In light of recent events, the TSA has implemented several new measures designed to keep flying safe. The TSA was forced to move quickly to ensure that any unfounded public criticism did not interfere with rolling out the criticial new measures. I offer a summary in plain language here for the benefit of those not as well versed in Federalese as I am. Continue Reading…
Let’s say you’re interested in building a site like I wrote about in How I Make Money Online. You’re probably wondering what steps you will take to create a site like that. Here is what you’d typically do: Continue Reading…
When people find out that I make money online, they want to understand how it all works.
I’ve tried several different ways over the years to make money online. I failed with all but one. I’ve also been involved in several small online startups and seen only a few of them succeed. I have some specific thoughts on why one thing fails and another one succeeds but we’ll have to save it for another today. I want to focus on that one thing I did that became a good source of online income. Continue Reading…
I often get questions on building web traffic. One of my sites has some decent traffic (70k+ uniques per month plus). I attribute this result to basic skills and a little luck.
I picked a topic for a site years before there was a high demand for it, bought a domain with a good keyword and got a few links. Then I let the site sit out there and ripen for a long time. (How I chose the topic or niche and built that site is a story for another day.)
The demand for content on that topic grew over the course of three years and several of my pages floated towards the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) and have stayed there ever since. Even though I didn’t get a ton of links, or even really the strongest links, I bought a great domain name, picked great keywords and got several solid links. Those are all things you can do with basic skills. The rising tide of demand was the luck part.
I have a solid understanding of how to build web traffic. When people ask me how to do it, I usually refer them to a few resources where they can find the best expert knowledge. Each time I’ve done this I thought that I was helping people out. I can see now that, except for a few cases, I really wasn’t. That’s because people often lacked the foundation to understand the resources I sent them to.
You want traffic to come to your website from search engines. How do you do it? The body of knowledge that provides answers to that question is known as search engine optimization, or SEO. But before you can understand the answers to the question of how, you need to understand the what behind it all.
What it is that search engines do? What is it that brings strong traffic to your web pages?
I wrote this article to answer those questions and give you a foundation. Once you have a good grasp of what, how will become simple to understand. Continue Reading…
Don’t laugh.
You may not be aware of this fact but DBAs (database administrators) are actually world renowned for their impeccable display of sartorial savvy. What the average man knows about fashion would fit nicely within a CHAR(4) field. What the DBA knows about fashion requires a VARCHAR(MAX) field. At least.
By the way, the author would have you know that he can speak with total and complete authority on female DBA fashion as well as male. But he will let a female DBA tackle her own sex. Today he will tackle only the male.
Moving right along then, we will begin at the bottom and work our way to the top. Continue Reading…
In SQL Server 2005, you can easily change the default location for log and data files. Open SSMS and connect to the instance you want to configure. Right-click on the instance and choose properties. Then select the Database Settings page and change the Database default locations.
Clickity-click-done. (I know, being a DBA can be tough sometimes. That’s why they pay us the big bucks Sparky.) Continue Reading…
It is Friday and thankfully I’m knee-deep in SQL Server work today (instead of, say, sitting in meetings). It seemed like the perfect opportunity to open the kimono a bit and show you what the DBA’s desk looks like.
This was only partially staged. I got rid of the dust bunnies.
This shot showcases the non-computer tools required by the proficient DBA. Each item was carefully selected and is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to accomplishing the DBA’s job. I’ll explain. Continue Reading…
Like it or not, office politics is an inescapable part of working in a corporate environment. It may not always be visible but it is always there. It is a kind of game. Those that understand it and aren’t personally offended by it often get along well. Those that don’t understand it or are personally offended by it? Not so much. Continue Reading…
A while back, I spent about a month working through several SQL Server performance issues after upgrading three systems from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. During that time I would realize that my knowledge of how SQL actually manages data at a low level was sketchy. In the process of resolving said sketchiness, I came across a few resources that proved helpful. Continue Reading…
A few months ago, the CT Web Innovators met and we covered a lot of ground in two hours: SEO, AdSense, web hosting, CSS, programming, and then some. Phew! It was a good meeting. A question that came up a few times from newer members of the group was a variation of:
Which programming language should I start with?
Ask this question at a table of 10 programmers and you’re likely to get as many different answers. That really doesn’t help the person asking the question much. Continue Reading…