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Today, the easiest way to start your own business is to develop a website through which you can sell your product or service. It’s becoming less and less necessary to have a high street presence and far more important to have a website through which you can conduct ecommerce. Since the internet has everything you can imagine, and many many things that you couldn’t, and every kind of retailer, from multinational conglomerates to artisanal individuals making their goods in their living room vying for your attention you need to join them. But how do you go about it?

Do you want something tailored or off the peg?

Today many SMEs run on WordPress, it’s a very easy to use CMS which is free at entry level yet can be paid for so that you can have your own .com. It, and its competitors are both extremely powerful and flexible as well as having cost benefits which beat bespoke websites. Going with a bespoke website might be necessary if you have very specific needs but the costs are high and can put you in the position of having to rely solely on your developer for any changes that you might need to make in the future. If you do need to go with a specialist developer make sure they use a well recognised software package so that if you need additional work done and your original developer isn’t available you won’t have to seek out the only other person in a 500 mile radius who knows how to program it.
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Some teachers are being advised to avoid friending up their pupils on Facebook as it blurs the lines between friendship and professionalism where their conduct is concerned.

Some teachers find that social media is a perfectly acceptable way to interact with their pupils provided they keep their contacts and comments as professional as possible, always bearing in mind that their charges will be able to see what their teacher has to say. However, teachers are being warned that the casual nature of the internet and the lack of context for many statements means that comments can be misconstrued. Recently teachers have been disciplined for posting comments calling their pupils moronic, criticising their personal appearance and even for being seen drinking wine in pictures taken while they were on vacation.

The advice points out that perfectly innocent messages can be misinterpreted and found to be inappropriate in the eyes of others and can lead to unforeseen consequences. Local school boards claim that part of the advice they issue to teachers every year is that they should not be communicating with students over social media John Howitt, a school board director says: “there is a professional relationship between students and their teachers, they aren’t friends.” He says he knows many teachers have profiles on a variety of sites but advises them to be careful and remember that messages, photos and videos will almost certainly be available to students at one point or another.

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Within your internet marketing strategy, you have probably already integrated basic search engine optimization (SEO) practices. While basic SEO can help drive traffic to your website, it is important to utilize SEO to your advantage. Knowing the nuts and bolts of SEO helps your company rank well within search engines. Therefore, make sure you utilize the following SEO tips when trying to drive traffic to your site:

1. Proper Title Tag

Keep it simple. Focus on keyword content and keep titles short. Do not use your company name within the tag – if someone searches for your company by name, they will find your website. When customers search for keywords related to your company name, search engines value the page title very high. Also, don’t use your company name over and over again; repeating your company name may seem like duplication and can negatively affect the behavior of search bots.

2. Ensure Keywords are Used on the Page

Because most small businesses don’t have a lot of weight to rank well in search engines, there are some simple ways to help boost rankings. By using a keyword researcher tool like Wordtracker, you’ll have access to the keywords are being searched and in what context.  Then, create pages that specifically target those keywords by using the keywords in your <title> tags and a few times in the body of your page.  Each keyword should have its own page specifically targeted at that keyword. Then, try to get people to link back to you.

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I am so impressed by all the connections one can find with social media sites. BUT there are such an infinite number of them, how does one ever know if one has touched them all? I feel like a man drowning in quicksand…the harder I struggle (to connect with all the different ways to “talk” to people), the deeper into confusion I sink. I think back fondly sometimes of how simple things were when there was virtually nothing out there but MySpace and Facebook.  I would love some recommendations from others about which social media sites they prefer to use to connect with people and why.

Because I am not 14, it is harder for me to learn new applications and devices; I have a head full of pre-computer-era junk that I have to delete before I can enter any new information. Processing info about computers, electronic devices, etc., is a much slower endeavor for me.  My niece is 6, and she is already surfing the web with ease. It makes me feel really old to have her try to explain the web pages and what they do. Another issue is technical support. Unfortunately, most people who work in tech support speak to those of us who are asking for help in a language they and they alone understand. Because of this, the answers they give are often not helpful and frequently only add to my confusion. Guides or how-to manuals are the same way. They assume a level of knowledge that many users (at least those of us over 40) simply do not have.

So, please, all you young people, have pity on us. We are trying as hard as we can to make this knowledge our own. Trying, and even sometimes succeeding.

Related articles

• How the Real Estate Industry Is Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC] (mashable.com)
• Learn More About Social Media (blogs.constantcontact.com)
• Social Media Important to 90% of Marketers [New Data] (hubspot.com)

Father of four, Paddy Clarke has developed what is thought to be the first online anti-bullying alert system which can be used on Facebook to protect young users from abuse that they might receive from their peers. It works by detecting known words and phrases and then highlighting abusive behaviour.

The software scans the messages left on profile walls and in message boxes for terms which are offensive and then alerts parents when they appear. He developed the software after reading about the many stories that have been in the news recently about children and young adults being distressed and even ultimately killing themselves in some cases over the abuse they have received from other children in their peer groups.

Clarke said his programme, named Know Diss will protect children from online bullies, he said “Bullying has now gone from the playground into children’s homes. Kids feel safe sending an abusive message in their rooms. It is pretty awful.”

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So Many Avenues – So Little Time

When it comes to truly making social media work, it can actually take a lot of work. There are so many networks to chose from, so many roads to travel, so many avenues to stay away from and so many potholes waiting to sabatoge what you hoped would be a smooth ride. In the end, if you’re not careful, you could find your hopes and dreams dashed as you limp along the cyber-highway we call the Internet. Before you know it, you can end up with so many user names and passwords you need to contact your local travel agent to find your way home. Either that or drop some cyber-crumbs along the way in the hopes that some hacker doesn’t come along and hide them on you.

As my author description reveals, I’ve been in the wonderful world of broadcasting and communication for a number of years. Well, okay, a lot of years. Through those years I’ve seen a lot of change when it comes to achieving effective communication. I still remember the overnight radio shifts where I echoed the famous Genesis line – “Is there anybody listening?” You find yourself asking that quesiton at 3 in the morning as you’re playing yet another song wondering if anyone is up. You even start begging for calls on the phone just so you speak with someone else who has to be awake at o’dark hundred. Many times the voice on the other end of the phone was that of some teenie-bopper who figured you were talking just to her and she wanted to meet you after your shift. (Ick! Pimples and all – no thanks I think I’m busy).

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Visa. PayPal. MasterCard. Sony. Nasdaq. Each of these major international firms has been targeted recently by hackers, who infect global information systems with denial-of-service attacks and malware, seriously disrupting business activities.

In a never-ending loop, cyber-security experts develop new ways to prevent continually emerging threats, and hackers develop more sophisticated technology to circumvent information security systems.

What types of cyber-threats have been unleashed on information systems? And what can be done to stop spam, phishing, spyware and other cyber-security threats?

Today’s Prevalent Cyber-Threats

Spam and Phishing Attacks: Everyone agrees that spam can be annoying. But with proper email spam filters, it’s pretty harmless, right? Wrong. Spam is increasingly harmful. Spam disrupts business, taking resources away from productive activities. Spam also leads to phishing attacks, where unsuspecting individuals are tricked into divulging sensitive or personal information. Spammers then use the information to steal identities and cause financial losses. And as anti-spam software becomes more efficient, spammers simply change their techniques to avoid blocks, continuing their unlawful activities.

Phishing is an increasing problem for businesses and the federal government. Besides financial losses, phishing also causes consumers to distrust financial and government institutions, which presents them with enormous challenges. How can business be safely conducted through the Internet? How can an individual know that an email from their financial institution or the Internal Revenue Service is genuine? Fighting these phishing threats requires constant effort – and vast human and capital resources.

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