I use WordPress for my blogging platform and I LOVE it. I’ve used them all (Typepad, Blogger, etc) but nothing compares to WordPress. So up until a few days ago, I’ve had zero problems but little did I know I was never getting emails when someone posts a new comment! Turns out this is a Yahoo hosting restriction not a WordPress bug (I’m on WP v2.0.2).

Basically Yahoo email doesn’t allow you to use the wp_mail function located in the /wp-includes/pluggable-functions.php file….well at least not out of the box. Here’s the change I had to make in order to correct this issue. …click here to read more

Firefox is quickly becoming the browser of choice and for obvious reasons. With it’s add-on functionality (extensions) and keen user interface Firefox is an award-winning free browser. It also protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Internet Explorer just doesn’t have the flexibility or features to adapt with the ever evolving internet world. Here’s my list of favorite Firefox extensions in no particular order.

Web Developer
If there’s one Firefox extension to plug, it’s the Web Developer toolbar. It has a huge number of features and plenty of goodies: you can outline highlights, common elements and links without title tags; images show sizes, alt tags and oversized images; forms enable you to manipulate form elements and submission methods; cookies enable you to add, delete and disable cookies; and there’s much more.
…click here to read more

SEO Egghead has Tracked most of the Interesting things Google Engineer Matt Cutts has said about SEO and getting your site to rank in Google in the past year. These SEO tips may be better than what you can get from any so called “Expert” because they are coming right from the horse’s mouth. . .

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I was watching tv while working over here in Japan and flipped to a hilarious show. There was an actor on some game-type show pretending to be Bruce Willis from Die Hard. This guy had a wife beater tank-top, 5 o’clock shadow, along with a perfect impersonation of Bruce himself!

I couldn’t stop laughing because his head was 5 times bigger than his body…it really just looked like someone took Bruce Willis’ head and popped it onto this skinny Japanese guy. Turns out his name is Akihiro Suzuki and he’s been in several Japanese movies which I’ve never heard of.

If you ever get a chance to watch Japanese tv, you’ll be on the floor laughing. They do some silly-ass stuff and most of it has to do with food. They have more cooking and food sampling shows than Robin Williams has hair.

Matt Cutts is the voice of Google SEO — worshiped and followed by nearly every geek looking to increase their search rankings. Here’s a post from his blog explaining how to file a reinclusion request if you feel your site has been penalized or banned in Google.

If you’ve been experimenting with SEO, or you employ as SEO company that might be doing things outside Google’s guidelines, and your site has taken a precipitous drop recently, you may have a spam penalty. A reinclusion request asks Google to remove any potential spam penalty.The first step is to take a long, hard look at your website. Is there hidden text, hidden links, or cloaking on your site, especially on the front page? Are there doorway pages that do a JavaScript or some other redirect to a different page? Were you trying to use some automated program to get links or scrape Google? Whatever you find that you think may have been against Google’s guidelines, correct or remove those pages.

…click here to read more

One of the most challenging things that the owner of a well optimized web site can face is a redesign. For many companies, this is a frequent event so proper planning and education is needed. Here’s a great article which explains how an upcoming redesign and or CMS implementation could potentially hurt your Google organic rankings.

Marketing Sherpa recently reported that marketers will substantially increase Web site redesign spending more than any other interactive activity, including search marketing. As redesigning becomes a more popular option than starting from scratch, it is imperative for marketers to understand the major elements that impact a pre-existing natural search presence. Any number of different project factors can wipe out the search presence of a Web site that is performing well. A few of the more commonly known natural born search killers include Flash, hidden content and non-search-friendly content management systems. Much has been written on each of these topics, so I want to take this time to shed some light on a lesser-known element that has just as much potential to make or break natural search presence: changing a URL structure.

The hidden search killer

One element of redesign that has a major impact on search investments is the treatment of URL equity, which is the sum of several important values tied into URL structure. Changing domains or renaming existing deep URL structures without a solid strategy can wipe out years of gains in links, traffic, sales and conversions, and prior natural search investments.

…click here to read more

Over the past year I’ve become quite the jetsetter so finding discounted airfare has become even more important for me. I found this great article by Kate Siber where she lists six sure-fire steps to finding the lowest possible deal on airfare, along with other ways to the best airfare prices.

#1: FIGURE OUT THE BEST TIME TO BUY
Your first step to airfare success is to determine the best time to buy your tickets. If you absolutely must get home to Mom for Thanksgiving—or to Courchevel before Lance passes through—the age-old advice still holds true: Buy your tickets at least three weeks in advance.

“I think most airline sources would agree that anything outside 21 days before takeoff is considered an advance-purchase ticket,” says Brian Ek of Priceline.com. “Airlines are different, but generally, once you hit 15 days before the flight, the price begins to go up, then it goes up again at the seven-day mark. So if you want a retail ticket, buy it at least 21 days out for the best price.” Consider buying retail and buying early for vacation destinations during popular seasons or during high-traffic holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spring break in March. …click here to read more

Many small real estate owners (1-4 unit properties) are confused about the best entity to hold their real estate, with potentially disastrous consequences. In fact, the majority of small property owners still own their properties in their personal names.

If you own investment property, you’re probably worried about the liability of being an owner. In this day and age, you’d be surprised to know that 1 out of every 10 Americans is sued.

Land trusts are a great way to protect yourself from instances like this and are commonly referred to as asset-protection strategies. Never own real estate in your own name — use land trusts. John D. Rockefeller once said,

Own nothing and control everything. That is the essence of asset protection.

What is a Land Trust?

It is simply a revocable contract between two or more parties. It has been in use for centuries. The first party is the owner of the property — the grantor, in trust speak. He grants, or transfers title to the property to the trustee. He then becomes the beneficiary, along with any co-owners. Beneficiaries of the trust retain management, control and the right to receive profits from the property. …click here to read more

Here’s an excellent post I came across on the SEOmoz Blog by randfish. Trying to price out an SEO campaign for a client is not an easy task.

Delivering an accurate, reasonable price for your search marketing services is not an easy task. It requires that you pay attention to numerous factors that can affect the effort and time required to complete, along with internal and external market forces (i.e. How badly do you need the money? What do other SEOs charge?). Since this topic gets so little play around the industry discussion forums (as pricing is often kept under wraps), I thought it would be interesting to explore how we price projects and design quotes for a client. The following is a fictitious example, but it is accurate in both scope and actual numbers:

Let’s imagine that the creators of this website (www.explorethepearl.com) called SEOmoz and asked us what we could do to improve the traffic, reach, branding and search positions of their web property. In some cases, companies call with specific requirements, but for this case, (as it often happens in the real world), we’ll say that the client has asked us to construct a contract based on our opinion of what they need.

Current Homepage of ExplorethePearl

…click here to read more

Driving traffic is the easy part……converting them is what takes work.

What if I told you I could dramatically increase the effectiveness of your search engine marketing program and catapult your conversion rates without even logging into Google AdWords? The solution is actually one of the most overlooked aspects of search engine advertising. This simple, yet small change in any search engine marketing campaign can immediately boost conversion rates, sales, and help gain a competitive advantage. I’m talking about the proper use of SEM landing pages. …click here to read more