Tag Archives | guide

Hosting Help from the Vault

I was just looking at some classic posts of mine from back in 2004 here.

I don’t know by how much I have grown as a writer in that time – I like to think there has been a little leap in quality and class. I’ll let you be the judge of that though. Still relevant even after all these years – here are a few of my very first posts for this blog right here.

Many of these made there way in one way, shape or form into Lockergnome’s Guide to Web Hosting. I’m really starting to get the itch to do another self-help book about the hosting industry – just need to find the time to get it all written.

In comparison with what I know now with what I knew then I think I could help even more people out. What do you think?

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Create an Ego Feed With Yahoo Pipes

If you find yourself writing for multiple places and having multiple Web sites, it can become very hard to track everything that you do. Sure you have an RSS feed for this project and and RSS feed for that project, but wouldn’t it be nice to have one super RSS feed – if only for your own egotistical reasons? Gather your RSS feeds and head over to Yahoo! Pipes and I will show you how to get it done.

Create a Pipe!

First thing you need to do is point your browser towards Yahoo! Pipes and click on “Create a Pipe”. After doing that you will see a big confusing interface you can not make heads or tails from. Don’t worry. Just click on “Fetch Feed” and drag it over to your right (onto the grid).

Drag and Drop Fetch Feeds!

Next you will want to click on the “+” graphic next to URL to add more feeds to the list. Click it once for every feed you would like to group together as one.

Sort Your Feed Items!

After that, you will need to sort your mega feed by date, so it looks like a regular ol’ RSS feed. To do that, click on “Operators” on the left sidebar and then drag and drop “Sort” onto the grid. Don’t worry if this looks messy, you don’t get any points for making it look nice yet.

On the box that says “Sort” you are going to want to select “Publication Date” on the drop down box. In the next drop down box you see (to the right of the first one) you need to select “descending” as the order you would like your feed to be displayed. That will cause all of the newest entries on your feed to be displayed at the top.

Connect the Dots!

Next, you see that little circle under each of the boxes you have created? You need to connect them all together so they will work as one. Start with the “Feed Fetch” box. Drag the little circle down to down to the top of “Sort”. If you did it correctly you should see a blue line connecting the two now. Next click on the circle under “Sort” and connect it to the circle on top of “Pipe Output”.

Your almost done! In the upper right corner you should see a button that says “Publish”. Click that. A new box will come up and give you a lot of information to fill out about your feed. You can name it, put a description and some keywords. After doing that, click “Publish” at the bottom of that box.

Fill in the Blanks!

Now click on the link that says “Back to My Pipes”. If everything was done correctly you should now see your newly created pipe listed there. Click on the name of your pipe and you can see a lot of information about it. The next thing you want to do is hit the “Run this Pipe” link.

Run Your New Pipe!

Now you should see a Web page representation of your mega feed. Click on the link that says “Subscribe” and you will be given a list of options to choose from. There are a great number of ways you can keep up to date with this feed.

The one you pick is up to you. Here is the final product for the mega ego feed that I created! Neat, hu?

Yahoo! PipesSo now you have your own egotistical RSS feed to keep track of all of your different posts to all these different places. Even if you don’t have as many blogs or write at as many places as I do – you can still make use of this tool. You could combine your del.icio.us links and your Flickr feeds to keep track of your favorite links and photos. You could get the RSS feeds for all your friends’ blogs on MySpace and make one feed to track them all. The only limit is needing an RSS feed and your imagination.

+ Now Learn How To Plug That UGLY Feed Address Into FeedBurner!

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Top 9 Security Extensions for Firefox

Now I do come from the camp of folks that say that Firefox is mainly safe because it is not the tallest nail getting hit at this moment. Internet Explorer is harder hit on by those who wish to do you harm, so that is one reason why it is less safe than Firefox.

On the other hand though, Firefox is a “stupider” browser (no offense to my Mozilla friends) so it is harder for deviants out there to get it to do their evil deeds.

No matter if you like Firefox or not, you have to admit there are a lot of great extensions out there that can make your browsing a lot safer. Nothing beats common sense, but having some of these extensions installed should be a good first line of defense.

Continue Reading →

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Web Hosting Ecommerce Guide

Doing something a little different this week. Instead of having your usual round up of stories, help tips and more I figured I would focus on one topic to give you (yes, you!) a resource to learn from and come back to any time you need it. Let me know if you would like to see more episodes dedicated to one topic like this.

Now first things first, what is ecommerce? Ecommerce is the conducting of commerce with goods and services over the Internet. It includes: consumers using the Internet to purchase goods and services online; as well as businesses selling and communicating with other businesses through the Internet.

There are a lot of “Mom and Pop” stores all over the world that want to get their goods and services Online. How do they do it? Well there are a few things that Joe is going to need.

Topics Covered on this Web Hosting Show – Special Edition Podcast:

1. What to Look for in Getting a Domain Name
2. Picking the Right “Ecommerce Friendly” Web Hosting Company
3. Finding Shopping Cart/Online Store Software
4. Dedicated IP Address – Need it or Not?
5. SSL Certificates and Credit Card Processors

What are you waiting for? You know you want to tune in, listen and learn!

Ecommerce Web Hosting Guide
+ Download and Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 93!

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Google Reader Guide Updated

My Google Reader Tools and Guide has been updated again. I am going to try my best to keep it as updated as I can – or for as long as people are interested in it.

If you have any other suggestions for it, please let me know.

I have had fun collecting all these links, tips and tweaks from all around the Web – and I hope you have been enjoying checking them all out as well.

This might be the most popular topic I have covered via this Web site in a very long time. You know me though – always happy to help!

+ Check Out the Unofficial Google Reader Tools and Guide!

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Do it Yourself Online Marketing

Here is my most recent contribution to the Lunartics Lunarpages.com blog. You should really check this place out, it is covering a lot of great topics!

Marketing is one of the things Online that just fascinates me to no end. I love watching it. I love studying it. I love putting it to practice for myself when I can. The truth of the matter is though is that a lot of people out there are either scared of it or intimidated by it. There should be nothing to fear about marketing. It is just the practice of getting yourself out there to the public.

Since there has been a lot of marketing talk here lately, I figured I would chime in. So to help those out there that might fear the practice of marketing, or who might need marketing practice I figured I would put together a do it yourself guide.

+ Check Out the Rest of My Article at Lunartics!

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Working With WordPress

I enjoy installing WordPress for people. Now I will leave it up to you to decide if that is really cool or really sad. Nevertheless, it provides a neat feeling. Maybe I get a buzz from knowing that this Web site could be the next big thing. Maybe I just like helping folks out. What people do not realize though is getting up and going with a WordPress blog is not that hard at all. Once you get the hang of it, you can get yourself up and going with a great looking Web site in under an hour.

Now the first thing you are going to want to do is visit WordPress.org and download the script itself. Personally, I find downloading the .zip version works best for me – but others might like the .tar.gz version as well. Once you get that downloaded onto your computer, you need to un-compress it and decide where you are going to put it.

+ Read the Rest of Customizing and Using WordPress 101 at Lunartics!

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Get More From Google Reader Guide

Google Reader

+ More Google Reader Tips!

Ever since Google moved Google Reader over to the newer, cleaner and better design I have been using it to handle all of my feed reading. I have gone from FeedDemon, to Newsgator, to Rojo to Google Reader – so I have tried a lot. Google Reader beats the rest of them hands down.

While using it to browse through my RSS feeds I have run across more than a few external tools to help you get more out of Google Reader.

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Podcasting on the Cheap

small-servers.jpgWant to know how I put together the Web Hosting Show podcast? I recently wrote up a podcasting guide for the Lunartics blog – and thought I would share it here as well. I am a big believer in not having to pay much to get your projects up and going.

Now as you can tell from the About Our BlogSTARS! Web page, I am no stranger to the art of podcasting. In fact, in February I will be celebrating my two year anniversary of creating them for the public. Now one question that I get sent my way a lot is how do I do it?

+ Check Out my Low Budget Podcasting Guide on Lunartics!

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Web Hosting Basics

When it comes to Web hosting, it is no secret that I am a little ‘bit of a “media rock star“. With that said, I am always looking for more great information on the topic. This time around, I happened to find it over at webhosting.wblogs.org. This beginner’s guide to Web hosting is something we should all probably have a look over from time to time. There is no time like the present to get a refresher course in Web hosting 101.

+ A Beginners Guide to Web Hosting

If you ever need anything that is a little more in depth, then I would recommend that you pick up Lockergnome’s Guide to Web Hosting as well.

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