# Laksha - Full Content > Laksha is a web and AI development agency. We act as your technical co-founder, turning founders' ideas into shipped websites, products, and AI systems. Website: https://laksha.net About: Laksha - a web and AI development agency (Laksha LLC, since 2010) that acts as your technical co-founder. --- ## 7 Steps to Stop Your Browser Loading Your Old Site After a Migration URL: https://laksha.net/blog/fix-chrome-cached-redirect-old-site Published: 2026-06-28 Author: Laksha Tags: chrome, redirect, dns, cache, migration, troubleshooting Just migrated your website, but your own browser or computer keeps loading the old one? I fought this for eighteen hours after launching laksha.net. Every other browser showed the new site. My main Chrome would not. The fix that actually worked took about twenty seconds. If I had to do it again today, here is exactly what I would do, in order. Step #1: Prove it is local, not the server Open the site in an incognito window Open it in a second browser (Safari, Firefox, anything) If those show the new site, the server and DNS are fine, and the problem is cached on your own machine. If even incognito shows the old site, it is more likely DNS, so start with Step 2. Step #2: Flush your local DNS cache Your computer caches DNS, so after you change where the domain points, it can keep talking to the old server. Windows: open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns Mac: open Terminal and run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder Not comfortable in a terminal? Just restart your computer. A reboot flushes the DNS cache for you. Step #3: Clear the site's cached data Go to chrome://settings/content/all Search your domain and delete its data Reopen the site. If it is fixed, great. If not, do not panic, this one did not work for me either. Step #4: Force a clean fetch with DevTools This is the step that actually fixed it for me. Open the page, press F12, and go to the Network tab Check "Disable cache" With DevTools still open, retype the URL and press Enter With caching off, the browser ignores the stored redirect, loads the new site fresh, and overwrites the bad cache. Close DevTools and it stays fixed. Step #5: Prevent it next time by lowering your DNS TTL before go-live This one is prevention, and I do it for every high-visibility production launch. A few days before you point the domain at the new host, log in to your DNS provider and lower the TTL (time to live) on the records you are changing, down to about 300 seconds. TTL tells the internet how long it is allowed to cache your DNS, so a low TTL means the world picks up your new server in minutes instead of hours. Raise it back once the migration is stable. It targets the DNS side, not the browser redirect that got me, but it is the single best thing you can do to shrink the window where anyone sees the old site. Still stuck? Keep going If the new site still will not load in your main browser, keep escalating. Step #6: Kill the old service worker The old site may have registered one that quietly intercepts requests. Press F12, go to the Application tab, find Service Workers, and click Unregister. You can also open chrome://serviceworker-internals/ , find your domain, and unregister it there. Step #7: The nuclear option Go to chrome://settings/clearBrowserData , set the time range to All time, check "Cached images and files" and "Cookies and other site data", and clear. This wipes more than you need, but it always works. That is the whole playbook. Run these in order and you will save yourself the eighteen hours I wasted blaming DNS, the host, and everything except the browser sitting right in front of me. Frequently Asked Questions Why does my old website still load after I migrated to a new one? Usually because something on your machine cached the move. Either your browser stored an old permanent redirect (an HTTP 301) from the old setup, or your computer cached the old DNS record. Both keep pointing you at the old server even though the new one is live. Why does the new site work in incognito but not in my normal browser? Incognito does not use your normal browser's cache or service workers, so it talks to the live server directly. If incognito shows the new site and your normal window does not, the problem is a cached redirect or a service worker in your main profile, not the server. Does a hard refresh fix this? Often not. A hard refresh reloads the page assets, but it does not clear a cached 301 redirect or a registered service worker. That is why people stay stuck. Use the DevTools "Disable cache" step, or clear the site data, instead. How do I flush the DNS cache on Mac and Windows? On Windows, run ipconfig /flushdns in Command Prompt. On Mac, run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder in Terminal. If you would rather not touch a terminal, restarting your computer flushes the DNS cache too. What is DNS TTL and why should I lower it before a migration? TTL (time to live) is how long the internet is allowed to cache your DNS records. If it is set high, resolvers keep using your old server's address for hours after you cut over. Lowering it to around 300 seconds a few days before go-live means the switch propagates in minutes. Raise it back afterward. How long should a site migration take to fully propagate? With a low TTL set in advance, most people see the new site within minutes. Stragglers can take up to the old TTL value, which is why high TTLs cause day-long tails. Local browser caches, like the cached redirect in this post, can persist even longer until you clear them. --- ## Resources for SaaS Founders URL: https://laksha.net/blog/resources Published: 2025-01-15 Author: Laksha Tags: resources, saas, founders A few resources we have put together for founders building and scaling SaaS products. Zero to MVP Guide Just starting your SaaS journey? Our Zero to MVP Guide is a roadmap to help you build your Minimum Viable Product in about 90 days. It walks through validating your idea, defining the core features, and developing a scalable product, step by step. What is inside: Idea validation techniques MVP development frameworks Scaling and growth strategies Newsletter for SaaS Founders Our newsletter for SaaS founders is a go-to source for actionable insights, expert advice, and the latest trends in the SaaS industry. What you get: Step-by-step guides from idea to product launch and beyond Expert tips on development, marketing, and scaling Latest trends on the tools and technologies shaping SaaS SaaS Inspiration Hub Chrome Extension Get inspired and stay organized with the SaaS Inspiration Hub , a Chrome New Tab extension built to streamline your research and idea generation. Every new tab gives you a daily quote and journaling prompt, the latest Product Hunt launches, curated SaaS news, and a place to capture quick notes, right in your browser. --- ## How To Start A WordPress Blog URL: https://laksha.net/blog/how-to-start-a-wordpress-blog-in-2021 Published: 2021-08-14 Author: Laksha Tags: blog, do-it-yourself, tools, website, wordpress I have spent most of my life building and marketing of small businesses. I have started and run my own side business for a long time. I know how difficult it is for a small business owner to hire a web designer to build their website. There are so many other expenses to handle. Building a WordPress website is easy. You can build a decent website for your business in just a few hours. In this article I will show you a step by step process of building a new website. For building an effective website, it is very important for you to know what are you trying to achieve. Your goal could be building your brand name, selling a product or convey a message, whatever the goal is, you want to identify what you want visitors to do after they land on your website. I encourage you to start with a single page website and then grow from there. On this single page, you would want to put a nice banner picture, 2-3 call to action buttons, one paragraph to introduce what you do and finally guide them to the action that you want them to perform. Regarding website platforms, I like WordPress and I am a huge fan of WordPress simplicity and its marketplace. Hosting WordPress based website is cheaper, installation is very easy and finding additional Plugin to extend functionality is a piece of cake. In following steps, I will hold your hand and take you to a step-by-step journey. Step 1 – Purchase domain name Skip this step if you already have a domain name. If you buying a new domain then consider these points – Domain name should be easy to remember, easy to type and relevant to your website. There are so many places where you can purchase your domain and few are listed as below. www.hostgator.com www.namecheap.com www.bluehost.com www.godaddy.com Step 2 – Purchase hosting Hosting is where your website will live. There are many good hosting companies to chose from and typically WordPress hosting does not cost much. There are options available from $3 and up depending upon contracting terms and hosting company brand. In my research I found hostgator.com as one of the best option and you can get it as low as $3.49 per month if you sign up for 3 years. They are running a 70{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55} off right now. Click to purchase hostgator.com . Step 3 – Install WordPress Installing WordPress is a very easy process. Hostgator has created a step by step guide . Step 4 – Install WordPress Theme WordPress comes with a few in-built themes. You can start your website using one of them or purchase a premium theme. I recommend using ElegantThemes as they are very easy to use. Step 5 – Install WordPress Plugins Plugins extend functionality of your WordPress website. Following free Plugins are a good way to start. Yoast SEO – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/ Contact Form 7 – https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/ WP Super Cache – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/ You could install WordPress Plugins directly from your WordPress dashboard page. Step 6 – Set up homepage In this step, add a banner to your homepage and write content. Step 7 – Set up interior pages and sidebar In this step, remove any existing Widget from and add following Widget. Search Text (display your sponsors or other information) Recent Post Recent Comments Step 8 – Setup Social Network You should set up Facebook, Twitter, Google+ & Google Local before you launch your website. You should also consider additional social network depending upon the nature of your business and targeted audience. --- ## How to Remove "Designed by Elegant Themes, Powered by WordPress" in Divi & Extra URL: https://laksha.net/blog/how-to-remove-designed-by-elegant-themes-in-divi-extra Published: 2020-05-27 Author: Laksha Tags: divi-theme, elegant-theme, extra-theme, wordpress When you first install a WordPress Theme by Elegant Themes, it will display the following credits in the footer. This happens in both the Divi Theme and Extra theme. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress So how do you remove this from your WordPress website? Removing “Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress ” in Divi Theme There is a very simple solution to this annoying issue, Elegant Theme may consider this as a feature and not as an issue. To resolve this, Go to Divi > Theme Customizer > Footer > Bottom Bar You can disable the footer credits by checking the box disable footer credits or you can place your own footer credits to replace the standard Divi credit text. Removing “Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress ” in Extra Theme Extra theme does not have an option within theme customizer. For Extra theme, Go to Extra > Theme Options > Integration Copy following code under “Add code to the < head > of your blog” Change “your website name” with your website or your name. <script> jQuery(function($){ $('#footer-info').html('&copy; your website name); }); </script> Hope this will help you. --- ## Use Divi Booster Plugin Today and Stop Wasting Your Time in WordPress Coding URL: https://laksha.net/blog/use-divi-booster-plugin-today-and-stop-wasting-your-time-in-wordpress-coding Published: 2019-09-14 Author: Laksha Tags: divi, wordpress, plugins Divi Booster is an easy way to make your Divi theme based website better, without any coding skills. Download Divi Booster today and try for yourself. Divi is a WordPress theme and visual page builder from Elegant Themes. This theme is the most used premium WordPress theme in the world according to stats from BuiltWith.com. You can use this theme to build a professional, powerful and extremely good looking blog or website. Because this theme is so popular, many developers have built plugins to do certain things which Divi theme don’t. Divi Booster is one of those plugins. Divi Booster adds new configuration options to already powerful and easy to use Divi Theme . Divi Booster Configuration Page If you are you looking for an easy way to enhance your website, first go ahead and install Elegant Themes’ Divi Theme and then install Divi Booster . You may have seen many Divi customization tips or WordPress enhancement tips online, but most of them require programming knowledge. On the other hand, Divi Booster adds hundreds of Divi enhancements inside Divi Theme. These enhancements can be selected using a web interface without any programming knowledge. This plugin does exactly what I needed it to do. I do not have any developer skills, but support was excellent and resolved all of the questions I had quickly. I even got bonus advice regarding updates that would make my theme run more smoothly with this plugin and others. I use multiple plugins by this developer, and would highly recommend them all. Karrie, a Divi Booster user Divi Booster is a plugin from Dan of DiviBooster.com . According to Dan, he writes a lot of code to customize and enhance Divi Theme. Dan then add these codes in the Divi Booster plugin for easy use. Divi Booster adds over 50 new configurations to Divi Theme. The enhancements include headers, pages, posts, modules, sidebar, footer, menus, plugins, and much more. I’ve been building sites with divi for nearly a year, and with Dan’s Divi Booster Plugin, it’s getting faster to complete a site. Roy, a Divi Booster user Installing Divi Booster is as same as installing any other WordPress plugins. Once installed, the Divi Booster option will be added to the Divi Menu in the left sidebar of the WordPress dashboard window. The Divi Booster menu contains 11 accordions for various categories. Each option will give you the ability to make customization in the Divi Theme. Each option also has the link to the Divi Booster website with tutorials to explain the option in more detail. I encourage you to go ahead and try the Divi Booster WordPress plugin today and stop wasting your time in going through WordPress tricks and tips to be able to customer WordPress or Divi Theme . Focus on your content strategy and spend time in building valuable content on your website and let Divi Theme and Divi Booster help you with the technical jargons. --- ## Most Useful WordPress Plugins for 2019 URL: https://laksha.net/blog/most-useful-wordpress-plugins-for-2019 Published: 2019-09-09 Author: Laksha Tags: wordpress, plugins WP Clone by WP Academy Yoast SEO Divi Booster Bloom Monarch Jetpack by WordPress.com Page Builder by SiteOrigin Configure SMTP Blogger Importer Extended Blogger Importer --- ## Learn Typography Basics to Effectively Communicate with a Graphic Designer URL: https://laksha.net/blog/learn-typography-basics Published: 2017-01-19 Author: Laksha Tags: font, typography, design I do not consider myself as a graphics designing artist. I could not event tell difference between various type. Erik & Andi both have laughed on me when it comes to type & colors combination. But I know color wheels, primary, secondary, tertiary colors and color harmonies – basic techniques for creating color schemes. Anyways, stop laughing. I am writing this blog post for my clients and reader who has desire to learn the basic so that they can talk to graphics designers and effectively communicate with them. The information I am sharing here will help in learn the basic terminology which every graphics designer use. First thing to do is to watch this video by Forrest Media on typography. This video will give you the basic history about typography. For common people like me typography means font haha. After watching this video, I want you to read this article “ Serif vs Sans: The Final Battle “. This infographics is bit more extensive and will give you good foundation about typography. Next, lets dive deeper and read Choosing a Typeface Flowchart: Refining my Design . Hope this information will help you to learn the basics. --- ## A Step-by-Step Guide to Basic Search Engine Optimization for Your Website URL: https://laksha.net/blog/step-step-guide-basic-search-engine-optimization-website Published: 2017-01-17 Author: Laksha Tags: seo, website In this post, I will share basic steps which every small business owner should learn and do for his web presence. Let’s start with real basic and focus on your website, Google local listing and Yelp. Also on the technical side, we will focus on Google Analytics, Google Web Master Tools and Google Tag Manager. I know I am ignoring Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YourTube, Bing, Yellow Pages and other 100s of places. But that’s ok. Doing few things write will help you much more than doing too many things. Alright, let’s start with your website and focus on 3 pages. Homepage, About Us (or Our Services) and Contact Us page. Technically, that’s all you need. Yes, you only need 3 pages in your website. Remember, you are not expecting your customer to go on your website and read everything you have posted there. What you expecting them to do is to research your creditability by checking your past work and how you are presenting your company. Big banners, big fonts and lot of empty space are current trend. Your customer will validate whether you are up-to-date yourself with the current trend or not. Back to search engine optimization, your goal is to present information and guide them to either call you or email you. You are not selling any service online, are you? So let’s face it, if you can persuade your customer to call you or email you then you achieve your purpose with the website. Isn’t it? So be focused and post only content which will guide your customers to contact you. I typically pay someone to write search engine friendly content for the About Us or Our Services page and then i use that content to create call to actions in the website. Some technical steps related to the website SEO – Please note that I am writing this article for a person with basic SEO knowledge, I am ignoring the facts related to backlinks, keyword research tools and other advance topics. Identify your primary keyword. If you are a videographer then “videographer” or “videography services” will be your primary keyword. You will have to ignore your other services such as photography or audio instruments. Next, create a list of secondary keywords by mixing your primary keyword with location. For example, “videographer in orlando” or or “videography services in orlando”. Please note that I am intentionally using all small letters. Search in Google for the primary and secondary keywords you have identified. Review the top 5 to 10 websites. Ignore the sponsored results for now. Focus on two things – First , did you find the website similar to your business? Are they offering similar services as yours? If yes then you are on the right track but if your search result is showing different type of business then you will have to adjust your primary and secondary keywords. Second , look at the home page heading, url and content. Google look at these three things to decide to show these website on the first page of their result. Next step is to make you own search engine friendly copy of page title, url and content. I do this step in a word document. , for example, Call Now. Please be aware that it is illegal to steal other website content. Also, Google will seriously penalize you for copied content. Idea is to validate your keywords and get inspiration. I typically pay someone at www.fiverr.com or at www.upwork.com to write a copy for my clients Once you have content planned, it is easy to update your website. I won’t be covering publishing in this article. Remember to use your keywords in image name, title etc. Rename the banner and other images to add your keywords in the name. Image names should be all small letters using “-” in place of spaces. Make sure you add your address and location specific keywords in the footer. These are some legal ways to increase keyword density on the page. Finally, whenever adding a hyperlink between your pages, make them meaningful. For example, do not use “click here”, instead use “View Our Services”. Local listing – Next, your will add your business listing to local business listing such as Google Local (Google Map), Yelp, Yellow Pages etc. These listing are free and will benefit your business in multiple ways. As part of the listing you will add a brief description of your business, a link to your website, your contact phone numbers, your business logo and pictures, hours of operation etc. Prepare this information in a word document so you can copy paste as needed. You can see a comprehensive list of local listing at http://www.submitlocal.org . I suggest you start with top 4-5 local listing such as Google local, Yelp, Facebook local business and then expand your reach. You can read more about this at Top Local Business Listing Sites You Should Claim Now . Social Media – Do not try to create social media pages on all social network. I recommend picking just one social network to begin with. The choice will depend upon your business type and your nature. If you takes lot of pictures on your phone then Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram would be a good choice. If you express yourself by writing small paragraph then start with Twitter. I suggest Facebook to begin with. Use Facebook business manager – https://business.facebook.com to create your business page and to manage it. Advance topics – Keyword research tools, there are many keyword research tool which can help you in identifying keywords which will work for your business. Google keyword planner tool is one of the best but it requires Google Adword account. You do not have to run a campaign. Another tool which I liked a lot is http://keywordtool.io/ --- ## Our Work: Renu CPA URL: https://laksha.net/blog/our-work-renu-cpa Published: 2017-01-16 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work, website This website is for a CPA in the Orlando area. She is an excellent CPA and have wide variety of knowledge in her field. I still faces challenge in understanding all the services she provides and what services she would like to promote on the website. In my recent conversations with her, we try to identify top few things which will go on the website. Once I got the list, I hired someone to write search engine friendly content for the services page. I used that content in the services page and also to create call to action through the website. I yet to update local listing with the new copy. Once done, I will add more pictures. Visit RenuCPA Website --- ## WordPress Plugins I Use URL: https://laksha.net/blog/wordpress-plugins-uses Published: 2017-01-15 Author: Laksha Tags: wordpress, plugins I wanted to share some of the WordPress plugins which I regularly uses on my websites and my clients website. Obviously there may be a better alternative exist for these WordPress plugins and I would love to hear your advice. Please do share in the comments. Delete All Comments of wordpress – The ‘Delete All Comments of WordPress’ plugin is built to delete all comments (Approved,Pending) from wordpress database by only one click and vary easily. WP Clone by WP Academy -Move or copy a WordPress site to another server or to another domain name, move to/from local server hosting, and backup sites. All-in-One WP Migration -Migration tool for all your blog data. Import or Export your blog content with a single click. UpdraftPlus – Backup/Restore – Backup and restore: take backups locally, or backup to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, (S)FTP, WebDAV & email, on automatic schedules. Velvet Blues Update URLs – After moving a website, Update URLs lets you fix old URLs in content, excerpts, links, and custom fields. Batch-Move Posts – BatchMove is a WP plugin that make it possible to change the category where a post(s) belong to. Search & Replace – Search & Replace data in your whole WordPress setup, backup and import your database, change table prefix or migrate your domain to another domain. Redirection – Manage all your 301 redirects and monitor 404 errors Yoast SEO – Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) is the most complete WordPress SEO plugin that exists today for WordPress.org users. Bloom eMail Opt-In Plugin – A simple, comprehensive and beautifully constructed email opt-in plugin built to help you quickly grow your mailing list. I am learning more about the following plugins https://managewp.com/ --- ## Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to Fix Your Website Preview on Facebook and Messenger URL: https://laksha.net/blog/facebook-sharing-debugger-fix-facebook-website-preview-facebook-messenger Published: 2017-01-11 Author: Laksha Tags: facebook, fix-small-issue One of my client sent me an email that she try to share her website with a friends in the Facebook messenger but the preview shown by the Facebook did not match with her website. Facebook was showing an older version of the homepage – old thumbnail image, old title and old content snippet. It took me few hours to find out an easy solution. Well that’s the case with any solution right? Amount of time you will spend in finding a solution is directly related to how easy that solution will be :). To troubleshoot this issue, I started looking at the website content, view source and even tried looking at Google Web Master tools. There are actually websites which shows content as Google sees them. Here is an example – http://www.evolvedwebsites.com.au/googlebot/view.php?url=http{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55}3A{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55}2F{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55}2Fthevicariousvoyager.com{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55}2F&keywords=evolved+websites{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55}2C+website&submit=VIEW+AS+GOOGLEBOT Once I confirmed that website content is up to date and there is no hidden text, I started thinking that somehow Facebook is caching old content. After some research, I found that this is true. Facebook uses a shared cache for the web content which was causing problem in our case. This happens because every time a hyperlink is shared on the Facebook, Facebook creates a cached version of the basic information such as the thumbnail, title of the page, the description of the page. Then, when the same hyperlink is shared again, Facebook uses cached version of the information. Facebook does provide an easy way to clear this cached version of the page. To clear the cache and fix other problem, go to the Sharing Debugger page, enter the hyperlink of the web page and click debug. This will show the time when facebook built the cache. Click at the “Scrap Again” button to clear the cache and build a new cache. You can use the Facebook’s Sharing Debugger fix the information that is used when your website content is shared on Facebook, Messenger and other places. Once this is done, Facebook displayed latest copy in the preview. The picture is coming from the featured image. --- ## Droplr: An App for Screenshots, Screen Recording and More URL: https://laksha.net/blog/droplr-app-screenshots-screen-recording Published: 2017-01-07 Author: Laksha Tags: tools I just learnt about Droplr and found it very interesting. It have a free plan which comes with limited features. It can take screenshots and also record screen videos. You may want to check it out – https://droplr.com/ --- ## Lets Travel Radio URL: https://laksha.net/blog/lets-travel-radio Published: 2017-01-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work, elegant-themes, extra-theme I have been engaged with Let’s Travel! since 2012. The LetsTravelRadio.com website is my contribution to the passionated work of Susi, Michael and their team. The new website is built using WordPress and “Extra” theme from the Elegant Themes. I also engaged a designer from Fiverr to build their new logo. My contribution was to coordinate between highly technical designer and highly non-technical Susi and Michael. I am very happy that my help resulted into a logo which they are absolutely loving. I chosen the Extra theme to build this website because it perfectly matched to the needs of a podcast based website and gives a magazine type look. The post setting includes built in features for audio and video podcast. I chosen the Extra theme for this website because it perfectly matched to the needs of a podcast based website and gives a magazine type look. The post setting includes built in features for audio and video podcast. Extra theme also have a “Edit Category Layout” feature which allows customization of home page and other pages. Following is a screenshot of “Edit Category Layout” for the LetsTravelRadio website. I am hoping that this information will be useful to you. Please do share your thoughts and let me know if you have any question or need any additional information. --- ## My Must-Have Applications for the New MacBook Pro URL: https://laksha.net/blog/must-applications-new-macbook-pro Published: 2016-12-31 Author: Laksha Tags: tools, mac I just got a new MacBook Pro and it is the best machine I have ever used. So much have been discussed about how good the new MacBook Pro is so I am not going to write about it. I would rather want to write about the applications I am using on this new MacBook Pro. I am came from Windows background and it was a journey for me to find replacement of what I had in Windows environment. Following list is targeted to similar people who are beginner in MacBook environment. Google Chrome Browser Office 2016 for Mac Slack and Skype Cloud Storages such as Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive Microsoft Desktop to connect to my PC based devices I also uses Skype for Business Evernote, I am always confused between Evernote and OneNote but could not decide which one to use. I am using Evernote for one simple reason, it is simpler than OneNote. Also my office’s group policies does not allow syncing to personal account. DaisyDisk, I have been using Spacemonder on Windows PC for years. All my machines has a copy of the Spacemonder. I was trying to find an alternative for the Mac and came across DaisyDisk. This cost $10 but it worth each penny. Highly recommended. --- ## Axcellerate Pharma URL: https://laksha.net/blog/axcellerate-pharma Published: 2016-10-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work I built the Axcellerate Pharma website in one day using WordPress and Divi theme from Elegant Themes. This website was simply a migration from html based website to the WordPress based content management system. Logo, banner images and content was provided and I had to make it look good. I worked about 15 hours during my flight from USA to India and finished 70{266e1058a35cd0cb1c69ba80d1ba7c469f8af2e6cc3cc250e7877a07e355cd55} of the website. Something which i will remember for a long time. My job was to come up with the new responsive layout for the website and connect social networks. I also built new header banner for each page using free images from pixabay.com website. Apart from the website, we discussed search engine and social media strategy for Axcellerate Pharma and sister companies. --- ## Rangoli Sweets of Florida URL: https://laksha.net/blog/rangoli-sweets-florida Published: 2016-08-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work, divi-theme, elegant-theme RangoliSweetsFlorida.com website is very close to my heart. The owner of the business, Narayan ji, is very good in his business. He is an expert in making sweets and food catering. He has grown his business to entire Central Florida in last 12 years. Similar to many other successful business man, Narayan ji, is not an expert in web and digital presence. He knew that he need a website and need correction in the Google Local listing. My job was to come up with something that he will like. It was a guessing game and my first attempt was completely wrong. He loved my second attempt in which i added royal background etc. After some modification we were on track. Google Local listing was wrong. It was created long ago by someone and they did not have access to change it. I claimed the listing and was able to get the ownership of the listing. I made changes in the listing and added some good pictures, Now Google local listing looks professional and bring new customers. Yelp is another great source for new customers. I set up a very professional Yelp page for the Rangoli Sweets. Yelp activities shows that many customers have found Rangoli Sweets in Yelp and contacts them. For this website, I hired someone from upwork.com to rewrite the content provided by the Narayan ji. This resulted into professional looking content for a smaller price. --- ## Useful Articles for Small Business Owners: A Weekend Reading List URL: https://laksha.net/blog/useful-articles-small-business-owners-weekend-reading Published: 2016-07-17 Author: Laksha Tags: small-business I was researching a lot during this weekend and found many articles which I like to share with my readers. These are short articles and just skimming though these may help you with your business website. 4 Things to Put on Your Website (and 3 Things to Get Rid of Right Away) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-things-put-your-website-3-get-rid-right-away-andy-crestodina?trk=prof-post Websites? 10 Best Practices on the Top 50 Marketing Websites https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-features-standard-websites-10-best-practices-top-andy-crestodina?trk=prof-post Following are a bit technical How to Setup Google Analytics: 5 Quick Videos That Make it Easy How to Setup Google Analytics: 5 Quick Videos That Make it Easy Design Style Guide https://www.orbitmedia.com/style-guide What to Blog About: 13 Places to Find Fresh Blog Topics What to Blog About: 13 Places to Find Fresh Blog Topics The Psychology of Social Proof & How to Build Trust in Your Business The Psychology of Social Proof & How to Build Trust in Your Business User Flow: Find the Top Path Through Your Website User Flow: Find the Top Path Through Your Website --- ## PMP vs Scrum (Agile): Which One Should You Follow? URL: https://laksha.net/blog/pmp-vs-scrum-agile-one-follow Published: 2016-07-16 Author: Laksha Tags: agile, project-management, scrum Today, I got my Scrum Product Owner certification (CSPO). I also have ScrumMaster (CSM) and PMP certifications. No I am not a certification freak in-fact, these are the only certifications I have acquired in my career. I did my PMP training 3 years ago and using conventional project management processes for last 16 years. I have worked in CMMI level 5 companies, you probably know what I mean. These companies follows processes line by line, every day and every minutes :). Everything that I have done in my professional career or in my personal life has been some shape of waterfall process. I admit that waterfall way of thinking is ingrained in my thought process. Agile is a whole new world which is completely different than PMP/waterfall/conventional project management. Being at both side, I know that both sides disrespect each other. Because my foundation is PMP/waterfall, this transition will be hard for me. In past, my team and I have planed 1 to 2 years long projects with accurate timeline, schedule and due dates. Limiting our predictability to just 3-4 sprints (2-3 months) will be very uncomfortable. On the other hand, using new way of creating product/project vision, roadmap, stories, backlogs, sprints are very effective and organic. I am committed to the new way of thinking and still utilizing my past experience of managing complex projects in other areas of my responsibilities. PMP is close to my heart and I believe a good project manager can turn measurable project in to a successful project. PMP methodologies are used in all industrees while Scrum stated with software projects in mind and now being adapted in other industrees. If you do not have PMP or Scrum certifications then my recommendation will be to go for Scrum certifications and not PMP certification. Obviously you will have to see what your organization uses. Scrum requires hands-on practice and change in the way you think and work. Scrum also requires changes in the team structure. Many companies claim that they are Agile and Scrum, but they are not. I have been guilty of doing it myself. Daily stand up meetings are not scrum. So you have to have your organization’s buy in to adopt to Scrum otherwise it will not be useful. The reason I am recommending Scrum is that it is innovative. It gives new way of thinking and working. It is handson and effective. Whether you are new to software development or a legacy like me, Scrum will make you fast and effective. You will able to think in smaller chunks which can be accomplish. In PMP you start with big idea and then break it into smaller chunk while in Scrum, you start with smaller chunk which may lead to a big idea. These are my initial thoughts but I will add more to this conversation as I practice more scrum. For some of our projects at my work, we are following our regular project management (driven by our PMO office) as well as Scrum (driven by our Agile coach Ally). While Scrum is primarily helping development teams, regular project management is keeping everything rolling outside the development. Also, I would not think that we will ever use Scrum to merge a hospital we may buy in future. It has to be conventional project management. The way I see is that the core team may use Scrum while other 100 other peoples who are involved in some way would continue to use conventional project management. --- ## Top Local Business Listing Sites You Should Claim Now URL: https://laksha.net/blog/top-local-business-listing-sites-you-should-claim-now Published: 2016-06-15 Author: Laksha Tags: local-seo, small-business Do you own a business? Remember, website and facebook is just a begining. You should add your business listing to local business listing such as Google Local (Google Map), Yelp, Yellow Pages etc. These listing are free and will benefit your business in multiple ways. I typically start by creating a secondary business email. For example, when I was working on the Rangoli Sweets website, I used a secondary email id rangolisweetsoffloridainc@gmail.com to create these accounts. As part of the listing you will add a brief description of your business, a link to your website, your contact phone numbers, your business logo and pictures, hours of operation etc. Prepare this information in a word document so you can copy paste as needed. Following is a quick list of local business listing. Please feel free to comment and add additional listings. You can see a comprehensive list of local listing at http://www.submitlocal.org . I suggest you start with top 4-5 local listing such as Google local, Yelp, Facebook local business and then expand your reach. You can always purchase Ynext Plans to make this process easy for you. Google Local & Google Map – https://business.google.com/manage/ . The google page https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617?hl=en shows step by step process of adding your business listing to Google Local & Google Map. Yelp Bing Local & Map – https://www.bingplaces.com/ Yahoo Local – http://listings.local.yahoo.com Citysearch – http://www.citysearch.com Facebook local business page Pinterest Foursquare (yes there are people who still check-in using foursquare) Yellow Pages Zomato – https://www.zomato.com Google+ Twitter YouTube Mapquest Apple Map – https://mapsconnect.apple.com/ White Pages Superpages Local.com eLocal – http://www.elocal.com/sign-up merchantcircle – http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/index.html 411.com – www.411.com About.me – www.about.me AOL Yellow Pages – http://yellowpages.aol.com/ Angie’s List – http://www.angieslistbusinesscenter.com/ Better Business Bureau (BBB) – http://www.bbb.org/ --- ## Build Your Professional-Looking Website in 1 Hour Using the Divi WordPress Theme URL: https://laksha.net/blog/build-professional-looking-website-1-hours-using-divi-wordpress-theme-elegant-theme Published: 2016-06-12 Author: Laksha Tags: divi, wordpress, website Divi Theme comes with lot of features and options. Which also makes it complected to use. I have spent hours reading through their documentation and tried many things myself. I want to make it easy for you and I totally get that not everyone has patience to go learn everything and then relate learning to your specific use case. In this guide, I will try to cover most basic things that you need to do to create your website. Obviously you can do a lot more than what my guide covers but that’s the idea. I want to give you a jump start and then let you explore everything Divi WordPress Theme offers. COMING SOON Our Sponsors --- ## Change Divi Image Gallery Grid Thumbnail Sizes URL: https://laksha.net/blog/change-divi-image-gallery-grid-thumbnail-sizes Published: 2016-06-11 Author: Laksha Tags: divi, divi-theme, elegant-theme, wordpress This article from DiviBooster has helped me resizing the image size. Following is the modified copy of the CSS with the values which I have used in my website. .et_pb_fullwidth_header { padding: 0 !important; } #copyright{ visibility: hidden; } /* Set the image widths */ .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item, .et_pb_gallery_grid .column_width, .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image, .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image.portrait img { width: 330px !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image img { min-width: 330px; } /* Set the spacing between images */ .et_pb_gallery_grid .gutter_width { width: 25px; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item { margin-bottom:25px !important; } /*——————————————-*/ .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item { clear:none !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item:nth-child(3n) { margin-right:0 !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item:nth-child(3n+1) { clear:both !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_item { margin-right:24px !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image img { min-height: 0 !important; } .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image, .et_pb_gallery_grid .et_pb_gallery_image.landscape img { height: auto !important; } --- ## Digital Presence: Website, Social, Local and Search Engine Optimization URL: https://laksha.net/blog/digital-presence-website-social-local-search-engine-optimization Published: 2016-01-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work, seo If you are planning to build a website for your business or wondering what social media could do for your business then we can help. We will build your new search engine optimized website that harness the power of social media. We can help your website appear in the search result. Website We like talking and we love to hear your story. We make sure we are not building a fancy gadget for you to show to your friends. We build a strategic vision for you to define purpose for your website. Blog Are you building your blog? We can help you with blog setup, theme customization, widget setup, RSS setup, FeedBurner setup to distribute your RSS, adding social sharing buttons and so much more. Check our very popular step-by-step guide on how to set up your blog in 1 day . Social Media You need to keep your customers engage using social media. Share you thoughts with your customers, they will like it. Answer their question timely and some time ask questions. We have a lot of experience in social media branding and social media marketing. We can help you with social media branding of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Google Local etc. Search Engine Optimization We want to help you with your search engine optimization. You can get good results without spending lot of advertising money by following basic content rules. We gives you a blue print to follow and set up analytic tools such as Google Analytic, Google Webmaster tools and guide you on how to best utilize these tools to promote your business. We also do advance search engine optimization. --- ## How to Fix the Site Address (URL) Setting in WordPress URL: https://laksha.net/blog/how-to-fix-site-address-url-setting-in-the-wordpress Published: 2015-10-24 Author: Laksha Tags: fix-small-issue, technical, wordpress While redesigning a website, I normally use a temporary URL for example, pilot.laksha.net and when ready to launch, I change the website URL to the real URL. During this process, I have caught in middle where I changed the Site Address (URL) setting in the WordPress from pilot to real URL but that URL is still not fully working. The issue in this case is, WordPress will redirect any attempt to open the page to new URL and you have no way to access the setting page to change. Fortunately there is a simple solution available to override WordPress Site Address (URL) values that is saved in database. In this method, you will have to open wp-config.php file which can be found in the root of your WordPress install. Make sure you make a back up copy of this file before you open it. If you are using shared hosting, then please use control panel provided by hosting company or use FTP application such as FileZilla. Open the wp-config.php file and add following lines to this config file where the “ http://example.com/” is the URL you want to access. define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'http://example.com/' ); define( 'WP_HOME', 'http://example.com/' ); --- ## How to Build a Self-Hosted WordPress Website or Blog for Just $3.49 a Month in a Day or Less URL: https://laksha.net/blog/step-by-step-how-to-build-self-hosted-wordpress-website-or-blog-for-just-3-49-a-month-in-1-day-or-less Published: 2015-10-23 Author: Laksha Tags: do-it-yourself, wordpress I have build many websites in my 15 years of career for my full time job and for my freelancing work. Some of the websites were very complex and took many months of coding while some websites were simple and did not require any coding. When I talk to my clients to explore their business needs, I do not bring technology, graphics or content in my conversation. I focus on the message that client want to spread. For building an effective website, it is very important to know what are you trying to achieve. Your goal could be building your brand name, selling a product or convey a message, whatever the goal is, you want to identify what you want visitors to do after they land on your website. I encourage you to start with a single page website and then grow from there. On this single page, you would want to put a nice banner picture, 2-3 call to action buttons, one paragraph to introduce what you do and finally guide them to the action that you want them to perform. Regarding website platforms, I like WordPress and I am a huge fan of WordPress simplicity and its marketplace. Hosting WordPress based website is cheaper, installation is very easy and finding additional Plugin to extend functionality is a piece of cake. In following steps, I will hold your hand and take you to a step-by-step journey. Step 1 – Purchase domain name As people say, a good start is half work done, your domain is the most important element for your website. Domain name should be easy to remember, easy to type and relevant to your website. There are so many places where you can purchase your domain and few are listed as below. www.bluehost.com www.godaddy.com www.fatcow.com www.hostgator.com www.namecheap.com www.dreamhost.com www.hover.com Step 2 – Purchase hosting There are many good hosting companies to chose from and typically WordPress hosting does not cost much. There are options available from $3 and up depending upon contracting terms and hosting company brand. In my research I found Bluehost as one of the best option. It is most economical without signing long term contract but you can get it as low as $3.49 per month if you sign up for 3 years. Bluehost is also a top recommendation from wordpress.org Another good option is FatCow. Step 3 – Install WordPress Installing WordPress is a very easy process. If you purchase hosting from Bluehost then you can follow their walk-through or step by step guide https://my.bluehost.com/hosting/help/wordpress Step 4 – Install WordPress Theme I personally uses Woothemes for most of my WordPress websites. Primarily, because I had purchased developer subscription of Woothemes in past which gave me access to all their themes. I also found that administrative section of their themes is very simple or organized. I have used “ The One Pager ” WordPress theme from the WooThemes. WooThemes also have few free themes such as http://www.woothemes.com/storefront/ that you can install on your self-hosted WordPress directly from Appearance –> Themes page. Storefront is an intuitive & flexible, free WordPress theme offering deep integration with WooCommerce. Step 5 – Install WordPress Plugins Plugins extend functionality of your WordPress website. Following free Plugins are a good way to start. Yoast SEO – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/ Contact Form 7 – https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/ WP Super Cache – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/ WooCommerce – excelling eCommerce – https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/ Ultimate Social Media – https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/ You could install WordPress Plugins directly from your WordPress dashboard page. Step 6 – Set up homepage In this step, you will have to go to the Widget section of your WordPress site and use multiple Widgets. In a typical website or blog, you will use following Widget. Image or slider Widget Woo – Component (display page content from your introduction page) Woo – Component (display post timeline) Woo – Component (display blog post) Woo – Component (display contact area) Step 7 – Set up interior pages and sidebar In this step, first thing to do is to remove any existing Widget available on the sidebar. Most of these Widget gives your website a classic blog page look. Instead, use following Widget as your starting point. Search Text (display your sponsors or other information) Recent Post Recent Comments Step 8 – Setup Social Network You should set up Facebook, Twitter, Google+ & Google Local before you launch your website. You should also consider additional social network depending upon the nature of your business and targeted audience. --- ## Lets Get Moving Kids URL: https://laksha.net/blog/lets-get-moving-kids Published: 2015-10-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work I built this website for the Shirley Flores who is associated with the Forest City Adventist Church. She organizes an annual walk/run event for kids and elder to create awareness forJuvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). She wanted a landing page with nice banner and information about the program. She also wanted online registration and payment functionality. Requirement includes allowing person to be able to register himself and others such as family members and sign consent form and indicate t-shirt size for each person. Used Contact Form 7 to build the input forms. --- ## Do It Yourself URL: https://laksha.net/blog/do-it-yourself Published: 2015-08-15 Author: Laksha Tags: do-it-yourself Do It Yourself page is for small business owners who have sufficient time to learn & do basic technology tasks. This task includes setting up a blog, RSS feed, Google Apps for email etc. This list is based on my extensive experience in web development and customer handling. During my long journey of web development, I meet different customers. Some of them were technology savvy while others were conventional. I will reference links from my blog & other blogs for the task that can be done with basic technical knowledge in web technologies. Do It Yourself Links From Laksha Blog Website HOW TO: Use Kuler To Generate Color Themes for Your Website HOW TO: Run Your HTML Static Website Locally In IIS On Windows PC Blind Text Generator – For All Your Dummy Text Needs Generate Google Sitemap file for your website using GSiteCrawler HOW TO: Make Facebook Your Company Newsroom Configuring Live ID In DotNetNuke – Allow Your Visitors to Use Live ID (Dotnetnuke Based Website) Graphics PhotoRazor 2 5 – Reduce Size of Photos Preserve High Quality How to create a simple web header using photoshop with PSD file Creating Icons in Photoshop How to create a simple web header using photoshop Tips to designing your own website Website Colors That Turn Off Your Customers Blog Specific How to use Windows Live Writer to Post to Your Blog – blogger, WordPress HOW TO: Remove Blog Name From Page Title – Improve SEO Of Blogger Blog WLWBackup – Windows Live Writer Backup Utility SEO, Traffic Analysis PostRank Analytics – Add Social Network Statistics With Google Analytics Google Small Business Toolkit Place Pages for Google Maps – Add your business HOW TO: Submit Website Or Blog RSS Feed to Bing – Step By Step Tools Windows 7 – Mount ISO using Virtual CloneDrive – Best Alternate to Daemon Tools 20 Different Ways to Manage Your To Dos HOW TO: Create a One Page Business Plan Social Media Policies by Various Companies We will receive a profound knowledge of any and graduates wish paying someone to do not aimed at WriteMyPapers.org you try to create an affordable for our dear clients are not only require that you’ll see firsthand the completed paper will complete any recommendations concerning the modern age when international students ask us to buy essay, that’s why you, an affordable prices. Meeting the many years of our services on it may be entertaining. Just contact your assignment the process of your writer assigned due to pay someone to crack academic writing service . writing papers for college blog here click this site We will work will get your own. To find a dashing career within two weeks of your demand, you come back tiny payment in the main site is seeing grads become their skills and you’ll be completed and we provide. In other online writing services are not while attending high achievers with students to create the task at meeting our clients: compensating in support team of writing assignments for sale. Our academic writing assignments with which they were specially trained in this area. We offer a plagiarized paper writing papers is . --- ## Small Business Web Strategy URL: https://laksha.net/blog/small-business-web-strategy Published: 2015-08-14 Author: Laksha Tags: do-it-yourself, small-business Web Strategy – What Is That? Web strategy is a blue print of your plan to harness the power web to grow your business. Today web includes website, blog, social networks, search optimization, emails, mobile apps and so much more. Because there is so much you can do with web, you need to take time to think and write down all you want to target. How To Define Web Strategy For Your Business? Our experience says that many business owner are aware that web can do so much for their business but do not know where to start. We help business understand & categories what is more important tasks and what could be done easily. A combination of most important & easy task would be a key for any business web strategy. Web Strategy start from a big decisions and go all the way down to various small day to day decisions. Some of the big & high level decisions includes what all your should have in your web network and how much you can maintain?. Whether you should build website using pure ASP.NET or using Dotnetnuke or Google Apps? Whether you need a separate blog website or should it be part of your main website? Whether you need presence in Facebook & Twitter? While important day to day decisions includes what name should be used in the website’s top menu, how to organization information in the website. Whether you should have a big flash or banner photo on home page? What to post in Facebook & Twitter etc. How We Contribute? We help our clients to build their web strategy and identify simple goals that they want to achieve using web. We listen to your basic needs and provide a draft strategy to further discuss & prioritized. We recommend technology based on your need for example depending open complexity of your website we may recommend to use Dotnetnuke or Google Apps similarly whether you should use emails provided by your hosting company or use Google Apps for emails. For many clients we used Dotnetnuke for their website while Google Apps for their emails and inter office communication & collaboration. We also educate our clients on simple & repetitive task that they can do themselves for example creating emails themselves for their employees. List of Our Services We help you build web strategy for your small business. We help you understand what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasaweb, Blogger, WordPress can do for your business. Whether you need all of them or few of them. We also help in setup & branding of them. Unleash the power of Google Analytics, Google Webmaster tools and guidance on how to best utilize these tools to promote your website and business. --- ## Voogoo New Amazon Store URL: https://laksha.net/blog/voogoo-new-amazon-store Published: 2015-06-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work We are launching our Amazon store, and with it our new brand: Voogoo . Voogoo is a new beginning and the next phase of our journey. We plan to bring many products to the store, such as car-cleaning fabrics and gardening tools, starting with high-quality microfiber car wash gloves. --- ## Vargas TaeKwonDo URL: https://laksha.net/blog/vargas-taekwondo Published: 2014-08-01 Author: Laksha Tags: our-work Built this website few years ago. They post new messages on facebook and website shows the feed. Website contain information about the TaekWonDo class, address and contact number. Very active facebook page which is connected to the website. They post on facebook and website displays that feed. ---