Author: Mark

Check your site from time to time

About 10 days ago WordPress released a new upgrade to the WordPress framework. Everyone has an auto-update mechanism that should check for updates to plugins and the WordPress core every day. If a new version of code is detected then the site is automatically moved to maintenance mode (generally for less than 30 seconds), the site is then upgraded and made public again. This happens several times a week because each element or building block on your website is maintained by the authors independently.

The reason I have set it up this way is because there are frequent updates to fix bugs and vulnerabilities. It is essential to always be running the latest code on your site.

Last week I was made aware of one site that had “disappeared”. The admin side of the site was still present and functioning, but the users view of the site was a blank screen. I have seen two other cases like this.

Check your site

Do check your sites from time to time to make sure they are running. Once a month/ 6 weeks use your contact form to make sure that is working too. Continue reading Check your site from time to time

Mobile Phone Bills

Have you issued mobile phones in your charity?

How much do you pay each month?

If you got here looking for free stuff, this is not free, but carries the potential for being a very low cost solution. 

GiffGaff is a well established mobile service provider, it is a largely self help business model created by 02. There is a large community of users/contributors offering support. So one assumes that the business model for GiffGaff is quite efficient if you outsource a lot of the support overhead to the community of users that use the service.

If you make a mobile call from a GiffGaff phone to another GiffGaff phone then the call is free. On this basis if you keep in touch with mobile volunteers then you could significantly reduce the cost of phones by having a mobile in the office to call those in the field.  Continue reading Mobile Phone Bills

Changes in Google search criteria

Google understandably do not publish the precise methods used in indexing sites and subsequently ranking them for presentation in a Google search.

One thing I recently found out this week while looking at earlier sites and search results were some warnings that Google was placing on some sites that are not “mobile friendly”.

Because we have more and more mobile devices around there has been a shift over the past 4-5 years to create websites that change how they are presented to a user based on the screen size of the device they are using. These are generically called Responsive Websites.  Continue reading Changes in Google search criteria

Spam, Spam, Spam

From time to time I get asked the question whether the website is broken because a strange message has come in from a contact form.

Invariably they contain links to somewhere else, usually obfiscated links so you cannot tell where they will go, without going there. They also have completely random text, sometimes just random sequences of characters, and sometimes a passage of text which has no bearing to the function or purpose of the charity website. The text is added to try to get around various spam detection mechanisms.

Why do we get them?

They are sent through comment boxes and forms, and often get around form checking methods. The reason they are being posted on your site is because the settings on your site may instantly publish it. If that happens then the person responsible for sending it have just got some free advertising through your website. Some sites automatically publish comments or form content.  In your case this is deliberately disabled when I publish your site.

here is one example you may have seen: Continue reading Spam, Spam, Spam

Asking your visitors to comment on your site

I completed a Home-Start site this week for Home-Start Bracknell Forest. One of the requests for content was quite unusual compared to the 100+ other charity sites that I have built over the past 3 years.

This group had an old site that I replaced. I was asked to add a feedback page, so they could gather comments from those people that came past the website on their views about the website.

I have used a function that is built into all WordPress websites where you can invite comments on articles (posts and pages). I have turned it on at the bottom of this page so you can see an example and make a comment. You can do this on your site as well (and turn it off again).  But you need to be aware of what might happen.

Catering for the Bots

A growing problem is Form Blasting. This seems to be a relatively new tool in the world of the hackers and fringe groups who use computers to post adverts and links into forms. I have seen several examples over the past month where those that use Form Blasting advertise the fact in one of the forms that is submitted from your website. You pay say £150 and they will place your advert for knock off Gucci bags on 10,000 websites. Continue reading Asking your visitors to comment on your site

Reset your email password

When you are initially set up with email I set a password for you, or one is provided by your organisation. If I set up an email password for you, it will generally be a complex sequence of characters which is not easy for you to remember. If you only use Outlook then it does not matter. If however you want to use WebMail, then it is important that you have a memorable password, because you will need it when you login.

There are two ways you can reset your password. One is by asking the person in your office who manages your site to reset it. They will access something called the control panel, and from there they can reset it. Alternatively you can do it yourself. Continue reading Reset your email password

How to set up an Out of Office Email responder

I have added a tutorial under Email in the main menu which covers the steps you need to take to configure an out of office email responder. It is not very difficult to do, and will ease the administrative burden when people are out of the office.

I have indicated to some groups that this feature is not possible in the hosting we are using, it turns out it is. The only issue is that it is not seemlessly integrated with Outlook and MS Exchange Server which is possibly where you may have come across it before.

Go to this page to learn about how it works, and how to set it up. This article is password protected.

Hosting Costs for Charities

Over the years I have been doing this I have placed some sites into 3rd party hosting, and moved some sites from 3rd party hosting into my hosting (this is not an advert for my hosting btw). Hosting tends to be quite similar wherever you go, but occasionally you come across a company that does it all differently.  In this particular case I am going to refer to 1and1.co.uk. I have worked with one client and reduced their annual hosting and email charges with 1and1 from well over £200 per year to around £60 some years ago.

Paying over the top

I have come across another today. This is a small regional charity, going through difficult times like many others out there, so every penny counts. This group are not hosting with me currently; I offered to replace a website for them and place it in their hosting (not knowing who it was at the time). Continue reading Hosting Costs for Charities

Creating Banners on your site

Sometimes you may wish to add a box that is formatted differently to the standard elements on your web pages.

I have had this question raised by several people and for that reason I have created a page covering this. The page is specific to Home-Start websites however the principles will apply anywhere. You just add the code to your page in TEXT mode and then switch to VISUAL mode and edit the panel to your requirements.

Read more about this here: Banners for your site.

 

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