Understanding Web Design Terms

Posted on February 23, 2020February 28, 2020 by Shirley Atkinson

Don’t be afraid to ask

As a training officer one of the first things I said to my new trainees was ‘The only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked’. That quote came from someone that trained me to be a training officer (whose name I can’t remember now) and I still apply it to this day. Especially when I’m struggling to understand or remember some of the common web design terms.

Even now, though I’ve worked in the I.T industry for over 20 years, I still sometimes feel out of my depth when I’m communicating with a web designer. I have total admiration for programmers, network support engineers, developers and designers. Anyone who can build a fully-operational website in a few hours, when I’ve taken weeks to do mine in WordPress, earns my total respect. I’m still not happy with my site but now it’s out there I will keep researching, learning and updating it until I get it right. And as I’m learning I’m continually adding to my own personal Glossary of Web Design Terms..

I’m sharing some of the common web design terms and abbreviations that I’ve collated over the years. Hopefully they’ll improve your overall understanding of the WWW and conversations with your website designer. But remember, techies are human too, so if you don’t understand something, just ask.

Can you spot a phishing email?

Posted on February 21, 2020March 5, 2020 by Shirley Atkinson

Can you spot a phishing email?

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have been offline for all most two weeks because of a recent cyber-attack. Although they haven’t openly stated it was caused by Ransomware*, they are having to rebuild their complete system. This is consistent with how a company would react if they did not want to have to pay out to the criminals holding them to ransom.

According to a report from the insurance broker Gallagher, 49% of local councils have been attacked since the start of 2017 and 37% were attacked in the first half of 2019 alone. Over that six-month period, local government experienced 263 million attacks

5 ways to spot a malicious email

The majority of ransomware attacks begin with phishing scams, so simply knowing how to spot a malicious email will protect you from a substantial number of threats.

- The message is sent from a public email domain
- The domain name is misspelled
- The email is poorly written
- It includes suspicious attachments or links
- The message creates a sense of urgency

The advice in the malicious email blog shows how important it is for individuals to be able to recognise signs of phishing.

Spam filters will never be fully effective, so it’s up to you to read the context of messages. Look for anything suspicious and report it.

Remember – it could be you and your business being held to ransom.

*Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts files and locks users out of the system. A message would then be sent informing users that to get access they have to pay a ransom.

You might also be interested in reading – blog/small-businesses-and-personal-data/

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Can using hashtags help my business?

Posted on February 21, 2020March 5, 2020 by Shirley Atkinson

Using Hashtags #SEO

We have all seen hashtags on social media platforms and probably wondered what they do and why are there so many. Originally they were used to help filter and organise conversations on Twitter, but now they are present on several social media platforms. Most people find hashtags confusing because they’re not using in a sentence, just tagged on at the end.

Hashtags are basically ‘keywords’, so they help you to categorise your content and help social media users to find it. Using hashtags in your social media posts will give you more opportunities to have your content in Google search results.

They’re particularly prevalent on Facebook (some might even say ‘annoying’), but also seen on Instagram, Twitter and even LinkedIn. But what are they and where can they be used for best effect? How many should I use? Does using hashtags improve my SEO and what can they do for my business?

Answers to all of these questions – and more! – can be found on ‘Social Media Today‘ but if you want a more concise read then I recommend you read ‘Blogging to help your small business‘. It’s informative, well written, and explains why using hashtags is an effective way to build your brand and launch new products and services.

Happy #hashtagging!

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Content is King

Posted on February 20, 2020March 5, 2020 by Shirley Atkinson

Client testimonials written on a notepad for website review

Honest feedback

Testimonials Reviews Team of people talking in a group

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SAA I.T Test Consultant Freelance Software & Website User Testing

Website improvement

Testimonials - We like you too billboard

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Content is King

High-quality content can help enhance your reputation and improve your ranking in search engines. And as we all know, being seen can bring in new customers.

But your online image or reputation is only as good as your content because that’s how other people see you or your business. So to reduce the number of potentially negative opinions you need to improve your image.

A terrific SEO method that can present you as an expert in your field is content marketing. Unfortunately it’s not quite as simple as just writing a few paragraphs of content and publishing it now and again. You need to create a robust content marketing strategy and to do this you have to apply the following measures.

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action..” (Contentmarketinginstitute.com)

Content Marketing Strategy

Research shows that the vast majority of marketers are using content marketing. It’s developed and implemented by leading organisations, small businesses and single-person enterprises the world over. This is because it builds customer loyalty, cuts costs and increases sales.

Identify your audience

Who are you targeting your content for? What age range are your customers? Any specific professions or background? Local or international locations? Defining your audience will help you tailor your content and when is the best time to post it.

Check out the competition

Follow your competitors. What are they writing about? Keep up to date with what they are doing

Keyword research

Great content takes times and effort. Conduct keyword research to see what topics are trending in your business area or industry in order to base your content around them

Distribution

Determine what you are going to post and where you are going to be posting – blogs, videos, podcasts, emails, social media platforms. But remember, your content marketing strategy must come before your social media strategy!

Tell your brand story

Telling your story will help build a strong relationship with your customers. Let them know who they are dealing with, what you are passionate about. They will identify with your brand and reward you with their loyalty.

Create your content

Now you know who you are targeting, what is trending and your distribution channel you can start creating your content. Share it. Promote it.

Conversation

Once you have published your content you need to listen to what people are saying about. Set up communities or groups on social media. Respond to comments and monitor the feedback so you can review and update your content further down the line.