My Computer Back in Service

I received an e-mail the other day fom a client asking this question… 

How do I look up a DNS(Domain Name System/server) name or IP(Internet Protocol) address from my desktop?
(You must be connected to the Internet to look up a DNS name or IP address even though you are using Windows.)

• In the Start Menu, Open the Command Prompt.
• At the Command Prompt, type nslookup, a space, and the IP address or name (eg. nslookup microsoft.com)
• Then press ENTER.
• You get Your Result
• When finished type exit, then press enter

Pretty simple, but…

What to do if you are scraped?

• Try contacting the author through their about or contact page (if they even have one)
• Leave a comment on your post (that’s on the offending blog)
• Look up their IP address on http://allwhois.com/ and report them to the host
• Send a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint
• If they are running Google Ads (and the probably are) click the Google Ads link and report them as scraping your content

Other than that, you might consider doing what I did on my Working at Home on the Internet blog (click the link for my alternate solution). It worked for me!

Do use AdSense on your Blog? Do you want to put some Ads after your posts but are limited by the fact that you can only have 3 instances of AdSense per page? Do you want to know how to show AdSense Ads after a certain post and not others to be sure you stay within Googles guidelines and not be banned?

Here’s how you can set up an AdSense campaign to show after one post per page. The example has the Ads showing after the second post, but you can set it up after any post number you like. And this also works on Category and “Next” pages without any other changes being made to your code.

Go to your index.php in the Presentation folder of your WordPress Dashboard.

And look for:

<?php if (have_posts()) >
  <?php $postCount=0; ?>
  <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>

And IMMEDIATELY BEFORE it put this bit of code:

<?php
$postnum = 1;
$showadsense1 = 2;
?>

Go a little further down in the code and look for this (at the end of the content statement)

<?php endwhile; ?>

And place this bit of code RIGHT BEFORE that statement:

<?php
 if ($postnum == $showadsense1)
  (your AdSense code  goes here)
$postnum++;
?>

It’s as simple as that. There should be no need to make any changes if and when you update your WordPress version, but you will have to remember to redo the code if you change your Theme.

You should be able to copy/paste the above code with no problems, just remember to put YOUR AdSense code in place of “(your AdSense code goes here)” or it will never work.

Questions or problems can be left in comments and I will answer them there so others will know the answer to your question too.

The other day, I asked everyone What Do YOU Want to Know? Brooke from Snippets n Blurbs asked a couple of questions (I hope I answered the first one in comments Brooke).

The question, which is the subject of this post was:

“This might not be what you want posted here – but I think that people need to know more about SEO – the general stuff. Why it is important, some of the costs associated, not all web designers offer that…etc.”

In order to answer these questions within a question, I will break it down a little bit.

1. SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. In other words, it is how people can best find your site when using Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of the other Search Engines by typing in certain search terms or “Keywords”.
2. Cost is not an object. It is free if you think you know how people will try to find the services, articles or products you offer. A suggestion I would make is to try to find your site on SE’s by using different terms to see what you get. Again, it’s free.
3. The unasked question is How to go about it. This is where the Meta Tags come in. They are located in the “head” php in the presentation portion of your template.

Most templates will include a Meta Description which is derived from your “tagline”. An example of this would be:

<meta name=”description” content=”<?php bloginfo(‘description’); ?>” />
  <meta name=”author” content=”Joe Hauckes  / My Computer Back in Service – http://mcbsconsulting.com” />
(you can add your own description in place of the bloginfo, but don’t make it too long)

The other is the Meta Keyword which is where you put words and phrases you think people will use to find you. Another example from MCBS:

<meta name=”keyword”
content=”help,DSL,Setup,php,online,offline,adapt,programs,install,hardware,software,
computer,consulting,internet,” />

Probably the most important is not within tags, but using the right “Keywords” within your content. If you write good content with a good mix of what you want people to find, they will come.

Just remember, none of this happens overnight, it takes time.