Google released a breakdown of thirty changes to their search algorithm on January 5th.  If you didn’t make it to the bottom of the list, you missed something special:

Faster mobile browsing. [launch codename “old possum”, project codename “Skip Redirect”] Many websites redirect smartphone users to another page that is optimized for smartphone browsers. This change uses the final smartphone destination url in our mobile search results, so you can bypass all the redirects and load the target page faster.

In other words, if Google sees you are searching from a mobile device, they’ll send you directly to the mobile version (if there is one) of a website first.  This is huge news if you really think about the logistics behind this change.  This change means…

• Google is taking note of websites with mobile versions of their website.
• Google acknowledges that mobile users prefer a mobile version of a website.  (How long will it be before websites with a mobile version will get a boost in rankings for mobile users?)
• Google sees a future in mobile and is preparing for it already.

Google’s December Algorithm Change Hints at a Focus on Mobile Websites is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

Found some better code to pull your latest tweet:

<?php
	$username='thatbradleyguy'; // set user name
	$format='json'; // set format
	$tweet=json_decode(file_get_contents("http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline/{$username}.{$format}")); // get tweets and decode them into a variable
	echo $tweet[0]->text; // show latest tweet
?>

Pull your latest tweet with PHP is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

I love RackSpace but was frustrated by how hard it was to set up automated backups for WordPress.  If you find yourself in the same boat, I’d really suggest checking out Automated Cloud Site backups.

And if you are frustrated by your current webhost, I’d really suggest you try RackSpace.  They are awesome, knowledgable, and have amazing uptime.

Backup Your Rackspace Cloud Site Automatically is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

There are 2 excellent new web applications I came across recently that solve real problems.  They are:

PintPay.com:

Pintpay is a payment processor that is beautiful, easy to use, and is very inexpensive.  I’ve been looking for something like this for a new service I’ll be launching soon.  Charging a monthly recurring fee was starting to look like a huge project before PintPay came around.  Two thumbs up!

Help Scout:

I absolutely love LightHouse for working in groups.  The idea of using tickets to communicate really jives with my GTD mentality.  So when the makers of Lighthouse released TenderApp (basically a public-facing ticketing system), I was in heaven.  But until we have enough customers that we need to pay for TenderApp, Help Scout has a free option that is simple to set up and quite lovely.

Both of these have simplified my life.  I hope they do the same for you.

Awesome New Web Applications I’m Lovin is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

One of my favorite parts of starting a new project is choosing a domain name. You want it to be memorable, maybe have a few keywords, and be something you are able to stick with for a few years.

A new plugin for WordPress lets you (and your readers) search for available domain names right from your sidebar. The plugin is called Domain Name Search.

If you do decide to purchase the domain, you can do so straight through Midphase, who offers cheap hosting. And that’s all built right in to the plugin.

Note: This is a sponsored post. But, even with that said, I do think it’s a really cool plugin for the right website!

New WP Plugin lets you Search for Available Domain Names is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

A typical SXSW panel

All the hype that SXSW Interactive gets is well deserved.  Or at least that’s my opinion after spending the last 4 days here.

It’s been a very inspiring few days.  I’m really excited to get home and put some of the things I’ve learned to use.

Steve Blank is responcible for my favorite panel this week.  The slides he used are here, though I doubt you’ll get 1% of the experience.  Sorry.

The gist of Steve’s presentation is that a new tech bubble is underway.  Based on the variety of startups with silly amounts of investment I’ve seen this week I’d have to agree.  He said that the rules are different in a tech bubble, and this bubble is different than the ones that preceded it.  Check out the slide deck to see the rest.

Most of my assertions about conferences based on Affiliate Summit didn’t end up being true of SXSW.  Overall I think SXSW is a way better conference and would suggest you go if you get a chance.

At SXSW is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

A suggestion for recovering from burnout from the lat Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman:

Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing – it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I’d see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I didn’t have to do it; it wasn’t important for the future of science; somebody else had already done it. That didn’t make any difference. I’d invent things and play with things for my own entertainment.

So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I’ll never accomplish anything, I’ve got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.

Read more here…

How to recover from burnout… is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

Do you have password protected pages or posts in WordPress that you’d rather not have Google indexing? Well worry no longer!

If you add this code to your header.php file, it will tell Google not to index your password-protected content:

<?php if (!empty($post->post_password)) { ?>
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, FOLLOW">
<?php } ?>

Thanks and enjoy!

How to Hide Your Password Protected WordPress Posts from Google is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

Do you give it a 'College Try'?

One of the most useful things I learned in High School came from an English Teacher who loved to ask, “Did you give it a college try?”.

Anytime I approached her with a problem that started with… “I tried X but…” I was almost guaranteed to get her motto: “Did you give it a college try?”

At the start of the year this was really irritating. All of her students (including me) wanted her to tell us the answer or do our thinking for us. But after hearing her motto over and over, it became a mantra. I started asking myself this question before giving up and looking for the quick answer. Had I really given it a ‘College Try?’

The funny thing is: I almost never had given it a “college try”.  I would hit the first bump in the road and look for someone to give me a clue or an answer. Rarely did I try a handful of different approaches or look for the answer on my own. What this english teacher taught me is that there are many different levels of trying. What I’ve learned from my own experience watching people I know and work with after that is the level of trying we default to is a huge factor in how effective we are.

In the seven years since I graduated from High School, I think about giving things a ‘College Try’ often. It might be better to rename it a ‘Richard Branson Try’, a ‘Microsoft Try’, or maybe a ‘Warren Buffett Try’. It all means the same thing: Did you give up at the first sign of trouble or did you refuse to stop no matter what issue came up?

Stop for a moment and think of the five people you work with most. Decide whether they are a ‘College Try’ or a ‘First Bump In the Road’ kind of person. It’s pretty easy to tell, huh? And which one of them is more valuable? Which type would you rather be tied to in the Amazing Race?

Now stop and think… which type are you?

If you answered honestly that you are a ‘College Try’ person, then good for you! The people around you should be very thankful. If you aren’t a ‘College Try’ person (like me in High School), the good news is that you can change. And here are some tips I’ve used to change the level of trying I default to:

1. Think.

It sounds so simple, but just stop and think before you stop working on something. Stand up and walk around. Describe the problem to yourself out loud. Sometimes you just need to see the problem from a different angle to find the answer.

2. Picture the solution.

If you don’t know the answer, think about what you do know. Write down what characteristics the answer has. Describe what the answer ISN’T. In my world of Web Development, the kind of question that can stop production if I’m not giving something a ‘College Try’ is what color the background on a website should be. Instead of just giving up and shooting the client an email, I could think about it and say… ‘Well, I might not know what color they pictured, but it should likely be a shade of blue. Well we have some blue in the logo there. And since the headings are this color, there is this blue that might look good. Let’s try that and then let the client change it if they want later on.”

3. Smash the benefit to stopping at the First Bump In the Road.

Make it harder on yourself to stop at the First Bump In the Road then to give it a College Try. Most of the reason we don’t give things a College Try is because it is easier not to. And since we can’t change the human tendency to choose the easiet solution, just turn the tables. Make it easier to give it a college try.

In the example I used above with the Website Background color, I could say to myself: “You can either decide what the best color will be, or you can take the time to put together and present an argument with examples of a half dozen colors and why they would work.”

You’d be amazed how much your abilities can grow when it is easier to give something a college try!

By the way: This is really the reason why ‘Think’ and ‘Picture the Solution’ work above. Because each require you to take the time and effort to continue looking for a solution rather than giving up.

Now that I’ve shared my tips with you, I’ve got a question for you: How do you encourage someone else to make a ‘College Try’? Does anyone know how to get someone you work with to take the initiative? If so, please leave your suggestions in the comments.

Did you give it a “College Try”? is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises; being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death. If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situations.

Just a tidbit from a great letter by Thomas Jefferson to his nephew.

Jefferson’s Letter To Peter Carr is a post from: WordPress Consulting & SEO which runs Thesis Theme with WordPress Landing Page Theme