Web Design School: Web Design Tips

Stop Censorship by the government on the Internet – SOPA

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Web Designer #1

Black out or use a ribbon on your sites Wednesday January 18 to protest forthcoming Internet blacklist legislation known as SOPA and PIPA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) proposed by the U.S. Senate have the potential to severely cripple the free and open Internet.

To learn more about these devastating bills, and for information on how you can help to stop SOPA and PIPA, please visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Action Center .

Call your congress people to let them know this is unacceptable to the people

Many sites are participating in this world wide event

The largest online protest in history, to stop the internet censorship bills, SOPA & PIPA. Join in by blacking out your site and urging everyone you can reach to contact Congress now.

EXCELLENT visual of what this is all about from Oatmeal

From personal blogs to Wikipedia, sites all over the web — including this one — are asking you to help stop this dangerous legislation from being passed.

STOP THE INTERNET BLACKLIST LEGISLATION!

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Eileen Ludwig of Web Design School brings to the world insights about computers, Web Design, Internet Technologies, Social Media Tools, WordPress, Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. She is owner of four sites: Photography, Web Design School, Social Media School and Freelance Tourist. Each are in different stages of development and evolution.

We all gather in this place to share experiences, strengths, and school of hard knocks, On Job Training (OJT). We can use this space to explore and understand the trends and concepts both as a beginner and advanced user. Pointing others in the right direction when needed.

Posted in Archive | Tagged blackout, censorship, internet, PIPA, soap, sopa | 3 Comments

Buy Problogger one or three ebooks Begin, Build, Online Marketing

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Web Designer #1

Update Dec 21, 2011

Three day sale on Three books for 50% off – Buy individually or all three

Starting today we’re running a 50% discount for 3 days on any (or all) of 3 ProBlogger eBooks

Grab one or Grab All Three – But Don’t Delay

3 eBooks represent the 3 biggest needs – starting out, giving things a kick start when they’re slow and making money. So whatever your blogging goals are in 2012 I believe we’ve got you covered.

Sale ends in 3 days time on Friday 23 December at midnight US Eastern time

so don’t delay – they’ll all be full price again from 24th and into the new year.

60-day money back guarantee

Reading Problogger’s book and going through the 31 days to a better blog, I have purchased and been using both of these ebooks to improve my blog. Best books out there for getting yourself going in the right direction.

31 days to build a better blog 2nd edition is out

The 31 days to build a better blog breaks down what you want to do over 31 days. If you need to take 62 days, just do it. There are some days that it takes longer to research and build your posts. Each time you do this you will learn more and become better. Eventually you can help others to build their business sites too.

Many are going to WordPress blogs because they are easier for the customer. Not calling your site a blog makes it more versatile in the future. Doing this with a group makes it more meaningful but don’t let not having a group stop you. Announce on your own site you are doing this and invite others to join you.

Beginning blogger first week of blogging

Online Marketing book

Copywriter book is NOT on sale right now

The copywriter book helps you make better copy. We are the new journalist of the future. Writing every day will make you better. The book is divide into sections:

Writing — How to write engaging compelling posts.
Scannability — How to ensure your posts are easy to scan read.
Search engine optimization (SEO) — How to write posts that Google will like.
Grammar — How to avoid errors that undermine your credibility.

Best smallest investment in yourself and your business

These books are better than going to a huge conference because you are learning from a pro who is willing to help and or connect you with others through forums, twitter, and facebook to keep all of us connected.

Buying and reading these ebook is the best smallest investment in yourself. Move yourself forward building a small and growing independent business.

Posted in Archive | Tagged build a better blog, first week of blogging, problogger, problogger 31 days to build a better blogg 2nd edition 2012 version, problogger online marketing, social media, web design | 3 Comments

Human blog spam is a waste of time

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Web Designer #1

Blog spam can be bots (robots) or humans

There are plenty of plugins for blog spam. Still I get too much human blog spam with comments that are kinda comments but then I start noticing a trend from same ip address different name. Or they never read the article. Or they say nonsense. Or they are advertising their business with links. I do not use Askimet because I am running a business with a goal of making money. Communication is part of a business but spammers are time wasters and sucking time away from others. Finding a way to stop them from commenting while leaving comments open to others who are genuinely interested is the challenge.

Losing my hair over time waste photo by Eileen Ludwig

I have used three plugins which curb some spam

Bad Behavior – Fights Link Spam
Spammer Blocker – looks at IP address and lets you put in the individual address to block it
G.A.S.P. (Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin) – this is for spam bots and I have changed over to CommentLuv Premium so I have eliminated this individual plugin because it is included and customizable.

Too much of my time is spent fighting spam and trying to block it. As a Web Designer you will need to find ways to block spam from your clients site or your own site. WordPress gives you a lot of tools BUT you still have to fight spam even with plugins. The human spam is the hardest because it is always a judgement call until a pattern is spotted. Block individual IP addresses is very time consuming.

Block large groups of terminals on spammer network is our Goal. Networks have mostly been setup in dot-quad-decimal notation under the IPV4 standards. Yes a little technical. What does it look like? 112.198.64.49

Let me explain this in non network terms using letter mail delivery analogy. The number on the left is the county you live in, the second number is the city you live in, the third number is your street name, and the final number is your house. If we want to block everyone on your street and all the houses, I want to use the two left numbers.

How do I block those houses (computers)? Go to your host CPanel. Scroll down. Look for Deny IP Address. Put in 112.198. (Make sure you have the last period) Click Add. Down below your host shows address range being blocked. Look for patterns. Is 112. showing up a lot in your block addresses – new strategy – block everything in 112. ADD You are now blocking more computers on that network.

Taking control of your host with your CPanel will help you feel empowered in your fight against spammers. These time wasters ruin the joy. Lets take control!

For your curiosity on Networks, IP addresses, dot quad notation and the new IPv6 notation follow these links below from Wikipedia.