The 4WD Button

One night I got the 2 AM call every parent dreads:  “Dad, I’ve been in an accident!” My 18-year-old son, on his way home from work, was fine but shaken up.  It was winter and the roads were snow packed with spots of ice.  He was an experienced winter driver, but cruising down the freeway at 60 MPH in the middle of the night he hit a patch of ice, lost control and went into the median. Because of deep snow, the Blazer was propelled in then out on the other side, into the opposite traffic lanes.  Fortunately, there was little traffic at that hour, so there were no other cars around.

Smashing into the median bent the frame, pushed the engine back, cracked the radiator and other damage.  Check out the picture of the front license plate holder and you’ll get an idea of the devastation.

He was able to drive it to a friend’s repair shop, and I went to pick him up.  On the way home he shared the details and revealed that he had failed to push the 4- wheel drive button.  “Why??” I asked.  “I didn’t think I needed it,” was his response.

The Chevy Blazer he was driving had a button on the dashboard that engaged the 4- wheel drive.  Most of the time we drove in 2-wheel drive mode since the gas milage was better.  But when it snowed, that button was great! One click, double the power and control.  But he didn’t think he needed it!

$2500 in repairs or engage the 4-wheel drive?  Seems like an easy choice but it wasn’t as simple as that.

Today we see the same rationale. I hear people say ‘oh, I don’t need Linkedin’ or ‘I just don’t get Twitter’.  These are the new 4-wheel drive buttons of marketing.   Failure to use them will cost you.  

Internet marketing demands that your organization leverage every tool and advantage you can employ, including:

• Youtube video. The second largest search engine on the web and owned by Google.  Ignore it at your peril.
• Social media, especially Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook.  Depending on your product, service and audience, one can be more effective than another.  It’s vital to know which applies to you and why.
• Press releases.  News of product offering, expansion, customers, awards, etc., helps push your name and site in search engine results.  Tell the world your news.
• Blogging.  Consistent posting of solid information is the foundation of organic SEO.  Blog about your customers and how they use your product, or changes in the industry.  The list is endless.  Make sure it’s well written, interesting and helpful.
• Think creatively.  The first rule of marketing is to set yourself apart from your competition.  In other words, don’t follow the leader.
• How can you tell your story differently?  Think of the memorable ads of the past.  Most of them were creative and emotional.

These activities are critical to your internet identity and building strong, organic SEO.   Not understanding and engaging them will cost you.  Just like driving in the snow without engaging the 4-wheel drive.

Weak Passwords: “Jesus” Can’t Save You From Password Hackers

“Jesus” is the 21st most common password employed by internet users, but it’s not strong enough to protect your data.  Hackers work around the clock looking for ways to steal your identity, money, and private information. And poor password choices makes their work easier.  http://www.youtube.com/user/CoppermoonWebDesign

Use ‘strong’ passwords to protect your data

We tend to use passwords that are easy to remember, without considering their security strength.  If you are on the internet, you use passwords to look up your bank account, get mail, access Facebook or Twitter, buy the latest best seller from Amazon… each task requires a password.  Most of us view website password management as annoying at best, and a real headache at worst.  Your opinion probably depends on how many password accounts you have.  The more you have, the more of a hassle it seems.

What does a secure password look like?  At least 8 (12 is best) characters, with upper and lower case letters, symbols and at least one number.   Something like ‘A9bQgJt1rzL&’ . But that is hard to remember, so most of settle for something like ‘abc123’ (number 4 on the list) or ‘ninja‘ (number 23).

There are ways to make your passwords both secure and memorable.  For example, let’s say you moved to Phoenix in 1991.  Intermix the letters and numbers, something like this: PHo19en91iX  That is a strong password and one you can remember.

Security software developer Splashdata just released its annual list of the most used and insecure passwords. Their list is based on analysis of file dumps from online hackers.  Some of the entries are surprising, others not so much.  The most used password?  ‘password’ .

Here are some basic password rules to protect your identity, money and information.

• Never post or send your password via email, text, instant message, or on social media sites
• Don’t use your name as your password
• Don’t use the names of your spouse, kids, or pets as passwords
• Change all of your passwords at least twice a year
• Don’t use passwords that could be cracked by looking at your Facebook page.
• Never disclose your passwords in response to an email or a phone call
• Use some type of password management program that can be locked (of course, you have to remember the password for that!).

Here’s the list of the most commonly used passwords, in order of popularity.  If you use ANY password on this list, change it immediately!

password

123456

12345678

abc123

qwerty

monkey

letmein

dragon

111111

baseball

iloveyou

trustno1

1234567

sunshine

master

123123

welcome

shadow

ashley

football

jesus

michael

ninja

mustang

password1

Google Sees Your Website Like An MRI

A few years ago I had an increasing pain in my neck and down my arm.  I went to the doctor and he ordered an MRI.  When it was over, the tech gave me a CD and told me to show it to the doc.  Being curious, I plugged it in to my computer and watched what appeared to be an X-Ray movie of my neck and spine.  Interesting, but I couldn’t really tell what was wrong.  (Watch this video as Dr. Corenman explains a neck/spine MRI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO3xmPLrvvM)

After viewing, my doctor said I had a ruptured disk and was leaking the goo (he compared it to the filling in a Twinkie!) that separates the vertebrae. It wasn’t going away and I needed surgery to repair it.  The procedure was scheduled and I spend 3 days in hospital.

For most people, looking at your Google Analytics report of website traffic is about as clear as an medical MRI.  But it can reveal serious problems and opportunities, as well as track the marketing success of your website.

Google Analytics is powerful program that tracks all activity on your website.  http://coppermoonusa.com/analytics.html Google offers it free in exchange for sharing the anonymous data it collects.  The system shows how many visitors per day come to your site, which pages they visited, how long they spend on the each page, what keywords they used to find you, and much, much more.

Why is this of value?  Like the MRI, understanding the meaning of the data will improve your internet marketing performance and can increase your ROI.

Here are two quick examples.  One of our clients averages about 200 visitors to their site per day, and they pay an SEO (search engine optimization) firm to push them to page 1 of Google search.  But when we looked at the analytics, we saw that very few people are coming to their site using the keywords they are paying for. Armed with this data, they adjusted the keyword campaign to drive more traffic to their site.

For most credit unions and banks, visitors frequently come to their site and launch online banking.  Only a small percentage of visitors browse the rest of the site for information or offers.  Consequently, the site must deliver a clear and compelling message.  Many marketing departments spend a great deal of time and energy developing art and text, but have no idea how effective they are.  If there is an auto loan offer?  What percentage of visitors see it?  How many complete an application?  Of those, how many loans are approved?  This information gives you insight into how visitors behave on the site and what can be changed to improve performance.

Google Analytics, installed, properly configured and interpreted, can guide your internet marketing efforts to increase business and ROI.  Without it, measuring your online efforts are nothing more than opinion and blind luck.

Did You Know…You Need Video

One of our clients asked us to help them with a video campaign. We created a half a dozen web videos that we posted on YouTube, Vimeo, MetaCafe and others. It has since been picked up byother blogs and pages. This all links back to their websites, helping in their Page Rank, but more importantly giving their potential customers another way to find them.

Remember that it’s more important to please your customers than the search engines (though by doing this it in turn pleases the search engines). We are a video driven society, we are much more likely to view a video than to read a blog post or content on a website. Help yourself out, do some video.

If you have questions on web design and video contact Coppermoon at info@coppermoonwebdesign.com

Coppermoon is a full service Web Design & Technology firm which aims to help businesses compete in this digital age. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

A Video From Our Library

Web video should be an important part of your web design, here’s a video from our library:

Coppermoon is a full service Web Design & SEM firm which aims to help businesses compete in this digital age. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

Video For Web Sites

Web video is an important part of your website, to engage customers when they land on your page. It can also be an important part of your marketing campaign.

If you need web video we have a full service production studio in house, Coppermoon Web Design can help!

The Power of Video on the Web

It’s tough out there for a website. Getting to page one of the search engines is increasingly challenging. With Google’s ever changing index and algorithms, not to mention that SEO becoming more mainstream,

Over the last couple of years, Google has been putting blended results on their page. News results, blogs and videos, as well as the traditional page results are what we expect from a search. Video can give you an edge. Video is becoming an ever more important part of SEO and an important part of the internet as a whole.  Consider that in 2010 YouTube.com was the 3^rd most popular website.

Posting video can get your website noticed by consumers, share the video on their blog, ‘like it’ or send it around to everyone they know. Getting more traffic to your video is always a good thing, but how can your video be found? People tend to forget  that the Google robots can’t actually see your video. You have to make your video easy to find by the search engines by tagging your video with appropriate key words, utilize meta tags and write an accurate description of your video, so that the robots see exactly the content of your video. It’s not just about putting a video up on YouTube, you need quality video. People are just as likely to bounce away from your video if it’s boring or looks like a commercial. Make it interesting, eye catching and professional looking. This will help your overall success immensely.

Coppermoon Web Design has a professional video team to help make your website shine with web video coppermoonwebdesign.com

A video from our library

Taking advantage of the power of video on the web, this video has gotten over 3,000 views in the year since it has been up. Are you getting that many eyes on your company name and website?

 

Web Video from our Library

We posted this video for a client 4 months ago and it’s had nearly 300 views on YouTube, that’s exposure to nearly 300 potential patients, what could we do for you? coppermoonwebdesign.com

Orthotics can provide relief from Plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the fascia on the bottom of your feet. Heel pain is most intense in the morning as the arch flattens and tears the tissue. Custom orthotics in the form of shoe inserts relieve pain and prevent further injury.

Video From Our Library – R&J Technical

The electrical system of your rig or facility is the backbone that keeps you in business. Failure of a motor, drive or other system can damage other equipment, and your reputation if affects your ability to deliver your product or service.

R&J Technical Services watches out for you by providing installation, repair and maintenance for all of your electrical equipment on oil and gas rigs,in factories and manufacturing facilities, warehousing, and any other commercial building.

If you need service on your rig, building or any electrical equipment call us today for a no obligation consultation. We keep the lights on.

powerprosusa.com

Web Video…Again…

I talk about web video a lot on this blog. That’s because I feel it’s an underused, important part of internet marketing and SEO. Do you have any idea how many video sites are out there? Even if you did, you’re probably underestimating it. People like video, I know some people, mostly younger than me, who actually get together and just watch videos on YouTube or Vimeo. No really. They don’t watch movies, they don’t watch the big game, they just watch videos on the internet. This is the future. So make sure you don’t miss the boat.

Check out our YouTube Channel to see some of our projects, if you are interested in seeing what we can do for you contact us at coppermoonwebdesign.com