Let's Encrypt is a certificate authority that provides free certificates to enable websites to be reached via HTTPS (rather than the not-so-secure HTTP). They are fairly easy to install through the Plesk hosting control panel.

One thing about Let's Encrypt certs is that they expire after only 90 days which means they must be renewed every 3 months.

We were having lots of trouble getting them to renew on all of our Umbraco-powered websites until we found the trick: Add the folder that Let's Encrypt looks for to the list of reserved folders in Web.config.

In the section of Web.config, find the setting for "umbracoReservedPaths" and add "~/.well-known" to the list. Like this:

<appSettings>
  <add key="umbracoReservedPaths" value="~/umbraco,~/install/,~/.well-known"/>

This resolved our issue and we have found joy once again.

Firefox (as well as most new browsers) cache content fairly aggressively. They do this to speed up the website experience and to make sites appear "snappy".

For developers, this often leads to the head-scratching exclamation, "I thought I fixed that! Why is it still not working?!?

Here is how to clear the browser cache in Firefox (version 57 and newer) for a single website:

Click the menu in the upper right corner.

Select "History" and then "Show All History" (it's at the very bottom).

In the "Search History" field, enter the domain name of the offending site.

Right-click the domain name in the list and select "Forget About This Site".

Refresh.

That should do it but sometimes it seems to revert back to the previous content. (We don't know why.)

These are my handwritten notes from a conversation about SEO.

…And other Internet marketing approaches

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

Ethical SEO vs. Unethical SEO
AmplusCorp pursues ethical (White Hat) SEO ONLY!
AmplusCorp uses the Rise-Above tactic which is, “Google will always err on the side of quality, well-organized content.” (Ada Cole, Microsoft)

Unethical SEO, AKA Black Hat
link spam
Hiding links on clients’ Web sites

SEO = On-Page Factors + Off-Page Factors
On-page Factors should be implemented before off-page Factors.

Examples of On-page Factors:
Domain Name
Page Name – Friendly URL
Title Tag
Meta Description
Meta Keywords
H1 Tag
Bolded Text
Link Text
1% to 2% keyword density for Google
Usability
How quickly people can learn how to use it
How efficient they are while using it
How memorable it is
How error-prone it is
How much users like using it

Examples of Off-Page Factors
Inbound Links
Authority Sites (.edu and .gov sites are best)
Directories
Internet Press Releases
Article Marketing
Online press releases

Usability
How quickly people can learn how to use it
How efficient they are while using it
How memorable it is
How error-prone it is
How much users like using it

Information Architecture
Keep navigation consistent throughout the site.
Main navigation topics should be static and should appear at once
Don’t hide main navigation items

Content
Use common fonts sized at or above 10 points
Verdana is the most readable online font (recommended for use in body text where readability is key)
Avoid busy backgrounds

Product Information
People want to know the price of a product
If not readily available, people may assume it’s too high
Don’t make people click a link to find the price
Showing an estimated price is better than showing no price at all
Disclose any extra fees

Don’t:
use tiny text for the purpose of repeating keyword after keyword
use invisible text
use redirect tags if possible
duplicate content or use mirror pages
use multiple title tags

Ways to improve SEO:
Add a blog
Add Google Analytics to each page
Reduce code bloat
Make each page unique
Use meta description tags
Remove repetitive wording from the website layout
Add footer links to every page
Create a separate web page for each keyword or keyword phrase
Use keyword rich title tags on each page

Resources:
Google “submit a site [your keyword]”

List of Free Press Release Submission sites:
http://nakedpr.com/2007/07/29/big-list-of-free-press-release-distribution-sites/

SEO Tools
http://webconfs.com/
http://www.seoautomatic.com/

Google Tools
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/?hl=en

Articles
http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/improve-seo-website-design/)
http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/10-seo-tips-to-remember-when-building-your-site/
Google Analytics

Google analytics helps measure ROI.

Google analytics answers the following questions
• Where are your website visitors coming from?
• What our visitors to our website doing?
• Which keywords are driving traffic to our site?
• When are visitors abandoning the shopping cart?
• Which marketing campaigns are most effective and which need improvement?
• Which inbound links are most effective?

Benefits of Google analytics:
• Free
• Sophisticated analytics
• Easy to use
• Scalable
• Safe