Category: WordPress

WordPress is an online, open source website creation tool written in PHP. It is usually thought of as the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today.

Charles Tips – WordPress

Websites don’t just appear out of thin air. They must be built. There are numerous products to assist with this. Many are what are called Content Management Systems (CMS). The most popular today is called WordPress. Nearly 1/3 of all websites use it.

WordPress Logo
A somewhat typical
WordPress logo

WordPress started as a blog software. It’s capabilities evolved over time to include pages, navigation and all the components needed for a web presence.

Just as anyone can build a home or paint a house or even perform their own dental work – anyone can make a website. All you need are the right tools and lots of time to spend learning how to do it, right? That’s why we hire contractors and painters and go to a dentist. WordPress developers save folks the time of developing the website – so they can be busy doing what they are best at.

WordPress software is free. However, website development takes time and is best done by professionals familiar with it.

Be wary of the promise of a website “anyone can build”. Those result in trapping you to a particular vendor – meaning you do not own your website. With WordPress you can go anywhere and most importantly you own the work you paid for.

Charles Oropallo (Charles@CharlesWorks.com) started CharlesWorks in Peterborough NH in 1998. His team does website design, hosting, search engine optimization (SEO) and related web services.

Charles Tips – Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of raising a site’s ranking with the search engines. Sites can have different rankings on various search engines. Each search engine’s scoring methods vary and are closely guarded secrets. Where you “rank” is how close you are to the top (e.g., 1 vs 100).

No one can promise a #1 placement. Only paying the search engine itself can guarantee that! However, there ARE things that can be done for better placement. Understand that search engines are like artificial intelligence. They “read” the text in a site to gain understanding of what a site is about – much like humans do. They understand context and categorize topics.

There’s no magical trick to gaining website search engine ranking. Plenty of information in a website’s text about its products or services is key. More written info about a topic equals more relevant search results.

While photos help aesthetics, text still “tells” search engines what a site’s about. Don’t be afraid to write in great detail about your products and services. Remember: The more pages there are on a site about a topic – the more relevant the site becomes about that topic.

Charles Oropallo (Charles@CharlesWorks.com) started CharlesWorks in Peterborough NH in 1998. His team does website design, hosting, search engine optimization (SEO) and related web services.

Charles Tips – Domain Directory Listing Scams

Here’s another scam designed to get you to share your credit card information: the Internet Domain Listing Service. It’s been around many years.

The Domain Listing Service usually involves an invoice you receive either via email or in postal mail. It’s deceptively designed to look like a bill you owe regarding your domain name. There is generally a sense of urgency expressed in it. The invoice coincidentally arrives roughly about the time your domain is due for annual renewal. That’s key to folks falling for it.

What the “service” purportedly offers is listing your domain in places on the web to get your website found – for several hundred dollars or more. We have found little or no evidence of any tangible results for most of these. We’ve actually seen web sites banned in search engines as a result of some “listing” services.

There ARE valid directories on the web that help sites increase search engine ranking. At CharlesWorks we provide this for no additional ongoing inclusion fees.

Carefully read the text in these offerings! It usually reveals that they are just a solicitation and not a required service.

Charles Oropallo (Charles@CharlesWorks.com) started CharlesWorks in Peterborough NH in 1998. His team does website design, hosting, search engine optimization (SEO) and related web services.

Charles Tips – Introduction

Welcome to The Web Corner!

Charles Oropallo, CharlesWorks founder, Peterborough NH
Charles Oropallo, who owns and founded CharlesWorks in 1998 in Peterborough NH

Charles Oropallo from CharlesWorks in Peterborough NH will be bringing you articles on popular web topics with helpful hints. Most are simple, some are for the more experienced. All should be useful and educational. We will address:

    • Passwords with our focus on making them secure – yet easy to remember.
    • Common Internet scam information about domain name renewals to perhaps save you a lot of grief going forward.
    • More Internet scam information about Directory Listing scams to again save you a lot of grief.
    • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in layman’s language and how it works.
    • Current web design products like WordPress – a free content management system for building websites.
    • Some information about spam and how you get onto those spammer’s lists.
    • Common myths and misconceptions about domain names aimed at helping you protect your online brand.
    • The ease (or not) of website self-maintenance for do-it-yourselfers.
    • The importance of shopping local and supporting your own community.
    • Things to know about email security on your phone or on your computer or on your tablet.
    • Website hosting and the advantages to local servers vs cloud storage.
    • The occasional pitfalls of having your friends help you with your web needs.
    • Reviewing your website now and then.
    • A little about email etiquette and things to avoid.
    • A common email extortion to ignore.
    • Secure Socket layers (SSL) and the surrounding hype.
    • Some tips and thoughts about choosing domain names.
    • Free counters and issues surrounding most “free” web stuff.
    • Info about a common “you need to update your email” scam.
    • A brief explanation of “the cloud” as applied to the Internet.
    • Social media – Facebook in particular – and how it relates to your web presence.
    • How long you have to get site visitor’s attention.
    • Who owns your domain and info about domain ownership.
    • Checking up on your web content and the minimum needed.
    • Checklist to help you find the best web developer.

And more! We’ll update this page over time with the topics we cover each week!

Lots to share!

Email us with questions/suggestions. Check back here at Charles Tips each week to see our weekly installments!

Charles Oropallo (Charles@CharlesWorks.com) started CharlesWorks in Peterborough NH in 1998. His team has performed website design, hosting, search engine optimization (SEO) and related web services for thousands of web clients on four continents.