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Almost 60% of businesses now use Social Media for Customer Service

Posted on by Posted in Business, Small Business, Social Media, Technology News

Sword Ciboodle, a global provider of customer solutions, and customer experience advisory thinkJar, has released the results of a research survey targeting US and UK companies with medium- to large-sized contact centers on their use of social media specifically for customer service. With nearly 400 responses from around the globe, and representation from more than 10 industry verticals, the research helped to reveal insights into how organizations are leveraging social channels for customer service. The analysis covers topics such as the longevity and maturity of the social customer service practice, the integration of social channels with traditional channels, and the decision and selection criteria used to determine social customer service programs.

Survey results indicated that social channels have been strongly embraced, with 59% of organizations having adopted Twitter and 60% adopting Facebook, and almost 85% of those who have adopted one, have adopted both together. However, while social channels are widely used, participants showed that justification and validation of social customer service is proving to be a challenge. There are a variety of differences in how social channels are used, and factors such as an organization’s size, industry and geography also play an important role. Integration of data, as well as finding the right balance between social customer service and more “traditional” channels, is an important part of what companies are wrestling with.

The size of the company is an additional factor in the maturity of its social customer program. For example, 40% of respondents in companies with 1000 or more contact center agents say that their social customer service initiatives have been in place for at least two years. In contrast, 53% of companies with smaller contact centers say that current programs were implemented within the past year to two years. The reasons behind the move of all companies, regardless of size, to social customer service is customer driven, with 56% of respondents implementing social customer service due to customer request, compared with 40% that put the programs in place to keep up with competitors.

“The direction social channels is headed when it comes to customer service is fascinating and a true ‘game-changer’ for businesses,” said Esteban Kolsky, principal and founder of thinkJar. “The trick is to truly understand how to navigate this hyped-up, yet semi-mysterious ‘customer service frontier.’ This research report is a must-have for all organizations who want to really know where to go with social in customer service.”

“What’s important for every organization to realize is, while social channels are constantly evolving, they are not new anymore,” said Mitch Lieberman, Vice President of Market Strategy at Sword Ciboodle. “The most successful customer service program will happen for businesses who incorporate social into their overall customer engagement practices, and really keep pace with the way their customers are communicating with them in all areas.”

As published in ConnectIT News

By: Mark Cox

Need assistance setting up or maintaining your Social Media accounts? Danipa can help!  Please contact us directly to learn more about our Social Media Packages!

http://www.danipa.com/request-a-quote

U.S, Canada becoming Hotbeds for Phishing Sites

Posted on by Posted in Internet Security, Technology News
As the association of Eastern European and Chinese IP addresses with cybercriminals has led to blacklisting of addresses from those countries, the crooks are moving their sites to North America – in droves.
A new report from security firm Websense finds strong evidence of this alarming new trend.
“Things are getting worse, not better,” said Patrik Runald, director, security research, Websense Labs.
In Canada, we found an 170% increase from last year in phishing sites being hosted on Canadian servers, making Canada number two in the world for hosted phishing sites.”  But that pales in comparison to the U.S., which saw a 300% increase and is now the top country in the world for these sites, by far.  “A lot more malicious content is now based in western, first world countries today,” Runald said. “Typical suspects 2-5 years ago were in eastern Europe which is dropping off because they developed a shady reputation. So traffic to and from servers in say Ukraine, were simply blocked by some admins, and vendor security products took location into account, making traffic from these countries much more likely to be blocked. So the operators of these sites moved to countries where traffic goes commonly, like the U.S. and Canada, where it is much harder to block for security reasons.”The same trend is also showing up with Bot networks, and with malicious URLs.
Canada saw a 39% increase in Bot networks this year, which Runald said was pretty average, especially when compared to the U.S. jump of 450% in the same category.
“This stat doesn’t mention the scale of the Botnet being used, and we are finding that 8-12 servers is now about average,” Runald said.
Malicious website increase was also high this year — about 300% in the U.S. and 239% in Canada.
“This was an amazing jump across the board,” Runald said. “And it s the most dangerous catagory because you don t have to click on anything to get infected. This is also a moving target, as are Bot networks, while phishing is more static in the way it works.”
Runald said the security vendors are generally able to cope because they do have massive amounts of data to work with. Websense alone has 3.5 billion pieces of data they scan every day.
“But the fact the numbers are going up quite dramatically is a worrying trend because there s more to deal with,” he said. “This is new. In 2010 and 2011 we did not see this kind of jump.”
Runald suggested that increasing criminal penalties for these kinds of crimes could have a significant impact.

As published in ConnectIT News

By: Mark Cox

Make sure that your information is secure!  Check out our selection of Internet Security products by visiting our website at: Norton Internet Security Software

Notice to our .CA Customers…

Posted on by Posted in Danipa, Domains

Please note that CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) will be performing a system upgrade with the .CA registry system starting at 9:00am on June 12th (ET) through to 9:00am June 13th.

Your .CA domain name(s) will continue to function normally throughout the service upgrade. 

There will only be a service interruption for Registrant Administrative transactions in the following areas:

  • Registrants will not be able to submit new .CA domain registrations during the service outage
  • Registrants will not be able to approve their CIRA Registrant Agreement  during the service outage
  • Registrants will not be able to update or renew existing .CA domain names during the service outage
  • WHOIS will not be available during the service outage
  • CIRA’s Election website will be offline during the service interruption.

This basically means that you should not plan to do any administrative work on your .CA domain name during this time! You can still login and view your information but do not plan to make any changes to your account information.

If you want to read more regarding this announcement please visit the CIRA website at:

http://cira.ca/news/announcements/ca-registry-upgrade

Do It Yourself SEO Tips

Posted on by Posted in Business, Marketing, SEO, Small Business

So you’ve invested in a great website but it’s not showing up in Search Engine Results?  This article will focus on the benefits of Website Linking, the tips are easy to do and only require a little time and effort from you!

Having links from other websites to yours is a critical part of search engine optimization. As well as the obvious bonus of having people follow these links to your site (Traffic!), inbound links provide the following benefits:

  • Search engine robots follow links between websites. The more inbound (Links to your site) links you have, the more often robots will visit your site!
  • Search engines tend to count links to your site as “votes” for you. They assume that if lots of websites link to your site it must be high quality. Page Rank is Google’s system of counting links. The general rule of thumb is that the more inbound links you can get, the better.

If you are looking to generate more traffic and to increase your page ranking, getting quality links should be at the top of your to do list!

The best way to get inbound links is simply to create web pages which people will want to link to. Your website should offer potential visitors a reason to visit. Consider adding a blog to highlight company news, Industry best tips or Special events.  Make sure that you regularly update your site as Search Engines (and visitors!) prefer fresh content. These types of links are known as natural links — the type of link which is created to increase the usefulness of the internet.

Natural links have many advantages:

  • They are free and you don’t have to reciprocate the link
  • After creating the content you don’t have to work to acquire them!
  • The links will be diverse, coming from differently ranked sites that have different anchor text

With a little luck and hard work you will attract enough natural links to give your site a boost.  Most websites however need to make more of an effort to acquire inbound links. Here are a couple of acceptable methods that are easy to do.

  1. List your website in online directories. There are many, many directories that provide you with the opportunity to link your website.  Most of them offer this FREE of charge while some require a small fee to maintain the listing.  If you are part of an organization (i.e Chamber of Commerce, Industry Organization) make sure that you are listed on their website
  2. Contact other websites that are in the same industry or genre as yours.  Ask them for a reciprocal link
  3. Comment in discussion forums and newsgroups using your website address.  Make sure that are genuinely contributing to the conversation and that you do not overdo this or spam forums.  Spamming forums is a quick way to give your site a really bad name!  Plus it’s annoying!
  4. Use Social media to connect with potential clients. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are just a few of the possible outlets.  This is a great way to share your Blog posts, company news or Special events with your followers.

For some great tips click here to read our Blog post “Seven Tips for Using Twitter for Business.”

Once you get listed on these sites, make sure that you visit and click on the link and follow it through to your site.  Many times I have seen companies listed on a site, click on their website link and find myself taken to a dead link or an incorrect site. What a waste!

What NOT to do!

While there are no official rules about linking, there are several methods that are known to be a very bad idea and will damage your online ranking instead of helping it. If you use the wrong methods, search engines may detect this and penalize you severely. (I.E Blacklist you – You will not show on the search lists!)

  • Post on Link Farms – These sites have been set up to allow you to post your URL without being part of a directory.  These sites are not liked by search engines and linking your site on one may decrease your ranking or even cause you to not show up at all on certain search engines
  • Buy links. Some websites sell links from pages with a high Page rank value. These can be very effective but they are frowned upon and search engines such as Google have been known to identify and blacklist the websites involved. The potential benefit is not worth the risk!
  • Spam comment forums – Don’t do this! It’s annoying, it wrecks your websites online (and offline!) reputation and did I mention it’s annoying?

Ok, so you have done all of the above and now want to see the fruits of your labour!  Here are a couple of different ways to check out how many inbound links your website has.

  • Visit www.alexa.com and type the URL of any site into the Alexa search box and click the search button and voila! This offers lots of information about the site including, related links, statistics and more
  • Use search engines to find out how many inbound links you have
  • With Google, enter the word link: followed by your URL to see a list of all websites which contain a link to your site.

Keep in mind that Google only returns a selection of inbound links — it doesn’t show all links to your site. Other search engines have the same feature and may provide more comprehensive results. Each one works a bit differently — visit any search engine and look for “Advanced Search Options” for more information. Also, it can take awhile for your hard work to pay off.

Your search engine results will not change overnight, it might take months for your results to change.  Consider this a project that will reap long term benefits!  Don’t think you have enough time to get your site in shape?  Take advantage of our Hassle Free Maintenance packages.

Looking for more information on how to make your website “Search Engine Friendly?”  Check out some of our other blog posts:

Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
$100 Free Google AdWords Coupon – Get Listed on Google!
Seven Tips for using Twitter for Business
Seven Critical Questions to ask before Developing a Social Media Policy

Please consider sharing any tips that you might use for your website in the comment section below!

Seven critical questions to ask before developing a social media policy

Posted on by Posted in Business, Marketing, Social Media, Technology News, Top Ten Lists
As published in ConnectIT NewsBy: Mark CoxSocial media disrupts the long-standing rules of business in many ways, but crafting a social media policy is premature unless the designers of the policy answer seven critical questions first, according to analyst firm Gartner. “Social media offers tempting opportunities to interact with employees, business partners, customers, prospects and a whole host of anonymous participants on the social Web,” said Carol Rozwell, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, those who participate in social media need guidance from their employer about the rules, responsibilities, ‘norms’ and behaviors expected of them, and these topics are commonly covered in the social media policy.”
To help define those norms, Gartner has identified seven critical questions that designers of social media policy must ask themselves:

What Is Our Organization’s Strategy for Social Media?
There are many possible purposes for social media. It can be used for five levels of increasingly involved interaction (ranging from monitoring to co-creation) and across four different constituencies (employees, business partners, customers and prospects, and the social Web). It is critical that social media leaders determine the purpose of their initiatives before they deploy them and that those responsible for social media initiatives articulate how the organization’s mission, strategy, values and desired outcomes inform and impact on these initiatives. A social media strategy plan is one means of conveying this information.

Who Will Write and Revise the Policy?
Some organizations assign policy writing to the CIO, others have decided it’s the general counsel’s job, while in other cases, a self-appointed committee decides to craft a policy. It’s useful to gain agreement about who is responsible, accountable, consulted and involved before beginning work on the policy and, where possible, a cross-section of the company’s population should be involved in the policy creation process. It’s important to remember that there is a difference between policy — which states do’s and don’ts at a high level — and operational processes, such as recruitment or customer support — which may use social media. These operational processes need to be flexible and changeable and adhere to the policy, but each department/activity will need to work out specific governance and process guidelines.

How Will We Vet the Policy?
Getting broad feedback on the policy serves two purposes. First, it ensures that multiple disparate interests such as legal, security, privacy and corporate branding, have been adequately addressed and that the policy is balanced. Second, it increases the amount of buy-in when a diverse group of people is asked to review and comment on the policy draft. This means that the process by which the policy will be reviewed and discussed, along with the feedback, will be incorporated into the final copy. A vetting process that includes social media makes it more likely that this will occur.

How Will We Inform Employees About Their Responsibilities?
Some organizations confuse policy creation with policy communication. A policy should be well-written and comprehensive, but it is unlikely that the policy alone will be all that is needed to instruct employees about their responsibilities for social media. A well-designed communication plan, backed up by a training program, helps to make the policy come to life so that employees understand not just what the policy says, but how it impacts on them. It also explains what the organization expects to gain from its participation in social media, which should influence employees in their social media interactions.

Who Will Be Responsible for Monitoring Social Media Employee Activities?
Once the strategy has been set, the rules have been established and the rationale for them explained, who will ensure that they are followed? Who will watch to make sure the organization is getting the desired benefit from social media? A well-designed training and awareness program will help with this, but managers and the organization’s leader for social media also need to pay attention. Managers need to understand policy and assumptions and how to spot inappropriate activity, but their role is to be more of a guide to support team self-moderation, rather than employ a top-down, monitor-and-control approach.

How Will We Train Managers to Coach Employees on Social Media Use?
Some managers will have no problem supporting their employees as they navigate a myriad of social media sites. Others may have more trouble helping employees figure out the best approach for blogs, microblogs and social networking. There needs to be a plan for how the organization will give managers the skills needed to confront and counsel employees on this sensitive subject.

How Will We Use Missteps to Refine Our Policy and Training?
As with any new communications medium, some initiatives go exceptionally well, while others run adrift or even sink. Organizations that approach social media using an organized and planned approach, consistent with the organization’s mission, strategy and values, will be able to review how well these initiatives meet their objectives and use that insight to improve existing efforts or plan future projects better.

Five Cloud computing trends that will impact Cloud Strategy

Posted on by Posted in Cloud Computing, Technology News
As published in ConnectIT News
By: Mark CoxContinual monitoring of cloud computing trends, with regular updates to the enterprise’s cloud strategy, will be essential to avoid costly mistakes or miss market opportunities over the next few years, according to analyst firm Gartner. Although the potential for cloud computing is significant, the breadth and depth of the impact, as well as the level of adoption over time, are uncertain and will require frequent review. “Cloud computing is a major technology trend that has permeated the market over the last two years. It sets the stage for a new approach to IT that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Cloud computing has a significant potential impact on every aspect of IT and how users access applications, information and business services.”
“The trend and related technologies continue to evolve and change rapidly, and there is continuing confusion and misunderstanding as vendors increasingly hype ‘cloud’ as a marketing term,” said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “This level of impact, confusion, uncertainty and change make cloud computing one of Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology trends to address.”
Gartner has identified five cloud computing subtrends that will be accelerating, shifting or reaching a tipping point over the next three years and that users must factor into their planning processes:

Formal Decision Frameworks Facilitate Cloud Investment Optimization
The cloud promises to deliver a range of benefits, including a shift from capital-intensive to operational cost models, lower overall cost, greater agility and reduced complexity. It can also be used to shift the focus of IT resources to higher-value-added activities for the business, or to support business innovation and, potentially, lower risks. However, these prospective benefits need to be examined carefully and mapped against a number of challenges, including security, lack of transparency, concerns about performance and availability, the potential for vendor lock-in, licensing constraints and integration needs. These issues create a complex environment in which to evaluate individual cloud offerings.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Is an Imperative
Hybrid computing refers to the coordination and combination of external cloud computing services (public or private) and internal infrastructure or application services. Over time, hybrid cloud computing could lead to a unified model in which there is a single “cloud” made up of multiple cloud platforms (internal or external) that can be used, as needed, based on changing business requirements. Gartner recommends that enterprises focus near-term efforts on application and data integration, linking fixed internal and external applications with a hybrid solution. Where public cloud application services or custom applications running on public cloud infrastructures are used, guidelines and standards should be established for how these elements will combine with internal systems to form a hybrid environment.

Cloud Brokerage Will Facilitate Cloud Consumption
As cloud computing adoption proliferates, so does the need for consumption assistance. A cloud services brokerage (CSB) is a service provider that plays an intermediary role in cloud computing. Interest in the CSB concept increased last year, and Gartner expects this trend to accelerate over the next three years as more individuals, whether they are in IT or a line-of-business unit, consume cloud services without involving IT.
To address this challenge, Gartner believes that IT departments should explore how they can position themselves as CSBs to the enterprise by establishing a purchasing process that accommodates cloud adoption and encourages business units to come to the IT organization for advice and support. The enterprise CSB approach can be implemented by modifying existing processes and tools such as internal portals and service catalogs.

Cloud-Centric Design Becomes a Necessity
Many organizations look first for opportunities to migrate existing enterprise workloads to a cloud system and/or an application infrastructure. This approach may provide benefits where the workload has a highly variable resource requirement, or where the application naturally lends itself to horizontal scalability. However, to fully exploit the potential of a cloud model, applications need to be designed with the unique characteristics, limitations and opportunities of a cloud model in mind. Gartner advises enterprises to look beyond the migration of enterprise workloads to the creation of cloud-optimized applications that fully exploit the potential of the cloud to deliver global-class applications.

Cloud Computing Influences Future Data Center and Operational Models
In public cloud computing, an enterprise is acting as a consumer of services, with the cloud services provider handling the implementation details, including the data center and related operational models. However, to the extent that the enterprise continues to build its own data centers, they will be influenced by the implementation models used by cloud services providers. Gartner recommends that enterprises apply the concepts of cloud computing to future data center and infrastructure investments to increase agility and efficiency.

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Guest Post Opportunities!

Posted on by Posted in Danipa, Guest Post Articles

Interested in contributing to Danipa’s blog? We love publishing guest posts, but we must ensure that our content remains on target and as useful as possible for our readers too!

At Danipa, we have a focus on all things relating to Technology, Marketing, and Internet Security! Articles should be of use for Small Business owners, Marketers and Corporations.

We will only post articles that relate to these fields:

  • Social Media tips, news and best practices
  • Web Design and Development news
  • Latest news about corporate IT, Tech and Security
  • Online or print marketing tips, news and best practices
  • Graphic Design & Branding news & best practices
  • eCommerce news and best practices

Please note we generally will not post product reviews.  

To make it easy for future guest authors, we have these guidelines that you should follow:

  •  Content must be your own original work
  • Cite your sources! Plagiarism is not permitted
  • Submissions should be kept between 500 – 1,000 words
  • Language should be clear and easy to understand
  • Articles that require substantial editing will not  be accepted.
  • You Title should be actionable so that readers will know what they will learn by reading the article
  • “About the author” section is listed at the end of the article. This can be a maximum of one paragraph with a limit of two links
  • You are allowed to link within your article only when it is relevant to what you are writing about
  • Excessive linking is not allowed
  • The language should be in the first person. I.E “In this article I will”
  • Your article should include at least one photo
  • The photo (s) must be topic relevant and should add to your content
  • You must ensure that you have permission to use the photos and should provide proper reference if you are borrowing an image from another site

Danipa Business Systems, Inc reserves the right to edit the article where necessary to ensure that the post is consistent with the overall feel and content of our Blog. We will never edit without notifying you and will inform you of any minor edits prior to publishing.  If a guest post is inappropriate or needs major editing, we’ll let you know and offer suggestions so that we can publish it in the future!

We also reserve the right to refuse publication, remove blog content and change these guidelines as we see fit.

We hope that you take advantage of this opportunity!  Please note we do not make any payments for guest articles. This is an opportunity for you to post your article on our website.

If you are interested or would like more information on this opportunity please contact:

VP of Sales & Marketing
Danielle Reynolds

danielle@danipa.com.

$999 Custom Website Spring Special

Posted on by Posted in Danipa, Small Business, Web Development
Spring into Success with our NEW Small Business Website Package!



Developed for Small Businesses who want a professional online presence that stands out from the competition!  This Value Packed Starter Package is the best choice for New Businesses who want a competitive online presence or for those who want to polish their existing website!

With millions of people now using the Internet to find products and services, it has become essential for any organization or business to have a website that effectively promotes the business and their products and services!

Your website will introduce and sell your products, reach out to new and existing customers and enhance your customer service by providing easy to access information regarding your address, hours of operation, detailed product descriptions, pricing and special events!

DANIPA designed websites have a dynamic and appealing look with well-designed navigation and content structure which will catch the interest of your customers!

Get noticed with our Small Business Starter Package!

Your Website Package includes:

  • A personal consultation with your dedicated Account Manager
  • 5 CUSTOM designed Web Pages
  • Integration of your Corporate Logo & Colours into the design
  • FREE 1 year domain name registration of your choice (.com .ca .net .org)
  • FREE 1 year Personal Plan web hosting package
  • 10 Personalized email addresses (e.g info@yourbiz.com)
  • FREE Setup of Google Analytics
  • FREE $100 Google AdWords Coupon to advertise your new site!

Psst…We NEVER use templates!  DANIPA designs are custom made just for you!

Contact us at info@danipa.com to get started today!

Privacy Services that help your e-Business build trust and Increase Sales

Posted on by Posted in Business, eCommerce, Internet Security, SEO, SiteLock, SSL Certificate, TRUSTe, Web Development
Danipa is pleased to announce the addition of TRUSTe Privacy solutions to our Internet Security Lineup! Founded in 1997, TRUSTe is the leading online privacy solutions provider. They offer a privacy services for businesses looking to build trust and increase engagement across all of their online channels.  Their services can be used for websites, mobile applications, advertising, cloud services, business analytics and email marketing.
Based upon the comprehensive privacy model of “Truth in Privacy,” which is laid on a foundation of transparency, choice and accountability regarding the collection and use of personal information, TRUSTe’s privacy seal is recognized and trusted by millions of consumers as a sign of responsible privacy practices.
The TRUSTe Privacy policy service provides a wizard based system that helps users create a valid, understandable privacy policy that properly reflects the practices used in collecting and sharing information about visitors and/or customers.
There are two options available:
TRUSTe Privacy with Seal – Includes a custom privacy policy, hosted by TRUSTe, free dispute resolution,  a verification scan to ensure accuracy and completeness in the privacy policy, and a Certified Privacy seal that offers visual approval to customers and can be displayed on the website
TRUSTe Privacy – The basic policy offers the same as above but does not include the TRUSTe seal
The TRUSTe Privacy Policy is available to customers in the following countries:
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hungry
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Romania
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Show your customers just how serious you are about protecting their privacy by putting TRUSTe’s decade of experience in online privacy to work for you!
See how TRUSTe Privacy Policy can help your business by watching this short video!

 

Creating Consumer Confidence for your e-Commerce site

Posted on by Posted in Business, eCommerce, Internet Security, SiteLock
Danipa is excited to announce the addition of SiteLock™ to our e-Commerce security product lineup!  SiteLock™ offers inexpensive 360 Degree scanning solutions for online businesses. It protects your website against malware, SQL Injection, Cross Site Scripting and more sophisticated techniques that Hackers use to steal your customer data, redirect your traffic and ruin your sites reputation.
Registered companies that meet the requirements are provided The SiteLock™ Trust Seal for use on their website. This visual approval has been proven to substantially increase sales and conversions, as up to 70% of web visitors are looking for a verifiable 3rd party certification before providing personal data.
With the increasing reports of high profile companies being hacked, customers are becoming more and more cognizant of the importance of third party certification.  They want to know just how serious you are about protecting their private information! By utilizing SiteLock™ scanning services you can increase consumer confidence, conversions, order value and customer engagement on your website, mobile application, cloud service, business analytics and email marketing.
SiteLock™ Trust Seal Enterprise Package
Daily Deep 360° Scanning
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User Web Application Scan
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User Plug-in Application Scan
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Brute Force Attacks Scan
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Backdoor Vulnerability Scan
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SQL Injections Scan
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Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
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Up to 2500 Pages
Daily Network Security Scanning
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External Network Scan
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Web Server Scan
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SMTP Scan
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Core Applications Scan
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Service Detection
Daily Reputation Management Scanning
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Spam Verification Level 2
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Malware Scanning
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Domain Name Verification
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SSL Verification
Daily Business Validation Scanning
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Business Verification
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Phone Number Verification
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Postal Mail Verification
Click Here to get SiteLock protection for your business today!

Seven Tips for Using Twitter for Business

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Business, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, Top Ten Lists, Twitter
1. Don’t be a Spammer
There is no quicker way to get people to unfollow you than to spam them with uninteresting, obvious sales tweets. Make your tweets sincere, interesting and of use to your followers! If you have some great blog posts…tweet about them! Relevant news items? Perfect! Be a resource for your followers – not another annoying spammer.
2. Follow People Back
Let’s face it – Chances are you are not a million dollar empire who has access to thousands of loyal followers! You need to work at creating a following and the first step is to follow people back! Twitter offers you the opportunity to get to know both your current customers and your potential customers. By following people back you increase the likelihood that they will continue following you and this allows you to begin developing a relationship with those potential clients.Show an interest in what your followers are saying by occasionally re-tweeting their interesting links, articles and tweets. When you engage with your followers make sure that you have a direct, appealing and personable message. Do not sound like a robot! Also, don`t be afraid to stop following people who are not following you. Check through your list of followers every couple of weeks and weed out those who are not following you back. A great resource for checking who is following your account can be found at: www.friendorfollow.com

3. Meet Your Best Twitter Friend – The Hashtag
Using the # symbol in front of different words converts them into searchable keywords. This means that anyone can perform a search for that word and all of the relevant tweets will be pulled into a single listing. Search out topics that are relevant to your business and then include them in your tweets. Proper Hashtag usage will increase the likelihood of reaching people who are interested in your products/services and help to increase your number of followers.

Sample tweet with good hashtag usage:
Great tips on #website design for your #business in #kitchener!

4. Offer Discounts & Incentives
Reward your loyal followers by offering discounts and incentives that can only be found via your Twitter feed. Make the promotions compelling and exciting and your followers will feel as though they have the inside scoop on your best discounts. This is a simple and cost effective way to market your business and a great way to attract new customers and to retain existing ones.

5. Respond Promptly!
Check your twitter stream regularly and above all don’t leave your followers hanging! If they are tweeting to you then you need to be responding! If they have a problem or issue with one of your products than they expect that you will answer them back promptly! Twitter can be an excellent Customer service tool – use it wisely.

6. Manage Multiple Accounts with a Platform
You can effectively manage your social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) by using a third party application like TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) or Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com).

Screenshot of TweetDeck

View all of the information you need from all of your accounts at once and cross-post Tweets to different accounts at the touch of a button. Long URL’s are automatically shortened and you can set it up so that your Facebook posts are automatically posted to Twitter, schedule tweets and quickly review timelines in one application. This can be a great time saver!

7. Be Resourceful!
Establish credibility among your followers by offering industry advice on relevant topics that your company is knowledgeable about. By sending out interesting tweets you increase the likelihood of someone reading and re-tweeting your posts!

If you are a lawn care company tweet about the latest in industry trends, care tips for healthy lawns, or the hottest lawn care tools. Home Improvement Company? Send out seasonally relevant home care tips, do-it-yourself home care projects and new product information.  Do your research and understand what matters most to the people that you are trying to reach.

Twitter can be one of your most valuable social media tools. With over 100,000,000 active users on twitter and and amazing 250,000,000 tweets sent every day, there is an unparalleled opportunity for reaching your potential clients! Using Twitter for business is a great way to share your important information, gather vital marketing intelligence and develop relationships with people who are interested in your company. It offers you the ability to develop relationships with potential clients and can lead to an increase in customers, brand awareness and recognition and will help to ensure your long term success!

Keep in mind that creating a successful Twitter feed requires that you spend the time and effort developing and managing the account. Just as in most things in business – the more you put into it the more you will get out!

More information about using Twitter for business can be found directly at the source.
Visit: http://business.twitter.com/

$100 Free AdWords Coupon!

Posted on by Posted in Google, Google AdWords, Marketing, Small Business
DANIPA is offering you a $100 gift coupon to advertise your business on Google AdWords. It’s time to make sure potential clients can find you on Google! Google lets you publish text ads next to Google search results whenever a user is searching for your products or services.
It’s a great way to reach thousands of potential clients, at exactly the right moment, when they actively searching for your type of business! $100 Google AdWords CouponAdWords advertising will benefit your business because of the following reasons:

  1. Quick and easy.
    Create your advertising campaign online within just minutes.
  2. Get targeted traffic.
    Your ads appear next to search results when a user searches for words of your choice.
    If you are a florist in NY you can choose to show an ad next to the search “NY flower delivery”.
  3. Pay only for clicks.
    You pay only when someone shows interest in you by clicking on your ad.
  4. Control your costs.
    You decide how much to pay per click, and determine your budget.
  5. Enjoy Powerful reportingAdWords lets you know your results at all times.

How to claim your $100 Google advertising voucher:

  1. Request your free $100 gift coupon!
  2. Visit www.google.com/ads and get started with AdWords
  3. Complete the sign-up process and create your first campaign.
  4. When entering billing details you will be prompted to enter your code.
  5. You can also enter the code later under the “billing” tab in your AdWords account.
    Please use capital letters and keep the hyphens.

We wish you good luck and business success with your AdWords campaign!

Terms and conditions: Promotional credit must be applied to a new AdWords account within 14 days of creating the AdWords account and is valid only for new Google AdWords. Advertisers will be charged for all advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. Advertisers can suspend their ads anytime before the promotional credit amount is exhausted if they do not wish to receive additional advertising charges. Offer subject to ad approval, valid registration, and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. The promotional credit is non-transferable and may not be sold or bartered. Offer may be revoked at any time for any reason by Google Inc. One promotional credit per customer. Advertisers with self-managed signup accounts are subject to a $5 (CAD10) activation fee and Advertisers who choose prepay billing are subject to a $10 (CAD20) minimum prepayment fee before their account is activated. Any such prepay amount will be credited to Advertiser’s account once account is activated. However, these fees will be debited from the promotional credit if Advertiser’s account was created after July 15, 2010 – that is, you will not be charged the activation fee. Offer valid only for sign ups through the URL provided for the promotion by customers with a billing address in the US or Canada. Your use of this voucher and/or the promotional credit constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions. Offer void where prohibited by law. Expires 05/31/2012

Using Technology to Expand Your Business Growth

Posted on by Posted in Business, Small Business, Web Development
The key to success for business growth lies in the use of technology. Technology allows you to create efficiencies in your business processes and expand your market reach to different geographical areas. The Internet is a great technological advancement that allows people to connect anywhere in the world and it is an excellent tool for driving business growth. For example, if you have a business in Toronto, it is easy to showcase and market your products to someone in Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles or London if you have a website thereby expanding your market to these areas. People around the world are using the Internet to find products and services and are either buying the product online or going to the store to buy them.  Successful companies are using their websites to connect with these customers and are using their increased market reach to drive the growth of their business.

In this article I will detail some of the key reasons for having a website for your business.

Online Brochure

Think of your website as an online brochure and employee.  Your customers can access it anywhere and at anytime to find out more about your products and services. It allows you to advertise your business 365/24/7 and the changes made to your products and services are immediately visible to your visitors. In essence, it gives you an employee who never sleeps and who is always promoting your products exactly how you want them to. Today’s technology allows for a safe and secure online transaction.  You can now use your website to sell products, take payments and generate invoices! This allows for the entire sales cycle to take place online!


Cost Effective
Using a website to showcase your products and services is a cost effective marketing tool when compared to the high cost of traditional print media.  Newspapers and print advertisements have a limited amount of space to promote your business and are usually considered a passive sales tool. A website is not limited in the amount of information that you can provide; you can gather visitor information, understand where your customers are located and what they think of your products and services.  Using this information you can then proactively reach out to them with new product information or even a monthly newsletter.  Adding a website address to your print media can expand the effectiveness of the ad and creates additional opportunities to stay in contact and/or close a sale.

Enhance Your Customer Service  
Your website can be used to enhance your customer service. It can offer easy to access information regarding your address, hours of operation, detailed product descriptions, pricing, and special events. With the addition of a “Frequently Asked Questions” section you can reduce the amount of time spent on the phone giving out the same information to different customers.  Utilizing your website in this way saves you time and money allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.

Competitive Advantage
Studies have shown that more and more businesses are investing in a web presence because of the enormous advantages it presents.  Most people now search online to learn more about a product before they decide to buy it. Your competitors may already be online selling to customers that you have never met.  Regain the competitive advantage by using your website to provide information that distinguishes your business from that of your competition.  Stay ahead of the curve and don’t be left out!

Creating your online presence is an exciting journey as you get to decide on how you want your website to look, what information you want to display and what products you want to promote.  You can easily use website templates to design a website or employ the services of a Professional web designer to develop a website that has everything you need in the style and format that you want.  Whatever you choose, a well-designed website can give you the competitive edge that today`s marketplace demands and it is a great way to market yourself, business or organization in an increasingly competitive economy.

Securing your Website with an SSL Certificate

Posted on by Posted in Business, Internet Security, SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate allows secure communication between a web server and clients accessing it. In the case of web browsers surfing secure web sites, SSL communication starts with the web browser requesting the digital certificate from the web server. The certificate contains the hostname of the web server, an expiration date of the certificate, the public key of the web server, and is signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) like VeriSign, Comodo, GeoTrust or Thawte.

The web browser can validate all of these pieces of information except for the public key of the web server. If all of the verifiable components pass validation, the web browser will generate its own public key and send it back to the web server. When the web browser’s public key is sent back to the web server as a response, it uses the web server’s public key, which was contained within the certificate, to encrypt the browser’s public key being sent. Now both the web server and web browser will be able to communicate with each using secure, encrypted communications because they have exchanged each of their public keys.

SSL Certificates are most commonly used for transmitting confidential banking or credit card information or during a secure login. A website visually shows that they are using an SSL Certificate by use of a small padlock icon in the browser. On any page that is secured, the icon will change to the locked image. Installing an SSL Certificate increases the confidence of visitors and customers.

There are a variety of SSL Certificates available:

Domain Validation SSL Certificates (DV SSL)

These certificates are issued only after the domain ownership has been validated via email. Company and business documents are not required during the validation process. This is the fastest SSL issuance process.

Organization Validation SSL Certificates (OV SSL)

This certificate is issued after the business is manually validated. Business documents are required and the process can take up to three business days to complete. The OV SSL’s are highly recommended for companies that have online shopping cart features. This SSL is rated more secure than the Domain Validation SSL.

Extended Validation SSL Certificates (EV SSL)

The EV SSL is the highest rated certificate. It provides a green address bar which is exclusive to the EV SSL to provide visual assurance to visitors that the site is verified and secured.

Wildcard SSL Certificates (Wildcard SSL)

Wildcard SSL Certificates are designed to secure unlimited sub domains over a single fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This certificate is used by companies that have a primary domain as well as multiple sub domains.

Multiple-Domain SSL (SAN SSL-UCC SSL)

Multiple Domain Certificates (MDC) are used for securing up to 100 domains under one certificate. The domains must be run on the same server to qualify for the single certificate. This certificate allows you to consolidate your SSL management process and manages the SSL encryption for all of your domains under a single SSL Certificate.

SGC SSL Certificates (SGC SSL)

SGC SSL Certificates upgrade the encryption capabilities of older browsers from a 40-bit encryption into a 128-bit or 256-bit encryption. This means your website has the highest rating for protection and is trusted by the highest number of browsers including older versions of Windows and Internet Explorer.

Who should use an SSL Certificate?

Any organization that is transmitting sensitive information through their website should use SSL Certificates.

Typical organizations include but are not limited to:

– Online Retailers
– Banks
– Government Organizations
– Educational Institutions
– Organizations and intranets that want to protect sensitive company data

DANIPA is pleased to offer SSL Certificates from Industry leading brands for our customers! Click here to get started!

Professional Email Addresses

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Marketing, Small Business

Why your “free” email will cost you

As a busy professional you work hard to build a positive brand around the work you do. In fact, many of today’s legal, accounting, real estate and other professionals benefit from having a business that conveys trust.

A lack of trust and perceived professionalism can directly translate to lost revenue

There are lots of ways that you have worked to build positive brand and inspire trust with your clients. Pleasant phone greetings when a client calls in, a professional sign over the office entrance, even stationary on a nice paper stock are important to let your clients know that you’re serious about your business.

How does it look after a great conversation with a potential customer when you hand them your card and the email address that you use for important business conversations is from one of the generic email providers like Hotmail or Yahoo?

Put another way; imagine a lawyer with an email address of lawyerbob@hotmail.com. Do you think Bob’s clients are comfortable knowing that private correspondence with their lawyer was being translated through a generic email service? How would their perception change if Bob’s email was Bob@Robertsonlawoffice.com?

Professional branding aside, there are some great reasons to have your email at your own domain name for business email:

Who’s going to help?

Delete an email? Can’t log into your account? Have a questions about the number of emails that you can send from your account? The generic email service providers have self-service tools to help you figure out your problem, but what can you do if you still have a problem? Who will you talk to and how long will you have to wait for help?

Avoid embarrassing communication errors

Imagine that a client is sending their year-end tax information to the accountants free Hotmail account at sarah.smyth@hotmail.com. Can you guess the amount of times that Sarah’s clients have emailed their sensitive financial documents to sara.smith@hotmail.com? Sure it’s the clients fault for not double checking the email, but could this have been prevented if she were sarah@reliableaccountants.com?

If you are serious about your business and your brand, consider how current and potential clients are judging you by a simple email address! Give your company the professional look of an email based on your domain!

Already have a domain? Then contact DANIPA today! You can get up to 10 email accounts for your business!

Need a domain? Click here to get started!

It’s that easy!

Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Business, SEO, Small Business

As mentioned in previous posts, the Internet has become an incredible tool for increasing sales and brand recognition. Utilizing your web presence to reach out to the millions of people searching for information and products has undeniable potential!

As we are designing your new website Danipa ensures that your site is search engine friendly from the bottom up. If you already have an online presence then you want to make sure that you are reaching those customers! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a simple and effective way to reach potential customers. Optimizing your website is a great way to ensure that your website is among the top returns for people searching for your products on search engines like BING, Google or MSN.

Some basic SEO tactics that Danipa employs when designing or re-designing a site can include:

  • The creation of unique and accurate page titles
  • The use of “description” meta tags
  • Improvement of site structure
  • Improvement of URL structure
  • Ensuring that the website is easy to navigate
  • Optimization of website content
  • Improvement of anchor text
  • Optimizing the use of images
  • Use of appropriate heading tags
  • Increasing the number of inbound links
  • Technical advice on website development, i.e hosting, error pages, use of JavaScript
  • Management of online business development campaigns
  • Keyword searches

If you are looking for detailed information on how search engines work or for technical information on making your website “Google Friendly” then we recommend you visit Google’s help pages at: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=19494.

A good time to utilize SEO services is when you are considering a site re-design or planning to launch a new site. Please feel free to visit www.danipa.com to request a quote!

Choosing Your Domain Name

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Business, Domains, Marketing, Small Business

Choosing a domain name is the first step in creating your online presence. The right domain name will help to establish your online credibility and can be a key part of your organizations branding strategy.

Domain names can be categorized into Top Level Domains (TLDs) and country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) and represents the suffixes on a domain. Domain names ending with .com, .org, .net, .info, .biz, .name, .mobi, .asia , or .tel are examples of TLDs whereas the ones ending with .ca, .us, .de, .fr, .gh, .in, .it, .es are examples of ccTLDs.

You can choose from different extensions when purchasing your domain. Most organizations buy their domain in different extensions (e.g company.com, company.biz, company.us, company.ca) to protect their brand identity or to identify with countries that they operate in.

Here are some tips for choosing the right domain name for your company or organization.

Keep it Simple and Easy to Remember
A domain name is your address on the Internet so keep it simple and easy to remember! If a domain requires a lot of attention to type correctly then you have lost part of its marketing value. Avoid long names and try to pick a name that is easy to remember.

Avoid Hyphens and Numbers
Hyphens and numbers make it hard to verbally promote your website. This is important if you advertise through radio or over the phone. You do not want your customers to be unable to find your website simply because they have spelled it incorrectly.

Use your Company or Brand Name
You want your customers to easily associate your domain name with your business or brand. When registering your domain, try to choose a name that is based on your company or brand. To avoid competitors purchasing similar domains it is also advisable to purchase domains in different extensions (e.g .com, .ca, .org, .net).

Register your domain name for more than 1 year
You have an option to purchase your domain for a period of 1 to 10 years. We recommend purchasing your domain for more than 1 year as this gives you the security of knowing you will own it for a long time. If you allow your domain name to expire, it becomes available for purchase to the general public. Always remember to renew before the expiration date or your could lose the right to use it!

Choose Automatic Renewal for your domain
When registering your domain, there is an option to automatically renew it at the end of its expiration. Choose this option to reduce the chance that you forget to renew!

Get started with our easy to use domain name registration system. Buy your domain name today!

Creating Your Online Presence!

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Business, Domains, Small Business, Web Development, Web Hosting

Creating your online presence is an exciting opportunity! In order to simplify the process for you we have listed the three items needed to get you started.

Domain name

First you need to register a domain name for your business or organization. A domain name is your address on the Internet and it can be registered for 1 to 10 years. You must renew your domain name at the end of its expiration otherwise you may lose the right to use it.

Website

You then need a website to show the information that you want to present. You can choose from two types of websites. The first uses static pages and is used for presenting information that does not change often. The second is called a dynamic website and it allows for interaction with the user and normally offers a database storage capability. The contents of a dynamic website can change frequently and offer you the opportunity to update your information at any time.

Hosting Server

A hosting service is the last item required. The hosting server hosts your website on the Internet and ensures that your website is available to the public 24/7. Webhosting packages can be purchased on a monthly or yearly plan.

Danipa is pleased to provide one-stop-shopping for your website design, webhosting and domain registration needs.

Register your domain to get started!

Top 10 Reasons you need a Website

Posted on by Posted in Biz Tips, Business, Marketing, Small Business, Top Ten Lists, Web Development

Some of the common excuses people give for not having a website are “My business is very small” , “I have only myself and another employee”, “I don’t have any products or services to sell”. It all revolves around the question “Does my business require a website?”.

The answer is a definite yes! You need a website and there is no doubt about it!

Regardless of your knowledge of computers and the Internet, you need a website if you have business. If your limited knowledge of computers is holding you back from investing in a website then we have a solution! Let us work with you to develop a website that effectively markets your company and is easy to use. We have expertise in developing websites for small to large sized organizations and we welcome the opportunity to work with you.

Here are the top 10 reasons for why you need a website for your business or organization:

  1. Bring your Business to the World
    With millions of people now using the Internet to search for information, you need an online presence to reach out to them and stay relevant!
  2. Advertise your Business 365/24/7
    Think of your website as an online brochure. Your customers can access it anytime, anywhere and use it find out more about your products and services. You can provide any information you want without limitation of traditional print brochure.
  3. Reach New Markets
    Having a website allows you to reach out to new markets around the world! There is no boundaries with the Internet!
  4. Sell your Product
    A website gives you another avenue to sell your products and services. Think of it as an employee who is always promoting your products and services! Today’s technology allows for safe and secure online transactions.
  5. Enhance your Customer Service
    A website offers easy access to information regarding hours of operation, products, pricing and special events. You can use it as a medium to provide valuable information for your customers.
  6. Reach a Specialized Market
    Having a website is a great way to exhibit your professionalism in niche markets. It allows you to stand out in your field.
  7. Stay Competitive
    Any serious company or organization has a web presence. Your competitors may already be online! You do not want to lose out on all the opportunities to your competitors.
  8. Request Information
    A website is a useful tool to request Customer information and for finding out what they think about your products and services. It creates a connection between your business and the customer and you can always reach out to them using the information they provided.
  9. Make Changes Available Quickly
    Changes made to your website are visible to visitors immediately. Websites are a useful tool for keeping information about your products and services up-to-date.
  10. Cost Effective
    Utilizing a website for your marketing allows you to reach out to a large number of people by showcasing your products and services without the high cost of traditional print media. There is also no limit to the information you can provide and it is a very cost effective way to promote yourself or business.

Looking for a new or redesign of your existing website? Get a Free Web Design Quote!

Benefits of a Website

Posted on by Posted in Web Development

With millions of people now using the Internet to find products and services, it has become essential for any organization or business to have an online presence.

Your online presence allows you to present new products, reach out to new and existing customers and provides a forum for discussion regarding new events and products that is always current!

Having a professionally designed website gives you the competitive edge that todays market place demands.

Looking for a new or redesign of your existing website? Click here to request a free quote!