Tips

2010,Aug
W

Sell more with Pretty Posts?

in Tips, by Stephanie

I recently ran across this site and decided to give it a try. I’ve been trying to sell an all terrain stroller for quite awhile on Craigslist. I’ve lowered the price several times. I’ve gotten several people interested, but no one follows through with the pick up. Irritating.

Pretty Posts provides layouts for Craigslists, Ebay and other classified ads networks. Basically anywhere you can input html, you can use their layout. You upload your images, type up your description or input other information and they format the posting. Their free package gives you 3 templates, 50MB of space for images and the ability to save 3 posts. The Premium package is $5/month and gives you access to all layouts, 500MB of image space and unlimited post saving ability.

I went with the free package to test things out. The layout is nice and attractive, but will it work?

I had a few inquiries right away. Even a serious buyer. That buyer, however, backed out on me at the last minute. Apparently he couldn’t meet me due to car issues. A week and a half in to my test and I still have the stroller. If this thing sells, I’ll be sure to update, but it isn’t looking promising. The first week did bring me a few more emails, but no sale. Maybe I’ll switch to one of the other free themes next week.

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2010,Aug
W

Firefox: View Saved Passwords

in Firefox, Tips, Tutorials, by Stephanie

It’s no secret I’m a big Firefox fan. I rely a lot, maybe too much, on Firefox for my browsing. There are so many useful extensions and Firefox sports the best ad blocker I’ve come across. Yes, I use Firefox to remember passwords to countless sites. There often comes a time when I need to use a different browser and I have no clue what my password could possibly be. Thankfully Firefox makes it super easy to view the password you have saved while visiting a login page.

Navigate to the login page of the website. Right click anywhere on the page and select “View Page Info”

In the pop up window, click the security tab and then the “View Saved Passwords” button

In the next pop up window you’ll see all the usernames you have saved associated with this particular login page. You’ll see a button at the bottom to “Show Passwords” which will enable a password column for you to view the passwords.

Now you can view all of your saved logins for any site.

Spread Firefox Affiliate Button

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2010,Aug
W

Eliminate even more spam with Gmail

in Email, Tips, by Stephanie

Sometimes you want to register on a website, but you hesitate thinking you’ll end up getting tons of spam mail. Gmail makes it easy for you register at websites and never see an email from them or from anyone to which they may sell your email address. It takes just a little creativity on your part.

First, you must read my previous article “One Gmail Account, Many Addresses.” Basically, Gmail ignores the periods in your email address, so you could put a dot anywhere and gmail will still deliver your email to you. For instance, me@gmail.com is the same as m.e@gmail.com and .m.e.@gmail. It’ll all end up in your inbox.

So, how can you use this to your advantage? Easy. You’ve found a site you really want to register for, maybe it’s to get a freebie e-book or something. You’re a bit hesitant because the site doesn’t look completely trustworthy and your afraid they’ll sell your email address or send you tons of spam. Let’s say your normal gmail address is yourname@gmail.com (and if you happen to be yourname@gmail.com, I sincerely apologize!)

Go to the settings area of your gmail account and click on filters. In the To: line, put in your email address with a few periods added that you’ll remember, maybe yo.urna.me@gmail.com.

Click next step and select “Delete it” then “Create Filter”.

Now, go over to the suspicious website with information that you absolutely must have and register with your newly created filtered email address, yo.urna.me@gmail.com. Any mail sent to this address will be automatically deleted. It doesn’t matter what they do with your email address, you’ll never see any messages sent to that address.

You could also do various things, like create a folder and have all of those emails sent to a folder that you can periodically check, just in case something useful comes through. This way you could filter through your pre-filtered emails.

Google makes everything wonderful!

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2010,Aug
W

My favorite WordPress Plugins

in Tips, Wordpress, by Stephanie

I’m in the process of setting up yet another WordPress install. I love WordPress. I haven’t found much I can’t do with WordPress. But anyhow, so I’m uploading the files right now and the next step, of course, is Plugins. I know there are a few that I automatically install with every WordPress site I build. So, here are my faves, in alphabetical order.

1. Contact-Form-7 :: Every site needs a method for users to contact the site owner. I’m not a fan of publishing email addresses on a website due to spam issues. I love forms. I can’t say I’ve tried every form plug in for WordPress, but I can say I’ve used this one repeatedly. Set up is easy, customization is easy. It’s a must have.

2. PHP Code Widget :: Sometimes you just need to toss some php into a sidebar widget.

3. Sexy Bookmarks :: If you’re going to have a blog or website, you need to allow your site visitors to easily share what they find on your site. Sexy makes it easy and it looks great at the same time.

4. TinyMCE Advanced :: The editor that WordPress supplies is nice, but sometimes you just need more control.

5. Twitter Tools :: Easily tweet your new blog posting. You can turn your tweets into blog posts and your blog posts into tweets. You can also display a sidebar widget of you latest tweets. Great way to integrate Twitter with your site.

6. Woopra :: A client actually introduced me to Woopra. You’ll need to register on the Woopra website, but with the plug in, you can monitor your site visitors and gather important date right from your WordPress dashboard. Woopra offers a few different levels of monitoring, but the free basic level is offers just enough.

Of course, there are more depending upon my needs. For one, I use one of a few plugins to style my log in/register pages, but those are dependent upon the site. These are the ones that I install first without even considering the type of site I’m doing. What are your favorite WordPress Plugins?

I should consult my own list and advice and get this blog up to date!

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2010,Aug
W

Twitter as a customer service tool

in Business, Tips, by Stephanie

I love Twitter. Though I rarely tweet, I follow several people. I recommend all my clients to set up a Twitter page for their website.

Twitter gives you one more avenue to reach your users. It gives one more room to communicate with your site visitors. You can do Twitter only contests and sales exclusively for your followers. This is a great way to get more interactive.

But what about using Twitter as a customer service tool? Here’s my recent encounter. First off, I am a Nascar fan. Yup, it’s true. I follow #29 Kevin Harvick and his wife Delana. So, I ordered a t-shirt from thier e-store. When it arrived, there was a hole in the sleeve. I tried twice contacting their store’s customer service with no response. I don’t know if my emails went to their spam box, or just got overlooked. At any rate, with phone number visible on the site, I sent an @ Twitter message to Delana asking how I could contact someone about my order.

Of course, their e-store has a Twitter account as well! (The Harvick’s are avid Twitter-er’s). We were able to use Twitter’s DM function to get the entire issue sorted out. Without Twitter, I don’t know how I would have contacted them about my issue.

Twitter is not only a social tool, but can and should be used as one more avenue of contact for your customers, clients and site visitors.

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