We know everything, don’t we – those of us who have been in this game for years – then you discover you don’t.  Sometimes that discovery makes you feel a fool, sometimes it gives you great joy – that was what happened to me today.   Most people probably know about this – but I didn’t, my delight may be tempered by a slight feeling of foolishness when I discover that everyone did know about it.   It was also a useful lesson in not assuming anything.

Gathering information is one of the things we have to do on a daily basis, we have to be ‘all over’ our chosen market.  You need information that is current as well, or your market will leave you behind.  One of the best ways to get current information is Twitter, love it or loathe it, that is where the chatter is.  Gathering that information is made easier by Twitter search and there are more twitter apps out there than you could shake a stick at to help you but today I discovered a way to make it even easier.

I use Google Reader for so many things, it is one of my favourite tools, in fact I would pay good money for it.  Whenever I start a project for myself, or a client, one of the first things I do is set up all the search terms, feeds etc in Google Reader so the information is at my finger tips.  I have used it for years.  I know they have been making changes and doing a few things with it but I had grown complacent and stopped investigating it – it was like a  comfy pair of slippers that I put on whenever I sat down with a cup of tea.  I was setting up a new series of searches and went to ‘Browse for Stuff’ to set up some keyword searches  to be greeted by rather more options than I remembered.  Being unbearably curious I had to investigate them all and came upon an option to add a twitter search on the keywords of my choice to my feeds.  Fabulous!  Now I can have all the info I want in the one place I like to have it -  and that wasn’t the only thing I found but more of that in another post (or two!).

To set up the Twitter Search feeds is simple – open your google reader and click on ‘Browse for stuff’

Next click on Search – you can come back to the other things later – staying focussed here is essential – I lost hours of my life!

Finally, go down to the bottom section, enter your keyword and click on the drop down box to select ‘Twitter Search’ – or any/all of the other options

There are lots of other options on the page as well – and I shall be visiting ‘Bundles’ in a future post.

If you already knew about it – you could have told me – and if you didn’t – enjoy and tell all your friends where to come and find out about it!

Twitter Search Via Google Reader is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Twitter Search Via Google Reader is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

I did a stupid thing yesterday.  I didn’t practice what I preach.  What did I do?  Very, very foolishly I edited a file on one of my sites on the server.  How stupid is that?  I have lost count of the number of times I have railed at people for being so silly and then I go and do it myself.  It is one of the stupidest things to do and I paid the price as I was greeted with a completely blank  screen.  Couldn’t get into the backend, site disappeared.  Phrases like ‘Oh flip’ and ‘Botheration’ passed my lips.

Fortunately one of my other obsessive behaviours came to my rescue.  I back up.  I back up obsessively.  Everyone laughs at me.  I have backups of my backups, in fact I might even have backups of my backups of my backups if I think about it carefully enough.  It is a good habit but one that is sadly neglected by so many people.  I have lost count of the number of times I have been contacted by people who need their site resurrected and when I ask them about backups there is a deathly silence.

It is easy enough to do.  It takes but a moment.  There are umpteen proprietary packages that will do it for you.  You can do via your cpanel.  There are numerous wordpress plugins that will back up your database but that is not enough, you should back up your whole site. It should be part of your weekly routine, more often if you make any major changes to your site.  I keep several versions back of my sites – usually the last month. Store a copy of the files on a remote hard drive or somewhere away from your machines and your servers just in case.  Storage is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of losing everything.

If you want a step by step tutorial on how to back up your website files using an ftp program such as FileZilla visit Dave Wilkinson’s site, he has an excellent step by step tutorial here not to mention a number of other useful posts.

Because of my obsession with backing up, my site was up and running again fairly quickly but it was a salutary warning.  Think of the impact on your business if you lost one of your main sites and had no means of getting it back – it is a situation that a surprising number of people would find themselves in.

Final thought – never, ever, ever fiddle with files on the server….

Image courtesy of www.photoxpress.com


Practice What You Preach is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Practice What You Preach is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Traffic is the biggest issue for any webmaster  – how to get it, how to keep it, how to increase it and any other relevant ‘how to’ you can think of.  As more and more ways of digesting information on the internet are presented to people, keeping up with them becomes more and more of an issue.  It is essential that you do – nothing puts off a user faster than not being able to access their favourite site on their newest gizmo.  You are also losing a potential market.

The web is going mobile and consequently we have to take our sites mobile too, turning your blog into an iPad app can be very expensive, the enquiries I made gave me cause to wince!  Then I came across PadPressed, a plugin for WordPress that effectively turns your blog into a native app, without all the hoo hah of development and going through the App Store approval process.  When your site is accessed from the iPad it is presented in a very nice format – posts are two columns in the vertical, three in the horizontal and with all the things you would expect from an app.  The home page has two side bars into which you can drop widgets as you normally would.

Built in social sharing, swipe featured slider,  custom home icon, featured category slider, swipe to advance, touch navigation and so on are all there, though I would suggest you upload your own icons – I still have that small job to do.  When your reader bookmarks the site, a nice little icon drops onto the screen for direct access and fits in perfectly with the usual app icon, even down to the highlight.  Uploading your own logo is simple enough too.   In fact, it gave me a little glow of pride when I saw my logo sitting there on my iPad screen – simple things please me immensely!

There are a number of  ‘Themes’ that you can choose from and I understand that there are plans in the pipeline for more and also for further development.

There were a few issues when it first hit the streets last week but credit to the support team, they got it sorted quickly and the support forum is well monitored so problems get picked up and sorted.  Installation was simple and it only took a few minutes to sort out.  I still have to do some fine tuning in terms of what I want in the sidebars and icons for the main categories but you could be good to go on the iPad in less than ten minutes.  You do need to think a little bit about post formatting and images but nothing too onerous, just common sense really.

It is a paid plugin – $49.99 – but compared to the cost of developing an app that is peanuts.  I’m delighted with it and will be rolling it out on a number of mine and my clients sites over the next few weeks.  Combined with WPTouch for the iPhone etc – free or relatively inexpensive for the pro version – you can have your site mobile in minutes which has got to be good.  You can get further details here > PadPressed

In the meantime – a short video demo for your delight

PS – Yes it is an affiliate link…  that doesn’t mean you pay any  extra.

Make Your Site Native – PadPressed is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Make Your Site Native – PadPressed is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

I started to write a blog post about the thinking I have been doing this week relating to my online business.  Three sides of A4 later I realised I was rambling and going nowhere.  Given the topic, this was not good.

I turned to my iPad for a mental break.  It stopped me dead in my tracks.  The iPad has a feature I love.  You can only do one thing at a time.  For a serial multi-tasker like me that is refreshing, it’s like taking a rest.  It brought my rambling to a halt and crystallised my thinking.

The most important skill for anyone working online is the ability to focus.  If you focus on your objective and move steadily towards it, you will succeed.  By focusing on each activity, investing time and energy only in those which take you forward you will succeed more quickly.

If you allow yourself to be sidetracked, to dabble in this, try that shiny new toy or worst of all, administrate and plan  yourself to the point of inertia, you will not succeed.  You will finish nothing and get nowhere.

The Most Important Skill is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

The Most Important Skill is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Everyone knows it, I admit it freely – I am besotted by my iPad. I don’t care what anyone else says, I love it and today there is a reason to love it even more. The blessing and curse of life today is Social Media, it is an essential for anyone working online, and for a lot of people it is their social lifeline and, let’s face it, part of everyday life for many people these days. That said, timelines are not the easiest things in the world to read and you have to click on the links and chase down the conversations and…and and.. it can be the biggest time suck ever.

Then along come something like Flipboard which just turns the whole experience upside down, inside out and makes it an absolute joy. Suddenly my Facebook and Twitter feeds take on a life of their own. Flipboard turns them into a magazine style presentation. The link content shows up and so do all those fabulous pictures people share. I can access the conversation on that item direct, join in or move on as the mood (or whim!) takes me. Fantastic!

I can have my Twitter lists as sections, I can pick up various ‘presets’ or curated content that meets my needs and helps me follow the things I need to in a beautifully presented and easily digested format. This is the mobile web coming into it’s own, feeding us the information we want, when we want and where we want. At the risk of overusing the word – fantastic!

Flipboard has been struggling a little today as the entire iPad owning universe signs up and starts to read, if you are having a problem stick with it, trust me – it is worth it. Whilst you wait just watch the video below that tells you all about it.

Dare I say it to those who haven’t decided to take the iPad plunge – this is one damned fine reason to go get one!

PS:- It’s Free……

FlipBoard – The Best iPad App? is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

FlipBoard – The Best iPad App? is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

I came across this today in my web wanderings and I have to say it is well worth taking a little while to study….

The site it came from is worth a visit too. Just click on the image to be taken through to a larger version.

Infographic by PPC Blog

A Different Google Doodle is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

A Different Google Doodle is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

In the beginning…. is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

In the beginning…. is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Need I say more!

Got to go try it out now!

It’s Here is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

It’s Here is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

This is an experiment, given the many I have conducted over the past couple of weeks, I expect it to be a success – unless I do something stupid. I keep trying to blame the technology when something goes wrong, but I generally find it is operator error, in other words, I have done something stupid.

I think the entire planet is aware that I have an iPad by now. I love it. It has fulfilled all my expectations and more. Even typing on the on-screen keyboard has not been an issue, which I thought it might for someone who can type properly. I have worked in the car on long journeys, in offices with little or no Internet access, in Restaurants and shops so far out ‘in the sticks’ that there weren’t any sticks, all without a hitch. I should say that I have played a lot too…

I am gradually integrating it into my work practices, so far with no problems. Apps such as Keynote, iTeleport and Taska are becoming firm favourites. This experiment is using BlogPress to see just how easy it is. Some have not been so successful but again, I am erring on the side of operator error at the moment before I make damning judgements.

One absolute joy for me is that I no longer have to cart laptop, cables, pads, pens and half an office with me when I go anywhere, just drop the IPad in the Handbag and off I go. Of course it is the perfect excuse for new handbags as well, need one big enough to hold it, shopping expedition coming on – even more joy!

I shall post my progress with using it for work, not quite as brave as Paul Colligan, using just the iPad for a month yet, but I can see how it could be done.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Testing My iPad is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Testing My iPad is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Many of you know that for a long time I have been a member of The Marketing Mavens, a group of wonderful people who work (and sometimes live) on the internet.  There is a huge pool of talent, skills and resources which, until now, has remained largely  hidden from the rest of  you.  All that is going to change. Those skills and talents will soon be available to a far wider audience.  It’s early days yet, and the wrapping is still on but it is time to lift the corner of the curtain so you can have a peek.

We are undergoing something of a metamorphosis and will become The Business Solutions Network. Our first offering is under construction on the slipway and will soon be launched… (drum roll here) Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present BusinessMarketingAnswers.com

Business Marketing Answers is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings

Business Marketing Answers is a post from: flaminglacers mutterings