One of my customers received a call from GoDaddy recently.  They wanted her to sign up for private domain name registration.  My client had one question.  “What the heck is private registration?”

Let’s look at “regular” registration first.  It’s an organized system where people get exclusive use of domain names for a period of time.  (You can learn more about domain name registration here.)  There are public records about who has registered what domain.  That means that anyone can look up the name, address and telephone number associated with any domain name.

As a website developer I sometimes need to research domain name registration.  I use a site called Domain Tools for that purpose.   If you have a website type in your domain name and take a look for yourself.

Business generally don’t care if their domain name registration information is public.  Sometimes though it’s not the best choice for individuals.  That’s where private registration comes into play.  With private registration a company agrees to act as your go-between.  Their name and address will be listed on the public records.  They also figure out a way so that you can be contacted about domain name renewals.  So you’ll be notified of any important news about your domain name, but you won’t get any of the hassle like domain name scams. Domain name registrars usually charge a small annual fee for this service.

Is private registration a good idea?  It all depends on your individual situation.  If your domain registration is public and you’d like to make it private, just call your domain name registrar and ask about it.  They’ll be glad to help you.

If you’re interested in buying a new home in the Seattle area you’ll want to visit this newly launched website – Rick Chapman, First Time Home Buyer Specialist.  The website, designed by Art Squad Graphics, features a horizontal navigation system and a built-in blog.

Akismet is a lovely service that protects website publishers from spam.  It’s a must-have application for bloggers.  Recently I was walking a client through the registration process and was stopped in my tracks when I was directed to this page:

This really threw me for a loop.  Akismet is a fantastic product.  I don’t begrudge the company for wanting to make some money in return for all their hard work.  The fees are reasonable.  And yet I feel as though my mother just announced she was going to start charging me for dinner.

I emailed Akismet and asked them about this change.  As it turns out, this isn’t a change at all. This is what they had to say:

We haven’t changed our terms or pricing.  Akismet has always required a paid subscription for commercial use.

Free API keys are still available – just click the Free API Key tab near the top: https://akismet.com/signup/#free-api-key

The terms are the same as before. That is, free API keys are provided for personal and hobby sites; commercial use needs a commercial subscription.  The only thing we’ve changed is our signup process, which now makes the terms and fees clearer.

So this just represents a change in the way the signup information is presented, not a change in pricing.

I’m really happy when people leave comments on my blog.  And I always mean to reply, but sometimes I get busy.  Pat Flynn reminds us why it’s important to respond to comments in 5 Reasons Why You Should Respond to Every Comment.

I’ve been a big fan of the X-Cart shopping cart over the years.  However a recent experience has changed my mind.  One of my customers has an existing X-Cart installation.  We needed to move  the cart to a new website host.   We also wanted to make some modifications to the cart to make it work better.  Both tasks proved to be surprisingly difficult.

As I worked with the software I discovered three problems:

X-Cart doesn’t sell items in fractional quantities. That means people using X-Cart cart can’t sell a pound and a half of of product.   Shop owners who sell fabric can’t sell a yard and a half of their wares.   X-Cart is able to add this functionality via custom programming.  However it’s an expensive tweak and the custom programming makes future software upgrades difficult.

The hosting needed for X-Cart are intense. The list of requirements can be found on this page.   Because of this starter hosting packages at BlueHost or Hosting.com won’t work for this application.  A beefier, and more expensive plan is needed.

The time lag for technical support is troublesome. The good news about X-Cart is that it’s well-documented and there is technical support.  The bad news is that because the company is located Russia there is a huge communication time lag.  Basically you can have one complete email exchange in a 24 hour period.   For example, one day I asked for the specifications for an older version of the software.  That night X-Cart sent a link to the information.  The link was bad.  On the second day I told them the link was bad and asked for the information again.  They answered overnight.  On the third day I had the needed information.

So will I recommend X-Cart to any customers?  Probably not.  At this point Zen Cart is my  favorite shopping cart software.

WordPress 3.0 has recently been released.  It has new features that will allow publishers to customize blog templates like never before.  Very exciting!  I’ll post more once I’ve taken it for a spin.

Are you planning a vacation this summer, but would like to keep your blog running while you’re away?  No worries.  WordPress allows you to schedule publishing dates for posts in advance.

The first step is to log into your dashboard and write a post.  Once it’s ready then look at the publishing area to the right of the editing area.

Click on “Save Draft” to save the post.  Then click on the “Edit” after “Publish Immediately.”

Then you’ll see a place to set the date and time that the post will be published.

Enter the date of when you want your post to go live.  Then click on “OK.”

You’ll notice that instead of “publishing” your post, you’ll now be “scheduling” your post.

Click on “schedule” and you’re set!   WordPress will make your post live on the scheduled date.

I’ve often written about the importance of renewing domain names.  Domain names are registered by the website owner and there’s an annual registration fee.  Once that fee runs out, then another party can register that name.

The subject came up recently in the news.

Brian McCrary was a disgruntled man.  He’s been caught speeding by a traffic camera on US Highway 11E.   He didn’t think it was fair as, “the speed limit, for no reason, changes from 55 to 45 on a four lane divided highway. About 100 yards away a speed camera is waiting, sucking over a quarter million dollars a month out of the local economy.”

The ticket was a sizable $90 from the city of Bluff City, Tennessee.  When Brian went online to look up some information about the matter, he made an interesting discovery.  The domain name of the police department website was about to expire.   He saw an opportunity to take his revenge.  Brian bought the domain name out from under the police department.  The website now features stories about the misuse of those pesky traffic cameras.

The moral of this story?  Remember to renew your domain name!

I just received some exciting news!  Friend and client, Whitney Keyes, is auditioning to be the host of a new show on Oprah’s network.   If Whitney wins she’ll be the host of her own talk show.

Whitney would make a great host because she’s so approachable.  Don’t get me wrong.  She’s business savvy, incredibly smart and she has a great website.    All of those things are important.  But when it comes down to it,  a television host needs to relate to people.  Whitney is someone that you could meet for coffee at Starbucks and then really talk to.

Take a look at Whitney’s video and judge for yourself.

Heather Armstrong’s blog dooce.com is very popular.  How popular is it?  In 2008 ABC estimated that Heather earned over $40,000 per month from her blog.  Per month! She has over 1,500,000 Twitter followers!   That much social media pull can be very useful.  Very useful indeed,  if you have a brand new washing machine that doesn’t work.  You can read the full story over at PBS.