Google just added new features to Webmaster Tools that allow a web site owner to better control the way that a site is crawled by Google's search engine spiders. The examples that they show in the video are very real problems for a large number of e-commerce sites, as well as many older web sites. The issue is that multiple variations of a URL can represent a single page in … [Read more...]
Interpreting W3C Validator Error Messages
The W3C HTML Markup Validator is very useful for assuring that the HTML code your site generates is valid code that is compatible with any browser that complies with the coding standards. However, the error messages generated are sometimes very cryptic and hard to understand. We can take the mystery out of some of the messages. The w3C HTML Markup Validator can be found at … [Read more...]
Using the W3C HTML Markup Validator
The W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium. This groups sets the coding standards for client-side code that runs in browsers. This includes HTML, XHTML, and CSS. Their web site, W3.org includes tools that validate a web page's HTML/XHTML and CSS code to assure that it meets the proper coding standards. This article coves the HTML validator. Why Use the Validator? There are … [Read more...]
Getty Images Suing Site Owners for Copyright Infringement
Be aware that images found on the web or in Google Images are not necessarily free to use. It appears that Getty Images is going after web site owners who are using copyrighted images illegally. We saw this blog post claiming that Getty Images is seeking out web sites illegally using their copyrighted images and are threatening to sue for use of the images. In some cases, … [Read more...]
Beware of the Domain Name Appraisal Scam
The domain name appraisal scam is making a comeback. Sometimes this is called the domain name purchase scam. Business is slowing all over the planet. Whenever this happens, the scammers seem to come out of the woodwork and look for ways to prey on web site owners. Domain name scams have been around for a long time. They basically work like this. You will receive an e-mail … [Read more...]
Converting HTML Pages to Run PHP
This issue frequently arises when site owners want to convert legacy .htm or .html pages to run PHP, but they do not want to change the file name extensions due to the potential loss of rank positions when the URLs are changed. It is easy to convert HTML pages to run PHP if you know how and you can change those static pages to run dynamic PHP code. First, the site needs to … [Read more...]
Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
If you have seen the error message, 'Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device' when you try to safely eject a portable USB drive, we may have a solution. Portable hard drives that connect to a PC are handy for backing up the files on your PC. We use Western Digital portable drives to back up both our PCs and servers. After performing a backup, the proper method for … [Read more...]
Amazon Top Sellers PHP Code
Amazon.com has one of the largest affiliate marketing programs on the web. Their wide selection of products makes them an attractive merchant to work with. While there are several scripts available that interact with Amazon's XML database and provide real-time displays of products, pricing descriptions, user comments and images, it is hard to find a script that displays … [Read more...]
A Simple Redirect Script for Affiliate Marketing
This is a simple script for setting up redirects to affiliate merchant links without using a database. It can be added to any site that can run PHP code. If you are not familiar with click scripts or jump scripts, they are used to block affiliate links from search engine spiders. While using a click script is not absolutely necessary, it can be good idea because a properly … [Read more...]
How to Select a Good Hosting Company – Part 1
This series of articles is written for someone who has never set up a web site and would like to learn how to select a good hosting company. Not all hosting companies are the same. Many do a poor job of handling the needs of their customers. Make sure that you select a hosting company that will help your web site to achieve your goals. Hosting companies offer web servers … [Read more...]