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  • Backing Up Digital Photos

    There is much discussion on the Internet about the best method for backing up digital photos. Some say CD/DVDs are the best media, while others prefer hard drives or tapes. In my opinion there is no right way to back up digital photos as each method has its advantages and disadvantages. I will discuss the various media and their advantages and disavantages in this post, and then discuss the method I use to back up my digital photos.

    Optical Media (CD/DVD)

    CD/DVDs are perhaps the most popular method for backing up digital photos, as most computers now come with a burner and software. Most photo organizing software also include the ability to burn your photos to a CD/DVD.

    Advantages: Very little cost to storing your digital photos, as your computer probably includes a burner. You can buy CD/DVD spindles that include hundreds of blank discs for a few dollars. A single layer, single-sided DVD can hold up to 4.7GB, which means you can store thousands of photos on a single DVD.

    Disadvantages: The biggest and possibly most talked about problem with optical media is that they could develop problems as time passes. This could lead to you digital photos becoming unreadable. To help minimize read problems in the future, only buy name brand CD/DVDs.

    Another disadvantage with CD/DVDs is the fact that they are a progressing technology. This means that in a few years they will be replaced by another form of optical media. For example, the CD is now being replaced buy the DVD, which in turn is slowly being replaced by high-definition DVDs. This means that you will have to eventually move your backups to the next generation of optical media every few years.

    Hard Drives

    Hard drives can store enormous amounts of information, much more than either tapes or CD/DVDs. All computers come with at least one built-in hard drive so you don’t need to buy anything else. An external hard drive, however, is preferred for backing up data.

    Advantages: As mentioned they have massive amount of storage capacity, meaning one hard drive can probably store your entire digital photo collection. You would only have to purchase the drive and no additional media. An external hard drive is very common today, and can connect to your computer through the USB port. This keeps your data safe in case your computer fails and you need to reinstall your operating system. Unlike the other media, hard drives have been around for many years, and although the technology may change, you will still be able to use your current hard drive for many years.

    Disadvantages: The biggest problem that you can run into would be a hard drive failure. Always keep in mind that anything with moving parts can break, and a hard drive is no exception. If you take care of your hard drive, then it should last for many years.

    Magnetic Media (Tape)

    This is not as popular for a home user as it is for a business user. Tapes are popular for a business since they can store much more than a CD or DVD, and they are more reliable.

    Advantages: Tapes, as mentioned, can store a large amount of data, although not as much as a hard drive. Not only can they store a lot of data, but they can also be erased and rewritten many times. If you take care of your tape, then it can last for many years.

    Disadvantages: Out of the media mentioned in this post, tape backup is probably the most expensive. You would need to buy a tape drive, and then the individual tapes, and depending on the type you buy it can be quite expensive. This is one of the reasons tapes or used more in business than at home. Tapes can also degrade if used on a frequent basis, which could cause problems with your data, so just like the other media you will need to take care of your tapes.

    Online

    This type of backup isn’t discussed as frequently because most don’t think about using an online service to store their data. There are many places online that can provide you with enough disk space for your entire digital photo collection, but you will need to research the best Web site that suits your needs.

    Advantages: One of the biggest advantages is that you don’t need to worry about resaving your data as technology progresses. Your chosen online company will do that for you. Another advantage is that the online company probably has a good backup and restore system in place in case of a hardware problem (at least you hope). This will help ensure that you never lose your data.

    Disadvantages: You will probably need to pay a monthly fee to store your data on the servers, and depending on your budget, this may not work for you. You will also need to do much research into the online company first to ensure that your data is safe and secure. The last thing you need is to see your digital photos all over the Internet because someone accessed your backups.

    My Method for Backing Up

    After reading this post, you may be wondering how I choose to back up my digital photos. Here is what I do:

    1. First I copy the digital photos to an external hard drive. I use a Western Digital 250GB hard drive which has more than enough storage space for my needs. This also allows me to pull up the pictures at anytime without having to find a DVD first.
    2. I then backup the same photos to a DVD (usually one for each year). This allows me to keep my digital photos off site in case something happens.
    3. I also maintain my collection of digital photos on an online Web site. This provides extra protection for my photos.

    As you can see I don’t stick with one method of backing up my digital photos. The best thing you can do when backing up your photos is to make multiple copies. This way if one copy doesn’t work, you have another.

    Summary

    I discussed the various media that you can use to back up your digital photos. I have also described the method I use to backup my photos. After reading this post, I hope that you will be able to choose your preferred method to keep your photos safe for many years. Remember: always make multiple copies of your data.

  • Dell Inspiron 6400 – Three Unknown Base System Devices

    Dell Inspiron 6400 – Three Unknown Base System Devices

    I recently encountered a problem where a Dell Inspiron 6400 displayed three base system devices after installing Windows XP onto the machine. It originally had Vista installed, so I only had Vista drivers, which didn’t work with Window XP.

    About a year ago, someone I know purchased an Inspiron 6400 laptop from Dell and tried to get XP installed on it instead of Vista. They had no luck and ended up with Vista. Recently, they have decided to remove Vista and install XP on that same laptop, and asked me to do it. No problem, at least until I ended up with three devices that weren’t recognized by XP.

    If you have an Inspiron 6400 and have noticed three base system devices in the device manager, then I will explain how to correct that issue in this post.

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  • How to Change Your Comment Links in Blogger to DoFollow

    How to Change Your Comment Links in Blogger to DoFollow

    There is always much talk about nofollow and dofollow links on web sites. Much of the discussion is about whether you should make a link nofollow. For blogs, this discussion is centered more around the links in the comments of a blog post. Many visitors may leave a comment in an effort to get a free link back to their blog with a dofollow comment link.

    In WordPress you have plugins that can control whether a link in the comments is nofollow or dofollow. In Blogger blogs, however, the default is to use nofollow links in the comments of the posts. In this post I will explain how to change the comment links in a Blogger blog to dofollow, if you would like to make the change.

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  • Size Does Matter…at Least for Passwords

    Size Does Matter…at Least for Passwords

    I have been thinking and talking more about security in recent weeks. For my regular readers you would have noticed that I have been concentrating on securing Windows 7, but one topic I didn’t discuss was that of passwords.

    It seems everything we do with computers, you will usually need to enter a password at some point. Just think about how many places you need to input a password, such as logging into your computer, a web site, or software that is installed on your computer. With many of these places containing extremely private information, it is important that you use a strong, safe, password to prevent unwanted individuals from accessing your information. Let’s look at what is a strong password to protect your data.

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  • Promote Your Online Business through Guest Posting

    Promote Your Online Business through Guest Posting

    Guest posting is essentially a type a blogging in which you write posts on any topic. Your posts should be informative and qualitative. At the end of the post, in the author info, you can place a link of any site if approved. Guest posting is like an information sharing method that attracts the online users and readers to read your post and if they like your post, there are chances to click on the link placed at the end of the post. Those readers may consist of direct or indirect traffic to the posted website. In other words, Guest Posting is a service of posting unique articles written about any topic to promote your business.

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  • Spicing Up Your Social Media

    Spicing Up Your Social Media

    Social Media has become a tried and tested method of promotion for your website and with every algorithm tweak and change that Google and the other search engines are doing social media is becoming more and more important. Google indexes links that come from Twitter and other social media sites (though it is still in talks with Facebook over its user content) and as links are phased out and smart semantic web associations between terms (generally referred to as co-ocurrence) become the norm these social media mentions are only going to become more important. Facebook’s latest announcement, Graph Search just made social networking even more important than ever.

    Up until recently you could rely on backlinks to get your site higher in the SERP classification as any Search Agency professional would tell you. But if people do not search for your site through conventional search engines but rather stay within their social network and try to get a customised result from within their social network the whole point of Search Engine Optimisation is moot. Of course not everybody will use Facebook’s Graph feature and, indeed, not everybody has Facebook so there will still be a great market for SEO, even if links will likely keep dwindling in importance.

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  • 10 Easy Ways to Make Your Blog Better

    10 Easy Ways to Make Your Blog Better

    When it comes to blogging many of us forget that the simple things matter. We get so caught up in the ads and the content that we forget what makes a blog stand out to readers first is the way it looks. First impressions matter here if you want readers to stick around long enough to read your content.

    That is why I wanted to go over a few simple points about blogging that you may have forgotten n your rush to get out great content.

    10 Easy Ways to Make Your Blog Better

    1. Focus is essential

    The first thing I want to remind you of is that your blog’s focus, its niche topic, is essential to its success. If your blog is not focused or has too wide of a focus you will lose your readers. There is a metaphor I like to remember when I think about focus.

    It is like spaghetti sauce. There is smooth and chunky but no in between. Some people like smooth sauce and are happy. Some like chunky and are happy, but if you try to make an in-between neither of them will be happy. Like this, blogging is about making your content fit your readers.

    2. Who are you writing for

    Speaking of fitting your readers, once you find out what your topic is you need to find out who your target market is. Is it retired people? Teenagers? Business people? Stay at home parents? You cannot write effectively if you do not know who is reading your blog.

    Instead use resources online to find out who your blog’s market is and what they are looking for.

    3. Doing research

    Now when it comes to finding out what readers are looking for it pays to do your research. There are many programs online that will give you insight into what search words and phrases your target market are looking for.

    Once you find out those keywords to work with you will be able to tailor your content to meet their needs and get the traffic you want.

    4. Use keywords

    Keywords are overused and underrated. Keyword packing, where your content is nothing more than a series of keywords that no one would actually want to read, is a definite no-no. However if your content is inspired by your researched keywords you will get tons of traffic and meet the needs of your readers.

    An example of this would be a site for special needs kids. The writer found out there was a lot of searching for Down syndrome and Down’s syndrome but no one knew what the appropriate term was.

    He addressed this issue in his blog and at the same time increased his traffic by incorporating two huge keywords in his post.

    5. Keep it short

    While you should be focused on the quality of your blog posts you should not worry too much about the length. A typical blog post should be between five hundred and two thousand words. If you write over two thousand words readers will not stick around to read it all.

    If you go shorter than five hundred words not only do your posts look puny and useless to readers but search engines will not pick up on them as frequently which means fewer readers to work with in the first place. Keeping your posts short but high quality will assure you the most return for your effort.

    6. Update a lot

    Speaking of frequent blog posts, you should update your blog at least once per day. I know that may be a lot for some blog topics but updating frequently raises your blog’s rankings in search engines and gets you more exposure.

    By constantly keeping your blog at the top of news feeds and readers you can keep your blog in your target marker’s mind and increase your exposure to new readers also. New is always better in the online world so make an effort to update your blog as much as possible.

    7. Make it readable

    Another aspect of blogs that I have noticed many times is that the blog itself is not readable. How can you expect more traffic if your blog looks like word vomit on a page? Instead of making your blog’s appearance an afterthought or counting on a computer program to tell you what your blog should look like take a look at your blog yourself.

    Is it something you would read? Do ads cover up the text? Is the background the same color as the text making it impossible to read? Do the colors clash hurting your eyes? Is it boring and dull or so bright and busy that you can’t tell where to start? Address these issues in your blog by cresting a user friendly space for readers.

    8. Make it usable

    Speaking of user friendly once you address the looks of the blog make sure everything works right. I can’t tell you how often I have run from a blog because it just did not work. The links were broken, the images did not load, the blog took so long to load it was ridiculous and so on.

    Make sure your blog is easy to use and give readers the ability to easily move from one post to another within your blog. The more internal movement you allow the longer they will stay and the better off your blog will be.

    9. Add images

    When it comes to a blogs appeal the visual is the first thing readers get. Is your blog nothing but text? How boring! Add some images, graphics, or videos to make your blog posts stand out above the rest.

    Many people find images so appealing they will stop to read the text that goes along with it. Even image searches can bring in new readers to your blog so images and videos are well worth adding. You can find free stock photos on sites like FreeDigitalPhotos.net or import videos from YouTube.

    You can also make your own videos or images using screen captures or web cameras.

    10. Become a part of the community

    Last but not least you should become a part of your community. That can mean your blogging community, your local community, or even your national or worldwide community. Things like natural disasters and food aid are great places to start in giving your time and resources.

    Maybe you can write an article for their website or volunteer your web skills to help them to update their blog. You can donate money, time or services to a variety of organizations and get a link to your website or image badge in exchange.

    That way you can get in new readers and broaden your exposure to their readers or fellow volunteers. In the blogging community you can comment on your fellow blogger’s post and give insightful advice or commentary. You can also offer your help or even do guest post for them in exchange for a link on their site.

    Through this you get exposure to their audience and some may come to your site just based on how well you write your comments.

    There are many more ways that you can improve your blog without having to jump through hoops or spend lots of money. These are just ten simple ways to take a second look at your blog and make sure it is running the way you want it too.

    Do not forget that your target market is people not computers. Try to stay human and give people what they really need: quality content that matters to them. After that everything else is easy.

  • How to Avoid Common Mistakes as a New Blogger

    How to Avoid Common Mistakes as a New Blogger

    Over the last decade, blogging has taken the Internet by storm. People of all walks of life and in all industries have taken to blogging to share their experiences, promote their business or product, or to generate income via advertising and sponsored posts.

    For some bloggers, it becomes a full-fledged career, while others prefer to keep their blogs personal and for when they have time. Regardless of how you choose to approach blogging there are a host of mistakes new bloggers make. Some of these are simple to correct, yet others require a more mindful approach to blogging and a plan to keep things running smoothly.

    If you’re considering a blog for any reason these are a few of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make and how you can avoid them.

    Pick a Proper Web Host

    If you plan to blog more for fun that possible income, then a simple website creator like WordPress or BlogSpot might be all you need, but if you want to be serious, then you need to research Web hosting sites. You first want to look into a hosting service that offers tiered services. You need minimal bandwidth to start and probably some help designing your blog, but little else.

    The tiered hosting sites help when you start to see growth and need to scale up to accommodate for all the visitors you’re now receiving. One thing to always look for in a good hosting service is the guaranteed uptime; accept no less than 99 percent. It does you no good if you have an article go viral and your site crashes, limiting the revenue you’ll actually earn.

    Create a Library of Content Before You Launch

    Another mistake that new bloggers make is launching and promoting their site before they have content in place to back it up. Simply writing an article or two is not enough. Many experts suggest that you have at least 12 to 14 pieces of content published before you invite the world to view your blog.

    In addition, it’s very wise to set a publishing schedule and stick to it. While three posts per week is sometimes considered the rule, be sure that the schedule you set for yourself is one you can stick with. Not only will a regular publishing schedule keep the Google gods happy, it also gives readers a timeline they can trust when visiting your site.

    Know the Ins and Outs of Plagiarism and Copyright

    Few bloggers intend to plagiarize or break copyright laws, but if you’re new to the game it could happen without your realization. It’s best to start by assuming that everything you see on the Internet is protected by a copyright of some sort and know what type of content you can use and what you can’t.

    Creative Commons is a great way to source photos for your blog posts, but pay attention to the requirements. Some content owners specify that you simply need to credit them, some specify that their work cannot be used for commercial purposes, and some require no attribution at all. Become familiar with the rules, use your own content whenever possible, and understand the legal ramifications of violating copyright.

    Use Keywords to Your Advantage

    In the old days many blog posts were laden with links and keywords that, in some cases, made reading them impossible. Google has changed their algorithms over the years so, thankfully, those awkward keyword days are over, but you should still pay attention to what you’re writing and how it’s placed.

    Depending on the publishing platform you’re using you may be able to work with plug-ins that set up your keywords for you. The most popular of these is Yoast and it can help manage your posts so they’re easily indexed by Google, as well as to ensure that you’re using keywords appropriately.

    Starting your own blog is an exciting venture, and is also one that could prove to be a good source of income. Just be sure to take it slow and avoid these common mistakes and you could be well on your way to blogging success.

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