1. Download new WP and upload to New Directory on the server.  This starts you with a clean slate.
2. Check to see if you have local copies of the theme folder.  Use those old, uncorrupted files for the new installation.
3. If you do not have local copies of the theme files, then you need to transfer over the potentially hacked theme files and upload files only.
   1. First, download and check all theme  files for the hack.  Usually the hack is added code to the header and footers of common files.
   2. Search for any javascript code of base64 encodes, as that is the hack of choice lately.
   3. Remove any unnecessary files that you are unsure of their purpose.
4. Move over themes files to the new install once cleaned.
5. Check your WP users for any unauthorized WP users and delete them.
6. Change all WP user passwords.
7. Check your database for any odd/new data.
8. Reset FTP Passwords for all users.
9. Remove any Shell Access in the control panel if not needed
10. Reset Hosting Control Password
11. Reset Database Password for WP
12. Update new wp-config.php file to your new settings.
13. Salt the wp-config.php file.
14. Swap the installs, by moving the old WP to a sub-directory and the new installation to the old location. This makes the new site live.
15. Test the site to make sure the theme works, the hack is gone, that plugins work and all uploads work.
16. Delete old WP installation once you pass all tests.
17. Reset CHMOD Permissions to all transferred files.  The new WP install should have all the correct permissions, but any transferred files might be corrupted and have 777 access or other odd access permissions.
18. Install Security Plugins such as WP Lockdown, WP Security Admin Tools
19. Change the default user from admin to something else.
20. Change the WP database table names, if possible.

If you have any other tips, let us know.  Thanks!

First and foremost, does your site run and for how long?  Uptime for web hosts is usually measured in percentages.  Typically, we recommend finding a host that has a 99.99% uptime.  The critical aspect is the four nines as this gives you as little downtime as possible, and therefore fewer headaches.

Based on 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day, 30 days per month – here are the downtime numbers:

99% Uptime = 7.2 hours down per month

99.9% Uptime = 43 minutes down per month

99.99% Uptime = 4.32 minutes down per month (usually a server reboot)

Stay away from 99% servers as you will be making phone calls weekly to your host.  Make sure you have at least three nines from your service agreement.

Support

Help!  My site is down.  OMG!  I am getting screamed at by my boss!

When you need help, how long does it take for the host company to respond?  If you email them do they respond same minute, same hour, same day?  If you call them, are you on hold for 1 minute, 20 minutes or more?

Remember to factor in all costs, including your time, when choosing a hosting company.  You will call your host at one point in time.  It will be a critical time too, and you don’t want to have to wait 20 or 30 minutes to speak to a support representative. I know that when you call our company, someone picks up the phone immediately during normal hours and for off-hour emergencies my mobile phone rings.

I recommend that you test out support before you sign onto a web host.  I have had instances with support email wait times of 8+ hours and 1+ hour of phone wait times.  Contact their support team and see how quickly they respond via email and phone, just to be safe.

Speed

Speed still matters and there is a difference between hosts in this area.  Some shared hosts load up their servers with thousands of web sites, including yours.   You are just one small site on one small server.  Some web hosts control quality through more servers and less sites per server.  If you do not like the speed of the shared server, then check out dedicated, VPS or Cloud environments.

Also, did you know that know only is load speed a major factor in visitors staying on your site, but for SEO purposes speed does matter.  Site load speed is now a factor in the search results.  So make sure your site is on-par with other sites.

Platform

Before you select a host, you should know whether you need a Linux or Windows platform.  I have seen a few clients caught getting the wrong platform and having to switch.  It is not a big deal, but it is a simple check with your design team, so just ask their preference.

More importantly, check to see whether you will need a Shared, Cloud, VPS, or Dedicated server.  Each has its own costs and technology.  A quick guide is here:

Shared hosting can be cheap – $10 to $50 per month.  The reason it is cheap is you share the same server with potentially thousands of sites and all those files reside on a single server – a single point of failure.  So if this server goes down, so does your site.  These are good for non-critical applications and for general brochure sites.

Cloud servers / sites are a hybrid whereby you do share resources with other servers, but your files are distributed onto multiple servers.  You do not have the limit of being on a single server.  Your sites can grow.  Cloud servers start anywhere from $20 (Grid Hosting at Media Temple) to $150 for Cloud Sites at Rackspace.

VPS technology is short for Virtual Private Server.  This is where you do share a server with other sites, but not nearly as many.  The good news is there is always a cap because it’s usually based on the RAM and Storage limits of the server.  You could end up with just a few large sites or perhaps 50 or so smaller sites.  You get your own hosting environment within that server and set limits on memory, storage and bandwidth, but you are still sharing overall resources of the same server.  A crash of one site does not affect your site, as resources are independent.  VPS can start at $50 per month and go to over $200 per month depending on your needs.

Finally, there are dedicated servers.  This is the top-of-the-line, where it is just you on the server.  This typically requires you to manage your own server.  Dedicated servers can start anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month and up. You can add on multiple servers, firewalls, load balancers and all sorts of other goodies.  This is typically for the most advanced sites and not for a typical law firm web site.

Scalability

Can you web host scale with your web site? Finally, can your site scale?  With social media allowing sites to get lots of traffic instantly, it is important to factor in whether your site will suddenly become popular. If your hosting account is on a shared resource, it could crash the server.

This is why Cloud computing has become more popular.  With cloud computing, theoretically your bandwidth and resources increases on demand.  This has saved a few of our sites that suddenly had internet fame with a few popular links.

Final Thoughts

If you have any other questions, check us out at www.paperstreet.com.  My recommendation, check out Cloud servers, VPS and there are some solid shared hosts out there too.  We have been with many web hosts over our 10 years in business, have horror stories of slow sites, unresponsive support.  We have found MediaTemple.net, Rackspace.com Dedicated and Rackspace Cloud Sites to be great.

Pop-Up Overlay (Lightbox) Disclaimer Features

1. Ability to add to any page (requires PHP and use of jQuery)
2. The disclaimer pops up/overlays the whole page, whenever it is visited directly (such as through a search engine) or through navigating the website.
3. If the browser does not have JavaScript enabled, the user is redirected to the home page.
4. If the user does not check any checkboxes, and tries to accept, the user is notified that they must agree to each checkbox or not view the content.
5. If the user does not agree, they are redirected to the home page.
6. Once accepted, the user can view the content and the disclaimer won’t pop up again for the browsing session.

Two working examples

• Past Results and Testimonials Disclaimer – Example 1
  Close and re-open your browser if you would like to see the disclaimer again after accepting.
• Past Results and Testimonials Disclaimer – Example 2 – Optional contact form
  Note: This must be optional according to the bar rules and we would recommend using the first example.
  

About the Disclaimer Language Used

The text used on the disclaimer is taken directly from the “Sample Disclaimer Page” provided by the Florida Bar. This sample disclaimer combines the required wording for both past results and testimonials under “You should know that”.

1. Domains are purchased through domain registrars.
2. Domain registrars hold the name server records – i.e. ns.rackspace.com.
3. Name Servers hold DNS records.
4. DNS records tell web browsers and email clients where to point the query.

Domain Name

• This is the starting point.  Domains are words that correlate to computers across the world.
• For instance, paperstreet.com domain correlates to 72.32.8.45 – our web server.
• You must have a domain name, otherwise your web site gets an IP address like 72.32.8.45.  That is not easy to remember and pretty ugly to put on business cards, so that is why we have domains.

Domain Registrar

• You register a domain through Domain Registrars.
• Common Registrars are GoDaddy.com, BulkRegister.com, Network Solutions, Register.com, Enom.com and even your web host probably has an affiliation.

Name Servers

• At the domain registrar, every domain must enter two pieces of information called the name servers.
• Name Servers tell everyone where to look for DNS records of the domain.
• Name servers are like:
  • Dns1.name-services.com = BulkRegister
  • ns26.domaincontrol.com = GoDaddy
  • ns.rackspace.com = Rackspace
  • dns1.Stabletransit.com = Mosso / Rackspace Cloud

DNS – Domain Name Services

• DNS is the core of every domain.
• DNS has three main areas:
  • HOST A – a record to a specific IP address (i.e. a specific web server)
    • www.paperstreet.com – 72.32.8.45
    • Paperstreet.com – 72.32.8.45
    • Mail.paperstreet.com – 72.3.161.129
    • Host A allows for multiple subdomains (i.e. citrix.paperstreet.com or webmail.paperstreet.com or essentials.paperstreet.com).
• MX Record (Mail eXchange)– These are the mail records.  It tells computers where to send email.
  • Paperstreet.com email points to mail.paperstreet.com
• CNAME  (Alias)
  • This is just an alias.  If you get tired of typing in the same IP address for all your Host A records, you can make one HOST A and then use the same IP address for others.
    • Ex:  www.paperstreet.com à paperstreet.com
    • This would allow the www version of PaperStreet.com to point to Paperstreet.com and use the same IP address.

Quick Lookup

http://www.intodns.com/ – All Types of Record Info

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp – WHOIS

But IE 6 Sucks!

Yes, it does.  But losing business sucks more.  Spending a few more hours on a site can help the client.  For each client, I think we need to check their server logs and determine their traffic.  It takes about 3 minutes of work to determine their audience and will help our clients. 

• If a client has a HUGE population of IE 6 users (like 10% or more), then we have to still code for them.  I could easily see this happening if our clients have older customers, lower socio-economic customers, or customers in developing countries.  Why?  Because they probably have older computers.
• If they have a 5% or less share we can just drop features and make small work arounds.
• If they have a 1% market share we can just ignore completely – just like we do for poor Opera.

My Gut Feeling

I have a sneaky feeling that it will be not a dramatic drop as we want.  I would love to see our server stats go from 4.6% to 0% in the next few months.  I just don’t think it will happen. I think it will continue trending down, but by next year we will only be a few percentage points lower.

Big Question – Our Web Site and Our Clients Sites

The big question is should we cater to 4.6% of our audience.  I ran our numbers and that is the number of visitors that came back – see attached chart.  I say yes, we should still provide a solid experience in IE6.  However, we can kill any fancy features and just do basic things.

In the last month we had 700 visitors in IE 6.  That is quite a few people (20 to 30 a day).  We had an inquiry just today from an IE 6 user.  Yes, I know a mere coincidence, but still there are people who don’t use it.   Would you design your store or restaurant to exclude 5% of your traffic?  No.

I did run a report and since August we have had 40 inquiries with IE6 as the browser (about 8% of our overall inquiries via the web form).  So, would we want to lose 8% of our business?  At this time, I don’t think we would want to do that.

So, says the Zen Master….we’ll see.

301 Redirect is the Best

If you are not going to build unique, indepdent sites, then 301 redirect all your domains into your parent site. A 301 redirect causes the domain to fully redirect and change its name to the site you are redirecting to.

It Creates a Nice Redirect

So if you 301 the domain www.paperst.com, then it becomes www.paperstreet.com when people visit www.paperst.com. This is proper as you don’t want two independent versions of your site running on the web under different domains – its bad for SEO.

WWW vs non-WWW

In fact, you really should not have a www and non-www version of your site, just redirect everything into the www version (or non-www version).  Have your tech person create a 301 redirect for your non-www version of your site into the www version.

301 Passes Over Link Value

A 301 passes over any link value (i.e. anyone linking to that previous domain).  So in our case, we are able to pass over all old value of www.paperst.com links to www.paperstreet.com.  This really helps if you have multiple domains with each their own value.  This is awesome when two firms merge as they get the benefit of both domains link power – if 301′d correctly.

No Direct Match for SEO Purposes with a 301

However, a 301 does not pass over any “direct match” value of the keyword phrases in the domain.  So any use of the domain is strictly from a link perspective and not “direct match” of the keywords.  Don’t let anyone tell you that buying 50 domains with keyword phrases in them helps, it doesn’t unless you create actual web sites with those domains.

So we created/modified a new tool to create all possible domains.

http://www.paperstreet.com/domain-research-tool/

Our new tool is based on a common keyword phrase tool that has been on the internet for years.  We revised it to be just for domains and put in common prefixes, suffixes, and domain extensions so that we can quickly build an idea list.

I am not stating that all our ideas will be available, in fact, a lot won’t.  But this tool allows us to quickly sort through what is available by putting up to 500 domains into a bulk registration tool and seeing what is available.

I figure saves us about an hour a day, so why not save everyone some time.

Directions – after going to see the tool here – http://www.paperstreet.com/domain-research-tool/

1. Modify Prefix, Extensions and Domains as Needed. The first comma is needed to not have any prefixes.
2. Add your “Keywords” in box 2. That is the real important step.
3. In all boxes, seperate words by commas with no spaces.
4. Click “Generate” to see all possible domains.
5. Paste those domains into a bulk register domain tool, such as GoDaddy.
6. GoDaddy or your preferred domain registrar will let you know what is available pretty quickly.

Our client file tool is an light weight tool that allows you to create an unlimited amount of clients, unlimited amount of file uploads. Sure there are lots of these programs as installed models and hosted models.  However, we found most are hard to use for a typical client, did not integrate into the site nicely, and/or had ongoing fees associated with them.  So we built our own.

Each client has a unique login and can view only their files.  Each client and the firm administrator can view, download, add, and delete files for that client.  The firm administrator can of course see everything.

Admin

1. Login with Unique User Pass
2. Create New Users
3. Automatically create new folders for clients
4. Ability to login as any client and view/download/add/delete files.

Client

1. Login with Unique User / Pass
2. View File
3. Download Files
4. Upload Files
5. Delete Files

Included in Our Costs

1. PaperStreet Integration into your web site.
2. Training on Use of the tool.
3. Bugs / Error fixes, if any for first 30 days.
4. Customizations are done on an hourly rate.

Pretty nifty!  Here are some screen shots of an install.

Client Login

Client File System

As you can see it’s super simple.  But that is good.  Clients will use it more.  I call it the “Apple” model of design.  Simple is best for usability.  It kills all the usual clutter with file systems.

Let us know if you have any questions, comments or want a demo.

As it stands now, we are recommending that we create Wordpress intranets.  We fell in love with Wordpress awhile ago and it still is a very cost effective way to creating a content platform, whether it is a blog, a web site, an e-commerce store, or even an intranet.

You can install WP in 15 minutes and install about 5 to 10 plugins in another hour.  From there, it just needs to be styled to match the firm identity.  You can have a working intranet running, yours to keep, in less than a day; pretty easy and cost-efficient for most businesses.

If you don’t want to go the Wordpress route, then there are good resources too.  Other vendors include Sharepoint, ThoughtFarmer, Backpack, Vialect, Google Apps, and Intranet Dashboard.

For instance, if you don’t have time to setup Wordpress, then there are a variety of hosted models ready to go.  For hosted models, checkout Backpack.  For a one-time model that does offer ongoing support additional, then checkout ThoughtFarmer.com (nice design of a site).

I am biased against ongoing support though for software, so you will see that listed as a general con in the article.  I am also biased against services that cost above $1,500 for an intranet, as we can probably get an entire WP installed, customized, and trained for that cost.

The info below is our quick notes, pricing and other info.

Intranet Software

• Wordpress – http://www.wordpress.org
  • Costs – Wordpress is free, open source software.  Your cost is the time to hire a team to install, modify, theme and train.
  • Pros – Open Source, Free, Flexible, Tons of features.
  • Cons – None, other than WP has to be upgraded from time to time.
• Backpack – http://backpackit.com
  • Costs – $50 per month for 15 Users / $99 per month for 40 users
  • Pros -   Easy to setup, easy to use.
  • Cons – Ongoing subscription based service.
• Sharepoint (Leased) – http://www.getsharepoint.com
  • Costs – 1 to 10 users is $240 / 11 to 50 users is $390
  • Pros – Sharepoint leased service.  Setup for you and has tons of features.
  • Cons – Ongoing subscription based service.
• ThoughtFarmer.com – http://www.thoughtfarmer.com
  • Costs –  $109 per user
  • Pros – Many features.  Web 2.0. Style.  Support in year 2 is separate, but not required.
  • Cons – Non
• Vialect- http://www.vialect.com/
  • Costs –  $4 per user, per month (hosted models available too)
  • Pros – Many features.
  • Cons – Ongoing subscription based service.
• Sharepoint (Purchased) - http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx
  • Costs – $4,000 to $5,000 for 5 CALs
  • Pros – An overall integrated platform.
  • Cons – Cost.  Customization.
• Internet Dashboard – http://www.intranetdashboard.com
  • Costs –  $1,200 to $1,600 (getting official number from company email)
  • Pros – Single install with lots of tools.
  • Cons – None, other than costs, which are not confirmed yet.
• Google – http://www.google.com/apps/
  • Costs –  Free
  • Pros – Free, lots of features and applications
  • Cons – Different applications, no central area to manage all information.  Requires ability to use / install all features.

Typical Requirements from our Clienst

• Announcements
• News
• Search
• File Upload, Documents and Organization.
• Frequently asked questions.
• Links to Resources
• How-to manuals, software help articles and/or end user training information
• Staff directory with pictures, cell phone and other contact information
• Employee manual and policies and procedure manual
• Ability to access this from any location
• Staff profiles/bios
• Firm wide calendar with marketing events, birthdays, etc.
• Firm newsletter
• Press Releases
• Local lunch and catering menus
• Birthdays
• Secure Directory

Final Notes

If you know of a good Intranet, feel free to leave a comment.  We are always on the look-out for good solutions to offer to our clients.

Here is one of our standard inquiry forms with data excluded:

=============

Name: ***********
Firm Name: ***********
Email: ***********
Phone: ***********
Question: Looking to update our current website: www. ***********.com. Could you provide us with a quote? Would like to add some photos and possibly video to our site and email contact option.

Referral Page: http://www.paperstreet.com/webdesign.php

=============

In that case, the person visited our web design page and submitted their info.  How did we know that?  We used the HTTP_REFERER command.

Command to Use

‘HTTP_REFERER‘

The address of the page (if any) which referred the user agent to the current page. This is set by the user agent. Not all user agents will set this, and some provide the ability to modify HTTP_REFERER as a feature. In short, it cannot really be trusted.

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

Code to Use

<?php echo “Referral Page: ” . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']; ?>