Once I rebooted I would receive the error “Failure Configuring Windows Updates”. This seemed to be an infinite loop as I tried to restart the machine several times to configure the updates.

There are 2 steps I took to resolve the issue easily.

• Remove any memory cards from the built in card reader.
• Initiate the update manually from the Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Action Center

This solved the problem immediately and the system was updated and configured correctly

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Publishers can choose to use subscriptions, metered access, freemium and sinlge articles.

The system is supposed to streamline the process by keeping up with all the necessary components from login, authentication through the checkout process via Google Checkout.

This looks very interesting and I tried to signup. However the signup is currently not working and just cycles through to a websearch form.

Link : Official Google Blog : One Pass Micropayment

Here is the video from Google explaining the system.

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Using the term mechanic invariably brings to mind a car mechanic, and a website mechanic is very similar. If you want your car to look better you take it to a body shop, but if you want it to run better, tune it up, or fix something you take it to a mechanic. And that is the same situation here. If you want graphics or a slick looking website, I should not be your first choice to help you. However, if something is not working right, or you want to tune it up, I can usually help you.

In just the last week I have converted a couple of static sites to WordPress, repaired a slow loading blog, fixed a site that was not loading properly and several other small “mechanic” tasks for others. I also do a lot of custom stuff. Here is a good post from WayneJohn explaining some Twitter API work we were both involved in.

Remember, there is nothing wrong with needing help. A lot of the people who call on me are excellent bloggers and designers, but we each have our skill set and we need to know our limitations. Trust me, if I want some hot graphics I am going to call on someone else to help me out.

A key to success is being able to know when you need help and utilize other peoples skills to advance your work.

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URL:  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existi…

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I used my holiday time to convert one of my own static sites. I wanted to use it as a case study in procedure and time. The site I converted was my Scripts and Database site, CyberCoded.com. This is one of my older sites and I have been too busy to convert it so I continued to manually add pages as needed.

I have about 10 hours invested in the whole process to convert this site. The bulk of the time is in the custom coding of a WordPress Theme from scratch to match an older site. There were 12 pages when I started and as some of the pages had different extensions I decided to convert the site using my favorite WordPress permalink structure and then redirect the old pages.

I used my Blank WordPress Theme so that I could start with a clean slate and match the design to the old site.

Here are the steps I took.

1. Installed WordPress in a Sub Folder
   • Set Privacy setting to OFF while I developed the site in a sub folder.
   • Modified the permalink to my favorite which is /%postname%/
2. Installed the Blank theme in the WordPress Themes folder.
   • I used FTP to upload the files into a new theme folder in WordPress.
3. Copied and matched elements from the old Style.css file into the WordPress Style.css
   • The blank theme has an empty CSS file.
   • The Body and Links were the only elements called out in the old CSS file.
   • Added Wrapper, Content, Header and Footer Divs to CSS.
4. Copied the Index.php file to home.php so I could have a custom Home page that would match the old page.
   • Simply copying the file like this makes a new home page with the home.php file.
5. Modified the WordPress code in the Home page to show each category and posts as lists.
   • Stripped out the common WordPress Loop
   • Created new code that loops through the categories and list each post per category.
   • Set the Category to sort in Descending order.
   • Set the Post titles to sort Title in ascending order
6. Created an Analytics.php file in the WordPress Theme to use throughout the site.
   • Retrieved the code from Google to use for analytics.php
7. Created a Header.php file within the WordPress Theme to add common header elements.
   • Modified the Title so that it would be SEO friendly, very similar to most popular SEO plugins.
   • Added a call to analytics.php file
8. Created a footer.php file in WordPress to add a common footer.
   • Used the code from the old static footer file for contact and info.
9. Created Single.php page
   • Added a Tweet This button from Twitter.
10. Created my Categories to match old site.
    • The old site had headers for each item type which I converted to Categories.
11. Copied each page from the old site into Textpad and removed any code that would interfere with WordPress.
12. Pasted each page into WordPress as a Post.
13. Created Tag Page.
    • Tag page list the excerpt for each Post that is tagged.
14. Created custom 404 page.
    • The 404 page shows a tag cloud to visitors.
15. Created Search page.
    • Search page only shows title for a matched post.
16. Widgetized and added a sidebar.
    • Create and set widgets in the functions.php file.
    • Add sidebar.php and corresponding code to use widgets.
    • Added a Facebook Like button.
    • Added RSS Button and link.
17. Copied the index.php from the WordPress sub folder to the root and modified the code to use WordPress from the Sub Folder.
18. Changed the Site Address within WordPress Admin to set the site in the root while leaving WordPress installed in the sub folder.
19. Redirected the old pages to the new WordPress pages using PHP header calls.
20. Installed and setup XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress Plugin

ALL DONE !

I copied the old Index file so we can see a before and after look.

Original Page versus New WordPress Site.

Most of the time was in the Theme setup. Each page took about 5 minutes to convert the content to a WordPress Post.

12 Pages, 10 hours

Think I will send my wife a bill and see if it gets paid, lol…

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WordPress also sets the slug (actual url link) to lowercase, and the title to proper case. So the link would be http://www.domain.com/custom-permalink/ and the Title (anchor text) would be Custom Permalink. Such as Custom Permalink

These are important elements to consider and should not be overlooked, especially on self designed sites.

I have 30+ sites that are money makers for me that are not built on any system. They are a homegrown design that I developed over the last few years to utilize affiliate links and make money. I have always used a permalink structure that matched what I used on WordPress sites, except for setting the case. So the one small change I have made recently is to make the slug all lowercase and the title anchor text proper case. This change has really helped. I am seeing a much more consistent indexing and search results.

If you have any homegrown developed sites I would highly recommend working on the permalink and slug structures.

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After almost 2 years of answering questions on that post I thought it was time to discuss the issue again.

I have done a dozen or so conversions since that post and I have found that some sites really need to take a fresh start approach to get the best result. The main reason for this is that a lot of older HTML sites are built with outdated techniques and WordPress has made some great advancements.

On these sites I create a sub folder for the WordPress install, such as /wordpress. This gives us designated area to work and learn WordPress without interferring with the original design. The hardest task may be getting a theme to match your original design, but I would suggest taking this time to update your original design. There are so many good WordPress Themes this should not be a problem. Once your theme is in place you can copy and paste your orginal content to the new install matching the page names. Depending on your original file extensions you may need to set the permalinks in WordPress.

Once this development is complete it is easy to change the Site address (URL) in WordPress to show the new site in the root. (Make sure to backup the original first!) Here is the link from the WordPress Admin panel that explains this.

If you need to learn WordPress and want to take a little time without being pressured to get the new site in place this is the best option I have found.

Yes, I do conversions for others. If you would like a quote, simply send me a link to your site and contact information using my Contact Form.

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Each record has 2 fields

Field1 = Make

Field2 = Model

Olympus,Stylus 5010
Kodak,EasyShare CX7220
Canon,PowerShot A700
Nikon,Coolpix 8700
Casio,Exilim EX-FC150
Pentax,Optio X
Panasonic,Lumix DMC-FX5
Samsung,i70
HP,Photosmart M307
Olympus,D-150Z

LINK : Digital Camera Database

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This includes but is not limited to WordPress, PHP, SEO, Social Media and Online Income.

The system is closed to the public and is by invitation only, so if you would like to join, please drop me a note via my Contact Form with your email address and I will send you an invitation.

I look forward to seeing you there!

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