I have just completed a new website for Riverbank Bed and Breakfast. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Normally for this type of site I would use Rapidweaver, a web development program for my iMac. This time I produced the site directly in WordPress.  WordPress seems to be moving away from the simple blog program it was originally designed to be and is quickly becoming a sophisticated website development and publishing program.

With the plugins now available it is possible to produce a very professional looking website for free (other than the host provider charges and the domain name).

If you are happy to spend a small amount of money on your website  then very versatile and feature rich themes can be purchased. With the vast online WordPress community nearly every question you might have will have already been answered.

The days when you needed to know program codes and language  or invest in an expensive website development program are over. If you want a good professional website which is simple and stright forward to produce then look no further than WordPress.

The latest website for Riverbank B & B I have produces is an example of what can be accomplished with a few hours work.

It has been a while since I have written anything for my blog. No real excuse just being lazy I suppose.

Anyway if you have visited my personal website before you will notice that it has recently been updated with a new design.  I have also combined it with an old website I had left languishing unloved in cyberspace.

So if you have arrived at this site from www.cliveosbornerapley.com then welcome.  That site was hosted on my mobile me account but as Apple will be closing the mobile me service next year in favour of iCloud I thought it an ideal time to combine the two sites.

You will also notice many more comments on my blog postings. Most as you can see are not very relevant to the post content for which I apologise. There is however a reason for my madness.

There were always many comments getting through my comment spam filter and ending up in my inbox for review. I would normally let them build up over a week or so then log on to my account and delete them all.

The majority were posted by automatic link building software or in some instances by real people just trying to link back to their websites to improve their Google ranking.

They were nothing but a nuisance and just caused me work getting rid of them.

Several weeks ago I stumbled across a special WordPress plug in that automatically took these spam postings and removed the back links the posters were trying to add to my website. This cancelled the back link power of the comments but it gave my blog postings comment activity in Google’s eyes, which helps in the page ranking.

An added function of this neat plug in is to randomly replace the spammer’s links with my own links that feed back to my other websites. This hits them with a double whammy their links replaced by my own, it is very satisfying that their spam posts are not doing anything for them but helping me two fold!

So at a stroke this new plug in beats the spammers at their own game. So please ignore the inane comments on some of my posts they are there for a good reason.

I have recently been busy updating Guardianscifi  and working on some new websites.

Guardianscifi.com has had a complete make over. It was long over due because the site looked flat and old fashioned especially for a Science Fiction website!

Pop over and have a look HERE

Due to all the different links to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk plus the currency conversions I have split the Guardianscifi website into two. There is now a guardianscifi.co.uk site that simplifies the linking issue and gives the user a cleaner and better experience. It is almost identical to the .com version except for the links and other subtle changes.

If you are in the UK check it out here www.guardianscifi.co.uk

The other two new sites are:

http://www.hammerdrill18v.co.uk and http://multifloorvacuum.co.uk

The first one is a review of Li Ion powered hammer drills. The new battery technology far surpasses the old NiCad powered cordless drills and really makes the old mains powered versions obsolete. The site also links you to the best online deals after you decide from the reviews which model suits your needs best.

The second site reviews multi floor vacuum cleaners specifically the Dyson models that are of course the best bag less vacuum cleaners available. Again the site links you to the best online deals.

So if you are in the market for a new hammer drill or vacuum cleaner check out my review sites first.

About Clive

I volunteered my Guardian Sci Fi website to be used in a weekly critique by a professional website designer. I was a little nervous I have to say but as the bounce rate was high I just thought “What the heck”.

To say it was slated is probably an understatement however I learnt a lot from the pasting my website received.

So I have taken the bull by the horns and totally redesigned www.guardianscifi.com

Please take a look and let me know what you think.

My third book A Moment In Time is not progressing as well as I had hoped. Not through lack of ideas but due to lack of time! However the first four draft chapters are still available to read on www.cliveosbornerapley.com so hop over there and have a read.

All comments, criticisms and suggestions (as long as they are not painful!) will be gratefully received.

A Moment In Time word count: 21,891

About Clive

First an important announcement, as well as being available on Kindle both books are  now available as PDF ebook versions on my Guardianscifi website for instant download at a special Christmas price of $3.00 (£2 GBP).  The normal price will be $6.00 (£4.00 GBP).

Recently a friend of mine suggested I should add an interactive page to my website to make it more interesting. She suggested a game or competition based on my books with some sort of prize at the end.

I thought about her suggestion for a while and decided to give it a go. I quickly dismissed the idea of a game as it was far beyond my limited programming skills. A competition of some sort, if it was fairly simple but still interactive might however be within my capabilities. I searched the net for ideas and as luck would have it found a website where it was possible to create a quiz and then embed it into a web page.

I made a list of questions and answers based on my first book Guardian. I organised them in order so as to reflect the order in which the story in the book unfolds. I also made sure the answers were available on the web if you know where to look  (or you can of course buy the book!).

The site that hosts the quiz allows a player to register and record their score. I have used that facility so I can offer the incentive of a prize to those who  reach 100%

To ensure there is no cheating I can see how many times a person has completed the quiz. Genuine contestants who manage 100% will be entered into a draw to win one of three free, signed copies of Guardian Generations.

So what are you waiting for? Give my quiz a go!

About Clive