“why, at times, is there a delay between publishing new content to my site and then being able to view it live on the site?”

so we thought to address it here with some instruction on IE & Chrome. There can be a few things at play with cache [including server or site based], but none more likely than what your browser is doing. And, with regards to browsers, try to be sure you’re always working with the latest version.

According to Wikipedia, a Cache in computer engineering is a component that stores data so that future requests for that same data can be served faster. A web browser, for instance, might check its local cache to see if it has a copy of the contents of a web page at a particular URL. And if so, serve it rather than look for any updated version of the page. What’s at play is an effort to make your web surfing experience faster and, at times, the practice will take priority over presenting the most immediate version of a page.

We thought looking at how to clear your browser cache locally might be useful, so here is a video looking at how to do it in Chrome and then further below we added some text and images that look at Internet Explorer.

Chrome

Internet Explorer

On your browser, typically far right side, look for the small gear icon – and click it

From the drop down menu click Internet Options then scroll down To Browsing History and click the Delete button

Another popup box will show, Opt- in to the Temporary Internet Files, Cookies and Preserve Favorites & Website Data AND Click Delete

Close Out Internet Options, then go visit your page AND Refresh your browser!

And don’t forget to be in the habit of saving every so often too so that, in the event your web connection is ever broken – it happens folks!!, you still have all your work in WordPress not to mention in Word on your desktop. Pretty easy to use, so good luck with it… from Kinetic Knowledge!

Us small to medium sized business folks want to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible and while consumers all appreciate good information … most are sound bite oriented.

Daily Blog Tips: 6 Tips for Writing for Web Readers

This post is meant to be a big heads’ up folks. Your password security should be a top blogging priority!

You really must find ways to encrypt passwords to anything you use online these days and that certainly includes your blog! There are people out their working to steal your personal information. Beyond compromising personal bank accounts, they very well may be interested in invading, or even controlling, your sites.

It’s very important to understand that your host cannot prevent the hacking of your user name or password.

No- Nos

Wikipedia defines encryption as the process of transforming information using an algorithm (called cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. Now, we’re not suggesting the use of an algorithm so much as we are that you be clever enough to make passwords virtually undetectable to others, save yourself = ‘the key.’

Using your dog’s name, or ‘Janesblog’ is far from careful or clever; it’s certainly not even basic encryption. In fact it risks your blog and your content, which is your time, effort, brand and your money! … so please go the extra mile! 

Password Protection Tactics

One trick that folks can use might be abbreviating a common phrase or a popular line from a song. For instance, take the Pledge of Allegiance. “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America…” could be the password ipa2tfotuso@.

How about family member first initials starting with youngest?

Adding in numbers capital letters or punctuation marks, if allowed, add additional layers of security. Ultimately, the longer the password and the broader the spectrum of characters, the harder it is to crack.

About.com offers a great set of ideas for Creating Secure Passwords, including detail for:

1. Do not use personal information
2. Do not use real words
3. Mix different character types
4. Use a passphrase
5. Use a password management tool
6. Use different passwords
7. Change your passwords

Your WordPress Blog offers a tool called a ‘Strength Indicator’. We highly recommend using it. You can find it in your Administration, in your ‘Users’ drop down under ‘Your Profile’. Once there, scroll down to ‘About Yourself’ and ‘New Password’. Create one by entering it twice… and you will get a grade. Trust it! WordPress suggests you should be at least seven characters long AND, to make it even stronger, use upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols like ! ” ? $ % ^ & ).

Summary

We’re sure you get the picture, but we couldn’t be more serious & concerned about the securing of passwords. Please, make it a personal priority, if not responsibility. Please, secure your passwords!

Google’s Universal Search, which now places a great deal of SERP emphasis on video and image content [i.e. Alt' or Alternative Content], is a dramatic shift from traditional text dominated search results. It actually reduces the chance [slightly] of your text phrases achieving 1st page search results, while raising the chances for your images or video. The great news is, your business images can generate competitive indexing of their own; however, it’s the descriptive alt’ tags that make it possible!

And let’s not forget that humans really appreciate images!

Image Alt’ Tagging Tutorial For Business Blogs

Know that blog editors can be different, including with WordPress. We’ve certainly modified an editor or two, so there may be minor differences in what you have and what you see below. In any event, here goes:

•Open your blog’s admin’.
•Choose the ‘Write’ tab, which opens your blog editor.

•Choose the ‘Add an Image’ icon, upper right side.

•Choose ‘Browser Uploader’ [it works better for me than ‘Choose Files To Upload’].

•Browse for a file with the desired images on your PC’s hard drive. Images may be those you have photographed or that you’ve downloaded from image based sites, etc. See about Copyright AND Blog Images too.

•Choose your image by highlighting it, press ‘Upload’ and then press ‘Insert into Post’.

•Once the image is loaded into your blog editor, single click the image.
•Two icons will show upper left side of the image, one a thumbnail picture and one a red circle with a line through it.
•Don’t click the red circle, it deletes the image from the blog editor. That is, unless you got the wrong image and want to start over again.
•Click the thumbnail picture icon to open your image editor.
•Look upper left on your image editor and you’ll see two tabs, ‘Edit Image’ and ‘Advanced Settings’

•I always start with ‘Edit Image’, but I certainly use ‘Advanced Settings’ too. We’ll get there soon.
•Once you choose the ‘Edit Image’ tab you’ve got a few data entry areas to choose from and to work with.
•Do you want the image to position ‘left’, ‘center’ or ‘right’, where text will automatically wrap the image? Or do you want the image to be above your post’s text? If above, ‘none’ is your choice. I chose ‘left‘ for all the images you see here.
•Some like to enter an (1) ‘Image Caption’, maybe to credit another owner of the image. For instance, a credit based upon creative commons guidelines, but I don’t like to add captions. So far as I know they add zero SEO value and I feel they lessen the images appeal.
•I usually add an (2) ‘Image Title’ because that’s the ‘alt tag search engine spiders can read as a description for the image. Choose your words carefully, based upon the actual purpose of the image AND/ OR the way you think someone might search for it. Maybe add your name too? Humans can see what you’ve tagged if they roll their cursor over the image. I also always add a (3) ‘Link URL’ that’s relevant. Then I choose ‘Update.’
•Now, single click the image again, choose the thumbnail picture again and then choose the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab.

•Once in ‘Advanced Settings’ you can (1) size your ‘Width’ and (2) ‘Height’, which you may have to play with in order to see what fits or looks best. Different blog’s have different width limitations, so be aware.
•I always ‘Save’ the post with the image in it to see I’m happy with positioning versus the text. I also want to see proper sizing. I do this with the ‘Preview this Post’ option, which sits upper right hand side of the blog editor. Once you’ve ‘Saved’ you can fool around like this without losing anything.
•I also add a (3) 1’ ‘Border’, which adds a black border around, but this preference only. Then I like to add 4’ (4) ‘Vertical Space’ & 4’ (5) ‘Horizontal Space’to create separation between any text and the image.
•Finally, I like to to choose (6) ‘Open Link in a New Window’ and then I ‘Update’.

And that’s how we alt’ tag our blog post images.

PS: You may have seen a post similar to this from me semi- recently. You’re not going mad, we messed that one up. This is a redo, for in case it was useful

I recently read a good ebook that details blogging and social networking as business tools. It’s the ‘Professional Blogging Roadmap’  by Christian Russell, also known as NextLevelBlogger. 

I found it to be thoughtful, layperson friendly and full of guidance for the average small to medium sized business navigating new media tools. In Christian’s ‘Professional Blogging Roadmap’ you’ll find a depth of information for

• why business blogging & social networking is mandatory
• why approaching prospects on a personal level is relevant
• why it make sense to seek out services [like his and ours, for that matter] that reduce learning curve
• why it pays to use directed hosting for blog solutions
• why you need a domain of your own
• what social networks are most useful
• various tips & techniques
• AND the rewards of true differentiation online

So if you’re looking for good instructional resources, give the ‘Professional Blogging Roadmap’ a look!

Related Posts:

• Understanding The New Advertising Environment [i.e. Social Networks, Blogs, SEO]
• Business Bloggers, You need to consider yourselves a source of [modern day] Trade Media!
• Do You Have The Know How To Succeed With Business Blogging?

The chances are you haven’t nailed down all of the above. Not to worry, like anything worth doing it’s a bit more than you might have expected. It’s why a business blogging service like this is committed to provide ongoing client education. In an environment that changes so rapidly, with search engines and the web evolving all the time, being informed is a competitive business requirement.

Obvious instructional subjects we’re focused on include getting started, feature instruction, driving traffic, higher placement in the search engines, becoming the a branded area expert, driving direct subscription, client experience, advanced techniques and generally growing a business through blogging.

Beyond custom leading edge blog solutions, here’s what we’re doing to enhance client knowledge:

Weekly Instructional Tips

On a weekly basis clients can pretty much count on minimum one business blogging tip email, including new web marketing opportunities, search engines, client successes and / or feature instruction.

Monthly Newsletter

On a monthly basis, our newsletter places emphasis on blogging trends & blog features. It’s a must read because we’re often seeing emerging trends or adding brand new features that can be confusing [at first.] With our help, clients are current in their competitive knowledge set.

Quarterly Seminar

Quarterly seminars are visual / audio instruction. Because we’re dealing with so many clients, we’re afforded immediate feedback on activity, confusion, needs and also the latest wishes. In these presentations we’re covering all uses so that our clients are armed with the most detailed knowledge.

Online Library

We’re often answering questions that lead to some pretty boilerplate instruction. Eventually, we have step by step instructional materials we can throw into our online library for client use. A very simple example might be adding a video to a blog post, which is easily forgotten if one isn’t doing it every day. For these cases it’s available in our online library, accessible via personal username / password.

Client Forum

Admittedly, this is just rolling and we’re looking for more convenient ways to broaden client usage. The idea here is, access to the mutually valuable collective experience of all clients. With our client forum, the idea is 24/ 7 access.

Customer Accountability

And then, there’s us – we’re dedicated to HIGH accountability, reliability and proactive customer support. Have questions? Just call or email. You can pretty much count on immediate human assistance at Kinetic Knowledge.

So many clients wish for their employees to either leverage blogs as marketing tools independently or as participant with the companies own blog. Rather than setting them loose without any instruction, we will educate them first. We offer 1) basic blog usage education, 2) intermediate blog usage & writing techniques and 3) advanced usage, writing technique and links strategy courses.