There are many things you can do in 10 minutes. For instance you can brew a pot of coffee, pay some bills online, and even get an oil change. One of the things I’m sure you wouldn’t think you could do in 10 minutes is exercise. Most people’s concept of how much time they need in order to get a substantial workout generally hovers between 45 minutes to one hour.  For many though the biggest road block to starting a regular workout routine is a lack of time. Between the kids, work, school, dinner, and then maybe some play time, there just seems to be not enough hours on the clock to get it all done and still have time left over for exercise.

For all those who seem to fall into the “not enough time for exercise” category there is a workout program that guarantees you results in as little as 10 minutes a day. The 10 minute trainer workout program done by Tony Horton (think P90X, P90X2, and Power 90) is based on a 10 minute time frame and claims some serious results from its users. But does it really work? And if it does, how is it effective?

First, it should be noted that this workout program has been around for about four years now. Although longevity is not what you should solely base a workouts credibility on, it does help in proving the point that 10 minute trainer is not a here today gone tomorrow “fad” workout program. Second, the trainer that put it all together and is instructing in the videos Tony Horton, is a well known fitness instructor who has produced other programs that almost always get rave reviews. The combination of these two factors give 10 minute trainer a fairly solid foundation that you can have confidence in.

It should go without saying that you cannot simply exercise 10 minutes a day and achieve amazing results. That’s not how 10 minute trainer works or what it suggests. The basic premise of ten minute trainer and how it works is based on a technique called super stacking. Essentially a beginner in the program would start by using one of the five 10 minute DVD’s each day. After they build up some stamina and feel that they can confidently do more, they add a second 10 minute DVD bringing the total exercise time per day to 20 minutes. This repeated “stacking” action is where the results come from. So to say that all you need to have is 10 minutes a day is a little misleading.  While this may be the case in the beginning the only way to continue to progress with the program is to stack on additional workouts in 10 minute increments.

When it’s all said and done, the 10 minute trainer seems like it lives up to most of its claims. With that being said you can only go so far on a 10 minute a day regimen and will eventually need to increase your activity. Fortunately the program supplies you with more than enough in its 5 ten minute long each workouts.  When combined these workouts have you covered from head to toe and even touch on a little yoga and stretching.

It seems every year at this time the fitness world is flooded with the latest and greatest fitness products and programs. With the coming of a new year comes the perennial New Years Resolution. These resolutions are usually topped by the mantras to lose weight and get fit.   The New Year to the fitness industry is what Christmas is to the clothing industry, the time to get back into the black.  This presents the perfect “storm” of timing and opportunity for this industry to eagerly help answer all those New Year’s resolution makers with an influx of programs, products, pills, and devices.

This year is just like any before it and just in time for New Year’s resolutions and the pre-summer rush to look good are a whole slew of items to help make you look like a million bucks! This year unlike years past has brought two new in home workouts that are actually worth talking about. The first is a follow up to the best selling home workout program of all time- P90X called P90X2. The second new at home workout worth talking about is a box set DVD program called Les Mills PUMP. PUMP is modeled after the infinitely popular Les Mills Body Pump classes that up until recently have only been available in gyms as group fitness classes.

The Les Mills PUMP DVD program by Beachbody is really a first of its kind. Never have two companies that have completely different ways of marketing fitness come together on such collaboration. The Les Mills PUMP workout program combines the strengths of each company. Beachbody provides a second to none marketing ability while Les Mills International brings to the table a workout routine and ideology that has wowed literally tens of millions of people worldwide. The end result is a program that comes with seven DVD workouts and one how to video, an easy to setup barbell, two sets of weighted plates, nutrition guide, exercise guide, calendar and more.

Like any new program though only time will tell to see if the Les Mills at home version of Body Pump delivers in a way comparable to what Body Pump junkies are used to and expect. Like Les Mills PUMP, P90X2 has a lot to live up to. After 7 years of only having the original program many P90X fans were starting to feel the pain of hitting the play button on their DVD players. There are only so many times you can exercise to the same 12 DVD’s before extreme boredom sets in.

The solution to this problem? A brand new program, reconstructed from top to bottom called P90X2. If you are familiar with P90X you may have remembered the P90X Plus program that came out a couple of years ago. It was a 4 disc set that many thought would be a good follow up. It wasn’t a follow up at all, but more like a supplement to the original program. P90X2 is no supplement. It’s a full out hard core, serious fitness freaks only, kind of a program. It’s not for beginners and really not for anyone who’s not familiar with the rigorous level of intensity the original P90X program put your body through.

Now with all this being said, don’t be scared to try it just because you haven’t done P90X before. If you’re a seriously fit person and want a real challenge, perhaps one that would push you past your previously thought limits, this is the workout for you. But buyer beware, P90X2 will humble you.

If you find that a new year for you is another new year’s resolution and one that has getting fit and losing weight at the top of the list, one of these two workout programs might be worth considering. Les Mills Pump is for the beginner to intermediate exerciser looking for a way to do group cardio classes at home, while P90X2 is for the just plain crazy or seriously advanced exerciser trying to eke out that perfect physique. Either way, this year we all have a couple of options that go well beyond the typical New Year’s magic weight loss pill, awkward ab machine or cheesy spray tanned fitness trainer with two fitness programs that spell results.

It happens to all of us, like it did me, one day we look down and see that we’re physically not who we want to be.  We let ourselves go again. Yet with each passing day the only thing we do is think about how we should be doing something about it.

I used to be as guilty of inaction as anyone else.  When you find yourself in that repeating pattern of inaction you might wonder if you’ll be able to break out of it, and if so, when?

I recall the days before I really started my effort to lose weight and how I would wonder what trigger would help me to break free and begin down the road of transforming my physical body into something I could be proud of and not be self-conscious of showing off.  As those days would turn into weeks, then weeks into months, I found that I was not finding the motivation to make that big change for myself.  It made me feel defeated and hopeless, and I really wondered if it was even worth it at all.

What I discover later on is that I was being incredibly negative.  I filled my head with “So what” and “doesn’t matter”, when in fact it really did matter to me.  I was simply being a bit immature and refusing to acknowledge that I was being lazy.  I reinforced that laziness with negativity, even though deep inside, I really, really did want to do something about it.

Thankfully, I finally did break free, and after a few months of action I learned that I was only holding myself back.  Of course, right?  No one else was chaining me down, I just had to make that first move myself, for myself, and I’m glad that I did.

Since reaching the initial goals that I set for myself so long ago, I’m in maintenance mode and able to relax a little and not push myself so hard.  It’s an awesome feeling to have reached my own personal goals and I want you to experience that same feeling, and you can if you really want it.

You’ll find below that I’ve compiled the top 10 things I’ve found we can do to inspire ourselves to help us find the motivation to start a weight loss routine for yourself, which in turn will help you transform your body into a healthy, fat-burning machine.  Maybe one or more of these will be the finger in your side that you need to get you on the road to meeting your own goals.  I know I needed it.

There’s no doubt that putting forth the effort is worth it.  If you’re not routinely exercising and maintaining a healthy diet already, you can be.  You can start today, and in the end, you’ll have

• Increased energy everyday
• Increased self-esteem
• Increased endurance and performance
• Better looking skin
• A sharper mind
• A happier disposition and elevated mood
• Better sleep
• Less health issues
• More control over your weight
• An increased desire to do more for yourself

The rewards are great, so it’s time to quit thinking about it and start doing something instead!  We’re talking about transforming your life into what you want it to be, not what you simply accept it to be.  Read the following items and find what works for you.

1. Set a goal for yourself – Take some time to clear your mind and envision how you want your body to look.  Don’t worry about how you might get there, I’ll help you with that in time.  Simply make a clear picture of the body you want, and write it down so you can reflect on it from time to time and remember why you started.  Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds, maybe 150 pounds.  Maybe you want to finally achieve those wash-board abs (my current goal).  By writing down your goals, you can plot a path and establish a target that you can make steps towards reaching each and every day.
2. Push yourself through an exercise – Once you get those endorphins coursing through your body, they will provide you the “feel good” feeling that can help you make the next move, and the next one after that.  There’s no doubt that to lose weight it helps to have some form of exercise in place, but the key is to make it something that you enjoy doing.  Could be walking, could be running.  Maybe it’s “mommy and me” time with baby while doing squats in front of the TV.  Making it fun and being consistent is key to shedding pounds without even knowing it.  Best of all, if you enjoy it, you won’t mind doing it.
3. Start eating right – Eating right can’t be talked about enough.  Since I began eating better, I’ve increased my daily energy, I lose weight without trying, my skin looks healthier, my cholesterol isn’t a problem anymore, and I feel like I’m doing something good for myself.  Your body is no different than a machine in regards to the fuel you put in it.  When you take those road trips, before you hit the freeway, you top off and then go!  Breakfast is the start of your day, so filling up with the right food in the morning is so very important, and sets the pace for the rest of your day.  Getting the right food in you, however, is the key here.
4. Make yourself accountable to someone – Accountability to someone else can be encouraging.  Often times if we know that we’ll have to report to someone on how we ate, or what we did through the day to get some exercise, we’re more likely to do it.  As a health coach, I help over a dozen people by holding them accountable to their own goals that they’ve set.  I get no greater satisfaction than hearing how absolutely fabulous they feel after a few weeks, and it’s because they are doing the right things, and holding themselves accountable.
5. Ask others their honest opinion about your weight – It’s too easy to stand in front of the mirror and be critical about ourselves.  If you ask a friend or two however, they are more likely to tell you exactly what you don’t want to hear about yourself, however it’s up to you to take that and make it your motivation for change.  You can’t let the thoughts of others weigh on your mind and bring you down, you need to take that and do something about it.  It’s the “I’ll show you” approach to motivation.
6. Take a picture of yourself naked – Do you like what you see?  Seeing yourself in the buff can be an incredible motivator for some people.  Much like those stories you might have heard to help people curb their snacking by making them eat food while completely naked in a mirrored room.  I don’t believe in that personally, but I do believe that we can look at ourselves in judgment and tell ourselves that we’re going to make changes so what we see in the mirror is exactly what we want to see.
7. Speak to your doctor – Ask about the negative health effects of being obese or even slightly over-weight.  Ask how it affects your internal organs, your skin, and most importantly your energy.  This was another catalyst of mine.  The doctor told me my cholesterol was starting to worry her and that I should do more cardiovascular exercises.  That was all I needed and I ramped up the cardio efforts. My cholesterol is now in a healthy range, and I feel accomplished.  You can do the exact same thing and get that big, positive win for yourself too.  Just talk with your doctor and listen to them.
8. Buddy up – Don’t think for a second that you’re the only one of your friends and family that is also looking for inspiration and a way to start losing pounds.   Talk with those around you and see if you can buddy up with someone.  By teaming up with someone and sharing a common goal you become accountable to each other, which in turn can be an incredible source of inspiration to keep going once you start!
9. Find out the real reason why you want to lose weight – It’s too easy to say “I want to lose 20 pounds”, what’s the real reason for wanting to lose those 20 pounds?  To fit into a new pair of jeans?  To look good for your significant other?
10. Read about the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and success stories of others – This works for me personally.  Whenever I read about how others have transformed their lives into something they wanted to be, I take a look at myself and think “why haven’t I done that for myself too?” or  “If they can do it, so can I!”  The success stories of others who have achieved something that you personally want are a sure fire way to become inspired.

Feeling inspired now?  Ready to make a change in your life and take back that energy and use it for more productive purposes?  As far as anyone knows, you only get one pass through this wonderful world of ours, so make the most of it and be the best you can be while you have the opportunity.  No one will make you do that, it’s all up to you.

There are probably many more ways to find the inspiration to lose weight and start leading a healthier lifestyle.  I challenge you to find one and let everyone know in the comments below.

Here’s to your health!

There comes a time in everyone’s life, at least there should be a time, where we begin to question our heading in life. Questions like “Is this the direction I want to continue in?” and “Am I making the right decisions every day that will lead me to where I want to be?” might be familiar to you.  Recently, they’ve been weighing heavy on my own mind and I’ve changed my life so significantly these past months and years that I no longer believe the course I’ve been heading in is where I ultimately want to end up at.  So I’ve been doing a little course correction while I’ve been away from writing techie posts here on WayneJohn.com.

You may or may not know exactly how many hours I spend behind the keyboard, but no human really should spend their time like I do.  It’s not healthy to sit for so long, but yet, it sometimes has to be done. The time had come to where I’d look down at myself and wonder exactly how far I’m going to allow my gut to roll over my buckle.  I essentially became disgusted with myself and made the determination to finally do something about it.  My lethargy and lack of energy for anything other than mentally stimulating projects and tasks has finally come to an end.

That’s right, I got out of my chair and actually did something good for myself; things like regular exercise and eating right.  It felt good, and I slowly became very driven to succeed with the goals I had set for myself, and ultimately I did succeed.

Even though I had reached my goals, I’m not stopping.  At some point I realized that I enjoy being healthy and getting good nutrition.  I don’t think I’d feel the same about it if my energy wasn’t through the roof as it is now.  And that’s the kicker, I’m actually more energetic and my brain actually feels more productive, so the time I spend away from the keyboard is really offset by the energy and focus I’ve achieved.  I get more done, and I’m more effective when I’m behind the keyboard.

However, this doesn’t apply to the gap between this post and the last one.  I just haven’t been into writing about technology stuff like I used to, and to be honest, that’s why I’m writing this post now.  Call it a formal notice of sorts to those subscribers out there that have been gracious enough to honor me with a subscription.

I’m preparing to change directions with the old blog.  I will no longer write about technology, website development, tips and tricks and stuff like that.  Instead, health and fitness will be the over-arching topic on my blog.  I have enough knowledge about the subject, and having achieved my own goals (which I will share in a later post) I feel I have something to contribute.  More so than with technology.

Another compelling reason for the change is that technology really doesn’t help anyone improve their quality of life like health and fitness does.  I don’t mean to sound altruistic, but there’s a great satisfaction I feel when I’m able to help someone achieve their goals, which I have also been lucky enough to have done for a few people so far.

It is my intention to help as many people as I can to achieve their own health and wellness goals while I’m here in this reality.  I have done this for myself and a few others, and I want to continue that and extend my blog in that direction as well to reach even more people and help them as well.

All that said, you can consider this the official change notice, if one were needed.  If you were here for technology related topics, there will not be anything new forthcoming.  What you can expect however are articles relating to health, fitness and wellness.

Time to follow my bliss!  I hope to see you around.

Recently eBay had changed the way eBay Partner Network (EPN) affiliates obtain data through their RSS feed, and was announced via this post.  EPN had changed the request parameters from one form to another, forcing all affiliates to switch their applications.  There was a bit of confusion about exactly how to map the old parameters to the new required parameters, and after a bit of pulling I was able to obtain a file from an eBay associate that described the mapping and allowed me to make changes relatively easily for myself and others without banging my head against a brick wall as I tried to discover the mapping.

The old and new base calls to the RSS feed are:

Old base URL: http://rss.api.ebay.com/ws/rssapi?

New base URL: http://rest.ebay.com/epn/v1/find/item.rss?

After the ? in both of those URLs, a series of parameters were provided that allowed affiliates to tailor the data they retrieved from eBay.  They could specify a category to search over, a search term to use, and provide several other parameters that would ultimately provide a set of products that they wanted to display on their site.  As you can probably guess, knowing how to map the parameters became very important to someone like me.  Without the documentation, there was the very real possibility of missing something and causing problems or complete failure now, or in the future.

After making a ruckus on the EPN forums and patiently waiting quite a while, EPN finally provided me a file.  They never provided this file to anyone else that I’m aware of, so to me, it seems like they simply threw me a bone to shut me up.  After receiving a number of requests for this data, I’ve decided to simply make it a download here on my site.

I’m actually a bit concerned about providing it to the general public like this as I’m really not sure how EPN might feel about this.  I’ve felt that they should be the ones to provide it, yet they never have to date.  The communication at EPN to its affiliates is a bit to be desired, to put it nicely.

Download the RSS parameter mapping file (.xls): EPN RSS Conversion Mapping (320)

While performing the development for myself and clients, I’ve discovered several other changes that were never mentioned.  Some other items of consideration pertaining to this switch-over are:

• Images are coming as a different size now. You can revert back to the size delivered by the old feed by removing the 4040 at the end of the image filename.
• The RSS feed node names have changed, so you’ll have to change your code to reflect these new node names if you are grabbing elements by name.
• Identifying items that are PayPal-able are no longer “Listed with PayPal”, instead they are just “PayPal” now.
• The end time returned is now in a different format.
• The BuyItNow node doesn’t seem to be populated as frequently as the old feed was. Comparing the two feeds and their results shows that the old feed displays a BuyItNow price for items whereas the new feed does not.
• The categories being used need to be double-checked.  Some categories are no longer valid since EPN has switched from the old category structure and forced the new structure with this RSS parameter change.
• You can no longer filter by number of bids (minbids and maxbids)

Those are the “gotcha’s” that I discovered, and there might be others as well.  Be sure to test everything!

Other systems that consume the RSS feed

There are also a number of systems out there who have converted and provided updates to their members.

• phpBay – Members of phpBay can get an update from the phpBay site.  Read more here.
• McJiffy – Seems unsupported, but there is a discussion here that indicates an update was provided by a member.
• Build a niche store (BANS) – Find out more about the changes affecting you here.
• Wordbay – Customers of Wordbay can find out more information about their system here.

You can follow any of those links above if you are running any of those systems for yourself.  From there, you should be able to find updates for your systems.  There are plenty of people there that can help you upgrade, but I’m also here to help as well.  You just need to ask.

Why are the communications at EPN so bad?

<rant>

After pumping out a number of sites for clients trying to beat a deadline for this RSS change-over, I learn that eBay’s EPN affiliate program isn’t one to place bets on…unless of course you are betting that they’ll really mess up people’s lives with the changes they make.  Granted, they probably needed to make these changes, and they are very much warranted and will help their environment, but they forgot about the people they would impact with the changes…their affiliates.  Making changes to their RSS feed caused anyone running the phpBay, BANS or any other system that consumes their RSS feed for product display on their site to conform to the new URL.  The real gotcha about this change is all in the details though.  Just slight little changes that if you’re not paying attention will cause you a bit of grief.

Anyway, long story short here, I managed to service all the clients that came knocking on my door for help with their sites.  I thought at one point that I had maybe bitten off more than I can chew, but in the end it all came together, and that’s what matters.  Taking a little bit of a risk and being able to pull through feels good.

It wasn’t easy though, and for a time I thought that the fast approaching deadline of June 30th would leave a few of my clients in the cold wondering what the heck happened.  With all the issues and curveballs that eBay threw at us developers, and not to mention a deadline of when they would stop support of the old URL structure, and the lack of information forthcoming from eBay.  I’ll tell you this right here and now, eBay is the absolute worst at communication and disseminating information.  I don’t know why or understand how they get away with how they operate, but they basically just make an announcement, say something is going to happen, and don’t provide any assistance to the users at all. Even though the changes they are proposing will impact thousands, if not tens of thousands of affiliates, nothing but the initial announcement came forth. It’s like affiliates don’t mean a thing to them…they’re just there to provide some additional traffic to an already bulging at the seams traffic hog.  They’ve implemented a strange algorithm that produces the amount that they’ll pay you for providing them customers through your own sites, and conspiracy theorists might say it’s a way for them to control their outflow of cash to their affiliates.  Maybe some have become a bit too wealthy working their system…and they wanted a bit of that for themselves.  Who knows really…the fact is that if you’re going to work with eBay, it’s a one way street.  They say how it is, and either you conform, or you don’t get paid.  It’s that simple.

eBay, you need to look at your EPN programs communication.  Seriously.  It’s lacking, and it doesn’t need to be that way and it’s extremely puzzling why it is.  Baffling is perhaps a better word for it.  As for myself, I enjoy working with the program, and I feel that it helps me provide a great service to the visitors of my site, and I’d like to continue with it.  But someone needs to point this out as every attempt to do so within your own realm is met with silence.

J.J. McCarthy, it starts with you.  Get your team communicating effectively.  It’s been how many years now?

</rant>

The lesson here is simple:  never put all your eggs in one basket.  As an affiliate for eBay’s EPN program, I wonder daily what will happen with my relationship with them.  Will I suddenly get canned without any real explanation, like some of my friends have, or will I make a little money today?  I’ve learned to simply ignore these fears and just roll with it.  After all, that’s all one can really do when working with an 800 pound gorilla that has no obvious qualms about pushing itself about the room with ill regard to those in the same room.  I might be shooting myself in the foot here, but there are plenty of ways to make money on the Internet, and eBay is just one of those ways.  I’m committed, but I want to see better communication and if this little rant helps, great.  Just know it isn’t all roses over there.

Anyway, I hope affiliates find this mapping file a helpful resource.  Others that provide these types of files are more than welcome to download this post it on their sites as a resource too.  I know there are others that get more of this traffic than I do, so if it helps fellow affiliates find this information, that’s great.

We know we needed this, and unfortunately it takes affiliates to help other affiliates it seems.  EPN certainly doesn’t seem to show any care for improving communications to their affiliates or helping them out.  It’s a one-way street.  Suck it up and take it however EPN serves it up.

Pathetic.

I sometimes create posts to share, and sometimes to test things out.  One particular post I created a ways back was about the tattoo on my toes.  This post in particular not only shared a bit of me, but it has turned out to be a really great litmus test for Google image search ranking.  Granted, this is just one post and one image, but it has yielded some proof to the thought that naming your image with the keywords you want to rank for certainly helps increase your picture ranking in Google image search.

It happens that through the course of my day, I sometimes run into people that want to talk about my tattoos.  It’s inevitable.  When you’re sleeved, you’re a walking advertisement for tattoos and it always opens the doors for conversations about them.  From time to time, the conversation goes to other tattoos I’ve gained over the years, and the tattoo on my toes always seems to be a really good conversation piece.  There’s a really good story behind how it came about and why I decided to go through that type of pain.  Aside from just loving the feeling of getting a tattoo, I think it looks really great given how jumpy I was while getting it done!

My body is a temple, and I’ll decorate it however I choose.

- Someone worthy of praise

Back to images and ranking them though…that’s why you’re really here, right?

While discussing projects with clients, friends and whomever I might be speaking to, the conversation sometimes turns to ranking and SEO, especially when talking with anyone interested in image galleries and photo sites.  To drive my point home, I usually refer to my tattooed toes as an example of how image search can add value alongside the normal search that people usually do.  People seem to forget that there is not only regular search that we’re all very familiar with, but also image search, which is used heavily by searchers as well.  So what I tell people is to go to Google and do a search for “tattoo toes”.  My toes are usually in position one or two.

Search results for "tattoo toes" on Google - I get an image, and a post! Double-whammy!

Hopping over to Image Search yields the following results, just look at all the pretty toes!

"tattoo toes" Google Image search results - Position 2 isn't bad at all

You can see that this image ranks pretty well for the term “tattoo toes”. I hovered over the image to show you how the file name is used in the image search too.  This is one very good point as to why you should be naming your images appropriately.  Google displays it for people, and it can help you get more traffic perhaps…but there’s another reason why I wanted to show you the file name.

By the way, yes, I’m ignoring the fact that there is a pair of hands in there.  Seems someone has slipped by the guards with that image…

My picture dropped in rank

When doing a search recently, I noticed that the image had dropped in rank, pretty significantly too.

I was shocked!  Surprised that Google would shun such an awesome “tattoo toes” image (if you ask me).  It has done so well, why would it drop?

Why!?!

We all know that Google has updated their algorithms in the past few months, and I attribute the drop in position on those changes.  Perhaps image name is now more important than it was before?  I mean, it’s always been part of the SEO equation when talking about images and ranking, but perhaps with the recent updates they are now giving it even more weight in the overall equation.

If you look at all the images in the top 10, they all contain “tattoo” and “toes” in the file name, or some derivative of “toe” and “tattoo”, meaning Google also seems to understand that “toes” are found on a “foot” and the plural is “feet”.  Or that “tattoos” are also called “tats”.  That’s a whole ‘nuther topic actually, but you get what I’m talking about I’m sure. It doesn’t seem to have to be an exact keyword match…in the ball park seems to work fine too.  However, I’m not sure that holds water for the first few positions.  I’d suspect that Google favors exactness for the top positions.

My picture raised in rank

The old name I had for the image was something like “img_0345.jpg”.  That’s not very friendly at all, right?  I decided to update the post and replace the image with the same image named differently, which you can see above.  Within a few days, it was back in the position it has enjoyed since posting that article.  All is well with the world once again.

The key takeaway I want to leave you with is to never try to game the system and instead to work with it.  Be genuine, and certainly name your files appropriately instead of using something that is completely unrelated to the image like I had initially.  Also, accurately describe the image with keywords that you might want to strive for, but also help to describe the image well.  Doing so, you will see better results from your efforts and more traffic.

Oh OK, here are a few more tips

1. Always include the alt and title property on your image tag, and follow the same advice as I gave above.  Keep it real, and concise.
2. Using captions like the images above have are great ways to attract the readers eyes in addition to adding to the related text around an image.  This is one of the biggest mistakes a blogger can make.

Just to see what happens…

And finally, just to see what effect this might have, here are my tattooed toes once again.

Tattooed Toes, painful, yet wonderful. Can you say Dos Equis? Stay single my friend.

I don’t claim to follow politics or know what the heck is going on all the time, but I can’t help but step in and say something this time.  California Governor Jerry Brown is considering taxing online sales in the State of California, and as a result, Amazon is considering dropping California affiliate marketers like myself from their affiliate program.

Not cool.

This is a letter that I sent to Governor Jerry Brown, and I wanted to share it with everyone so that perhaps other Californian’s, or even those in other states that have politicians considering similar taxation, can take my lead, write your governor, congressman, whomever, and get them off this kick of wanting to tax online sales.

Aren’t things good as they are?  Can’t they find some other way to balance their budgets and earn revenue?  Maybe like trimming the fat a bit?  Cutting their own salaries?  Taking one for the team?

Ok, that last one was a jab, but I’m sure you get what I’m saying.  Anyway, here’s the letter.

Mr. Brown,

Your recent decision to begin taxing California residents that make online purchases will have a secondary consequence that I want you to be aware of.  I am an affiliate marketer that earns revenue from Amazon by guiding users to Amazon through various sites that I operate.  It accounts for a good percentage of my income and helps me survive in this economy.  Without my technical skills as a web developer, I would have lost my home and struggled to put food on my table for my family.

That said, if you pursue to tax online purchases, I will be dropped from the Amazon affiliate program, and Amazon will cease to operate in California.  Any taxes you intend to obtain from Amazon sales, or many other programs as I assume that more will follow Amazons lead, will essentially provide less income than you probably expect.  Not only that, but it will severely cut into my income and put me back to struggling.

I voted for you, but I do not agree with your position on this particular issue.  I have already been alerted by Amazon that I will be dropped from their program if this law passes.

I do hope you seriously weigh the consequences of this action, as I am not alone in this.  We Californian’s are already struggling, and this will only hurt us more.  Please avoid this topic and allow things to continue as they are today.  If you need tax money to fill California coffers, perhaps you can tax and regulate marijuana, which to me seems an obvious choice and should fill California coffers nicely…more than taxing online sales would I suspect.  Since online sales can shift easily to avoid the taxes…like halting sales altogether in the states that will begin taxing them.

I don’t claim to know the entire issue, but I do know what will impact my family and I.  Your decision here can be positive for my family, or negative.  It’s your choice, and trust me when I say, I don’t vote for those that hinder my own prosperity and growth.

Thank you for your time, and please consider this plea with the livelihood of Californian’s in mind.

Best regards,

Wayne John
www.waynejohn.com

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Update - I decided to throw in the email I received from Amazon as well to round out this post.

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.

As a result, we will terminate contracts with all California residents that are participants in the Amazon Associates Program as of the date (if any) that the California law becomes effective. We will send a follow-up notice to you confirming the termination date if the California law is enacted. In the event that the California law does not become effective before September 30, 2011, we withdraw this notice. As of the termination date, California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned on or before the termination date will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect their ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. We are also working on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Sometimes when we make changes to our site, and we test those changes, we feel confident that everything is working right.  Other times we might feel confident, but something in the back of our minds tells us that some users might be experiencing errors or problems.  I’m currently having those exact thoughts.

When we include various plugins into WordPress, there is the chance that some will conflict and cause problems.  Other times it might simply be a case of false-positives, and it’s not always easy to diagnose.  When this happens, it’s good to take note of the issues, check them out on related forums if there are any, and see if others are also having the same issue.  What I’ll normally do is take a keyword string that seems specific to the plugin, or an error message that contains the same specificity that relates to the plugin and enter it into Google and check out the results.  Normally, this will get me straight into a site that is discussing the issue, and sometimes this will yield some corrective action that I can take, or let me know that it’s a current issue that the author is working on and to look for an update in the coming days.

In cases where help can’t be found through Google, it’s time to trip over to the WordPress.org forums and do a search there.  If nothing comes up, it’s time to create a new post.

Read on to learn more about the specific problems that I’m currently seeing.  Are they false-positives, or are they actually impacting my visitors?

I recently made a serious effort to use W3 Edge’s caching plugin to its fullest extent, and it’s currently in place now.  However, from time to time I get error messages in my email like this:

“Recently an error occurred while creating the CSS / JS minify cache: Some files were unavailable, please check the settings to ensure the site is working as intended”

Now, I never experience any errors firsthand, so I’m tempted to believe that they are false-positives as is admitted as a possibility here.  In fact, everything I see shows WayneJohn.com running as intended.  So is there really an error?

Another plugin that I’m using is doing the same thing.  I’m also running WordPress Firewall 2 and from time to time receive some errors that are, well, confusing.  Here’s an example:

WordPress Firewall has detected and blocked a potential attack!

Web Page:	www.waynejohn.com/ Warning: URL may contain dangerous content!
Offending IP:	182.68.47.134
Offending Parameter:	w3tc_referrer = http://in.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt= *stuff*

This may be a “WordPress-Specific SQL Injection Attack.”

While there are ways to “whitelist” certain IP’s from creating these types of messages, I’m more curious about how they occur, and why.  Am I experiencing a conflict between these two plugins?  Or perhaps it is yet another false-positive.

I’m writing this post for feedback.  Have you experienced any issues on my site, or is everything always working as intended when you visit me here?  Are you experiencing something similar on your sites?

Note: I’ve been be-bopping around the planet the past week and now starting to get back into the swing of things in real-life once again.  I have some fantastic stories to tell, and some great ideas for some really helpful posts that I think most of you will enjoy.  Thank you for being a continuing subscriber to my blog and hanging in there while I struggle to find time to keep things fresh around here and provide you with useful information for your own sites and blogs.

As might know, these past months I have been doing a little planning and restructuring of how I present myself online, here on my blog as well as out there in social la-la land.  One of the key aspects of my site that I’ve wanted to improve for a long time is the ability to collect information from my visitors and to create a more “website” feel to my site. 

The one thing that is missing from all blogs is an easy and convenient way to create forms, really good forms that do more than simply allow someone to contact you.  The default on most blog systems is a simple contact form that allows visitors to reach out to the site owner, and that might be the only form most bloggers will ever need.  But what if you needed a something a bit more than the contact form provides? Perhaps you need a form for a completely different purpose?  What would you do?

If you’re running WordPress, you’d probably do a search in the plugins manager for something specific to your needs, or settle on something that does just about what you need it to do. 

That’s all well and good, however since I’ve been using Gravity Forms I’ve determined that their software is quite remarkable, and the best that I’ve found so far.  The entire Gravity Forms package is truly a wonderful thing, and it’s saved me countless hours of development time if I were to try to create a form for every need that I’ve identified for myself personally.

“But wait a second, you’re a programmer, you can do this stuff in your sleep!”

Yes, I’m a programmer.  But, every good programmer knows that it’s sometimes better to utilize tools that exist and already perform well rather than recreate the wheel.  Why would I bother creating forms the long way when I can get even better results in a shorter amount of time using a package that focuses exclusively on building forms, and doing them right?  I don’t like to waste my time, nor my clients’ time, and you shouldn’t either.

Here’s how I’ve been using Gravity Forms for myself.  Perhaps this will give you some ideas of your own for your own site.

First off, Gravity Forms isn’t free.  I want to make that clear from the get-go.  You have to pay for it, and yes I’m an affiliate for their product also.  I believe in it and use it myself and consider it the best thing since sliced bread as far as form-builders go.  I also support my clients who use Gravity Forms, and Gravity Forms themselves provide excellent support as well.  So I don’t feel that “I’m on my own” feeling that you can get with many of the WordPress plugins floating around out there. Instead, I feel like they have my back in case I ever need their assistance.

Building a form is really easy

The best thing about Gravity Forms is the ease of use.  What used to be rather labor intensive for developers has been wrapped with functionality that makes it incredibly easy for anyone smarter than a caveman to create great looking forms.

In 7 steps you can have a new form on your site and ready for your visitors to use. All you would need to do is:

1. Create a new form
2. Configure your form
3. Add fields to your form
4. Configure your fields
5. Save your form
6. Add your form to a post or page
7. Test and publish the post/page with the form

Gravity Forms also has fields for just about every scenario you can think of too. Here are screenshots of the fields available that you to use within Gravity Forms.

The fields have settings that are both common across all fields, as well as specialized settings that allow you to control each fields unique properties. For instance, if you wanted an upload control on your form to allow visitors to upload files to you, you can simply click the File Upload button in the Advanced Fields section to add it to your form. Once it’s added, you can then proceed to configure it. Here’s what that looks like for the File Upload control.

Gravity Forms File Upload Configuration

The bluish area at the top is a preview of the area the File Upload control will take up. Immediately below that is where you would configure it. You can see the specialized settings this particular control provides. If you only wanted to allow GIF’s to be uploaded, you can do that easily by adding “gif” into the appropriate field.

The other controls are no different, although some have more configuration options to them as you might imagine. For instance, if you want to add a dropdown control to your form, you’ll have to supply all the data that goes into the dropdown.

But you know what, Gravity Forms even makes that easy too. When you add a dropdown control to your form and edit its properties, the guys at Gravity Forms knew that many people would like some common data to go along with the configuration, so it’s really easy to add commonly used data elements to your forms. Check this out:

Gravity Forms Bulk Add/Predefined Choices List

The thought put behind this product is amazing. I wouldn’t spend the time telling you about this unless I felt it were an excellent addition to your arsenal of tools. I could go on and on about all the options and functionality, but you can also learn more about them over at Gravity Forms as well.

Well, all of that said, I mentioned that I’ve used it for a number of forms here on WayneJohn.com. You might have noticed some of them, and others you might never see unless you work with me on a project. Here are a few of the ways that I’m using Gravity Forms for myself.

Contact form replacement

My first trial using Gravity Forms was to replace the standard contact form for WordPress.  There’s nothing wrong with the standard form, but I wanted the ability to modify it easily should I want or need to, plus it was a great way to cut my teeth with Gravity Forms.   I had my replacement contact form live in about 5 minutes.  Being the first time using Gravity Forms, it did take me a few extra minutes to learn their interface.  Being only 5 minutes should indicate exactly how easy it was for me to do this.

Custom Payment Page tied to PayPal

Using the Gravity Forms PayPal add-on, I was able to create a custom payment page for my clients to use, or anyone else that wants or needs to send me some money.  The wonderful thing about this is the branding aspect.  I don’t need to send users to PayPal anymore; I can send them back to my site when it comes time for payment.  I’ve updated my invoices to state that payment can be made here, and overall I think this provides a more well-rounded experience for my clients.  I also think it adds to the proof that I am all that I say I am when it comes to web development and being serious about business.

If you’d like to give this particular form a try, I’m not going to mind. Just use a dollar; you won’t miss that will ya?

Automating my advertising services

The most recent form I’ve created allows those interested in placing a link in my Paid Advertisers section to do so on their own.  No longer do people need to contact me and create a back and forth with me to seal an advertising deal.  They simply fill out the form, I get notified and I place the link into the list.

This particular form collects all the information I need for the advertising relationship, and is also configured to process an initial payment at PayPal for 6 months, and then establish a month to month payment thereafter.  That in itself is awesome functionality if you ask me.

Specialized project request form

When eBay announced that they would be making changes that will impact every single affiliate they have who uses RSS, I being one of them, I saw an opportunity to help others make the transition smoothly.  I created a form that collected all the information I would require and have since performed work for 8 new clients as a direct result of the blog post and form combination.

Collect testimonials

After I perform and complete a project for a client, I’d like to know how I did.  Maybe there was something that the client saw that I could do differently or improve upon.  Getting feedback like this is invaluable for me as it helps to make me a better developer and deliver a better overall service to my clients.  My testimonial form does that for me, and so far I am in love with having the feedback coming in from my clients.  It’s the one thing that I now realize has been missing.

Not anymore.

Even more coming in the near future

As I continue to evolve my site into the grand vision that I have for it, you’ll see some more of these forms coming out.  The power and flexibility that Gravity Forms provides has me thinking about my site in a completely different way than I was before.  Soon, my site won’t just be a blog, it will be much more.  Gravity Forms is helping me achieve that.

I’m still keeping my end goal under wraps, but if you take a look at some of the add-ons that are available for Gravity Forms, you might get an idea of where I’m heading.

Currently available Gravity Forms add-ons

• Campaign Monitor – Integration with email marketing software
• MailChimp - Another option for email marketers
• Paypal - Process orders in a variety of ways
• Freshbooks - Seamless integration with Freshbooks online accounting software
• User Registration – Establish a user registration process on your blog
• Twilio - Receive text message alerts when a form is submitted

I’m sure there are more add-ons coming.  These add-ons are what really sold me in the beginning, they have a way to provide additional functionality to their customers, and to me that’s another great point about Gravity Forms.  The PayPal add-on is what actually sold me initially, and I do plan on using some of the other add-ons as well in the near future.

I’m only scratching the surface of the possibilities with Gravity Forms, and no, I’m not saying that to try to sell you anything.  It’s the truth.  There’s a ton more I could be doing with Gravity Forms but I’m not…yet.

All good things in due time.

What’s missing in Gravity Forms?

You can hunt and try to find that perfect plugin, but normally you’ll find that there is always something missing that you wish was there.  Gravity Forms, while being as robust as it is, still lacks a few features that I could use right now.

For instance, there is no way to take data that is collected and configure specific elements for display on your site.  Imagine my testimonial form, after a client submits it, I’d like to have the testimonial part automatically display on my site somewhere.  Gravity Forms cannot do this just yet, but I have requested this as a future enhancement on their forums.  We’ll see what happens.

Considering purchasing Gravity Forms?

I’ll sweeten the deal for you.  If you use my affiliate link to purchase Gravity Forms, as a way of saying thank you I’ll spend 30 minutes of my time with you on Skype showing you the ropes and helping you build your first form if you would like me to.  If you’d like to spend that 30 minutes in another way, just let me know.  I want you to know that I back this product 100%.  I use it myself, and I’d use it for my grandmother’s site…if she wanted one.

This is one product that I really believe in, and as a professional web developer myself, I think it really should be a standard part of WordPress to be honest.  It isn’t now, nor do I think it ever will be, but it is the best darn web form builder I’ve found for WordPress.

In case you’ve been off the web for the past few days, you’ve no doubt heard that Google has finally released the +1 button code for webmasters to use on their sites and blogs.  In fact, if you were on Twitter yesterday, you probably couldn’t help but see tweet after tweet about the darn thing.  So what is it?  Should you care?

Who really knows?  I hope you don’t expect me to know all the answers.

The thing is, Google’s +1 button is brand spanking new.  So new that it should raise a little concern in your mind about being one of the first to implement it.  Are there going to be bugs?  Will the script I’m embedding as part of the install cause my site to slow down? Is Shaquille O’Neal really retiring?

Ok, perhaps the last one you’re not so concerned with.  But you get my point, right?

Implementing the latest and greatest shiny object to spring forth from some technological powerhouse isn’t always the best thing to do.  It might be cool, and you can say to your friends “check this out” and all that…but really, there are problems that sometimes come with shiny new objects.  You simply need to accept that there might be problems if you’re going to try to be on the cutting edge of what’s new and freshly polished.

My approach has always been one of careful consideration.  Many times I’ll wait several months before I go and implement something, be it a new browser or OS, or even a social sharing button like what we have here.  It’s like rolling the dice a bit, ya know?  Did the developers do a good job?  Did the QA (Quality Assurance) department do a good job?  Was there even a QA process???  Who knows, and that’s where the risk stems from.

This time however, I’m cutting loose and getting jiggy with my buttons.  You’ll see that I’ve added that shiny new object to my stack of social sharing buttons there on the left.  It’s looking good all shiny and new, but like all new things, it needs to be monitored to ensure it’s working right and not causing things to break or slow down.  Especially in light of Google announcing that page render speed is an important aspect of ranking.

Wouldn’t it be amusing if the new Google +1 caused sites to slow and then get dinged by their own Page Speed check?

No, you’re right.  It probably wouldn’t be.

The point here is that monitoring changes that you make, especially when it involves code from somewhere other than yourself, is an important part of being a web developer/master.  Staying on top of all that happens to your site is your responsibility.  The last thing you want is to discover that a visitor is alerting you to something being broken or causing a problem.

Looking for more?

For a more detailed discussion on all this, head on over to read Kristi’s post on Kikolani.  She goes into some good details about it.  The only thing I wanted to add here is that if it’s new, you might also consider waiting a while to allow the bugs to be exposed, if there are going to be any, and allow the button to mature a little before implementing on your site.

Read more about Google’s +1 button

Get the code to implement on your site