by Charles Oropallo | Jun 24, 2020 | Do-It-Yourself, Internet, Monadnock Shopper News, SEO, Shopper News, The CW Corner, Website Development, WordPress
A popular website sales pitch over the past ten or so years has been about blogging. Many web developers believe that blogging is an absolute must to get found on the web. However, believing doesn’t necessarily make it a fact.
Whether blogging will be a benefit your particular web presence is complicated. There are a number of factors to consider.
A major factor is that blogging requires time to be effective. The time has to be spent by someone entering blog material pertinent to your business or topic into your website. Otherwise you have to pay someone to keep up with it.
Keeping blogs interesting to keep site visitors engaged is another ongoing endeavor. Site visitors won’t return if the material doesn’t hold their interests.
The real power of blogging lies with search engine placement. Search engines rank websites on how pertinent they are to a particular topic or search terms. Search terms are generally words or phrases people type into search engines when they are looking for something. The more pertinent – the higher the ranking. Having more pertinent material on a site increases ranking.
So when considering whether a blog is right for your web presence or not, bear in mind that a blog must be an ongoing, continuing effort. It may be just as effective to simply have a lot of static material on your site explaining details about all your offerings.
by Charles Oropallo | May 27, 2020 | Internet, Monadnock Shopper News, Shopper News, The CW Corner
I never imagined myself writing anything about etiquette. However, being in the middle of the web world as I am I get to listen to everyone’s two cents on our new business meeting medium: Zoom. And it is the same for all the video meetings that are happening. Here’s a short list of what people remark about most:
Example Zoom Meeting Screenshot
- Being on time – It appears that people are late more than ever for video meetings. Others notice.
- Eating – Bad manners at a face to face meeting, most would never think to sit down with a bowl of cereal or a sandwich at a business meeting.
- Stretching/Exercising – In a lifetime of meetings I’d have never believed this without seeing it happen.
- Hiding – Everyone knows when you don’t show yourself at a meeting you either aren’t ready or you are doing something else.
- Bathroom – Do I really need to even mention this? Never take your phone there. Remember Murphy’s Law.
- Being Unfocused – In most cases private texting is not really private and can be seen my whomever manages the meetings. And what an embarrassment when you text everyone instead of privately. And everyone can see when you’re not paying attention.
- Kids – We all love our kids. But we just don’t need to include them in business meetings.
Remember this is just a short list of the issues/complaints I seem to hear the most. The bottom line is that if you use video meetings for business you may want to use common sense and take them seriously. Behaving the same way that you normally would if you were actually present at a face to face meeting will keep your appearance professional – which will help grow your business.
by Charles Oropallo | May 13, 2020 | Email, Internet, Monadnock Shopper News, Security, Shopper News, The CW Corner
The pandemic we are dealing with doesn’t always bring out the best in human nature. Such times are when scammers are more apt to take advantage of people. Many people are feeling anxious and helpless. Add economic issues and it’s clearly a recipe for depression and uncertainty.
Most small business owners have heard of PPP (Payroll Protection Program) loans. These are to help businesses stay alive and keep people employed during this pandemic. There are incredible numbers of scams involving PPP loans.
Most scams come through email. They also happen over the phone. Unbelievably, calls and email are great mediums for scammers. Emails trick people into loading viruses onto their computers. Both manipulate people into volunteering personal information! The result is identity fraud and/or account thefts.
Internet and telephone scams have one important factor in common: instill a sense of urgency in the mark. If the scammer can make you think you need to act on this right away, you probably will.
I suggest you:
1) Deal with bankers/lenders at respected institutions you actually know. Use the drive-through window if you must to set up an appointment.
2) Call your banker/lender if you get an email or phone call offering their help with the PPP loan – even if the email or phone call appears to be from a legitimate source.
3) Understand that emails and phone numbers can be spoofed – made to look like they’re from a legitimate source.
Be cautious and you won’t have to regret the unimaginable headaches that those who have suffered identity theft and other losses have experienced.
by Charles Oropallo | Apr 1, 2020 | Internet, Monadnock Shopper News, Shopper News, The CW Corner
COVID-19 is dictating much of how we live our lives at this point. Most of us understand we are on the virus’s schedule – not ours. COVID-19 has dramatically changed lives in most communities.
Many attempt to work from home. Some are more fortunate as their work may be more conducive to this. Others can’t and must simply remain home to slow the spread of the disease.
Hopefully some of this info will increase your coping with remote working. I’ve worked remotely on occasion since starting my business in 1998. If there’s a way to get it done I’ve pretty much figured it out. Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list and is mostly common sense:
Pros
– You gain your travel time. The importance of this increases with the distance you had to travel to work.
– Travel to work expenses disappear. Gone is the commute wear and tear on your vehicle. Your gasoline cost goes down.
– Driving risks go away. No worrying about being in a hurry and getting a speeding ticket or worse yet having a fender bender. So your car insurance premiums aren’t at risk of going up.
Cons
– Internet service can be slow. During high Internet usage times there can be traffic bottlenecks similar to what happens on the roads. Most people have what’s called asymmetric access to the Internet. In a nutshell this means that information sent from your Internet connection goes away from your device much, much slower than the speed at which it arrives. In techie terms this means your upload is much faster than your download. An example of this is when you type a character on your keyboard and you can see the delay of it appearing on your screen. Add to that the fact that cable Internet service is affected by the number of people online. DSL service is affected by how far away from a connection point you are. Wireless service is even more susceptible to both factors.
– Self-starters do better. Most of us in business for ourselves understand this. We are used to being out on that limb keeping our businesses happening. We understand that working by oneself can take a great deal of focus. It is very easy to become distracted and lose focus. You may need to write out a schedule yourself. It is important that you start work on time and always perform as though you were in an office where others can observe you. Putting on that show for you is every bit as important as putting it on for the boss. And you’ll feel better for it.
– Home computers and laptops can be slow. In the office there may be better machines with more horsepower so to speak to get work done than a machine you are using at home. Be cognizant of things like the number of windows open in browsers, how many programs you have open, and so on. Sometimes spending the additional moments to open and close programs can result in far more productivity and less frustration over the course of a day.
Suggestions for improved productivity
– Separate functions among devices. Let’s say you are connecting to a remote computer. Running Internet based programs from the company workstation uses the Internet connection that the company is physically connected to. Many companies have what’s called symmetric access to the Internet which is faster and considerably more expensive than your home asymmetric service. In techie terms this just means your upload is the same as your download speed. If you have a good data plan on your phone then using your phone separately to look things up on Google or visit sites you need to will help keep your desktop running more smoothly. This is a way of performing what’s called “load balancing” to spread out use across different connections to keep everything running reasonably well.
– Get up and walk around. Not only will you feel a little better but it actually helps to be more productive. If you have multiple bathrooms in your home use the furthest one. It especially feels good for your eyes to look away from the screen on a regular basis.
Setting up your remote services is beyond our scope. However, we can help by referring you to local professionals who do exactly that sort of thing. Feel free to call us at 603-924-9867 and we’ll find a good, reliable local fit for you.
With a little determination, willpower and focus we will all get through this thing. The important piece of this right now is to not overburden our medical systems. Go to https://www.coronavirus.gov for the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) information.
by Charles Oropallo | Mar 4, 2020 | Domains, Internet, Monadnock Shopper News, Security, Shopper News, The CW Corner
Explained really simply, domain names are just pointers that convert recognizable words or characters to Internet addresses so we can view a website. Whenever a domain name is created, its creation date and expiration date are publicly available.
There are many domain scams out there. A rather common one I often see is where an unscrupulous company tries to overcharge you for your domain name and get control of it.
The main way they do this is by first scaring you into thinking you might lose your domain name because it is expiring. They do this by sending a carefully crafted letter to you through the postal service. The message appears at first glance to resemble an invoice convincing you to renew your domain name with them. These messages are very convincing.
Reading the “invoice” carefully actually reveals it states it is not an invoice – but in fact it is an “offer”. That statement is what keeps it “legal”. Amazingly, some of the companies that trick domain owners like this have been prohibited from operating in Canada after being legally challenged by the Canadian government.
My advice is to always check with your domain provider when presented with anything appearing to be a bill that appears suspicious. It will save you a lot of headaches going forward.
European Union General Data Protection Regulation Compliant