Behind the Scenes in My Online Business
I’ve added a new static page to this blog – Excel Videos – using the TubePress plug-in.
It was really easy to install and set up, and you can show YouTube videos for a specific user or playlist, or show popular videos, such as top-rated or most-discussed.
In the TubePress plug-in option settings, on the Advanced tab, you can create a Shortcode Keyword. Then, insert that code, in square brackets, wherever you want the TubePress videos to appear.
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Last weekend I transferred my domain registration for this site to a different web host. That went smoothly and quickly, despite the warning that it could take 5-7 days.
With my confidence bolstered by that success, I was ready to tackle the next step – pointing this blog to the new server, and moving all the content.
I prepared by reading everything I could find on the steps required to move a WordPress blog. It seemed complicated, but doable. Hah! Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.
The task that I figured would take a couple of hours took almost a day. Yes, some of that time was spent in gnashing teeth, complaining loudly, and consuming medicinal beverages, but it still took way too long.
The trickiest bit was detangling all the user names and passwords that I had jotted down, for the old host and the new one. Every corner of each host’s site has a different password, and it’s very confusing.
After hours of hair pulling, I finally found an article that said the wp-config file needs the cPanel password. I’d been trying everything BUT the cPanel password.
With that change, I finally cracked the code, and got this blog back up and running.
As my research suggested, I had exported my old databases, and imported them to the new database, but that had no noticeable effect on the blog. I lost all the settings, and had to re-do things.
Fortunately, I had also done a WordPress export, so I was able to import all the articles and comments that way.
If you notice anything that’s broken or missing, please let me know. Thanks! In the meantime, I think it’s time for a bit more medicine.
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Today I was backing up my RSS feeds in Google Reader, and was shocked to see that I’m subscribed to 386 feeds. Wow, that’s about double what I would have guessed.
There are only a few blogs that I read every day, and those are in a Google Reader Favourites folder. For most of the rest, I just read the titles, and skim through the articles that sound interesting. Occasionally, I’ll star an article to go back to it later, for a careful read, or to follow the article’s links.
In the feeds list, you can click on a blog name, then click Show Details, to see a chart of recent posts, and which ones you’ve read. If a blog hasn’t posted in a long time, or I never read the articles, I usually unsubscribe.
I wish there was a quick way to review all the Google Reader feeds, to see which feeds I use, and which ones I don’t. It’s a tedious process to go through the list individually, especially since the Show Details doesn’t stay open.
If you know of a better way to manage the list, please let me know.
Now I’ll go and do the backups for my blogs too.
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New FTC Disclosure regulations for bloggers took effect on December 1st. I’ve added disclosure information to my blogs and website, and hope that’s sufficient.
On Louis Gray’s site today, there’s a set of FTC Disclosure icons that you can download, and use on your blog. There’s one for every level of disclosure, from a free book,
to shared jail time.
I won’t need too many of them, but they’ll come in handy if Microsoft decides to send me some stock options!
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This blog was down for most of the day, but seems to be fully functional again. It’s hosted on DreamHost, and the System Status forum there was full of complaints, as you’d expect.
Apparently the servers were down for a few hours last week too, and people in the forum were complaining about lost sales in the holiday season. Other posters pointed out that if you depend on a server for your income, you should invest in a top quality service. Don’t depend on a shared server, using a service plan designed for personal use or small businesses.
My main site, Contextures, and Contextures Blog, have been hosted by longhead.com since 2001. Longhead is owned by Jake Marx, a former Excel MVP. There have been a couple of blips along the way, but the customer service is great, and the few problems have been sorted out very quickly.
I hope your web site is on a dependable server, and the web host gives you great customer service.
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Do you learn about Excel online, through blog posts, websites, or video libraries? I’d really appreciate your comments on these two questions:
A. What kind of online Excel tutorials do you like best (explained below)?
(polls)
B. Have you always liked that type of online instruction, or did your preference change at some point in the Excel learning curve?
When I started the Contextures website, my Excel tutorials had simple written instructions, with key points illustrated with screen shots. Sometimes I’d add a circle or arrow to the screen shot, or a line and label, to make things clearer.
For example, here’s a tutorial for Excel conditional formatting examples. It has lots of words, and a few pictures. You can skim through the page to find a specific topic, or work your way from top to bottom, trying the examples.
There’s also a link to a sample file that readers can download, to follow the tutorials.
A few years ago I dabbled briefly with Camtasia Studio, and created a short pivot table tutorial. It explained how to change pivot table data fields from vertical to horizontal (warning – the sound comes on immediately). Apparently I was speaking into a tin can while recording it, but it is short, and to the point.
In early 2008, I started recording Excel video tutorials again, using a newer version of Camtasia Studio. The quality was a bit better, and I posted them on my Contextures YouTube channel, and embedded them in my website.
The feedback has been very positive, and the videos have been viewed thousands of times.
Recently, I heard about ViewletCam software that lets you create interactive videos. The output can be SWF (Flash) files, so you could put them on the website directly, since they’re much smaller than video files.
I haven’t tried this software, but it might be a good middle ground, where words aren’t enough and a video is too much.
Maybe people remember things better if they try them onscreen, instead of reading or watching.
Have you attended any Excel webinars? I’ve signed up for a few non-Excel webinars, of varying quality, but nothing Excel related. In a webinar, you could see an Excel technique demonstrated, and ask any questions that you had.
So, going back to my original questions, I’d love to hear what you think. It’s not a scientific survey, just gathering opinions, so please vote, and comment on both questions, or just one, or make up your own question and answer that. 😉
A) Do any of these online Excel training tools appeal to you?
B) If so, have you always preferred that type of online Excel training?
Thanks!
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In April, Google announced that all sites that used AdSense advertising had to post a privacy policy. So, I looked at a few other sites, and cobbled something together, and posted it on my Contextures website.
Recently, the FTC decided that bloggers had to disclose their affiliations, and use realistic testimonials in their advertising.
No one seems sure who’s affected by the new regulations, or how they’ll be implemented. Since I’m not based in the USA, the FTC doesn’t regulate me, but Google might insist that their publishers follow the guidelines.
Anyway, I decided to add a disclosure policy to my website and blogs, in a proactive move.
Have you posted one?
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On the Contextures Blog, I ran a week long Excel giveaway, with a nice collection of prizes from some generous sponsors.
The entries included some hilarious Excel horror stories, and a few creative Excel Hallowe’en costume suggestions. I enjoyed reading them, and the giveaway page got good traffic, so others must have enjoyed them too.
After the giveaway deadline passed, the real work began. I copied all the names, emails and comment numbers from the blog, and cleaned them up in Excel.
For a similar giveaway in July, I created a macro to draw the prize numbers and winning comment numbers. It worked very well, so I used it again for the fall giveaway.
Finally, I wrote the prize announcement post, and will email all the winners and prize sponsors with details on how to collect their prize.
A giveaway is a fair amount of work, but creates interest and traffic for a blog. I hope the prize sponsors saw some increased traffic too. If so, they might be willing to sponsor another giveaway, when we all recover from this one.
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