Unsolicited SEO Emails – Are They Legit? 25 May 2021 9:18 AM (3 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Unsolicited SEO Emails – Are They Legit? .

Be wary of unsolicited emails you receive about SEO. Most are from scammers who will gladly take your money, yet not do any actual work.

Clues to look for…

Here are some clues that an unsolicited marketing message is not legitimate:

There is no company name or website address listed on the email.
The sender uses a Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or other free email address. Most legitimate companies will use a company-based email address.
The email was sent from a contact form on your website.
The email states that there is a problem with your search rankings or that the amount of traffic to your site has decreased. There is NO WAY for another person or company to know how much traffic your site receives unless they are a verified user on your Google account.
The email mentions errors on your site that are easily verified as false. For example, they may say your site is not secure even though you have an SSL certificate. Or, they say you have bad links, technical issues, duplicate content, etc., without offering specific examples.
The email has glaring spelling and grammatical errors.

What Google says about unsolicited emails:

Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too: “Dear google.com, I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.
Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35291?hl=en

We hope this helps explain these unsolicited emails. If you have additional questions about a specific email you have received, we’d be happy to provide more information. Contact us for more info.

The post Unsolicited SEO Emails – Are They Legit? first appeared on CYber SYtes.

Common Email Problems and How to Solve Them 9 Mar 2021 9:00 PM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Common Email Problems and How to Solve Them .

Is My Password Wimpy?

Most people use passwords that are easy for them to remember so that they can check their email on the go, or from a computer they don’t ordinarily use. We do this using patterns we develop over time, usually for sentimental reasons; a childhood pet’s name, a sibling’s middle name, the year we were born, etc., are all things that it’s easy for us to remember. RoverAmanda72 is much easier than those horrible passwords a generator will give you, and all you have to do is think, “Dog, sister, b’day,” to remember it! The problem is, a computer can crack that password very quickly, especially if that information about you is on the internet somewhere.

A good password is totally random, has nothing to do with you, has no (or few) real words in it, and doesn’t follow a pattern. Humans try to work with patterns, but computers absolutely depend on them. This means that using a truly random password increases the chances of keeping bots out of your email. You should also use completely different random passwords for everything you log into, so that if one password is cracked, they don’t have access to your entire digital life.

So now you’re probably thinking, “Well, that’s nice, but I can’t remember a dozen or more completely random passwords!” And you’re in luck, since you don’t have to remember them. There are now password management services that will do that for you. Create an account, remember a single password, and let the management service remember the password to your other websites and services. Most of them even have a free level, such as Dashlane, even if it means you can only use it on one device. Just Google “Password Manager”

Help, I’m Blacklisted!

Okay, what happens if you choose not to use a random, super-hard-to-remember password? Well, a lot of things can happen! Probably one of the worst things that can happen, though, is getting blacklisted. That happens when a bot logs into your email and starts sending out emails to random addresses with whatever scam they’re running that day. Most email providers will only allow you to send up to 250 emails per day, and a bot will blast through those in less than a minute. Usually this gets your email deactivated until your password is reset, but the damage is already done. Now around 250 people are going to start reporting those emails to their hosts as spam, which the host, in turn, reports to services such as Barracuda (a service that tracks email and domain reputation). Most email hosts will check with multiple services like Barracuda when an email comes into them to see if the person sending it has a bad reputation. If they do, the server will flag the message as spam, or, in extreme cases, completely reject it. And there are thousands of lists like Barracuda, which makes it extremely expensive and time-consuming to get your domain removed from them.

How Did They Get In?

The first question most people ask after their email has been broken into is, “How did they get in?” The answer to that is almost always, “With the password.” Really, there are two main ways to get your password:

They guessed it. Sounds impossible, but computers can think a lot faster than we can. A computer can hammer at a login page using different combinations of words and numbers (which is why you shouldn’t use real words or number sequences in passwords), much faster than a human can. A good email hosting service will detect this after a few attempts and block the IP address of the computer trying to get in. But they don’t always catch it, which usually means…

You gave it to them. Usually this is done through a tiny program called spyware or malware. The program gets installed in the background when you go to a website infected with it or open an attachment from an infected computer. The program will usually hide in the background watching what websites you go to and the passwords & usernames you type in to access them. After a while, this information gets sent to someone, who uses it to log into those services and wreak havoc.

What About Prevention?

Prevention is something that needs constant attention, but there are some things you can do to make it easier:

Pick a quality email host. While it seems counterintuitive, a good email host will shut down your email if they detect a bot sending messages or trying to break in. This is to protect you from being blacklisted, which is a very good thing, if an inconvenience.
Use a managed hosting provider. Web developers such as CYber SYtes manage your email service for you, so you’re not bombarded with terminology you don’t understand and decisions you don’t know how to make.
Change your passwords often. Using a completely random password doesn’t mean that a bot can’t break it, only that it takes longer. Changing your passwords at least yearly adds to the difficulty of breaking it.
Use a different password for every account. If you use the same password over and over, the chances are high that if one service gets broken into, the break-in will spread to other services with the same password.
Don’t re-type passwords if you can help it. Use copy & paste to enter passwords instead of re-typing them. Spyware can’t see your password if you’re not typing it.
Check your devices often for spyware and malware. Use scanners like Malware Bytes to scan your computer, or ask your website designer if they can recommend an IT company to keep your computers healthy.
Use a password manager. Password management services can help you keep your passwords organized and even automatically log you into websites without constantly having to re-type the username and password.
Check your domain reputation. Most services don’t do this unless you ask them to, so you’ll probably have to request it. Usually, though, a quick check only takes a few minutes and doesn’t cost anything.

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Is a Lead Generation Service Worth It? 7 Jan 2021 11:00 PM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Is a Lead Generation Service Worth It? .

While it can be an attractive proposition to pay a lead generation service to find leads for you, it is important to remember that you get what you pay for.

Some parts of the sales industry depend on leads to make sales. The real estate industry is a prime example of this. Logically, more leads can lead to more sales, so having as many of them as possible increases your chances of a good payday. And to cater to that need, there are many, many lead generation services chomping at the proverbial bit to sell you their services. At first, this sounds like a dream-come-true! You get to pay them a small(-ish) fee in return for a list of leads to work that you didn’t have to find yourself. But let’s take a look at this from a different angle…

Where did these leads come from?

Lead generators get their leads from a variety of sources. The most common source we’ve seen is mailing lists. This is where spam comes from, too. When you sign up for something online using your email address, you have to look for a disclaimer that says something to the effect of, “We won’t share your information.” If that notice isn’t there, chances are good that they are selling your information to mass-mailing lists. And, bingo-presto, you have spam! Lead generators buy these lists and sell them on to you. They also get their leads from semi-legitimate sources.

Take the real estate example. A person may ask a question about a property in Idaho, but not buy the property. They add that email address to a pool of contacts then eventually makes its way to you. If you’re based in Panama City, Florida, a lead from Idaho isn’t going to do you much good. They probably were looking for property in Idaho for a reason.

But, now you’ve spent money for this lead and you have to spend time having someone call and have a conversation with them to find out that you’re not going to make a sale. So, by the time you’ve paid your fees and paid your agents / employees to track the lead, you probably would’ve spent more than if the lead just hadn’t come in at all.

Are these leads even legal?

Not always. Consider the earlier example of signing up for something on a website, or asking a question about a property. There is no guarantee that your information will even be sold to someone in the same industry as where your inquiry occurred.

Strangely, a realtor may get a lead for someone they think was looking for property, but was signed up for a list after requesting a quote for lawnmower repair. Now you’ve wasted your time, a guy with a broken lawnmower is very confused why someone is trying to sell him property, and your lead generator resold information that wasn’t theirs to sell. And everyone involved is a little richer, except you and lawnmower man.

So, is there a better way than a lead generation service to get leads?

Yes, the best leads are always going to be the ones that come to you. So how do you make that happen? There are a few ways to accomplish this, but most take investments of money and time. One way is stepping up your advertising game. Make sure that you are advertising and that you’re advertising to the right people.

For example, think about your industry from the lead’s perspective. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense for a realtor in Panama City to advertise to someone in Arkansas, but people move across the country every day. There’s a whole world out there, so don’t just focus on one type of advertising. Start a Facebook ad campaign. Run ads on Google and Yahoo. Look into radio and TV, those coffee table magazines at dental offices, local papers, etc.

One of your biggest tools for advertising on the internet can be a search engine optimization (SEO) program and Analytics. A good search engine specialist can tell you where the majority of your traffic is coming from and what you can do to improve it. Analytics will let you see who is interested in what so that you can decide where to focus your efforts.

Here are some quick tips to help you get started pulling in real leads:

Contact your web developer to get a snapshot of your current SEO state.
Find out what advertising channels fit you and your budget best.
Talk with your SEO Specialist to set realistic goals and a plan to meet them.
Make sure to use Analytics and other tools to track your progress.
Set a date in the future to do a comparison of where you are vs where you were. And adjust your plan as needed.

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Shelf Life of a Website 14 Dec 2020 12:00 AM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Shelf Life of a Website .

Websites have an expiration date. Just like milk in your fridge, letting a website get past its expiration date may not have too many aesthetic consequences. But, things you typically can’t see are breaking down and not performing their job.

However, websites are a bit more complicated than milk. Developers build websites using a combination of computer languages, such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, etc. Programmers and designers use these languages to construct every element of a website, making each one as up-to-date as possible. The problem with this is that servers, and even the languages themselves, change over time. One at a time, these changes don’t always break things. But, over more time, the changes start to build up until parts of the website break down.

When do I need a new website?

The industry-standard recommendation is to completely rebuild a website every 3 to 4 years. This helps make sure your site is reasonably up-to-date at any given time and that it incorporates most major changes in frameworks, languages, and hardware.

This is more important than you may think. Google and other search engines take changes in website design technologies into account when scoring your website–in some cases, as soon as they happen. This means that you can miss out on potential sales or get penalized in some other way because the engines are looking for an updated feature that your website doesn’t have.

Speak with your website developer about what you can do to keep your website up and running. Or, contact us online or give us a call at (850) 233-5514 today!

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A Custom Website vs a Website Builder 2 Dec 2020 6:35 AM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to A Custom Website vs a Website Builder .

When deciding to build a website, many people wonder if they should pay a firm to build a custom website or if they can do it themselves for less money upfront with a website builder.

Generally, this decision seems to boil down to the monetary side of the argument. But it’s important to know that site builders are generally not straightforward about their cons, while pulling your attention to their pros. Here are some things to consider before making a decision that could actually cost you more money in the long run.

Ownership

Site builders do not generally make it known that you do not actually own the website. You own the wording and the images you legally uploaded to the site, but not the code that makes up the website itself.

What does that mean? If you decide you don’t want to host with that company any longer, you can’t download the site and take it somewhere else. Instead, you are put in a strange situation where you will have to re-build the site if you leave.

Conversely, with most design firms, you own your website and its content as soon as it’s paid for. This means that you can download the site, take it somewhere else, and have the exact same website with no redesign or rebuild time required.

Hidden Fees & Privacy

When you sign up for a “low cost” do-it-yourself website, there are often hidden fees. You may have to pay extra for website transfers, email addresses, image hosting, site security, and other services. They may charge you for these fees without notice or continue charging you even when you want to cancel.

Website builder companies may also sell your private information. Read the fine print if you don’t want to end up on mailing lists.

Professional Support & Advice

While site builder services give you the miraculous ability to drag and drop elements onto a webpage, that doesn’t make you a website designer–the same way that giving you a cookbook doesn’t make you a gourmet chef. You are left to your own devices. In other words, they give you the ability to do a thing, but they don’t give you any advice on how to (or even if you should) do that thing.

For example, one of the most common elements on a website is a photo slider on the homepage. Site builders make it insanely simple to add a photo slider. But where is the advice on when and how to use one? Not all sites should have a photo slider!

Sliders should be used to highlight important information on your site, to encourage users to dig deeper, and eventually lead to a sale or agreement. Sure, sliders look pretty, but a slider with pretty pictures only pushes your relevant content further down the page.

Website design firms employ designers and consultants trained to assist you in building a website. Part of their job is to inform you how design choices can actually help or hurt your business.

Customizability

Most site builders offer you the ability to add complex components with a couple of clicks of a mouse, but they don’t offer you the ability to change or fine tune those components.

Take a real estate property listing. Typically, a property listing on a website will include a thumbnail photo, a title, a price, a few pieces of information such as the number of beds and baths, and a link to view more details. Most site builders don’t give you the ability to customize that information in any way. In a nutshell, you get only what they give you.

With a custom website, the name says it all. You can have almost anything you want. On custom property listings you can tailor the page titles for better SEO, display whether or not a property is waterfront, use a photo slider instead of a single thumbnail, use effects to grab attention, etc. And this applies to everything about your website, not just this example.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is arguably just as important as the website itself. Without a search-friendly site, it is difficult for potential customers to find you online. If you use a site builder, will you know how your design choices affect your site’s SEO?

SEO can also help make sure your site is unique and different from your competitors’ sites. Ironically, the thing that makes site builders work makes this impossible. Site builders function by having pre-built elements that you drag onto your website. This means that any other website on the same platform may have the exact same information. That’s called “duplicate content” and it can hurt your SEO efforts.

Most custom website design firms employ SEO specialists to make sure your website design and your site content is as search friendly as possible. SEO specialists can also perform competition analysis to help you display information that makes your website stand out from your competitors.

Site Performance and Scalability

Some websites built with site builders can be slow to load. This hurts both the user experience and your search rankings. They can also come with limited storage and bandwidth with a low cap that can limit how much you can publish on your site.

While custom sites also come with storage and bandwidth caps, these caps are adjustable. We can also use tools and services that are unavailable to site builders to improve performance and cut down on bandwidth usage.

Management & Updates

Site builders generally do not come with support staff to answer questions or to perform updates for you. Instead, they leave you to do all updates on your own. There are almost always going to be circumstances where you want to perform an update and, because you’re not a website designer, you won’t know how to get the webpage exactly the way you want it.

You may also have questions about best practices, for example, with compliance for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Some site builders may have a few bullet points explaining how to make your site ADA compliant, but they don’t go into the details of implementing web accessibility. Moreover, ADA compliance requires constant effort in order to avoid a lawsuit. It is extremely complex and constantly changing.

In addition, the site builders that we checked don’t explain how to test your site for compliance much less how to fix errors. In fact, one of them didn’t even mention one of the most common infractions found in compliance tests–color contrast for readability. A custom website design firm should take these best practices into account on your behalf.

The Key Point to Consider

With a site builder, you are given the tools to build a website, but they are not very flexible and don’t come with the years of combined experience that you get with a design firm. So, how do you decide between a site builder and a custom website?

Have an honest conversation with yourself before you choose. Ask yourself if you have the time and resources to build the website, maintain it, research laws and standards as they change, make updates to the content, and fix any problems that may arise.

If your time is important, a custom website design will, in the long run, save you money.

Still not sure? Learn about our website design services or contact us for a free consultation and let us know what your concerns are. We are here to help!

The post A Custom Website vs a Website Builder first appeared on CYber SYtes.

Website Security: Practices and Tips 8 Nov 2020 9:00 PM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Website Security: Practices and Tips .

Your website is an asset of your business that has just as much, if not more, value as your company computers, cars, and other resources. It can be a 24 hour source of information or income with a global reach. Assets with that much potential worth should definitely be protected, so we’ve put together a list of tips to help you protect your business’ investment.

Strong Passwords!

Setting strong passwords is the backbone of web security. There is no firewall, certificate or code that will stop someone from getting into your site if your password is password or 123456.

Use a service, like howsecureismypassword.net, to check if your password is strong.
Use long passwords, at least 8 characters long. The longer the better!
Use numbers and symbols.
Don’t use your name, domain name, children’s names, or other easy-to-guess nouns or dates.
If possible, don’t use real words.
Reset your passwords often.
Don’t use the same password over and over for different services. Once someone has it for one thing, they have it for them all.
Use a password manager, such as Dashlane, to manage and secure your passwords.

SSL Certificates

SSL certificates encrypt information sent to and from the website. This helps to prevent someone from intercepting passwords, usernames, email addresses, etc., as they are sent to the website. Make sure your website has an SSL certificate issued by a respectable source installed. You can read more about SSL certificates here.

Firewall Services

Use firewall services, like CloudFlare, to manage who can access your site. CloudFlare uses JavaScript challenges and pattern recognition to control who can see your website, which helps to limit the number of automated break-ins since bots can’t read or respond to JavaScript. You can also use CloudFlare to challenge or even block entire countries from being able to access your website. You can read more about firewalls here.

Communicate

Talk to your host or developer about the security measures in place on your site. Ask about current trends and safety practices, not only on the developer side, but also on the user side to make sure that you are doing everything you can to help keep your site secure.

The post Website Security: Practices and Tips first appeared on CYber SYtes.

How to enter accessible content on your website 18 Oct 2020 3:03 PM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to How to enter accessible content on your website .

If you update the content on your website, it’s important to make sure that the text, photos, videos, etc., are accessible and usable by everyone.

What is web accessibility?

In general, accessibility on the web means making your website as inclusive to as many users as possible. This includes people with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities.

Accessibility can also benefit people without disabilities such as

people with small screens (mobile phones, tablets, smart watches), smart TVs, and devices with different input modes;
older people with changing abilities due to ageing;
people with “temporary disabilities” such as a broken arm or lost glasses;
people with situational limitations such as in a dark room, in bright sunlight, or in an place where they cannot listen to audio;
and people with slow, limited, or expensive Internet connections.

Finally, accessibility also affects search engines which must crawl through the links on your pages to read and index what’s there. This means accessibility may also help your website rank better in Google searches.

Tips for entering accessible content

Visit the Accessibility Support Documents page on wordpress.com to get tips on how to enter accessible content. This page explains how to

Write descriptive image captions.
Use ALT text on images.
Clearly describe links instead of using links such as “click here” or “learn more”.
Use appropriate headings.
Choose fonts and colors wisely.

You can learn more about web accessibility at the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website. It covers these topics in a very easy to understand manner with text and short videos: why accessibility is important, what makes a website accessible, and accessibility examples.

Need help?

We can enter accessible content for you at our standard design rate. Just open a support ticket for your website update on our Support page.

Are you interested in a new accessible website design? Contact us to see how we can help.

The post How to enter accessible content on your website first appeared on CYber SYtes.

FREE SEO Audit for Hosted Clients. 1 Oct 2020 5:13 AM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to FREE SEO Audit for Hosted Clients. .

Google’s guidelines and recommendations change over time. A periodic SEO audit can identify new opportunities for improving your site. And if you are a CYber SYtes hosted client, you may qualify for a free audit!

Our Basic SEO audit answers questions such as:

How does my site currently perform in Google?
Are all of my pages properly indexed in the search engines?
How does the amount of content on my site compare to my local competitors?
Is Google applying any penalties to my site?
Are external websites linking to my site?
Is my site mobile friendly?
Are there errors or warnings that can affect my site’s rankings?
What SEO plan is best for my site?

Comprehensive SEO Audit

We also offer a comprehensive audit that includes over 50 detailed checks of multiple pages on your website (not just your homepage).

Would you like an SEO Audit performed on your website? Contact us in Panama City Beach, FL, today for more information.

The post FREE SEO Audit for Hosted Clients. first appeared on CYber SYtes.

Get More Website Traffic from Google My Business/Google Maps 15 Aug 2020 3:44 PM (4 years ago)

Written by CYber SYtes and posted to Get More Website Traffic from Google My Business/Google Maps .

If your business serves local customers, then you can get more traffic to your website from Google My Business. Google shows Google My Business listings on their map website, their phone apps, and in regular Google search results as map pack listings.

Google Map Ranking Tips:

Claim your Google My Business listing if you haven’t already. This allows you to add more information to your listing and helps prevent unauthorized changes.
Completely fill out your Google My Business profile. Listings with more information often rank better.
Create an individual page on your site for each product or service you offer, and for each location or city you serve. Add at least several paragraphs and one image to each page. Make sure there are internal links to those pages from several places on your site including your homepage.

Optimizing your Google My Business/Google Maps listing is one of the best ways to help get more traffic to your local or regional business. If you need help getting a map listing, updating your existing listing, or adding service area information to your website, we can help!

Google Map Resources

Learn more about “local SEO” and Google Map rankings in our SEO FAQs

Search for your Google map listing: https://www.google.com/maps

Read more about Google My Business: https://www.google.com/business/

The post Get More Website Traffic from Google My Business/Google Maps first appeared on CYber SYtes.

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