From there to here. From here to there. Happy New Year Everywhere.
It seems like everybody is making a list of best and worst of’s and predictions for the year ahead. Personally, I think it’s fun to look at these today and look back on them next year. Here’s three of Rock Solid Info’s most popular posts of 2013. I’ll throw in a prediction or two for 2014 too.
The 3 Most Popular Rock Solid Posts by Views
The Rock Solid Guide to Self Control Resources | Part Five
Self Control Resources | Part Five, or the How to part of the series, got the highest number of page views this year. The topic of entrepreneurial and success mindset interests me. Through the years, I have known people who on the surface, have everything it takes to be successful… except the right mindset / attitude. Talent is never enough.
Perseverance and a desire to stay curious in order to serve an audience better is more important. So is the skill of learning what you need to know ‘just-in-time’.
In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, ‘Just-in-Time' Learning is an ongoing process for getting things done. It works like this.
- Define exactly what you want to accomplish and begin creating it.
- When you get stuck. Stop right away. Go find out how to do the thing you're stuck on. Phone a friend or mentor, Google it. Whatever it takes, find only the information you need to proceed. Stay focused.
- Take the new knowledge and get back to work on your creation. Work until you get stuck again.
- Repeat Step 2 until your baby is complete.
- Ship it. Progress, not perfection is the goal here. You can add improvements later. Getting your product, post,or creation out to the public is the main thing.
Online business moves at the speed of light. I’ve often compared it to standing up on a rubber raft in the middle of the ocean during a storm.
The other parts of the series are good too, in my humble opinion. Here are links to Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
The article with the next highest number of view this year surprised me. It’s called ‘What is FTP?’ The post is a basic overview of what FTP or File Transfer Protocol is and why it’s important to know how to use it to upload files to your WordPress site.
Along with the basics, there are FTP resources you can use to upload and download your files. It’s not something you will do a lot because most hosting companies provide an easy way to install WordPress onto their servers. But when you need to do it manually, you don’t want to be stumbling around.
Since this kind of post has proven itself popular to you, I’ll be adding more content along these lines for you to use.
How to Promote a Movie with a Prank from back in October is number 3. The remake of “Carrie” sucked from what I hear, but people loved the promotional video for it. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean. If not, take four minutes to watch it. It really is a lot of fun to watch the customers faces after Carrie takes her revenge out on the guy who spilled coffee on her computer.
The point is that this video got a lot of attention for the move at a relatively low cost. Be creative and you could get a ton of attention for next to no cost. It doesn’t have to be a big production. Look at most viral videos. They are made with home video gear or a cell phone. Again, creativity is what counts.
A few Predictions for 2014
Prediction #1: Better and more secure log in schemes will begin to deploy during 2014.
In late September or early October, Steve Gibson (of SpinRite fame), imagined a better way to securely log on to websites. This follow up post, Another SQRL Update, also has links to the two preceding posts about SQRL or Secure Quick Reliable Login (pronounced ‘squirrel’).
Along with several other new methods from others, I predict these more secure log ins will begin to be deployed by security conscious websites. And who isn’t security conscious after Edward Snowden? I am a big fan of SQRL and believe it allows for the best user experience while maintaining high security. I'm excited to watch it deploy when it's ready (soon, I think).
In the near future I’ll be posting another SQRL update. or you can visit Steve’s site grc.com to always get the latest info straight from the horses mouth. This is the page that demonstrates the user experience when using SQRL.
Snowden did us all a favor when he disclosed the scope of the government’s data collection and spying on people here and around the world. It has forced companies who are reliant on the internet to tighten up security for their web properties and databases.
Prediction Number 2:
PC's will continue to lose relevance to Phones/Tablets this year.
OK-OK I understand that this is not clairvoyance. And I'm not the Iowa Intuitive Master. I'm not a rocket scientist and I don't play one on TV.
My point is that if you publish content to the web, sell anything there, or want to do anything on the Internet, your websites need to be responsive. Your visitors are coming from everywhere now. And Mobile accounts for about 50% of traffic now and will keep growing.
The funny thing is about half of all websites have not adapted, or become responsive to the device someone is using to access a website. Whenever I run into one of those sites, I think to myself “I'll wait until I'm on a PC to look at this. I don't want to have to squint to see the text.” Of course, just like everybody else, I never get around to looking at the site.
The message to publishers… Be responsive, or die a slow agonizing death during 2014.
Bonus Prediction for 2014.
Rock Solid Info will continue to publish content aimed at supercharging your results in business For your daily fix on cool stuff I find on the web, follow my Twitter stream @WLAdams. I'm also working on getting better at Google+ and Facebook. Those links are at the bottom of the page. You can also subscribe via RSS. If you would like us to look into something for you, ask in the comments section. If your request is in the area of improving your results or any thing WordPress, we'll write about it for you.
Happy New Year to you. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you and hope you find the site useful in your quest for results.
