Category: Insights

If you’re just getting started with cryptocurrencies you’ll probably agree that wallets can be a bit of a pain. There is often a relatively big learning curve that comes with effectively trading, sending & receiving and actually using crypto – all of which need a wallet to do so.

In this post, I’ll quickly dive into some of the key elements of a crypto wallet which will help beginners get started.

Hopefully, in the future, and with new technologies being developed, wallets and storing of crypto funds will become very simple.

We definitely need crypto to be at the lowest barrier to entry as possible in order to spur mass adoption. However, for now, you should sit back, take a few notes and get ready to learn a few things.

What is a cryptocurrency wallet?

In its very basic form, a wallet represents a cryptocurrency investor’s bank account. It’s program that stores private and public keys and helps the user interact with blockchain technology in order to use cryptocurrency. Your cryptocurrency isn’t really stored on your wallet but instead lives on the blockchain. Your wallet gives you access to it.

Different types of wallets

Seeing a wallet as a piece of software will help you understand the different types better. There are many different types of wallets but as a beginner, you’ll only need to understand the following:

Desktop wallets: A popular desktop wallet example is Exodus which is able to host a range of ERC20 (Ethereum blockchain) tokens and many of the biggest names such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, EOS etc.

Mobile wallets: Mobile wallets come in the shape of a mobile application. Using a mobile wallet means that your crypto is always with you, but it’s a little less user-friendly compared to desktop wallets. If you’d like to install a mobile wallet, give Eidoo a try.

Online wallets: When you register on a cryptocurrency exchange, that exchange creates a wallet for each of the tokens that you trade. It is possible to store all your crypto on online or exchange wallets, but it always comes with some risk as hackers love going after crypto exchanges. Some of the biggest crypto hacks include the $460 million Mt Gox hack of 2014.

Tips for security

Wallet security can a very technical and complicated process. However, there are some basic principals you can follow to keep your crypto safe.

• Make backups of your private keys on multiple storage devices. Some people even print copies and store them in safety deposit boxes.
• Never share your private keys with anyone.
• Watch out for scam or phishing sites that try to steal your information. This is especially important with regards to online or exchange wallets. Always make sure you are on the site you need to be and not a fake copy of it.

Tips for transferring coins between wallets

When it comes to paying for something with cryptocurrency you own, it requires some concentration and a little know-how. Let’s say you want to invest in an ICO and the ICO only accepts Bitcoin as payment for their tokens.

In order to purchase their tokens, you’ll need to own Bitcoin. Next, you’ll want to access your wallet whether it’s desktop, mobile or based online. You’ll need to navigate towards your Bitcoin wallet and send the appropriate investment amount to the ICO’s Bitcoin wallet address.

It needs to be from a Bitcoin address to a Bitcoin address otherwise it won’t work. Follow the same principle for any other cryptocurrency you use.

Never try to type a crypto address, always copy and paste it to avoid making mistakes.

I want to participate in an airdrop, what type of wallet should I use?

It’s best to follow instructions given to each specific airdrop. However, as most ICO projects and airdrops, as discussed on The Crypto Coin Authority Blog, are based on the Ethereum blockchain, you’ll need an ERC20 supported wallet. For this, you can either use Eidoo as mentioned above or MetaMask which is a popular browser-based wallet.

Which wallet should I get started with?

Blockchain technology has raised serious interest among investors, with many publicly traded stocks seeing a price per share growth just as a result of adding “blockchain” to their names. This has led to a surge in volume for cryptocurrency penny stocks that trade as regulated securities. Cryptocurrency wallets are not necessary for trading those public stocks because that industry is more highly regulated with protections for investors. It is, however, highly suggested that you protect your assets with a cryptocurrency wallet if you are investing in cryptocurrencies themselves, due to the heightened risks involved.

It all depends on what cryptocurrencies you plan on investing in. If you plan on getting some of the big names like Bitcoin or Ethereum then a simple desktop or mobile wallet as previously mentioned will work fine.

You’ll need an exchange wallet to trade, but that gets set up when you register for the exchange. Some cryptocurrency has their own wallet that you’ll need to set up in order to own those tokens.

The same principals apply as with most desktop and mobile wallets.

Moving forward

There you have it, very simple and basic advice on cryptocurrency wallets – perfect for a beginner getting started with their first piece of the cryptocurrency market! Keep in mind that this guide is very basic and there is much more to learn.

However, that’s the beauty of cryptocurrency, there is always something new to learn. Now it’s your turn to go out and start a journey of a lifetime!

Everyone is talking about it, most brands have tried it, and others remain skeptical. What is it? Influencer Marketing. The current buzzword and latest social media marketing trend is a popular way to grow brand reach, social media following and most – importantly, sales.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a word-of-mouth marketing strategy that involves identifying and engaging with influencers and their followers by sharing content, thoughts, and opinions online about a brand’s products, services, and experiences. As mentioned, many big brands rely on the use of influencers and have taken full advantage of its provided success. Daniel Wellington, Frank Body, Triangl Swimwear, Coachella, … just to name a few who have reaped the benefits.

Depending on your brand, your campaign objectives, as well as your budget, that will define what type of influencer you decide to partner with. There are three types of influencers: micro, macro, and celebrity.

How Micro-Influencers Can Increase Sales  

TapInfluence partnered with Nielsen Catalina Solutions in 2016 which revealed that influencer marketing generates 11 times the ROI of traditional digital marketing. So… just exactly how can micro-influencers increase your sales?  Check out our 6 ways that micro-influencers will increase your sales in 2018!

Reach

By selecting the right influencers, you gain access to their niche following base.

Believe it or not, it can be better if your influencer’s audience it relatively small, especially if you have a specialized product offering. You want your influencers to reach audience members who are most likely to participate in the call-to-action and become your customer. By utilizing a micro-influencer campaign, you are able to reach a new set of users who would be interested in your product but might not have otherwise known or shown interest in your brand without being backed by a credible influencer.  

Brand Messaging

Partner with a micro-influencer that resonates with your brand. You will want to find an influencer whose audience isn’t so large that your message will get lost, but also large enough that your message will reach potential qualified leads.

Developing your brand message is crucial for awareness, therefore, you want it to remain consistent even throughout the influencer marketing campaign process. Although you want the brand messaging to remain the same, don’t restrict the influencers access to creative control. They know what their followers best engage and interact via certain language and design, and they too need to remain authentic.  

Trust

Successful influencer marketing depends on trust. Influencers are known to have their followers best interests in mind when posting, which makes them credible and trustworthy. Typically, consumers trust their peers and the recommendations they provide, hence why brand marketers are turning to influencer marketing. This is because micro-influencers remain unbiased as the relationship is based off similar beliefs and values and not-necessarily a paid advertisement, whereas a celebrity-influencer receives compensation for their posts. Trust isn’t only found in the influencers, due to this strategy is also establishes consumer trust for a company.

Loyalty

Influencer marketing allows for brands to build loyalty through influencers themselves. By choosing an influencer who personally reflects the brand’s values, the organization can leverage that influencer to increase customer loyalty.  

Trackable Sales

Tracking sales can be difficult to begin with, and adding in an influencer marketing campaign just makes the process even more complicated. This is because the sales cycle can extend beyond just the campaign, making continual tracking essential for measurement and results purposes. There are a few ways to track influencer marketing-powered sales via UTM parameters such as comment to buy, tracking pixels, x-hour window, retargeting, promo codes.

Engagement

Research conducted by PWC shows that revenue growth is tied to customer engagement. With micro-influencers, you are guaranteed to have higher engagement. Another study by HelloSociety revealed that micro-influencers are able to generate 60% higher engagement than other traditional means. Due to the strong relationship and sense of community established between the influencer and their followers, they are more likely to interact with posts. Engagement is created through consistent communication with their followers. Engagement can be measured by reviewing social analytics such as clicks, likes, reactions, shares, comments, and mentions.

Influencer marketing is truly a growing and effective trend. If you haven’t done so already, definitely explore this marketing strategy for your brand. To recap, working with a micro-influencer to promote your products provides you with access to a larger reach, strengthens your brand messaging, builds trust and loyalty, provides you with trackable sales, as well as increased engagement levels. When you’re successful complete with your micro-influencer marketing campaign, you will have boosted sales.

Want to know more about this topic and how to get started with your own campaign? Reach out to our friends at Socialpeeks, as they promise that the “results of influencer marketing have shown to have one of the highest ROI of any digital marketing activity”.

Author:

Brooklynn Boyer is Marketing Director for Socialpeeks, a marketing technology company that runs wildly successful influencer marketing campaigns with the help of its campaign management team. Visit www.socialpeeks.com to learn more.

Before your new site can take the web by storm, you’ll need to decide on a suitable domain name. Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done. Whether this is their first site or one of many, a fair number of site owners fail to put in the proper amount of effort when selecting domain names. Tackling the name selection process with a lackadaisical attitude can have a number of far-reaching consequences, most notably low search engine rankings and confusion on the part of visitors. Luckily, choosing a name that perfectly suits your site doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. Putting the following tips to good use will ensure that your site receives the domain name it deserves.

Utilize Relevant Keywords

When creating a domain name, it’s important to give prospective visitors a solid idea of what your site’s all about. This will help keep confusion to a minimum and improve your chances of receiving a favorable search engine ranking. For best results, choose words that emphasize the specific field your sites cater to and any services you may offer. For example, if your site is meant to promote a hamburger restaurant in Austin, TX, your domain name should be something along the lines of “BestBurgersAustin.com” or “AustinBurgers.com.” In the search for premium domain names, the importance of clear-cut keywords cannot be overstated.

Keep it Short

In the digital age, people are bombarded by information from all fronts. Whether surfing the web, watching television or checking social media, most people are constantly processing new info at a relentless pace. That being the case, it’s in your best interest to keep things brief when deciding on a domain name for your website. Not only will this make your domain name easy to remember, it will ensure that it can easily be typed as well. For best results, make a point of limiting your domain name to no more than three words. Additionally, if possible, make these words as short as possible. The shorter the name, the more likely it is to make a lasting impression on prospective visitors suffering from information overload.

Limit Your Use of Symbols

In the quest to create a catchy, concise domain name, take care to limit your use of numbers, hyphens and other symbols. The inclusion of any of these items can make domain names very cumbersome to type, thereby increasing the likelihood of typos and misdirected visitors. Regardless of what area of interest your website serves, odds are it has its fair share of competition – and prospective visitors won’t hesitate to hit up one of your competitors if accessing your site becomes a chore. While it’s true that a small number of successful websites have domain names that break this cardinal rule, these represent rare exceptions.

Choosing the right domain name can seem like a daunting prospect, particularly for first-time site owners. However, with the right tips at your disposal, this doesn’t have to be the case. Keyword integration, brevity and the exclusion of unnecessary will all serve you well in your efforts to craft the perfect domain name.

While mistakes are a part and parcel of doing business, some mistakes can cost you more than others. As an ever-evolving landscape, the online world is full of opportunities that can help make your business a profitable niche. However, for you to achieve success, you need to ensure that your website is built on a robust CMS, have a good domain name and has a reliable web hosting. Thus, one such common mistake, which if not rectified can negatively affect your site’s ROI is a poor quality web hosting.

A good web host is important in order to improve your site’s speed, which will help enhance user experience leading to improved ranking. It will also help improve your website security by providing you with a safe and secure framework. Additionally, it will help make integration of new software on your site easy and provide essential features like daily backup, 1-click installation and more, which will further aid in keeping your site one-step ahead of your competitors.

However, choosing a reliable web host can be a challenge, simply because there is a wide range of hosting providers to choose from. This makes the task of selecting the best from the lot difficult as mostly all claim to be the best while offering you ‘unlimited’ everything.

Thus, if you are facing this dilemma and are not sure which is the best hosting for your website then check out this web hosting warning signs infographic that will help you make the right decision. This infographic can be used as a checklist by both – those looking to purchase a web host as well as those who have already purchased one.

Comprising of 21 warning signs, this checklist will help you steer clear of terrible hosting service providers. As such, take a look at this infographic and make the most out of it!

21 Warnings That Indicate It’s Time to (Switch) Your Web Hosting Right Away[Infographic] by the team at Hostgatorcouponcode.in

Managing a team in itself is a difficult task. Different types of characters, cultural influences, and perceptions affect the way people interact and collaborate with each other. As a manager, you need to find the balance of listening, the proper language to use, providing the necessary support and the approach of delegating tasks to your employees. This task might be even more challenging when managing remote teams. There is a lot that can go wrong.

In this article we’ll elaborate 5 mistakes and how to avoid them when managing remote teams:

1. Dropping the ball on regular meetings

Having independent employees is a great thing. They get the work done and you don’t have to worry about falling behind on projects and tasks. However, there is always need for an update on work progress. Having regular meetings is a must in order to keep track of how work is going and what the obstacles a remote team member is facing as well as crucial points where you can provide assistance.

In today’s day and age, there are many ways you can stay in touch with remote teams. Using video conferencing equipment, free messaging platforms and gadgets are by far the most suitable options as they offer the advantage of meetings that feel like being physically present in the same office, having a face-to-face meeting. So, make sure to schedule regular meetings with remote teams, even if just for a simple “Hello”.

2. Micromanaging

On the other hand, there are managers who feel the need to know everything their employees are doing. When employees are at the office, this is rather simple as you can stay on top of everyone and exhibit micromanagement. For remote teams, this is a more difficult thing to do as these teams are not in the same space as the managers. Another thing to better avoid is the manager’s tendency to check in way too often with their employees. This creates an unpleasant situation causing the employees not to feel at ease, brings frustration and leads to unnecessary stress.

Take into consideration the act of allowing independence for your remote employees as well as how often you get in touch with them. Having clear-set rules about the methods of reporting, how often and when is really important to get quality results while at the same time avoiding the need for micromanagement altogether.

3. Not building a collaborative culture

Remote teams can often feel left out and isolated because of working by themselves in all projects. For that reason, it is important to build an effective collaborative culture between in-house and remote teams.

Encouraging the development of such philosophy within a company leads to more effective teams and successfully enclosed projects. You can provide the space for remote workers to join meetings held at the office through video communication even if these meetings may seem somewhat insignificant to them. It will still contribute to keeping everyone updated on the latest developments within the company, provide room for their input and experience in solving obstacles.

This way remote teams will feel appreciated while you develop a collaborative culture where all employees have a sense of being included and important to the overall development of the company.

4. Not focusing on important matters

The main concern of each manager is to create sustainable progress where goals and targets are met. Trusting employees and validating their work through online collaboration tools will lead to a more effective progress and a more productive working bond. It should not matter where the employee is working from as long as they provide quality advancement in their work and the company’s performance remains in high standards.

5. Relying extensively on e-mail

Relying on e-mail as a communication means between your remote teams is a necessity. But, relying too much on the e-mail does not allow space for verbal elaboration and feedback to tasks. Therefore, making use of other communication tools, such as video calls, is a great way to allow your employees to open discussions as well as to freely express their opinion and concerns verbally. Being on the same page is crucial for successful work when a remote worker.

Conclusion

It is highly important for managers to keep track of what their team is doing, regardless of whether the team isin the office or working remotely. It is also essential to avoid making the above-mentioned mistakes while managing remote workers as it can lead to a decrease in motivation, unnecessary stress and frustration. To spare yourself from such distress, make sure you hire professionals who are not looking to override the system.

Build social culture between teams and offer proper tools to collaborate. Investing in good video conferencing equipment that allows teams to communicate properly is something you will be thankful for. And above all, make sure you lead your team into focusing on what is important.

Investing in cryptocurrency is difficult for several reasons. Perhaps, the most common thing people may think once they have heard about cryptocurrencies is which coin should they buy.

Indeed, investing successfully in this modern type of financing starts with the proper gathering of information and understanding the risks and basics of the circulating currencies. This article will provide you tips on how to keep a long-term investment in cryptocurrency.

Build Your Investment Portfolio

Like any other venture, investors have to create their portfolio and actively work on it. Also, they need to focus on it for the long-term run.

Building an investment portfolio with various cryptocurrencies is the way to run, but picking them is selectively compelling. Thus, only spend your investment on things you only know, and keeping your emotions in control are the policies that should always practice in every portfolio.

Watch the Market Capitalization

The cap of the market gives more data about your buying choice than just the price alone or both. What happens usually is people look at the value of the coin and suddenly jump into buying it.

Also, it is essential to remember that the higher price of the coin doesn’t get its capitalization greater than another coin with the lower value. It means that investing in the lower value of the currency gives you a greater chance of survival for the future compared to the higher price of the different coin.

Besides, the price of a cryptocurrency still depends on its market capitalization concerning other coins, which means it links to the stock of the cryptocurrency. Thus, it doesn’t look like a good choice to buy the currency by seeing their prices only.

For lasting investors, if the price is reasonable and market capitalization is at its best, then it is an excellent option to engage in the investment.

Bargain Wisely For the Dip

If crypto is currently escalating, then it’s a smart choice to wait for a dip. Though some may have witnessed the rise of the Bitcoin’s price, it’s still not sustainable and usually will change or even go into multiple revisions. It is particularly accurate for cryptocurrencies as the fundamental value depends on the demand and supply alone.

Thus, Bitcoin as an entity can’t produce enough amount of profit as a company can, that’s why price rise and drops are more severe and frequent.

As the price is being dependent on demand and supply analysis, emotions can have a great impact, which is usually coming from the news or views of some influential people. Briefly, buying the dip seems to wait for correction is a wise choice instead of going with the majority when the price is already rising.

Choose The Coin That Lasts

In the world of cryptocurrency, currencies die all the time. Other coins may stay alive for a period in the markets because of their potential. For instance, Ripple, Bitcoin, Monero, and Ethereum are considered to be the legit cryptocurrencies because to their purposes.

These cryptocurrencies solve specific problems when it comes to the constant game of survival. If you are going for a long-term investment, you should choose those coins which will provide you lot of benefits and offer better solutions beyond buying platforms.

Moreover, cryptocurrencies are continually rising and falling. Thus, you have to do due diligence first before investing.

Takeaway

The value of cryptocurrencies and the rise of technology has exploded in the past year. The only problem is there is enough upside potential to invest in cryptocurrencies. The key factor is that Bitcoin is not only the cryptocurrency that you can buy.

Though there were security breaches in the crypto market a couple of years ago, it looks like those issues can no more impact the market in today’s trade. And still, there are financial institutions like Ashe Morgan and other companies that may help you bring your investment to the top.

Web-based asset tracking software: An Overview

If you lack processes to trace the whereabouts of your business assets, you’re likely at the risk of losing both time and money. With the rapid rise in business mobility, an asset tracking software has become a must for most businesses. This is a solution that helps your business keep track of its assets and inventory, improving transparency and lowering storage and maintenance costs across the fold.

According to a study, at least 91% of corporate employees use one business application on their smartphones, with 23% of them saying this tends to increase their overall productivity. Automated asset management does exactly that. It allows you to implement a robust management process to monitor your tools and log instant updates in your system. Doing this has the following benefits for your firm:

1. Compliance with industry standards: Working in a competitive market opens up a lot of challenges. One of them is to abide by standard industry rules and regulations. Accurate asset records make this easier to do.
2. Lower administrative costs: Once you automate your asset management process, you don’t need to place manual controls on check-ins and check-outs. This enables you to cut down on administrative costs and improve efficiency.
3. The ability to scale easily: During the course of its operations, companies are likely to accumulate assets. In such cases, it often becomes difficult to scale existing asset management processes. An asset tracking software allows you to do this with minimal effort.

In order to gain additional revenue from your assets, the best way forward would be to invest in an asset tracking system that enables you to do all this and more. Here’s a look at the top 5 ways your business can use this solution:

Number 1: Create barcode tags for assets to improve visibility

Depending on its industry, every company comprises of a few departments. Each department has a specific set of assets which are designated to its employees. To ensure smooth completion of daily tasks, it is imperative that these tools are easily traceable. In order to do that, an asset tracking solution lets you label your equipment for faster retrieval.

Using the barcode technology, every tool is assigned a unique identification code which helps to check-in and check-out. Employees simply have to scan the tag and all relevant information will be entered into the system. Carefully tagged assets have a lower risk of misplacement and improved transparency, which leads to higher productivity levels. To this end, maintaining asset tagging best practices is vital for efficiency.

Number 2: Prevent outages with automated stock management

When working in time-sensitive environments, one has to be cautious about stock management. For instance, hospitals deal with medicines which tend to expire in a few years’ time. What if these medicines aren’t replenished on time? Feeding patients expired tablets can lead to grave consequences for both the institution and the lives of the people admitted. For this reason, companies should opt for automated stock management routines.

With the help of an asset tracking tool, you can set threshold levels whenever stock reaches a specific amount. Before you cross this level, you can generate purchase orders for new stock. This way you don’t have to pile up on extra stock or suffer from untimely outages.

Number 3: Ensure traceability through instant location updates

If you are a highly mobile company, you understand the complications involved when moving assets. Haphazard placement of tools and machines can result in a waste of time and delay of daily activities. To tackle such problems, an online asset tracking software lets you enter locations for all your equipment. With barcode labels assigned, employees can also scan assets through their smartphones when on the move. Doing so automatically revises GPS coordinates to prevent any confusion.

Once you record locations of all your assets, warehouse management becomes much more organized. Employees can speed up check-ins and checkouts if they know exactly where a machine is placed, thereby improving business efficiency and traceability with instant location information.

Number 4: Schedule audits to verify consumption patterns

Holding a large asset base makes you a victim of unauthorized practices. To keep a check on asset usage, your company should carry out frequent audits. As a part of a diverse set of features, an asset management solution lets you hold audits in a systematic manner to avail the following advantages:

• Align your asset management practices against proposed methods
• Make corrections to enable comparability and compliance
• Eliminate the risks of data breaches and other unwarranted operations

Going over the financial records of your company gives you an opportunity to match the actual results versus those that are recorded. By doing so, you can spot any malpractices in asset management and make necessary amendments. You can, therefore, maintain the credibility of your asset accounts through certified audits for your company.

Number 5: Run recurring service events for prolonged useful life

Physical assets have a predetermined useful life after which they have to be disposed of. In order to derive the maximum outcomes during this period, it is critical to that you keep your tools in good shape. This can be done by carrying out extensive maintenance sessions for your equipment and machines. Every time you check-in a new piece of machinery, the software automatically assigns it service tickets.

Compiling relevant data from associated vendors, the software sets up advance notifications for every maintenance session to achieve the following:

• Lower overhead costs by reducing the need for capital replacements
• Improved asset performance and efficiency due to increased uptime
• Planned maintenance lets you tackle unwanted delays in work operations

With the ability to custom design your repair events, your assets have a higher chance at extended useful life. Make sure none of your tools get missed out on optimized repair and service sessions.

Develop high-performance strategies with a web-based asset tracking software

Small and medium-sized businesses operate on restricted budgets and cannot afford poor asset management. A company’s assets are capital investments which need to be fully utilized in order to gain maximum rate of returns. For this reason, many firms choose an asset tracking business tool to help set their business towards a path for improved performance and growth.

With facilities like RFID tracking, organizations can carry out mass actions at once. This saves time when it comes to checking in large shipments. The software also allows you to plan office events with a dashboard and availability calendar to reserve items and venues in advance. Doing this lets you avoid last-minute cancellations and carry out flawless meetings and conferences.

For companies struggling to maintain a database, asset management software can be used to create customized templates for all their tools. You can add fields as per your requirements to differentiate assets between departments and so on. All these features build up business proficiency and allow you to gain increasing economies of scale – all through simply tracking your assets!

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This post was contributed by EZOfficeInventory, a web-based asset tracking software for asset-intensive companies wanting to lower overheads and improve ROIs.

In our digital age, what people say about you online really can make or break your business. Reviews and recommendations are the one-stop-shop for consumers who haven’t yet made a decision about which hotel to lodge at while on vacation or what restaurant to dine at tomorrow night. While smart marketers enable SEO as a part of their marketing strategy, they’re not yet familiar with what is online reputation management and how it can help protect their brand reputation.

If you’re in the market for a new L-shaped couch or a smoothie blender, you’re going to do your due diligence by researching competitors online. Online reputation management (ORM) experts can ensure that companies’ branded keywords reveal the positive elements of their brand on the first page of Google. Here’s exactly how they do it:

• They Take a Swiffer to Google’s First Page: Does a slanderous press release haunt the first or second ranking on Google under your branded keywords? Through proven content marketing tactics, ORM experts create loads of unique articles and send them to their network of bloggers to be posted as backlink juice. Essentially, the ORM specialist places anchor texts with your specific keyword in each article, linking back to a desired positive result on the first page. After a few months (depending on the severity of the case), Google will eventually place more prominence on the positive results and rank it above the unwanted press release.
• They Put You on the Map: The backbone of ORM is SEO, a vital strategy used to get Google to notice your brand. The more prominence you have on the SERP, the more business you’ll be generating. ORM specialists will create microsites, social profiles and local listings for your company to rank high on. Maintaining a digital presence will entice more consumers to write reviews about your company, resulting in greater customer trust and brand credibility.
• They Protect Your Brand Long-Term: Companies such as internetreputation.services make it their mission to protect brands’ reputation in the long-run. They do this by securing microsites for their clients with their branded keywords as the domains. After the client is pleased with the suppression work that was done on the negative results, it is highly recommended for clients to keep their domains in case other bad press releases come along. The more branded online properties you can secure, the greater chance you have in protecting your reputation from slander.

We live in a time where business cards are replaced by a quick Google search. Online reputation management is not a luxury, it is a necessity for both e-retailers and brick-and-mortars. If you work in a competitive profession such as dentistry or medicine, you no longer have a reason to stay up at night worrying about your reputation if you can hire an ORM agency to take care of your qualms. Your reputation is the most sensitive and vulnerable asset that you own. Protect it wisely with online reputation management.

Every online business has to invest in some form of defense against cyber-attacks. Luckily, setting up proper online security has never been easier, thanks to the wealth of resources available online on the topic. The best approach in this matter is to establish multiple layers of defense so that there are fail-safes in place in case something goes wrong. In the rest of this article, we will bring you up to speed with a number of established methods for improving website security, which you can then combine to create a truly impregnable defense system.

Keep Your CMS Up-To-Date

Modern e-commerce websites rely on content delivery and management systems (CMS for short) such as Magento, Drupal or WordPress to conduct their business. These frameworks are popular for a reason – they make the tasks of website creation and maintenance much more convenient. If your company is using one of these software suites, make sure you are always running the latest stable version. Older versions of software often have security holes that hackers can exploit to compromise your website. If you can’t be bothered to constantly check whether your website is running the latest version of CMS, be sure to turn on automatic updates.

Create Strong Passwords

Every computer user should know by now that creating strong passwords is the bare minimum when it comes to protecting yourself online. A good password should include letters and numbers in different cases, combined with other punctuation marks. Avoid familiar dates, names and common words at all costs as well. If you have trouble remembering your passwords, try using password management software. They are a much more effective way of keeping track of passwords, and some even offer the option of creating random ones for one time use.

Outsource Security

Setting up adequate security for a website can take its toll on company resources, especially for smaller businesses. It can be a resource-intensive, time-consuming process, which is why some companies opt to seek third-party assistance. IT security experts from firms like the Picnet IT Company can offer a wide range of services at various budget levels. This is especially advisable for companies that lack a full-time IT department, as worrying about security measures often falls on the back of webmasters who are already buried with work as it is.

Monitor For File Changes

A common tell that a site has been hijacked is sudden file changes. These are often hard to notice for larger websites with lots of moving parts, which is you should set up a monitoring system to track these changes for you. That way, you will be able to tell who and when is making the changes to which files. A good rule of thumb is that if your developer is changing something, it is probably safe, and everything else should be viewed with suspicion.

Be On The Lookout For Malware

Malicious software has been around since the early days of the internet. These programs can cause all sorts of harm, including creating backdoors for further attacks, loading up malicious code, spying, stealing credit card information and personal data, and more. Malware is one of the most common means of attacking a website. To find out whether your site is being compromised, it is necessary to do a thorough scan of every file and folder on the server. There are plenty of software suites on the market that can detect and remove suspicious-looking code. Be sure to check for malware at least on a weekly basis, if not daily.

Carefully Observe User Behavior

Most websites today allow visitors to create user accounts to access particular features. It is therefore important to assign appropriate permissions to each user. Managing permissions is essential in order to prevent attacks from compromised accounts. Always be on the lookout for suspicious user behavior, such as excessive access requests, downloads, changes in account information, etc. When a user keeps accessing your websites from different IPs constantly, this can also be a sign of an attack. It goes without saying that you should promptly ban users as soon as they start displaying malicious behavior.

Protect Transaction Data

E-commerce business usually takes the steps to at least handle transaction data in a secure manner, usually through the use of third-party payment service providers such as PayPal. However, since getting a hold of payment data is such a lucrative prospect, websites are constantly being attacked in order to obtain it. Malware is the usual culprit during these attacks, so usual anti-malware measures apply. Additional, adding a layer of encryption on files that contain transaction data ensures that even if security is breached, hackers will end up with data that they can’t immediately use, giving you the time to take necessary measures to address the situation.

Set Up A Firewall

The most common ways to hack a website are SQL injections, application vulnerability exploits, and malicious code. Setting up a firewall is the first line of defense against these sorts of attacks. Firewalls come in two types, hardware-based ones, and software solutions. The modern operating system almost always includes firewall software, so make sure it is turned on. Hardware solutions come in the form of routers and modems, which can block data coming from suspicious IP addresses on the web. The best practice is to combine the two for maximum safety.

Test For Vulnerabilities

The internet is always undergoing some form of change. New software gets released, different standards get adopted, and user behavior is constantly evolving, and hackers are coming up with new methods of attack. New threats are being found out daily, and one way to stay ahead of the curve is to constantly test your defenses of possible vulnerabilities. There are two basic ways to test your website for pathways of an incursion. The first is to send particular queries to your website to see how it handles unusual requests. If it starts behaving in ways it shouldn’t, you can make the appropriate adjustments. The second way is more thorough penetration testing, which works by emulating an actual attack, and seeing if your defenses can hold.

Conclusion

While no amount of security will guarantee that your website will not fall under attack, adopting some of the practices which we have outlined above will go a long way in giving your site a fighting chance against common threats. Try to remain vigilant at all times, and respond quickly as soon as you become aware that your site is being hacked.