Kingsley.Tagbo

How To Add A Disclaimer To Outgoing Emails In Community Server 2.1 (CS 2.1)

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 04:45:00 GMT

To modify outgoing emails in Community Server 2.1 (CS 2.1), alter the stored procedure: [dbo].cs_Emails_Enqueue and adding the following lines of code:

/**
After this you see the word NULL. This is in the position of the insert offset.
When it is NULL it tells SQL Server to append the new characters to the end of all the characters
currently in the text column. If the value is 0 then SQL Server will insert the new characters
before all the characters currently in the text column. If you specify a number then it will count
from the first character to the number specified and insert the new characters after the one found at
that point.

UPDATETEXT #TestTable.ColText @ptrColText 0 0 @BODY

UPDATETEXT #TestTable.ColText @ptrColText NULL 0 @BODY
**/

--START A HTML FORMATTED EMAIL
DECLARE @ptrColText VARBINARY(16)
DECLARE @CommentText nvarchar(1024)

SET @CommentText = ' <html><body><hr align="left" color="black" width="50%" />'
SET @CommentText = @CommentText + ' <a href="http://www.kdkeys.net">We reserve the right to reject any comment posted on this site.</a>'
SELECT @ptrColText = TEXTPTR(EmailBody) FROM cs_EmailQueue

UPDATETEXT cs_EmailQueue.EmailBody @ptrColText 0 12 @CommentText

--END A HTML FORMATTED EMAIL

How To Pop UP An ASP.NET Page In IE (Internet Explorer) - Code Snippet

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:18:00 GMT

This is a code snippet that is attached to the click event of an ASP.NET Button. When you click the button in IE (Internet Explorer), it pop-ups a new window. The string sWin = "_blank" allows you to pop-up a new window. The string sURL = "Members.aspx?" is the window which your pop-ups will be based on.

private void Button_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) 
{               
                if (appName != null) 
                        { 
                                string sUrl = "Members.aspx?" + "&AppName=" + appName + "";

                                string sWin = "_blank"; 
                                string sWinAttribute = "left=5,top=5,fullscreen=no,toolbar=no,addressbars=no,location=no,scrollbars=yes,statusbar=no,resizeable=yes,width=800, height=800";

                                string strScript =      "var windowObject = window.open('" + sUrl + 

                                        "','" + sWin +"','" + sWinAttribute +"',true); windowObject.focus();"; 
                                Page.RegisterClientScriptBlock("Window",strScript); 
                        } 
}

Search Feature Broken Migrating To Community Server (CS) 2.1

Kingsley Tagbo — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:44:00 GMT

I just realized today that the Searching Feature on this site was broken while migrating from CS 2.0 to CS 2.1.

According to Jayson Knight's post, this happens when you upgrade from ASP.NET 1.1 to ASP.NET 2.0 because of the differences in the implementation of the GetHashCode Algorithm between ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0

As far as I know, this site was running under ASP.NET 2.0 even in CS 2.0. According to Jayson, the fix is to truncate the cs_searchBarrel table and update all of your IsIndexed column values in cs_Posts to 0

I will try it now and see if it works.

Thanks Jason for the tip

Notes:

These are the SQL Statements I ran:

TRUNCATE TABLE CS_SEARCHBARREL
GO

UPDATE CS_POSTS SET ISINDEXED = 0

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM CS_POSTS WHERE ISINDEXED = 1
GO

Making Meaning Is Why I Became A Computer Programmer (Part 1)

Kingsley Tagbo — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:24:00 GMT

This is the first in a series about why I choose to become a computer programmer.

While I was in college studying Chemical Engineering, I decided I was going to pursue a career after college in Computer Programming.

Making that decision was easy because I believed that in order to make a contribution and change my world as we were so fond of discussing in those days, I had to be in a career that allowed me to do so.

Now, what do I mean by "making your mark on the world". I and some of my colleagues wanted to have our lives count for something when we left college. We did not want to be absorbed by the shapeless workforce, get married, have kids and then die, hoping that our kids will carry out our dreams.

However, it seemed to me that my college education was gradually becoming meaningless. I liked the engineering and mathematical theory I had to learn, but I couldn't really see what difference it made to the life of the common man as we were apt to say. I mean, in my daily interactions with the public, I couldn't bring my budding engineering skills to solve the everyday problem that people had. The challenges faced by the common man were

how to get a good job
how to pay bills
how to have better relationships
how to reach God
how to succeed in life

It seemed to me that my engineering career did not pose any real solution to the challenges encountered by mere mortals.

Based on that observation, I decided not to have a life where my work will be so removed from the realities and challenges faced by mere mortals. I decided I was going to have another career where my conversation and work will in one way or the other visibly impact my world in general and my community in particular.

Read more in Part 2.

Kingsley Tagbo is an IT Career Coach and a Software Consultant.

His experience in the last decade spans various high demand Information Technology careers!

Go to his website at IT Career Coach to access news, articles, blogs on Top Paying Jobs and High Demand Careers in Information Technology, participate in online career development discussions or subscribe to his blog by Email and by RSS/XML.

Become A Programmer, Fast Track Your Computer Career Or Get a High Paying Job In Information Technology

Kingsley Tagbo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:30:00 GMT

If you want to fast track your career, become a computer programmer or get a high paying job working with computers, here is your chance.

Based on more than a decade of practical experience in Information Technology, Computer Programming and Software Consulting the “The Street Smart Guide to High Paying Computer Programming Careers” takes you through a step by step process for building an in-demand, marketable computer programming career.

You don’t have to waste your valuable time and money on expensive training only to find out that your skills are not in demand by employers!

You don’t have to spend 2 to 5 years training for a career when 3 months will do!

You don’t have to spend years earning low wages in a career you dislike when you can get a high paying, fun and professional job working with computers!

Save your money and stop wasting valuable time, learn how to fast track your computer career in 3 months.

In 3 months you will learn how to:

Become a in-demand programmer with hot marketable skills
Create resumes with the buzzwords and keywords employers want
Ace Computer Programming Job Interviews
Research the skills and technologies employers are hiring for
Locate The Best Paying Computer Programming Jobs In Your City
Transition into the computer software consulting industry
Get Information Technology jobs with little or no experience
Get a high paying, challenging and rewarding career working with computers
Become a computer programmer with little or no college education

Get a career makeover by learning how to create an in-demand computer programming career now!

Here are some reasons why you should consider a career in computer programming:

You do not need a college education to become a computer programmer
There is no one professional examination that you must pass to become a computer programmer
There is a high demand for computer programmers especially in the USA.
Computer programmers are some of the highest paid professionals.
You can become a computer programmer in 3 months, 6 months or 5 years. There is no requirement on long you have to train before you can become one
Because computer programmers tend to take ownership, pride and responsibility for their jobs, they are more passionate and have more job satisfaction
Computer programming careers offer highly flexible career paths. You can be a consultant, a full time employee or own your own software startup company. You can be a computer programmer, a software manager or an Information Technology recruiter
Computer programming careers offer highly mobile careers. You can find computer programming jobs in the cities and states across the USA. In diverse industries including legal, medical, manufacturing or services industry. In every continent and nation including India, Russia, Great Britain and the USA
Computer programming skills are highly transferable across industries, countries or cities. For example Java developers can practice their profession in Saint Louis, California or Italy with little or no re-training in skills and technologies

To learn how you can advance your Information Technology career, become a computer programmer, update your skills, create a marketable in-demand career, get a high paying job, ace programming interviews, transition into a software consulting or full time computer programming career in 3-6 months with little or no prior experience get “The Information Technology Insider’s Guide to High Paying, In Demand Fast Track Computer Programming Careers”.

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Once your order is approved, you will be taken to the download page where you can download the "The Street Smart Guide To High Paying Computer Programming Careers" ebook.

IT Career Coach on Time to Start a High Paying Career in Information Technology

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:03:00 GMT

The word on the street is “Now Is a Good Time to Start a High Paying Career in Information Technology”.

I live in Saint Louis, Missouri and work as an Information Technology consultant. The demand for Information Technology consultants in general and Microsoft® .NET Software Developers in particular has been on the increase for the last 2 years.

Right now, I know of several Microsoft® .NET Job openings with hourly rates typically between 40$ per hour and $60 per hour ($80,000 to $120,000 per year). These jobs come with 401K and medical benefits and some with vacation and holiday pay as well.

In the month of June, a number of discussions for new .NET job openings have been at more than $50 per hour for six figure consulting assignments that could last 1 month or several years.

It looks like the demand for Microsoft® .NET jobs in Saint Louis, Missouri is outpacing the supply of Microsoft® .NET programmers. This demand versus supply game is also repeating itself in several cities in the USA. If you are interested in working with computers, I encourage you to continue reading the rest of this newsletter to learn how you can “Jump Start a High Paying Career in Information Technology in 3 Months or Less!”

To tell you a little about myself, I have been working in Information Technology for about a decade, however my background is not in computing or Information Technology. To jump start my own career in Information Technology, I did not attend computer science classes or earn any sort of degree in computing. Regardless of my background, I have worked in Information Technology sales and marketing, networking, contract programming, database design, database development, web design, web development, search engine optimization and Information Technology management. I have also worked as a full time salaried employee, as a W2 hourly contact programmer and as a consultant earning a fixed compensation per project.

My latest career role is that of an Information Technology Career Coach motivating, coaching, inspiring people to Jump Start Rewarding Information Technology Careers. I accomplish this through the articles on my website at http://leadership.findingsdirect.com/ and by connecting individuals to rewarding Information Technology positions, careers, employers and resources. If you want to subscribe to my Information Technology Careers free newsletter, go to Leadership Findings

My Information Technology career coaching is intended both for those who are already in Information Technology, who need to fast track their career and those who are not currently employed in the Information Technology industry.

Since rewarding Information Technology careers are usually fast paced, it is important to learn the value of using the most direct routes to acquiring the expertise and experience employers are looking for. This type of street smarts versus book smarts approach will serve you well on the job as employers are mostly interested in practical and pragmatic candidates. One of my axioms is “In Information Technology, Experience Is King”. Employers, hiring managers and recruiters in the United States of America place a premium on experience over certification, training, education, background or any other type of qualification.

Since practical learning is highly sought after in information technology, I intend to pass on street smart strategies for jump starting Information Technology careers, acquired by myself and others in the school of life, the kind employers are willing to pay for.

If you are ready, fast track to “How to Jump Start Your Information Technology Career in Three Months or Less” or "Top Paying Careers working with Computers".

Any question or feedback is welcome.

What are the insider’s secrets to interviewing success and how do you get the jobs you want in life?

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:00:00 GMT

In my final year in college, I decided to pursue an after-school career in Information Technology. However, I was heavily invested in Chemical Engineering having spent the last 5 years taking chemistry and engineering courses. The challenge facing me was to find a way to jump-start my information technology career immediately I left college without having to spend more years in any kind of school.

The solution I came up with landed me an interview with an Information Technology Consulting firm which resulted in the hiring manager offering me a job the next day after my graduation.

Over the years, I extended my consulting practice by interviewing with hiring managers from Fortune 500 corporations to Mom-and-Pop shops.

Because of my background as a consultant, I take it for granted that everyone is comfortable with taking interviews for jobs they love, that is, until I met a lady who has a computer science education, wants an information technology job but is unable to get a job because she is afraid of failing at interviews.

After she narrated her discomfort with taking interviews, I put together this interview guide to help her and anyone else in the job market interview for and get the jobs they want.

I believe that my personal interviewing maxims can help you interview for and get the jobs you want. Some of these interviewing maxims are:

Be Bold (Confidence gets the job done.)
Experience Is King (Demonstrate your experience!)
Show Don’t Tell (Where is your proof?)
Power Dress (Dressing matters.)
Utilize your current job
Speak Out and Speak Well
Listen Hard
Be Prepared
What’s In It For Them? (Service always comes first)
What Goes Around Comes Around (Don’t badmouth your employer!)
Make small talk
Keep Recruiters Happy (Stay in touch with recruiters)

To read the rest of the article “Insider Secrets To Interviewing Success and How To Get The Job You Want”, go to Leadership Findings

If you find the article helpful, please share it with your friends and leave a note telling me what you find helpful.

Thanks,

Kingsley Tagbo

Read more at Leadership Findings (free) or Subscribe To Leadership Findings (free)

Why A Reliable, Hassle Free Web Hosting Service Is Important

Kingsley Tagbo — Tue, 23 May 2006 07:07:00 GMT

What do you look for or expect from a web hosting company? Do you expect your web hosting service to save you time, money and peace of mind?

Because choosing a good web hosting service is not possible without knowing the level of service to expect or the right questions to ask, I put together these findings from my 8+ years managing websites.

Here are some of the reasons why finding a reliable, hassle free web hosting service is important.

Read more at Internet Findings (free) or Subscribe To Internet Findings (free)

Save Time and Money by Using Tried and Proven Web site Development Strategies

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 19 May 2006 14:33:00 GMT

You can shave weeks or months from your next web design and development project and save thousands of web programming dollars by using proven, mature and reliable websites instead of creating your own website from scratch.

Do not spend more than 24 hours implementing your next personal or corporate website, blog or forum. Because, you will ...

Analyzing Keywords and Keyphrases in Web Traffic Reports

Kingsley Tagbo — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:45:00 GMT

Keywords or keyphrases are words and search terms used by web visitors to locate information on your web site. Each individual word used in a search query is sometimes known as a keyword while the complete string of words used in the search is known as a keyphrase.

Keywords are words used in searching for a product, service, news or concept. They are usually entered in an external search engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN which lists the pages and websites that match the words sought for. When the visitor clicks on the search results listing, your web statistics program will record the visit as a hit and a page view.

Keywords and Keyphrase Analysis reports are useful for the following reasons

Keywords Analysis reports tell you which words or search terms people are using to locate your site
Keywords Analysis reports show which keywords you need to optimize your website for. The absence of desired keywords in your web traffic analysis reports may indicate the keywords your website is not optimized for
The searches indicated by keywords analysis show you the products and services driving web traffic to your site. For example, if you are selling classic books online and you notice that the words “Oliver Twist” appear frequently in your website statistics program, then your website is attracting visitors interested in the Oliver Twist Classic by Charles Dickens

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger pops the question: Which statistic is most crucial to your blogging?

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 09:07:00 GMT

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger pops the question: Which statistic is most crucial to your blogging?

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame was commenting to a fellow blogger about the urge to review one’s website statistics multiple times in a day. He then asked the one question which we need to give some serious thought to if we intend to grow our websites. "If you could only check one statistic on your blog what would it be?"

Darren noted that by asking this question, he is not referring to the type of software but to the web statistics measurement.

Darren concluded the discussion by asking the readers on his blog, what is the single most important web measurement metric they use. Some of the metrics that can be used according to Darren are visitor levels, your adsense total earnings, affiliate commissions, page views, referrers, and outgoing links.

How To Get Accurate Web Traffic Visitor Reports using Cookies, IP Addresses and User Agents

Kingsley Tagbo — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 22:22:00 GMT

How To Get Accurate Web Traffic Visitor Reports using Cookies, IP Addresses and User Agents

In a previous post, I explained how knowing and identifying your web visitors can help you improve your online services. In this post, I will discuss how you can use cookies, IP addresses and user agents to identify, analyze and count your web visitors.

Current web traffic analysis depends on the use of Cookies or IP addresses to identify web visitors. However, each of these techniques is flawed.

A listing of some of the more common problems with using cookies or IP addresses would include

Cookies can be manually deleted by web visitors
Cookies can be made to expire through programming
Cookies can be blocked by the visitors’ browser
IP addresses are not unique. Multiple visitors can use the same IP address and one visitor can use multiple IP addresses

Since web traffic analysis reports based on either cookies or IP Addresses do not give a 100% accurate count of web visitors, web analysts are continually researching better ways of identifying and counting web visitors.

In this post, I will introduce you to the use of a third technique which involves using a combination of cookies, IP addresses and User Agent information to identify, count and analyze web visitors.

Web Visitors Identity and Privacy - 8 Reasons Why You Need To Know Your Visitors

Kingsley Tagbo — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 04:12:00 GMT

HTTP is a stateless internet protocol used in requesting for pages on your site. HTTP is not designed to identify your visitors or keep a detailed record of their actions on your website.

The anonymity of this internet protocol works to the advantage of privacy advocates. However, as the owner of a website, you have to compensate for the lack of information about your visitors by using your web server and website to identify and track your web visitors.

Click here to read about this post.

The reasons I advocate for identifying your web visitors are:

Privacy and Security
E-commerce services
Data mining and analytical services
Data management services
Reward management
Targeted marketing
RSS and Email communication
Personalization services

In this post, I reviewed the need for you as a website owner to know your web visitors. I understand that this topic raises concerns about privacy and the rights of visitors. However, another side of the coin is that “knowing little about your visitors will make it difficult for you to meet their needs or expectations”.

Issues Affecting Web Traffic Analysis Reporting Part 1

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 05:34:00 GMT

ISSUES AFFECTING WEB TRAFFIC ANALYSIS REPORTING (PART 1)

Accurate reporting of web traffic statistics is necessary to win the confidence of advertisers, sponsors and affiliates. You can also make costly mistakes in terms of money and time when you make decisions based on inaccuracies in your web traffic analysis reports. Changing your web traffic analysis software will not necessarily solve your reporting issues because each traffic analysis vendor will report a different set of numbers for the same Key Performance Indicator (KPI) like Page Views. The real trick is to identify the assumptions behind your traffic statistics reports. In this post I will introduce you to both errors and assumptions that can affect the accuracy of your web traffic statistics reports and recommend solutions that will reduce or eliminate these errors.

The 6 error sources I will introduce in part 1 are :

Page Caching
Page Hits
Cookies or Ip Addresses
Spiders and Robots
Http Status Codes
Human Errors

Website Traffic Analysis and Website Statistics Analysis Using Sql Server 2005, Log Parser 2.2, XML and W3C Extended Log Files

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:40:00 GMT

Website Traffic Analysis and Website Statistics Analysis Using Sql Server 2005, Log Parser 2.2, XML and W3C Extended Log Files

Log Parser 2.2 is installed at C:\Program Files\Log Parser 2.2
Added Log Parser to the Control Panel - System - Advanced - Startup and Recovery - Settings Tab
Opened command prompt
Checked that Log parser is working and navigated to the W3C Extended Log File Directory - C:\Projects\Shared\KingsleyTagbo\KDKEYS WEB MINER\IIS Log Files\Import\www.kdkeys.net
Think of the relationship at http://communityserver.org/forums/478460/ShowPost.aspx
Think of kdkeys_WeblogFile_WebsiteSettings as the primary "web sites" table. It's within the kdkeys_WeblogFile_WebsiteSettings table that SettingsID is set as the primary key. SettingsID is used to establish the relationship between the web site settings and web log files. The kdkeys_WeblogFile_Websites table is a list of all urls which should be mapped to that instance of a site i.e a record in kdkeys_WeblogFile_WebsiteSettings table.
using any variation of the registered site name should retrieve the main site
Realizing the Benefits of Doing Our Own Tracking
Having our own Web log analysis statistics has had distinct benefits. First and foremost, we now have statistics about our Web site available on demand. As a result, I am able to more easily answer questions about visitors to our Web site. Since we are no longer reliant on an external source for our data, we are able to gather the data we want in the format we want. Moreover, we can change the data we are gathering as needed. Another advantage is the fact that we have a more complete record of how our Web site is being used. Prior to implementing AWStats, we were only running log files on our main Web site. Now we are able to run usage statistics for all of our sites. This provides us with greater insight into the overall patterns of user behavior across the library's electronic forest.
As a result of analyzing our server logs, we have learned several interesting things about our users' behavior. There are a few pages in our site that people utilize more than others. The most surprising of these is a page that lists the library's periodical holdings. The heavy use of this page has emphasized the importance of creating complete holdings for our journals in the Web catalog. Additionally, users prefer the alphabetical listing of the library's database to a list of full-text databases or a list of databases by subject. Data collected from the server logs also revealed that most users access our site while on campus. This is interesting, considering a significant number of students live off campus. Another important discovery is that most users come to the library's site directly rather than through an external source like a search engine or a link on another site.
The information I've obtained from analyzing the server logs has taught us many intriguing things about our users and has created as many questions as it has answered. Nonetheless, the data has been invaluable in making decisions about Web-based services. We have found many practical applications of Web server log data, including designing future usability studies. All of these endeavors have helped us to improve the overall quality of our Web site. However, none of this would have been possible without AWStats. This demonstrates that there are low-cost solutions that can yield big results for small and medium-sized libraries.
--Selecting the top 20 % of a group just got easier with Common Table Expressions and NTile function
WITH PageContent_CTE(WebPageContentGroup, Total, Quartile)
AS

(

SELECT

WebPageContentGroup,

COUNT( WebPageContentGroup) Total,

NTILE(4) OVER(ORDER BY COUNT( WebPageContentGroup) DESC) AS 'Quartile'

FROM kdkeys_WeblogFile_WebPages

GROUP BY WebPageContentGroup

)

SELECT * FROM PageContent_CTE WHERE Quartile = 1

Karen Wickre, Google Blog team on Google Desktop 3

Kingsley Tagbo — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:09:00 GMT

Karen Wickre on Google Blog team blogs about Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise Users

6 Problems You Must Fix with Web Page Analysis or Lose Money

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:57:00 GMT

How Problems with Web Pages Lead To Loss of Web Traffic and Revenue

When visitors come to your website, they interact primarily with your web page. However, internet visitors are known to be short on patience, so if they encounter problems with your web pages, even for a short amount of time, they will leave your website!

The problem with losing your web traffic is that you also lose the time and money invested in referring the traffic to your web site. In addition, you lose the sales revenue, advertisement revenue and customers you will have gained from the lost web traffic.

In this first post in a series on Website Traffic Analysis, I will discuss 6 problems you can identify by analyzing your web pages and how to resolve them.

Read more about this article which is the first in a series of articles on Website Traffic Analysis at the Website Analysis Blog

Subscribe to my Web Analytics and Optimization Blog OR VIEW MY BLOG

Google's new initiative to stop Spyware, Malware or Badware

Kingsley Tagbo — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:19:00 GMT

Google announces a new initiative with Sun MicroSystems to stop Malware (malicious software) aka Spyware or Badware.

Read more about this initiative at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/putting-stop-to-spyware.html

Subscribe to my Web Analytics and Optimization Blog OR VIEW MY BLOG

Guy Kawasaki Blogs About The The Art of Bootstrapping

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:55:00 GMT

Guy Kawasaki, a Venture Capitalist and inventor of modern day Hi-Tech evangelism blogs about the 'The Art of Bootstrapping'.

I recommend this to developers starting a website with a view to making money.

How To Compare Blog Software (Community Server 2.0, TypePad, Blogger, Squarespace, Quick Blog)

Kingsley Tagbo — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:03:00 GMT

Please read the updated version of this article at

Click to read : "How to Compare and Choose a Blog Software (Community Server Blogs 2.0, WordPress 2.0, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog 1.0 and Blogger) Part 2"

I have been comparing the features and services provided by popular blog software to find out which is best for blogging and how blog software stack up against each other.

The blog software I compared include Community Server 2.0 Blogs(Beta 3), WordPress 2.0, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog 1.0 and Blogger.

People blog for different reasons. Some of these reasons are to be rich, to pay the bill, to be famous, to vent one's feelings, to be creative, to sharpen one's skill and intellect, to belong, to market a product or service. Therefore to help bloggers achieve one or more of these goals all the blog software I evaluated provide services through the features I listed and described below.

My goal for writing this article is to help you achieve your blogging goals faster. Do this by first setting clear specific goals for your blogging. Next identify the blog software services and features you need to achieve your blogging goals. Finally make an informed decision using this article.

1. Advertising - can you make money from your blog using advertising services like Google Adsense? To use Google Adsense you need the ability to add Javascript code to your blog posts or pages?

2. Web Traffic Analysis - the primary goal of blog software is not to analyze your web traffic. Therefore you need to use an external software to analyze your blog traffic. This analysis will depend on access to your raw log files or the ability to add web analytics Javascript code like Google Analytics to your blog pages.

3. Communication - one of the primary function of a blog is to publish information to the internet community. How well your blog succeeds in communicating your blog to other people depends on the services provided by a number of communication tools. These tools enable your blog readers to email or recommend your blog to others, print your blog, comment on your blog, track future posts on your blog or subscribe to your blog through an RSS or ATOM feed?

4. Appearance - your blog's appearance can help or hinder the flow of information from your blog to your readers. Your blog's appearance can also affect how your readers perceive you and your message. Blog software defines the appearance of a blog using themes, templates. The higher the number, variety and quality of themes and templates offered by your blog software, the easier it will be for you to define your blog's appearance. The availabilty of themes from your blog software can also translate to cost savings because you will not need to hire a web designer and time savings because the time to develop your blog is reduced.

5. Customization - how easy is it to customize your blog software. Can you change your blog's appearance by changing the HTML for your themes and templates? Can you add Javascript to your different sections of your blog for web analytics, advertising, advertising tracking and analysis and other purposes. Can you modify your blog's behavior by modifying the source code for your blog software?

6. Blog Backup - when you have done all the work to setup a blog, you need to back it up regularly. Backing up your blog will give you the ability to recover your blog from a previous version or move your blog content to a different blog software. With all these in mind, you need to know if you can backup your blog or recover your blog from a backup, backup only your blog posts and comments, backup your blog database and export your blog backup to your computer.

7. Cost of Ownership - how much will the blog service, software and hosting cost you on a monthly basis? It is also important to check the cost of supporting multiple domains or blogs with the blog software.

8. Domain Hosting - can you use a domain (e.g. http://www.findingsDirect.com) to navigate to your blog? Can you use multiple domains to navigate to your blog(s)?

9. Technical Support - will you have access to technical support while using the blog software to setup and manage your blogs? Is there an email address, telephone number, online help desk or knowledge base you can use to ask questions and get solutions to issues you encounter while managing your blog on a day to day basis?

If there is an important feature that I haven't mentioned here, please let me know.
You may be surprised how the blog software I reviewed stack up against each other.

I will be publishing my findings in the special report below.

Comparing Community Server Blogs, WordPress, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog and Blogger.

Feature #1: Advertising - can you add AdSense Javascript code to your blog?

You can add Javascript code for AdSense to the blog software I am reviewing. Where you will run into issues is when you try to add Javascript code for AdSense to the content of a blog post.

Community Server 2.0 Blogs (Beta 3) will display AdSense Javascript code in the side bar. You can also add AdSense Javascript to a blog post, however AdSense will not display.

WordPress 2.0 displays AdSense Javascript pasted inside a blog post. You can also add AdSense Javascript to the side bar. A free AdSense plug-in AdSense-Deluxe Plugin allows you to manage your all your Google AdSense from one control panel or display new AdSense blocks easily in your blog post by pasting a simple tag. This plug-in makes WordPress the most advanced platform for displaying and managing AdSense in a blog.

TypePad will display AdSense Javascript code in the side bar. You can also display AdSense inside your Blog post using Javascript. However, you have to manage each AdSense block in your blog post individually and if you have several blog posts, the management of the ads will be a pain. TypePad also offers TextAds and Tip Jars as additional sources of income.

Squarespace (www.Squarespace.com) is similar to TypePad in AdSense display and management.
Quick Blog (www.GoDaddy.com) is similar to TypePad in AdSense display and management. At this time, you cannot add AdSense to the side bars as access to the page html is restricted.

Blogger is similar to TypePad in AdSense display and management. In addition, Blogger from Google offers you the ability to sign-in to your Google AdSense account from the Blog Software.

Feature #2: Web Traffic Analysis
With Community Server Blogs and WordPress you should have access to your raw log files for most web hosting providers.

With TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog and Blogger you will not have access to your raw log files. However, if you use a domain with Blogger, your web hosting provider will typically give you access to your raw log files as your domain will be hosted by them. If you are using a sub domain of Blogger you will not have access to your raw log files because Blogger will host it.

Community Server Blogs, WordPress, TypePad, Squarespace and Blogger offer access to the template and HTML layout of your web site. This means that you can add Google Analytics Javascript code to the Head section ( … ). However at this time, you cannot add Javascript code to your Quick Blog because access to the HTML layout is restricted.

Feature #3: Communication
Quick Blog’s community building features caught my attention. These include trackbacks, CAPTCHA (completely automated public Turing test) protected comments, comment character count (counts the characters as you type a comment), subscribe to this entry, subscribe to this Blog, comment spelling check, print Blog post and a poll for each Blog post!

WordPress has the highest number of free plug-ins or software features among the Blog software that I evaluated. With these plug-ins you can add a wide range of community building tools to your Blog after installation. The down side is that you have to install these plug-ins one by one.

Feature #4: Appearance
Each Blog software comes with themes, however, WordPress has the highest number of themes available. WordPress themes are customizable but require a knowledge of CSS, HTML and PHP.

Feature #5: Customization
You can customize the HTML created with all the blog software except Quick Blog.

Feature #6: Blog Backup - can you backup your blog or recover your blog from a backup? Can you backup just your posts and comments? Can you export your blog backup to your computer?
With Community Server Blog and WordPress you can backup your blog if you are not restricted by your web hosting provider. These two blog software offer you total access to all the blog software and blog content.
Squarespace offers an XML backup of your blog’s and comments.

Feature #7: Cost of Ownership
Community Server Blogs has a free personal license and a paid commercial license. I have been reviewing their free personal license blog. WordPress and Blogger are completely free. Quick Blog has a ridiculously low monthly price at this time.

TypePad and Squarespace each have a set of plans with varying monthly billing prices.
Note that even though Community Server and WordPress have free versions, you still have to pay a web hosting company to host the blogs.

In the final analysis, Quick Blog and TypePad may have the lowest Total Cost of Ownership.

Feature #8: Domain Hosting - can you use a domain (e.g. http://www.findingsDirect.com) to navigate to your blog?
With Community Server Blog and WordPress you have as much control over your domain as your web host allows you, which in usual cases is 100%.

With TypePad and Squarespace mapping a domain to your blog is a bit more involved. You will have to deal with technical trivia like CNAMES (aliases), A record (address record) and MX (mail exchanger) records.

Blogger does not require a change to your domain records since the domain is hosted by you.

A new domain setup for Quick Blog was a breeze on GoDaddy.

In summary, I was able to use my own domain with each of the blog software, however, don’t trip over the CNAME, A and MX record part if you need to adjust it.

Feature #9: Technical Support - is there an online helpdesk, email or telephone you can use to request for help?
Community Server Blog has a very active forum where you can get answers and help both from the community and the professionals who created the blog software.

WordPress is similar to Community Server in the type of community online help desk system aka bulletin board used.

About the author

Kingsley is the author of Best Kept Secrets of Web Traffic Analysis – “How to Find Gold in Your Web Traffic Data”, Best Kept Secrets of Email Marketing - "How to Make More Sales, Grow Your Business and Increase Your Subscriber Base Using Responsible Email Marketing" and Best Kept Secrets of Web Hosting - "How to Pick a Web Hosting Company that Makes You Money".

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

Kingsley Tagbo — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:48:00 GMT

The Paul Erdos Story

http://www.otakudang.org/index.php?/archives/12-Paul-Erdoes.html#extended

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Nokia 770 Internet Tablet released!

Kingsley Tagbo — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 11:18:00 GMT

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet released!

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is available as a lightweight internet tablet pc that connects to the internet via WiFi or your cell phone.

The Nokia 770 does not come with cell phone or PDA features.

You can buy this as a christmas present starting at $360.

Read more..

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Will An IT Certification Really Help Your Career : MCDBA, MCSD.NET, MCSE, MCP, OCP, ETC.

Kingsley Tagbo — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 13:04:00 GMT

Does an IT certification really help on the job?

I have been reading several different articles about IT certifications. Some authors are of the opinion that an IT certification does not mean a mastery of the skills represented by the certification in a real world. Others say that an IT certification means that you are more qualified than others to do the job represented by the certification.

Personally, I have noticed that most people get raises, promotions or land new jobs based on how they apply themselves to the job at hand and not necessarily based on their certification.

Recruiters especially seem to look the other way if you mention that you are certified except when they feel that they would represent you for the same rate as an uncertified individual.

It seems to me that a certification does help a potential employer to take a closer look at your resume, but once you are hired, all the attention shifts to how well you do your job and not a second glance is given to your certification.

So are recruiters and employers right in not caring that much about your certification or is my observation skewed? What do you think?

In your experience are some certifications taken more seriously by recruiters or employers? Does getting one of these MCDBA, MCSD.NET, OCP, MCSE, MCSD, MCP certifications help?

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Commentary on Aaron Weiker's article and Richard Hale Shaw (C# MVP) blogs on "Moving away from C++"

Kingsley Tagbo — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:12:00 GMT

C# is not acceptable in some situations for high performance mathematical code. E.g. In the forthcoming SQL Server 2005 Data Mining release, you can write native data mining algorithms in C++ but not so natively in C#. I was disturbed about this and I asked the good folks at Redmond what was going on, since, the presentation seems to be that C# is the way to go.

The response was that that C# is not a first class candidate for algorithmic development targeted at perhaps billions/trillions of records and several columns or attributes of data such as you will find in data mining.

I was a bit baffled because at the same time, MS is positioning C#, VB.NET and .NET Framework as a first class development language on SQL Server 2005 while advising the community to move away from using C++ in SQL Server 2000 development such as in extended stored procedures.

My position is that C++ will always be needed where a lot of data is being analyzed such as in SQL Server 20005 Data Mining, but, even though C++ will outperform C# in such instances, clients and developers more often will use C# because of the productivity tradeoff.

This blog is a commentary on an article by Aaron Weiker on Richard Hale Shaw (C# MVP and Musician) blogs on "Moving away from C++"

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Quickzip Freeware Archiver and Offshotthought.com

Kingsley Tagbo — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 02:42:00 GMT

Working on a default.aspx home page layout and controls for a CommunityServer site, I came across a free set of asp.net controls by the good guys at Offshot These controls were packaged as a *.rar archive for which I had to download and install Quickzip.

Why will the good folks at Offshot distribute their files as *.rar zipped files? This file format is not common to traditional ASP.NET developers.

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Kingsley.Tagbo

How To Add A Disclaimer To Outgoing Emails In Community Server 2.1 (CS 2.1)

How To Pop UP An ASP.NET Page In IE (Internet Explorer) - Code Snippet

Search Feature Broken Migrating To Community Server (CS) 2.1

Making Meaning Is Why I Became A Computer Programmer (Part 1)

Become A Programmer, Fast Track Your Computer Career Or Get a High Paying Job In Information Technology

If you want to fast track your career, become a computer programmer or get a high paying job working with computers, here is your chance.

IT Career Coach on Time to Start a High Paying Career in Information Technology

What are the insider’s secrets to interviewing success and how do you get the jobs you want in life?

Why A Reliable, Hassle Free Web Hosting Service Is Important

Save Time and Money by Using Tried and Proven Web site Development Strategies

Read more at Internet Findings (free) or Subscribe To Internet Findings (free)

Analyzing Keywords and Keyphrases in Web Traffic Reports

Read more at Internet Findings (free) or Subscribe To Internet Findings (free)

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger pops the question: Which statistic is most crucial to your blogging?

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger pops the question: Which statistic is most crucial to your blogging?

Read more at Internet Findings (free) or Subscribe To Internet Findings (free)

How To Get Accurate Web Traffic Visitor Reports using Cookies, IP Addresses and User Agents

How To Get Accurate Web Traffic Visitor Reports using Cookies, IP Addresses and User Agents

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Web Visitors Identity and Privacy - 8 Reasons Why You Need To Know Your Visitors

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Issues Affecting Web Traffic Analysis Reporting Part 1

ISSUES AFFECTING WEB TRAFFIC ANALYSIS REPORTING (PART 1)

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Website Traffic Analysis and Website Statistics Analysis Using Sql Server 2005, Log Parser 2.2, XML and W3C Extended Log Files

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Karen Wickre, Google Blog team on Google Desktop 3

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6 Problems You Must Fix with Web Page Analysis or Lose Money

How Problems with Web Pages Lead To Loss of Web Traffic and Revenue

Google's new initiative to stop Spyware, Malware or Badware

Guy Kawasaki Blogs About The The Art of Bootstrapping

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How To Compare Blog Software (Community Server 2.0, TypePad, Blogger, Squarespace, Quick Blog)

Please read the updated version of this article at

Click to read : "How to Compare and Choose a Blog Software (Community Server Blogs 2.0, WordPress 2.0, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog 1.0 and Blogger) Part 2"

If there is an important feature that I haven't mentioned here, please let me know.You may be surprised how the blog software I reviewed stack up against each other.

I will be publishing my findings in the special report below.

Comparing Community Server Blogs, WordPress, TypePad, Squarespace, Quick Blog and Blogger.

Read more at Internet Findings (free) or Subscribe To Internet Findings (free)

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet released!

Will An IT Certification Really Help Your Career : MCDBA, MCSD.NET, MCSE, MCP, OCP, ETC.

Commentary on Aaron Weiker's article and Richard Hale Shaw (C# MVP) blogs on "Moving away from C++"

Quickzip Freeware Archiver and Offshotthought.com

If there is an important feature that I haven't mentioned here, please let me know.
You may be surprised how the blog software I reviewed stack up against each other.