The tech gossip blog TechCrunch had a hacker send them confidential business documents from Twitter, obtained by a European-based hacker who had broken into their servers. Not so good. How did he do it, though, and is there any risk of my Twitter account being compromised?...

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Hey Dave! I'm only about twenty years behind here, but I want to start building my own Web site and am kind of drawing a blank on where I should store the files. I think that's called "site hosting" [ed. yeah, it is :-) ] but every single person I talk with is somewhere else, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Where should I host my new Web site? Don't need much, it's...

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Hi Dave. I've been talking with some friends about how to make money as a blogger and they're split. Some say that Google AdSense is the way to go, while others wax enthusiastic about the Chitika network. What they all say, however, is that it's critically important to pick the right size ad and put it in the right place to get the best results. I'm skeptical, though: how important can that be on a...

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In previous blog entries (see How do I sponsor searches on Google? and Advertising cannot be your only online marketing channel), I've talked about how to use paid services to promote your business online, focusing specifically on Google Adwords and how it lets your company appear as "sponsored" results on a search page. Then we talked last week about the distressingly ephemeral nature of paid advertising and explored examples of how mindshare rapidly declines once...

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In an earlier blog entry (see How to sponsor a search result), I talked about how to use Google AdWords to promote your business and how to get "sponsored" results in search engines like Google and Yahoo. I continue the conversation by talking about low cost grassroots ways that you can promote your business online through having a great content-based Web site, social networking and other avenues. But first, I want to talk about why...

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I really love Facebook and have lots of fun with my friends in that universe. Every so often, however, I get a weird, creepy or unpleasant comments left on my Wall. I don't like it, but do I just have to live with it forever or can I delete it, even if they don't want me to do so?...

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I've been using Wordpress for a while now and it's very easy, which is cool, but I want to branch out and start including photographs and other graphics in my postings. I tried dragging and dropping images onto the edit window and it was a fail. How do I add graphic pictures to my blog entries, Dave?...

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I just joined a new company here in Boulder that's started to gain some national attention. That's cool, but the problem is, we don't always get positive publicity. As it's my job to manage our corporate reputation (well, that's not actually my title but it's part of my job responsibilities) I need to find some tools that will help me monitor mentions of the company and how it affects our reputation online. And did I...

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I played hooky today and came to the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) trade show and exposition in Denver, Colorado to see what's new. Sadly, not much. If you're a wirehead this is a cool place to visit, since much of the action is about flexible HDMI cables, very high quality speaker cables for recessed and invisible speaker systems, and lots of subwoofers for high-end home theater systems. Nonetheless, I did see a...

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I've heard from a lot of people - including you, Dave - that interviews are a great way to add high-value content to your blogging efforts, and while I have a pretty good idea how to interview someone, I don't know how to find people to interview. Do you have any suggestions?...

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Just a quick question: as I'm figuring out HTML, I've learned that "<b></b>" will make the inner text bold, but why are we seeing "<strong>" being used these days? Is there a difference?...

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Hi Dave, love the blog. My question for you is what is the best way to get bloggers to utilize and write about my research. I work for a company called VideoBloom and I do a lot of research on online video that I'm trying to get bloggers to write about. I read your response on how to get bloggers to write about your company, but does that approach change when you have research to...

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Now that I've learned about Twitter, I want to start monitoring what people are saying about both my company products and those of my competitors. Is there some decent tool to do this? Twitter certainly doesn't have that capability!...

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I want to get into blogging, but I hear from my friends that it's really hard because after a few weeks you start to suffer from writer's block. I generally like to know what I'm getting into before I dive in, so do I need to be worried? How do you avoid writer's block as an author or blogger?...

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I have been diligently applying all the search engine optimization techniques you talk about, Dave, but I'm still unclear on one key technique: how do I have more people link to me?...

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I now have two Twitter accounts, one for work and one for my personal updates and friends. Dunno if I'm supposed to do this, but it works for me and my friends. My question: I heard that there's a way in Twhirl to have both account windows open simultaneously. How do I do that?...

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Hi Dave. I've been trying to build an online business for almost a year now and still don't seem to earn more than pocket change each month. I've tried various approaches, from a drop-shipping e-commerce store to an information-based site with advertising to a course on search engine optimization. None of 'em have worked. So, tell me honestly, how do I really make money online?...

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I'm trying to figure out all this blogging stuff, but I'm a bit confused about two aspects of blogging: pings and trackbacks. What's the difference?...

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I've been searching for some help on this a for about four, five years. I'm 16 years old and I've been writing novels since I was about eleven. Everyone thinks that i could be the next J.K. Rowling. I even have a pen name L.G. Kelly. I Just don't know how to get published. So how do i get publsihed and fast without getting ripped off? Or having to get an agent?...

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I have a couple of blogs (using Blogger) that are monetized using Google. But, the ads that appear are often completely unrelated to the content - sometimes embarrassingly so. Is there any way of getting the ads to be more relevant? I do use tags, but that doesn't seem to help. Sigh....

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