Yesterday, I learned about the ax falling for the employees of the Rocky Mountain News, Colorado’s oldest newspaper. Another industry in turmoil and good people on the street.

Sadly, for many of the folks in Colorado as well as the two people I heard about today, things are going to be tough. Both of the people I know are older (one in her late 40s to early 50s, and another in his 70s). Both have dutifully worked for the same place for decades, and counted on their paychecks and 401ks to support their families. We all know so many in that same predicament.

Unfortunately, right now it’s a buyer’s market (for employers), and any hiring that gets done tends to skew toward younger and cheaper workers. So if you’re older, it’s imperative to remain relevant as well as flexible in terms of what you’re willing to do, and for what amount. Another former co-worker emailed yesterday and offered to work for me for free in exchange for some knowledge sharing!

I also have a younger family member who’s been unemployed and looking for months. I recently discovered she has an outdated profile on LinkedIn and just three–three!–connections. And she’s not using Facebook or other tools like Twitter to make connections.

All these examples make me sad, but also angry. Angry in the sense that too many people sit around, complacent in their situation and not taking active steps to ensure their very survival. This latest economic malaise has done nothing if not show us all that in a palpable way, it’s every man and woman for herself now. So today, I’m imploring everyone I know to face the reality that no one’s job is safe. And the best way to protect yourself is to ramp up your networking efforts–before it’s too late.

As I look around, I see a lot of hope in people who are out there helping others. Much of this is taking place thanks to the very networks I mentioned, like Facebook and Twitter.

I’ve spent a lot of time through this website writing about ways to connect with others using social media. I encourage you to read Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Personal Brand Image Online and A 4-Step Plan to Achieve Social Networking Fame, among other posts.

Rather than rehash those articles, I’ll just add a few more observations:

• If you’re not actively using and learning about social media tools, now is the time. Stop complaining and worrying about your life and just do it. As long as you have an Internet connection, 99% of this stuff is free. All it takes is time.
• It’s never too late to get started.When you first join social networks, you might go weeks or months without making many connections. This is pretty normal. The same goes for creating a blog; I wrote for months and had very few people reading what I said. It can be discouraging, but stick with it! These efforts pay off in the end, if you’re diligent and have something valuable to share with others.
• I just mentioned the real secret to social media: sharing. You can’t join social sites and spam people and expect it to do you any good. You must seek opportunities to connect with, help and share information with others. Daily. This week, I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out. During a presentation, he mentioned that back in the ’80s, media titan Barry Diller used to get up early every morning and randomly called 10 people in his Rolodex. Over time, it made Diller one of the most influential people in Hollywood. Peter brought that notion forward by sharing that one of the first things he does daily is log in to Facebook and send greetings to all his friends who are having birthdays. It’s a simple gesture, but incredibly powerful. Thanks to doing little things like this and using simple technology, Peter Shankman is now a renowned and sought-after speaker and consultant. For a similar story of a guy who has used networking to catapault to the top of his industry, study Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary. A lot of what Gary shares has nothing to do with wine or his company. He says he’d rather have a million friends than a million dollars, and I believe him. And the funny thing is, the more friends he makes, the more money, too.
• Embrace social networking—online and off. If you just sit in front of a computer all day and don’t make real, physical connections, you’re missing out.Just yesterday, as I was wracking my brain trying to promote a client, I got a tweet from a journalist that led to a phone call that led to a TV interview. Then, I met another friend from Twitter for lunch. It turned out his father-in-law was a notable and frequently quoted expert on the very subject I was pitching for my client! Another great connection made.
• Start Googling, taking classes and reading blogs and great books by the new masters of networking, like Chris Brogan and David Meerman Scott. These are real people with fantastic ideas that just flat out work. I’ve never met either of these guys, but both have taken the time to email me or leave comments on my blog. To me, that’s impressive.
• Secret #2: Help others. Right now, that especially means young people getting out of college in a tough market, as well as the older generation I mentioned. They need all the encouragement they can get.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Lots of people will be happy to do so.
• Sharpen the saw. It sounds trite, but thinking about the analogy of the ax falling on so many people makes me think of Stephen Covey and his 7 Habits’ saw. Instead of dreading the blade, grab it and start polishing like crazy. In a real sense, this means taking a real hard look at your life and talents and figuring out how to use them as best you can. Don’t let others dictate the outcome for you, or prescribe your unhappiness. Stay focused, work hard, make connections and good things can happen!

Please bookmark or send this article to people you know who are looking for work, or scared about losing their jobs, using “Share This Post” below.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

For anyone launching a website, a critical action item on your to-do list will be finding a good web host. With all the thousands of options available, how do you make the best decision?

To me, the primary criteria are reliability, customer support and a focus on web hosting.

First, you want a company that truly lives up to their claims for 99.9% uptime or whatever their number is. Of course, you can’t really verify this for yourself until you’re a customer. But you can certainly do research ahead of time to see which companies rate well. Start by asking friends or business associates with websites who they use and what their experience has been. I chose my current host, Fused Network, on the basis of a web designer I trust.

Another very good information resource is Host Jury. If you’re considering a hosting provider that isn’t listed there, then get half a dozen customer references and call them up to find out how satisfied they are.

Keep in mind that no one can (or should) guarantee you 100% uptime. Even with the best host, your site will go down occasionally—especially if you are on a shared server. So the questions you need to get answered are:

1. How fast will you be notified about any hiccups or outages?
2. How fast will you get a response to a call or email?
3. How fast will the provider actually resolve the problem, on average?

These questions point to the second major deciding factor—customer service. In my experience, the best hosts will:

• Let you know your site is down before you discover it (or one of your customers or prospects does)
• Answer your phone call in less than five minutes, with a live human being who will address your issue
• Personally reply back to an email or posting to their tech support form, within 5-10 minutes (note: automated email responses don’t count!)
• Send you a detailed explanation for any planned or unplanned outages, telling you the reason in easy-to-understand terms

I can’t stress the customer service aspect enough. I’ve been with web hosts who took forever to respond (if they ever did), which is unbelievably frustrating if your website is down.

The third consideration is the provider’s vested interest in hosting. Really outstanding web hosting companies specialize in web hosting…and that’s it.

So those are my main criteria. Notice I didn’t emphasize price, because most hosts are by necessity price competitive. Just watch out for super-cheap pricing, which is a red flag in terms of the support you can expect to get. On the other hand, if you have massive file storage needs or anticipate heavy traffic, you might need to consider a dedicated server, which will cost significantly more.

After narrowing down a list of potential hosting providers, it’s a good idea to contact their sales team to make sure you select the right package. That is also the ideal time to ensure they have the features you will need to easily access your files and maintain your account. When in doubt, invite your favorite web developer to ask the questions for you.

By taking the time to chose a web host carefully, you will be able to launch and run your website with confidence. Doing so will hopefully spare you the time, expense and irritation of having to switch providers later.

Photo credit: Tim Dorr

In the previous article about using WordPress, I mentioned some of top reasons to use it for your blog or small website.

One of my priorities when planning for Web Business Freedom was to establish a very professional look for the site. I am firm believer in the power of quality graphic design. Unfortunately on the web, design often takes a back seat to content. However, I think both design and content play a role in making a positive impression on your users.

Initially, I felt strongly about creating a custom, one-of-a-kind design for this website. So I asked a very talented designer I know to give me a quote. When it came back at more than $5,000, I decided to try to look for a cheaper option. Being in startup mode, every penny counts!

Fortunately, there are a lot of very good pre-defined WordPress layouts, otherwise known as themes. Once you have WordPress (the .org version) installed on your server, you’re free to use one of these themes.

Thousands of themes are free, and the only dilemma is spending the time searching for something to fit your needs. WordPress has its own free themes directory that allows you to search for many of these. Using a free theme is a good way to get started with WordPress. And you can always change your mind and choose another design.

If you’re hankering for something with more pizzazz than a standard free theme, but that’s less expensive than a custom design, you might try a premium theme. Typically, these will be very well designed WordPress layouts that also come with extra features built in, such as ready-to-use widgets that will enhance the functionality of your site.

I was fortunate to run across a relatively new site, WooThemes, that specializes in premium themes. One of them was very close to a rough sketch I had in mind for the Web Business Freedom site.

Like most premium theme sites, WooThemes provides detailed instructions on how to download and install their themes. After deciding on the theme I liked, I debated whether I wanted to do the installation myself. While not a novice with things like FTP and server settings, I was nevertheless a little intimidated. Essentially, I felt it would be a better use of my time if I could find someone to install the site for me, add my logo to it, tweak a few other settings, and make sure it was all working.

A friend suggested I contact one of the designers at WooThemes. I figured it was a long shot, but in a surprisingly short time I got an email back from Adii, a self-described WordPress Rock Star and one of the WooThemes’ founders. He agreed to help out, for a lot less than what I was quoted for a custom design. Granted, I could’ve spent very little money to do everything myself using WooThemes, but I still decided to hire Adii.

Adii spared me a lot of time by setting up the hosting, installing the theme, adding my logo and color scheme, activating some essential plugins and even tying into a third-party email campaign system I use. Even with Adii doing the bulk of the work, I still invested many hours overseeing the job and testing the site.

Overall, the process went smoothly. Inevitably, though, I hit a snag or two along the way to launching the site. I had trouble uploading images, and when Adii wasn’t readily available to fix the issue I asked another developer for help using the WooThemes’ support forum. That person was able to fix the images problem, but unfortunately he wiped out my logo and the email signup box! I accepted responsibility for not waiting on Adii, which is a lesson for anyone launching a new website: Be patient. Stuff will happen, and haste makes waste. Too many people working on the same files is a recipe for disaster.

Once everything was working correctly, I started adding pages and content to the site. As I said, WordPress is pretty good and user-friendly, on the whole.

My biggest gripes revolve around actually inputting content (copy) and uploading images. As anyone who has written for the web knows, it’s trouble to use Microsoft Word and then copy-and-paste into WordPress. Even in HTML/text mode in WordPress, many characters get mangled in the process.

At first, I opted to first write my articles in Google Docs, but also found some formatting and copying-and-pasting to be quirky. Then I switched to TextEdit (I’m on a Mac), but again found some gremlins creeping in. It became a tedious process of pasting text in WordPress, saving in “unpublished” mode and previewing each article (repeatedly) to check the formatting.

Finally, I started typing all articles first into TextMate, which seems to be working better than any of the above methods. I also use BlogAssist and TextExpander to quickly type common HTML tags, like commands for bold, italics, links and paragraphs. I wrap all of my content in tags in TextMate, beforeI copy anything into WordPress. I strongly encourage anyone who is thinking about blogging to become familiar with how to use these basic HTML tags, at a minimum. You can add tags right in WordPress, but the editing window is small and not a great place to spending editing your text.

I’m sure there are probably easier ways to get raw content into WordPress, but for now these are my personal preferences. I also know there are other tools that you can use to post content via a web browser or email, but I am too picky about the way I want things to look to pursue these options.

In terms of images, I think WordPress makes it a bit difficult to upload and assign images within posts. Some of WordPress’ built-in tools just don’t work well, so I find myself having to manually copy the full URL of each image that I upload and add this entire string as the image reference. It’s also important to size and compress images properly, before uploading them to WordPress.

To sum up, WordPress is a fantastic platform for launching a blog or small website. However, it does come with a learning curve, especially if you are a novice with server lingo/setup or HTML. It pays to get someone to help you get it set up correctly from the start. And later, you need to learn or brush up on some simple HTML and photo editing techniques. Otherwise, you might get frustrated at wacky formatting or images when creating your blog masterpieces.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetheriot

So you want to start a website? There are an overwhelming number of options available, both in terms of the software you’ll use for the initial setup and ongoing maintenance, and the hosting platform or environment where your site will live.

It can frankly lead to analysis paralysis trying to pick the “best” system to use. There is no 100% perfect system out there. But some are more user-friendly (especially for beginners) than others.

For a lot of people (including me) WordPress just makes good sense. If you’re primarily starting a blog, WordPress is open source (i.e., free) and is the top blogging software of choice. Alternatives include Blogger (also free) and Typepad (various paid versions from $4.95+ per month). I’ve used both Blogger and Typepad but kept coming back to WordPress.

Why WordPress? For me, the main advantages are:

• It’s free (but not necessarily, depending on which version you use…more on that in a moment)
• There are thousands of excellent design templates or layouts available for WordPress
• There are dozens of plugins and widgets that enhance the features of WordPress
• It is very customizable
• It is (relatively) easy to install
• It is (relatively) simple to use it to add, edit and delete content

Besides being good for a basic blog, WordPress is decent to use with any basic website. That said, it is not for everyone (look elsewhere if you need advanced databases in your site, for example), and it is not as easy to implement or use as some may lead you to believe. To take full advantage of WordPress, you’re going to need to get your hands in some HTML code at some point, or have someone who knows some hosting and programming basics help you out.

WordPress: Where To Start

There are actually two flavors of WordPress, and they can be confusing to the uninitiated. There’s a free, hosted version at WordPress.com, and a free, downloadable version at WordPress.org. The main difference is, with the first version the WordPress organization does all the heavy lifting, and you don’t have to install anything or worry about hosting. With the second version, you have to physically download the software and then upload and install it on the right kind of web server that is capable of running WordPress (it requires PHP and MySQL).

The folks at WordPress actually do a great job here of explaining the differences between the two versions.

The real crux of the matter lies in the control you want or need to have over your site. If you just want something up fast and aren’t worried about the ability to really control or customize your website, go with the free hosted version. Otherwise, you are much, much better off in the long run using the download-and-install route (.org version) despite a steeper learning curve. You’ll only be able to control the look-and-feel and functionality of your site using WordPress.org.

And here’s something that is not at all obvious—it’s actually ideal to set up a free WordPress (.com) account first, even if you don’t ever actually make use of a site there! The reason is that this is the only way to get a WordPress API key (a special code that will allow you to use services and enhancements built on the .com platform) while still hosting your blog elsewhere. This is extremely valuable, especially in order to use WordPress’ anti-spam service known as Akismet. And it can’t hurt to set up your free (.com) account, especially if you’re new to WordPress and want to play around. Go ahead, you can mess around as much as you want and it won’t cost you a dime.

After setting up a free WordPress account (the .com site), you have two choices to get the “real thing,” the full downloaded version of the WordPress software. The simplest option is to find a web hosting company that comes with WordPress pre-installed, or via a “one-click installation” type of service. WordPress suggests some web hosts, and there are plenty of others out there who are WordPress-friendly. (The host for Web Business Freedom is Fused Network.)

The second option is to physically download WordPress and install it on your web hosting server. This is a lot trickier and not for the techno-phobic at heart. Michael Pollock of Solostream.com has put together a great step-by-step WordPress installation guide and accompanying screencast.

Once it is installed, the real fun begins! In the next article, I’ll talk about the basics of using WordPress, including selecting the design, adding site content and enhancing your site’s functionality with plugins and widgets.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2140391908/sizes/m

Years ago, I had the pleasure of doing some public relations consulting for Mark Richardson, president of the Carolina Panthers when I was working for one of the big PR firms in Charlotte. This was the team that he and his father, Jerry Richardson (a former NFL player with the Baltimore Colts) landed in a city that many believed would never support an NFL franchise.

One of their core philosophies was so simple yet so impactful that it has stuck with me ever since.

“Plan your work, and work your plan.”

Quite simply, a plan is absolutely essential to the success of any endeavor. There’s also the old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Planning is especially vital in these turbulent economic times. Big financial institutions are crumbling, taking thousands of jobs with them and causing an unsettling ripple effect. Is your job truly secure? Do you have a backup strategy that isn’t dependent on the whims of a corporation or the economy?

Sadly, many people stall on the planning part, or skip it altogether. In their excitement to implement a big new idea, they don’t recognize the perils of failing to plan. Or, they see it as a waste of time. “Why plan, when things will just change?” is a common, anti-planner’s mentality. Or, they think it’s too complicated.

I disagree. Planning is not a waste of time, nor does it have to be complex to be effective.

In the new book Dare to Prepare, author and master negotiator Ronald Shapiro writes, “Lest you think that taking the time to clearly define your objectives slows you down, my experience is that it is an essential step in pushing performance from acceptable to exceptional. You are one of thousands of talented and dedicated people in your field. Better performance and greater satisfaction require harnessing motivation with a clear understanding of your objectives. Definition is the differentiator.”

When starting Web Business Freedom, a plan was one of the first few steps I took. Because I wanted to put down, in writing, my initial vision for the business. I’ve found that if you don’t write stuff down, it tends to just go right into the ether.

All it takes to do this is some quality brainstorming time, some paper and something to write with. Or in my case, software. I chose to use Keynote (for you PC users, PowerPoint will do), though really any writing program or note-taking application is fine. I used Keynote because I also wanted to sketch out my vision for the website.

I’m also a big fan of Google Docs, so I set up folders and documents as I went along to keep track of ideas and information related to the new venture. Most importantly, I made lists of my strengths and weaknesses, as well as potential services I can offer.

Finally, I used an online mind-mapping software called Mindmeister. There are a number of good desktop-based mindmapping programs, but I like that with Mindmeister (a premium account), you can also work offline after installing Google Gears. (Of course, you can also work with Google Docs offline with Gears enabled.) Mindmeister lets you give others access to view or collaborate on your mind maps.

Mind mapping has been an almost daily process to keep tabs on all the various pieces of the business, from the website itself (e.g., plugins and related sites) to promotional ideas.

In Keynote, I worked until I had formulated the following initial positioning statement:

Web Business Freedom will serve as a resource for entrepreneurs and others who want to use the web to achieve business and personal success online. It will contain a wealth of real-life articles, an email signup and eventually a companion podcast, ebooks, links to videos and more. Information will be aimed at how-to tips, tools, resources and inspiration on prospering on the web.

While that statement would change over time, it gave me a baseline philosophy to start with. That helped guide me as I decided how I wanted the website to look, and what I wanted to talk about.

Next, I used some of the drawing tools in Keynote to create a rough idea of the site I wanted. I’m not a graphic designer, so I wasn’t concerned with the look, but simply the act of documenting different pages and the design and functional components I wanted.

For inspiration, I referenced other sites I had bookmarked using Delicious—another must-have web tool. Anytime I ran across a site that could be of use to my new venture, I added it to Delicious, being sure to include a lot of descriptive tags, or phrases, to make it easier to search for them later.

It’s surprising how few people engage in this level of planning (or any level of planning) when they are thinking about creating a website. I’ve been involved in web development for other people for over 10 years, and have gotten a lot of blank stares when I asked the question, “Exactly what are you looking for in your site?” People somehow think it is challenging to “architect” a site, when many sites start as a simple outline in Word, or a sketch on the back of a napkin! Trust me, there is no wizardry involved in creating an outline for a website.

Now, there are free or cheap tools like Jumpchart that will let you build a mock site, and even add text, images and links. With Jumpchart, you can share and create mockups with others, or export clean, working web code for a rudimentary site.

The act of creating my crude representation of the Web Business Freedom website proved to be invaluable. I knew I was going to be using WordPress as the software platform for the site, and not long after I created my sketch I ran across an inexpensive template that was very close to my concept! (I’ll write more at length in future articles about my experiences with WordPress.) I referred to my outline many times, especially after I decided to hire a designer to install the site and provide some basic design customization to it.

Without all this initial planning, I know I would’ve wasted time, run in circles or potentially overlooked something crucial. And when I hit some stumbling blocks (which happened, because they are inevitable), I might have compromised the integrity of my vision.

To be a pro, you need to act like one. Successful people plan. In 1961, Jerry Richardson invested his NFL championship bonus check of $4,744 in a friend’s fast food company. Starting with a single Hardee’s franchise, he built a restaurant empire, which he then parlayed into the ultimate dream of owning an NFL team.

So what’s your plan?

Tools referenced:
Del.icio.us, Google Docs, Google Gears, Jumpchart: Free
Mindmeister: Free to $3-4 per month (premium versions)
Keynote: $79; free 30-day trial (part of iWork ’08)

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onico

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