I am finally ready to announce my new blog.

Online IT Guide is my new blog.

It is computer advice and blogging for people who have a life. I’ll be sharing computer advice to help with everyday computer problems. I have a very heavy emphasis on handling viruses and malware there right now (there has been so much lately that I think it is a priority).

I’ll also be talking about blogging.

Initially, my emphasis will be on building a blog or website for a small business, although much of that will be applicable to anyone starting a blog. I see a lot of local small business that have a terrible website (if they even have a website). Many barely rank for their own name, much less typical search engine searches that they need to. I’ve grown tired of searching for a local business and finding the typical citysearch type directory instead. I’m looking to help them develop a site that they can change on their own without having to fork over a couple thousand dollars to a developer when they need to change something.

My goal at Online IT Guide will be to make the information understandable to everyday people.

Information like:

• What they need to do to keep their computer safe.
• How to maintain their computer.
• How to back up their data.
• How to set up WordPress for a business site.
• How to create content on a business website that will bring in paying clients.
• When it is time to find an expert to handle the situation.

Again, I am going to try and present this information so anyone can understand (I know I’m doing it right if my mom can follow it).

I will be putting nearly all my blogging effort and time into Online IT Guide.

Much of the blogging topics I would cover here will be covered there. I won’t be making much effort to post here anymore. However, there are some things I may want to post that will not fit into the topic there. Those posts may find a place here. For the most part though, Digital Key is not going to be much of an active blog.

For those that have taken the time to read, follow, and comment here over the years, I thank you. I think you’ll like the new site too. I personally think that everyone you know should subscribe to the site so you know if there is an important update or malware you may need to be concerned about (and there is a lot at the moment).

Head over to http://onlineitguide.com because you’re going to like it!

I’ll be removing the top commentator and making some other changes here but for the most part this site will still stay the same. It is just not going to get the same priority. Who knows, it work out better than it did before.

Till next week.

I promised to make an important announcement today. You’ll find it in this post. Unfortunately, I am not ready to make the full announcement I was planning. The announcement I’ll make today is truly the most important I’ve ever made on this blog, but the rest of the announcement will have to wait about a week till I am ready.

Four years ago today, I made the first post on this blog.

It’s been fun. I’ve made some blogging friends. I’ve had some impressive visitors who’ve left comments. I hope I’ve helped some other people along the way too.

I did a lot of things wrong when I started this blog.

It’s got that stupid .info domain name. I did not really know what I was going to do with this blog when I started it. It has sort of meandered around different topics and not had a clear message and theme. At least not as clear as it should be. It seems to get the most search engine traffic for the keywords hair salon in Pacific Mall, Toronto. Did I mention it has that stupid .info domain name?

After four years, it really has not gotten very far.

I have other sites that get far more traffic. I have other sites that make far more money. I can stumble a page on another site and bring more traffic there than any post on this site will get naturally. I get far more spam comments than real comments. It’s kinda sad, really.

So, the most important announcement ever on this blog (till next week) is:

I am giving up on Digital Key.

Rest in Peace Digitalkeyto.info

I will soon no longer be promoting this site. I don’t expect to be making many posts in the future, although I may still make the occasional rant (without trying to criticize anyone in particular). I’ll probably make some feel good posts that I like to write, like the post before this : “I am not going to die here.”

For the most part, after the announcment next week, this blog will be dead.

Make sure you read that post, or you’ll miss something truly big.

It has been a long while since I have posted.

It would be nice to say that there is a real good reason for not posting for so long. The truth is, there are some good reasons, and some bad reasons. All of which will make some good post in the near future.

I still have a few fixes to return this site to normal.

The Bloglog gadget will return soon. As well as Keyword Luv and it’s sister plugin. Top Commentator may return also.

For now, thanks for reading, and you can trust posting will be much more consistent. See you soon!

I put them off too long.

It is time to do some WordPress blog updating.

I am not an early adopter unless there are serious security problems. In most cases, the Semiologic theme designers have a better handle on the security problems already. In this case, most of my blogs are on reasonably secure versions already and there is no hurry.

In fact, it has been recommended not to update to WordPress 2.6.

WordPress 2.6 has some serious bugs. There is a permalink problem and also security flaw. If you have not updated your WordPress installation to 2.6, you should wait till 2.6.1 comes out in a few more days. 2.6 was not a real security update so you are not taking much risk waiting.

I am updating at this time just to be prepared for further updates.

As WordPress and Semiologic Pro continue to advance, there is an increased possibility of problems with upgrades to blogs running older versions. I want to avoid this in the future. I am also considering host changes for many of my sites and I think it would be better to be using the latest supported versions on my sites and blogs if I decide to move anything.

I am sort of expecting a few problems with this update.

Mostly in the subscribe and bookmark plugins. I am also concerned about a potential feed problem. There were some bugs in these that may not be completely ironed out, but I think those are minor problems.

May I inlist your help?

Does my feed seem to be working right? If you are not subscribed to my RSS feed, now would be a great time to try and see if my subscribe plugin is working. Also, if you have found some posts here useful, why not test my bookmark plugin and let me know of any problems. Yes, I realize this seems to be a poorly masked attempt to get more subscribers and social bookmarks. It is, but I am curious to know if everything is working at this point. How’s that for honesty?

I have plans for more changes to some of my blogs.

I need to make a new header both here and at my photography blog (the header on the photography blog needs it really soon there is a real problem with it). I also plan to use some of the new features in Semiologic Pro to improve some things on the home page and add some interesting things. I am really excited about some of them.

So, lots of fun blogging stuff to do.

WordPress 2.6 has been recently released.

While not a security release, you may want to download the new version right away anyways.

There are some very cool new features. Some features WordPress users have been waiting for a long time to see.

Here’s a few of my favorite new WordPress 2.6 features.

Image captions for WordPress!

Finally! Why we had to wait so long for image captions to be added to WordPress I do not understand. This is something that anyone posting photos on their blog should find very useful. I have been wanting and waiting for this since I started using WordPress.

Improved image control in WordPress.

Many have seemed to have problems with images since the last version came out. While I did not have any uploading problems, I have seen a few quirks that were annoying. Hopefully, now getting those images to float where they are supposed to will be much easier.

Word count.

This should help me keep track of the size of my posts a bit better. Sometimes I get shocked to see the length of a post after writting for a while. I think a word count can help you focus on one idea and finish it before a post gets a bit too long and starts to ramble. I believe there is a sweet spot in post length that makes it more readable (I never seem to follow this – maybe word count will help).

Bulk managment of plugins.

I like to deactivate many plugins before updates. There are often several that could cause a problem with a theme or with the new update. Deactivating before the update can make life a bit easier. Until now, you had to wait for the page to reload after each plugin was deactivated. Now you can select more than one at a time. This will make life much easier. Too bad I have to update first to get the feature.

Here’s the WordPress video showing some of the latest enhancements.

 For most users updating should be easy.

In most cases, start by downloading the files to your desktop. Unzip the files and FTP them to the directory you have installed WordPress into. If you have used Fantasitco to install WordPress, you can upgrade as soon as your host upgraded the Fantastico script, or you can do it manually also.

The Online Video Toolkit from Jim Kukral

Jim Kukral has a free guide to making video for your blog or website.

Jim has been running the Daily Flip video blog for quite awhile. Now he is sharing some of the things he has learned and does with the rest of us.

I just finished watching the videos he has up so far and they are very informative.

The Online Video Toolkit  is meant for those just starting to think about doing video blogging or podcasting. Jim uses a very inexpensive setup in producing the Daily Flip and gets great results. He also uses no technical jargon when he is explaining what he does.

Some of the topics the video guide cover so far are:

• Choosing a camera
• Inexpensive lighting with great results
• Setting up your "studio"
• Clothing to wear

There are other subjects he covers also. He will be adding more videos to the guide. Jim also asks if there are some subjects that you would like him to cover. I think he did a great job showing how much your clothing can affect the camera, this is something I might not have thought about.

Video and podcasting are becoming more and more important for bloggers and Internet marketers.

While you may not want to use video in all your posts, it is something that you should be familiar with and be able to add when you need it. There are times when video can really make a difference. Use the right tool for the job. Or, you can use Jim’s techniques for an all video blog like the Daily Flip.

I find Jim’s Kukral’s The Daily Flip to be one of the best video blogs I have seen.

Jim does a great job. His videos are short and well done. The Daily Flip is very informative and you can learn quite a bit about internet marketing there. He is a great example to follow if you want to do video. Now he is showing everyone how he does it and what he uses.

If you are thinking about adding video to your blog, give the Online Video Toolkit a look.

It is free. Jim does ask you to sign up with an email address to get access, but Jim is a straight up kind of guy. I don’t think you’re going to find yourself getting email from Jim about any of the crazy deals you typically get when you give your email. Jim is not selling anything in the videos or on the site. He even goes into Best Buy to show you where you can get video cameras like the Flip Camera he uses.

Give the Online Video Toolkit a look.

LunarPages is having a problem with my server.

After being down Thursday night, this site may be offline for sometime Friday. Hopefully, not too long.

It seems that the server did not reboot properly after a software upgrade.

And the Linux guys keep saying Linux is so stable.

Here’s part of the email I got this morning from LunarPages:

The xxxxxxx server requires a move due still running a file system check after reboot. While we are working on bringing the server back and investigating the cause, we have already began the restoration of xxxxxxx to a new server as a precautionary measure. Please note that sites are currently offline for Apache activity and other services. Accounts will begin to restore throughout the restoration process, which means some accounts will be back online within less than an hour from this notice as the restore progresses. If your site it not yet online, please check back periodically as most will restore within the first few hours of the restoration.

Unfortunately, we do not have advance knowledge of the exact time of when this window will occur as it is dependent on numerous factors, however, we are estimating this will be approximately 11am Pacific time on Friday, May 9, 2008.

I would that LunarPages responded Thursday night within about 30 minutes to my support ticket.

They told me what the problem was and that they were indeed expecting it to be fixed quickly. From the ticket above, you can guess it did take longer then it should have.

Kind of funny after my recent post about hosting.

Still, really not too bad. Yes, there are hosts where this would not happen. Those hosts are much more expensive than the typical $10 a month shared hosting most of us use.

Hope to be back up on the server soon.

Please come back.

Google wrongly labels Alphatrends.net and blocks author’s access.

Is your blog safe?

Alphatrends is the BlogSpot home for Brain Shannon’s financial videos.

His analysis of stock trading videos are some of the most subscribed financial videos on YouTube. He has over 600 videos and over 5000 YouTube subscribers. He posts a video on stock analysis daily at his blog. Here is an example:

Friday, I got a message through MyBlogLog that he was unable to update his blog because Google was blocking him as a spam blog.

My first reaction was "You’ve got to be kidding." One look at Brian’s videos will show you they are not spam. The is quality content. In fact, most of it is a bit over my head, but I want to learn about stocks and subscribe to his blog because, eventually, I’ll understand. His blog consists of his daily videos and an occasional post about something related.

Alphatrends is not a site you would think could be labeled as spam.

Brian has a PR from Google of 5. He has an Alexa rating of 159,700. This is a financial blog, not a blog that is going to attract lots of readers with an Alexa toolbar. In other words, Alphatrends has good links and decent traffic. I think it is from the content and not from Brian working hard promoting his blog.

Brian is back up on Alphatrends.

Usually, Google is quick to fix these situations. It still takes time. If your label as spam by Google, you get no warning. You are guilty until proven innocent. That can take a couple days. I noticed that while Brian was not able to update his blog, AdSense was still advertising. What happens if your AdSense account gets labeled as spam also? You would not be able to remove it from the blog as Google blocks your updates and still keeps the blog showing. You better hope they let you back in.

I think this is a good example of why any blogger should look into their own hosting.

Brian has a domain name already Alphatrends.net. All he would need is hosting and he would not have been cut off from his blog. With your own hosting, even with a bad host, you should at least have a warning before something like this would happen. In Brian’s case, I doubt if any host would have considered a complaint against him valid.

If you are using WordPress.com or Blogger/Blogspot you are adding an unnecessary risk with your business.

If you are looking into stock trading, Alphatrends is a blog you should look at.

Brian Shannon does not give investment advice. He teaches how to understand stocks and evaluate them technically.

For Alpahtrends.net maybe hosting might be a good investment at $10/month.

I still don’t really get the whole Twitter thing.

Twitter has been around a while but lately, it seems

to be mentioned by everyone. I’ve been hearing about it since it came out. OK, its instant messenger chat with only 140 characters. What is the appeal?

The last few weeks, everyone seems to be talking about it.

It seems like it has recently gained a lot of popularity. Everyone is pushing it.

I am still not sure how valuable it is.

I have wasted a lot of time over the past few days. Not making my own Tweets, but reading others and trying to figure it out.

Michael Kwan had a post recently about using Twitter to get traffic and Stumbles to your blog. Take a look at his post at:

Case Study: Twitter + StumbleUpon = Massive Traffic

Twitter seems a lot like some of the early Website chat rooms.

Twitter adds a user account, filtering, feeds and that phone update option. I am not sure I would want updates on my phone, but then again, I did not think I would join Twitter either and here I am.

I admit, I did learn something this week on Twitter.

A somewhat popular blogger and social networker had her father’s blog hacked. The host did not have any back up. Not something I would have expected from that host. Maybe not a host I would want use.

Have you found Twitter valuable?

Who do you follow? Have you found some Twitters that are interesting? Have you learned anything that you might have missed unless you had Twitter?

Want to follow me on Twitter? My Twitter URL is http://twitter.com/shokthx

Should you have Ads on your blog?

If so, what should they be?

What are your opinions on ads? How do you feel about affiliate links where the blogger makes money recommending a product? What do you think is an appropriate ad or form of monetization for a blog. Do you feel a make money online blog should be treated the same as another niche? I’d like to know how you feel about these questions.

Courtney Tuttle asked the question in a recent post "Is selling ads evil?"

This is in response to some bloggers who do not have ads on their blogs and do not plan to. The comments on the post also go into not only having ads, but what is really appropriate for a blog, especially in the make money online blogging niche. I really suggest you read his post and the comments as the bloggers in question made comments also.

Is Selling Ads Evil? | Internet Marketing | Strategy & Services To me, in a perfect world, we would all only make money through affiliate offers of products and services we have tried and endorse ourselves on all of our sites. I would like to hope that people trust me even though I sell ads, I certainly would never point you guys in a post toward a product that I didn’t use

Do you think running ads on a blog is appropriate?

I would like to say that I agree with Court’s point that having ads is not evil. I also agree that I would much rather see ads than see a blog end because the owner loses interest. If you can make a good income from ads, I would think the interest would last more.

So many of us have been taught that "Money is the root of all evil."

That statement is actually a misquote of the Bible. The truthful term is "The love of money is the root of all evil." Misquoting God is another source of evil. It worked on Eve and seems have continued working on many people today. We pay heavily for listening to those misquotes.

I find that people without money seem to love it more than those who have what they need and want.

They are focused on what they do not have that others have. It can become an obsession. Where am I going to get the rent for next week? How am I going to pay that bill? I deserve that new car as much as he does. Or even worse, "The rich are not paying their fair share." It becomes covetousness. Beware when you start hearing the phrase "It’s not fair!"

So what ads should you have?

One problem with a blog is there is a given endorsement by you just for showing an ad. It can affect the respect people will give you. Take online dating services for example. There are a lot of  sleazy ads and services. I have seen some ads on blogs that make me wonder what kind of ethics the blogger has.

It is worse for the make money online blogging niche.

There are a lot of products out there that are overpriced and over-hyped. There are some outright scams. There are shady practices. This can really have an impact on your name or brand. I think there was a bit of embarrassment from those who promoted the $9.95 Joel Comm product that found their readers felt tricked. This can happen real easy and it may even be out of your control once you have promoted it. Even if it seem like a good product to you.

Should you promote something you have not tried?

This is really the sticky question. If you run AdSense, it would be difficult for you to even try the products (you would even get penalized clicking your links to see what the product was). Yet, for many niches, AdSense on of the best ways to monetize and no one thinks there is anything wrong with using it. There are lots of products that could be advertised that you might not be able to try for several reasons.

Sometimes, you’ll still have problems without making money from a product.

Some people want advice just so they can argue with your suggestions.

I saw this a lot in the photography business.

I hated when someone would ask for advice. It was almost always the same thing. I would be told someone at the counter wanted advice on what camera to buy. I was very busy. We did not sell cameras so there was no financial gain for me (other than being able to show them better pictures when they came in for processing).

I would give the advice asked for, and they would literally argue with me.

My advice was based on what I used. It was bases on seeing millions of photos and finding out what ones were taken with what cameras. Still, these idiots would tell me that this camera had such and such features and so and so said it was good. They wanted to by a camera make I knew was junk (most of those camera makers still make junk). Why, did they ask me then? They asked me, I did not come to them. I had work to do instead of stand there arguing.

I see this happen with bloggers.

They offer advice or help, much of it very good. You will see a comment on how this post was not up to the bloggers normal standards and they are going to unsubscribe, never return, or hack the blog. At least I have not had to face that here yet, I am no expert yet. I have seen it though. I bet a lot more of these types of comments are deleted before we see them.

You may face the same problem of your credibility if you have ads or not.

Anytime you give advice, you put yourself up to criticism. It does not matter if you make money from it or not. I think you might as well make money from your advise. I say put the ad or affiliate link up.

What about products you do not have experience with?

I am planning a post about hosting. While I can speak from experience about the hosts I use, what about hosts others I trust recommend? Should I not even mention or link to them? If I mention them, is it wrong to give an affiliate link and make money from it even though I do not have experience with them? They are going to pay the same if they choose the host from my link or not. What if things change at a host I do recommend from experience and things go bad?

What about generic text ads like AdSense?

Do you feel that there is endorsement by the site they are on? Besides the question of are they ugly or do they disturb the reader or site layout. Do you feel they are dishonest in any way. Do you think the average Internet surfer feels they are part of the site?

I think that there are some differences.

I think there can be a difference between endorsing a product and showing an ad for it. I also think that the blogger or Internet marketer also needs to look at each situation and make sure that he is not misleading readers into thinking an ad or link is an endorsement when it is not. I think an endorsement is something that takes even more care than an ad. It is a personal recommendation. It should be treated like advice to a friend.

What are your opinions?

No arguments please.:)