So what is a flat file cms? They simply store their data in individual files or a file. No need for a database server such as MySQL to power your dynamic website. Often easier for non-tech savvy users to create and edit pages, rather than having to migrate around a complex cms.

So what are the pitfalls? Many are created by an individual, never get traction and are often abandoned. Active ones are generally developed by a lone coder and fail to gain a momentum. Like any product, it’s not just about the functionality and features, as any sales person would tell you. There are some though that have been around for a number of years and gained small followings. With active communities contributing code, modules, support and templates.

Often though these cms’s are slow to receive updates, which can be critical if a security flaw is found. Due to the lack of developer time and the size of communities, if a community actual exists for the cms in the first place.

However that being said, a small flat file cms doesn’t need to compete with the large packages. It doesn’t need to offer bells and whistles. They are carving a market for themselves. The logically step for a site that will never be large. They don’t need communities the size of joomla or wordpress to be a cms to take note of and use.

What are the benefits of a flat file cms?

-    Speed. Flat file cms’s are generally faster than MySQL powered sites.
-    Easier to migrate between servers.
-    Generally less complex and smaller. Thus easier for novices to work with and take up less bandwidth and hosting space.
-    Often easier for non-tech savvy users to edit and create pages once the site has been initially setup.

Flat file cms’s generally lack the features that large cms’s have, however many can be upgraded by installing modules. You won’t find the huge number of available modules though, as you would for joomla or wordpress for example.

They are not geared towards hundred page sites, but for small niche sites they can be just what the doctor ordered.  So if you’re looking to setup your own small website, be it personal, small business or charity or even a micro site for an event, a flat file cms is worth considering.

So what are the recommendations? Well I’ve tried quite a lot, but my favourite has to be nanoCMS and the more developed fork called nanoCMS Community. I even like the cms so much, I setup the website www.nanocms.co.uk and am a strong community supporter and contributor. I’m going to be mean and leave the recommendation at the one.

Creating a dynamic website has never been so easy.

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Automation and variety are your adorable friends. They will help you out and keep you on track. Put a few different solutions in place and soon you will hardly even notice it occurs. A worry, a chore, vanished unlike your data. Leaving you to monitor and the occasional update.

A backup doesn’t have to be every file, every piece of data. You can decide to just backup the changes, the new files and then every X times, make a full backup. This lowers your resource usage and saves time.

The tips below are for home users, the self employed and small businesses.

Bookmarks
Don’t forget the bookmarks. Not deemed important by most, missed by many when gone! Sign up and install Xmarks and backup those bookmarks. Plus other features link syncing across multiple machines and platforms.

The external hard drive
Installing another hard drive a pain? Perhaps a step beyond your current abilities? Connect a external hard drive via usb or network drive. Couple this with a nifty application like Cobian Backup, a dash of encryption if required and et voila. I’ve never brought an expensive external hard drive. A cheap usb caddy and a spare hard drive. Hard drives are incredibly cheap these days and putting your own external solution together could be cheaper.

The web
Backup your files to the web? Surely not! There is now a smorgasbord of solutions and range of features. Carbonite, Dropbox, Mozy and more. Why not dip your toe into the water with a solution like dropbox?

Offsite backup
I’ve just covered the web, which counts as offsite backup. However what about friends, family, home location? Software like the previous mentioned cobian have an encryption option. So don the mac, put on the sunglasses and look shady handing over an encypted dvd to someone you trust. Then if some unfortunate scenario occurs like a fire, your backup is just a stone throw away.

Email
Also you can consider forwarding a copy of your emails to a service like Google’s gmail for longterm storage. Another layer of backup.

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Now before I begin this isn’t the ‘definitive’ guide and you use these recommendations at your own risk!

Research, research and research
From wanting a common item like hard drives to more unique units, give yourself the time to do the research. Try and assess pricing before contacting any suppliers.

Who are you buying from?
You can’t buy items without running eventually into an issue. A missing part, a device that doesn’t work, a damaged good. Don’t be scared before you make any purchases to discuss their procedures or look this up on their website. Especially if your buying expensive items or large volumes. Yes I know there are laws for majority of the readers visiting this blog regarding returned goods, but hassle, time and money are factors and you want a smooth process when it occurs.

Now google is your friend. Type in the companies name and do some research. Are they mentioned in forums? Has someone written a blog post? Now always take such entries with a pinch of salt. You are only reading one side of a story, the facts might not be correct. However you could form a picture either negative or positive due to this research and decide to not use that firm.

Confidence, Time and Patience
You might have seen a price on a website for an item. This could be a single unit purchase price or perhaps your interested in buying bulk. Regardless send an email to the sales team and mention you are gathering prices and would like a quote.

Now if you are looking to purchase large volumes, mention this and say you want to try out a company with an initial purchase before purchasing in larger quantity.

This can often be a good idea to help discover any hurdles or issue, before you invest a large sum in their goods. For instance if your going to purchase 1-5 units, but might be purchasing larger volumes in the future, mention this. This could impact negatively on the pricing you are given for the initial purchase, but might prove beneficial later and help you walk away sooner from a supplier. Don’t contact any other sellers, just wait for this first response.

Now the sales team might be keen to speak on the phone. To assess you as a buyer and try and make the whole situation look like they are considering whether they want to actually sell to you! Don’t sound desperate, willing or allow yourself to purchase the item. Play it cool and just get the price and tell them you will get back to them.

Now you’ve got the price contact another seller. Again tell them you are looking to purchase the item(s), but this time say you’ve received quotes already, but looking for a more competitive price. Now it’s up to you whether you reveal your first price, but I wouldn’t reveal the companies name who gave you the quote. That’s poor form and unfair in my opinion.

Now you could decide to go back to the first firm and mention you’ve received a quote at x price and can they beat it? Don’t be scared to negotiate with the suppliers. At the end of the day this is part of business, don’t be scared or ashamed of asking for a better price.

Regardless if your buying in bulk, all firms will probably say they can look at the price later on for later purchases and often send you a list showing quantity pricing such as 1-9, 10+, 50+ etc. Don’t let later pricing deter you from achieving a good price now and you can always look at the pricing later.

Hidden Costs
Look for the hidden costs. Such as postage types. We are all familiar with this on ebay. Sell something for little, but charge expensive postage and delivery. I’ve not experienced this extreme obviously on bulk items, but look at the price of delivery and see if it impacts the purchase costs and thus your margins, especially on small purchases.

Support
Now factor in your earlier research and assess what level of support you can expect from the organisations. It’s not always about price, but making sure the goods are delivered timely and you receive the best follow up support. Why not try an initial smaller purchase as previously mentioned.

A hurdle
If you’re a start up company often there is a hurdle such as filling in forms, giving financial details and having a credit check run against you. Which is tough going for a small firm, especially startups. Don’t despair, explain you’re a new firm and at the end of a day people want business and how you pay for it, either receiving credit or paying beforehand is factor you need to consider if a hurdle appears.

Evaluation
Now this is actually a different ball game , depending on what your firm does. If you are evaluating products, mention you are gathering quotes, product and support details. You could ask for an evaluation unit (or sample depending on the type of good). In one firm I’ve been given evaluation units to keep or for set periods to allow me to assess whether to use the product. Obviously this has other factors, such as how unique the product is among others.

I hope this guide helps and leave feedback with your own advice.

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The Nexus One has a slew of new features (like the new Android 2.1 OS, phone wide voice search, incredible multitasking support, and a full multitouch display) that a lot of other Android devices on the market don’t have and, in terms of speed and capability, really stands up against the iPhone’s (the 3GS and iPhone 3G included) on the market today.

Now, I’ve only had the device for a few days, but I can definitely say that my mobile productivity has increased greatly since switching from the iPhone already! The Nexus One is one of (if not) the fastest mobile phones available for purchase, with 512 MB of RAM and ROM and a 1 Ghz processor powering it, and because of this, and the Google Android OS’s ability to run multiple applications at at time, I’ve been able to scream through emails while surfing the web, listening to music, staying up to date on Facebook and Twitter, and taking notes in class, all at the same time, whereas on the iPhone I would have to jump from one app to the next individually, thus slowing down my work pace greatly (especially only on an iPhone 3G).

Another thing I will say is that the Google ecosystem just really seems to open up once you connect an Android device to your Google Account – suddenly things like Picasa, Google Voice and Maps, and so many other apps have new functionality and plug right into apps you’d already be using anyways. Its just a really easy and fun experience overall, and the way Android automatically backs up everything you do on the web for you, without any action on your behalf at all, is really convenient and great for when your always on the go.

I’ll leave you with a quick video of the Nexus One, and once I’ve spent a good amount of time with the phone I’ll definitely let you know if this device could truly be the toe-to-toe competitor of the iPhone we’ve all been waiting for!

The Google Nexus One – Unboxing And Quick Hands On Video

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Q. Thank you for doing this interview. Can you please tell SBT readers what you do for a living?
My pleasure, thanks for having me, I am delighted to be able to contribute! I run my own business, which I founded 2 years ago to focus on my passion: transformation. I believe in guiding my clients through change, making them embrace, manage and maintain it! Whether working for small or large organisations or with individuals, I coach my clients to help them find solutions to the challenges that they face as they transform themselves and their organisation. This work had led me to develop the “Mountain Moving Mindset” programme, where I empower business owners, entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs to master their mindset, so that they can move mountains and bring their businesses to the next level! I share this programme through my coaching sessions, my published articles, my blog and my newsletters. And, now, I am actually really pleased to say that I am taking the M3 programme a step farther by announcing my upcoming live event, where I will teach and transfer the same skills, attitudes and systems that work for me to 30 business owners ready to reach new heights!

Q. Do you feel that technology, can at times hinder people’s ability to ‘grow’ as individuals and be successful?
At times, yes! Before having my own business, I was a full-time communications and change management consultant and worked on IT programmes and projects, mainly on ERP implementations. I believe that you cannot grow or get growth unless you change and step out of your comfort zone and as a general fact, we, men and women, do not like change and resist to it! And, from experience, technology, when first introduced can scare people off, because it is new. This is why you have people like me who specialise in change management, so that we can come onboard, help through the process and guide them though their transformation and get them the growth and results they aspire to.

Q. Can any individual, from the small baker to I.T. technician benefit from coaching and in turn ‘reward’ his organisation?
Absolutely! All of us, and I do include myself, as I do have my own coach, can benefit from coaching. A coach’s mission is to help you be the person you really want to be by guiding you from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow and what steps you need to take to get there. Thanks to coaching sessions, we can all focus on us and our business and work towards achieving our desired results and realising our dreams and aspirations while tackling “us” and whatever is going on in our mind! Most successful business owners have a coach and it is no coincidence; it is proven fact that when you invest in yourself, your business will be rewarded.

Q. In these tough economic times, should small businesses be investing in coaching?
Particularly in these times! A coach can help business owners realise that they are in charge of their own economy and can make it happen no matter what; there are lots of businesses out there that are thriving right now and I am one of them, I’ve launched at apparently ” the worst time ever” and I have been very successful ever since.

Q. How has technology helped you ‘connect’ with your clients and is it changing with the availability of more high profiled social networks and technologies such as VoIP services (i.e. skype)?
I love technology as it brings people closer; with technology, you get to meet new people at the click of a button and people from all over the world. On the social media front, I am using the “fabulous 4″ as my mentor called them: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. I also use Skype to talk with my clients and have our sessions. And, as I frequently host live teleseminars, I used online teleseminar facilities, so that people can listen in on their computer, which makes it really free for them!

Q. How can people find out more about your business and connect with you?
I am currently offering a special 2-part teleseminar series; on these free calls, I will be revealing how to get results after results in 2010!!! If there is one thing I know how to do, is to get results! You can sign up for free at http://www.mountainmovingmindset.com. And by signing up for these calls, you will also start receiving my weekly M3 Power newsletter, which was especially created for individuals who want to take their life and their business to a whole new level!

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Was it worth the investment?

Definitely as the speed performance is noticable in this case and shows on this computer system. From startup to working with multiple applications within Windows 7. It’s all a very smooth experience. Obviously this will all depend on what you use your computer for and its specification. So you might not get the desired results and might not be worth upgrading. Leave a comment if you have any questions.

However you have to take into account factors such as how much you invest in a machine over a time period, cost of installing hardware, disposal costs and the price of new systems and packages available, that often come pre-bundled with an  operating system, often newer if your machine is quite old. The cost of a new operating system brought seperately, versus one bundled with a machine can often make purchasing a new machine quite tempting.

I was able to install the CPU myself within ten minutes. I had the thermal compound already and anti static wrist strap from previous computer building. So there are additional costs involved, especially if you don’t do the install yourself. If you need to hire someone, think again and assess your options.

So what where the steps I took?

1) I downloaded a manual for my motherboard and made sure I knew what was compatible and if I needed to upgrade my motherboard bios. I’ve updated many bios’s, but am always weary of this and it can go horribly wrong.

2) I waited for the right deal on ebay as I was in no rush.

3) I made sure I set aside enough time and workspace to do the upgrade. No point rushing it as mistakes can happen that way.

4) I used the anti static wrist strap at all times.

5) Once I removed the fan, I then lifted the leaver and removed the old cpu. Which I’ve kept in the box the replacement CPU came in. I might then resell this on ebay to return part of the costs of upgrading.

6) Before I placed the new CPU in, I placed the thermal compound on the new CPU and then inserted into the slot and gently pushed down the leaver.

6) I cleaned up the underneath of the fan and then replaced that.

Luckily it booted first time and Windows 7 noticed a new CPU, updated it’s system and then required a reboot. Sorry I took no photos of the process and obviously you follow the steps above I took at your own risk.

Why not leave feedback with your thoughts on computer upgrades.

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Baidu’s submission url is: http://www.baidu.com/search/url_submit.html

Simple type in your website address and fill in the English language captcha and select the submit button to the right of the captcha window. Even though the text on the next page is red, hopefully your site was successfully submitted. Instead of translating the text (which you could easily using google translate), look at the new url for the word success.

Tianwang’s submission url is: http://home.tianwang.com/denglu.htm but it wasn’t working when I tried. Presenting an mysql error instead.

Sunwukong’s submission url is: http://www.sunwukong.cn/add.php . If you read and then agree to the terms, you are presented with a box to type in your url as well as categories and all in English. Unfortunately the search engine submission said ‘human right , Prohibited Site Content, Site may not include this content. Please modify your site and try again later or click [Guestbook] and contact us.‘ when I tried to submit this blog. However when I submitted another website, it was accepted. The process for verification is extremely fast. They also appear to be presenting Google search results, so unsure if any ramifications submitting here as well as submitting and being listed in Google? So use at your own risk.

As you can imagine, if this blog doesn’t pass the criteria (I have not tried contacting them via guestbook to discuss) for Sunwukong then perhaps it won’t be listed on the previous two either. So perhaps try Sunwukong first to assess.

If you are looking at listing your site in Chinese search engines, please leave comments telling us of your experiences and don’t hesitate to recommend search engines also. Also if you live in China, very interested to read about your views and experiences of search engines worldwide as well as in China.

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My personal recommendation is Mozilla’s firefox that rose from the ashes of the Netscape browser project. Regardless of security I’ve found every major milestone of the browser to provide improved performance and functionality. Plus bundle that with the security updates, the smorgasbord of addons and excellent rendering of web pages and it’s no wonder it’s a popular browser. Plus other popular browsers you could consider are Google’s Chrome and Opera.

Don’t forget that many people simply use the browser supplied on their computer. So I recommend you take the time to tell others, be it family, friends or colleagues. I know others may take some time to get used to a new browser and seem reluctant, but it is worth the learning curve for improved security.

Mozilla Firefox can be found here: www.mozilla.com

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I think most people have given up trying to put a number on the total blogs in the world, but it’s in the hundreds of millions. The vast majority are personal, or hobby blogs. But a significant number are a business, and some are now multi-million dollar companies.

If you can write, and do so with some passion on a subject, then blogging might be an opportunity for you to branch out on your own.

Let me share some basic steps for you in creating a business from a blog:

Find your passion

If you’re going to be writing on a subject for the next several years, you’re going to need to be sure that you are passionate about it! Choose something you love, something you really want to share with the world. And although you don’t need to be an expert when you start, you should be prepared to do the necessary research to become one.

Build a platform

The work will be hard at first, writing post after post that only a few people are reading. What you are doing in this phase is creating a platform for your business. Think of it as a home base. And like every home base you need to have “outposts” all over the web – places like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, where people can find you and follow you back to your home base.

Build a tribe

All successful bloggers build up a large audience over time. But as with all things internet based, most are not engaged, and simply “graze” the words they write. One of the keys to success as a blogger is in building a smaller “tribe” of fans, who become part of your blogging community. These are the people who will recruit new tribe members, buy your books or anything else that you can offer, and become an ambassador for your brand.

Sell things!

Once you’re established, you’ll want to earn some money! What that boils down to is selling something. It could be books, you could become an affiliate selling other people’s products or you could come up with a membership program offering additional content. There are numerous ways to earn money, and all benefit from the power of the internet. Let me give you one example. I have a good friend who is also a professional blogger. He runs two blogs. On one of them, he offers a premium membership program, for which he charges just $15 a month. Within a month of launch he had just over 3000 members. I’ll leave you to do the maths!

The traditional model for generating income form a blog is through advertising. And it remains a potentially lucrative area as more and more businesses are switching their advertising spend to online and way from print. There are various agencies who will handle advertising sales, or you can cut out the middle man and sell space yourself.

Expand your game

Once you’ve created a strong on line presence and a good sized readership, you’ll find many opportunities open up for you. Many bloggers have gone on to become successful best selling authors, others earn good income from speaking, and still others use their blogs to build and promote a conventional business, often in the world of tech.

If you’d like to learn more about the fascinating characters who have become the superstars of the blogging world, then please get a copy of Beyond Blogging, which is available as an E Book, via the Amazon Kindle, and very shortly in both print and audio.

You can also visit Mike at his blog, Mike’s Life

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Dramatic news indeed and I’m sure we all will be following developments with interest. However this lead me to thinking about this blogs website address exposure in China via search engines. Not being naive as a) this blog has not been submitted to Chinese search engines and Chinese sites (such as .cn domains as well as .com etc). b) It’s an English language blog! However this is what I found…

The blog’s url is directed listed on Google’s Chinese portal, but not Yahoo’s. It also isn’t listed at Zhongsou or Baidu. Effectively meaning over ten million english language speakers (I know this doesn’t necessarily mean readers) in China will have problems discovering the blog if they are not using Google’s Chinese portal. Obviously there are no doubt other search engines that ‘could’ directly list the blog (that I am unaware of currently) or sites that are listed that have a link to the blog. However if Google was to close their Chinese portal, it will impact visability (unsure if Chinese population will be able to then access google.com directly itself, unless via proxy). This also means I’ve neglected along with thousands others a whole Countries ability to discover a site. Obviously if your business happens to trade with China, this is even more relevant.

Don’t know about you, but I think it’s time I did my homework.

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