Almost everyday, I do something with WordPress, particular with themes. That’s because I like to mess around with it, experiment and really dive into all it has to offer. For most of us, we upload this to a web host, create a dummy account or dummy folder and work from it there.

I do that a fair bit but sometimes, you just don’t want to FTP in and out. Who knows, sometimes your Internet connection may be down or you just want to unplug while you get things done for a while.

But how do you unplug when your work is online? 

Hmm….

Why, run a web server on your own computer of course!

I love, love, love using Uniform Server for my own development because compared to other methods, it is super easy and always works - at least for me. Never failed. I have been getting my hands dirty with PHP sites since 2002 and working

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Time for our weekly help desk column.

Hi Lynette, My website is www.create-a-mural.com I started it about 6 years age is doing well. I am having a problem with understanding how to address: Todays internet marking with an older website.

1-Adding “Bookmark with the little icons

2-I have 2 different providers for my website & my email list making them flow better.

3-Adding a blog (rss feed?) -Do you do business consultation? - Camille

Heya Camille,

What fun and lovely murals. Your site is a classic online store and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. What you need is not to add all these bookmarks to the site because when people are there, you want them to focus on buying.

But I do see where having a blog to compliment the site would be very beneficial. There are so many things to blog about in your line. You can share ideas, talk about

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photo credit: mistress_f

When you don’t plan on returning your calls?

Mini rant here. I’ve been told some not very nice things because I use a help desk system instead of a phone number. I understand we all prefer different methods of communication. But seriously, don’t judge the website by the telephone number (or lack of it)

I recently tried to contact someone who displays his telephone number prominently in the contact/support area. But here’s what gets to me.

First of all, I was re-directed to a line of someone I wasn’t expecting. Instead of announcing the company or website or site owner, e.g. “Thank you for calling TechBasedMarketing.com or Lynette Chandler”, the voicemail message gave me zero idea who I just called and left me wondering if the number is even legit.

Next, it’s been over 10 days and still no return call. I made very sure to state my name, phone number and even website address clearly. C’mon folks.

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What a very interesting question (and problem) I found in my question box.

Hi Lynette, I just got through reading your answers in your blog and I really appreciate your business knowledge and your good common sense answers. My question concerns a domain name I bought a couple of years ago and chose to hyphenate (Struggles-of-an-Apprentice-Marketer.com) I use the title for a blog with the hyphens. The problem is the length of the URL and my question is: could I use ApprenticeMarketer.com as a URL (it is available) and continue to use the blog title? I also have the URL ApprenticeMarketerGazette.com for the newsletter I am soon starting. Your honest opinion please? Thank you, Fran

photo
credit: Misterteacher

A: Hello Fran, ooh! domains getting hairy. I have such a problem deciding what to do with my domains as well. I (may not fully comprehend the situation, but) believe you want to know if you

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