Oh, and shame on me, too!

A few months back, I was so green I could play Shrek without makeup. I've joked about it before, but I honestly thought SEO was the corporate level below CEO. Senior Executive Officer.

I knew nothing technical about websites. If you'd asked me to define CSS, I'd have answered: "A cop show, endlessly looping on Channel 5-USA".

However, to my fellow noobs, and perhaps of some small value to more experienced Members, here's a warning. I've proved the adage that a 'little' knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Just as an example, take registering domain names. It was my first day at WAU and I was ploughing through Day 1 of 30-Day-Success-Club when I caught a chat conversation between the hideous @veronica.l, the demon queen of domains and her pet imp @Kyle.

The end result of this eavesdropping on my "betters"? I bought 20+ domain names over the course of Day 1. I even got to learn about Flippa and Sedo, wandered over there and splashed serious cash on some of their lovely, bright, shiny, perfectly named offerings. This 'knowledge without understanding' had me avalanching down a slippery slope, with only one high point. It's left me perfectly positioned to write my own training piece, 'D.A.M.N.- The 12 Step Program', which in full is: Domain Addiction Management for Noobs.

Oh, and before I forget, does anyone want to buy some mint-condition .info's off me?

No. I thought not.

How about plug-ins? Fantastic, huh? There are thousands-and-thousands of must-have can't-live-without features for your site that are merely a click away.

Caveat Emptor. Or, Let The Buyer Beware.

I recall in my green salad days being curious about how membership functions could be added to a site. Who wouldn't be? I searched, found and downloaded the trial version of an expensive, apparently well-respected WordPress plug-in that offered to add that ability, "simply and easily". There was an auto set-up up button. Yup, I couldn't resist. I pressed it.

A few minutes later, I smiled, auto set-up complete. The result? Every page of my site was now and forever members-only, and instead of giving me the promised 100 members with two levels of membership, it left me with the ability to add a measly two members but with 100 different levels of membership. Nice. Uninstall it immediately, right? Nope. It overwrote my SQL table at install, permanently. SQL? Yup, I didn't have a clue either. It was either learn how to edit an SQL table, which I found out is not for the faint-hearted, or start again from scratch.

What about content formatted for viewing on mobiles? There are 400 million iDevices alone out there in the wild, with mobile browsing looking set to outstrip the desktop variety in just a few short years. That's got to be big business with huge potential for all of us. A brilliant opportunity, not to be missed. OK, there's plug-ins for that, aren't there, which automatically repurpose your site's content for mobile delivery? You've so gotta download one. Well, be careful. You might want to read Are Mobile Friendly Tools Like OnSwipe Stealing Traffic From your Site? by the redoubtable Margaret Andrews, before like me you plug-in to a nightmare and find you can't plug-out.

OK, to the point. I'm really writing this because I found out that I'm not only indulging in risky behaviour, I've also been guilty of unintentionally encouraging it. So, again, shame on me, too!

I was in the chatroom a few days ago nattering away with The Love-ly Luke (@That Helpful Dude) discussing a not inexpensive plug-in, when a fellow Member rightly pulled us up. He thought it looked like we were promoting it. In fact, that plug-in's only value was to Luke and myself because, being the bone-idle lazy sods we are, neither of us can be bothered to schedule and make our own back-ups. However, looking back, if anyone else was viewing our chat it might have appeared as though it was an absolutely essential purchase, especially from our positively fervent raves about it.

I just wanted to make it clear to any newcomers that there really isn't anything else to buy to make a success of your WAU subscription, well apart from possibly those wretched domains. No matter what you might overhear or read and whether or not they're incandescently glowing reviews, comments or reports on other extras or services from well-respected Members or even dissolute reprobates such as Luke and myself.

Even Jaaxy is optional. In fact, I have my suspicions that Jaaxy might well be a Government plot to keep us glued to our screens 24/7, muttering: "Ooohhh", "Aahhhh", "Yes-Yes-Yes!", its' spell only broken in my case when someone in the real-world shouts: "Num-Num"!

So, if you're a fellow noob, don't only look before you leap. Ask! If you're still not sure, blog your question here at WAU. Especially if you're unsure about a theme, plug-in or other 'extra' that might have the potential to damage your website. Or requires an outlay of your hard-earned dosh.

And for the more experienced fellows reading this, perhaps a timely reminder inspired from Margaret's piece is that not every theme or plug-in is always safe, no matter how great the reviews, who recommends them, where you get them from, nor how much you pay.

Rich. x

(Photo: Louella Parsons, WikiCommons)