Can't Speak Geek

Translating the Geek Speak in simpler terms

Archives for June 2014

Lock It Up

Untitled design (2)Information security means a lot to me on many different levels. Unfortunately, nothing is completely hack-proof. First and foremost, I like any other internet user do not want any of my private information to get in the hands of anyone it is not supposed to. I do all the normalcy of running an antivirus on my PC’s and my Mac, I have up a decent firewall, and watch what sites I visit. Also for personal internet security, I do not use any duplicate passwords. The best thing to do is use a password keeper apps like KeePass, LastPass or OnePassword.

With what I do in my professional life, privacy and security are big business. Internet security, more importantly WordPress site security is a very passionate subject for me. When there is a WordPress site that has been hacked, I come in and clean the site up. It is cheaper to take the necessary steps to keep your site secure than to have someone come in and clean it. Weather using WordPress to aid in the design of your website or building it straight from code, the developer must add security to their site or information can get out and the uglies can get in. Now adding too many security plugins can be an issue as well. Too many plugins will not play well with each other and then you will be locked out of your site.

Privacy and security need to be important and on the top of the list because no one wants to deal with the aftermath. In personal issues it involves changing all your financial information, login information, and anything else you put on the web. Professionally, it can be the biggest headache one has ever had. It can take hours and dollars to fix a broken site. One of the best things to do is have a backup. Backup your files, your information, your computer. Backup everything. I have my photos and music in 3 separate locations so I never have to worry about losing any of them. Here is where a cloud based service like Bitcasa or Dropbox work for you. Also, keep your information hidden. Use a service to keep your passwords. Writing them in a file is much more easier to retrieve. When using a public network be more aware of what sites you are visiting and what information you are putting out. Update your services, passwords, plugins, and everything else on a regular basis. It is good to change you password every 3 months.

What do you do if your desktop or laptop gets hacked?

This happens all the time. Viruses and worms find their way into your desktop or laptop.  First and foremost, always keep some sort of antivirus up to date on your unit. If your box does get something on it, typical virus removal is not the cheapest service in the world, but it is easily done. Find a company you can trust, and get the viruses off your PC.

What do you do if your site gets hacked?

Finally if you are hacked, it is not the end of the world. While it does take time and sometimes money to get back to normal, you will get there. If ever in that situation, take a deep breath and tackle it. If you have a website that you feel has been hacked, come see me over at WP Security Lock and we can get you taken care of.

FourSquare Your Business

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Foursquare has gotten to be a big hit in social media. Is your business on Foursquare? More than likely your business is already on there and people have already “checked in” to your business. You more than likely already have a “mayor” of your business that has been there many times. Foursquare is a free location-based mobile application. There are over fifteen million registered users on Foursquare right now. If your business is retail, restaurant, or has a service to offer you can benefit from Foursquare. Why not use it to your advantage?

First a little about what FourSquare is all about. Once someone is registered and using the account, every time they go someplace new they “check in”. What that means is they go onto the FourSquare app and say they are at a certain place. This can be any type of place from home to the grocery store to the local park. The person who has the most checkins at that time is the “mayor” of the place. A user will also get points for every time they check in and it runs on a weekly total.

Many restaurants and stores have already uploaded specials or contests for their customers to use when they check into their establishment. It has been a fantastic free advertisement for them. Once your social media manager or marketing manager sets up a special or contest on Foursquare for your customers, you will see a rise in sales and new customers. Consumers are drawn to what they can get at a lower price. It is a basic principle of marketing.

There are many ways your business can use Foursquare. You can also have more than one special running at a time and can change them out at your leisure. First time customers can have 20% off their bill while every check in a person makes can have 10% off of theirs. You can also run a special that is for every tenth check you make gets you a discount or something free. Plus you can give the mayors of your establishment a bonus special that only they can use.foursquare_checkin
When a person goes to check in to a place on Foursquare it will show the places close to where they are that. If they click on the Specials tab it will show them only the area businesses that are running specials at that time. For example, if a couple check in to a movie theater then clicks on the specials tab it will show them only the businesses in their vicinity that are running a special for check ins. When your business is showing in the Specials tab you have an upper hand over the places that are not using Foursquare as a marketing device.

Also customers can leave tips and comments about your business on the application. John S can say you have fabulous customer service while Mary N tells everyone to try the tomato soup because it is so good. I have even seen a tip where the business had the cleanest bathrooms in town. Users are already leaving comments on millions of businesses already. Their comments have quite probably already helped or hindered your business.

I personally check in to every place I go. I frequently look at the specials for the area I am in, especially if I am in a new area. When I cannot decide on a restaurant, I always let the specials make the choice for me. Whoever has the best special has earned my business for the day. It has been a great personal tool on trying new businesses and showing loyalty to my favorites.
The choices are endless to what you can do on Foursquare. It is up to you on how you want to use it. Put Foursquare on this year’s marketing strategy plan and watch your business grow.

Twitter-quitte Version 1.1

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Who does not love Twitter? I have gotten to meet and speak with some really awesome people because of that little bird. With everything one does there are a few little rules you should follow to make yourself a fabulous tweeter on Twitter.

Eight Simple Twitter Rules

1. Every time someone new follows you greet them and say thank you for following. Do not make it generic. Look for something, anything to make your greeting look unique. A new follower will be more likely to stay a follower if you engage from the start.

2. Give thanks for those who quote your tweets with a re-tweet. They took the time to go above a normal re-tweet to pass your message along.

3. I might get flack about this but it is not about the quantity of your followers, but the quality. It means squat if you have three million followers if none of them read what you are tweeting.

4. Engage. Engage. Engage. You must put your great information out there 160 characters at a time. Respond to those who mention you and mention those who spark your interest. That is what Twitter is all about.

5. Make sure your tweets are to the point. If your tweets do not make any sense, people will not pay attention to them.

6. Use Bitly or some other URL shortcoder. Bitly is a wonderful little tool that will take a long link and shorten it. Using Bitly will also help you use your 160 characters more efficiently.

7. If you use information you got from someone else, credit them. This is very important. Give credit where credit is due. When you do a quote re-tweet, say where you got it from. Do not just steal it from someone else.

8. I saved what I believe as the most important for last. Check your facts and your grammar before you post. The last thing anyone wants to be is wrong or look less than what they are. It will only take a couple of seconds more and be worth it in the long run.

The main goals are to engage, be polite, and have fun. The sky is the limit on what you can do on Twitter.

Key Components To Getting Your Social Networks Buzzing

beehiveEveryone wants to be number one in their own Google search. It is what every business strives for. Do you know how to get there? It is not a road that you can travel and reach your destination in minutes, hours, or even days. Great digital marketing starts with a lot of hard work and a lot of time. It can be done, and it can be done easily if you have the right tools for the job.

Content is the Queen Bee!

The best way to make sure you are known and to keep your name out there is content. If you have a website but nothing substantial on it, it would be like eating a ham sandwich that does not have any ham. Your website will be as boring as your sandwich. Visitors will not stay for bread only. They need the meat.

You should update often with quality content. There is no one size fits all schedule to how much and how often you should post. Just make sure your customers and your future customers do not forget about you.Also, a good content manager will make sure the content is relevant to the business and to their customer. Make sure the content is something the reader wants to see, not just what you want to see.

Tools of the Beehive

-Use a content manager like HootSuite to make your postings easier. Hootsuite can take the same post and put it over many social networking platforms to get you message out quickly and in sync with each other. You can also schedule when you want certain things to post at certain times.

-If you have a self hosted WordPress site, use the JetPack plugin to announce your new posts over many social networks. With Publicize, when you click publish, it will send a post to your linked social media accounts.

-Take advantage of hashtags and mentions. If your content is relevant to a subject or a person, make it known. It is proven that tweets with hashtags and/or mentions get re-tweeted more often than one without.

-Remember to comment back. Readers want to stay engaged so reach out to them. If they ask a question, get back to them quickly and with correct information.

You have to create the buzz to keep the buzz going. Use Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Feedly, Pinterest, YouTube, WordPress, and all the other wonderful social media platforms to your advantage. Social media marketing is free to use to help your business grow into the best beehive on the block.

Roll Out the red carpet!

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Can’t Speak Geek is finally open! After a long time of building, thinking, breaking, and building again, it is finally ready! This week we will be launching many posts and letting you know what we will do here at Can’t Speak Geek. We will be talking about anything tech, social media, WordPress, and everything in between.

If you have a post idea you would like to learn more about or you want to be a guest blogger, please use the contact form and let us know. We are always on the look out for new information and awesome people to join our site. Please read over the policies and disclosures before choosing to guest post.