Author: Nick M WD

Categories
Apps Travel Tech

Tech & Travel: Life-Saving Business Apps

travel
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

Travel, Tourism, Technology

Traditionally, business travelers packed up their briefcases, booked their tickets and business travel insurance and set off hoping for the best. Today, we thankfully have a range of technology to make sure that our trips run smoothly and successfully. But are you making the most of the technology that’s out there? Here is a rundown of the top business travel apps that no one traveling for work should be without.

1.FlightView Flight Tracker: If you fly a lot for work, you probably already have some kind of flight tracker app on your phone. However, FlightView Flight Tracker is the next generation in flight tracker technology: it will not only show you which terminal and gate you’ll need to go to when you arrive at the airport, but will also tell you about delays and provide real-time flight tracking of your plane (before and after you get on it). It will even track your flight with a weather overlay, so that you know what kind of weather your plane is flying through. And as if this weren’t enough already, it will give you driving instructions for getting to the airport and weather details for your destination. In fact, the only thing it won’t do is pack your suitcase for you!

2.LoungeBuddy: Delays can be frustrating, but if you’re sitting in a comfortable lounge enjoying the facilities and getting some work done, then at least you’re putting the time to good use. The LoungeBuddy is an app designed to find what lounges you’re eligible to use at any given airport. Enter all of your frequent flier details and LoungeBuddy will find all venues for you, as well as listing any paid-for lounges. User reviews and star ratings for lounges will let you know if they’re worth your while.

 

3.DUFL: This extraordinary app will take all of the hassle out of packing for a business trip. Once you’ve registered with them, they will send you a large suitcase, which you fill with all of the clothes and toiletries that you are likely to want on a business trip and send it back to them. DUFL will then photograph all items, along with cleaning them. Now comes the good part: the next time you go on a work trip, you use the app to select the clothes you want to take and enter your destination. When you arrive, your suitcase will be there waiting for you, and when you leave, DUFL will pick up the suitcase and clean and store the clothes, ready for next time.

4.HotelTonight: You never know what’s going to happen on a trip abroad (that’s why you always have business travel insurance, right?). So, what do you do if you arrive at your destination and find that your room isn’t booked, or you don’t like the room that you’ve been given? The answer: you take out your phone and look at your HotelTonight app. Offering discount rooms for same night bookings, hotels use the app to fill empty rooms at knock-down prices. Problem solved. While apps are great, one thing’s for sure: nothing can protect you from canceled flights, closed hotels or mislaid luggage as effectively as business travel insurance. It’s important to make sure that you are fully covered so that you can get on with your work as quickly and smoothly as possible if the worst does happen.

For more tech and travel tips follow nickmwebdesign.com/blog and happy traveling!

Categories
Optimization

The Evolution of the Logistics Industry – the Future is Here

supply chain boats
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

Business, Technology, Consumer Behavior, Economics

I find the current situation in the logistics industry to be truly fascinating. Consumer behavior, politics, technology and the economic climate are all causing the industry to evolve and develop; this means that it is important to be aware of the issues that are changing the shape of logistics. This will help you to embrace change and stay ahead of the curve.

The Supply Chain

supply chain trucks

Before taking a closer look at trends that are affecting how business is done, it is worth defining the supply chain as this is so crucial. The supply chain is a network of businesses that comes into contact with a product until it reaches the consumer; this could include manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, companies that deliver to the manufacturer and courier jobs. The supply chain shows steps on how a product reaches a customer, so if you can optimize this process, you can benefit from a faster production cycle and lower costs.

 

 

Trends Affecting Logistics

These are the recent developments that are affecting how business is done. Having this knowledge can enable you to embrace these changes and plan ahead so that you can efficiently deliver your products to the market. 

Technological Advances

consumer reports

Technology has revolutionized many different industries – logistics is certainly one of these. Mobile computing, cloud technology, track and trace technology and voice recognition have become global trends, while the younger generation, who are coming into employment, is incredibly tech savvy. These technologies, along with amazing innovations such as 3D printing and drones, are being utilized in the supply chain in a trend that will only continue. 

Consumer Behavior

Leading on from technological advances, the behavior of the consumer has rapidly evolved in recent times. The rise of e-commerce has forever changed the landscape and multichannel supply chains have had to quickly develop to meet demand. Adjustments must be made to fulfillment practices to handle the multichannel path, all while managing a B2B supply chain that is economical. Additionally, consumers now expect a range of delivery options (although, more often than not, they will select the cheapest option). 

Politics

Politics will always affect business, but it is currently affecting the logistics field through increased fragmentation in the flow of goods; this is a result of changes in the global landscape. Globalization has seen a number of emerging markets, such as Brazil, make their presence felt and many of these markets are now part of the growth strategy of several companies. 

Economic & Environmental Forces global variables

Logistics models are being altered by forces beyond the control of the industry. These include rising costs and diminishing resources, which could result in smaller companies having to merge with bigger businesses to reach adequate economies of scale. Harmful emissions will also be a factor and there will be a heavy focus on minimizing these on courier jobs through eco-friendly transportation. 

As you can clearly see, these trends are all causing an evolution in the logistics field that is leading towards a streamlined supply chain. Workers using advanced technology, autonomous robots in the warehouse, courier jobs that are faster and more efficient and globalization, amongst many other trends, could all lead to positive change for both the industry and the consumer. It is vital that you carefully monitor these trends and always consider the consumer’s needs. Nick Mahler Web Design can help your business reach millions of people with custom, mobile responsive and SEO rich websites. Grow your client base today and make keeping up with inventory, client emails and more automatic with the help of NM Web Design. For a free, no commitment website consultation click here to schedule an appointment today! Soluvers is another organization that can help automatic your antiquated business practices and help you stay up to date with the latest technological trends.

 

Categories
Optimization Websites

Information Technology and Business Management

information technology
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

Business, Computers, Science & Technology

Information Technology refers to storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating data and information using the latest electronic equipment such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc. Business Management is the process of systematizing a business organization in order to achieve their set targets.

Every enterprise requires administration that would govern organizational activities to assure that the business is heading in the direction of prosperity. Information Technology is a smart way to manage business management. IT has a solution for business management at every step of a business. Software Solutions are available or may be custom-made to suit the needs of every business or every department within a business. Multiple softwares can be used with an organization and they can be integrated to allow flow of data and information between them.

information technology

Planning is the first step in business management, may it be resource planning or financial planning software developers have left no stones unturned in creating software for every kind of planning within a business. Now businesses only have to feed information requested by the software and the rest is taken care of by the software.

information technology

Governing the functioning of a business to ascertain whether the organization is progressing in the desired direction is crucial for any enterprise. There are softwares for supervising and administering the functioning of an organization or administering other softwares. This type of software works on the basis of activities on a computer or computers on a network, it controls the movement of processes in a way that allows the organization to function accurately.

information technology

Record keeping is yet another important aspect of business management, and we all know computers and its concomitants  help us a great deal in accounting, book keeping and every sort of record keeping. Browsing through the data stored in computers is a lot easier than searching files and folders in a physical set-up. Communication plays a vital role in determining the relationship between a business and their clients, also within the organization between employees and with their employer. A smooth exchange facilitates better business management. For a robust business, communication software to send emails and to allow instant conversations can be implemented, that will keep businesses connected with their clients, and ensure healthier relations between employees within the business. Probing for opportunities is the biggest task in business management. Every business needs to constantly look for opportunities to grow in the market, with the help of the internet now opportunities are easily accessible. Sitting at a place a business owner can explore opportunities around the globe.

information technology

Clearly, information technology offers a solution for business management at every step. Software solutions greatly solve the purpose of any kind of business. Every business must turn to automating their operations with the help of softwares, if there is no existing software; custom software can always be designed and developed. 

https://soluvers.com/

Soluvers is one such company that creates digital solutions that help startups, founders and small businesses get to market faster and iterate more often by relying on low code and no code technologies such as Adalo, Bubble.io, WordPress and Wix. The power of these tools, combined with the expertise of our developers guarantees the creation of high quality software. Contact them here to get started on a project!

If you are a business that needs a website contact Nick Mahler at Nick M Web Design today.

Categories
Optimization Websites

Prevent Hacker Attacks: 10 Best Website Monitoring Services

computer screen with mask on it
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

Internet, Cyber Security, WordPress security, Identity security

One possible reason for the website downtime could be the malicious attack by the hackers. Hacker attacks have become the growing threat for every business website both large and small. Sometimes, the attack could be so huge that it may even take down the websites of big internet giants. Especially, if an attack happens on the internet servers, it is typical that hundreds of websites will be taken offline for hours affecting the web traffic. One of the major attacks happened in 2016, when hackers targeted the data centers of a domain name services company called Dyn. It has disrupted traffic to hundreds of websites including Twitter, Netflix, Paypal, the Financial Times, GitHub, disabling access to millions of users.

With many such incidents occurring every year, it’s no wonder that site owners are seeking alert services like website monitoring services for the protection of their websites. It is a wise option to employ preventive methods by having complete monitoring for websites such as uptime monitoring and performance monitoring, rather than implement corrective actions when such issues happen.

Ways That Hackers can Attack the Websites

There are many ways that hackers can plan to attack a website. Sometimes, they may exploit a system or network using the latest technology or reuse the same method that has worked out for years. It can be as big as bringing down the entire network of user websites or may target a particular site for specific intention. From phishing scam to password hacking and fault injection of source code, hackers follow different tactics to hurt websites to bring them down. 

One such way is DDos or Distributed Denial of Services attack, where the hackers overwhelm the server or network with more traffic than it could deal with and sabotage the functionality of the website. This may eventually slow down the performance or totally shut down the website working. Having a flexible hosting plan with extended resources may help websites to handle the incoming volume of traffic to some extent, but cannot sustain if the server is attacked by too many requests.

Do You Need to Worry if You Have a Small Website?

computer screen with mask on it

Hacker attacks are not only risks for websites, but also a threat for customer accounts, especially if the site is dealing with credit or debit card information. On the contrary, sometimes hackers may not steal the personal data but may use the system as a tool to reach another system or network. So even a small website can become part of the hack to reach larger targets. As far as downtime is concerned, the effect would be frustrating for small business websites because the attack can significantly damage their business bottom line. Hence, it is essential even for small business site owners to put some preventive measures in place for their websites to minimize downtime risk and be prepared for the worst.

Use Monitoring Services to Minimize Downtime Risks

two people looking at a computer

With website monitoring service, the site owners will know ahead of time if there is an interruption in website functionality. When a site is being constantly monitored, any discrepancy in site functionality will be known before the site actually goes down. The service would detect short or occasional downtimes or slow response times of the websites. As soon as an issue is detected, the site monitoring service would notify immediately. This helps to drill down and understand the reason for interruption, so the site owners can have an action plan in place to get things back to normal.

Top 10 Best Website Monitoring Services

complex lines on screen
  1. AppDynamics 

AppDynamics is a fully realized website monitoring service for businesses, and a leader in both the website monitoring and application performance monitoring (APM) spaces. 

  1. New Relic Browser

New Relic Browser provides a rich ecosystem of performance and monitoring data for your web sites and applications. It’s a bit much for smaller businesses, but for medium to large organizations or anyone with a business-critical web presence, it’s a boon.

  1. SmartBear AlertSite

Website monitoring service SmartBear AlertSite has great real-time alerting capabilities, strong monitoring and reports across platforms, and its highly configurable both in its user interface and its pricing for SMBs and enterprises.

  1. Dynatrace UEM

Dynatrace UEM is a surprisingly intuitive and well designed website monitoring tool with excellent reporting and dashboards. While it could use some additional capabilities around APM, synthetic monitoring, and some other advanced features, it’s still an excellent choice for medium to large-sized operators.

  1. LogicMonitor

If your devices are geographically distributed and all your sites have internet connectivity, then it’s hard to find a solution better than Logic Monitor. For smaller networks that could be walled off from the internet, you will need to look elsewhere.

  1. Riverbed SteelCentral AppInternals

Riverbed SteelCentral AppInternals is nicely designed for beginners and small businesses, while still offering an excellent feature set with thorough analytics.

  1. SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor

SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor is focused on synthetic monitoring and sports excellent features and analytics in that direction, though they’re wrapped in a slightly outdated interface. But if user monitoring or real-time analytics are your thing, you’ll need to keep looking.

  1. Pingdom

For IT professionals and serious website operators, Pingdom has it all – strong monitoring, excellent analytics, and advanced features, too. The only downside is that all this goodness is wrapped in a difficult interface that requires a steep learning curve to leverage.

  1. Ghostery MCM

Ghostery MCM is highly focused on front-end monitoring through third-party tag tracking. This is both innovative and valuable, but as it lacks many other core website monitoring capabilities it’ll be more of an addition to your IT tool kit rather than a foundation.

  1. Geckoboard

Geckoboard is well-designed for small businesses or newbies to website management. But its focus on disseminating rather than surfacing data means it’s not meant to act as a standalone website management tool.

Contact us today at nickmwebdesign.com/contact for any and all of your website needs!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization Websites

7 Tips To Build Trust Faster With Prospective Clients

customerService

Internet Marketing, Website Design, Business

Have you ever dealt with an overhyped salesperson that made you feel like they were a car salesman? I know I have. They make you feel like the biggest thing they care about is not helping you, but about making their sales commission. Our biggest goal as business owners who have an online presence is knowing how to build trust fast with prospective clients. How can you convey that you are a trusted solution to solve their problems? Keep reading for solutions that will help you build trust fast with prospects online.

1) Encourage Reviews and Testimonials

Customer Service

When I go to buy something from a new vendor, I love Googling “Reviews from VENDOR” online. It’s great to hear honest words from people who have tried their products and services as to the results they have achieved. Ask your happy clients and customers to share reviews on Yelp, Amazon, or your Facebook page. You want to make it easy for prospective customers to see that your offerings work and deliver results. And don’t forget your website should also display testimonials throughout depicting how beneficial your products or services were for them. 

2) Show How You Solve Problems

problemSolving

One of the biggest selling points is showing how your competitors or others have tried to deliver results and failed and how you succeeded in helping those people get positive results. If you can show that you hung in there, listened to their issues and resolved the problems that were plaguing them with competitive solutions, it goes a long way to show you are a trusted source. 

3) Demonstrate Consistency

If you can show how you consistently get results, it builds trust. Show how you have achieved customer satisfaction rewards year after year. Let them see you have achieved consistent 5-star ratings on Amazon. Add a direct link to your Yelp profile where customers consistently sing your praises. 

4) Deliver Outstanding Customer Service

customerService

If the media, or awards or customer reviews show that you are a top provider, then maintain that top-level service. When you do what you promise and go the extra mile, customers are happy to come back for continued service and talk about you to their friends and colleagues. Be someone worthy of referrals. 

5) Prove Yourself to be a Giver and not a Taker

Give major value in your blog articles, social media posts (especially videos) and when meeting new people at events. Show how you are helping your community. Offer freebies that solve problems for your audience.

6) Share Real Life Customer Success Stories

success

If you made a major impact in a customer’s life, share it with your audience. Show what situation they were in before, what actions you recommended they take, and the results they achieved afterward. There’s nothing as powerful as real-life results that help people believe you are the answer they have been searching for. 

7) Showcase Outside Validation

Has the media interviewed you? Have you received an award? Have you gotten an incredible customer review? The more you can show how others find you a valuable, proven solution in your industry the better. Seek and feature these accreditations to build credibility. Share posts on your social media. Write blog posts showing your honors. Highlight great customer reviews. Trust is the biggest key to building sales online. Incorporate these tips into your business marketing strategy and they will help you create and highlight the credibility factors for your business.

Be sure to visit nickmwebdesign.com for custom, fast and secure WordPress websites for your small business or for personal use. Let us worry about your online presence so you can focus on what you do best!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization Websites

12 Ways To Keep Your Data & Identity Safe Online

cyber-security

Small Business, Law, Business News, cyber security

How to Boost Your Digital Security for Peace of Mind

From the Facebook data breach to compromised customer data at huge companies like FedEx and Delta, personal security is more relevant than ever. In fact, it might even seem that our data is under attack! While you can’t always prevent data security issues, here are 12 ways to help you protect yourself in this fast-moving digital age:

1. Stop sending sensitive information digitally. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many people email tax documents to their accountant, or text a password to a family member in a pinch. 

2. Beware of public Wi-Fi. Anything you send in a coffee shop or airport can be intercepted by someone on the same network. Consider using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when you’re out and about. 3. Secure your texts. Whether you use a free app like WhatsApp or a paid Android or iOS solution, there are lots of end-to-end encryption options, ensuring only you and the recipient see messages. 

4. Stay up to date. If you don’t, you could be at risk for malware, viruses and cybercrime attacks. Make sure your operating system and software are updated – many devices do this automatically. 

5. Worry less about wireless. Secure your wireless network with a password so nobody can jump onto your Wi-Fi network and steal info. 

6. Be cautious of clever email scammers. Today’s phishing emails can have links that lead to realistic-looking websites. Never give out passwords or other sensitive info by email, text or phone unless you’re sure that you’re talking to the actual organization. 

7. Lock down your laptop. Make sure your laptop requires a password when it boots up. That way, if it gets stolen or prying eyes try to access your device, they’ll be stopped before they start. 

8. Wipe out data. If it’s time for a new laptop or smartphone, make sure your data isn’t hanging around. Once you’ve backed up any data you need, use a software program to permanently erase your hard drive. 

9. Choose security questions wisely. Avoid using common words in your passwords. Period. Google estimated someone would have a 19.7% success rate answering “pizza” to “What’s your favorite food? Customize questions or pick harder ones to guess. 

10. Avoid sites that aren’t https. https stands for “hypertext transfer protocol with secure socket layer” (otherwise known as having a SSL certificate.) Sites without an “s” on the end are not secure if you are being asked to make a purchase or submit private/sensitive data that could get intercepted. 

11. Pay attention to privacy settings. Choose who can see the content you post on sites like Facebook and Instagram, and who can view your profile. Opt for the highest level of privacy possible but be aware that some settings will prevent potential clients from seeing your posts, so find a happy balance that won’t sacrifice your social media marketing efforts! 

12. Back up your data. If your device gets stolen or compromised, what happens to that work report or your niece’s baby photos? Schedule automatic backups through your operating system or a cloud service.

While even the biggest and brightest companies can be hacked or otherwise attacked, these online security tips can help you reduce some of the risks. Also, if you’re hiring a web professional developer to help with your business, make sure they’re well-aware of current security issues.

We build websites with our clients’ safety in mind and perform regular security updates for ongoing peace of mind. Visit https://nickmwebdesign.com/ for any and all of your website needs.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization Websites

Why is my WordPress Site is Slow?

wordpress website

Internet, plugins, website speed, WordPress

How fast should a website load to avoid the risk of losing visitors? Now-a-days, a few seconds difference is enough for users to decide about the website. If the site doesn’t load as quickly as possible within the first few seconds, the users leave the site.

HTML/CSS vs WordPress

html/css

There is quite a difference in how a HTML coded website responds to the users than a WordPress site. Websites that are made of simple HTML5/CSS3 load faster because there is no dependency on plugins and themes. WordPress websites mostly depend on plugins or themes. Using poorly coded plugins and bloated themes can make the site very slow. Since there are a lot of plugins available free to use in WordPress, programmers generally use many of them on websites without much thought. But they don’t realize this will increase the number of http requests and load on the server. Also, sometimes the plugins conflict with each other or with the other site functionality. All this impacts site performance or functionality resulting in nil or slow website response. Let us see some major reasons that contribute to slow loading of a WordPress site.

Cheap or Low Quality Hosting

hosting

 One reason could be the web host service which has put your site on an overcrowded shared server. Check the type of hosting plan that you are using and if possible try to avoid common shared hosting. If the site is sharing server resources with many other sites, the speed will be significantly slow during peak hours or high traffic instances. Also check if the hosting service offers WordPress specific features. The service should provide automatic updates of plugins and themes, host level caching and many other features that are specific to wordpress. Otherwise it will affect the site continuity, speed and performance. To find out if your web hosting service is an issue use a tool like web site monitoring service with server monitoring feature. The service will check the server bandwidth and capabilities and will let you know if it is causing an issue. 

Plugins

plugins

 Not just the speed issues, the site may face many other problems with the wrong choice of plugins. Since the plugins are developed by programmers with varying skills, the quality of each may differ. If the plugin is important for certain site functionality, try to check its performance impact on other plugins and themes. Especially plugins that are free are the primary culprits for slowing down of websites. It is better to avoid outdated and unnecessary plugins. If you are using a third party premium plugin with encryption, remember it goes to a third party server to process the code. Also if plugins are being used for database queries or redirects, make sure to check their performance before using. 

Bloat on Your Website

 Reduce the bloat on your site by decreasing the image sizes, reducing the number of plugins & themes and minimizing the usage of external scripts & add-ons. If you are using bulky images and graphics, compress and optimize files to reduce their size. Unless it is necessary, avoid using plugins for live chats, social media buttons (Like Twitter & facebook), page pop-ups and video embed scripts (like Youtube videos) etc. Avoiding them will reduce the unnecessary load on the server and speed up the performance of the site. 

Caching

 Retrieving the data from the server can become a bottleneck especially during peak hours when traffic is high. When a server is overloaded with multiple HTTP requests the performance of the site will be low. The site will be sluggish if the content is not cached. By caching the plugins and pages as static files, the performance of the site can be improved. This will reduce the repeated HTTP requests and ease the load on the server. Particularly, when WordPress uses database requests to retrieve the content for users, caching will speed up the performance of the server as well as the website. Avoid Bottlenecks by Monitoring Websites

 Mentioned above are just a few reasons for bottlenecks in WordPress websites. To troubleshoot the speed issues of a WordPress site, pinpointing the issue is required. No matter how well you optimize the code or check for errors in detail, you may not identify the real cause. It requires a system that analyzes all aspects of a website for potential reasons including themes, plugins and external add-ons. Website monitoring is one such helpful service for identifying the root cause of your WordPress site. 

Free Website Speed Test

website speed test

To check the loading speed of your WordPress website go to https://www.isitwp.com/free-website-speed-test-tool-for-wordpress/. You simply type in the domain name of your website and it will show you how fast your pages are loading and it will give you suggestions on ways you can make your site faster completely for free. 

Be sure to visit NickMWebDesign.com for any and all of your website needs. 

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization Websites

Content creation for non-writers, procrastinators, and the stuck among us

content-creation-ideas

Internet Marketing, Marketing, Website Design

The cursor blinks, the time ticks slowly by, the page stays empty and most likely you end up in procrastination hell, the nameless people of the generic photo montage just as entertaining today as it was the first 5 times you watched it. You are not alone. Today I migrated downstairs to the kitchen at least four times beset by a hunger I could not feed. Sadly content ideas do not live in my refrigerator. But oh, the truffle cheese, pickled eggs, and melon bits. I digress.

‘Fast to create’ content

Here are some types of content that don’t need much of your writing or creating but will deliver value. They all begin with the word curation. Curating starts with collecting things that fit inside of a context. This article is a collection of ideas I use and have gleaned from others that fit inside the context of content creation. If you are in the health business you might collect 5 popular articles within a context, like weight loss, prescription meds, or aging in good health. You then package your articles with an intro: who this is for and why you chose these authors but remember to point out where you agree and can add something and where you disagree if you do. Interview someone who has a complimentary service or product that would add value to your tribe members.

fast-to-create-content-ideas

Top ten lists

If you are a social media expert you might interview an expert in offline marketing, aka, networking. If you want to be extra nice, write the top ten takeaways from the interview for people who won’t watch or listen. Speaking of top tens, people love top ten lists, or 20, 50, etc. Say you are a financial planner, you could do the top ten things that rob your nest egg. (Think Starbucks, another pair of shoes, not itemizing tax deductions so you get to keep more of your money at tax time, etc.) About once per quarter I used to compile a list of 3 – 5 Bestselling books I read on health (my lane at the time) and why I recommended or didn’t recommend them.

Not everything needs to be polished

What about taking your readers on a behind the scene tour of a day in the life of you or your product. It can be a fun video or a story about how an especially good—or bad- day went. The bad day, the bloopers, owning the epic fail to your fans will always be a crowd pleaser. Using someone else’s content and giving attribution is okay but not great for SEO. Google doesn’t value duplicate content so less of that and more original stuff. If you are artistic and creating an infographic is easy peasy for you, try that.

How to get over content writers block

The reason to create content in the first place—and all content need not be written—is to provide value to your readers, listeners, viewers. If you are going to write, take the time to write well. If your brain is a dusty dry patch of nothing on the day your weekly missive is due, ditch your usual way of connecting and have some fun. Curate, hold forth, run a contest, record a video, anything is fair game, but stay in touch. Writer’s block is real but it doesn’t have to crush the commitment to your loyal readers, (and the new ones who will happen upon your work) to show up with something good. And breaking from routine is one way to break the spell of “everything has already been said, I’m doomed.” It might also keep you out of the kitchen when you shouldn’t be there.

Nick M Web Design also offers content creation, video editing, online adverts, UI/UX mock ups for apps, website and more. Contact us now for a free consultation.

 

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization Websites

Avoiding Disaster: Make Website and Business Asset Backups Mandatory

data-backups

Internet, Business, Web Traffic

Do you have a backup of all your website and business data? A sudden attack on your web hosting or an employee error can cause havoc without warning. The same goes for any information about your business stored on your computer. If your computer suddenly got infected with a virus and you had to format your hard drive, it would likely have a big impact on your business. So what should you do to prepare for data loss?

Backing Up Your website

Sometimes website hacks might not be obvious, and you really have to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Sadly, hackers can do more than just break your website. In the past some websites have been secretly hijacked with new info added to them without their knowledge. The reason can be for another website to track your users or to monitor what you’re doing to aid a competing business. Check your pages for any unusual content additions as well as any new plugins you didn’t add yourself. If you notice anything then you have a problem. Without backups of your website that problem can be very difficult to solve.

Try this free malware and security scanner from Sucuri to see if you currently have a problem: https://sitecheck.sucuri.net

With backups you can fix things in a few clicks! Backing up your website could be something already in place without you even knowing it. Check with your webhost and see if you have automated backups already enabled and make sure you understand how to do a “roll back” where you can restore a previous version of your website that was backed up before you encountered an error. By doing this you can literally restore your website with a few clicks and save yourself a lot of stress. 

If you don’t have backups, see if your CMS (such as WordPress) has a backup tool/plugin you can employ. There are many free options to choose from depending on how your website was built such as UpdraftPlus for WordPress. 

If your website is 100% custom the easiest thing to do is to use a File Transfer Protocol tool such as Filezilla and manually download your website to your PC. Then you can store that in a cloud storage service or an external hard drive in case you ever have any issues and need a functional version of your site. If your website isn’t very big you can even just zip the contents and email them to yourself.

If you would prefer someone else to take care of your website security and backup measures for you, get in touch with NickMWebDesign.com as we have a monthly maintenance plan to ease this burden off your shoulders.

Backing Up Your Business Data

Most entrepreneurs and small business owners have their business on their computer. While many files could be searched for in your email, you won’t want to start combing emails hunting for spreadsheets. So it’s a really good idea to do periodic backups of your computer data. This process is easy and can become a routine habit once you’ve done it a few times.

The first step will actually help with something mentioned in the website backup portion above and that’s to use Winzip or Winrar. These programs compress the files into one file so you have everything in one place. Some emails restrict sending these file types for security reasons so for these files you’re likely going to want to back up the data using a free cloud storage system like GDrive or Dropbox.

  1. After installing Winzip or Winrar you’ll be able to right click on the folder on your desktop with all your business info and simply select to add to the archive.
  2. This will create the crunched copy of everything in that folder for easy storage. Then just head over to your preferred storage point and add the archive file!
  3. You can drag in onto an external drive or add it to a cloud. Either way you’ll have all that information available at your fingertips whenever you need it.
  4. Avoid Disaster and Implement! 

These might seem like trivial things to you or a big hassle to deal with… until you need them. Anyone who has experienced a hacked website or a compromised hard drive knows that hindsight is 20/20 and the words ‘if only I had…” suddenly become regrettably normal. Backups are like oil changes and should be done periodically to ensure your business keeps running without devastating interruptions. If you have any issues navigating any of these steps just let us know in the comments or email us and we’ll make sure you know what to do.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Categories
Optimization

Improve Your Search Results

improve-seo

Internet Marketing: How to improve organic traffic to your website

Looking at search results for your competitors and seeing these results with images, reviews and extra links in the search results? Welcome to the world of Schema.org based rich snippet markup, an HMTL5 based code which has been shown to provide a positive impact on search engine rankings and increase click through rates for your search engine result listings.

Structured Data

ge schema or rich snippet markup is a way to enable search engines to better understand the structured data contained within these web pages and in turn provide better search results to users.

structured-data

Rich Snippets

Rich snippets are additional data displayed within your ad listing, providing a quick glance at what your page offers without forcing a click from uninterested web surfers. When done properly, the data provided by rich snippets can result in a positive increase in performance by delivering visitors who know exactly what to expect when visiting your page.

WHY SHOULD I USE RICH SNIPPETS?

So why should you use rich snippets? The use of rich snippets is becoming more common & helps increase your sites organic traffic by: 

1. Make your listing stand out – When your listings have rich snippets they will display photos, reviews, telephone numbers, email addresses, links and much more. 

2. Help Search Engines Better Understand Your Content & Increase the Relevancy – The more Google is able to understand about your website the better. When Google is able to better understand your content it increases the relevancy, which in turn helps your site show up in Google for your selected terms.

Learn More

To learn HTML5 or more information on the types of Schema.org markups that are available, check out the tutorial in Google’s support center. Visit the following tutorial on W3Schools.com for more information on HTML5, Rich Snippets & other useful tools. The use of rich snippets will become more common in the near future. So why should you use rich snippets? Rich snippets will help increase organic traffic for your website, blog or other online endeavors.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

NickMahler.

© 2021 Nick Mahler Web Designs LTD. All Rights Reserved

Get Upcoming Deals and New Content Directly To Your Inbox

small_c_popup

Subscribe

Sign up and receive special deals and new content alerts