Regular Websites don’t do well on smart phones! Unless you have a mobile optimized site you just get a shrunken/squeezed down version of your site, or you have to scroll in all directions to see the site because it doesn’t re-size to fit your smart phone screen size.

This Workshop will solve that problem for you. Workshop includes your own Mobile Website done for you and training how to update it.

Just Look at What You Will Receive:

• Mobile Website setup for you and 1-year of hosting ($299 value)*
• 6 page Mobile version of your site created for you ($199 value)**
• 2 hour Webinar (and recorded tutorials) on how to modify and update your site ($149 value)
• User instruction manual in PDF format ($99 value)
• Total $746 value

Date: Thursday, February 9th, 2012 (session will be recorded for student review)
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM (Pacific)
Cost: $299 (includes your Website, 1-year hosting* AND training class)
Only $149 IF YOU REGISTER TODAY (This earlybird discount expires soon)

Click here for more details and earlybird special price.

Photoshop Elements is the powerful, yet easier to use ‘little brother’ to the 800-pound image editing gorilla, Photoshop.  Priced at only a fraction of the cost of Photoshop, it offers more than enough features and power for most user.

Photoshop Elements 10 adds new features that aim to take the guesswork out of cropping, cut down on the time you spend searching, and put you in greater control of your text. Learn how to do this and much, much more in this 4-hour Webinar worksop (presented in two 2-hour sessions)

• Learn Digital photo corrections and makeovers
• Create custom digital images and logos
• Make your Websites, documents, brochures stand out from the competition!

Photoshop Elements – Digital Image Magic Made Easy

Tuesday, February 7th – Part 1
Thursday, February 9th – Part 2
Both sessions: 2 PM – 4PM PST

Click here for more information and to register.

I want to make sure you are up to date on the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the impact it could have on  your businesses and online activities. Many major websites, including Wikipedia, are doing a “Blackout” today in protest of the censorship that has been proposed through SOPA/PIPA.

If you visit the English Wikipedia today you’ll probably see a lot of black. No need to panic though, it’s a schedule protest against the SOPA and PIPA bills that are being promoted in the US.

Here’s an excerpt from their announcement:

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion.

Please read the report.  This is serious business!

What Can You Do?

If you live in the US, contact your Senators and Representatives and encourage them to vote against SOPA (H.R. 3621) and PIPA, the Senate version (S. 968).

When you contact them, be calm, clear, and concise. Tell them that you support the goal but oppose the legislation, because of the damage it will do to small businesses and the security of the Internet in general.

If you feel the need to cite a source for them, point them to the Wikipedia article, which lists a number of US government studies and reports that show just how much damage the legislation could do.

And be clear that you don’t want to see an edited version of the bill passed. This thing is not just poorly implemented. The concept itself is flawed and dangerous.

Emails count a little. Phone calls and faxes count more. A short, clear printed letter mailed to them counts the most.

If you’re contacting your representative, mention H.R. 3621 (SOPA). If it’s your Senators, the bill number to mention is S. 968 (PIPA).

You can find the contact information for both Senators and Representatives at Contacting the Congress. Just select your state, type in your zip code, and click the “Submit It” button.

When contacting them, be sure to either mention your name and address to the person you speak with on the phone or include it in your correspondence. They want to know you’re actually one of their constituents.

Remember to be polite, clear, and brief. These folks are trying to protect your interests. Most of them simply don’t understand the potential problems the bill would create.

Calling them, or typing a brief letter and putting a stamp on it, will probably take less time than you were about to spend in this forum today. And it could make a huge difference.

If every US citizen who reads this takes that few minutes’ worth of action, we can generate a ton of pressure against the bill. If we all just leave it to everyone else, we’re likely to be stuck with this as law, along with all the problems it brings.

It’s up to you.

A new semester of my wildly popular WordPress Website Creation Workshop and Mastermind will begin on January 18th. Registration is now open and preview Webinars will be available this week.

In the WordPress Website Workshop each student will have their own professional WordPress Website and blog setup in the first week of class and learn to customize and manage it for their particular niche. How to integrate with social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc) will be covered as well as strategies and techniques to grow your audience and monetize your site. Workshop includes 10 live weekly training Webinars, homework assignments, live Q&A follow-up sessions and 6 months of weekly coaching/strategies for growing your blog. In addition, students will have the opportunity to create additional WordPress Websites as we teach niche and hyperlocal strategies and how to engage community. 

Schedule:

Live training Webinars on Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:30 PM Pacific
Live Q&A follow up sessions on Fridays from 8:00 – 9:00 AM Pacific

Earlybird Discount if enrolled by Friday,January 13th. (Save $300)

To register, CLICK HERE to visit the WordPress Workshop Information page.

WordPress 3.3.1 is now available. As reported from WordPress.org, this maintenance release fixes 15 issues with WordPress 3.3, as well as a fix for a cross-site scripting vulnerability that affected version 3.3.

I recommend that you install this update to your WordPress Website(s) as soon as possible. Prior to installing the upgrade to WordPress 3.3.1, I do recommend that you backup your WordPress site- this is always a good precation in case something goes wrong.

I do recommend and use BackupBuddy which is the most complete and simple backup to use for your WordPress sites. All of our client and student sites can do this from their WordPress Dashboard under the BackupBuddy menu option, and selecting “Backup & Restore” and using the “Full Backup” option. Once that process is completed you’ll see the ‘green dot’ indicator as shown below:

BackupBuddy status bar indicating backup i scompleted

Now you can proceed with your WordPress update.

If you don’t own BackupBuddy* you can purchase it here.

BackupBuddy will backup your entire Single or Multisite WordPress install. Including the widgets, themes and plugins!

- Mark Burrell / The Blog Coach