The Mystic Bird

Confusion runs rampant!

I have a domain name registered with a certain hosting company (whose URL will remain nameless else I help with their SEO. Don’t want that to happen!). I had set up an account with them for testing purposes for a couple of clients of mine. They were interested in having extra domains and so forth and wanted to check this host out.

I set up a test account with this host and as soon as the proverbial ink dried, things went down hill fast! From email issues, slow support response, sporadic downtime and a tyranical forum mod who thought too highly of himself…..I found myself in web hosting Hell! (more…)

Yeah, that’s right. More on Vi$ta and for good reason. Seems that the coupons folks were getting for this upgrade are gonna be a bit useless because the highly touted OS just plain won’t install onto a freshly formatted hard drive like most of us would prefer. It’s set to install only over a validated (read genuine) copy of XP! Read more on this here at TechRepublic’s post! Lame Vista Upgrade Edition!

Seems M/$ still can’t get it right.

Ever since Bill Gate$ and company began their march through internet land, all we’ve heard is how this will be the latest and greatest thing to ever grace our computerized lives. From Windows ‘95 on up to XP…we’ve heard various offerings of the same thing. It’s still coming on strong with the newly released Vista OS (operating system).

Before it’s release ever became a reality, M/$ worked ever so hard to come up with a new OS that would be less buggy (M/$? less buggy?) and be much more secure than it’s predecessors were. <insert loud cough here>

M/$ even offered a test drive to a large crowd of dignitaries that ranged in profession from engineers to hackers. (Yes, hackers too) This test drive was designed to show off just how secure the new OS was. M/$ people strutted about the room with chests puffed out and the look of confidence in their faces. Too bad it was for naught (cool word thrown in here).

Several of the dignitaries began to raise their hands to indicate a hole in this so-called secure new code of theirs. Shock and awe crept across the faces of M/$ execs as hand after hand slowly rose one after another. Holes in the code were being found. Quickly too! Faces of confidence were now turning to faces of stone as the realization of yet another failure began to sink in.

Now, several months later, M/$ is rushing to sell it’s new OS to the general public. Grand reviews abound telling one and all about this latest and greatest thing to ever grace our computerized lives. Sounds familiar…too familiar. Seems in their rush to get the product to market they may have forgotten about that pesky little hole (or two or three?) in their new OS. That’s ok…they’ll rush out the patches…again. Maybe in a month or two…after they see just how quickly the real world hackers can locate the flaws.

Check this page out for more info on the 10 reasons NOT to get Vista!

All this and several hundred dollars for an upgrade to this “Leaky” Vista? Not to mention all the hardware upgrades we’re going to be forced to go through, the software drivers we’re going to have to scurry to locate and who knows what else after we find out Vista just won’t work as advertised.

Thanks M/$ but no thanks. Think I’ll just stick with my trusty Linux.

Let’s see…how about going over those web site analytics to see what page(s) did well and what didn’t. Time to update the site for the stock that needs to be moved as well as new offers or specials you want to run now.

For those that have a pretty much informative site…it may need some freshening up now to help bring in some more page views. Or even some new photos of recent work for those of you that have a business that uses the web site for showing off your trade or skills.

Yes, it’s 2007 now and it’s time to evaluate where you want to be by 2008.

This may require a new look overall or just some strategically placed updated pages to bring in some new interest. Fresh, new photos of recent work along with some customer testimonials are a good idea for prospective new customers to see when they visit your site.

Might be a good time to evaluate how well your site comes up in the search engines too. Some cleverly placed links to other similar sites are a good way to increase rankings amongst the major search engines too.

Yet another idea is to look into a newsletter to your customers to inform them of your appreciation for their past business and to let them know of impending deals or sales for upcoming dates. Customers like to be thought well of. It lets them know they are appreciated.

Yes, it’s 2007! So, what’s next?