First, avoid doing a domain transfer when you’re very close to your renewal date. Give yourself lots of time, just in case something goes awry. A month is great – two weeks should be doable. A week is really cutting it close.

Be sure the domain is unlocked before starting the process, or your transfer will be denied. Domains are usually kept locked to prevent unauthorized transfers, so when you’re ready to initiate a transfer make sure to go into your domain control panel and unlock it.

Make sure the contact email in your current account is up-to-date. Much of the transfer process relies on email notifications at every step, and if you’re not getting notifications at the right address, it throws a huge wrench into the works. On the flip side, some registrars will deny a transfer if you’ve changed any registrant details within a few months of renewal, so be sure to look through your registrar’s transfer FAQ before changing any contact information.

For most types of domains, you will need a special code from your current registrar. Because nothing is simple in the world of domain transfers, the code goes by many different names: EPP, authorization code, AuthInfo code, transfer key, transfer secret, and so on. Not only that, but simply locating it may not be obvious! You may have to look around for a while to find it – and take note that some registrars provide it directly in your control panel, while others will only email it to you. Again, if you get stuck, your registrar’s transfer FAQ may provide clues.

Keep an eye on your email after you’ve submitted the transfer request and when you get an email from your new registrar, be sure to choose the option to accept the transfer. You should also get an email from your old registrar and/or see a note in your control panel that a transfer is pending, at which point you can manually approve the transfer by logging into your control panel and clicking in the right place. If you don’t complete both these steps, your transfer will be either delayed by several days or blocked entirely.

Make a note of any services you may be using from your current registrar, such as domain parking, forwarding, email, custom DNS, or others. You will need to ensure that your new registrar offers the same services, and then once the transfer goes through, set up the equivalent services again. Be aware that there may be a time lag between when a service stops at your old registrar and when you can re-start it at your new registrar.

I know it seems like a lot to remember. Once you’ve done this a few times, it does go faster, but it’s always a bit of a rigamarole. Good luck to all in your domain-transfer adventures!

For more great web design tips make sure you subscribe to Zoonini’s newsletter or browse through back issues.

How do you know if your site has been hacked? If you notice weird spammy words in your website content, in your Google search result or if you’re site redirects to a strange url, then you’ve been hacked. If you’re not 100% sure, try Sucuri SiteCheck. It will scan your site for malware, blacklisting and out-of-date software for free.

How did this happen? Hackers either managed to figure out your FTP password or they used a vulnerability in either the WordPress core files or a plugin.

Here are a few things you can do to prevent this from happening:

1. When creating FTP passwords use a generated word that cannot be pronounced, uses a few symbols and a mixture of upper and lowercase letters. Of course these passwords will be more difficult to remember, but using a tool like 1Password or LastPassword can help.
2. Make sure to upgrade your WordPress site every time a new version comes out. These updates usually include fixes to vulnerabilities and are very important.
3. Make sure you upgrade your plugins as well for the same reason. If you have lots of plugins and aren’t using them all, don’t just deactivate them, delete them.

If you’re site has been hacked, then you’ll need to clean up the files. I normally delete the WordPress core files (everything but the wp-config.php and wp-content folder) and re-install everything. I also do a manual scan of the theme files to make sure that hackers haven’t messed anything up. If this feels a bit intimidating, you might want to contact Sucurri Security. For a small fee they can clean up infected sites and you can also hire them to scan your site and keep an eye on it annually.

If you’ve been blacklisted by Google or spammy words appear in Google search results, you’ll need to log into your Google webmaster tool and submit your site for reconsideration once it’s clean.

Although spammers are less harmful, they are equally as annoying. If you’re site is new and you haven’t publicized your email address, you might want to install the email address encoder plugin. This plugin will simply scramble your email address making it harder for harvesters to grab it. If on the other hand your email is already out there, then I’m afraid that once it’s on a spam list, there’s not much you can do.

Spam comments can also be detrimental with more and more evidence pointing to the fact that these are not simply generated by robots but actual people. The first thing to do is to install Akismet which will do it’s best to trap spam comments. But Akismet alone is insufficient.

Be warned against comments that seem harmless. They might praise your work or congratulate you on your blog and let you know that they are bookmarking it right now. These types of comments are simply tests to see if you will accept them or not. Once you’ve approved them, then they’ll attack your blog much more fiercely.

Finally, one of the most effective ways to reduce spam is simply to close comments after a few weeks. Most readers leave comments on newer posts. Closing off comments automatically after a few weeks is very simple. Log into your WordPress admin, go to settings > Discussion and check the box that says “Automatically close comments on articles older than __ days” and enter the number of days you want to use.

I just did this myself recently and the influx of spam comments has been reduced dramatically.

This can easily by done by updating your sidebar template using conditionals.
For example:

<ul>
<?php if(is_page(2) || is_child(2)) {
  wp_list_pages('child_of=2&depth=1&title_li=');
 } elseif (is_page(3) || is_child(3)) {
  wp_list_pages('child_of=3&depth=1&title_li=');
 } elseif (is_page(4) || is_child(4)) {
  wp_list_pages('child_of=4&depth=1&title_li=');
 } else (!is_page()) {
  wp_list_categories('title_li=');
}?>
</ul>

Where the # refer to the page id of your page.

Now if you run this code above, you’ll most likely get an error. This is because the is_child() function is NOT part of WordPress core. In order for the code to work we must use c.bavota’s is_child() function.

function is_child($page_id_or_slug) {
 global $post;
  if(!is_int($page_id_or_slug)) {
   $page = get_page_by_path($page_id_or_slug);
   $page_id_or_slug = $page->ID;
  }
  if(is_page() && $post->post_parent == $page_id_or_slug ) {
   return true;
   } else {
    return false;
 }
}

Once the above code snippet is added to your function file, you can easily add as many sub navigation menus as you need.

Keeping your email address private, i.e. never putting it up anywhere is by far the best way to avoid spam, but that’s not always possible.

One way to make it harder for spam bots to harvest your email address is by encoding it. Encoding is simply the process of changing the email into code making it harder to robots to recognize.

A new WordPress plugin was released at the end of 2011 which does just that. Once installed and activated, the email address encoder plugin turns email addresses and mailto links into decimal and hexadecimal entities thus protecting them. The plugin works on email addresses throughout your WordPress site including comments.

Nobody ever said running a business was easy. And if you represent one of the countless online businesses out there, you’ll likely agree strongly with that statement. There are certain hurdles that can feel like they’re impossible to tackle: securing a steady stream of new customers, for example. Advertising and promotion is one aspect of business that needs constant review and monitoring, and can be one of the most tiresome parts of running a company. As a way to secure a steady income, lots of online companies choose paid solutions like the Google Adwords program to bring new prospects to their website. This is generally a successful tactic; however it can get very pricey – making the line between profit and loss that little bit thinner. Thankfully, there are a few simple tweaks you can make to your website to free yourself of PPC solutions. Give your website an on-site SEO overhaul and you could reap the benefits in a few short weeks – freeing up income for other matters, and bringing new visitors to your site through natural, organic, search results.

Give your off-page optimisation a spring clean
When you first put your site together, you probably made sure that the SEO was carried out properly: metatags in the right places, titles written properly, and so on. Over time, you’ve probably added a good few pages to your site. As a natural result of day-to-day business, some of these pages may have been thrown together at the last minute, or rushed to meet a deadline. To make sure they’re working as hard as they can on search engines, you’ll need to check the source code on pages that match this description and double-check that they’re optimised properly. It’s amazing how many companies fail to keep their off-page SEO in check, and they could be losing out on lots of leads.
Spruce up your on-page content
If you’ve been tied to PPC solutions, you’ve probably got a huge list of keywords that relate to your product or service. If you’ve got Analytics info too, you’ll be even better placed to double-check the optimisation of your text content. Even if you think your wording is fine, go through each page and check the keyword densities for your key terms. Are you using headers and sub-headers properly? Essentially you want to confirm that Google and other search engines are detecting the right words and the right message from your site, and placing you correctly in their results. If you’re signed up to Google Webmaster Tools, the info there can be invaluable in checking on-page content.
Keep your site alive and kicking
The reason that so many sites seem to dominate the dizzy heights of search results is that they’re striking the perfect balance between SEO and update frequency. If Google indexes your site, then check again three months later and nothing’s changed, you run the risk of slipping in the rankings. One good way to combat this is to launch a blog on your site. Use the keyword research you already have and plan at least one post a week to keep your site alive and kicking. As a result, Google will visit you much more often and your site will rocket up the rankings. Don’t underestimate how useful a blog can be as an SEO tool, so if you don’t have one yet and you want to avoid paying for any more clicks – launch one now.
Patience is a virtue
Remember that running a business based solely on website hits from organic sources is a very tall order. The most likely scenario is that your organic visitors will allow you to reduce your Pay Per Click program use considerably. But even a 50% reduction in your PPC budget would make a huge difference to your company and your varying income streams. Also bear in mind that optimising your site for organic search is a long tail game, and requires a fair bit of patience. It will take some time to see results, so don’t be disheartened if your rankings stay the same for a while. Stick at it, and in time you too will be able to reduce your reliance on PPC solutions.

A Mayan god identified by Eberl and Prager (2005) as Bolon Yokte' K'uh on the Vase of Seven Gods.

Whether or not you believe in the 2012 phenomenon and  are anxiously (or not) anticipating the cataclysmic or transformative events that will occur on December 21, 2012, it’s hard to ignore that change is among us. Climate change is happening, world economy is unstable and more and more people seem to be asking themselves,  “what else is there?”

I bumped into a total stranger last weekend and chatted about his work. Without me probing or making too many inquiries he insisted on telling me that the only thing that’s important is to do work that makes you happy. Throughout the year, we’ve seen this through the Occupy Movement and I’ve had similar conversations with many clients, colleagues and friends.

This year, saw an emergence of new technology and an awareness in the web moving beyond the desktop. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t appreciate these new technologies or care for them, but I’ve been working on the web long enough to know what I like and don’t like and I won’t be transitioning to mobile app developer anytime soon.

I’m planning on sticking around for a few more years, but will continue creating basic WordPress sites. I can do these very well and I love working with WordPress. It’s what makes me happy. Building complex jQuery sites that work both on the iPad, iPhone, blackberry and huge digital displays at the airport… not so much.

Being who I am, nothing makes more happy than referring folks who have the skills and the passion I lack. Should you need a software developer or you just want to bounce some ideas about your mobile app, then Denim & Steel are the folks for you. You would like a WordPress site, but need to integrate a shopping cart component, Curtis McHale is way better with e-commerce than I am. I’ve started a list of developers who I trust and recommend. These folks are all very talented and good at what they do.

If you haven’t made any commitments for next year, I hope you join me in looking at your work and deciding what truly makes you happy. Being happy is important and can easily be achieved by making simple changes.

As part of any WordPress build, I normally include training which can happen in a number of ways, skype call, phone call, one-on-one meeting. I used to write word documents, then moved to Google docs and more recently, I’ve set up separate websites. Thanks to the folks at Shaken and Stirred, their Easy docs theme makes documentation easy to implement and I’ve put together some general WordPress documentation for everyone to use.

On this website, you’ll find instructions on how to create a new post, add links, pdfs document, image gallery, even crop images inside wordPress.

Screencasts are also another great way to demonstrate how anything works and I’ve put together a few of them using Jing, but then I discovered Micheal Pick. He’s put together 120 videos on WordPress.tv and his voice is way sexier than mine. Some of his videos are for WordPress.com though… so may not be relevant to you. If you need a refresher on the difference between WordPress.com and .org, here’s yet another video.

If you’re a WordPress developer and would like to provide your own documentation, I would encourage you to look at the Easy Docs theme and if you want my content, just let me know and I’ll send you the xml file.

Here is a great video illustrating the point.

One of the most crucial part is very simple, yet often overlook and that’s keeping everything about your website info in order. I’ve seen this problem happen many times when taking on new clients who dealt with a previous web designer. Transitioning to a new web designer can be painless or complicated, depending on how well you’re prepared.

All web designers see this and most of us offer similar advice. In this month’s copy of Zoonews, Kathryn Presner shares the following tips:

Domain registration – be sure you are listed as the domain registrant (not your web designer!) and that the email address on file is an active account. If your web designer’s email is listed as a contact instead of yours, make sure you switch it over to your own email address before you cut ties with your old designer. This is extremely important. I’ve heard of business owners who lost control of their domain name because they failed to do it.

Hosting account – keep handy all relevant details, including the name of your hosting company, the URL of your web-based control panel, and its username and password. Know your FTP (file transfer protocol) credentials, including your FTP host name, login and password. This information will allow your new designer to access your web server and website files.

Logo – have an electronic version of your current logo on hand. It should ideally be in a vector format (like Adobe Illustrator or EPS) on a transparent background, to ensure the greatest design flexibility.

Graphics – retain electronic versions of any images such as stock photos that you may wish to reuse.

E-commerce – know the login details of all e-commerce accounts you may have, such as PayPal and shopping cart systems. Be sure you have access to the accounts, and that they’re registered in your name.

Keep on file in an easy-to-remember place all other information and documents related to your website. It’ll simplify your life – and that of your new web designer – more than you can imagine.

Kathryn Presner runs a web design company, Zoonini Web Services in Montreal. She’s also spoken at several WordCamps and is a moderator on the WordPress Support Forums.