Preface:

There are two bands that wireless networks use:  2.4 ghz and 5 ghz.  2.4 has been around for a long time and is reliable.  The complaint about 2.4 is that lots of devices use this band so there is potential for “congestion” on the band.  The 5 ghz band is newer and naturally has less congestion.  Many devices are not equipped to use the 5 ghz band (Macbook Pros can use it but iPhones can’t).  The complaint about the 5ghz band is that is doesn’t do as well for longer distances of signal strength.   It’s important to know that newer components that work on the 5 ghz band can “drop-down” and work on the 2.4 ghz band.

One option (that I don’t currently advise) is to have two routers.  One for the 2.4 ghz band and another one for the 5 ghz band.  I mention this fact as it will make more sense as you read down.  But clearly in a home where you have devices that work on the 2.4 ghz band, you will need to have a router that can handle this 2.4 ghz signal.

That being said, here are the three choices at Best Buy (and I’m sticking with linksys because I like linksys/cisco and I’ve used their routers for years — and I currently run two of them myself).  All three choices below allow to run a wireless network as well as plug in your wired desktop computer or other wired device.

For reference I run an older model 2.4 ghz linksys router and I’m very happy with the speed at 2.4 ghz.

1. Linksys E1200  -  this is an inexpensive router that works on the 2.4 ghz band only. It’s $50 at best buy and has great reviews.  The advantage is that is a simple router that will do the job reliably.  It will not however take advantage of the potential speed benefits of the 5 ghz band.  As you get more and more 5ghz compatilbe devices in the future, you’d need to get a 5 ghz router for the 5 ghz band.

2. Linksys 2500 -  this is a $80 router that works on both bands — 2.4 and 5 at the same time.  The idea is that you have two separate networks (one at 2.4 and one at 5 but both with this same device) and then you connect the 2.4 devices to the 2.4 network, and repeat the process for the 5 GHz-capable devices.  This router did not get good reviews at Amazon.com and it seems to be hit or miss with reliability and performance.  Thus, I cannot recommend this router.

3. Linksys E3200 – this is a $110 – $150 router (Amazon vs Best Buy) that received good reviews and can handle the 2.4 vs 5 problem.  The only reason I’d consider this model over the 2500 is because of the 2500′s mixed reviews.

Wireless Network Speed (Potential) vs Wireless Range

So ultimately it comes down to the E1200 vs the E3200.  I think the simplest and most cost-effective way to go for most home router users is the E1200.  You could setup this router simply and get everything to work on the 2.4 ghz band.  You could do a little more future-proofing, however, and  go with the E3200 and just use it in the beginning on the 2.4 band to make sure everything works well.  If then in the future you want to add a 5 ghz device, you’d just need to “turn on” the 5 ghz band on this router.   The only concern I have about this last approach is that there are reports of people having problems getting the correct devices to run on the correct network consistently.  So when you make your final decision, really consider if you will need to use the 5 Ghz band,.  For most of my clients their primary concern is range, and for this factor, 2.4 Ghz is still the way to go.

A: If by your question you mean, .”Can my wife and I share an iPad and access both of our Facebook accounts on the same device?” then the practical answer is no.  Unfortunately the iPad was not designed to be a multi-user device.

BUT – what you might be able to do — and I haven’t tested this — is to download the Facebook app for the iPad and then have you use the Facebook App to access Facebook, while your wife uses the web browser for access.  It’s not a perfect solution, but until Apple make the iPad easy to use for multiple users then this may be a workaround.

Good luck!

So if it’s your first time here, welcome aboard.  And if you are a returning visitor, then welcome back!

OS X is Fundamentally Different from Windows
OS X is built on UNIX, and therefore is inherently much more secure than a Windows system.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty, UNIX does a much better job of security out of the box as opposed to Windows.  Windows 7, however, has made great strides in improving security but still REQUIRES antivirus software (and anti malware software, as well).  So while I wouldn’t dare go on the internet with a Windows system without using security software, I’d browse freely on the internet with a Mac and OS X.

Are there Viruses for the Mac?
Well, kind of.  Generally speaking viruses and malware that’s written for Windows won’t run on a Mac .  For the same reason that Photoshop for the PC won’t run on OS X, viruses written for Windows won’t run on a PC.   That being said, if you want to be super-cautious, you can run an antivirus program for OS X (see below).

Who Should Run an Antivirus on OS X?
If you walk into the Apple Store and ask about viruses on the Mac they’ll say, “You run Windows, right?”.  Ask the majority of Mac users and they will give you a similar funny look and tell you that they don’t run antivirus.  Coming from Windows, however, running ANY computer without some kind of antivirus software gives we PC users the feeling that we left the stove on — it’s dangerous and we wouldn’t do it.

The one group of people who I would recommend running an antivirus software on their Macs would be people who are running Windows in Parallels or Fusion on OS X. Naturally you will have to run antivirus on the Windows virtual machine, and while the odds of anything “crossing-over” from Windows to OS X is extremely rare, running an antivirus will make you sleep better at night (at least it made me sleep better).

So for the run of the mill Mac, you are pretty safe out of the box.  But if you are running a virtual Windows machine (or if you spend a lot of time on websites that may have high risks for acquiring viruses), then I’d strongly consider running antivirus software.

What is the Best Antivirus Software to Use on the Mac and OS X?
Currently there are a few software programs out there for Mac users, the most notable commercial one being Norton.  That being said, the one that I’d recommend at this time is ClamAV.  ClamAV is a free (yes, FREE) n antivirus program for OS X that does a good job and (at least on my test system) has a minimal resource footprint (we PC users know all-too-well about antivirus program like Norton sucking the life out of a PC with all it’s loading, and scanning, and memory eating).

ClamAV itself needs to be compiled, but there is a pre-compiled (e.g. you just run it) available and this program is called ClamXAV.  ClamXAV can be downloaded from the link in the previous sentence, or can be downloaded at the App Store.

Note that there is a difference between the  version you download and the App Store version.  Due to certain App Store limitations, the  App Store version cannot “run in the background.”  So if you are running the App Store version you will simply need to run the program when you want to scan (or just leave it on and then scan on a regular basis).  Currently I leave the program running and I scan once per week.

A. Get into phpMyAdmin

1. If you are running WordPress then you have a database, and thus you have a way to access your database.  For most of us this method is by using phpMyAdmin.  If you are using cPanel then simply navigate to phpMyAdmin.   If you are using  a different control panel, ask you hosting provider.

B. Find the WordPress Table that Lists the Category IDs

2. Once you are in phpMyAdmin (or your database browsing client), look for your WordPress database.  It’s the database you created when you first installed WordPress (and if you didn’t install WP on your own, look for a database that starts with “WP” or has “WP” in it.

3. Click on this database name and you will now see a list of tables on the left side of the screen (in phpMyAdmin).  The picture below shows the list (with my DB name blurred out):

4. Click on the “wp_terms” table.  You will see the tabs on the right side of the frame change and you will see some information about the table.  What you want to do now is to select the “Browse” tab at the top of the screen.

5. You will now see a list of your WordPress categories along with the category IDs.

C. Print the List of WordPress Category IDs

6. At this point you can print the screen (or even better), export the list to Excel.  To export the category ID list to Excel, go back to the top of the screen where the tabs are and click “Export”.

7.  On the export screen, click “CSV for Excel” (or whatever file format you want).

Also make sure “save to file” is clicked.  Then click “Go” to start the download.

You are now the proud owner of a list of your WordPress Category IDs’.

The Big Picture Here: You are going to create an MCC account to help you manage client AdWords accounts, but you are also going to create an AdWords account that you can use to advertise your own business’ services.  So basically you will have an MCC with a bunch of clients, and your own busisness will be a “client” of yours, as well.

So here’ the situation:

1. You have a separate Google Account for your own personal use, and now you want to separate some of your business and clients out of this personal account.  So go ahead and create a new Google Account for your business (E.g. info@mybusiness.com).

2. Enable Gmail so you become mybusiness@gmail.com (or something similar that you like), as later on when you are going to want to be able to share Google Analytics data, you will find that you cannot share Analytics data with a non-gmail email address.

3. Now you have a Google Account for your business and a Gmail account for your business, it’s time to create the MCC.  When you create the MCC, use your business’s Gmail account address, as this is the address you are going to use to manage all of your clients in the MCC (e.g. mybusiness@gmail.com).

4. Once MCC is configured, go ahead and set up an AdWords account outside of MCC (e.g. as if you were setting up an AdWords account and you’ve never heard of MCC before), using an email from your business’s domain as the email address (e.g. adwords@mybusiness.com).  And yes, this will be another Google Account you have to create.  But with this new Google Account (adwords@mybusiness.com), don’t enable Gmail or other Google services.  The idea here is that you are going to use mybusiness@gmail.com to manage everything for your business and for your clients — EXCEPT for your company’s own AdWords account.  And since you are going to be managing your OWN AdWords account (the adwords@mybusiness.com) from within your MCC (e.g. you’re not going to need to go to AdWords and login as “adwords@mybusiness.com), then I’d simply setup “adwords@mybusiness.com” as an email forwarder.  Of course remember to setup the forwarder BEFORE you create the AdWords account.

5. Now simply link this new AdWords account to your MCC, and you can now manage “yourself” along with your other clients.

And just to clarify, you will need a Google Account for your business to manage your client’s services such as Analytics and your MCC (mybusiness@gmail.com).  But in order to create your OWN AdWords account WITHIN the MCC — e..g to manage your own company’s advertising (E.g. to advertise the fact that you manage AdWords for people), you will need to create a new AdWords account (adwords@mybusiness.com), which in turn is what will require the creation of the second Google Account. Whew!

* Note:  In theory you could simply setup a new AdWords account via the MCC that does not require a verified email address, so it’s possible that you could create an AdWords account for your business advertising without having to create a second Google Account just for the “adwords@mybusiness.com” email address.  I’ve read this is possible but I’ve never tried it — so if anyone out there has tried this approach can you verify it for the rest of us?

Hope this helps!

1. Reputation. Let’s start with the most important consideration first.  If an SEO company comes recommended to you from a friend or a colleague, then it’s a good bet that they will be a good choice.  Naturally it goes without saying that you will favor products and services providers that come recommended,  but you should still do some checking-up on an SEO Company — even one referred by a friend (see more below).

2. Niche. Many SEO firms focus on a specific niche and know their field.  Much of SEO is conceptual, but it helps that your SEO company either has a background in your topic, or has at least worked with other clients in your field.  Your colleague may have referred a great SEO Company to you, but if they have absolutely no experience in your field, then you may be better off with an SEO firm that’s more familiar with your topic (and has proven success with optimizing websites in your field).

3. Client List and Competition. On the subject of experience and having worked in your niche, it’s critically important to see how many other companies/clients in your field that this company represents.  For example, if you sell red widgets out of a retail store in New York City, how many other red-widget-selling  stores does your SEO company work with?  If they have 4 other clients in the city — all who sell red widgets — and all to whom they promise top rankings on Google — how can they possibly rank all four of you highly in Google when you are all competing for the same search terms?   Well…the answer is that they can’t.   So make sure that you are not “one of many” clients in the same industry in the same location, so that you are not competing against other clients within your SEO firm.

4. A Caveat to Client List and Competition. It’s one thing if you are an attorney and an SEO firm represents other attorneys in your office building — that’s not likely a  recipe for success.  If however, you are in Seattle and your SEO Company has legal clients in Chicago and Dallas, I wouldn’t be too concerned.  The fact that they have clients in other locations across the country will generally not affect your rankings (unless you are a national company doing a national SEO campaign), and having these other clients likely has given them some experience in the niche (see item #2 above).

5.  Proof of Results. SEO is a part science and part art, and let’s face it, some niches are harder to rank than others.  If you are the only physician in a 5 mile radius, and the other two doctors within 10 miles don’t have websites, then it’s going to be relatively easy to do well in search engine rankings.  If, however, you are a lawyer and there are 10 other lawyers in your office building, and another 50 within a 2-mile radius, it’s going to be very difficult to do well (and in these tightly competitive areas, really good keyword research is necessary).  So before you sign on with an SEO company, ask them for proof of results, and ask to talk to existing clients. If existing clients feel as though they are getting a fair shake, then that’s clearly a good sign.  Again — lack of SEO success doesn’t always mean that an SEO company is bad — it just may be that the niche is tough.

6. Get an Idea of their Workflow.  Everyone from high-school students to professional companies are doing SEO, but one of the most important thing for any SEO fim to do is to have a methodical plan in place.  How will the company select keywords?   How do they know if a keyword is good or bad?  What monthly reports do they do?

7. Are you Involved in the Keyword Selection Process? — Because you Should be.  On the subject of keywords, make sure the SEO company actually has a conversation with you about your goals and needs.  If they don’t know what you want, how can they help you?  Think about the last time you walked into an electronics store to buy a TV and the salesperson immediately ”knew” what TV you needed just by looking at you.  Well the same goes for SEO.  Let’s say you are a dentist and you are interested in  seo for your dental website.  Yes, most dentists do a lot of the same procedures (exams, cleanings, etc).  But there are positively things that make each dentist and dental office stand out (hopefully good things).  So what the SEO firm needs to say to the dentist is, “How is your practice different from other dental practices out there?.  What particular dental service do you provide that other dentists don’t? What keywords can we use that will separate your dental website out from the competition?”

8. Deliverables. Know ahead of time what reports you will be getting whether they are monthly or quarterly, and make sure this list is in writing.  Also, make sure some kind of baseline report is done, as a key part of SEO will be comparing where you have progressed to from where you started from.  Certain key metrics should be in these reports such as the top performing pages on your website, the geographical base of your visitors, the number of returning visitors vs unique visitors, and the time spent on each page on the site.  It’s also critical to know the source of this traffic, as well, so this information should be included, too.  Now this list above is a short list and it doesn’t apply to every site, but you should be getting at least a handful of different metrics to help you make decisions about your website.  Along those lines, be wary of any company that doesn’t have you create a Google Analytics account.

9. Be Independent. I can’t stress this one enough.  In doing SEO with an SEO company there are certain (mostly Google) services you will need.  These services will start with Google Analytics and possibly later on add  Google AdWords and Google Places, as well as Google Webmaster Tools and Google Website Optimizer.  Note that the last 3 are not always needed for every site.  But NO MATTER WHAT  MAKE SURE that the Google Account is in YOUR company name so that the data is YOURS.  All too frequently a company will sign up a client for a Google Analytics account within  the firm’s own Google Account.  The problem with this approach is that if the client decides to leave the firm, there’s no way  for the client to sever the data.  Note that Google is aware of this potential problem so there ARE ways for you as the business owner to own the data yourself under your own Google Account, yet share the data with an SEO company.  In this way you can work with SEO Company #1, and then if you want to change to SEO Company #2, you simply have to change some sharing settings in order to make the switch.  So if a company insists that your data be tied into their Google Account, simply run away.

10. Pricing. SEO Pricing is a doozy. Rates vary all over the place, from students to professionals to large corporations.  The key with pricing is to really see what you are getting for the money.  If an SEO Company wants to charge you $500/mo for SEO — fine.  Just find out what the hourly rate is, and what the breakdown is for that $500.  This is one of the reasons I want you to try to get a ballpark idea of what reports you will be getting monthly.  More data of course doesn’t mean “better” SEO, but you need to make sure that the company is actually doing something with the money you pay them.

So that ends my list of the  Top 10 Factors in Chosing an SEO Firm. I hope the list is informative and helpful, and guides you in asking the right questions of any potential SEO provider. If  you have any questions about the list or you want to add another item, please feel free to comment below.

About the author: Dr. David Wank is a practicing general dentist and a Web Development and SEO Guru.  His company, Short Hills Design, LLC,  specializes in web development and SEO, with a particular focus on  SEO for dentists, physicians and healthcare professionals.  He can be reached via the contact form on his company website.

1. I Lost My DropBox Public Folder.  How Do I Create a New One?

If you’ve lost your DropBox Public folder (and you are not going to undelete what you’ve lost — e.g. you want to start over with a Public folder or you’ve never had one), then this step is easy.  Simply navigate to your Dropbox folder and create a new folder called “Public”.  Naturally you don’t use the ” ” and you need to make sure that the “P” in Public is capitalized.  That’s it.

2. I have a Public folder on the Dropbox Website, but I Don’t Have it On My Desktop Dropbox Folder.

Yeah — it happened to me, too.  This is a sync issue and I was about to reinstall Dropbox and start over until I found this solution.

A. Go to the Dropbox icon in your system tray (e.g access the Dropbox application), right-click to bring up the menu below, and then left-click on “Preferences…”

B. Once you’ve clicked “Preferences…” you will be in the Preferences dialog box.  Look at the top right and click the “Advanced” button (it looks like a wheel/cog).  Go halfway down and click “Selective Sync”

3.  Once that’s done you will be in the Selective Sync dialog box. Make sure that you check the box next to  “Public”  (and Photos if you want, as well).  Once you’ve checked the boxes, click “Update” at the bottom (not shown) and the Public folder from the Dropbox website will now sync to your desktop.

Happy DropBoxing!

When we last left John Doe, he had a Google Account for his two blogs — his personal use, (johndoe@gmail.com) and a second Google Account for his company (johnsmadeupcompany@gmail.com)– for business use.

Scenario III – Google Accounts and Google Product Setup for Clients (Scenario I and II are in the first article)

So all is well and then finally John gets a client!  He wants to manage Google Analytics for this client and the client also wishes to give AdWords a go, as well.  The first thing John then does is creates a Google Account for the client (or better yet — has the client create his or her own Google account). Further, John works with the client to setup a Google Analytics account for the client under the CLIENT’S Google Account.  Again — John is tempted to simply add the client’s domain to the Analytics profile on one of his Google Accounts — but he doesn’t.  So when John works with clients he follows the following concept:  each client has a separate Google Account for EACH of the clients domains.  And if nothing else, at a minimum, each client has his or her OWN Google Account and NO client properties are mixed with either of John’s Google Accounts.

If John works with a very large company, that has multiple web properties, then it naturally makes sense that each web property has it’s own Google Account.  But if it’s a smaller client, one could consider grouping a clients web properties into one client Google Account.    The big disadvantage of having multiple client properties grouped into ONE client account is that there’s very little privacy between accounts — such that if an employee from property 1 accesses this client’s “global” account, he or she will be able to see the data from property 2.   In some companies this isn’t an issue, but if sharing and data secrecy/privacy is going to be an issue, then surely create separate Google Accounts per domain.

On the subject of helping clients create accounts, I like to create video tutorials for my clients to use.  You can clearly point clients to setup videos on YouTube and the like, but I like to make sure my clients get focused information.  Further, when you have your own personalized video about how to setup Analytics, for example, it’s easy to include in that video the instructions for adding you and your (business) Gmail account as a shared user (and the video also makes for good marketing).

Google Analytics:  John’s  client is now successfully setup with a Google Account and has Analytics configured. In order for John to access the client’s Analytics account, he needs to be added to the Analytics account.  For the purposes of this guide John is going to be added as an administrator to the account, and John instructs the client how to add him as an administrator.  Note that only Gmail addresses can be used to get shared access to an Analytics account, so John gives the client the Gmail account of his business to use as the address for sharing (johnsmadeupcompany@gmail.com).

Google AdWords:  John’s client now wants to start advertising using AdWords.  There are two general ways to setup the AdWords account.  The first way is for the client to simply setup the account (with John’s instructions/guidance), and the second way is for John to create the account for the client using the MCC interface.  MCC is Google’s “My Client Center” and it is a hub for developers and agencies to use to manage multiple client AdWords accounts.  Without an MCC account, John would have to have a new GOOGLE ACCOUNT for each client AdWords account he wanted to log into as a shared user.  Yes — that’s right — I said GOOGLE ACCOUNT.  Whereas with Analytics John can use his business Gmail address as his access address for tons of client Google Analytics accounts, A GMAIL ADDRESS CAN ONLY BE ASSOCIATED WITH ONE ADWORDS account.  Thus, since John’s business Gmail address (johnsmadeupcompany@gmail.com) is already associated with the AdWords account that John uses to promote his own business on his business Google Account’s AdWords account, he CANNOT use this Gmail address to login to any of his clients AdWords accounts.  Thus, the two options John has are to 1) create a new Google account (and hence a new Gmail address) for each client AdWords account he wishes to access, or 2) to simply signup and use the free MCC.

A note about AdWords accounts: because adwords accounts are sometimes shared, there’s a consideration to having clients use domain-based email accounts as their AdWords logins.  For example, your client, XYZ Widgets at www.xyzwidgest.com, may have a Google Account with Analytics and Gmail (xyzwidgets@gmail.com), and may not want people to have this username and password.  Thus, for AdWords this client can create a new email at their domain, e.g. adwords@xyzwidgets.com to provide a level of insulation

A second note about AdWords: as of this writing, you CAN setup AdWords accounts such that the client enters their billing information — so this way YOU mange AdWords, but the client gets the bills for the clicks and you are not having to collect money from clients (at least not to pay for the AdWords clicks).  Also, clients CAN “breakup” with you and leave your MCC account with their data intact.  Naturally before you’d advise a client to sever their account with your MCC, I STRONGLY urge you to check with Google’s latest policies so you know what you can and cannot do.

Take-Home Messages:

1. ALL clients should have their OWN Google Accounts, and clients with multiple large websites should strongly consider having separate Google Accounts for each of these properties — especially when sharing access will be necessary.

2. Use the Gmail address from your business Google Account for Analytics sharing with clients (e.g. you accessing their data).

3. Use the MCC to streamline AdWords management, and consider domain based emails (adwords@yourclient.com) for AdWords username/signup.

As with everything Google, this information may change, so please check-in with Google and do some research before you jump in.  And as always, please feel free to comment below to add your experiences, thoughts, and best practices!

In this two-part article I’m going to go through a few scenarios to try to illustrate some best practices about how to setup a Google Account.  This article will cover personal Google Accounts and Small Business Google Accounts, and the second article will talk about best practices for Developers and Agency who want to manage Google products for their clients.

Now there’s no “official” distinction between a Google Account that you use for personal use or small business use (e.g. you signup at the same place) — but it’s more a function  how you configure and setup Google products that will help you get the most out of these services — as an individual or as a small business.

Now this text wont’ teach you how to setup a Google Account or configure Google services such as AdWords or Google Analytics, per se, rather it will be a conceptual overview to try to help you understand how the Google pieces fit together for a purpose.  In doing so, I’m going to walk-through some hypothetical yet common scenarios.  Please note that this article is MY personal take on best practices, and is not in any way affiliated or promoted by Google, nor it it some kind of Google ‘”official policy”.   And as with all the content on this site, I do welcome your feedback if you have an additional method or if you have comments on the way I present things.

Scenario I:  Personal Google Account

John is an individual and he’s interested in using Google products and services for his personal use.  The best thing for John to do is to create a Google Account, and a subsequent Gmail account along the lines of: johndoe@gmail.com.  One of the things that John will need when he first signs up for a Google Account is a backup email address for resetting his password, etc, or if for some reason he cannot access the Google Account.  Thus, John can signup for the Google Account with another email address such as a Yahoo! or Hotmail address.

John likes Google’s services, and John has used his Gmail account to signup for multiple Google products including Gmail and AdSense, He also has a Google Analytics account that he uses to track his two personal blogs, johnsmakebelieveblog.com, and johnsothermadeupsite.com. Note that John also has an AdWords account that he uses to promote both of his blogs.  Thus, he integrates his AdWords account with his Google Analytics account.

Because it’s all for personal use, it doesn’t matter that John has multiple website profiles listed under his Google Analytics account, nor that his AdWords account is working with both of his websites.  Note however, as you will see below, for business or agency use, this setup (one Adwords account with one Analytics account that has multiple website profiles) would not be ideal.

Scenario II – Google Account for Business

Things are going well for John and he has decided to create is own small web development firm, “John’s Designs”, with a website of www.johnsmadeupcompany.com.   Because he wants to use Google services for his small business, he’s going to create a second Google Account.  In theory John could use his personal Google Account (johndoe@gmail.com) to work with his small business, but the best thing do to is create a separate account.

So John now goes ahead and creates a second Google account that he will use for his business.  Note that at this point in time he is NOT using Google Apps, and he will signup for the new Google Account with the email “info@johnsmadeupcompany.com”.  Once he adds Gmail, his login for this company Google Account will change from info@johnsmadeupcompany.com to johnsmadeupcompany@gmail.com.

At this point in time John has TWO Google Accounts.  The first one is his personal account (johndoe@gmail.com) and his second one is (johnsmadeupcompany@gmail.com).

John now sets up Google Analytics.  He is tempted to link his business website, www.johnsmadeupcompany.com to his personal Google Account that already has Analytics setup, but in the interests of keeping this separate and easy to organize, he uses his BUSINESS account to create a Google Analytics account to track www.johnsmadeupcompany.com. Similarly, John then decides that he wants to use AdWords to promote his web firm.   He could easily add his company to his personal AdWords account where he promotes his blogs, but for the purposes of keeping things straight, he simply creates a new AdWords account (also under his BUSINESS Google Account) to manage these items.

Here’s where we are now:

Personal  Account -  johnsmakebeliveblog.com, johnsothermadeupsite.com

Gmail, Analytics, AdWords

————————————————————————————–

Business  Account -  johnsmadeupcompany.com

Gmail, Analytics, AdWords

Before we move on to the best practices for Developers and Agencies, I want to make a few important points:

1.  For personal use it’s fine if you have a Google account and you manage all of your properties from a single Analytics account and a single AdWords account. However, if you have a large web property, OR if you ever plan to let multiple people access the data or access the interface, strongly consider having a separate Google Account for each of these properties.  So your mega-blog should have its own Google Account (with Analytics and AdWords).

2. For your business,  I urge you to create a completely new Google Account for everything related to your business.  I’m not talking Google Apps here (that’s a different beast), but consider that for your company, you many want other people to share your account and have access to your account, so these people do not need to know about your other websites or other personal data.  Also, if you are interacting with clients, “yourcompany@gmail.com” is better than “yourname@gmail.com”.

3. Note that at this time you CANNOT copy an Analytics profile from one Analytics account to another.

4. Note also at this time that if an email address is associated wtih an AdWords account, you CANNOT use that email address to access a second AdWords account.  So if John uses johndoe@gmail.com for his personal AdWords account, he CANNOT use this email address to access his business AdWords account (or that of one of his clients — more about this later).

5. I agree that it’s a BIG pain to have multiple Google Accounts — but at this time, and with the way Google has things setup, it’s just easier in the long run to deal with multiple accounts and logins.

In Part II of this article I will move to the next step and talk about best practices for Google Account setup for clients for developers and agencies (e.g. John’s going to get a few clients!).