Will Stopping Overseas Online Gambling Payments Impact Bloggers?

There is a lot of news out today about the new US legislation passed to help end Internet Gambling within the US border. According to stock market reports, the international gaming companies are losing money as their share prices drop after the announcement that the US House of Representatives and Senate approved a bill this […]

Putting a Stop to Junk and Jokes in Your Email Inbox

Between email, forums, chats, and all the other methods of communication available today, we are inundated with words. Okay, I’m inundated. Overwhelmed. Frustrated. Over 10 years ago when just enough people were online and had email, the need to spread jokes and idiot babble via email started. Eventually, email spam got into the act. At […]

Money Back From the IRS? US Government to Stop Collecting Long-Distance Telephone Tax

According to a new press release from the IRS, US Government to Stop Collecting Long-Distance Telephone Tax, it looks like the IRS will stop collecting the 3% federal excise tax on long distance telephone service. The tax on telephone services was first imposed in 1898. The current rate is 3% of the charges billed for […]

Start the Stopwatch: You Have 50 Milliseconds to Make a Good First Impression

According to research reported on in Nature.com, “Potential readers can make snap decisions in just 50 milliseconds”. And I thought you had 30 seconds or less to make a good impression. I guess web users make snap judgments faster. Like the look of our website? Whatever the answer (and hopefully it was yes), the chances […]

One Stop Shopping for DNS Stuff

DNS means “Domain Name System” which stores information about host and domain names in a “type of distributed database on networks, such as the Internet.” Information stored includes the physical location (IP address), mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain, and address and routing information for the domain. DNS as a tool for typical […]

WordPress.com Users Hit By Direct Attack – Stopped in its Tracks

I woke up to find my wordpress.com site attacked by a comment spammer CAUGHT BY WORDPRESS!!!! I bring it to your attention for several reasons. First, it was caught and marked for moderation because enough of the comment spam was clever enough to look, at first, sincere. Second, it was caught because enough of the […]

RSSTop55 – Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites

There are more and more ways of promoting your blog or website than just submitting to search engines. There are new directories and methods popping up everywhere. RSS and Feeds are gaining ground for monitoring web pages and there are many services available which collect information on website and blog feeds to promote to users. […]

Blog Exercises: Excerpts and Continue Reading

Encountered the front page of a blog where the posts ran on and on and on and on, stretching across the length of the page? Do you ever wish you had more control over the length of your posts on the front page of your site? This Blog Exercise explores the use of the “more” […]

WordPress Anniversary: Comment Spam Lessons

It’s hard to believe that I’ve learned much from comment spammers over the years. I’ve learned that they are among the most hated folks in the world, yet you have to respect them as well. As I look back on ten years of blogging with WordPress on this 10th Anniversary year, I realized that comment […]

Blog Exercises: List Your Resources

In “Blog Exercises: What Are Your Reference Articles” your blog exercise was to identify your reference articles from within your site and list them on a Page or in a post as a reference list. Today’s blog exercise is to identify and publish your resources beyond your site, the reference material and sources you count […]

Blog Exercises: Fall in Love with Words

There are certain clues that tell you how much a restaurant will cost. If the word “cuisine” appears in the advertising, it will be expensive. If they use the word “food,” it will be moderately priced. However, if the sign says “eats,” even though you’ll save money on food, your medical bills may be quite […]

Blog Exercises: Do You Teach or Lecture?

Do you teach or lecture on your site? We all write with a specific “voice” and “style,” representing our perspective on the information we are presenting. On this site, I’m a teacher, sharing with you lessons to help you blog, use WordPress, and publishing on the web. You may share your expertise or your experiences […]

Blog Exercises: Own Your Site and Protect Yourself

I hear it every day. A webmaster, developer, or designer does the site owner wrong and the site owner is victimized, helpless, and frustrated with what to do next. I’ve gotten calls in the middle of the night from people around the world trying to get help recovering their WordPress password because their “web guy” […]

The Brute-Force Password Attack on WordPress Sites

My mother emailed me and asked if WordPress was under attack. With all the news of last week’s attack of the Boston Marathon, the attacks on WordPress and other PHP-based web publishing sites was low on the priority list for myself and others, but this is something to take seriously. As we get back to […]

Blog Exercises: Increase Your Thank You Ratio

As a teacher, trainer, social media expert, and advice giver on many blogs, I don’t want to hear your excuses in response to my advice. “Well, if I only had the money…” Really? Since WordPress, the tools I recommend, and the advice I offer is free. What does money have to do with anything I […]