First of all, this post is only for those of you using a Mac. I’m sure there are a ton of tools out there for PC (because I had to sort through them before finding this one)- but for downloading an entire site for “offline browsing”- or moving files to use in your new content management system, this post is for you.

After a bit of search, I found Sitesucker. It’s shareware (update 2024- it has a free and paid version, now through the app store), and probably worth a few bucks to toss the developers way. It will download all the pages, images, everything you need to take that awful static site and make it look good in your new WordPress site.

For those of us who try to move clients who don’t know their HTML from their Hosting- it can be a real blessing. Sure, I’d love to have FTP access to a site- but in just a few minutes I’ve got all the stuff I need so the old host can take it down and I can put up the new.

Warning- it won’t help you with flash sites.

It also won’t copy the backend code you need to run a form- or any other cool stuff, but for a reference of what they had, to where you are taking them- this is the tool.

I love Firefox, it can be extended more than any other browser.

I love it’s security- it’s updates, I love everything about it- except when it breaks my favorite plugins. Firefox 3.5 broke Sage- my favorite “lightweight RSS” reader.

After trying the other options- I finally found that there is a “beta” version of Sage that works with 3.5- you can download it here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addons/versions/77#version-1.4.2

and, it warns you- that you must be careful. But, so far, it just works!

How is your website? Is it bringing you business?

I was recently asked to evaluate a site for some engineers. Of course, engineers are the people who came up with most of this mess we call the Internet- and so his response to my evaluation was, well, confused.

“Thanks for the analysis of our WebPages.  I have had this conversation before and you have to understand your market.  We are not trying to sell our WebPage to the “general public”, which includes marketing people.  Our target market is other engineers and that small group of persons – plant engineers, production engineers, VP Engineering, QC Managers, environmental managers, etc. that will make decisions regarding our proposals.  Normally we will contact persons and then ask them to go to our WebPages.
My goal was to communicate as much as possible on the front page.  For those who don’t want to read, the rotating graphics tried to communicate our capabilities quickly.  Our goal is not to be the best (too expensive and takes too much time), just credible and a solid company to do business with.
This WebPage business is an evolving process.  I have just contacted our WebPage designers – (name withheld to protect the clueless) to start making changes.
1.  I need to write more white papers on various subjects;
2.  I think we will do away with the news section on the front page.
3.  We are going to add Country X to our portfolio.
Eventually I want to start adding Podcasts.

The idea of a website as a brochure is an exercise in futility. Google doesn’t care about your brochure, unless you update it often.

While his site may serve his needs, it isn’t helping bring in new business, making new connections or presenting his firm as leaders in the field- never mind- that it doesn’t have search, RSS or a CMS to manage the content.

If all this sounds as confusing as having to type http:// before you enter an address on a site- it’s because engineers invented this tangled web we work on every day. We make it easy- for non-techie types to get it- and make their website work for them.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

What we preach is organic search engine optimization as opposed to paying for “Search Engine Optimization” voodoo. It’s much more cost effective and it actually works.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now– we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Thu Jul 30, 2009 at The Next Wave, 100 Bonner Street Dayton OH 45410 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

We will be meeting at Nehemiah University 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45410.

If you have doubts- read what a student said after the last session:

Sometimes you get exposed to new stuff and it gives you that sick feeling of I had to travel and pay $$$ to go learn to know how much I didn’t know. But all said, that seminar was without a doubt one of the best investments that I’ve made in awhile

Hope to see you July 30. Note, location will change when we reach a threshold number of students.

See new location above in red.