I got it right and wrote it all down.

Guess What?

I ended up discovering all the right ways to do what I wanted then I got into the guts of the CodeIgniter Framework and after a bit of headscratching I got it all working.

So now I have sample Scripts, The Ebook on what I did, and a working CodeIgniter Framework that has come up pretty swish ( which means Fantastic ). Now I can get back onto my project and keep going…

The whole point of this is to remember. When you have a problem. Write it out!!!!

I’ve still got a little tidying up of the Ebook before I unleash it upon the world. But for now – it’s a good guide for me for tomorrow. Hmm yes, that’s about how long my whatever that kind of memory is called… I forget..But at least I know where to find the info I’ve written down.

Find or create the problem, Solve it Once, Write it down Once and if it pops up again – you just re-read what you did last time. Absolutely Brilliant!

It does take some commitment to do this. But ask yourself, how important is it to you – to solve the problem you have.

If you do have any Techy Website or other kind of problems. Give me a shout. I’ll work it out – write it out and send you the result. I’ve done it before for others and I’ll do it again.

Are you thinking….”This is a great way to create Content”? You should be!

Ok well I had best get into documenting up the CI changes in another document…. That’s a bit too much for any poor soul to have to read through in the one book and it’s another problem.

Happy Problem Solving.

“If you aint having any problems with anything, you aint doing anything new OR you forgot how you solved it last time”

Till next time

Cheers

Tim Brownlaw… Now where did  I put those files………

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/more-on-problem-solving/feed 0 New FTC laws in force from Dec 1 2009 http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/new-ftc-laws-in-force-from-dec-1-2009 http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/new-ftc-laws-in-force-from-dec-1-2009#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:39:24 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=296

New FTC laws will be in force from Dec 1st 2009. Now I am not a legal eagle so this is my own personal summary of what I understand these new laws to be.

They are regarding the requirement to disclose any financial gain that will be made by any person making a product or service review/endorsement. In our case, on a website platform. Again, that’s my gist of the situation and I hope it’s close to the mark.

Is it Fair?

I think so…

For one thing, it gives the “would be purchaser” something to ponder before splashing their cash on something based upon someones recommendation. ie If this person is going to make a commission from this review, is it the truth or are they just wanting to make a quick buck?

Personally, I only review things I would and do use myself. It’s only those things that are worthy of the words I spend time writing about it. I do know there are those who will write anything to make a quick buck. Well I’ve got my name and contact details out in front here, so if I’m giving glowing reviews on anything that is going to end up with someone making a purchase and being pissed off… then I aint going to be very popular. And I don’t like pissing anyone off. It’s just bad business. I’ve also been at the other end, having had both good and bad experiences.

So again, these new laws will help increase the protection of the buyer, by having any reviewer give a really honest review, dirt and all, so the potential buyer can make an informed purchase.

Well that’s the idea anyway, as to whether some dishonest people find a way to work this to their favor, only time will tell.

As long as the FTC doesn’t go too crazy and start turning peoples worlds upside down unfairly…. The word’s still getting out guys and we’re doing our best!

Who does this affect?

Anyone that has a website, blog etc that talks about other peoples stuff and has an affiliate link. So if you have an affiliate link, you stand to make a commission and you need to have this stated on your website to that effect. That’s in my own simple terms… Remember I’m not able to give legal advice and this is just my own opinion.

What can you do to implement this?

I did find this website…http://disclosurepolicy.org ( I will not make any financial gain if you click on that link and use the service! After all its FREE! )

While it’s probably a good start and better than nothing, I can’t say for sure that this will “please” the FTC but hey, we are trying!

Now how do I put this on a WordPress Site.

This is something I’m a little more qualified to talk about. But I must state that there will be other, maybe better, ways to do this. ( I love disclaimers too).

So I’ve already gone to http://disclosurepolicy.org and checked the boxes and answered the questions and generated the resulting disclosure statements…Now I have to  put it somewhere! Well that’s what you are wanting to know.. where do you put it?

I created a New Page, ( not a post ) but a New Page. Called it disclaimer – all lower case – and saved the generated text in it…

Beware of having Your Email Addresses on Your Websites!

One thing and this is a major peeve I have with Email Addresses on anything out there that can be scanned by the “aholes that use our emails addresses for evil“. Never Ever have your email address written in it’s natural form. Now at the site http://disclosurepolicy.org, you will be asked to enter your address to add into the disclosure statement. This is solely up to you, but personally, I put mine in BUT I altered it a wee bit…

Never put your HTML Email Address on Your Site

Here’s what you DONT DO – Never Write your email address in it’s Pure HTML Form.

For Example ( and I hope this is a really bogus email address… ) thorax1099@theweebitinthemiddleofinsects1099.com

That’s a No No! You could use thorax1099 ‘AT’ theweebitinthemiddleofinsects1099 ‘DOT’ com with a note ( replace the words in ” with their symbols ). For one thing, this kind of email address has to be typed in… If it’s read ( scanned ) the “aholes that use our emails addresses for evil” software has to do some work… I’m not saying that their software does or doesn’t but it if it hinders them, I’m all for it…

There is way number 2 which looks more appealing. In the actual HTML – you can replace the ‘@’ with the characters ;#064 so you’d write thorax1099;#064theweebitinthemiddleofinsects1099.com

There are also javascript type solutions, but if your visitor has javascript disabled, well it’s not going to show up correctly at all!

I’ll just step off my High Horse on email addresses…..

Next…

Ok, so we have our disclosure statement, we’ve put it in a new page called disclosure ( you can call it what you like but I’m guessing it’s more search engine friendly ) and what about Where will this page live… Well I made my about me page the “parent” to the disclosure page. For no real reason but to tie it to something… I’m also going to be adding a “privacy” and “terms and conditions” pages as well. So they’ll be hanging off the about me page…. Which means – the “about me” page is the Parent. You’ll see this in your WordPress Admin area when you create this new disclosure page.

I Want it in the Footer!

Well it’s where all this kind of stuff should live! Isn’t it? Now this involves a bit of “tinkering” with your worpdress files. While not for the feint hearted, hopefully I’ll explain this well enough that you won’t be too scared to attempt this if you are a bit hesitant to start altering things… Hey, this was made for changing…So let’s change it…

Now this depends upon the theme you are using ( I’ll write more on the details later, I’m thinking a video is required… Have you joined my news letter yet? ) Most Themes have a footer.php file. You can access this in your WordPress Admin section and if you go to…

Appearance -> Edit  and select the footer.php file. ( yep this needs some pictures at least <insert images here…> ) and I added in this line…

Now my Footer looks like this….

<div id="footer">
<?php wp_footer();?>
</div><!-- footer -->
<div style="clear:both;"></div>
<div><p>Copyright &copy; 2009 <a href="<?php bloginfo("url"); ?>"><?php bloginfo("title");?> </a>| Powered by <a href="http://www.wordpress.org">Wordpress</a> | Designed by <a href="http://www.bingowebdesign.info">Bingo</a> - The Web Design Experts</p>
</div>

and I added in this line…

<br /><a href="<?php $page = get_page_by_path('/about/disclosure');echo $page->URL?>" title="disclosure">Disclosure</a>

For some reason the above wasn’t working….So to keep it simple (KISS)

<br /><a href="/blog/about/disclosure" title="disclosure">Disclosure</a>

Which I’m showing in the next section in Bold, so you can see where I placed it.

<div id="footer">
<?php wp_footer();?>
</div><!-- footer -->
<div style="clear:both;"></div>
<div><p>Copyright &copy; 2009 <a href="<?php bloginfo("url"); ?>"><?php bloginfo("title");?> </a>| Powered by <a href="http://www.wordpress.org">Wordpress</a> | Designed by <a href="http://www.bingowebdesign.info">Bingo</a> - The Web Design Experts</p>

<br /><a href="/blog/about/disclosure" title="disclosure">Disclosure</a>

<br /><a href="<?php $page = get_page_by_path('/about/disclosure');echo $page->URL?>" title="disclosure">Disclosure</a>
</div>

The WordPress Function get_page_by_path(‘/about/disclosure’) gives us the advantage of not needing to know anything more than where the pages lives. Remembering that I created the disclosure page with the about page being the parent. So there is no need to worry about the websites URL and under what path the blog is located. On this site, wordpress is installed under http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog and I don’t need to worry about that as the function get’s than information internally when wordpress was installed.

I’ve had to put in the path msyelf. Now my wordpress installation hangs of the folder called blog ( yours might be different.) It may even be straight from the public_html folder in which case you will only need “/about/disclosure”.

Try it and see. It’ll get you going.

Just note that the disclosure page will be a menu item under your about page menu item if you have that functionality on your menus. That’s not a bad thing! We had set the about page to be the parent to the disclosure page. You can use the very same methods to add in any other pages you wish… for example a “privacy” and “terms and conditions” page. I would recommend you name the “terms and conditions page” with hyphens between the words – never use spaces ( although WordPress will fix it if you do use spaces ) . So you’ll end up with terms-and-condtions.

If you have any questions or it’s just not clear, please leave a comment!

See the result!

And don’t forget to Check out my Disclosure page – see the link at the end of the page…..

[UPDATE] – Here is something I’ve seen on some sites that sits bold and proud at the end of every page…

Disclosure Note: We are affiliates of the products discussed on this website and we will earn a commission if you proceed to purchase via the links on this website.

All results posted here are ‘not typical’ and does not reflect that you will achieve the same results. This is because we cannot control how you use the information.

All opinions on this website are our own and not influenced by anyone else. The products (mostly) reviewed are complimentary from the merchants.

We hope you’ll enjoy your stay and we look forward to continue to bring you the best and unbiased reviews

[This hasn't been fully proof read yet - it's more important to get the message out there than worry about getting bad marks for Grammer and Spelling..But it will get fixed up...]

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/new-ftc-laws-in-force-from-dec-1-2009/feed 3 Multi Profit Websites – are they all they promise? http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/multi-profit-websites-are-they-all-they-all-they-promise http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/multi-profit-websites-are-they-all-they-all-they-promise#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:18:38 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=206

And the promise is that they will allow you to create a website in a matter of 20 minutes with Adsense, Clickbank and a number of other ways to monetize your website.

To read more about this amazing system click here

This program is being closed off to the public in the next few days. And it will be. I’ve seen them do it before.

But it “may” be re-opened at a later date. If it’s successful in all its claims then it will make a reappearance but I’m sure the price will be higher.

Now would be the time to get in on the low “LifeTime” purchase price.

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]]> http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/multi-profit-websites-are-they-all-they-all-they-promise/feed 3 Not to forget this website. http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/not-to-forget-this-website http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/not-to-forget-this-website#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:17:28 +0000 Tim Brownlaw http://www.timbrownlaw.com/blog/?p=145

It’s funny how things come up. You’ll get sick of me writing that repeatidly on this site, but it’s true!

Now I’ve got a mate that is totally in love with his Iphone. It’s so bad in fact thatwe started calling him an Iwanker.

Hmm IWankers.com was a suggested website name. Somewhere where he can go crazy about his Iphone stuff ( when he gets time. ) Just visited the site. Add to my ToDO list… Fix his Template as well.

Gee it never ends :)

[Update] My Son Matt just got a new Ipod Touch for his Birthday. Now these things are just like an Iphone without the Phone part. I certainly love the interface on these things. But now, it seems he’s become an iWanker

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