Category Archives: Computer Tips

Disadvantages of using Yellow Book/HIBU pages for Your Online Web Presence

Computer Tips, Web Wise

No Yellowbook In the past (many moons ago), Yellow Pages, Yellow Book or HIBU have been a great way to advertise and promote your business to a large audience.

Then came the internet and it went to the web as yellow pages websites.  However, over the past several years there has been a decline in these types of websites and for good reason due to the following disadvantages vs traditional web design firm or professional services:

Not Owning Your Website: This is probably one of the most important disadvantage of owning a yellow page website is that you are basically renting it from the yellow page company and do not actually own it.



In other words, you are paying a yearly rental to the yellow page company to host your website. To this regards you would lose your website if you dropped out of the program or don’t renew your contract.

Not Owning Your Domain Name: When registering your website (that WWW URL that distinguishes you from the rest) through a yellow page/HIBU company, you are essentially not the owner of your domain name .

Yellow page essentially owns the rights to that name, for minimum of a year. They say they will release it and transfer the ownership (generally for a price) after the contract is up but will do everything in their power to make sure you continually pay the expensive monthly fees for hosting and domain name.

They will also tell you how important it is to maintain your advertisement in the big thick yellow physical book that everyone tosses away, unless your in your 70’s, which is probably not the target audience you’re looking for.

And not only does transferring the ownership of the domain name cost money but they have the upper hand and it can possibly lead to legal issues if you no longer want your website with them.

Immensely Expensive Option: It is vital to note that by owning (renting) your website via yellow pages you have to pay an initial cost for creation and hosting along with paying a rather expensive yearly rental fee to stay in the program.  The cheapest monthly options they have are still 70% higher than our monthly hosting fees.


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Why You Should Be Using LastPass Password Manager

Computer Tips, Security, Software, Web Wise

Best Password Manager for online websites Have you ever stopped and thought about how many online sites you visit that require a username and password?

According to a study by Microsoft an average user has about 25 accounts that require passwords, and alarmingly types an average of 8 passwords per day. That was several years ago and it is much greater then that today.

Because of this a slew of products are available to help you “contain” all your username and passwords for online sites and they all can be accessed by one “master” password.

Why LastPass?

I have used several similar products that provide this functionality but have found LastPass to be the best.  I have used LastPass for several years now and it “manages” over 300 sites in my LastPass “Vault”.

Yes this number of sites is probably not the norm, but when you include: forums, online stores, email accounts, health accounts, financial accounts, business accounts, social media, etc…the accounts, usernames and passwords add up rather quickly. With LastPass I only have to remember ONE single password to access any of the sites securely.

As a technology engineer and business owner where everything is in the “cloud”, security is one of the most important aspects.

Secure

No one at LastPass will ever have access to your sensitive information as it is 256-bit AES encrypted. The decryption occurs on your local device (PC, android, IOS etc..). And all data passing to the cloud uses SSL.
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GoodSync: The Ultimate Free Backup and Synchronization Software?

Computer Tips, Security, Software, Web Wise

goodsync-logoSo you want to sync your local files to your Microsoft SkyDrive or Google Drive account for free? Well then GoodSync is worth looking into and you can download the FREE version here.

After reviewing it and using the free version myself, I ended up buying the pro version as it has so many more options and is one of the better backup and synchronization programs out there I have explored.

One of the outstanding features that I use myself that others do not offer is the ability it has to sync to the cloud.

I am able to sync my local files to the cloud such as Amazon Cloud, Microsoft SkyDrive, and Google Drive.  I use two out the three cloud services I listed, but actually prefer my Google Drive due to the FREE 15GB of storage and it just makes sense as I already use Google App for Business as my business Mail Provider for free. You can find out more about Google Drive here.

The syncing is fast as they now use
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Top 5 Tips on How to Receive Your First $100 Dollar Check from Google

Computer Tips, Software, Web Wise

google-adsense

As this photo of my actual check proves, receiving free money from Google is very possible. This is actually my second check received from Google in less than two years. Is this a lot of money for two years?

It is not, but at the same time I have done little to nothing on the couple websites that are allowing Google services to run on them. Very basic content has been written and published, but the revenue from Google is paying for several hosting and domain renewal fees on sites I run.

This allows me to keep those websites running for free and as time permits I add new content or refresh the current content which will draw improve SEO and draw in more traffic, ultimately increasing the number of checks received per year from Google.

Content (text, images) is probably one of the most overlooked improvements one can make to a website. Its a service Northwoods Web Designs can offer, find more details on Web Content Writing Services here.

You’re probably asking yourself, how do you get a check from Google Inc? The answer lies within their Google AdSense program. Google’s AdSense displays ads relevant to your Website to visitors. Google cuts a check when you reach $100 in earnings.
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The Importance of Integrating Social Media and Small Business

Computer Tips, Web Wise

Over two-thirds of online adults use social media platforms such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter or LinkedIn.  Social media is not just for kids anymore.

It is part of everyone’s daily lives. Not only is it extremely important to create a company presence on these social platforms, especially Facebook, but integrating social media tools into your website is a must.

Social Sharing Icon Examples Facebook Email Google+ Twitter

Enabling “Social Sharing” has a huge benefit. This enables users to share content on your website with their own friends, colleagues and family members on various social networks.

As this is shared across social networks like Twitter, Facebook or Google+, referral traffic grows.  As referral traffic grows so does your website ranking in search engine results.
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