There Were a Lot of Reasons to Move the Web Site.
Probably some of you are thinking why has James moved? He’s going to lose his subscriptions, his Google ranking and part of his audience is going to be unable to adapt and move on to other blogs. I might add that the weakening entries of the last few weeks while the change is underway also undercuts traffic and causes me deep concern.
But the new blog offers multiple categories on the front page and incredible flexibility on how each of those categories appear. The pages in many cases program themselves. For instance, the archives page doesn’t send you to the last few pages – it gives you an entire page of post titles
You can incorporate RSS feeds into page categories. I have already successfully done this. Essentially this means that I can feature other blogs with their most up-to-date posts. It lets me set the number of the posts up to ten and provided a description of each automatically. It updates itself every ten minutes.
When you post, the blog automatically brings up public domain pictures to use, web sites on the same subject to link to and recommends the best search terms to attach. That’s nice – extremely convenient. When a post is up and it’s clicked on, at the bottom of the post three other related posts in the blog are listed.
I want to put up the best blogs in this subject, everyone from buddies like the Ethics Sage, to the great stalwarts in the business ethics field like Chris MacDonald’s Business Ethics Blog as well as Lauren Bloom’s blog on business ethics. But I want to be cautious, other bloggers may want to limit their presence on someone else’s blog, so I’m going to prepare a presentation showing the possibilities and put it out to people I would like to feature.
Currently the new blog site looks like this. It’s kind of a mess. I don’t have a proper RSS feed for it. I am having trouble organizing some of the sections. My search engine optimization is only partly done.
Nevertheless, I am gradually working my way through all of the training film and helpful advice from the web. I have confidence that I can make it work. It’s quite an advance and I want something more. I want more people to read the blog and through it, learn of the other important blog in the business ethics world.
James Pilant
The Location of the New Site
It needs a lot of work but the prototype is up.
Be tough and criticize me harshly!! This new blog is supposed to be an improvement in terms of looks and performance to this one, so help me make it work by letting me know what you think.
However, remember it’s not really supposed to be ready until September 1st, and I have not got the categories straightened out yet. So, I am well aware I need to work on that.
Thanks!!
James Pilant
(An official and more elegant announcement will be made on the first of September.)
Joni Green Comments on “Community Improvement District Lets Business Impose Sales Tax”
I received a wonderful comment on a previous blog post, Community Improvement District Lets Business Impose Sales Tax for Improvements.
Joni Green sent this comment –
A couple of friends visited a new restaurant located near Central and Oliver. Their ticket reflected an additional “CID” tax of 1%. When they questioned it the server had no explanation. The manager/owner came over and told them is was a “development tax” that helps develop and improve the area, he said the the other restaurants near there were also charging the tax. However, when we checked with them they did not know anything about it. I checked with the State of Kansas Division of Taxation/Revenue and they told me they had not heard of this, but if they were charging an additional tax % it shouldn’t be called out separately, but should be included in their original tax rate. They also told me that we could look up their tax rate by address on the Kansas website. We looked up their address and it said their tax rate was the normal 7.3%. How do we know if a business is legitimately charging a CID tax? And I agree, it’s a weird feeling to pay more tax at one place opposed to another. Doesn’t seem like “good” business to me 
It would appear as with so many other things, a business can often improve its profits by unethical means. I’m sorry the restaurant treats its customers this way but very pleased that Ms. Green took the time to let me know what had happened.
James Pilant
We’re getting to crunch time on moving the blog!
I just finished the book, Blogging All in One for Dummies. I got it on Monday and finished it tonight. It answered most of the questions I had about moving the blog. So, I will go ahead. Tomorrow, I will buy the new domain name and once I receive it, I will buy an online service to host my blog for a year in advance. Once this is done, I will buy the theme I have picked out and I have decided to pay a little extra (thirty dollars) and have them set up the principal elements of the web site for me.
I’d like the prototype up and running by Saturday morning, so I can begin setting it up.
I’m still on schedule for a September 1st start.
James Pilant
Dan Bodine Comments on My Last Post
Dan Bodine was kind enough to comment on my travails at moving to a new site. Here’s what he has to say –
Little confused over the “mechanics” of this and why you’re worried so much. Really enjoy you’re content, by the way. But I’m in the early design stage of doing something similar. Only instead of moving my blog, I’m continuing it and starting a new blog. The new blog will be just or political comment, which I feel is inappropriate for my present news and features blog. And of course that means moving some of my old stories and re-posting them in the new blog’s morgue. Is what you’re doing radically different than this? And I’m just an old fogey who still ain’t gotta clue as to how all these website really works?
I’m building a site with at least two sliders, a video feed and about three news feed with probably a half dozen RSS feeds from individual blogs I find important. I’m reading and watching videos from You-Tube on blogging. I’m fifty-five and this stuff does not come as easy as it does to the young.
I’ve been blogging off and on for the past three or four years. This new blog will encapsulate all the lessons I’ve learned in that time.
This is going to be combination of good content, powerful imaging, video content and heavy, heavy search engine optimization.
James Pilant
There Will Be Fewer Posts Until September First.
I will probably post no more than once a day until the day the web site moves to its new site on September 1st. The move requires continuous research and planning. Sometimes, I wonder if I have enough time to get all this done.
James Pilant
Preparing to Move the Blog – Research
I have been studying themes for the new blog. I was astonished at the versatility of what was available. For less than a hundred dollars, I can buy a theme very similar to that used by Slate, CBS News, or Yahoo!. It was quite a shock. After doing the initial research, it was hard to go back and write on my dinky theme.
Why is it dinky? I have three columns which is as much as you can get with the free WordPress themes but some of the premium ones have more columns and you can go down the page to point you decided and the reset the columns for different topics or pictures.
Sliders!! They have sliders. A slider allows you to create a set of pictures or articles or both and then have a single main article spot and these will then rotate every few seconds, so that someone who is on your blog for more than ten seconds or so see two of your articles – twenty seconds, perhaps three or four, it’s great advertising and it looks classy. One of the ones I looked at, Advanced Newspaper from Gabfire, enables you to put sliders in many locations on the page at the same time. Advanced Newspaper is probably going to be my choice. I think it’s beautiful.
I started my blog in 2009 and one of the things my research has demonstrated to me is that what’s available technology wise changes significantly perhaps dramatically every six months. This means that a good blogger on a small budget had better do continuous self training and a lot of it, if the intent is to stay ahead of the curve.
James Pilant
Corporations are People? The Romney Controversy – Watch the Films.
There is some controversy over what was said. Here are the videos, one from The Young Turks and another from a different angle than the one we’ve been seeing the most often.
Young Turks
Film from the fair of Romney speaking from a better angle. – 1:16 –
Screw Sam! Reconstruct the Mortgages with their Rightful Owners (via Deadly Clear)
There is a lot of anger in this article. But I too share disgust with this government’s willingness to help out every kind of financial institution while ignoring the needs of the Middle Class. These people no longer have a defender in the government just a facilitator of the predation
James Pilant
via Deadly Clear
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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