Last November I asked if you backed up your important data. I was having trouble with Windows and did a clean reinstall – I didn’t have too much down time because I have a backup plan for my important files and it was basically a matter of copying them over.

I also backup my websites and client sites. As I was reviewing my client files, I discovered that not only is it important to back up files regularly but that I should also review the data and get rid of files that I no longer need.

If I did work from someone one time three years ago and have never heard from that person again, I think I’m safe to delete the files. I suppose it’s possible, but I’ve never been asked for three year old backup. ;-)

I also had monthly backups for regular clients going back years. I would say a year is probably plenty for backups.

I also have cover letters I wrote for job applications from 1998! I’m pretty sure I don’t need that anymore either ;-)

It’s odd that I’m a bit of packrat with my computer files because I’m not like that in real life. If I haven’t used something in a year, I figure I don’t need it and I give if it away.

Does anyone else remember having a hard drive with 1GB-3GB of space? I had to be more careful with files then because one of the first issues I would run into with my computer was running out of disk space. Now, with such huge hard drives it’s possible to store so much and not have to worry about the amount of space it’s taking.

I’ve decided, however, to review and remove old files on a yearly basis. It becomes unnecessary to hold on to so many files that are never going to be needed.

How about you? Do you weed out old files on your computer? Or do you ignore them the way that I was until recently?

photo credit: garryknight

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Cleaning Up Old Backups (and other files)

I can not stress how important it is to make regular backups of the important data on your computer. I backup certain files almost daily and have been doing this for years. I was lucky in that I started this practice a couple of months before a hard drive completely died.

I didn’t have any hardware failures recently but was having software problems (Windows). Earlier this week I got fed up and decided to reinstall Windows and restore from a disk image. And I didn’t have to really worry too much because I knew my external drive had all of the data that I wanted to keep – actually it probably has more than I need and I should clean it up.

If I hadn’t had the backup or if the problem had become worse and I hadn’t been able to use my computer, this would have been a much more serious issue that took up a lot more than an evening to deal with. Although, I should admit that I have old computers and parts that I keep around for emergencies since my livelihood depends on a working computer. Still, I work best on my current desktop.

And I’m so happy that I did the reinstall – more computer is super fast again and it seems like it’s new.

Do you backup regularly? If not, you should. And, if you do, what do you use? I use an external hard drive and have a script that backups certain directories.

If you are feel like it, you can take the poll.

photo credit: 4nitsirk

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Do You Backup the Important Data on Your Computer

I am frequently asked for recommendations for web hosting, newsletter services and premium themes.

I decided to make a list of services that I use or have used for my clients that I especially like and post them here. I also have a permanent page called recommendations.

The Services

Hosting

Hostgator is one of my favorite web hosts for shared hosting and I’ve been really pleased with their customer support. They also have great prices and hosting starts at $3.96/month.

I’ve also worked on a number of sites hosted by Media Temple. Their grid service starts at $20/month. I’ve also been pleased with their support when I’ve had questions.

I also really like Bluehost’s shared hosting. I don’t use them for any of my sites but quite a few of my clients do and are happy with them. Hosting starts at $3.95/month.

Security

Sucuri is one of my favorite services. They remove malware when your site has been hacked, monitor your site for any unauthorized changes, and notify you immediately when any of these things happen. After removing malware Sucuri provides recommendations for securing your site and notifies google if your site has been flagged as a malacious site. They will remove malware as many times as necessary but hopefully they will only need to do this once. They remove malware quickly and say they will do it within 4 hours during the work week. I have found that they usually do it in less time, even on the weekend. A yearly plan for one site is $89.99. They also have plans for 10 and 30 sites. I highly recommend this service and wrote a post about it recently.

Premium WordPress Themes

StudioPress makes the Genesis Framework and a number of child themes. They are highly customizable and include great widgets that make creating a unique layout much easier. If you can swing it, the Pro Plus All Theme Package is a great deal. For $299.95 you get the framework and all child themes, support, and any future themes that are released. This saves over $800! The All Pro Plus package, however, does not include any themes from the StudioPress marketplace.

Elegant Themes is a membership site where you get all of the themes and support for one low price. Currently, there are over 6o themes and the annual fee is $39. In addition to a great design and layout each theme comes with an epanel to set theme options, a shortcode collection, and updates.

Templatic has a number of great themes for all types of sites; real estate, e-commerce, magazines and multimedia. Recently I featured their responsive theme. Each theme can be purchased separately for $65 or you can become a member and get access to all themes for $299 and $15/month. Templatic also has great customer support.

WooThemes also has a number of great premium WordPress themes for all types of sites. They offer sales on individual themes, a 3 for 2 special, and have a theme club, which provides access to all themes. The standard package includes 3 themes for $70 and the membership starts at $125 and $15/month.

Accounting Software

Outright is online software for small business accounting. I’ve been using it since early last year and I love it. Most of my billing is done through Paypal and all of my Paypal data is pulled in. I can also track all business related expenses, which makes doing my quarterly and annual taxes so much easier. You can also integrate Outright with your business bank account. Their customer support is also excellent. They respond via their help desk as well as on Facebook and Twitter. You can get a free month when you first sign up and if you want to continue using the service it is $9.95/month. Outright and Sucuri are two of my absolute favorite services

Newsletters

Constant Contact is an easy to use service for newsletter and email marketing. And you can try it for free for 60 days! Pricing starts at $15/month for unlimited emails and can include 500 email addresses. Prices depend on the number of people on your subscriber list.

MailChimp is another newsletter and email marketing service that I highly recommend. While I don’t find it as easy to use as Constant Contact it does have a free plan that includes up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.

Books

Digging Into WordPress is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced WordPress users. The print version is a lot more expensive than the pdf version but with the print version you get a copy of the pdf, all included themes and lifetime updates. The print version is $75 and the pdf is $27.

For beginning to intermediate WordPress users, I recommend WordPress for Dummies. It’s a great resource for getting started with WordPress and removes a lot of the initial confusing that some users might have.

How about you? Do you have any services that you love or can’t live without that you would add to this list?

This post contains affiliate links.

photo credit: rt48state

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

WordPress Themes, Hosting, Newsletter, and Security Services That I Recommend

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Facebook’s new SSL requirement and services that you could use to manage that.

I recently discovered that one of my favorite hosts, Hostgator, offers free SSL certificates, even on shared hosting.

Here’s how you can set this up. Of course, you must be hosting with Hostgator.

Instructions

1. First you need to know what server your site is on. This information is in the welcome email you received when you first signed up with hostgator. It is also available in your cpanel along the left side under Account Information. It should look like have gator and then three numbers – gatorxxx.
2. Replace gator with the word secure so you will have secure+the three numbers – securexxx
3. So, the first part of the SSL address with be https://securexxx.hostgator.com
4. You will then need to add your username in this format – /~username/
5. You will know have the following – https://securexxx.hostgator.com/~username/
6. If you Facebook page or other content that you need to deliver securely is in a subdirectory you will need to add that to the URL – for example, https://securexxx.hostgator.com/~username/facebook/

That’s all there is to it if you are using hostgator’s shared hosting – you don’t need to sign up for anything extra and you can use that same URL format any time you need to use SSL.

As an aside does anyone remember playing on the merry-go-rounds shown in the photo at the top of the article? I do but I haven’t seen one in a long time. I guess they are now considered too dangerous but they sure were fun!

This post contains affiliate links

photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

How to Set Up Free Shared SSL with Hostgator

Frequently, I finish up a task and discover that I only have 10-15 minutes until I have to go pick up my daughter or until my next phone call. And I often find that I end up mindlessly sitting at my desk clicking around at nothing and I feel like I wasted the time.

So, I started thinking about what I could do with that 10 minutes and came up with the following list.

The List

1. Clean the litter box. This only applies if you have indoor cats. If you don’t, you are welcome to come clean out mine.
2. Check Facebook and leave super witty and clever comments. If you are lucky, people will “like” them. ;-)
3. Reply to comments on your blog
4. Unsubscribe from newsletters that you no longer read rather than just deleting them.
5. Leave a comment on someone’s blog post.
6. Check twitter and retweet some of your followers.
7. Answer a couple of quick emails. (if you have such a thing).
8. Start a load of laundry, fold some clothes, empty the dishwasher.
9. Find the perfect image for your next blog post.
10. And as my friend Pat suggested, sit and do nothing.

How about you? What do you do with 10 leftover minutes?

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

10 Things to Do With 10 Minutes

I’m not a very crafty person – arts and crafts and even baking really aren’t my thing. But I try to come up with ideas for my daughter. When she likes an idea I get the supplies and supervise but let her create it however she wants.

For a pre-Halloween treat we made cemetery brownies.

This was a pan of brownies decorated with frosting and candy. We made a fence out of candycorn, which I have to admit I can’t stand, gravestones from peppermint patties, and found marshmallow ghosts and pumpkins at the drugstore. I guess they are like the Halloween version of Peeps.

And here is what we came up with.

Now, I could say that it’s a little sloppy because an 8 year old decorated it but honestly, it wouldn’t look any better if I had done it. ;-) Oh and the red pieces are licorice which Alex said were bloody zombie arms. How sweet ;-)

We each had piece after dinner and it was super fun and yummy. We both got wound up from the sugar and then about 30 minutes later we were both really cranky. It was kind of funny in an annoying way.

Have you been doing any fun Halloween projects?

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Halloween Fun: Cemetery Brownies

I get a lot of emails from existing clients, previous clients, or potential clients with the subject line “Quick Question”. And I have to say that I tend to view these emails negatively.

The word quick implies that the answer is so simple and so effortless that it will somehow take no time for me to answer it and therefore I should not be billing for the time spent answering it.

But, rarely is a quick question something that takes little time.

The following are the steps involved in responding to the question:

1. Reading the email.
2. 50% of the emails require extra time reading them in order to decipher what the individual is actually asking. Deciphering time can take much longer than answering time.
3. Formulating a response.
4. Using google to research the question, if I don’t have the answer immediately stored in my brain. That is when “let me google that for you” comes in especially handy. http://tinyurl.com/ddm8nt
5. Typing the email.
6. Hoping another question doesn’t come because my carefully crafted response was not understood.

Each one of these is going to take 10-15 minutes. If I answer 4 of these each day, I’ve lost a billable hour. Is your question really so simple or is my time and expertise not valuable enough to pay for? Because I’ve worked for you once at some time in the past am I now an unlimited supply of free information?

Along the same lines are questions about logins, invoices, etc. Frequently I feel like I’m being asked for this information again because the individual thinks it’s easier to ask me rather than search through their emails. Now we all delete emails that we probably needed to keep but it can get tiresome when you know you are being asked for the information rather than the other person bothering to look it up.

And don’t even get me started about quick question responses that don’t even receive a thank you …

Don’t get me wrong. I am happy to answer questions. I ask questions too. I don’t, however, expect an immediate response or even any response, I don’t email the person directly when it’s related to a blog post and I can leave a comment, I don’t leave a voice mail 10 mins after sending the inquiry, and I don’t use Quick Question in the subject lines of my emails. And I don’t ask the same person question after question just because I paid him $100 a year ago.

Does this happen to you? How do you handle “quick questions”?

Maybe we should say “here’s your quick answer and I’ve attached a quick invoice”. ;-)

photo credit: Travelin’ Librarian

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

“Just a Quick Question”

How quickly we can change our minds. Last Spring I left a comment on the article, Why I Refuse to Own a Smartphone, stating that I totally agreed, that I didn’t have one and that I didn’t want one.

Fast foward four months and now I have an LG Ally with Android on it. (no iPhone for me but that’s a another discussion for a different day – let’s just say I prefer open source to super proprietary. I even refuse to use iTunes.)

There are a couple of reasons why I did this.

Reasons

1. Free – I use Verizon and they have the new every two years for phones with a contract renewal. I don’t always get a new phone right away but the one I got was free. Free is good. I thought that having a smartphone would end up making my phone bill higher because I would also need the data plan but I was able to shuffle things around a bit and am actually paying a little less now than I was before. So, free phone with a cheaper monthly bill. I know this is far from the best Android phone out there but I’ve been happy with LG and I really like the keyboard on it (I’m not so good with the touchscreen). There were two other Android phones that I liked more and had better reviews but they were not free. This is sort of like Android or Smartphone lite.
2. Curiousity – I’ve been curious about Android and have wanted to use it. I really like gadgets but rarely NEED then so I don’t bother spending the money. And most of my friends and family are less into gadgets then I am so I don’t usually have the opportunity to play with other people’s. I love/hate Google but I do use a lot of their products so using Android makes sense.
3. Open Source – I’m a big fan of open source software. I do use Windows but other than that all of my software is open source or at least free. I used to dual boot between Linux and Windows and only use Windows for games but I haven’t set that up again since the last time I had computer problems. But software choices; Open Office instead of Microsoft Office, VLC instread of Windows Media Player, etc.

Resources

Anyway … having no real experience with smartphones or Android I was a little miffed that the phone came with a tips guide but no real manual. I’ve been looking for the best online resources and decided to share what I have found.

1. The Complete Android Guide – this was written by Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker. The online wiki version is free. You can also purchase a pdf or hardcopy of this material. Some of it is basic but in the first few chapters I learned a lot that made me more adept with the phone. I also learned things that I knew nothing about, such as I can use wifi for data transfer rather than Verizon’s network when there is an available access point. Much faster and it doesn’t eat up your data plan if you don’t have unlimited.
2. Android Forums – A lot of my searches have brought me to this site. Seems to be a great resource for having specific questions answered or problems solved.
3. Beginner’s Guide to Android by Androinica – This site devoted to all things Android has gathered their tips and articles for beginners in one handy location.
4. Android Central Tips and Tricks – useful list of resources for figuring out how to do things with Android

Always Connected

I still don’t need or want to be always connected but I am finding the phone fun to play with and it does make some things easier. For example, after dropping my daughter off at school I can stop at the cafe for a coffee and go through my email without having to lug around my laptop or feel like I need to rush straight home and get to work. So far, rather than making me feel like I’m always available, it has made me feel a little bit more free.

Do you have a smartphone? Are you lost without it? What kind do you use? Do you like it?

photo credit: astanush

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

4 Resources for Getting Started With Android

Happy Memorial Day in the US. It’s nice to have a three day weekend and Memorial Day is the unofficial start of Summer.

Of course, it’s also a commemoration for soldiers who have died while in service but I wonder how many people even thing about that when planning their barbecues?

I’ve decided to celebrate the holiday with some patriotism done up Muppet Style.

photo credit: Don Sullivan

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Happy Muppet Memorial Day

Remember when every other site was on Geocities? And remember how ugly all of the sites were?

Now it’s possible to bring back the glory days (1998) and make your current site look like a Geocities one.

Here’s what this site looks like. Lovely.

Of course, a screenshot doesn’t do it justice. You can’t see the animated gifs or hear the auto-playing background music.

You can create your own at Geocitiesizer

And if your current site looks like one of these, it might be time to consider a redesign.

Have fun!

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Make Your Site Look Like Geocities: Geocities-izer