Esotech / Field notes
What we’ve learned about software, the businesses using it, and the people doing the work. Start with a perspective from our founder, then explore the archive.
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Alexander Conroy on customers, writing code, and the people behind Esotech.
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Esotech notes
Engineering details, operating lessons, and company history. Original publication dates remain visible throughout the archive.
2 entries
engineering
Wait! Don't run away! I know the whole thought of a regex terrifies some of you (it made me cringe now some months ago) but when I sat down and figured it out I realized how amazing they are and......
company
4 Simple Steps for Success on Web 2.0 Websites and Social Media Participate: Actively engage your audience. Authenticity: This term is nearly worn out, but it is absolutely true....
1 entry
business
CMS has implemented stringent new guidelines to combat a surge in unauthorized consumer enrollment changes by agents and brokers. While these measures aim to protect consumers, they also create an…
6 entries
engineering
A broad scope approach to your campaign is important. With time, balance, and persistence, your site will pay for itself!
engineering
Plenty of visitors but no conversions? Let us show you how to optimize your site with proper calls to action and easy access to contact forms. Get your customer in, get their questions answered, and make that conversion happen!
design
Retargeting lets you bring your customers back after they visit. Run ads on other sites so that when they browse your content, products, and services they'll be reminded elsewhere and come full circle to complete a conversion.
engineering
It's not about how hard you push your marketing, but that you properly balance it. Too much focus on one strategy can affect the entire campaign.
business
Never get caught unprepared. Make sure you know what expenditures are here, which are coming, and which might be unexpected with our handy calculator.
business
With PPC, it's important you set expectations. With a proper site, call to action, and form, you can convert as much of your clicks as possible to make your ad campaign give you the return you're looking for. The lower your cost per acquisition, the better!
20 entries
engineering
WordPress leaps forward in yet another round of UI improvements and usability tweaks. Check your plugins after you update!
engineering
What's an IP address? I have two? If you're using a router, you sure do! Let us show you how to tell the difference and why you need to know both!
engineering
Retargeting will always cost you less than a click campaign. Why does this matter? Once you lose a click, it's gone. Retargeting will get them back: a necessary balance in your digital marketing campaign.
design
Search engines these days matter. If a human can read your site, so can a bot: create content for readers and engage with your community for a loyal customer base that will only aid your marketing efforts.
business
Posting relevant content on social media only strengthens your bond with your audience; plug your brand or solution into the content and what you have is useful advertising!
business
Facebook by default shows you "Top Stories" and we show you how to become one of them. New posts with more interactions on them with relevant information or a trending topic will make sure your post is seen.
business
Vine is the platform of choice for short video content: 7 seconds to get your point across. Instagram caters more to photos and followed suit with videos shortly after Vine's release. Which better fits your media?
design
The choice for storage services has increased over the years. Dropbox was the initially most popular, followed by Google's own solution Drive; now the front-runner is Copy. What works best, why, and what fits your use best?
design
Without exception, a quality post will have more of an effect on your visitors than numerous posts ever will. Deliver quality content shared to your social media platforms on a regular interval for best results.
business
Find out what social media can do for your marketing campaign! Come see us and others discuss the benefits.
business
No, Google isn't broken. Algorithm changes occur often without warning. Here's what happened with the Penguin and Panda updates. Never settle for quick results!
business
Google Analytics is key to finding out what social media outlets are working best for your traffic. We show you how to analyse the results.
business
Google took the bat to countless websites recently. We explain why this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
engineering
Developers will always be willing to work with designers that layer their PSDs properly. It makes everyone's job easier, it's just common sense!
design
You have to be out of your mind to create great marketing strategies and content that connects with your customers. That's right, you have to be completely our of "your" mind, here's why. I have…
business
What determines how many fans see your posts and which posts they see? It may seem random or arbitrary, but there is actually a very specific algorithm called EdgeRank that determines where every…
business
The most familiar, in fact dominant, metric for SEO has been keyword ranking; and SERP (Search Engine Rank Position) reports have been a favorite tool for tracking and reporting an SEO campaign…
engineering
In January 2013 Twitter rolled out Vine a very cool new mobile video app that is brings a new dimension to social media video. When YouTube launched in 2005 it provided a way to easily share short…
business
A common SEO scam sales pitch is "we will get you on Page One of Google!". I used to say that any firm "promising" page one results was clearly a scam or at best a charlatan, but recently I ran…
engineering
We all heard the buzz that WordPress was rolling out with the new 3.5 version, and now, drum roll please, Elvin is officially here! There are many things to expect with this new version, but I am…
28 entries
design
It's tradition at the beginning of a new year to reflect on the past year, make resolutions for what we will do different in the new year and set goals. The same applies to organizations; new budgets…
business
Your Google Plus profile is used for much more that just the About page, it is also used by Google as your Author Profile. This is how Google knows what and where your contribute in the form of…
business
Imagine spending over 10 years building a brand with a solid website and excellent search rankings for competitive keywords in your market niche from years of SEO; then suddenly one morning your…
business
One of the biggest challenges in implementing a social media campaign for small and mid size businesses is community management. We constantly here "I don't have time", which is often true for small…
business
It is pretty much an accepted fact that every business must have some kind of social media presence. While all agree that small and mid size businesses (SMBs) should have a social media campaign…
business
Have you ever wondered how your website stacks up against your competitors? Google Analytics provides traffic data for your website, but provides no comparative data for other websites. In fact,…
engineering
John1984, cathy87, J4cksABc - are these the of passwords you find yourself using? If so you are definately hack-able, in fact your logins can be hacked fast! Despite what you may think, all three of…
business
Was your Website effected by Google's Penguin Update? Did you use a SEO Company that spammed the internet with shady links pointing to your site, only to suddenly drop in rankings and traffic…
engineering
Google News works well already, but why not help it out? Add a few tags. Your rank might thank you.
business
Apocalypse - Penguin, Panda, and EMD Missiles In the past week we have seen some major changes to Google Search pushed by Google, an algorithm Update, a EMD algorithm update and a Penguin Update, all…
design
If I hear one more company owner tell me they flushed away thousands of dollars on a web company that made big promises and did not deliver results, I am going to need to defragment my mental hard…
engineering
Don't let your email fall into spam or the limbo of undelivered/unreceived emails. Add an SPF record to your domain: it's quick, simple, and the benefits speak for themselves.
design
Without careful planning and implementation your rebranding campaign can devolve into a de-branding campaign, diminishing your presence on the internet and social media, creating confusion with your…
engineering
Posts and pages are never as exciting without a photo or two within it. WordPress makes it easy to create pages with photos and links to documents like PDF files and spicing it up your pages will…
engineering
Driving more traffic to your Word Press page or post is very important when wanting to successfully promote your content that you have spent so much time on. The best way to do this is by installing…
engineering
The now infamous Panda and Penguin updates were released by Google in April 2012. Actually this was Panda 3.5 and 3.6 and the first Penguin update and while there have been other Panda updates dating…
business
Google's Panda 3.5 and 3.6 updates, along with the Penguin update, in April of 2012 had a devastating impact for search rankings on many websites. Many reported traffic drops of as much as 85% and…
engineering
Beginning with WordPress can be challenging at first but after reading this post, you will have a clearer understanding of the basic techniques to use in order to make your page professional and…
engineering
Pinterest has become one of the fastest growing social networks largely because of the unique experience it offers for sharing pictures and images of the things that interest you. Pinning is easy…
engineering
Some of the trickiest queries involve a GROUP_CONCAT or a cascade. Here are some use cases and tips.
engineering
We use this every time we migrate from a development domain to the live domain. Don't let old development links sneak away from you again!
business
Your brand image is predominantly defined by what is shown on the first page of Google, Bing and Yahoo search results. Under normal circumstances one would expect the first page of search results to…
engineering
Some systems will lock you in. It's not impossible to get out! Also, we share some tips on choosing your next platform.
engineering
Giving SFTP access can expose your whole filesystem. Here's how to lock down your users.
engineering
If you've ever had to transfer a WordPress site between domains, then you know all about the pain of changing the URL. Here's how to make it quick.
design
Google Analytics has powerful tools for analyzing how users interact with and navigate through your website. Our previous blog explained How to Use Google Analytics Visitor Flow graphs to understand…
design
[caption id="attachment_1544" align="alignleft" width="300"] Google Analytics Visitor Flow Example Good Visitor & Traffic Flow - Yacht Manufacturer[/caption] The Google Analytics dashboard and…
engineering
SOPA proposes to force ISP's to shut down DNS resolution for infringing sites, which at this point, could be any site due to the vague nature of SOPA verbiage.DNS, or the Domain Name System, is a…
35 entries
engineering
Source: http://superuser.com/questions/16007/how-can-i-mass-rename-files-from-the-command-line-or-using-a-3rd-party-tool Thanks to zdan of superuser.com tl;dr? Here's the script: dir /B >…
business
There have been lots of blogs and discussions about developing website content for SEO, but what about creating content for social media optimization? Just like website content can be optimized as…
design
It is said over and over, “Content is King” for achieving top search rankings, but what exactly does that mean and how do you create great content. Here are some quick SEO tips for developing great…
business
Who owns a Twitter name-account? When an employee is tweeting for a company, and compensated for doing this a part of their "job", who owns the account when the employee eventually leaves? A lawsuit…
engineering
The solution to this is more of a warning: when you create elements in the DOM, if they are not closed, IE8, IE7 and IE6 will not allow any modification to that element, including .append() and…
engineering
This is a Step by Step How to Add a Matrix Item in Netsuite PRELIMINARY Firstly you need to make sure you are using the following tag in your HTML Item Template for Item Drilldowns to display your…
engineering
The first thing the Amazon Kindle Fire is Missing is the Google Framework API. Instead of works on Amazon's API. This limits many different things you can do with your device. Not only is the fix…
engineering
What is the impact of Adobe abandoning mobile Flash? Actually abandoning Flash for mobile is not really a big deal in itself, what is a big deal is what this move likely means for the future of Flash…
engineering
Flash was a language written to display dynamic content and enhance the look and feel of web pages. There are many things that Flash did that couldn't be done by most browsers during its era. The…
engineering
For those of you who skipped configuring your badge for Google+ Pages and can't find the option anymore, use the following link: https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/conf ig Type in your…
business
The argument that Social Media will ultimately kill SEO is an amusing one. Yes, Social Media will dramatically change SEO, in it fact already has changed it forever; but Social Media will not replace…
business
Reputation repair and reputation management is a hot topic today as social media and blogs are exploding in popularity. Social media is making it increasingly easier for an irate client, customer, or…
engineering
My previous post discussed How to Develop a Social Media Policy , as promised, this post lists provides some great examples of Social Media Policy along with links to policies from dozens of…
business
As social media exploded over the last few years organization policies have not kept pace. In fact until recently few organizations had formal social media policies and today the majority still do…
engineering
The situation is you are trying to use include or require to load a file from a folder in your site, when the file you are calling include or require from is inside a different folder in the site and…
engineering
Netsuite Search is essential for your shoppers to find what they are looking for. However, running a Netsuite eCommerce site, you really don't need to show your clients your content in search…
engineering
Every website in Netsuite has the option on Checkout to choose between being Invoiced or going straight to a Sales order form that supports Credit Cards or ACH. Most of the time you will not want…
engineering
While working on a development site, that sat idle before any actual work was done for a while, we noticed that some kind of iframe injection had occured. There was no trace of it in the database or…
business
Social media contests have been all the rage for a while now. Some social media contests have had phenomenal results and created a huge buzz about the company, many flop and go nowhere, and some end…
engineering
tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) - Java is infamously difficult according to many programmers, but it’s good to know. The next post delves into terminology and concepts. // Continue if you want to read…
engineering
tl;dr (too long; didn't read) - Java uses classes which declare variables that store information and are modified/retrieved by methods once an object of that class is instantiated. The next post will…
design
How do you design a website or connect your existing website with social networks and social media? This seems easy enough, right? Add a few cute icons on the top right hand side of your website,…
engineering
One of the most popular SEO scams to blog about is "you need a new website" to rank well. In general I agree with the principle that a new website is not a requisite for good SEO or good search…
business
The US Employment and Labor Evaluation Service Study (USELESS) recently completed a study on Social Media and workplace productivity. The latest study found that the beta release of Google+ created…
business
Are you keeping up with the latest in marketing today? Are your advertising dollars being well spent? Have you dabbled in Adwords, making your own website, trying to make a lead machine out of your…
engineering
All credit to this article goes to Ahmad from Alfy Studio . Great work!! sh404SEF is a Joomla! extension helps you creating better SEF URLs. It's full of features and parameters that helps you to…
engineering
I had an instance where I needed an ID Variable to be placed in the URL as a query so i could pull it down from the next page with Javascript. I wanted the URL Redirect field not to just go to…
engineering
This is more of a: you should know this, rather than a Hack. I had a problem where any page that had its URL formatted by SH404SEF with a trainling slash "/" instead of HTML, lost its CSS properties.…
engineering
How to stop Joomla from Reformatting your Title Alias to Lowercase I found this core hack a while ago but couldn't find it again. I searched and searched until eventually I went digging through…
engineering
go to modules/mod_chronocontact/helper.php change all JURI::base() to JURI::base( true ) This will stop Chronocontact from using default http://www.yoursite.com and use the base directory "/" which…
business
It took a while to find this one. After accidentally installing a virus and cleaning it manually, I wanted to clean up the registry entries in MSConfig to not show the now defunct startup .dll's and…
engineering
A client of mine has me working with Microsoft Access. Let me start by saying I am no expert in Microsoft access. I understand the principles behind SQL, as they are very similar to mySQL, but even…
engineering
http://snipplr.com/view/43100/php-option-select-menu-generator-function--dropdown-menu/
engineering
I found this tidbit while beginning my Magento Journey. Turns out you can speed up the frontend of Magento with a couple of lines of code. Credit goes to Tomislav Bilic at Inchoo Most of this…
engineering
I found this simple script on the internet by Ammon Johns. He was nice enough to share it as long as we give credit. His script was originally to track a referer. It sets a "referrer" cookie which…
11 entries
engineering
Google's Caffeine indexing platform was just released yesterday. The web will now be indexed faster in a more "real-time" algorithmic process. Basically all the different qualifications that go into…
business
Hilarious, Google places playable pacman game on front page of Google.com, causing countless billions of wasted hours today. Very cute "Insert Coin" button there. Creative!! I love it! Figures, it…
business
Looks like Symantec bought Verisign...boo! I got this e-mail today, just a couple of minutes ago. Dear VeriSign Customer, I am writing to inform you that VeriSign has signed a definitive agreement to…
engineering
Last month I noticed a website pop up on the first page of "health insurance" search term, hellzyea.com/health...I had never heard of this page and always tracking my competition, I investigated…
design
In a blog post by Michael Brewer of VitalOne Health, a researcher in the health insurance market, he mentions that ComScore claims that there is a large increase in online searches for Health…
engineering
I am going to save you all a bunch of headaches and time staring into the sky for the SEO God's to grant you an effective way to track the conversion from traffic to lead. It is as simple as a few…
engineering
This has to do purely with browser limitations. I recently encountered a major error using a Dialer management system that uses massive GET requests that fill the header with every parameter. I tried…
engineering
One of the most difficult things you must do to qualify as a true technomancer is to troubleshoot and debug issues outside of your own field and experience. Where does this ability come from? The…
business
Articles, blogs and content. These are the essential components of SEO. Without these in the proper combination you will not rank in any search engine. The larger your site the better, organization…
engineering
Updated: 5/11/2011 Now a fully operational Internet Marketing Firm, I look back on the words I said here last year and smile. I continue to move forward into the SEO world with confidence (not so…
engineering
In my experience, SEO in house is a must. There are a few critical things you need. PHP/mySQL, HTML/CSS, or equivalent Web Programmer. Someone able to code creative designs to look exactly as their…
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