Sunday, June 30, 2013

Could Your Startup Benefit from Microsoft Ventures?

microsoft sign


Up until now most people thinking about Microsoft might have thought software. But the tech giant announced this week it would also become a leader in aiding entrepreneurship as well.


Writing on The Official Microsoft Blog, Rahul Sood, general manager of Microsoft Startups, introduced Microsoft Ventures, a global effort combining several Microsoft programs currently proving funding, mentoring, and guidance to entrepreneurs worldwide.


In the post, Sood explained:



Today, Microsoft is announcing the creation of Microsoft Ventures, a coordinated global effort that offers the tools, resources, expertise and routes to market by providing mentorship, technology guidance, seed funding, joint selling opportunities and other benefits.



BizSpark


The new Microsoft Ventures effort combines and strengthens programs Microsoft already has in place with new programs still being built.


One of these existing programs is BizSpark. The initiative provides software including Windows and Office, Visual Studio, Windows Azure and additional support to promising and visionary startups at no cost. Microsoft says the program currently serves 50,000+ members in 100 countries on 6 continents.


Accelerators


The accelerator programs offer immersive 3 to 6 month experiences for early stage startups including mentoring, technical guidance and an opportunity to build connections. To be considered, startups must have a full-time founding team, less than $1 million in capital funding raised, and must be developing a technologically driven solution to solve a real world problem.


Microsoft already operates accelerators in Bangalore, Beijing, Paris, Seattle and Tel-Aviv and will be adding new accelerators in Berlin, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro soon.


Funding and Community


Finally, Sood says Microsoft Ventures is creating new resources to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.


For example, the company will be expanding its existing Bing Fund to provide seed money directly from Microsoft for startups already experiencing early success. Neither Sood nor the Microsoft Ventures website are specific about the amount of funding likely to be offered or the criteria for companies to receive it.


Microsoft also says it has built partnerships with 200 startup focused organizations globally including Startup BootCamp, Enterprise Ireland and Telefonica’s Wayra. The company says it will continue to expand this community to make further investments in entrepreneurship globally.


The company has provided an easy way for entrepreneurs to learn more about the opportunities available. Microsoft Ventures offers a simple sign-up form to allow interested entrepreneurs to be notified as soon as program applications become available.


Microsoft Photo via Shutterstock


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Maintaining Control of the Sales Process

sales process


Staying in control of your sales process is a big part of sales success. It’s easy to let emotion or distraction or someone else derail you if you aren’t careful. Maintaining that control comes from regulating yourself and there are a couple of aspects of that self-regulation that we’re going to explore. They include self control, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability, and innovativeness.


Self control is very important in the sales process. Being able to control your impulses while in a sales meeting or on a call helps you maintain control of the situation and position yourself as a professional. You never know what a prospect is going to say – no matter how well you prepared. Being able to control how you respond can be a game changer.


Trustworthiness and Conscientiousness Go Together


People like salespeople who are honest and have integrity. These are people who follow through on their commitments and tell it like it is. There will be times when you cannot provide the solution the prospect needs. You should tell them so. Don’t tell them you can help and then try to create a solution. They’ll see through it. Those who are honest and do what they say they will do are the ones who win over the prospect and build long term relationships.


Remember that sales is about relationships. You don’t want to be chasing after new clients all the time because you are losing current ones. You want to add to the foundation. Trustworthiness and conscientiousness are key to relationship building.


For me, adaptability goes along with self control. Can you bob and weave? Can you think on your feet? In sales, this is a great skill to have. When a prospect throws you a curve ball, how you react – or respond – matters.


Along the same lines is innovativeness. Coming up with solutions and ideas shows your prospect that you are really thinking about them and trying to help them solve a problem. We sell best when we match a solution to a problem. Sometimes our solution needs to be tweaked a little to fit the problem the prospect is experiencing. The ability to innovate during the sales process can be the difference between getting the sale or losing the sale.


When you realize that you are responsible for the success of the sales process you will make sure that you are staying in touch with your skills and techniques.


Remember, the prospect is looking to you to help them solve a problem and to be the expert in your field.


Sales success Photo via Shutterstock


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Friday, June 28, 2013

This Startup is Raising Awareness for Prostate Cancer – and More

crowdcases


The elegantly designed iPhone cases sold by one New York City startup don’t just raise awareness for prostate cancer. (The deadly disease will afflict one out of six men in their lifetime.) Seven dollars from the purchase of each case, priced at $34.95, will go directly to prostate cancer research, the company website says.


And it doesn’t stop there. CrowdCases connects nonprofit organizations with a community of graphic designers who can submit designs for smartphone cases to benefit the charity. The company has amassed a community of more than 300 designers who work on projects for many other causes.


The company’s website features weekly “design challenges” for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy cases. Other projects have included an anti-bullying campaign and a clean water campaign. A PDF gives non-profit organizations a guide for working with CrowdCases to create design contests of their own.


Winner of a Startup Competition


CrowdCases was the winner of a startup competition for budding entrepreneurs. The startup won first prize in the recent SmartPitch Challenge held by Baruch College. CrowdCases founder Dwight Peters is a junior at the college. He said the contest gives a tremendous leg up to young entrepreneurs.


“I can’t stress enough how valuable the co-working events were,” Peters explained. “Just having a comfortable environment where you can bounce ideas off of other people is so important.”


Baruch College started the SmartPitch Challenge 11 years ago to encourage entrepreneurship among New York City students.


Instead of a traditional contest, SmartPitch aims to be more of a social community that encourages all of the participants and gives them a way to help one another.


“We want to show them that entrepreneurship isn’t just a one-shot opportunity, it’s more of a growing process,” said Christoph Winkler, assistant professor in entrepreneurship at Baruch College. “So we try to just provide them with a supportive atmosphere where they can get some real feedback and grow their ideas, similar to some of the startup communities around New York City and the rest of the country.”


It is open to all students at schools in New York City, who can work on their business ideas either individually or in teams. Baruch hosts co-working events around the city so that students can get together to share ideas and support one another. There is also an online message board and social media community for the students to communicate virtually.


In addition, students have access to business mentors such as venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs throughout the challenge.


This year, SmartPitch had more than 80 new business submissions. On June 6, 2013 the college hosted the final event, which is meant to mimic a professional demo day.


Winkler said that some of the student entrepreneurs choose to launch their businesses before the end of the challenge, and others continue to work on them afterward. An official launch isn’t necessary to be considered. The top three individuals or teams received monetary prizes to further their businesses, while the top five teams also won the opportunity to participate in a Virtual Business Incubator.


Runners up included a specialty brand of Greek yogurt and a website that helps users find Kosher food for delivery.


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Do You Believe?

“The Triumph of Hope Over Experience”


Dear Business-Builder,


Without it, there would be no second marriages … no cheering crowds behind Hillary, Obama or John on the six o’clock news … and of course, no Las Vegas.


The fact is, no matter how cynical, negative or worldly-wise each of us wants the world to think we are, all of us want to believe. Desperately.


And the simple fact is, hundreds of billions of dollars are earned each year by marketers who do little else but:




  1. Identify a deep-seated desire that is resident in a particular market niche,

  2. Create a promo that suspends their prospects’ disbelief and

  3. Step back and allow the prospect’s desire to believe to do the rest.


Take Vegas, for instance. We all know it’s the world’s greatest fleecing machine. We know that there are no games of chance there – that the odds are heavily weighted in favor of the casinos.


And yet even those of us who never expect to beat the house happily fork over thousands for travel, lodging and food – and then blissfully lose thousands more at the tables, knowing from experience that we’re being played for suckers.


Now I ask you: Is this anything a sentient, self-respecting, intelligent creature would do?


No. And that’s the whole point.


We are NOT sentient, self-respecting intelligent creatures. We only tell ourselves that we are. The truth is, we are driven by emotion. We only use our thinking brain to rationalize those emotional decisions after they’re made.


Think that’s an overstatement?


Don’t tell me, tell one of my former crackerjack copywriters. A while back, she found a medical study you should consider …


Seems some people who suffer minimal brain damage retain their cognitive ability – their ability to reason – but lose their ability to feel any emotion. And when a major medical institution studied these poor souls, they found something fascinating …



When deprived of their ability to feel emotion, these still-intelligent, rational, thinking people were incapable of making ANY decision. They couldn’t even decide which shirt to wear … what to order in a restaurant … or how to manage their money!



I’m thrilled we found that study. Because it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt something I’ve been talking and writing about for years:


If we made our spending decisions on the basis of logic, nobody would buy a new car – suffering the massive depreciation that slams you when you drive it off the lot. Heck: We wouldn’t buy any kind of car – new OR used – for that matter. We’d all be riding the Metro. Or the bus. Or a bicycle.


The same is true about designer clothing … makeup … expensive watches … high-calorie food with low nutritional value.


And who in his right mind would spend more than a few hundred bucks a month on a place to live – especially in these days of plunging home values?


Frankly, I’d be hard-pressed to think of much that we spend money on that makes any logical sense at all. We buy them simply because we want to believe.


We want to believe – so desperately – that these things will make us feel more confident … more successful … more secure … more fulfilled … happier … that we spend our entire lives mindlessly pursuing them.


Just get up early tomorrow morning and turn on CNBC – or just about any cable channel that runs infomercials at night – and you’ll see what I mean.


Put on your thinking cap, now …


If I told you there was a non-prescription pill – made entirely of vitamins and minerals – that will grow hair on a cue ball. Would you believe me?


Preposterous – right? After all: If vitamins and minerals reversed male pattern baldness, only anorexics and bulimics would lose their hair.


How about “the size of a certain part of a man’s body?” Would you believe that a few vitamins and minerals will magically transform a water spout into a fire hose?


Wouldn’t obese guys be the most “blessed” of all?


What? You don’t believe this stuff? You know what? Nobody does!


But you know what else? There’s an infomercial on TV that’s generating millions and millions in sales for an all-natural hair-regrowth product and another that’s making some scam artist rich selling vitamins that make your thingy bigger.


Why would anyone with an IQ larger than his shoe size buy such an obviously stupid product?


Because we desperately want to believe. We want to believe so much that a few simple testimonials and/or a floozy batting her false eyelashes at us causes us to suspend all disbelief and crack open our wallets.


You don’t have to prove your case beyond the shadow of a doubt. But you do have to give your prospect an excuse he can give his spouse for spending the money. A reason why – although he’s surely a sentient, intelligent person, it was logical to suspend his disbelief – just this once.


Hope this helps – I’m going to spend some time brushing up on my basic Blackjack strategy now …


[sniplet clayton_sig]






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How to Create a Google Plus Page for Your Small Business

Just like Facebook and Twitter, Google+ offers you the opportunity to create a business page to promote your business, organization or a specific product you have in mind. The Google Plus community is growing in numbers and you can take advantage of a Google Plus page to get your business to a wider audience.


I want to take you through the process of creating a Google Plus page for your business or organization. Just like Facebook, you will need a personal profile on Google Plus to get started. If you don’t have one yet, sign up and create a personal Google Plus profile first. You can only create that business page once your profile has been created.


If you have a Google Plus personal profile, follow these steps to create a new Google Plus business page.


How to Create a Google Plus Page


Pick a Category for Your Business


1. Visit Create a business page on Google Plus (or follow “All Your Google Plus Pages” in the pull down under your profile photo) and hit “create a page.” Pick a category for your business. Pick the right category that perfectly describes your business or organization. You can choose from local business or place; product or brand; company, institution or organization; arts, entertainment or sports and other if the specific choices mentioned do not apply to your business.


Google-Plus-1


2. Depending on the main category you select, you will be presented with subcategories that go into greater detail describing what you do. For example, if you selected “local business or place” you would first be asked to provide the country where your business is located and then a primary telephone number. If you selected product or brand, subcategories will include “antiques and collectibles,” “apparel and accessories,” “appliances” etc. Select your subcategory and click next.


Add Basic Information


3. If you have successfully selected the best category for your business, you can then add basic information for your brand, product or business page at the add info page.


Begin by choosing a name for your page and a link to an external website, if you have one.


Google-Plus-2


It’s not a requirement to enter a link to your website but a website with detailed information about what you do can significantly improve the image of your business or product.


Then select the kind of Google Plus user your content is appropriate for. For example, your content may be appropriate for “any Google Plus user,” “users 18 and older,” “users 21 and older” or content that is “alcohol related.”


The final step on the add info page is to check the “I agree to the Pages Terms and I am authorized to create this page.” Take some time to really check out the Google plus page terms to see their notes on Authority, Access, Content, Data, Contests and Suspension & Termination. Once you take note of the terms of use, click “continue” to customize your page.


Begin Customization


4. Begin customizing your Google Plus by adding a cover and profile photo. Click on the icon in the default profile picture and add a profile picture. Select a profile picture from your computer or photos you have already uploaded on your personal profile. Google allows you to select from images on Picasa if you already have a Picasa account and your preferred image is hosted on the photo sharing service.


Google-Plus-3


5. Use the same procedure to change the cover picture. Cover pictures are larger than profile pictures. If you have an image of your product, company or brand that can promote and enhance your business, the cover photo works best for that purpose.


6. Under story, add the ten words that best describe your business. Choose carefully. This will be your business’s tagline, at least for Google Plus users. Your tagline must be consistent with other taglines you have used for branding purposes on other sites. Finally fill in your contact information including phone, mobile, email, fax, pager, chat and address. Hit “finish” to complete the customization of your page.


7. When you complete the basic information, you can begin using your administration dashboard to manage your new Google Plus page. You can use the “About” section of the dashboard to fill in any additional information about your page and begin building your network.


Google-Plus-4


Under People, you will be able to determine how Google Plus users see your business page. For example, you can group your page fans (once you have them) under customers, following, team members, VIPs. You can also see who has added your new business page to their circles and then follow them back to their pages and follow them in return.


Google-Plus-511


Edit your Story to add an introduction to your page. You should complete the introduction with a description of your business and what you do. Keep in mind important keywords related to your business. You can still make changes to your contact information if you like. You can also add links to other pages that interest you or that are related to your business. Finally, you can add links to your other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.


Start Sharing Content


8. Once your Google Plus business page is ready, you can start posting to your page by sharing links, photos and videos just like you do on your personal Google Plus profile or Facebook page. Make your posts interactive and engaging by adding photos, videos or links. And you can share your posts with people in different circles.


Google-Plus-61


To make it easy for your fans to interact and engage on your page, Google has provided navigation tabs just below your Google Plus business page name: About, Posts, Photos, Videos and Reviews. All the tabs are shown to visitors so be sure to upload content to give visitors information and updates when they visit your Google Plus page.


9. If you want to find out who has added your page to their Circles, on the left sidebar click “Circles” under “More.” On the display screen, you can drag your fans into one or more of the four default circles and you can also create your own circle.


Google-Plus-71


To interact and engage with your fans, follow their posts, comment on their status messages, and +1 their updates using your page profile. Share relevant information your fans will find most useful. Do not just promote your products, educate your fans as well.


10. Use your Google Plus page to add data to your Google Local Plus page. If you get these two pages confused, you’re not alone. Google Local Plus expert Mike Blumenthal explained to Small Business Trends recently:



One of the issues is that most businesses do not understand that their listing at Google is a search result. And that Google gives the business the privilege of adding some trusted data to that listing from either the Places Dashboard or from Google Plus.



Do you have any suggestions for how to improve your Google Plus business page? What have been your experiences with Google Plus for business thus far?


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Detailed Analysis, Educated Guesses and Wild Speculation

analysis cartoon


When I’m writing cartoons, I often write down interesting words or phrases on a pad of paper as I go. Then I leave that paper around for a few days and see if I can come up with ideas based off of those snippets.


That’s how this cartoon came about. At the top of the page I’d written “speculation,” and toward the bottom I’d later scrawled “detailed analysis.”


It took a day or two to see them combined and to figure out a good middle option, but it’s a good reminder that sometimes just letting things sit can be just what a problem needs.


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How to setup WordPress CDN with W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN

Set WordPress to use CDN with just couple of clicks. No uploading files, no complicated settings. Just W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN. Cake is harder than this.


Setting up a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for a website can be complicated. You might need to upload files to the CDN storage, update all links to point to the CDN, and time-consuming operations. Even with plugins or addons, all that easily takes at least 30 minutes.


I'll show you how setup WordPress CDN in a minute or less.


You do need to first setup W3 Total Cache and create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN, as instructed in the previous post. Even with all that, it won't take you too long, and more importantly, it'll be very easy. And you only have to do this once.


W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN take care of everything, you don't need to manually change the image or file URLs. You don't need to upload anything to CDN or anything. Just enable CDN in W3TC with MaxCDN. It's so simple that it's pretty damn close to magic if you ask me.


The CDN information W3 Total Cache needs


Before you can configure W3 Total Cache to use CDN, you must have the account details from MaxCDN. (See the previous post)


From MaxCDN, you need



  • the custom CDN URL, which required you to create a new CNAME record, and

  • the MaxCDN API ID and API Key.


The Custom CDN URL is something like: "cdn.example.com" (without the quotes), depending on how you configured your Pull Zone at MaxCDN. The API ID is numeric ID, e.g. 1234. And the API Key is a string of various characters.


On the previous post, we set up the MaxCDN account and the pull zone for our WordPress blog. We got the API ID/Key and created CNAME record for the CDN. If you followed the instructions on that post, you should now have what you need.


Got the API ID/Key and the custom CDN URL?


OK, here's how to set W3 Total Cache and your WordPress blog to use MaxCDN...


Setting up MaxCDN to W3 Total Cache


1. Go to W3 Total Cache settings on your admin area (Click 'Performance' on the left)


2. On the General Settings -page, scroll down to Content Delivery Network settings


3. Check the checkbox to Enable CDN


4. Choose (Origin Pull) "Mirror: NetDNA / MaxCDN"


how to enable CDN on W3 Total Cache 1 How to setup WordPress CDN with W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN


5. Click 'Save changes'


You'll very likely see a warning on red: "Content Delivery Network Error: The "Replace default hostname with" field must be populated."


To fix, and get things running...


1. Go to the Content Delivery Network (CDN) Settings


All checkboxes on CDN Settings - General can be checked...


2. Enter the API ID and API Key you saved from MaxCDN to Configuration...


Leave SSL Support as Auto, unless you know better.


3. Enter the new custom CDN URL you updated on the CNAME records, e.g. http://cdn.zemalf.com, into the "Replace site's hostname with:"


W3 Total Cache settings with maxCDN How to setup WordPress CDN with W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN


4. Click 'Test NetDNA'


If you see "Test passed", all is cool.


(if not, there's probably something wrong with the API ID/Key, or the DNS server has not been updated with the new CNAME yet)


5. Click 'Save changes' to put MaxCDN into action.


And then, one last thing...



  1. Go to the General Settings -page and

  2. click on 'empty all caches'


Now if you open your blog, and check the Page Source, you'll see that the minified JS- and CSS-files are served from the custom CDN URL, and also images and files from your Media Library.


If there are files that are not in the Media Library, or among your theme-files, you should add them to the Custom file list under Advanced settings. These might include JavaScript-files from plugins you didn't add to Minify Settings, or images/files uploaded outside the Media Library.


All done. Test to see the results


Go to Pingdom Tools or WebPageTest.org to see how fast the different pages on your blog are loading.


You can also analyze your blog with Firebug / Page Speed / YSlow if you want, but note that they don't necessary recognize your custom CDN URL unless you tell'em. Of course, you will see the benefit in speed, even that the "CDN rating" in YSlow is F for example.


It is also possible that loading speed on individual tests go up. For me, because the site was stupidly fast to start with: full load time went up, but response time for the first byte, the render start and document completely loaded got faster. So getting everything loaded takes (just) a bit longer, but the visitor sees (something from the) page faster, so it's better overall.


However, CDN will even the load on traffic spikes and keep the site fast for everyone, which might not be the case when you don't have the CDN. Also, using CDN will even the loading speeds for visitors from different locations.


Summary



  1. Get your MaxCDN API ID, API Key and custom URL for the CDN (see previous post)

  2. Enable CDN in W3 Total Cache: (Origin Pull) "Mirror: NetDNA / MaxCDN"

  3. Enter API ID and API Key you saved from MaxCDN to W3TC CDN Settings

  4. Enter the custom CDN URL to W3TC CDN Settings

  5. Test




Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

How to setup WordPress CDN with W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN








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How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN

Learn how you can easily setup content delivery network with MaxCDN to get a faster loading site with a scalability that you'll need as your traffic grows.


In this post, I'll show how to setup CDN for WordPress with a MaxCDN. In more detail, you'll learn how to create a "content delivery pull zone" for your blog inside MaxCDN and how to setup a CNAME for that CDN (Content Delivery Network).


After these step, the next post continue by going through the steps needed to put W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN work together.


This post will do also if you're setting the CDN for Joomla or Drupal. If that's the case, follow along setting up the MaxCDN side of things, and look into the instructions on MaxCDN site for your platform.



MaxCDN


This post got started when a fellow from MaxCDN contacted me a while back, probably because of my speed related posts and guides, and asked if I'd want to join their affiliate program. They offered me an account to test when I asked, so I took the offer and have used MaxCDN here at the blog for several months after that.


There hasn't been any issues with it, the CDN has worked extremely well and it made this blog even faster than it was (and I believe the effect would be even bigger with not-so-minimalistic design). This isn't a review, but I can say that I'm more than happy with how easy MaxCDN was to setup and how well it has worked for me. With that, I'm confident to write a little guide about it.


MaxCDN is not free, but it's very reasonable priced and comes with 30-day money back guarantee in case you'd just want to test it. Plus the first 1TB that you get for a flat free will last a good while. MaxCDN has worked very well for me and the setup is as easy as it can get (no need to move or upload stuff anywhere), so I'm proud to recommend them with my affiliate link.


But now, don't worry if all that CDN and CNAME jargon at the beginning sounded scary, it's quite simple in the end, especially with these step by step instructions...


1. Get a MaxCDN Account


This step is quite simple.



  • Go to maxcdn.com,

  • click on "Sign Up Now" and you'll be taken to the order form

  • Create a new account.


Go to your email, find the maxcdn account verification email and click the link on the email


2. Create a New CDN Zone for Your Blog


After your account is verified, login to the CDN control panel with your new account


Click 'Manage Zones' from the top-menu


(This is the area you create "zones" for your files)


maxcdn manage zones How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN


Click "Create Pull Zone"



  • Add Pull Zone Name (e.g. blog, this will be part of the long URL provided by MaxCDN)

  • Add your blog URL as the Origin Server URL (where you normally access your site = URL as seen in browser window, e.g. http://example.com or http://www.example.com)

    • Use the final destination URL, e.g. if you redirect www.example.com to example.com, use example.com and vice versa



  • Add custom CDN domain (e.g. cdn.example.com, a sub-domain that will "mask" the temporary MaxCDN URL)

    • Note that you need to create a CNAME record for this custom CDN domain, and I'll show you how in this article

    • The custom CDN domain is like a subdomain of the main domain, but instead of hosting the sub-domain on your server, the sub-domain will be the URL for MaxCDN via CNAME record.

    • The prefix can be anything, but for clarity, you probably want to include the "cdn" in it, e.g. my blog is zemalf.com, so I made my custom CDN domain cdn.zemalf.com. If your blog is example.com, you can make the CDN domain cdn.example.com and so on.



  • Add a label for the zone (e.g. blog's name, this is shown on the MaxCDN dashboard)

  • Enable compression by checking the checkbox (like on a site, gzip compression is a good thing for speed)

  • Click 'Create'


maxcdn how to create a new pull zone How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN


After MaxCDN creates the zone, you'll see a notification like this:



Pull Zone has been successfully created.

Please create a CNAME record for cdn.example.com to blog.example.netdna-cdn.com"



Save the Custom Domain URL and the temporary MaxCDN URL for reference, as we'll need'em soon, e.g. copy-paste the notification with the "Please create a CNAME record..." to a text editor.


In the text file, you should have:



  • Custom CDN URL, e.g. cdn.example.com

  • The long MaxCDN URL, e.g. blog.example.netdna-cdn.com


3. Get the MaxCDN API Key


To set up a content delivery network for your blog, we started by creating an account at MaxCDN and proceeded to create a new Pull Zone in MaxCDN. Next, we need to generate a MaxCDN API ID and Key the W3 Total Cache will use...



  1. Go to MaxCDN and login

  2. Click 'Manage Account'

  3. Click 'API'

  4. Click '+ Add Key' (button on the right)

  5. Enter Description (e.g. "API for W3 Total Cache on example.com")

  6. Select 'Individual Zones'

  7. Select the Pull Zone you just created.

  8. Click 'Save'


You could use the same API for all your sites, and choose Master, but this is the more secure way to do this, and the individual API ID/Key will not be not overused.


Click the 'API' again, and you'll see your newly created API Key there.


Copy-paste the API ID and the API Key to a text-file.


Keep your MaxCDN API ID and API Key safe, no stranger needs to see those. So you and those configuring your websites for you only.


You can always find them from MaxCDN dashboard, but since we'll be putting them into use, it's handy to have'em in a text file. You should now have these saved:



  • Custom CDN URL you setup, e.g. cdn.example.com

  • The MaxCDN URL, e.g. blog.example.netdna-cdn.com

  • API ID (4-5 digit number)

  • API Key for the ID (long string of characters)


Next step is creating the CNAME record for the custom CDN URL.


To do this, jump into your hosting control panel, and create the CNAME record to the MaxCDN URL. That's the one you saved from the MaxCDN message: xxx.yyy.netdna-cdn.com, e.g. "blog.example.netdna-cdn.com".


After creating the CNAME record, using the custom CDN URL (cdn.example.com) will be "the same" as using the long MaxCDN URL (blog.example.netdna-cdn.com), which again, serves the content of the origin URL you created the Pull Zone for (e.g. example.com) via MaxCDN content delivery network.


4. Create a CNAME record for the custom CDN URL to the long MaxCDN


Before you start using the newly created content delivery network, you need to create a CNAME record for the custom CDN URL to the MaxCDN URL.


The CNAME record is done to the main domain. CNAME record, or the "Name", will be the prefix of your custom CDN URL. For example, if the CDN URL is cdn.example.com, CNAME record "Name" is "cdn" (without the quotes). The "CNAME" in the CNAME record is the long MaxCDN URL, e.g. blog.example.netdna-cdn.com.


How you create the CNAME record depends a bit on your hosting provider / domain registrar. Usually CNAME is created on your hosting control panel, where you can manage your domains.


I added instructions below on how to do it with cPanel (e.g. Host Gator and Bluehost) and how to create CNAME record on DreamHost control panel.


If your (uncommonly) using name servers other than your hosting provider, it's possible that you can/must manage CNAMES on your domain registrar. If that's the case, define the CNAME record there.


On hosts with cPanel, like Host Gator or Bluehost:



  • find the Domains section, and

  • click 'Simple DNS Zone Editor',

  • Find the 'Add an CNAME Record',

  • Enter Name = cdn,

  • Enter CNAME = the URL you got from MaxCDN, and finally

  • click 'Add CNAME Record' after filling the values.


To update DNS record on DreamHost...

how to update cname record on dreamhost 1 How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN



  • log in to your account at panel.dreamhost.com

  • click 'Manage Domains'

  • click 'DNS' under your blogs URL

  • Find 'Add a custom DNS record to...'

  • Add "cdn" as Name (or any other prefix you set for the 'custom CDN domain' at MaxCDN

  • Choose 'CNAME' for the Type

  • Add the long domain name you got from MaxCDN to Value

  • Add (optional) comment (I added "maxcdn")


how to update cname record on dreamhost 2 How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN

how to update cname record on dreamhost 3 How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN


After creating the CNAME record, you can wait for a day to ensure all DNS servers are updated with the new CNAME before you start using the custom CDN URL, e.g. set up W3 Total Cache to use MaxCDN.


Check that the CNAME record works before configuring your blog / website.



  • If the CNAME record creation went OK, the Custom CDN URL (e.g. cdn.example.com) now "points" to your blog.

  • You can test if the custom CDN URL opens your blogs front page. If it does, then it's all good.

  • To double check, run the URL through WebPageTest.org or some other service that accesses the URL from otherside of the world.


5. Start Using Your New Content Delivery Network


When the custom CDN URL works, you can access all files in your site via that URL and it will be delivered through the MaxCDN content delivery network.


For example, if you normally open an image from example.com/images/example.jpg, that same image now opens with cdn.example.com/images/example.jpg as well, and it's loaded from content delivery network.


As there is no "special setup", MaxCDN can be used on any website, replacing the normal URL with the Custom CDN URL, leaving the "path" as it was.


In theory, you could go, search & replace the URLs of all static file (e.g. images, CSS- and JavaScript -files, etc.) with the new CDN URL by hand and it'd work just fine. But there's no reason to do that by hand, when you can do it without any of that trouble even when files change.


There are plugins and addons for the most popular platforms, like Joomla, Drupal, vBulletin and Magento. For WordPress, the easiest way to start using MaxCDN is to use W3 Total Cache -plugin, as after setting it up with MaxCDN, it'll get your blog's files served via CDN automatically after you set it up once.


The next post has the instructions for the W3 Total Cache and MaxCDN setup. If you don't have W3TC installed yet, start with my W3 Total Cache guide.


Summary



  1. Sign up for a MaxCDN account

  2. Create a pull zone for your blog at MaxCDN

  3. Get your MaxCDN API Key

  4. Create a CNAME record for the custom MaxCDN URL

  5. Start using your New CDN for WordPress (or any other site/platform you have)




Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

How to create CDN for WordPress with MaxCDN








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