5 Notable Tactics to Eliminate Spam & Virus Threats

As fellow online business owners, we often face treacherous Internet security risks every single time we are online. Viruses, hackers, and spam await us at each and every turn of an Internet page. The harsh reality is that these threats are always going to be a factor of doing business online. Unfortunately, they seem to be here to stay for the long haul no matter what precautions are made.

But, there are a number of precautions you can take to make ourselves, our businesses and the visitors to our sites as safe as possible. Here are some tactics that have been proven to enhance our Internet security:

1. AntiVirus Protection. Make sure you have the latest virus updates installed on your computer.  Let the software thoroughly scan your entire computer as often as possible to ensure that no viruses successfully planted themselves on your hard drive. Doing this daily is the best way to prevent harm to your computer, but it is understandable if you don’t always have the time.  Be sure to set your virus checker to scan all of your emails when it downloads them, as well.

Personally, I use AVG Free to scan both my computer and my emails. They also have a fee-based version that provides complete Internet protection. McAfee and Norton also offer similar products, but I recommend AVG Free over them always.

For spyware and malware protection, I use SuperAntiSpyware, AdAware and SpyBot, but CounterSpy is another decent software to use as well. The company that makes this software also has a product to protect against viruses and spyware called VIPRE.  Though I haven’t yet tried it, I have learned that it is a very good one to use.

2. Email Address Spam. One of the easiest ways your email address gets added to massive lists of spammed email addresses is by including a link to your email address on your website. Spambots regularly search the Internet looking for available email addresses to gather online. Even if your link is ‘cloaked’ by saying ‘click here to email,’ the spambot is still able to read the HTML sourcecode and harvest the email address.

Instead, completely remove your email address off of all of your website’s pages. Use a contact form for people to email you that incorporates CAPTCHA technology (where the form filler has to read a graphic representation of a word or set or numbers to prove that they aren’t a spambot). I use CoffeeCup’s Form Builder for this.  But there are free software out there.  One is FreedBack.

3. Alternate and Catch-All Email Address. If your web host company permits, be sure to create a catch-all email address that receives all email not specifically marked for a set POP email address or email forward you may have set up. When you sign up for someone’s free giveaway, for example, that will add you to their marketing list you can then enter an email address that reminds you of the site or giveaway where you used it.  This will help in keeping tack of good emails as opposed to bad ones.

For example, if I’m signing up for John Doe’s free computer training tips report, I might use pctraining@mydomain.com, which will then end up in my catch-all domain email address. In this way, you don’t have to give away your ‘real’ email address, and you can determine if the list holder sells or rents your email address to another. So, then, if you suddenly begin to get emails to your pctraining@mydomain.com address from a software or PC hardware company you’ve never heard of, you’ll know that they sold or rented your email address to them.

4. Set Up Firewalls. Make sure that you are at least using Windows firewall protection, at a minimum, to protect your computer from being hacked while you’re online. If you don’t like the Windows version, you can look online for others.  Some are free, but those are very limited. The best thing with most of the free firewalls out there is, you can also upgrade for a fee to get enhanced protection for them.

If you use a wireless router like I do, be sure to set a password to secure it so that anyone passing by your home or office cannot hijack your signal and potentially hack your computer.  When I log in to the Internet, I often check to see if there are any unsecured networks in my ‘neighborhood’ and it’s amazing to see how many there are. 

5. Have a Secure Server. If you’re selling something online, either your website hosting account or your shopping cart provider needs to have a security certificate so that any monetary transactions can be made over a secure server. You can check to see if your checkout process is secure by looking for https:// in the address window of your browser when you are on the payment page of your site or shopping cart. Some browsers will also show a gold locked padlock icon when you are on a secure server.

 

One important thing to remember: 

When you make sure that your computer and email are protected from spam, viruses, malware and such, your customers are safe when you email them or upload something to your site for them to access. Responsible online business owners need to take every preventative measure available to them to enhance Internet security for everyone involved, not just themselves.

Confused Acronyms – SEO, SEM, SEA, PPC & LP

Too many people confuse the term SEO (search engine optimization) with other acronyms that are important to websites these days.

The following are the most popular acronyms and their basic descriptions:

SEO – Search Engine Optimization
This is the process of increasing or improving the amount of traffic to a website from various search engines by way of ‘organic’ or ‘algorithmic’ results.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing
This is the form of marketing a website on the internet via various promotion techniques such as SEO, SEA, PPC (pay-per-click) and other forms of paid advertisements.

SEA – Search Engine Advertising
This is the form of advertising a website through a sponsored media, which is also known as PPC (pay-per-click).

PPC – Pay-Per-Click
This is the advertising form used on search engines, advertising networks and specific content sites, in which advertiser pay the host each time their ad is clicked.

LP – Link Popularity
This is the measure of the number and quality of other websites that link to a specific site, which determines the quality of its content.

If you are planning to or have had a ‘professional’ web design firm handle the design of your website, use this as a reference to make sure you chose the correct one.  Ask them if they know the difference between these acronyms.  If they reply they are all the same, or don’t even know what you are talking about, then that is a clear sign you need to take your business elsewhere.  If you don’t, then you only have yourself to blame.

Social Networking and Bookmarking – Is it worth it?

Over the past few months, I have been looking into different means to increase my site’s visitor traffic, as well as its ranking in various search engines.

I have found quite a few sites that I never would have thought to have used and they have proven to dramatically increase both quite a bit.

You would be surprised that just by adding your URL to web directories, social networking and also bookmarking sites will help your site out exponentially.  The results for some may be immediate, where others may take some time.  But they will be there.  You just have to be diligent in your efforts to reap the rewards.

Some sites require that you register an account with them to add your URL, where others merely want your email address.  It all depends on what you are willing to give them to accomplish your goals.  Personally, I tend to steer clear of the sites that only require email addresses, as they can sometimes prove to be only farming for emails to spam.  I research them and see if they are truly beneficial or not before I proceed.

It also takes a little bit of your time to maintain your accounts with either updates to existing sites or new ones.  So be prepared to spend at least an hour a day, if not more, depending on how many sites you want to add your URL to, and how many URL’s you want to add.  The more you add, the better the results are.

In the end, it will all be worth it, because you will soon have a site that is receiving increased hits and higher rankings in search engines.

An Evil Empire?

I have seen countless blogs and such spewing out negative publicity for MerchantCircle.com.  I actually take the time to read them and I have to sit back and laugh.

Everyone is basically speaking up and complaining about the same thing over and over.  The funny thing is, I have yet to find anything to prove their claims anywhere, other than the complaints.

Granted, most of the complaints are from at least 2 years back, so maybe back then, it was true, but that’s not the case in the present.  Or at least what I can find.

I’ve been a member of MC since December and it has increased my company’s exposure online.  I have received numerous calls and have been able to secure some nice jobs because of it.

I guess I have been one of the fortunate few that have been able to steer clear of any bad things that the ‘Evil MC Monster’ has been able to wreak havoc on.  Or, is it all just a bunch of bandwagon jumpers that were bored one day and just wanted to be a sheep instead?

The Horror of DORA

Have you ever received a letter from DORA (Domain Registry of America)?  A lot of my clients have, informing them of their ‘pending domain registration renewals.’  Luckily, I maintain a close relationship with my clients and they have asked me about the letter before sending money to these rip-off artists.

Unfortunately, not so many are that lucky.  Over the years, DORA has duped a lot of clients of registrar companies out of considerable amounts of money.  And the saddest part is, the way they do it is not considered illegal.  Years ago, this was not the case though.

For some time, DORA had fraudulently misled recipients of their letters stating that they were affiliated with the registrar that they were currently using.  Or they would state that they are offering them a better price than they are already paying.

DORA uses various WHOIS databases to acquire information to send their letters out to unsuspecting companies and individuals.  How could something like this be possible, you may ask?  It’s really quite simple.  It has mainly to do with ignorance and failed communication between registrar companies / web designers and their clients. 

There have been countless complaints filed against DORA over the years.  Even the Federal Trade Commission banned DORA from continuing their misleading activities and ordered them to pay compensation for the clients they had misled.  Here’s an important article to check out:  http://www.whoisfinder.com/news/200401/canadian-domain-slammer.html

The best way to avoid something like this from happening to you is to be in constant contact with your registrar and or web designer, unless they are one in the same.  Maintain good communication and ask them questions.  If they are unwilling or unable to answer your questions, it might be wise to look elsewhere for your domain registration needs.

My services for renewing a domain costs my clients only $15 per year.  DORA often charges in excess of $30 per year.  Sometimes they offer a discount if you register two or three years with them, and when you see that discount you almost want to jump at the chance to ‘save some money.’  This is where they get you.  Even with their discounts, they are still charging more than what I would.

Of course there are companies out there that can charge as little as $6 per year to register a domain, but once you register your domain with them, you typically become just another account number to that company.  My clients are all treated with highest regards and are normally on a first name basis. 

I am a great believer in excellent customer service at all times; which is why I am writing this.  Hopefully it reaches you before you make the mistake of allowing this company to take advantage of you.

Here are some additional resources to assist you in protecting yourself against DORA.

Federal Trade Ccommission Posting

Alternate names they have used:

Registration Services Incorporated, Domain Registry Services, Registration Services Incorporated, Domain Registry of Europe, Yellowbusiness.ca, Internet Registry of Canada, Domain Registry of Canada and Domain Registry of Australia.

Websites they have used:
droa.com, droa.net, droa.org, droa.biz, droc.ca, droe.com, droe.info, droe.biz

Advantages of owning your own website Part 3

Part 3

 

Is The Cost Of A Website Affordable?

 

Are you unsure if you can afford the cost to invest in a professional website today?

 

That’s a completely understandable feeling.  In fact, everyone has the same concerns as you in the beginning. But what many of these people have discovered was that in today’s electronic world; they actually couldn’t afford to not make their business presence known on the internet.

 

When considering the cost of a website, here are four facts to keep in mind that might help you make your decision:

 

1. Busy households often turn to the internet when they are searching for a product or service, far more rapidly than the yellow pages.

 

2. Many people have found the initial cost of a website to be less than the cost to their business not making their presence known on the net!

 

3. The cost of investing in a professional website is frequently comparable to advertising in periodicals. In fact, it is often far less expensive than the cost of a single advertisement in a metropolitan newspaper!

 

4. A professional business website reaches a worldwide audience, and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year! 

 

This concludes my three part posting for the advantages of owning your own website. 

Advantages of owning your own website Part 2

Part 2

 

A website with email communication is convenient, easy, and safe for the customer.  And email is also very convenient for you. 

 

You can respond to all your customer inquiries at the same time, and do it when you have a free moment — not in the middle of rush hour when someone calls to ask for product information or directions to your location. 

 

You can save money with improved customer support and better ways of answering questions 

 

If your employees spend a lot of time answering the same questions and sending out the same material, you can reduce that labor cost significantly by providing the information on the website within a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page.

 

Your employees can avoid having to mail or fax information for over 1,000 phone call solicitations in a one-year period simply by providing the information on your site. That improves on labor costs and provides a real cost savings in reduced long distance phone bills (for faxes) and postage. 

 

Your website can take orders while you sleep, because your site will allow people to place orders on your website at any time, day or night. 

 

Your website can inform, educate, sell, advertise, serve your current customers and best of all introduce your business to new contacts worldwide.

 

Lastly, but most importantly – There are no salesmen manning the store, no utilities, no insurance and no payroll.  Computers don’t need a benefit package or overtime. For every second of every day, your website will be working for you at a fraction of your current payroll employees!