All posts by: Sean Valant

The DNS Zone For Beginners

For all intents and purposes, DNS can be considered almost like the internet’s phonebook. At least that’s how it’s most often metaphorically explained. However, your domain’s DNS zone is slightly less like an old yellow pages and much more like the saved contacts list within your cell phone. You enter a phone number and a name to go with the phone number, hit save and then you can promptly forget the phone number because you’ll …

Meditations On Software And UI Updates

As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, your favorite application, software, or website is going to eventually (and periodically) be redesigned. Odds are, at first, that you aren’t going to initially be a fan of the new design. It’s like when your local grocery store rearranges all the products on the shelves… why isn’t everything exactly where I want it to be?! The simple answer is: because. But there is a much larger answer …

Social Content And Your Business

Social media. Before it existed, no one needed it. Now that it does exist, everyone needs it… including your business. Fundamentally, and for better or worse, social media is literally just content. But what separates the good from the bad, the appropriate from the inappropriate, and the viral from the run-of-the-mill? More importantly, how can you apply the answers to these questions towards a more successful social media strategy for your business? Content is king. …

The 80/20 Principle And Your Business

The 80/20 Principle, also known as The Pareto Principle, states that 80% of the results are derived from 20% of the causes. Those familiar with the concept generally agree that it is more or less universally applicable in virtually all circumstances. As bold of statement as that may be, you just might come to find that it really is true. Where did this all originate, what does it actually mean, and how does does it …

Are Blogs A Dying Art Form, Or The Vinyl Albums Of Online Content?

YouTube. Podcasts. Even Netflix, Facebook, and Twitter. But… LiveJournal, anyone? No? Believe it or not, before the modern era of online content being almost exclusively streamed audio or video, there was a time when we all basically had to read the internet as though it was a digital book, more or less. Does anyone even remember the term “blogosphere” anymore? It was totally a thing. Gather round the VR campfire, I’ll tell the tale of …

So Long 2020, Hello 2021

We can certainly all agree that the year 2020 delivered some unique and unprecedented challenges, both in business and our personal lives. As a result, we’ve been presented with a particular and unusual perspective from which we can reflect on this past year and project into the new year. In other words, we’re collectively seeing things in a new light. For example, many of us are now working from home, which is something we may …

Adding cPanel University Certifications To LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social network for, well, professionals. Whether you’re looking to secure your next job or establish yourself as a thought leader within your current position or industry, LinkedIn is the place where you want to put your best professional foot forward. For anyone unfamiliar, cPanel University is a one-stop shop for training and certification on all things cPanel & WHM, including technical issues and sales courses. Becoming a cPanel Certified Partner …

Disaster Recovery And Why It Matters

Zombie apocalypse. Random meteor collision. Electromagnetic pulse from the sun. Or maybe just a crashed hard drive that has no backup. But don’t forget volcanoes. Or vampires! These are just a few examples of things that can potentially interrupt your normal flow of business. Some of those examples are less likely to happen than others (I mean who doesn’t backup their hard drive these days?), but the most likely cause of a business disaster might …

How to Spot Phishing Attempts

We all know that there exists bad people on the Internet that want to steal our personal information for whatever nefarious reason they may have, right? Sometimes they want our bank account login, which makes sense, but other times they want something that maybe makes less sense, like a Facebook login. No matter what the reasons are that motivate these people, any attempt they make to effectively trick you into providing the information they are …

Troubleshooting High Server Loads

One of the more ambiguous, but oft-seen, errors resulting in support tickets is related to high server loads. While high server load errors are virtually never caused by the cPanel software itself or the apps it installs, these errors can certainly carry a degree of frustration. Given that the range of causes are not specified within the error itself, a degree of investigation is required. Generally speaking, this investigation will need to be done by the server owner, their system …