Technically Easy

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  • Why I Am Impressed With HostGator’s Jaw-Dropping Service

    Why I Am Impressed With HostGator’s Jaw-Dropping Service

    After three years I decided to change hosts for Technically Easy. For the past three years I was on BlueHost, but recently I have found their service to be sub-par. I found that my site was down more than their 99.9% guarantee, and the performance seemed to be decreasing as well. Also, when I started to use CloudFlare I noticed I had trouble logging into my blog’s dashboard at times. The problems went away when I stopped using CloudFlare.

    I had heard good things about HostGator so I decided to try them out for myself and see if what people were saying was actually true. I was a little worried about moving my blog over, but after seeing their service first hand, I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

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  • The Guest Post Battleground

    The Guest Post Battleground

    On March 19th, Matt Cutts announced that Google took action against a large guest blog network. It didn’t take long for people to figure out it was MyBlogGuest – a popular site for writing and publishing guest blog posts. Ann Smarty, the found and owner of MyBlogGuest, confirmed Google’s action against her site. The proof was that entering “MyBlogGuest” in Google didn’t have her site in the results.

    Matt Cutts had talked about Google taking action against guest posting a few weeks back, but that they moved so quickly and so fiercely against the guest posting network was still a shock for most people. The penalizing of MyBlogGuest, as many of Google’s actions, has divided the blogging community, with some speaking out against the penalty, while others thought MyBlogGuest had it coming.

    Once the first shock was just settling among bloggers, Google decided take action against the blogs that participated in using the MyBlogGuest service.

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  • Six Things to Do with Your Facebook Page and Why

    Six Things to Do with Your Facebook Page and Why

    Every small business owner has a Facebook page. Now what?

    Some few of them are very adept at sharing and posting and putting up their specials – but most of them are not.

    But before we go too far into what you should be doing, let’s double down on one point. Your Google+ page may be even more important for SEO and driving traffic than your Facebook page. So do everything below with BOTH your Facebook page and your Google+ page too (even if you’re barely maintaining that Google+ page).

    If you’re primarily a B2B business, you may want to do the same on LinkedIn. And if you’re sure that your customer base is actively using some other social media, then by all means, do all of the following there too.

    This article is primarily focusing on what small businesses can and should do to get more traffic from the activities they take part in on social media. There are other benefits too, but for now we’re mostly focused on driving organic traffic from Social Media posts. Some of that traffic will naturally go to your social media profiles, rather than directly to your website. That’s the nature of the beast, so be sure that people can easily navigate from your social media profile pages directly to your site.

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  • The Real-Time Penguin: Backlinking no Longer on Backburner

    The Real-Time Penguin: Backlinking no Longer on Backburner

    Google considers many signals when tailoring search results to a user’s query and Penguin refers to one of those signals. First rolled out in 2012, the Penguin update took into account the links pointing to your site. If those links came from sites that were spammy or had a low quality score, your site would likely drop in rank.

    There have been a few updates to the update over the years, including one last September.

    Link-related changes in rank now in real-time

    Known as Penguin 4, the latest update is also called the Real-Time Penguin Update.

    It used to be that changes you made to your site in regard to links – whether good or bad – would not take immediate effect. You had to wait for one of Google’s periodic “refreshes,” where the search engine would factor in changes made to the link profiles of sites across the web and hand out or remove penalties accordingly.

    That changed in September. Refreshes will now happen constantly and changes in rank based on links – whether good or bad – will be gradual. No longer do you have to wait months to see changes based on your efforts. And in the event that your efforts prove unfruitful, no longer do you have to make additional changes and then twiddle your thumbs.

    Penguin 4 and your SEO strategy

    Before Penguin 4, if there was no refresh in the immediate future, your link profile might have been on the backburner. Now, every day you allow a spammy link to weigh you down, rather than remove or disavow it, is a missed opportunity; every quality link your competition acquires helps them eat into your lead or puts them ahead.

    It’s a little daunting but it’s also enticing. Because link building is a time-consuming endeavor and its ramifications used to be manifested sporadically, it’s likely been a low priority for you. Fortunately, the same is likely true for your competition.

    Now that you can utilize real-time Penguin refreshes to get ahead, it may be time to move link building to the forefront of your SEO strategy. And one quality link goes a long way toward establishing favorable rank.

    Penguin 4 has brought about a few other changes as well, including rank adjustment that affects the page in question rather than the whole site. Get acquainted with them all so you can factor them into your link-building strategy, which is perhaps more important now than ever.

  • 5 Vital UX Tips to Optimize your eCommerce Store Conversion Rate

    5 Vital UX Tips to Optimize your eCommerce Store Conversion Rate

    When it comes to running an online store, there are multiple considerations you need to take into account. SEO and advertising of various kinds are crucial for driving higher levels of quality traffic to your store but the question then is how to convert that traffic into sales.

    One key aspect to this is the quality of user experience (UX) your site possesses. A website that takes UX seriously and takes steps to improve it, will always fare better than one that neglects it.

    With that in mind, here’s how to improve the UX of your online store and boost your conversion rate.

    1. Keep it simple

    One of the most important things to remember is that a potential customer’s time is precious; if they can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they will simply go elsewhere.

    Therefore, good UX web design is all about making the shopping experience as clear, simple, and hassle free as possible. For online stores, this involves carefully categorizing your catalog in order to make your products as easy to navigate and identify as possible.

    Try adding filters to these category pages, so users can further narrow their search by criteria such as size, color, technical specifications (where applicable), and so on.

    This way, your visitors will find it a breeze to browse your wares and find what they’re looking for.

    2. Catch the eye

    In exactly the same way as a brick and mortar store, digital ‘window dressing’ and product display is crucially important to encourage people to buy.

    This starts with the design of your website, which is important not only to look attractive, but also to display your brand identity and convey an impression of your intended niche.

    For example, if you sell street fashion, a stylishly designed site indicates your fashion credibility to your audience. If you’re not so technically savvy, this can still be achieved by utilizing eCommerce website packages like this one, most of which allow you to freely customize the appearance of your site.

    3. Checkout

    The checkout is an integral component of your eCommerce store. Shopping cart abandonment figures from Black Friday in 2016 show an overall rate of 63.8% on desktop and a staggering 78.1% on mobile.

    To combat these odds, the first thing you’ll need is an SSL certificate to prove that users’ payment data is protected; without the padlock symbol in the address bar, shoppers won’t trust your service.

    Second, make the process as fast as possible; this means on a technical level (using a reliable host for example), and in terms of structure. Ask yourself whether each step is necessary and streamline your checkout for speed.

    Another useful tip is to quote the delivery cost upfront, where possible. If you can show the customer the total cost without them having to navigate too far through the checkout, they’re more likely to convert.

    4. Functionality

    It’s a major turnoff for potential customers when the nuts and bolts of your website don’t work properly. Why waste time on a buggy website when you can quite easily shop with a competitor instead?

    Do everything you can to reduce your page loading time, for example, including compressing images or enlisting the help of plugins if you’re based on WordPress.

    With constantly changing stock, online stores can also be susceptible to broken or misdirected links, so make sure to regularly check that all your navigation elements work.

    Crucially, your eCommerce store must be mobile friendly, ideally with a responsive design to automatically adapt your website to any screen size. Your customers’ experience should be equally pleasant, no matter what device they visit on.

    For a tutorial on how to do responsive design, see W3Schools.

    5. Help

    The key to this point is to provide your customer with all the assistance they could need, either to in-still confidence in a purchase or resolve any issue that may arise. Beyond detailed product descriptions, your first port of call should be a dedicated FAQ for your site to deal with common questions.

    It’s extremely reassuring for a customer, and far easier to answer their question without having to pick up the phone or write an email.

    Of course, sometimes direct communication is necessary, so incorporating live chat is well worth considering in addition to telephone, email, and social media.

    So long as you have the people-power to manage it, live chat is a great way to quickly nip any potential issues in the bud.

    This attitude towards customer service should also extend to after a purchase; always clearly state where you can be contacted so the customer doesn’t feel forgotten.

  • How to Stay Safe With Social Networks

    How to Stay Safe With Social Networks

    If you own a business – online or offline – or just enjoy creating a website or blog, then chances are you will inevitably be involved in one or more social networks. Social networks have taken off tremendously in the past 8 years or so, and it seems most people seem to have used social network in one form or another. Today, networks such as Facebook and Twitter, have become an important part of reporting events and daily lives more than any form of news.

    Of course, as with many things in life, social networks are not immune to risks. Unfortunately, many people have had malicious things happen to them, their friends, or their family because of social networks. While social networks can be tremendous resources, it is important to understand what you can do to stay safe while using online social networks.

    Securing Your Social Network

    If you bank or perform financial transactions online, then you know how important security can be. When it comes to social networks, you should approach those sites in a similar manner. Whether it is a bank or social network, both types of sites contain your personal information that you don’t want known to strangers.

    Here is a few tips to help keep you safe when using social networks:

    Create a strong login. While you may not be able to choose your user name, as some networks automatically may use your e-mail address, you can choose a strong password. Create a password that is long and strong. Ensure your password is at least 10 characters in length and contains letters (both upper and lower case), numbers, and punctuation and symbols. When it comes to passwords, the longer a password, the strong it is. You also don’t want to use the same password with other sites, so ensure that it is unique. If you have trouble remembering many passwords, you should look at using a password manager such as LastPass.

    Encrypt you connection. Most, if not all social networks, now provide an option to secure your connection using SSL. This encrypts any data that is exchanged between your computer and the social network. If the option is enabled by default, and it is available from the social network, you should enable it. Web browsers will display “https://” beside the URL of the social network, and also display a lock icon somewhere on the browser windows to indicate the connection is encyrpted.

    Be aware of phishing e-mails. Many times you may receive an e-mail reportedly from a social network, however, many times it could be criminals trying to get you to divulge your social network user ID and password. Such e-mails will usually contain a link to a malicious site that is disguised to look like the real social network site. If you receive such e-mails that you are unsure about, then you should manually open your browser window and log into the social network directly. From there you should then check for messages from the site.

    Be wary of link scams. While e-mails are a major way for criminals to obtain information, they may also post malicious links on social networking sites. Such links will usually take you to a site that infects your computer with malware. You may even receive suspicious links from a friend after their account has been compromised. If you are unsure, or suspicious of a link from a friend, you should call them up and ask them about the link.

    Be aware of what apps you have installed. When you add or install an app through a social network, be aware that the quality control process may not be enough to prevent malicious apps from appearing on social networks. Many apps require specific access to your account, so you should understand what permissions you are providing to each app, and what happens after the app is installed. Ensure you only install apps that are well-known and trusted, and only if you need to install the app.

    While we all like to use social networks for different reasons, it is important to take the necessary steps to keep yourself, your friends, and your family protected. Social networks can be a very useful tool for a variety of reasons, but you must also be aware of the malicious activity that can occur if you are not careful.

  • About Digital Cameras

    I have been using digital cameras for about five years now. Over the course of those five years, I have learned a lot about what to look for with regards to buying a new camera. This article will outline what to look for when buying a digital camera.

    Megapixels

    Whenever I ask anyone about their new digital camera, they are always quick to point out the number of megapixels. When shopping for a new digital camera, I don’t usually put too much thought in how many megapixels a camera has. Why? Because digital cameras today have more than enough megapixels than I would need.

    The digital cameras of today have more than 5 megapixels. This is more than enough to printout a good quality 8×10. Most people usually only print a 4×6, meaning a 3-megapixel camera would do the job fine.

    Most high-quality pictures are printed at 300ppi (pixels per inch). For a 4×6 the number of pixels in both dimensions is 1200 (4×300) and 1800 (6×300). Multiply the number of pixels together to get the total number of pixels (2,160,000) in the picture. The total number of pixels for a 4×6 is less than 3-megapixels.

    Digital Zoom

    Digital zoom is well advertised by the camera companies for both digital and video cameras. In reality, this really isn’t a zoom at all, and unless you want a blurry picture, you should turn this off. All digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the picture by cropping out the edges. The space that is filled by the cropped pixels is filled using a process known a interpolation. Interpolation uses the surrounding pixel tonal values to determine what the missing pixels should be. This results in an image that is not as sharp as the original.

    The better option to the digital zoom, is to use a photo editing program. A photo editing program will allow you to crop a portion of the image and enlarge that portion to any size you want, essentially perform the same task as the digital zoom.

    When comparing the zoom capability of cameras, pay attention to the optical zoom, and not the digital zoom.

    Batteries

    The first digital camera that I owned was a Canon G2. I liked this camera, mainly because of the battery. The camera used a rechargeable Lithium-ion that could be charged right in the camera. I never once ran out of battery power with the camera.

    My new camera is the Canon S3 IS, which uses four AA batteries. Depending on how many pictures I take with the camera, I sometimes run out of battery power. To avoid being unable to take pictures, I always carry a spare set of fully charged batteries with me. Once one set runs out of power, I simply insert the spare set. If I’m at a place that has electricity, I can charge the first set, which would then become my fully charged space set.

    This brings me to my point about AA batteries: always have at least two sets of rechargeable batteries, and a charge with you at all times. They do come in handy at times.

    Storage Medium

    Digital cameras store the pictures in files on a memory card, or in some cases a small hard drive. Some cameras allow for two types of memory cards to be used. The most common are SD (Secure Digital), CompactFlash and the Memory stick. There are other types of memory, but if you have one of the ones just mentioned, you won’t have trouble finding memory for your digital camera.

    There is some debate on whether you should buy two memory cards or one. What I mean is, should you buy two 1GB cards or one 2GB cards. Some professional photographers like two because when they fill up one card, they can download the pictures, while still taking pictures with the second. I only have one card because I rarely take enough pictures at one time to fill up the card. Pricing could also affect your decision. If you happen to find a 2GB card that costs more than two 1GB cards, then pick up the 2GB card.

    Make and Model

    In my opinion, choosing a make of camera is a personal preference. Many people who own cameras are usually comfortable with a particular make. If you prefer one camera-maker over another, then stay with them. Chances are if you have a film SLR from one maker, and upgrade to a DSLR, many of your lens and flashes will work with the DSLR as well.

    As for the model, you may want to research the various cameras to find one that suits your needs. At this point you should list what you are looking for in a digital camera, and then read reviews of specific models that meet your needs. A good place to start for reviews is Digital Photography Review. They have a lot of information about practically every digital camera ever made.

    Summary

    • Megapixels: Don’t worry too much about this. Any digital camera that has more than 3-megapixels can print out a high quality 4×6. The higher megapixels are useful for large photos.
    • Digital Zoom: This isn’t really a zoom – it simply enlarges a portion of your picture. If you want more zoom, look for a camera with a higher optical zoom.
    • Batteries: If the camera you want takes AA batteries, ensure that you buy at least two sets of rechargeable batteries, and keep them both fully charged. Just charge both sets the day before you plan to use your camera.
    • Storage Medium: The most common memory types are SD, CompactFlash and the Memory stick. If you purchase a camera with either of these types of memory, you won’t have trouble finding memory for you camera.
    • Make and Model: Camera-maker is a personal preference-stay with who you are comfortable with. The model would require some research. Determine what you are looking for, and compare cameras that have those features.

  • Managing Your WordPress Database

    Managing Your WordPress Database

    Since switching to WordPress in August 2007, I have been looking at the many plugins that can be installed to enhance the functionality of Technically Easy. There are plugins that affect the look and feel of a blog, others that help to increase the speed, and still others that add functionality. As I looked through the list of plugins that I currently use, I noticed that I don’t have any that actually help me administer Technically Easy.

    Last week I decided to look for plugins that will help me administer Technically Easy from the WordPress dashboard. I managed to find two plugins that I found really useful. I will review each one this week, beginning with a plugin that will help manage the database.

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