Month: May 2007

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Custom Domains in the New Blogger

I am in the process of launching a new blog called Blog-World Watch in preparation for a new white paper that I am thinking of doing on blogging.

I love the ability to use the new Blogger.com features but I do want to issue a warning about them.

  1. If you are using FTP settings to send your blog to your website server now, you will not be able to use the best new Blogger features. They are not compatible with FTP blogging.
  2. To use the new Ajax Blogger interface, your blog needs to be hosted at blogspot.com. You may want to consider using a custom domain, but I am a power user and even I am having trouble setting this up. Trouble, I mean BIG trouble. The Web is rife with complaints on the custom domain setting and configuration problems. If I figure it out, I will for sure post the resolution here.
  3. I have real concerns about posting a blog to blogspot and whether your site will garner any search engine benefits as you do with FTP blogging. This is my reason for considering a white paper on the topic.

At this point, you can click my blog post title to see absolutely nothing at this point as the custom URL is still broken, but hopefully over time this will be resolved.

So, do I love the new Blogger – yes, but will I use it? Only if I can get the custom domain issue resolved. It appears that it requires a CNAME update in your DNS server information and possibly even the set up of a subdirectory domain on your server.

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Welcome to Blog-World Watch

Welcome to my newest blog for McCord Web Design. In this blog I will be checking out the implementation settings and custom domain settings for the new Blogger.com.

This blog is set up using the new widget templates for Blogger and is also using the custom domain setting.

I am not sure how this will work for search engines, but I’ll soon find out. Keep you posted!

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My Contact Form: Online Form Processing Made Simple

We’ve run into this problem occasionally – where a client’s web host does not have a cgi-bin installed, the host does not supply preferred scripts for contact form processing, or the scripts that we have in our library will not work. No longer does a site owner have to live with just an email link as a contact option on their website now there’s My Contact Form.

My Contact Form is an online script processing service that allows any website on any server, using any platform to easily and seamlessly integrate code into their web pages and use My Contact Form’s server to process a contact form script. No longer will you need to pay $150 to $250 to a programmer to try to troubleshoot your server settings to get a contact form to process.

We have now used My Contact Form on three client websites and have found the service to be cost effective, easy to use, easy to implement, and very reliable. We recommend the unbranded premium version with no advertising links or pop-up. There is a free version available, but why irritate readers when the premium level is so cheap? For $24.99 per year, $14.99 per year if we set it up for you if we are your webmaster or web designer, and you are up and running. My Contact Form allows you to have an unlimited number of forms and with the upgraded version that we use for our clients and up to 5,000 forms submitted per month per account. Plus you can start with their templates or use their online wizard to design free form contact forms.

The final form that you create generates its own HTML code which even the inexperienced user can install in the code of any web page using FrontPage or other HTML editor. Experienced users, such as myself, can easily restyle the appearance of the form and form elements for a totally custom look. When we integrate the form into your website, they appear totally seamless. We have our client forms set up to email an auto-responder confirmation record to the person who has completed the form and then email the completed form using the processing script to the account owner.

You’ll never lose a prospect’s information again with My Contact Form, as the premium level, which we recommend, also stores a copy of all form submissions online within your account. You’ll be assured that you’ll receive all your contacts and that one does not end up in your bulk folder unknown to you with their online form filing system.