Several sets of usernames and passwords are imperative for making changes and updates to your website.  Especially for sites that are a few years old and were developed by outside developers, these passwords get easily lost – frequently the scenario is the employee that kept track of them has long since left the company or the file storing them has been deleted.

Unfortunately, the time you realize you really need this information is when there is an emergency – and the time it takes to track down the passwords ends up being very expensive.

Examples of such scenarios include:

• The domain name has expired and your website no longer loads. The domain name will be available for purchase to anyone.
• Content errors, such as pricing are on the website and are limiting sales.
• Legal action is threatened about content, and needs to be changed immediately.
• Employees leave under bad circumstances and related content needs to be changed immediately
• 3rd party providers change their services and immediate attention is required to keep your site active or current

Track down the following list of important website related passwords and store them in a safe place that is not tied to an individual employee.  I explain why it’s important and ways to track it down as well.

(more…)

“Wow how time flies! Remember way back in 2003, when the company decided we needed a fantastic website, with all of the latest bells and whistles? Well we did it, and it served us quite well at first. But it is showing its age now though, isn’t it? I guess it’s time to call the designers and developers and make some changes….”

Does this scenario sound familiar? It’s sometimes hard to believe, but given the rapid speed of Internet growth, the cutting edge technology that companies worked so hard to implement just a few years ago is now outdated and insufficient.  I’ve been working with many companies that are coming to this realization, and an unfortunate trend has appeared. These companies, sadly are completely determined to keep using their 3rd party vendors and service providers.

(more…)

Holiday Lights Display

As the holidays fast approach, millions of us are pulling decorations out of the attic, grabbing extension cords and untangling the lights. Last weekend I set up the tree, put lights outside, and put candle lights in each of my windows. It certainly looked nice and festive, but I quickly dreaded having to plug and unplug each set of lights every day.

Fortunately, I had a solution! Using X10 automation modules, my windows computer and about 30 minutes of effort, my lights now turn on and off automatically every day!  This post details the steps I took to accomplish this, and provides some resources so you can set up a similar solution yourself.

(more…)