Try It Friday – Evernote Quick Start
My Try It Friday video blog for today is a quick start guide for Evernote.
I had trouble getting started with Evernote. I simply did not have the time to read and understand how to get going; yet I wanted to use it as it has had great reviews and I got a free Premium Subscription from being a Wall Street Journal subscriber.
I felt that I needed a “stupid person” guide to getting started with Evernote; hence my video. You may be just like me, too busy to figure it out but ready to try out Evernote, this video will get you started fast!
In preparing to make this video, I finally took the time to figure out how to create notes where Evernote transcribes my voice into a note that I can then email to myself or arrange in notebooks. This feature is unique. Even your smartphone or virtual assistant can’t replicate this feature. It is one of the best reasons for getting started with Evernote.
I have used this feature (speech to text) to create topics for blog posts as I read the newspaper, create lists for staff, or details of conversations I have had with a customer. Then I’ve used Evernote to store these notes in the Cloud – accessible from any of my devices. I even use Evernote to email me my own notes to add to a spreadsheet or further massage for other uses.
This video makes it super easy to get started with Evernote. After you do, then go to YouTube and watch more advanced videos on how to create Notebooks and use collaboration tools found in the Premium Subscription.
I am not being paid by Evernote. I just figured it out and wanted to share how to get started fast with this terrific application.
Evernote at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote&hl=en
Evernote at the App Store at iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8
Should You Buy a Previously Owned Domain Name?
Don’t Make a Big Mistake, Do Your Research!
Be careful, very careful, even if a domain is offered to you for a great price and it really looks like a great keyword match, take a deep breath and do your homework before you jump on buying that domain name.
Why should I be careful?
It today’s environment when great domains become available it is typically because they have been burned out by spammers. A domain will carry history, it is not just a name and when you take it over thinking you are getting a fresh start; it may be banned by spam registries, Internet Service Providers, and been used and abused by spamming or black hat SEO’s.
Even $200 is too much to pay for a domain that has been abused. You may never be able to use the domain name in an email address and the history may be so tainted that you will never be able to remediate it and place on any search engine with it.
My recommendation is – No Go.
My candid recommendation on buying a used domain, based on how things are, is that I would pass. A domain name does not assure SEO placement, and if you really love the domain you may be able to buy it fresh and clean and never used before as a .us or .biz.
If the price tag is even higher, hire an expert to do due diligence for you. I’ve seen domains go for $10,000. You’d hate to pay that kind of money and find out that the domain had been horribly abused making its value to you nearly nothing. Be careful and do some Google searches on this topic before you plunk down your cash to buy.
Hacking Explained – Why You Are Targeted
It’s the worst case scenario, you get a note from Google saying it looks like you’ve been hacked. Your website now has a tag on Google that says “this site has been hacked”, your traffic has plummeted and sales are way off. Why you!
Not all hacking is about stealing credit card information. Sometimes a hack is about stealing your traffic and your SEO juice. Only sites that are well-placed and popular are targeted for this type of hack. The hackers know that you are doing something right and have Google’s attention and they want a piece of that action for their own benefit.
What hackers will typically do in this case is to sneak in via WordPress and then move directly into your website, installing snippets of code that create folders on your server and a brand new XML site map full of spammy links pointing to websites that they are wanting to improve the placement on with Google.
Try to just delete the folder and you’re fine, think again. These scripts are propagating. Delete a folder and it will be back tomorrow in a new location with a new name. Plus the hackers will be logging in to add more junk and update their benefiting site list. It is all done to bleed off your traffic and steal the SEO juice you have.
The only way to solve this type of problem is by brute force. You’ll need to take everything down, wipe it clean and then reload only clean files plus a full new fresh update of all WordPress files. You may even have to clean your WordPress database and manually review each and every website page you put back.
When you do, make sure you are hardening your security, updating passwords and deleting files you don’t need where code may be hiding. These are smart, tricky, and unscrupulous people. They are not targeting you but for any other reason that your website is well-placed and popular.