Today I was reminded of my early life in the Apple PC world when someone asked me a question in regards to fixing an old Macintosh Plus computer.

The Macintosh Plus computer was the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US $2599.

Let me tell you a short story. Many years ago, I purchased an Apple Macintosh SE and then later purchased a PowerPC 6100 series computer. Both of these computers made life working with a PC fun. Of course, I am using the term “PC” in a generic form here. The 6100 brought color (actual color monitor) into my computer life, and it even trail blazed the path to the Internet when most people didn’t have a clue what the “Internet” was about, nor had they even hear the “Web” term, or being “online” with a computer.

I was an early alpha and beta tester for the Mosaic browser which was the precursor for Netscape Navigator, which ultimately morphed into Mozilla Firefox. Mosaic’s direct descendant on the coder line, via Marc Andreessen, was Netscape Navigator. Netscape Navigator’s code descendant is Mozilla Firefox. It was around this time I started doing some basic website customization and web design for fun.

I knew the early Apples inside and out. However, the business world was using mostly all DOS PCs with software from Microsoft and IBM. So, when Microsoft introduced Windows 95 and then Windows 98 and ME became available, and PC makers were starting to build computers for the masses, my wife and I purchased a Tiny Computer, which was not so tiny after all, but was a brand name manufacturer of computers.

Tiny Computers, was Britain’s third largest computer manufacturer at the time, based in Redhill Business Park in Salfords, Redhill in Surrey, England. The Tiny brand of computers were sold in the United States at retail outlets at extremely competitive pricing. Tiny used the advertising slogan ‘Think big about your PC – think Tiny.” During the late 1990s they were a highly successful firm having units throughout the major retail stores of the UK, but their profits eventually began to fall due to competition from other major computer brands and they were bought out of Administration by their rival TIME. However if you look around now, there seems to be a lot of new tiny computers, i.e. mini laptops such as Acer, ASUS , HP Mini, Dell Mini, other Netbooks, Apple MacBook Air, Apple iPad, and a host of other manufacturers’ netbooks and minis are now on the landscape.

As the electronics in these computer devices have shrunk, the power within the boxes have expanded exponentially. Battery technology has greatly improved along the way, making the devices quite portable in their usage for long periods of time. However, that does not really paint the whole picture of what is going on today. We tend to think of the computer as a device we store things in, and a device we use for emailing, writing, and even research through the Internet. We store documents, pictures, songs, programs, books, track our finances, and do social networking with our friends and relatives all over the world using the PC, and now even using our smart phones like the iPhone and Androids to quickly post a picture, send a message, or check our emails.

What many of us fail to realize is the impact that the cloud is making on our lives, and how the PC might simply be a thing of the past in our thinking. In fact, it is quite likely that the near future, the PC will simply be a device that is so cheap, and common place that it will be like having a watch on your wrist. Just about everyone has a watch, and very few get excited about having one. Yes, you might want a Rolex, but seeing the time on a Timex will do just fine.

First off, what is the cloud? Or, what is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).

Believe it or not, most of us use cloud computing every day. In fact, I am using cloud computing just writing this document. As I type this document on my MacBook Pro, the computer is simply being used as a terminal that is tied into my web host server, where my website is located, where I have WordPress blogging software and content management software installed, and where the physical files are stored.

Another form of cloud computing is Google’s Gmail application, where all the emails are stored online, and access is provided through all types of devices, i.e. PCs, Apple laptops, iPads, netbooks, iPhones, Android smart phones, and even our new smart TVs have Internet access capabilities.  Even the Amazon Kindle, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, has Internet Wi-Fi access available for it. The days of using one PC device for everything is long gone. In fact, that is one of the reasons the cloud is here to stay. People want instantaneous access to their information through all the different electronic devices available to them. They want to be able to check their email from the cell phone, or check their friends Facebook pages from their iPad, or conference on their laptop when on the road, or even download a new book to read when ever they want.

No doubt about it, this generation is living in the cloud whether they realize it or not. Now, even businesses are moving to the cloud too. The same things that have occurred in the consumer world is also happening in the business world. Companies are looking for ways of reducing their costs, and one area of expense that are being looked at with a critical eye is the IT department. IT departments have traditionally had their plates full. They have had to juggle all types of activities; server integration, software, backups, computer laptops and desktops, email configuration, email maintenance, email backups, and one of the most important items, security. All of this adds up to big money. The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, it is in the cloud.

Google Apps for business is one of the cost saving enterprise solutions available for small, medium, or any large business today. With the adaptation of Google Apps integration for a business, a company can realize enormous savings, reduced headaches, elimination of concern over hardware server problems, backups, power outages, and of having to deal with other interface items related to PC hardware, software, email integration, and more.

Need help with your business? Contact Jim at Professional Web Services today.

Question asked by a reader:

I receive allot of spam recently using the from: Linkedin Communication and to: info@a-company-name.com or some other junk in front of @ a-company-name.com

Do you think it comes from Linkedin link on home page or is it something else?

Answer:

The info @ a-company-name.com email addresses are spam magnets.

Even if you don’t post that email address, the spammers use it to send every url an email because they know there are a lot of people that have an info @ company email address. They also use a means of targeting a URL with a dictionary attack. So, if people leave a default (catch all) email address, and the spammers use any type of attack, they can find unlimited email address openings to send spam. This is why it is never a good idea to use a “catch all” email address. Not only will it be a bad experience for the user having to go searching through the tons of spam, but it will simply be an undo strain on the hosting server. This is why, many servers and hosting companies are limiting this type of setup. Additionally, if you choose to run this way, you run the risk of alienating yourself with the hosting company. In essence, they won’t like you very much and run the risk of having your website be transferred over to a much poorer server environment, one that has other less than desired operators and webmasters.

Once an email address is in the spammers database, it is impossible to get it cleaned, because other spammers get it from others online.

I strongly urge you to guard your email addresses carefully online. Use of Javascript, a picture image of the @ email address, or formmails are some of the things you can use to be proactive to protect your emails from the spam bots (email scavenging programs that automatically harvest email addresses online). However, even having guarded your email address, I strongly suggest using spam detection, or filtering it through Google Apps for email, or running it directly through Gmail (by adding an account in the Gmail settings), or other options like that for the long haul.

Do the right thing, and don’t use a catch all email address. If you have a number of email addresses that you want to use as throw away emails for signing up for things online, do a forward of those select throw away emails to your main email address instead. Then you can create email filters to place them in folders or assign labels. You can also add address aliases for your main email address. Read about on how to use an email address alias name.

For online marketing solutions for your business visit your B2B and B2C solution provider. Need a good webmaster? Contact us today.

Google Checkout is the ideal solution for secure eCommerce shopping; with the ability of the buyer to use any major credit card, and maintain privacy for the buyer and his or her supplied credit card information from being shared with any seller.

Online Privacy And Security of Financial Information is Extremely Important For Consumers and Corporate Buyers Alike

With the concern for online privacy and keeping one’s credit card information secure, choosing the most secure form of e-Commerce is at the highest priority level for consumers and business’ buyers wishing to shop at online e-Commerce wholesale and retail websites.

More and more eCommerce websites and online retailers are using the Google Checkout system for secure online transactions. This is making it much easier for any consumer making purchases, and for corporate buyers to shop online with full assurance of privacy of personal and business financial information, and quickly being able to make future purchases at other online retailers that accept the Google Checkout system for payment. Look for the “Google Checkout Buy Now Badge” of acceptance, for online retailers that accept the Google Checkout payment processing system.

Google Checkout is the Most Secure Payment Processing System

In my opinion, Google Checkout is one of the most secure forms of eCommerce available to the consumer or buyers for large or small businesses. An order can not be processed without first being initiated on the buyer’s end, and with first having full approval from the buyer (the purchaser), also initiated only on the buyer’s end. The seller can not charge more than what was originally approved by the buyer. The seller simply receives the order, and fills it for shipping. The seller can cancel orders or refund full or partial amounts only. Just like at any brick and mortar store, each retailer has their own return policy and refund policy. So, it is always a good idea to read the retailer’s return and refund policies closely before making an online purchase.

Google Checkout Option to Keep eMail Address Confidential

Google Checkout also provides the option of private emails too by using secure forms of email communications with online retailers. When making an online purchase with the Google Checkout system, simply select, “Keep my email address confidential” from the available check boxes, and your email address will not be shared. So, any forms of email communication with that retailer will automatically forward your email through the Google Checkout system, and keep it private from the online retailer.

You will see exactly what your account will be charged. Descriptions, Quantities, Prices, Taxes, and Shipping Charges will all be documented and verifiable before the “Place your order now” button is clicked.

Sign Up For Google Checkout

If you are a first time user of Google Checkout, you may sign up for Google Checkout prior to, or right at, the order process. Sign up for Google Checkout at: http://checkout.google.com. I also suggest reading the FAQs and key details of how the Google Checkout system works.

Once you are signed up for Google Checkout, you can then purchase any product or service, from any other retailer that accepts the Google Checkout payment processing system, and not have to fill in all your information again and again.

I personally am one that is super concerned about privacy online. So, I can vouch for the integrity of the Google Checkout eCommerce payment handling system.

Yes, I know there are other systems out there, but to me, the Google Checkout System seems to be the best fit for both parties involved. The buyer and the seller are joined together in an unbiased middle man role that keeps the buyer’s information private and secure, while at the same same time provides a great payment processing system for the retailer to conduct secure eCommerce online.

Marketing Hand Shaking

While you still may be leery of using any form of eCommerce for buying or selling goods or services online, it is wise to understand how business operates in general. The world of business operates on the exchange of products and services. Everything has to begin with trust and a hand shake at some point along the way. The buyer has to trust that the seller is providing the product or service they are purchasing. The seller has to trust that the buyer is going to pay for the product or service being rendered. What better way of encapsulating that trust factor than with a secure form of payment processing that is not only secure, but is also private, easy to use, and with verifiable handshaking going on between the buyer, the seller, payment system, and the delivery system. Google Checkout is really marketing at its finest. Marketing is defined as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The term developed from the original meaning which literally referred to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to sell goods or services.

Jim Warholic
President, Professional Web Services, Inc.

Get your business established on the online market place today. Get the Internet marketing business solution now. Increase your online sales. Contact Jim Warholic for his company’s Internet marketing solution for your business today.

This is a how to guide for importing and exporting your Blogger blog to other Blogger blogs. Carefully follow the import and export online documentation below. Procedure works for Blogger Classic (HTML), Blogger FTP Publishing, Blogger New (XML), and Blogger Custom Domain Names.

On my online post for Blogger Dashboard – Hide Show All Problems – Missing Blogs; as of 12/14/2008 I discovered a do-it-yourself fix for this peculiar dashboard problem. I made a discovery when doing some Google Searches for free blog editors for Blogger that started me thinking of a possible solution for my particular missing blog in the dashboard problem.

I found this one article that talked about the new features of Blogger Beta, with one of those features being that of importing blog postings from other blogs that a person owns and has the publishing rights to. Other blog platforms such as WordPress have for some time been able to import postings from other blogs, but until recently Blogger did not provide that feature. When I read the write up about this new Blogger feature, it was the old proverbial light bulb going off in my head. I thought, this might be a solution to the missing blog in the dashboard.

Some background information is required for understanding the Blogger technical problem to begin with. When I first created this blog, www.jimwarholic.com, and posted it the first time on the Internet, I believe I did it strictly under FTP publishing, and did not assign a Blogspot.com to the blog at first. I created the website, www.jimwarholic.com back in the year 2006, and started publishing directly with FTP publishing at my webhosting domain using my own domain name.

It was the later part of the third quarter of 2008 in which Blogger did an update to their system, and my blog disappeared completely from the dashboard area. It wasn’t in the hidden mode, or the cookies were not causing it to be hidden as some suggested, it was just gone. I could still gain access to it from the quick edit buttons when logged into my Blogger account, and navigate backwards into the back end of the template settings and publishing setups. I tried everything I could think of to get it to show up in the dashboard, though it was always displayed on my profile page. I assigned another email address for writing on the blog as an administrator. However, the blog would not even show up at the dashboard of the other profile account. I was scratching my head for months on trying to figure it out. I posted information at Blogger Help Groups. I searched online for solutions. I tried to leave a message for Blogger, but they no longer have a contact page online. But, I could not find a fix, that is until 12/13/2008 – 12/14/2008 rolled around.

Sometimes you have to take Internet matters into your own hands. Importing and exporting blogs to Blogger is now a mouse click away on the settings area of each blog control console. You now have three options available to you. Import a blog, export a blog, and delete a blog. To import posts and comments from a Blogger blog, you must first have exported the blog to your local computer desktop or folder on your PC.

I must warn you here. Take some precautions before you attempt to export and do an import of your complete postings and comments from another blog, especially the blogs that are missing from the Blogger Dashboard area. Note also, that if you export your content from one Blogger account, and then import your postings and comments to another Blogger account, with a different name on it, you will end up having all your posts republished with the new Blogger account name.

Additionally, I would recommend before doing the online procedure is having two windows open in your browser, or better yet, having two different browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, or Internet Explorer) open when exporting a blog from one Blogger account, and importing it to another Blogger account.

*Very important note here. It is highly recommended to have an Internet quick link from your desktop to the old Blogger missing dashboard blog, to that blog’s setup page. To do this, you can use Google Chrome, and create what is known as “create an application shortcut” to your desktop. Once you do that, then you can click on the Internet link in the future to gain access to your blog. Or you can use Firefox and drag the tab to the desktop to the specific page for the postings, settings, and template area of the old blog that has been navigated to with the quick edit links in the postings themselves. You could also do a bookmark or Internet Explorer favorite link too. However, I would not trust just one way only. If you do not do this link step, you will have no way of getting back to the old Blogger blog that remains hidden from the dashboard area. You will be lost forever. The reason for this is that once you publish using the new blogspot.com address, and then change it to your old FTP published address and click publish, your quick links will now be linked to the new blog instead of the old blog. Which means the old quick links used to navigate to the settings tab for the old blog will not work anymore.

Here is what I did for my particular FTP export and import blog solution.

This procedure is written for Blogger FTP publishing but most of these steps should work for other non FTP blogs such as blogspot.com address and custom domain names for Blogger too. The new XML Blogger template files can also be exported and imported too and you should export your HTML Blogger Classic template or XML template file too.

1. First read the Blogger information on, How do I import and export blogs on Blogger? Read it twice and make sure you comprehend all aspects of how to do it before proceeding.
2. Created favorites – bookmarks, and quick launch buttons using Firefox and Google Chrome on the desktop to the old blog setup page to be safe.
3. Saved old HTML template file on to my local computer from the old blog website. I used the following procedure for saving the old template file. Opened Template, Edit HTML, and copied entire html text to a notepad plain text file. Notepad is part of the default Microsoft Windows Operating System simple text editor programs available from the lower left of the screen. Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, Notepad – and Don’t forget to do this and remember where you have saved the file!
4. Opened Firefox and Google Chrome Browsers next to each other. It’s nice to have a bigger screen, but not required.
5. Logged into one Blogger account in Firefox. Logged into the other Blogger account in Google Chrome. Though I used two different Blogger accounts, you can do the same thing with a single Blogger account and have two windows, tabs, or two web browsers open at the same time with the same Blogger account but with different blogs in each tab or window.
6. Navigated to the control area of the blog, using the quick edit links in the old blog postings, and followed the links to the settings tab for the old blog.
7. Exported the old blog to the desktop or folder on your computer’s hard drive which creates a (.xml) file.
8. Created new Blogsopt.com webblog. Went to the other browser, and created a new Blogspot address using the “Create a Blog” link from the Blogger Dashboard. I used http://internetjim.blogspot.com as the blogspot.com website. You can create your own name for your blogspot.com website. Note, it is going to change to your own domain name in the next steps.
9. Verified the new virgin site was live online. (I may have done one test posting to begin with, but am not sure on this point.)
10. Changed the new site title and description to reflect the name of the old blog. Note: I changed the title slightly to quickly visually verify on which website I was on at the time. Because, once you do the import of the posts, comments, and HTML template file, you will not be able to tell the difference from one blog to the other.
11. Switched to FTP publishing on the new blog by first switching back to classic templates mode.
12. Opened both the old and the new blog tab areas and copied the FTP publishing information from one settings are to the other. Went right down tabs: Basic, Publishing, Formatting, Comments, Archiving, Site Feed, Email, OpenID, and Permissions. It is important to get everything the way it is on the old blog to the new blog. Keep the publishing, archiving, and site feed absolutely the same, otherwise, you could end up with new urls, which won’t match up with the search engine results or result in broken links back to your website.
13. Copied from the HTML text in the Notepad template file previously saved in step number 3 and pasted the old HTML text into the new Edit HTML section of the new blog. (This makes the new blog look like your old blog, but not completely until you publish FTP publish it. Important! Don’t publish it yet. Wait till the next step. If you publish before the next step, you will write over all your postings at the hosting server for your blog for a period of time until you repost with the imported posts and comments.)
14. After double checking and comparing all of the settings with the old to the new, it was now time to do an import from the saved (.xml) file located on the computer desktop. Note, there are a couple of options on the import. You can either choose to import and automatically publish all posts immediately or import and save them as drafts to be published later. Your choice at this point. I automatically published at this point in the import process.
    
    

    Import posts and comments from a Blogger export file. Imported posts will be merged with any current posts, sorted by date.

15. Success! At this point in time, I verified all my posts were properly posted to the server. I navigated to each online to verify. The new blog was now showing up in the dashboard area.

Blogger Notes and Observations

I was still trying to figure out how my blog went missing in the first place. I still think it had to do with when I first created the blog without a blogspot.com address. I went straight to FTP publishing. Another possibility, is I may have created this blog at about the time Blogger still allowed you to use a different email address or Blogger account name other than a Gmail account. Blogs under the old Blogger accounts required a different login screen and are part of the legacy claim for claiming old blogs to be part of your new Google account name. I had however, claimed my blog under this legacy link a long time ago.

Somehow, when the most recent changes occurred with the Blogger Dashboard area, was when I first noticed my blog had disappeared. It seems as though a few other folks have experienced the same problem too. I haven’t heard of a fix from Google as of yet about this particular situation. It may be part of a database glitch for old FTP blogs that were created without a blogspot.com address to begin with that got overlooked when Google Engineers updated the Blogger system and dashboard areas.

Another important point to note when doing an import from one blog to the other, is that if you posted any of your old posts at the old blog account, and then changed the title of the blog postings and re-published the blog at the same spot, the URL would not have changed on this old posting, but when you import the blog postings into a new Blogger blog, the URL is updated to reflect this change. That change in the URL creates a small problem however.

Let’s take a look at a web page example. Let’s say I published a blog at the old account titled “This Is a Test Example” for the title of a new article. The URL at the old account would be the following: www.jimwarholic.com/2007/02/this-is-a-test-example.php. If however you changed the title at the old blog to “Internet Testing at My Online Sandbox Beach” or simply “Test” the new title in the Blogger Title Field would be updated on the old blog posting, but the URL would remain the same. This would not affect any links to that particular posting. But, when you import the name, “Internet Testing at My Online Sandbox Beach” or “Test” for the title of the posting to the new blog, the resulting URL would change to www.jimwarholic.com/2007/02/test.php, which is completely different than the original URL and will break hyper-links to that specific page, unless you create some permanent redirects (301 Status Code) in your (.htaccess) file. If your website hosting provider provides the easy-to-use cPanel website control panel for setting up redirects, or other website hosting control panels that provide for quickly configuring permanent (301) redirect solutions, then each URL can be quickly entered into an online input form. Otherwise, you must manually write a new .htaccess file by including the redirects for each particular file that needs to be redirected to the new URLs. Once the redirects are established online, after a period of a month or two, then you can remove them to make your website run more efficiently, and speed up the web page renderings. I suggest a search on Google for more information on .htaccess files to understand some of the finer points in configuring temporary (302) and permanent (301) redirects.

For the moment, I am a bit leery of deleting the old blog by using the “Delete Blog” from the settings page. However, I changed the FTP publishing user name and password, so it would not publish if I accidentally happened to click there for some reason. I also gave myself a note on the HTML template area to reflect what the status of that blog is. I might have missed a redirect, and if I saw an old page and thinking it needed to be edited, the old edit quick edit link will still be in affect for the old online posting. You would not want to republish from that old blog, otherwise you will change all your Internet postings back to what they were in the past.

I know this is a rather long Blog posting, but I feel it’s important for everyone out in Internet land to understand what is going on online with your web site, when a procedure like this is implemented on the Web.

Good luck everyone. If you happen to take the plunge into importing and exporting, take your time, and think about what you are doing. Print out these instructions if you wish. Feel free to post your comments or questions to either the comments section of this post or email me directly using the appropriate comment or email form below.

Best regards,

Jim

Brought to you by Professional Web Services. Gain new quality sales leads and attract new customers online with Internet marketing services for your business. Make your business alive today on the World Wide Web. Learn more, contact us today for more sales for you.

Get your business website found online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services. Learn how we can target the right customers for you.

Blogger Import Export Blog Update 12/18/08

After serious consideration about a few things related to possibly maintaining the old blog online, I decided it was in my best internet interest to delete the old blog completely from the Blogger system. There were a number of very good reasons not to save the old blog. For one, if I forgot to do a redirect of an old Blogger posted page, a commentator would still be able to post a new comment to the old blog. This would not be good, since all the old comments were exported and imported into the new online blog, and I really want people to comment on the new blog, not the old blog. Additionally, I found myself accidentally logging in to the old blog through quick edits, on web pages that I forgot about. By deleting the blog completely from the Blogger system, I will no longer have to worry about that. If I forgot a page or two on the permanent redirects, the Search Engine Spiders will eventually figure it out, and gather the proper pages to add to the online search directory database.

Warning about deleted Blogger Blogs!

I was however a little nervous when I went to delete the old blog from my Blogger account. I did not want to accidentally delete the wrong Blogger blog. It paid off and was good that I had two slightly different names for each of the blogs for identification purposes. There is no recovery if you accidentally delete the wrong blog in your Blogger account. Deleted Blogger Blogs are gone forever and Google will not be able to get them back for you.

Get your business website found online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services and improve your bottom-line.

A Few Internet Shorts For Your Business Success

The following are a few selected Web articles on Internet marketing, online advertising, branding, sales and marketing, and search engines. The websites are updated from time to time, so check back and be sure to click through for more information today to learn how to get your business discovered online.

By-the-way, as you can tell, I got a little more creative with this Internet marketing posting. Sometimes it is wise to do something a bit different online to get your business story to stand out. This is a sample of marketing creativity in Internet action.

Contact us for Internet marketing strategies that will help your business standout on the Web.

For the past four years or so, Comcast has offered free PC Internet security software if you are a Comcast customer it really is a great deal and highly advisable to take advantage of the free software for all your computers. Protect your email and Web browsing from infecting your computer today. Article update: 10/31/2011

Get Protected

The all-new McAfee® Security Suite gives you a whole series of tools to help keep you, your family and your home computers safe, protected and virus-free. It’s an all-in-one, comprehensive, easy-to-install solution-and a $120 value, included FREE with your Comcast High-Speed Internet subscription. No strings attached.

Now get Comcast Constant Guard™ Protection Suite for both Apple and PC computers.

Constant Guard™ Protection Suite from XFINITY Internet is your PC’s all-in-one security dashboard. After the easy installation, the application will help protect your passwords, secure your credit card information, and set-up one-click access to your online accounts. This $360 value is free with your XFINITY Internet subscription, so download it today and stay safe with Constant Guard™.

What Constant Guard™ Protection Suite does:

• Helps protect your passwords & remembers them for you
• Safeguards your credit cards when used online
• Conceals what you type online to protect your personal information
• Includes top-rated Norton™ Security Suite
• Provides one-click secure login to your bank, shopping and any online account
• Includes Secure Backup & Share, and now IDENTITY GUARD^®.

Install Internet Security Software For Your PC

The importance of installing Internet security software on your PC can not be overstated. In my case, our family has six computers that are used by various family members. The Comcast Internet Security Suite by McAfee is a great value. With the proliferation of viruses, worms, malware, and intrusive cookies, a computer will become corrupted in no time flat when surfing the Web even if you don’t download anything online. Just simply hooking up your computer to the Internet and navigating to a few hazardous websites that you might not be aware of, will attack and download software in the background which will corrupt your computer and the worst part about it is you won’t even know your computer has become infected until it’s too late.

Internet Security Issues

Intrusive software that are security hazards such as PC key loggers can automatically track your key strokes when you type in your user names and passwords into online banking websites or even when you log in to your online email is just an online mouse click away. Many times this software gets loaded on your computer when you click on a window that pops up, and the popup makes it look like you have a virus on your computer. By simply clicking on the scan button of this pop up window, you are actually installing another malware program in the background. Don’t fall for this scam. It occurs so easily, even when users are aware that this can happen; it is easy to click the close button by thinking that the “X” close box closes the window with nothing else to worry about. However, don’t assume the close X button on a pop up window is the actual close button for that window. I suggest right clicking on the tab at the bottom of the Windows screen, and select the button that says “Close” on the pop up that you actually wish to close. Also it is wise to have a pop up blocker for your browser. I particularly like Firefox and even the new Google Chrome browser for the excellent popup blocking features.

Spyware, Malware, Adware, and Computer Virus Definitions

• Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user’s interaction with the computer, without the user’s informed consent.
• Malware, is a blended word from the words malicious and software, which is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.
• Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.
• A Computer Virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The term “virus” is also commonly used, albeit erroneously, to refer to many different types of malware and adware programs.

Source Wikipedia

Comcast Has Done It Right

I am really impressed with the marketing strategy from Comcast to their customers. With Comcast keeping their customers’ PC computers running free of viruses, with a free Internet security software tool, enables their customers to operate at a higher level of Internet protection than most of their competitors. Most ISPs simply provide you online Web access, with an attitude of “you’re on your own now,” which simply leaves way too much room for PC problems down the line. Computers are the tool to navigate the Web. If your computer is giving you grief, you are not going to have a very good user experience online. Likewise, if your computer runs trouble free, your life online will be like a breath of fresh air.

What if I am not a Comcast customer? Google Pack comes to the rescue.

Google provides a couple of free basic programs as part of their Google Pack for detecting and removing viruses and spyware.

Google Pack includes a special edition of Norton Security Scan to help you evaluate your computer’s vulnerability to security risks. Norton™ Security Scan is a free, easy-to-use tool that scans your PC for viruses, spyware, and other threats. » Download Google Pack.

Key Features of Norton Security Scan

* Scans for threats residing on your PC
* Detects and removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
* Warns you of spyware and unwanted adware
* Schedules regular scans
* Automatically receives updates**

Take the next step and prevent infections before they happen. Protect your system 24 X 7 with our award-winning Norton Internet Security™ 2009, designed to automatically block hackers, viruses, spyware and prevent online identity theft.

The other software tool from Google is Spyware Doctor Starter Edition which detects PC threats and removes spyware, adware, trojans and keyloggers. Spware Doctor Starter Edition includes Smart Updates and scheduling to protect your PC.

Both Norton Internet Security and Spyware Doctor can be downloaded directly from the Google Pack software installer page.

There are other free antivirus software programs available online. I have not tried very many of the free software programs that are available, so I can’t give you my recommendations. I would however suggest reading closely the reviews of what others have to say about the various free programs available for download. Be careful from where you download too. I believe a good place to get started is at CNET download.com for Antivirus Software. Note that the sponsored matches are displayed first. Two software programs that I have used in the past for detecting adware, spyware, and malware are Spybot – Search & Destroy^©® and Ad-Aware by Lavasoft.

A general rule that should always be followed when installing antivirus software, is always use some form of threat protection software, but don’t use more than one type in automatic detection mode. The reason is the software programs will be fighting each other in the Windows Operating Systems and will be identifying the other software as a virus, spyware, adware, or malware program.

The best antivirus software programs will constantly update their database of spyware signatures and virus definitions and provide automatic PC updates for your local signature database. This is an extremely important point to be aware of because the virus threats are constantly morphing from computer terrorists all over the world, that are looking for ways of creating online havoc for everyone. You need both real time PC protection and automated deep scan protection. If you have an old copy of a PC anti-virus software, that has not had your local computer database updated to current virus signature threats, you are driving a computer on borrowed time, with no brakes, headed down a steep grade, just waiting for the head-on computer crash. Given the severity of the online PC virus threats (through both emails and web surfing), along with spyware, adware, and malware programs lurking on websites, your computer could very well end up with the blue screen of death. At the very least, your computer will become corrupted, slowed down to a crawl, performance will continue to suffer when trying to do anything, system resources will be tied up with running background programs that you are not aware of, memory usage will skyrocket, your hard drive will constantly be ca-chunking away, and you will think you need a brand new computer. I would venture to say that the majority of people that think they need a new computer are probably facing years worth of unsafe computer practices. Even if you buy a new computer and do not set up “best computer practices”, you are very likely to start the downward spiral all over again, because you invariably will want to copy your corrupted files, pictures, and programs over to the new computer. And, you will once again get on the PC merry-go-round, where you will certainly end up visiting the same websites, surfing new Internet sites where the online threats reside, and downloading and installing new virus infected software programs which will ultimately affect your PC’s health.

From a consumer standpoint trust me when I say, take the small amount of time now to get your online computer house in order. If you don’t take computer protection preventative measures now, you will surely be taking extensive time measures and creating PC headaches for yourself in the future just by surfing the web unprotected.

Get your business website in order today. Get your website found on the Internet now with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services. Contact Professional Web Services for the online website solution.

Internet Marketing

Left and Right Minded Internet Marketing

Adele Revella is the developer of the acclaimed Pragmatic Marketing® seminar, Effective Product Marketing, wrote an article titled, "Right-brained or left-brained marketing"

Laura Ramos, Forrester Research’s analyst for B2B Marketing wrote a research paper, entitled "Segmentation vs Personas, Where Should B2B Marketers Start?." Laura reports that B2B marketers are way behind their B2C peers in developing effective messaging and marketing strategies, and that the source of our problem is that we don’t use both sides of our brain.

Websites and Internet Marketing

The emphasis should be to use both right-minded and left-minded marketing approaches when targeting B2B Web buyers, B2C online consumers, and technology companies. This is even more significant given the speed at which buyers and consumers are searching the Internet for the products or services being sought after. Remember, the back button is only one click of the mouse away. I say that to place emphasis on the fact that you only have a small window of opportunity to convert a visitor into a potential customer. Websites must be able to target both sides of the brain in order to convert visitors into paying customers.

For both right and left minded approaches to Internet marketing, contact Professional Web Services. Ask for your free Internet marketing evaluation today. Professional Web Services provides all aspects of Internet marketing for both B2B and B2C businesses on the Web.

Some Mornings Just Seem To Drag On And On

This morning started 24 hours ago. Picked up one of our cars from the shop for a coolant leak problem. They had to replace the coolant pump, which is behind a cover, which is behind the serpentine belt. Decided to also have the coolant hoses replaced. All of this added up to big bucks. Everything was fine, or so it appeared. Brought the car home, parked it in the driveway, and waited for our daughter, the regular driver of this car, to pick it up.

When she went to start it, all that we heard was a whining sound. The starter would not engage to start the engine. Gave it a rest, then tried it again, and the starter engaged this time. But, by now it was too late to take it in to the shop. Sure, I could have dropped it off, using their drop box, but I figured I’ll just do it in the morning. I surely would be able to get it started in the morning. Wrong assumption!

I must say, I am impressed with AAA. They were here with-in fifteen minutes of my call for a tow. So, it’s back to the shop for round number two or should I say, round #3. It was just last week that we replaced all the struts and got a couple of new tires to boot. Well, you know, when it rains it pours.

Get Started In Your Business

Time to get back to work. That reminds me, sometimes it takes more time online to get things where you want, and the way you want them for a website, than what you originally estimated or longer than what you expected. At times it seems the hardest thing to do, is to get started.

One of the stories that Bob Parson, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com shared with the public was when he was asked, “What advice do you have for someone who is just starting a business?” He came up with a list of Rules For Survival. In one of Bob’s podcasts I remember him also saying, “that you have to do something you love.” His whole emphasis was you’ve got to have fun doing it in the first place. Many companies that have become household branded names and made it big time online, didn’t get started because there was a great deal of money in it to begin with. No, the owners of many of the successful Internet related companies got started because first and foremost, they loved what they were doing. Some of these people dared to dream and created new technologies and new industries where there were none before. They saw an e-business hole, and decided to fill it. In the end, it was their passion, love, and pursuit of a dream that launched many of the Internet companies we have today.

So remember, when life sends you lemons, turn them into lemonade. Dare to dream big for your business today.

Jim Warholic
Internet marketing specialist

Are You Operating A Business 9 to 5, 7 to 3, 10 to 6, Or Anytime?

Well, a website functions 24 hours a day, and can be found from anywhere around the globe. If your business is a type of service related business, or provides some form of phone support, it is wise to have your local time on display. When a visitor comes to your B2B, Business 2 Business, or B2C, Business 2 Consumer website from their location somewhere else in the world, and you have a phone number for access, it is smart to let your customers, and future customers know what time it is at your business location. A good place to place the clock is on your contact page, with your business hours displayed. This way a customer will know what time it is where he or she is calling.

There are several ways of doing that. One way is to use a javascript that is dependent on the user’s local computer time. That however, does not always reflect the actual time of your business. The visitor could have their clock set wrong, or be using or not using automatic daylight savings time settings. Depending on how the javascript is written for displaying the time on their computer for your location it could be off by an hour or more.

There are some javascripts that display the time from a world time server. This provides a main reference not dependent on the user’s computer. But, some of the coding that needs to be placed in the website can be quite extensive.

Here is another option for displaying the time from World Time Server that I think is pretty and cool. The time feature is a Flash file clock display in your choice of color and location. The clock is not dependent on a person’s computer but is generated from the off site time server location. The clock can be made to be virtually any size you wish and also post it on any web page or blog posting. If you place it in the blog posting for Blogger, you will need to add the </embed> tag to the end.

No, I am not going to place my phone number here. I don’t like getting bombarded with dozens of unsolicited phone calls. I do give out my number to paying customers. If you are in need of website marketing, feel free to contact me using the form below, or visit our website for the online business solution.

Here is a little marketing tip. If you are going to have your phone number in a website, and you want to prevent the spam bots from discovery, then place it as a graphic image on the web site. Only the human eyes will be able to read it.

Oh by-the-way, I forgot what I was doing. Click on Jim to get another good online tip.

Slow Speed Broadband Connections With Comcast Are Not The Norm

If you are experiencing slow speed broadband internet problems, or you are a WoW gamer, and your World of Warcraft connection has excessive lag, then you may have the following IP problem with Comcast ISP or your Cable or DSL Internet Service Provider.

There does seem to be a situation that occurs from time to time with Comcast high speed Internet service that is very peculiar. It seems as though some of the IP addresses provided by the automatic DHCP configuration at Comcast produce a very slow Internet connection. Getting a new dynamically generated IP address from the Comcast system can help improve your connection upload and download speeds issue. Learn how you can do this easily with a wired or wireless router and your computer.

So, what do I have to do to change the IP address assigned to me by my Internet service provider?

Change Your IP Address: Quick Summary Answer

To get a new IP address, start by cloning another computer’s Mac address using a router hooked up to the cable modem. Then reboot the cable modem, and if everything went OK, the ISP provider’s DHCP system will assign another IP address for your Internet service automatically. Read the IP address change details below.

Test your Internet speed using any one of the modem speed tests online. Then check your IP address using the check my IP address websites. Write both of these down to use later for comparison purposes. Note: The source website server is also a factor for upload and download speeds to your computer. So, it’s also a good idea to note this source website server from the modem speed test, for checking your online upload/download speeds in later comparisons.

Understanding the technical terms
IP address Types (Dynamic and Static)

There are two types of IP address that can be assigned. Dynamic and Static. When a computer is configured to use the same IP address each time it powers up, this is known as a Static IP address. In contrast, in situations when the computer’s IP address is assigned automatically, it is known as a Dynamic IP address.

Sticky Dynamic IP Addresses

A sticky dynamic IP address or sticky IP is a term created by cable and DSL users to describe a dynamically assigned IP address that does not change often. This is however an informal term, as a sticky IP does not differ in any way from other dynamic IP address. Most cable and DSL ISPs assign dynamic IP addresses. However, if you have Comcast Business Internet Service Class with a static IP address or have requested and pay for a static IP address with your home Internet service provider, the only way to change this is for Comcast, other cable companies, or DSL service providers to do it on their end.

Even though IP addresses may not change often for cable or DSL users, the addresses are still controlled by the standard DHCP process. Since the modems are often online for extended periods of time, the leases on the IP addresses are commonly renewed, and therefore may not change.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automates the assignment of IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateway, and other IP parameters. There are four modes of operation: dynamic allocation, automatic allocation, static allocation, and manual allocation.

• Dynamic allocation: A network administrator assigns a range of IP addresses to DHCP, and each client computer on the LAN has its IP software configured to request an IP address from the DHCP server during network initialization. The request-and-grant process uses a lease concept with a controllable time periods, allowing the DHCP server to reclaim (and then reallocate) IP addresses that are not renewed (dynamic re-use of IP addresses).
• Automatic allocation: The DHCP server permanently assigns a free IP address to a requesting client from the range defined by the administrator. This is like dynamic allocation, but the DHCP server keeps a table of past IP address assignments, so that it can preferentially assign to a client the same IP address that the client previously had.
• Static allocation: The DHCP server allocates an IP address based on a table with MAC address/IP address pairs, which are manually filled in (perhaps by a network administrator). Only requesting clients with a MAC address listed in this table will be allocated an IP address. This feature (which is not supported by all routers) is variously called “Static DHCP Assignment” (by DD-WRT), “fixed-address” (by the dhcpd documentation), “DHCP reservation” or “Static DHCP” (by Cisco/Linksys), and “IP reservation” or “MAC/IP binding” (by various other router manufacturers).
• Manual allocation: The DHCP server does not assign the IP address; instead, the client is configured with a user-specified static IP address.

Many DHCP servers can manage hosts by more than one of the above methods. For example, the known hosts on the network can be assigned an IP address based on their MAC address (static allocation) whereas “guest” computers (such as laptops via WiFi) are allocated a temporary IP address out of a pool compatible with the network to which they’re attached (dynamic allocation).

How do I get a New Comcast Dynamic IP Address?

The following Comcast IP address change process is for dynamic addresses. If you have a router installed after your Comcast modem, then this next procedure is very easy to get the Comcast system to dynamically generate a new IP address. If you do not have a router, I strongly suggest you get one to have an extra firewall between your computer and the Internet. Most IP addresses given out by the Comcast DHCP system are in a leased mode. This means that if your modem is turned off for several days or more, the IP address goes back to a group of IP addresses to be automatically reassigned to other users. Turning off the modem for short periods of time will not reset the leased IP address because the modem is assigned the IP address based on the original computer’s MAC address. Every type of networking hardware has a unique code that is the Media Access Control address or MAC address for short.

Router’s also have a MAC address. Once this MAC address is synced up with the cable modem, the Comcast DHCP system assigns the IP address to the online outlet. However, if the MAC address is changed, the Comcast DHCP system assigns a new IP address to the online outlet, because it thinks it is a different location. Each computer, with a network card, also has unique MAC addresses. If a person were to hook up a different computer directly to the cable modem, it is likely that a new IP address would be assigned by powering down and then up again the cable modem. However, with a router it is much easier to assign a new MAC address to the router itself. Most routers today have what is referred to as clone the MAC address. This feature allows the user to make the router look like any one of the computers that reside on the premises. Simply logging into the router through a web browser by typing http://192.168.1.1 for Linksys or Cisco, or do a search for Router IP Address to find your particular brand.

Routers Login IP Addresses – Use The Following Format 192.168.x.x

• http://192.168.1.0 (Linksys [older] wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.1.1 (Linksys [newer], Cisco, 3 Com wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.0.1 (D- Link and Netgear routers)
• http://192.168.2.1 (SMC and Belkin wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.123.254 (Some US Robotics routers)
• http://10.0.1.1 (Apple AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express Base Stations. Note: Apple AirPort base station may require software configuration program for Setup & Admin – Internet, Network, and Port Mapping. See: Configuring the Apple AirPort Extreme)

Click on those links above to try logging into your router. Those specific router links will open in a new window or tab, or right click from your browser to open in a new window or tab so you can follow the instructions at the same time you log-in to your router. Here is a PDF document link to brand and model specific default router information list of Manufacturers, Models, User Names, Passwords, and Default IP addresses. Note, before attempting this procedure on your router, I suggest you print this information out for reference. Use the print button from the permanent link to this how to get a new IP address article. Also note that a router’s IP address can also be changed too. If you can’t get a log-in screen on your browser, then you aren’t getting to the router’s proper IP address for your local area network. Also try logging in to your router with a different browser like Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, Camino, SeaMonkey, Flock, and others. If that doesn’t work, then do a Google Search for your particular router brand and model number IP address. If after finding the correct IP address for your router, but still can not get a login screen prompt, you might have to do a hard reset of the router’s firmware settings (usually a recessed button). However, if and when you do this, the router will revert to the defaults, and you will loose all your custom user name, password, wireless settings such as SSID and encryption codes, along with other TCP and UDP port settings that might be assigned for online game hosting like WOW – World of Warcraft private servers, if those online gaming TCP and UDP port settings were customized by you or someone else to begin with. After doing a hard router reset, you would then have to re-enter all the information again.

After you get to your router’s IP address and you have a user name and password prompt, then type in the login name and password. Hopefully you have changed the user name and password for security purposes (and wrote them down) when you first set up the router and changed them from the default settings. The browser is your window into the router’s operating system and allows you to login and set up the router using the internal configuration program. Find the area of the configuration program (usually a tab or hyper-link) where you can clone your MAC address and perform a clone to a new MAC address. Before you clone the MAC address, write the current MAC address down. This is so you can put it back to the original if you need to. Once the cloning of the MAC address is done, then you can try a release IP address and renew IP address in the router’s programming structure. This sends a release the lease to the Comcast DHCP and then renews with a new IP address. Suggest powering down the cable modem, router, and computer at this time. Then re-power everything back up and you should have a new IP address.

Now go back and check to see what your current IP address is and the speed at which you can upload and download from the Internet using the online modem speed test. Hopefully you are now running at light speed and no more WoW lag for the active gamer.

Good luck.

Contact Jim for your online business solutions. Professional Internet marketing services for your B2B or B2C business today. Get your website found online and start getting more customers now.

PS This particular problem I have personally seen, and have been able to rectify Internet connection speed issues using this technique. This may not be your particular problem, but it’s worth a try. This new IP address solution might also work for other high speed broadband ISP providers. Give it a try with your Internet Service Provider and let our readers know if it works for your DSL or Cable ISP company.

Verify Your Upload And Download Speeds From Your Internet Service Provider

Check Your ISP Internet Speed Connection. Are you curious to know how fast a connection you have through your Cable, DSL, or Dial Up connection? Well, there are numerous free services online that you simply go to their websites and select a location to connect to online and the program tells you how fast a connection you have to and from that web location.

Here are a couple of providers of this service.

Speakeasy.Net SPEED TEST
Performance.Toast.Net INTERNET PERFORMANCE AND SPEED TEST

What these tests are good for is determining the actual speed that you can really upload, download, and surf online when using your Cable, DSL, or Dial-up modem. Many of the ISP service providers claim that you can go at a certain speed, but now you know how to verify if what they say about your Internet connection is true. One note and suggestion: Try a couple of different website locations to make sure that the speed is not being slowed down by a slow website connection on the opposite end as opposed to the ISP’s Internet pipe throughput.

If your Cable or DSL Internet connection is not up to speed, you might try getting another IP address for yourself too.

Signed Jim

Professional Internet marketing services to help get your business found online.

Atomic Clock Sync Settings in Windows XP

While WorldTimeServer.com can help you look up accurate times around the world, we see lots of interest from our users in keeping your local computer clock accurate, too. Atomic Clock Synchronization is the best way to make this happen.

Most of the visitors to this site are using Windows XP, which has an atomic clock sync feature built in and included as part of your operating system. If you have Windows XP and wish to check your synchronization settings, look for the clock at the bottom right and double click on the time to bring up your time settings. You can adjust your local time and date by hand on the first tab, you can adjust your time zone location on the second, and on the third, labeled Internet Time, you can view your current atomic clock sync settings.

If you are behind a firewall, this may require opening certain UDP and TCP ports in the router/firewall, while using the standard Windows Internet Time update for your computer clock, via the clock synchronization as part of the Windows Operating System. To double check if the built in Windows OS version has a problem or not, double click clock time from the Windows OS Task Bar, located on the lower right of the task bar, and select the Internet Time tab, then select the button to automatically synchronize with an Internet time server. Click update now. If everything does not work right for Windows automatic time sync, you will see a message, “An error occurred getting the status of the last synchronization. The RPC server is unavailable.” If you get that error message, then there is another option available for atomic clock sync.

Dimension 4 software from Thinking Man Software has the automatic atomic clock sync solution. Dimension 4 will automatically update your computer clock in the background at user set times. It can be set to run at startup, and then synchronize once, then exit the program. Or, if you leave your computer on for extended periods of time, it can be set to start minimized and synced at the selected times and remain hidden in the background. The software is designed to run on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows ME, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 w/SP6 or higher, Microsoft Windows 2000 w/SP2 or higher, Microsoft Windows XP w/SP1 or higher, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Check out the Dimension 4 features and download it today.

Dedicated to keeping track of the time on your Windows PC.

Signed Jim

Ethical SEO and professional Internet marketing services to help get your business website found online. Start gaining more sales today.

Contact Professional Web Services now. It is time to get your business discovered online!

Some Good Tools For Spell Checking Online

Google Toolbar And Mozilla Firefox

If you do even a little bit of writing online, it is nice to have an automatic spell checker. The new Firefox Web Browser with a Google Tool Bar installed has a great spell checker that automatically shows you when you mistype a word. It however does not show you when you use the correct spelling of a wrong word in your online typing. You have to catch that yourself.

This is great for anyone that needs to fill out forms or when publishing online. It is simple to install and ready to rock and roll. Download Firefox with the Google Toolbar today from the online Google Pack.

Dedicated to the Internet tools.

Signed Jim
Professional Internet marketing services will produce sales results for your business today. Find out how you can take advantage of the Internet today.

The Internet Marketing Ladder

Building Up Your Business Online
By: Jim Warholic

Marketing for the twenty-first century requires an understanding of the Internet both from the B2B and B2C perspective, as well as an understanding of the challenges facing businesses online today.

A business presence online today requires much more than just the website presence. It requires telling your marketing message in more ways than one, and in various marketing and advertising channels. The Web days of simply putting up a website and thinking you are going to get thousands of visitors are long gone. Yes, it is possible to attain world wide Internet recognition, but you will most likely have to climb a ladder with lots of hard work to get there.

Get your business found online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services today.

Place your business on the Internet table today. Let customers find you on the Web. Earn more sales now.

Get your business discovered online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services, Inc.

Good Domain Name News
Yay, We Got Our ProfessionalWebServices.net Domain Name

Learn the ins and outs of what a business can do to get a domain name that has expired. Read how we got our domain name. Consider the importance of acquiring your business name as a domain name, even if you are not currently using your business name as the branded website. With the cost of domain names relatively cheap from domain registrars such as Godaddy, (less than 10 dollars annually) it makes sense to register your business name. Register yours today.

Read the entire story about how we acquired our domain name.

The following is an excerpt from the story.

It is important to note, that if the domain had many suitors, it might have gone into an after market bidding area online. However, in the case of our name, since we are incorporated as Professional Web Services, Inc. and most of the other domain names are owned by us, we thought it would be unlikely that there would be any type of bidding on this name. Additionally, under domain name laws, U.S. federal law known as the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a person or company that tries to capture an already established domain name for some corporation or entity that is not rightfully theirs could be considered to be Cybersquatting. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price. Read more

Are you struggling to get your business website found in the large search engines? Would you like to gain more customers from the Internet today? Then contact Professional Web Services for online marketing that works.

Special Website Projects Require Special CSS Programming

One would think it would be easy to center a single object like a picture or graphic image in the center of a web page using Cascading Style Sheets, CSS div tag and no tables. There are many ways of centering text or objects in a horizontal mode but not in both the vertical and horizontal modes at the same time, that works completely across most all brands of Web browsers.

I spent a couple of hours using the search engines for research on a special project that I thought would be easy. Finally after looking at maybe 50 websites and doing special searches I finally hit pay dirt.

For those of you that want to dig right in, here is the code I found from an old archive at www.WedDeveloper.com CSS – Vertical and Horizontal Centering.

I did a few modifications to the original html code in the header section

<style title="Default" media="screen" type="text/css">#center { width: 200px; height: 300px; position: absolute; top: 50%; left: 50%; margin: -150px auto auto -100px; border: 4px double black; background-color: white; text-align: center;}body { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; background-image: url('your image');}#center p { margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px;}</style>

The div code in the body would look like this:

<div id="center">Professional Web Services</div>

Marketing Creativity Online

Meet Jim At Fridays

Internet Marketing Center

Here is a link to Jim Warholic, Centered Online Internet Marketing web page. Change the window size and notice the picture and text inside the predefined area, always remains centered in the middle of the browser window both horizontally and vertically.

Some of the CSS keys are: first define the box size in width and height measurements, then you position it absolute 50% from the top and 50% from the left, then you set your margins for the top, right, bottom, and left to be: top = -1/2 height, right = auto, bottom = auto, and left = -1/2 width.

Other CSS styles can be added for flavor.

Have fun.

Need help on the Web?

We will go out of our way to promote your company in creative marketing strategies and online advertising ways that will bring in new sales leads, generate website visitors, and turn those visitors into paying customers. Click here for the Top Secrets.

Our core Internet marketing services include:

• Internet marketing services
• SEO, ethical search engine optimization
• Online advertising strategies
• Search engine marketing
• Web branding solutions
• Blogging publishing services

Contact us today for services, strategies, and solutions for your B2B or B2C company.

Today Is Election Day For The United States, But Everyday Is Election Day For Internet Marketing And Your Business.

Are you making your Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer vote count on the Internet? Is your business up to the task of providing valuable information on the Internet? Will your company make a difference in its small or large market segments crowd? Or, will your company disenfranchise your target audience?

Your website is an extension of your business on the Internet. As such, are you really taking the opportunity of the publicity that could be generated through the process of providing information to future customers? The Internet is about votes and campaigning for votes. The more votes generated by users online the higher your online search standing will be. The Internet has voids or holes that need to be filled. For example, information about certain topics is very limited except in very narrow market segments. Many times the information is only in the heads of a few company owners rather than written down in a hard or soft copy format.

Why are you holding back? I believe most times a business holds back from publishing an article is not because they are concerned about sharing proprietary information, but because it simply takes a certain amount of effort to get their butts in gear and write an article in the first place. Most items that are of a proprietary nature can be encapsulated in generalities instead of the sharing of specific information. This is an opportunity to set the standards in your particular industry. Set your company’s brand apart from the rest of the B2B or B2C crowd, as being the expert in what ever specific field you are in.

Writing an article does not necessarily mean going into a long discourse, but the sharing of information in a well thought out format that will engage the reader and not make your readers bored. In an article by Chuck McKay, The Fifteen Minute Effective Business Letter, Chuck gives practical advice for writing a good business letter. Well, that advice could also be taken to heart for writing an effective article online. Think of writing online as the extension of your business. Communicate with your customers and future customers with a respect for their time they deserve, by highlighting the important information fist. Give a summary of your important points first. Throw out the formal writing styles and put it into the way you personally communicate with customers. Most potential customers around the Net are not interested in wasting their time reading something that sounds like it came from their College English Professor.

A picture of the product, service, or even your company logo can very easily be included in an online article using any of the free professional blogging softwares that are available. The blogging software can be integrated into the business website itself, so the article could reside directly at the company’s website host and be edited at anytime in the future. Read about Blogging With Professional Web Services.

Writing the article, and publishing it online provides valuable benefits toward your company’s Internet marketing strategy. Research is never ending for engineers and consumers. Getting the article in the right hands can provide valuable natural links from other website owners. Through the process of writing the article online, then actively promoting that same article through Internet marketing strategies can bring in substantial new customers online than ever before. Part of the Internet marketing strategy could include search engine marketing through a Pay-Per-Click advertising program with the various search engines. Think of the article that was just written as a specific landing page for a target audience. Using the Pay-Per-Click advertising program, an ad can be displayed in the search engine results pages with a very specific target audience in-mind. Then, anytime an engineer or consumer searches for the terms that are selected as search keywords, your company ad could show up in the paid results.

Once an article has been published online, it has the potential to become voted on by others on the World Wide Web. This voting takes place through natural links that would be generated on other websites to your published article. This voting by others in the form of links, helps establish the article as providing valuable information and therefor, the search engines will rank the article accordingly based on this factor and others.

So, start writing your articles today. Professional Web Services can help get you started. Contact us for Internet marketing services today.

Do You Have The Time?
by: Jim Warholic
My Internet marketing timepiece message for the world wide web.

Yesterday, my favorite watch, the Casio DW-290-T, that I have had for ten or more years decided that it had had enough. It started out with, getting dimmer when the electro luminescent backlight was pressed. So I figured it was time to get a new battery. Driving over to the local Target store at 8:30 pm on a Saturday evening, it would simply be a matter of installing a new battery. As “Murphy’s Law” would have it, when dealing with time, this was not going to be the case.

My first clue that this was going to be an extended visit should have been when I approached the watch counter and asked for a battery for my Casio watch. The clerk behind the counter asked me, “do I know the battery model number?” “Well sure, just let me borrow your small phillips screwdriver and I can give you the battery model number,” I said. The sales clerk said, “we no longer have any tools to work on the watches.” “OK…, let me see if my trusty Leatherman multi-purpose tool had anything that would work,” I said.

Fortunately, the screws on the back of the watch were both slotted and phillips style. I had a small screwdriver on the Leatherman that worked just fine. After I got the back cover of the watch off, the clerk was able to see the battery number. She provided a new battery at the cost of four dollars and some change. I thought this would be great. I’ll be back in time… Foolish me.

While I was assembling the watch back together, the clerk asked if she could recycle the old battery for me. I said, “sure.” Big mistake. The new battery would not work in the watch. Or, should I say the watch would not work with the new battery. Making sure the battery was in properly, pushing buttons, taking it in and out again several times, had absolutely no success in getting that stupid watch to function again. Now my favorite trusted timepiece became a stupid timepiece.

The sales clerk during this time was helping out other customers and would occasionally come back to my counter area. She felt bad this had happened. I assured her it was not her fault. I stated to her, “Let me try my old battery, at least that one was functioning before I took it out.” “Well, um, let me see if I can find it,” she said. At that, she went over to the container of old batteries, which contained about a hundred or more of various types and sizes of batteries. She said, “I think it is this one. The one on top. But, I can’t get it out.” So, I start digging, and digging. Getting frustrated, I dump out the whole jar on to the counter. Separating the same style battery as mine into a pile. Only a dozen or so of that style batteries were present.

I start trying battery after battery with no luck. No display at all. Murphy’s Law finally took its toll on my time. Time to move on. Get a new watch. OH, how I hate shopping for watches. This one had too many buttons and was hard to figure out. Another had a display that could barely be seen, unless you had the eyes of a 18 year old. I just couldn’t seem to find the right timepiece.

“How late are you open,” I asked the clerk. “10:00 pm,” she responded. “OK, I might be back,” I said.

Trudging over to the local Longs Drug Store, where I had remembered that they also carried watches, I decided to give them a try. I finally found a watch that I could see with my own eyes, the buttons had just the right touch, and it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to operate it.

I am sure that many of you can relate to the time story. What is interesting is how this time story relates to matters on the Web. The Internet is a media outlet for B2B, B2C, and C2C. It is a marketing, advertising, and sales channel that really is difficult to encapsulate into one definition. Many B2B and B2C businesses want a website presence without doing much work. They want instantaneous gratification with an immediate website presence, that their website is showing up in the top search results for their marketing keywords, and the website becomes a powerful sales and marketing tool for their sales people to use. Time and time again, Presidents, CEOs, owners, and management of both large and small business fail to realize the amount of time it takes to develop an online web presence.

Developing a good web presence encompasses so many aspects of a business’s soul in order to have a successful online presence. Time is the one item that will definitely be at the forefront of setting up and maintaining a website, Internet marketing, advertising online, and web branding the company across a wide area of online distribution channels. If the company is involved in a vary narrow vertical market segment or technical engineering area of expertise, then writing, or at the very least supplying an outline of the topic, from company staff will be a prerequisite for developing a good website. Good Internet marketing companies can provide immense help in the area of writing and editing content for selected keywords, fine tuning from a search engine optimization – SEO and Web branding perspective, online advertising strategies, search engine marketing, customizing and/or designing search engine friendly website templates, and Web branding strategic marketing ideas. But, marketing online still comes back to the business of sharing knowledgeable information, in a customer centric way, through good writing styles and online communication skills.

Talk with Professional Web Services today for information about Internet marketing services, ethical search engine optimization, search engine marketing, online advertising strategies, and web branding solutions. Contact us for B2B and B2C marketing Internet marketing services, strategies, and solutions.

Well, I finally did it!
by: Jim Warholic

I finally decided to create a blog with my name in the URL, jimwarholic.com to dare I say, market myself online. There were a number of reasons to do this. Sharing information, giving out the URL to family and friends, personal branding, marketing and advertising, or in this case, the number one reason was to have a central location for all the links and information to various online sections of interest.

Staying on top of all the information from an Internet perspective is a challenge. Just trying to remember where I wrote an article online, or on what website is equally difficult. I find that I search on our Professional Web Services various blogs and websites for articles that I wrote in the past, so that a reference could be made in a current article. I had to create custom search areas online, in order to search out these previously published articles.

Maybe Google Had Me In Mind

Google just recently came out with a customizable search engine that anyone can build. This really has helped in cataloging and finding all those hundreds of articles written on the Internet. Check out the Internet Marketing Center search engine. If you want to reference it in the future simply add it to your personalized Google Search page by clicking on the Google Gadget button.

Add this search engine to your Google homepage:

Add this search engine to your blog or webpage »

Additionally, Google Custom Site Search provides a means of embedding the search results directly into the website itself. Check out the website search for this site using the Google Search bar found in this search link. Included are the results from this website along with some other Internet sites all searched from one central online location. Try the Google Custom Search now and check out how the results are embedded directly into “According to Jim” website. Try a test search and click the refine the results hyperlink at the top of the search results page, which is providing search results based on this website and other websites.

By the way, you can also visit me on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays too. Maybe in the future, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays websites will follow along also.

This is the first posting of this blog. The overall Internet theme is East, West, North, and South. That just about covers everything I think. Right?

By-the-way, did you know that you can get to the top at the north pole, the bottom — at the south pole, but you can never ever get to the end of the west, or ever get to the beginning of the east on the earth? In fact, the distance from north to south poles can be measured, but the distance from the east to the west is infinite. Or to say it another way; travel north and you will eventually head south, but travel east and you will never go west, or travel west and you will never go east. This gives new meaning to the words of the bible, “as far as the east is from the west.” Fascinating tidbit of information, don’t you think?

That’s all for now. Customization of the template to follow.

Visit Professional Web Services on The Web.

Above All, We Tell It Like It Is, And Do It With Style!

One more point for having a personal website in conjunction with having an online business presence is you will be building quality links back to your business; which is very important for SEO solutions. Take the time today to learn more about how Internet marketing can drive new customers to you online. Contact us today for help with your link building now. Improve your online web presence. Promote yourself in style.