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What is GDPR and do I need to care about it?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) privacy law that will affect businesses around the world when it goes into effect on May 25, 2018. It’s intended to protect the personal data of residents of the EU. If you do business primarily in the USA, this doesn’t directly pertain to you, but if you happen to collect email list subscribers that live in the EU, for example, you are potentially subject to the regulation with regard to how you store and use any collected information.

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How to minimize WordPress project costs

Any business owner who has a website will begin at some point, to consider some website rehab work—or perhaps a complete overhaul. In the ever-changing world of online marketing, website aesthetics change over time and what seemed super-cool 4 years ago now seems a bit dated. That feeling is more than the changing tides of fashion. Over time, devices change, web hosting servers change, technical capabilities change, so if your website has not changed with it… it can begin to show its age.  Fortunately, with a bit of forethought and prioritization, you can save big money when planning your next website redesign.

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Tough-love takeaways from the Facebook fiasco

This week’s revelations that Facebook had leaked the personal data of nearly 50 million users to a third party data marketing company came as a shock to the press, but it really shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone. While it’s obvious that this shouldn’t have happened, the lurid details of this scandal can obscure some long-running features of the Facebook business model that made this “breach of trust” basically inevitable.

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Does your website need a privacy policy?

While your business may not need to have an elaborate, printed and mailed policy, it’s a good idea to clarify what data is being collected about your website visitors, and what your practice is with any data you collect. Having a posted policy helps build trust with visitors and demonstrates your concern with visitor and customer data security.  Think of a website privacy policy is a much broader version of your email marketing signup “no spam” disclaimer. 

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Three reasons to disable your blog’s comment form

Whenever I build or update a client’s WordPress site, a question often arises about the blog comment form. Although WordPress is used mostly as a content management system for business websites, its roots are in blogging. All WP sites have a blog built-in – and with that blog comes with the capacity for visitors to post comments to your blog posts.

So, are blog comments necessary? The short answer is no. There are some WP users that are blogging for traffic and visibility and for them, visitor comments can help build community and serve as a SEO and traffic booster. But for most website owners, they’re unnecessary and can create messaging confusion. Here’s my three top reasons to simply disable comments:

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WordPress Site Maintenance Services

How to Find Great Online Business Apps & Tools

Working online presents a constant barrage of new services and tools that’s challenging to keep up with, let alone understand. While it’s fun to try new services and tools and see how they can solve problems that my clients face, it still can be overwhelming at times. I try to devote a bit of time each day to keeping up with tech blogs, and this helps keep me in the loop. As much as I read blogs and sign up for free trials, I still have a case of FOMO – afraid I’m missing out on the perfect tool…the one awesome service that I hadn’t heard about just yet. Over time, I developed a short list of sites that I go to when I’m scouting out a new service. Next time you’re looking for a new online business resource, start with these sites. They’ll save you tons of time and you’ll be better informed when it’s time to make a decision.

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A SSL Certificate Shopper’s Guide

SSL security (and how to add it to your website) can be mystifying for even the most tech-savvy website owner. My last post about website security and SSL really hit a nerve! I received so many questions about it, I thought I’d put together a SSL “shopper’s guide”. With the increased awareness and demand for securing websites, I began gathering sources and specifications so that I can guide clients to the right SSL product for the job, at the best price.

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Websites Without SSL Will Soon Get the “Red Triangle” Treatment

There’s been a lot of chatter the past few years about Google views secured sites (websites that have a SSL certificate enabled) versus those that don’t. Technically, if your site is simply for information and doesn’t intake sensitive data (such as forms and ecommerce), you didn’t need to secure the site with an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. That, however, is changing fast.

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Increase Your Brand’s Visibility with Customized Short Links

If you use any social media, you probably noticed how all the big media companies have their own customized shortened links (and not the usual bit.ly, ow.ly or goo.gl). Examples of custom shortened link domains include: huff.to (Huffington Post), for.tn (Fortune Magazine) or nbcnews.to (NBC News). When you see these branded URLs, you know who posted them and if you are a regular reader, you’re probably more likely to click on them rather than a more generic short link.

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Reducing information overload: a few tools and strategies for minimizing the digital onslaught

Information overload is more than just annoying. It can lead to errors, oversights and even create emotional overwhelm and anxiety. It’s a fact that despite our best efforts, we humans just aren’t cut out for multitasking. The more information we ingest from multiple channels (email, texts, phone calls, app notifications, social media, etc), the lower our available mental bandwidth gets. Too much input can literally make us stupid, reducing our ability to effectively focus on completing important tasks and problem solving. What can you do? Here’s a few ideas to consider…

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