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How Do You Deal with Spam Comments On Your Social Media Accounts?

2/25/2021

 
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Dealing with spam comments on any platform of your online presence is sadly a very common thing that almost everyone deals with. In part three of this blog, we are going to be talking about how to deal with spam comments on your social media pages! 
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Hello readers and hello to our fellow Summerville businesses, residents, and friends! Welcome back to the Creative Consulting blog! We hope business is going well for you, and that you're working towards reaching your end of the year goals one day at a time! If you're not quite there yet, ask yourself what might be going on or getting in the way. One of the most overlooked things that can turn your business around is your social media presence. First of all, do you have any? Is your website skillfully designed and easy to navigate? Do you regularly post to your social media pages, do you respond to comments, emails, and direct messages promptly? Do you actually work on your SEO and Google ranking? If you answered no to any of those questions it might be time to reach out to us at Creative Consulting to help give your website a little TLC and truly give you the power that social media can provide. It's what we do, and what we are passionate about. We are also constantly dedicated to learning more about the social media industry to be up to date as much as possible to help our clients stay above and beyond their competitors! 

In part one of this blog series, we began talking about the impact spammers and hackers have on your social media and internet presence and focused on how to deal with them in blog comments. Today, we are going to be discussing how to deal with spam comments and potential hackers on your social media platforms. While so many think that spammer comments and posts on your social media can just be ignored and buried by other comments, it is not a situation to be ignored or a time to hope that they won't be seen. These comments, posts, and the presence of spam comments can be very dangerous and damaging to your company and your brand. Remember, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool for your company; it can help build it up or spammers can help tear it down in an instant. They come in the form of fake accounts, spamming comments filled with hashtags, links, and one too many emojis, and direct messages that are not welcome. It takes time to deal with all of this, but it is well worth it to avoid any malicious intent or harm to your accounts or your actual trusted followers. 

  • Fake Accounts
No matter if you've been on social media for a few years or a few months, you'll begin seeing and recognizing fake accounts popping up constantly in your inboxes and asking for friend requests. This is something almost every user of social media has to deal with. While accepting fake friend requests seems harmless, they can actually hurt your account, your credibility, and lead to an overwhelming amount of unwanted direct messages. These fake accounts can also lead you to some very nasty malware and viruses. One way you can deal with this is to not follow back every account or person that follows you on social media. While following accounts and others back is a way to grow your account, that doesn't mean you have to use this tool. AgoraPulse recommends avoiding doing anything automatically, as automated actions are against many social media platform's rules. Doing repetitive or automated actions can pause or freeze your account, flagging you as the issue. This can prevent you from commenting, supporting, and even posting on your accounts. Also, block those fake accounts. While it is very tempting to reach a certain number of followers (like the prized 10k followers on Instagram), these fake accounts aren't doing anything for you in return. Spam accounts, if liked and followed, can lead to a mass amount of spam comments and direct messages. They can bury important comments and messages from actual important customers and followers, aggravating them and losing their trust when they're not responded to. You will also have to deal with constantly emptying your inbox, deleting spam comments, and dealing with the repercussions of your follows seeing them. Just like fake reviews, companies are out there that are paid to create these fake accounts to post these spamming (and sometimes malicious) comments and send fake direct messages. From a customer's point of view, this is not a professional look you want to go for! 

  • Be Careful With Your Hashtags
Hashtags are consistently a hot topic for social media users, managers, and marketers. How many should you use? Which ones should you use? How often should you use them? While the use of hashtags and which ones and how many to use will have to be a blog topic for another time, for right now we will say to use them with caution and with dedicated practice. Some resources, like AgoraPulse, recommends that you limit the amount you use, while other studies say to use the maximum amount of 30 hashtags with every post. There is no doubt that hashtags can help bring authentic users and followers to your accounts, they can also attract fake accounts. A lot of fake and spam accounts will use hashtags to target followers to follow them. According to AgoraPulse, 8% of all Instagram accounts are fake. According to Statista.com, there are 909.8 million users on Instagram, making 72,784,000 of those accounts fake! Reducing your number of hashtags to reduce the attention from fake bots and accounts can be a huge help. Be consistent with your hashtag research, and use an appropriate amount to get the appropriate amount of attention. 

  • Bulk Messaging 
Automated messaging has become very commonplace on apps like Twitter and TikTok welcoming followers to their page, inviting them to check out their latest deals, introducing themselves to the new followers, and adding an invitation to a website or a landing page. However, these come with a heavy consequence, and it might be time to stop using them and avoiding them if you can. This goes hand in hand with following fake accounts. Many fake accounts will use bulk messages that look legitimate to entice users to click on a site that will lead to a virus or other malicious landing pages. Bulk messages, if sent enough, can help false information to trend or go viral, leading to fake jobs and fake information to spread and overshadow actual and factual information that needs to be shared. On the other hand, if you use this as a tool for your company, it can be very annoying to your real followers and potential customers. They want to follow you, but that doesn't mean they want a bunch of direct messages filling up their inboxes. Bulk messages can prevent you from seeing important messages and opportunities in your inbox, too! 

  • Comment Moderation 
Just like we talked about in our first blog of this series, you need to be vigilant in monitoring your comments as best as you can. First off, be very responsive to comments and messages that are not spam, keeping this open communication with your followers is imperative. If you see a spam comment or a comment you believe is spam, go ahead and delete it. For accounts that receive tons of spam comments, this can be a big challenge. If you use posting platforms like Buffer, AgoraPulse, or Hootsuite, you can adjust certain settings to block comments that have certain words, keywords, and phrases to help combat this and help save you a ton of time. You can even go a step ahead and block these spam and bot accounts to cut down on these comments, and always make sure to report them. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook update their systems every year to combat spam comments and accounts, and while they are very efficient, you might still need to put in the extra legwork. You also have the option to turn off comments temporarily. While this is a drastic fix, we don't necessarily recommend it as it can disconnect you from your followers. 

  • Reporting Fake Reviews
Genuine reviews are the make or break currency of the internet world. They can make or break a business in a matter of seconds. Like we mentioned above, some companies can be paid to create fake reviews. We've talked about the importance of reviews in the past, and how a few bad reviews and bot comments are ok, but when a business is overrun with fake reviews, that's when the danger sets in. Many review sites, like TripAdvisor, allow you to report these reviews. Staying on top of fake reviews is just as important as fake and spam comments. Remember, just because a review isn't positive doesn't mean that it is spam. Companies can pay for a ton of five-star reviews, and that looks just as suspicious. Fair warning, these reviews can be posted in bulk, so any action you can do to repair and monitor them is very important for the health and wellness of your business. 

Taking responsibility against these spammers and bots is a responsibility that comes with having your business online. These are just a few of the tips available to you to help combat these issues. If you've come to the end of the road with these tactics, there are many others out there. Remember too, having an active social media account and monitoring your pages can help cut down on these malicious and annoying attacks. Active accounts can help you remain creditable and keep you in contact with your customers and target audience. While it might seem tedious, please believe us when we say that these actions are worth it. If you're having these issues or if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

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How Do You Deal With Spam Emails In Your Professional Inbox?

2/18/2021

 
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Continuing with our current blog series, we are going to be discussing how to deal with spam and phishing in your inbox. Today's focus will be on how to spot these hazardous emails, how you can fight back, and how to protect yourself from any and all dangers lurking in your email! 

Hello readers! Hello Summerville! Welcome to the Creative Consulting blog, coming to you from the heart of Summerville, SC just a little drive up from Charleston, SC! We hope that wherever you are that this blog finds you healthy and well! While we are still battling with the effects of a global pandemic, there is another difficult fight that many companies have to deal with daily; fighting spam and phishing comments, messages, and emails across their entire digital fingerprint. The scams and those behind them are becoming harder to recognize as spam, and they are becoming more intelligent and malicious every day. As we've been discussing through this blog series, it's something that everyone deals with, something that you can't give up fighting on, and something that sometimes is very hard not to fall into.

As we hinted in the first blog of this series, spam emails are starting to look more legitimate every day, becoming more tailored to their target audiences, and hard to recognize as spam. These emails can cause fear, frustration, lead to a virus destroying your personal or work computer, or expose sensitive information from your personal or professional life. We've seen it in the news multiple times as cybercrime has grown; a giant corporation will get hacked and millions will have their personal information exposed or personal information gets into the wrong hands. However, even more frightening is the fact that these scams can happen to anyone and any size company. These spammers and hackers don't discriminate, they just keep on working. How can you recognize spam emails and how can you protect yourself against them? That is what we will be discussing today! 

How Do You Recognize Spam Emails? 
Why put such a big focus on spam in email form? Why disguise them as big bank chains, Netflix, or Amazon? Email is a very cheap and costless platform that allows spammers and hackers to reach high volumes of individuals very quickly. Why the popular chains? It's the fact that almost everyone is connected to at least one if not all of these popular resources, making the scams look incredibly believable. According to westtek.com, more than 95% of emails sent throughout the world are more than likely spam. According to the Cisco Talos Intelligence Group, it has been found that 84% of world wide email traffic is unsolicited and malicious. With statistics like that, how can you fight against something so powerful? How can you recognize what is spam and what is not? 
  • Make sure you know who is sending you an email before opening it. If you receive an email from someone you don't know or a company you've never heard of, approach it with caution. 
  • Legitimate companies and real people will address you by name when sending you an email. A very generic greeting or one that feels inappropriate like "hi dear", "valued customer", "sir or madame", or "to who it may concern", is more than likely spam. Legitimate businesses would always address you professionally and by name. 
  • Have you received an email that promises incredible wealth, weight loss, or an amazing deal? If something sounds too good to be true, it more than likely is. Spam will attract its readers with very promising and exciting titles and will entice readers by saying, "all you need to do is click here!". Avoid these emails as much as possible, and please do NOT click anything! 
  • Many phishing or spam emails will ask you for very private and sensitive information. Real companies and individuals will never ask for this through an email. 
  • One sure fast way to spot a spam email is finding very blatant spelling and grammar mistakes. Companies like Amazon and Netflix would never have common grammar or spelling mistakes in their emails. 
  • Not only should you know who the email is from, but you need to watch for spoof email addresses. Many spammers and hackers will create email domains that look real and professional but are just a little off. You can take your mouse and hover over the email and see if any strange alterations like letters or random numbers have been added to the address. If it doesn't look professional or is just slightly off, it most likely is. 
  • Avoid emails that are threatening or urgent. Causing fear and panic in their target audience is a very common tactic for phishers and scammers. They want to scare you into acting without thinking and giving up your personal information. No professional would threaten you. 
  • Legitimate companies never force you to visit their website and they wouldn't send unsolicited attachments or documents for you to view. If you receive phishing or scam emails with website links or attachments, please do not open them or click them! This could give your computer a virus or allow the sender to take any personal information available on your computer. 
  • A lot of the time, spam will call itself out by saying, "this is not spam!". That is the biggest red flag! A real company or individual would never have to defend themselves like that. 
  • Watch how the spelling of the company is presented in an email. Your brain might not catch it right away, but it can be one of the biggest red flags that the email you're reading is a scam! For example - PayPal spells their name with two capital Ps. An email from the company would never spell its name as paypal. 

How Do You Protect Yourself From Spam Emails? 
  • First off, please install or have someone install anti-spam and anti-virus software on your computer. This special software will tag emails that are spam and can block viruses, phishing attacks, and dangerous malware. 
  • Only give your email address out to people you trust and to companies you trust. Even then, you do need to approach giving your email out to companies with caution. Never post your email address publicly! 
  • Once you've recognized a suspicious or spam email, don't open it and do not respond to it. 
  • If you are someone who enjoys signing up for online contests, deals, and more, try to avoid using your personal or professional email address when you do so. Don't use any email account that is connected to sensitive information like your bank account or Amazon account. 
  • Spam and other attacks can appear on your phone, too. To help prevent this, let your phone's software update automatically. 
  • When you have the option for multi-factor authentication to log in to certain sensitive accounts, always choose these options. It will be a two-step process to log into these accounts, making them much more difficult to break into. 
  • Always back up your data, and make sure that the backed-up information isn't connected to your home or work network. Do this for all of your smart devices. 
  • Set up email filters to detect and get rid of spam before you even open it. Depending on your email platform, you can set certain words and phrases to be marked as spam and they can automatically be sent to your spam or mail folders. 
  • When you receive a spam email, block them from sending you anything again. 

​How Do You Report phishing or scamming? 
  • First, if you are concerned about your accounts you have been emailed about, instead of clicking on the links or visiting the website linked in the suspicious email, call the company instead and see if there is a problem. 
  • According to the Consumer Information provided by the Federal Trade Commission, if you get a phishing email you can forward it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org. If you receive a phishing text message, forward the message to SPAM (7726)
  • You can also report the attack to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint. Follow the link below to learn more and directly visit the Federal Trade Commission website! 
  • https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams

Checking your email and text messages should never bring you worry or stress about spamming or phishing, but sadly it happens every day. We hope this guide helps you to combat this daily issue, that it helps give you peace of mind, and that it helps to keep you and your company safe! If you have any more questions or comments, please never hesitate to reach out to us! If there is a topic you would like to see as a future blog, don't hesitate to reach out and share that with us as well! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

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The Realities of Spam Comments and Attacks on Social Media (Part One)

2/4/2021

 
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Spammers, fishers, scams, viruses, and their threats have become a dangerous daily reality for businesses of all sizes. To help keep you safe and sane we wanted to talk about the realities of these situations, how to recognize them, and how to deal with them. 

Hello, Summerville, and hello to you, reader! Welcome back to Creative Consulting's blog. We hope we find you happy and well. Are you feeling stumped or stuck with where your company is going or with your overall business goals? We might be able to help with that! We specialize in branding and online exposure marketing through social media and SEO, we build websites, create content, and run all of your social media pages, and much more. Help the world know who you are and what your business is through the explosive power of social media. You can't afford to put it off any longer! 

We have a very soft spot for social media, and we are very aware of the highs and lows that come along with it. It is an incredible business tool that is always growing and expanding. It helps you stay in touch with your customers, helps be aware of your target audience, helps you stay ahead of your competitors, and helps you share and show off what makes your company unique. However, with the good comes the bad. The internet is such a vast expanse that allows anyone the freedom to get behind their keyboards and share how they feel, oftentimes without a second thought to who or what company they could be damaged. Often time these attacks come without doing any proper research, too. The internet is so free and open, it also allows for some very scary, dangerous, and disastrous cybercrime to exist alongside us all.

Cybercrime doesn't just attack multi-billion-dollar businesses, it targets small mom and pop sized businesses too, and it can appear in many different forms across multiple different platforms. Emails have become a very powerful tool for hackers, and they have become more eloquent in their attacks. Sometimes it is very easy to spot a spam email with its awful design and terrible grammar and spelling mistakes. However, they are becoming more advanced, look more professional, and claiming to know more personal information than they ever have before. They're becoming more aggressive, nasty, and frightening as time goes on. A trend we've started to see is spammers and scammers showing up in your direct messages on Instagram and Facebook, in comments on your social media, commenting on your blogs, and even emailing you regarding the copyright of images and graphics being used on your social media platforms. Since this trend is becoming popular as time goes on, we wanted to explore and discuss the topic with our readers. 

First off, if you've been through an issue with a scammer or spammer, please don't be embarrassed, it happens! As we mentioned above, these scams and attacks are becoming harder to distinguish as being fake or not. No one is immune to these attacks, they can appear in anyone's inboxes and in response to the content you choose to use on your social media platforms. Even Creative Consulting isn't immune to it! Below you will find two examples of spam that we've received, and these aren't the only ones we've received either. We get emails like this more often than you might think. 

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The first image on the left is of an email we received regarding an image on our website claiming that it didn't belong to us, but that it belonged to and was the work of the sender of the email. However, the graphics in question were designed by us in house, so it was something we were able to laugh off and knew was fake. However, pay attention to the tone of the email, if this was received by someone who didn't design their website or have a trusted source that did, it could be very scary. Also, note the links that have been embedded into the email offering proof that the images in question are the author's, and they have also included a link for "legal documents". The author invites and then demands the reader to click on them in a very believable manner. Both of these links are probably some kind of scam, virus, or a tool that could open up your computer and allow a scammer to have access to whatever they wish. As the message continues, the threat becomes even more heated, saying the images that are hers need to be removed, cursing is used, and more threats are delivered. While we knew this was a harmless threat for us, it's still uncomfortable to read, and could be very scary to someone else. 

The second image on the right is a much different example. This comment, and many that we have received like it, have been sent in for approval to comment on a client's blog. Many social media management companies and blog writers will turn on the option that requires the approval of comments before they're seen by the rest of the world. While we have the power to stop a lot of spam messages, sometimes we don't. These messages range from very tame and kind messages to threats, similar to what you saw in the first image. While this comment might seem kind, we've received the exact same comment from multiple different "people", who are most likely bots. Also, note the circled name on the image noting where the email is coming from. Obviously, that is not an appropriate or real IP address of someone you want to be attached to your website or blog. Having spam comments like this, even ones that seem harmless can damage your reputation, your Google Standing, and credibility. So, how do you deal with this? 
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  • Spam Comments on Blogs
You might be experiencing a few comments once a week or possibly a daily onslaught of these comments, and as your blog becomes more popular the problem could continue to grow much worse. Not only is it annoying to deal with these comments, but it can also take a lot of time to hide and delete the spam. Plus, sometimes it can be difficult to tell if a comment is spam or not. There are multiple reasons why you need to be controlling and cracking down on this spam! Many of these comments can be linked to bad links, that when clicked on, will redirect the user right into a virus. Since this type of crime has been on the rise, Google has joined the ranks in cutting down these actions, and making note of where these dangerous links are appearing. You don't want to damage your online relationship and ranking with Google due to improper links, even if you had no control over them and they're found in the comments. In this situation, you would be getting punished while the spammer walks free. 

Also, not staying on top of these comments, no matter how many you're dealing with, shows a lack of moderation and care for your website and blog, according to Forbes.com. Who wants to believe or follow the audience of a blog or website where it looks like no one takes care of it? Also, the readers you've had might lose faith in your credibility. What happens if you've been a long time follower and reader and because you put faith into this blogger, you don't question the authenticity of a link in a comment. Then, to your horror, you click on it and you have a virus and your personal information begins to leak out. You would quickly lose faith in returning to that website or blog again, right? 

  • What Does Spam Look Like? 
This has become more and more difficult over time. The use of letters or emojis that make no sense, a comment that has absolutely nothing to do with the blog itself, anything offensive, or a web link that looks questionable are obviously red flags. Other warning signs might be if a keyword or a username is used in the name field instead of a full first or last name, comments that appear over and over again that look like they've been copied and pasted, and email addresses and website links that can appear again and again are also other potential spam examples. Also, if a comment doesn't feel right to you, just go ahead and delete it. However, as we've mentioned before, this can take a lot of time to conquer, so what should you do next? 

  • How To Control Spamming
One option is to allow a third party into the mix. Some platforms will notice repetitive comments and block them, while others require anyone wanting to comment to log into a third-party platform that will approve the comment before it's posted. However, hackers can still break these barriers, it can slow down your website, and they can make your actual readers uncomfortable. Some may not want to create another account on a third party site to leave a comment. 

Next, you can use certain settings to help moderate your spammers. One option is to moderate comments from first-time users, according to NeilPatel.com. This will place these authors in moderation if they change their names, email addresses, or use an email link. If your blog platform allows it, turn off trackbacks, or you can install some plugins that have been built and designed to control spam. You can also shift the conversation to social media. Invite any questionable commenters to email you or continue the discussion on your social media platforms. This will show your fellow readers that you're handling the situation, and if you get no response, it's another way to justify deleting these questionable comments. If you use WordPress, make sure the settings to minimize and control spam are on. You also can turn off the comments on your blogs. However, according to Forbes.com, this can be a big disservice to your blog and company. If you decide to turn comments off on your blog, you could be missing a huge marketing opportunity. 
  • Blogs with very active comment sections can help you get to know your audience more and provide great content ideas. It's a space for them to ask questions, share their opinions, and share new ideas. 
  • Blogs and their comments help grow the personality of your brand. It's a way for your readers and customers to know the personality behind the company. The more you show up and respond in your comments, it will help you look more personable, approachable, and available. 
  • Managing and interacting with the comments of your blogs is another example of your leadership. You're taking control of getting rid of the harmful spam and interacting intelligently with your real readers. This can rapidly increase your credibility, integrity, and overall leadership. 

Don't be discouraged by spam or the time you might have to dedicate to managing it. It is a battle you can win and we hope these tools and suggestions help you feel prepared. Please check back for part two of this new blog series discussing spam on social media posts and found in your direct messages! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!
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The Truth Behind ADA Compliance and Why You Shouldn't Worry (Part Two!)

1/27/2021

 
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In this follow up blog, we are going to be continuing our discussion on ADA compliance on your website and what you need to know right now. 

Hello Summerville, and welcome back to the blog! There is just nothing like a new year in Summerville. The whole town seems to be buzzing with new exciting energy working towards this new year's goals, new projects, and resolutions. It's a wonderful energy, and we can all feel it in the office. It has helped each of us stay focused, get to work, and inspired us to keep up with our own goals and resolutions. Thank you, Summerville! Let's make the best out of 2021 together, and let's be kind to one another. Who knows what this year or any year might hold for all of us! 

One of the very first blogs we've shared this year was all about being ADA compliant, what that means, the challenges small businesses are facing right now because of it, the fact that many issues are caused due to lack of official guidance, and how the officials are going about correcting websites to ADA complaint before a bully shows up to do it first. Today, we are going to be following up with part two of that blog with even more helpful and important information to make sure your business is safe and ready to handle the changes ADA online compliance might bring this year. 

What are the best ways to make your website ADA compliant? 
Remember, you can do many of these changes yourself if you want to. Do not, we repeat, do NOT let anyone bully you into believing that they are the only ones who can make your current website or build a website for you that is ADA compliant and that you must spend an obscene amount of money to do so. You can work with us at Creative Consulting to achieve an ADA-compliant website or any top-notch design company that won't force or bully you, and our rates will be reasonable. Remember, outside of following these loosely based guidelines that have started to appear about being ADA compliant online, being ADA compliant can help position your business for long-lasting success and help to expand your customer base. While rules and guidelines are still not black and white, the WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and other groups are paving the way. Until then, here is a list of suggestions and tips on how to make your website ADA compliant right now. 
  • Make sure to really consider the visual content you are putting on your website especially bright, fast, and flashing videos, pictures, and other elements. According to inc.com, this could cause severe physical reactions to guests visiting your website that have epilepsy and other related medical conditions. 
  • All of the content on your website needs to be accessible to users who are blind, deaf, who must use screen readers, who use their voice to navigate the web, and to others who use different types of adaptive technologies when surfing the web. 
  • As we have seen web use continue to go up globally, and only expect it to continue to rise, making sure that your website is ADA compliant will allow anyone to enjoy your website and will allow anyone to become a customer of your goods and services without any issue. 
  • One of the best ways to check how ADA compliant your website is, is to use a WAVE web accessibility tool. Google Chrome has a great option that will help point out any accessibility issues. 
  • Consider your website design for every user. Do the colors, fonts, and sizes of the fonts prevent others from reading and seeing them? Consider all of the written content on your website when thinking about this including all buttons, headings, and external links. 
  • If you have audio, video, and photos on your website, make sure to provide alternatives for each. Inc.com recommends captioning for video, sign language interpretation, and transcript options for audio-only content. 
  • While everyone and every business has its own style and brand, going overboard with a very detailed and crowded website might put you at a disadvantage for many of your users. Simplify your website as best you can. The overcrowding of the products you're selling or having too much content can turn off and turn away potential customers. Also, consider your contrasting colors and how you layout your text. If it is very drastic, that too can get in the way of an enjoyable website experience for everyone. 
  • If you are new to this idea, it might be best to acquaint yourself with the WCAG guidelines. The most up to date version of this is the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. It states that all the content on your website must be robust, meaning it must be able to be interpreted by many different platforms devices. It states that all content on your website must be easy to understand, access, and navigate and that it is easy to operate even with a keyboard. 
  • To enhance your website for those who are visually impaired, make sure that text is written and typed and not displayed as an image. This will allow all devices used by those who are visually impaired to access every part of your website. 
  • Consider adding Alt Tags for everything on your website! Adding Alt Tags for audio files, videos, and every image on your website will describe the object and the purpose it is serving on your website. 
  • One of the most important things, and potentially one of the easiest adaptations you can do right now, is to invest in SEO and dedicate some time to working with your SEO specialist to help make your website ADA compliant. Adding alt text for everything on your website is so important, and including keyword-rich alt text can help you meet your ADA compliance and it can help you achieve every positive outcome that SEO provides your website as well. So, in this instance, you'd be killing two very important birds with one stone. 
  • Not every user online can use a mouse to navigate their way through the internet. One great tool to utilize is to make sure your website has enabled keyboard navigation to allow your users who use keyboards or other devices to navigate, view, and access your website. 
  • Do not skimp on this process. It will take time, but that time is worth it to your company and those who will benefit from these changes. There is no shortcut method to becoming ADA compliant, says FORBES. Make sure to work with a company that knows what they're doing, what the current WCAG guidelines are, and that they're spending the necessary time to achieve all of this. 
  • When building or implementing ADA compliance, make it very clear what language the website is written in to allow text readers and other tools to identify this and work accordingly with this information. 
  • Sticking with an idea of consistency can be the biggest thing to help you. If your layout is consistently organized and consistent throughout, it can be beneficial to everyone who visits your website. 
  • If you are still unsure if your website is ADA compliant after considering and implementing all of these important changes, you can consult with an attorney who specializes in disability law to make sure. 
  • Make sure that whatever practices you're using to clean up outdated code on your website is top-notch and running smoothly! 

Well, readers, it looks like the topic of ways on how best to make your website ADA compliant needed its very own blog! Don't worry, we still have a lot more to talk about, and will continue to do so in our next few blogs. This topic is becoming more important every day, and we want to make sure you are prepared and informed. We appreciate you coming on this ride with us about ADA compliance. We hope that with each of these blogs, you are taking the correct steps to ensure that your website fits these guidelines. Please take this topic very seriously. While there are no official guidelines set in stone by law right now, that most certainly doesn't mean that it couldn't change soon. This is one of the main reasons why it is so important to get ahead on this topic, so once it is set in stone, you either will already be compliant with the law or you will just need to make a few adjustments! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

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Utilizing Facebook Privacy Settings

6/29/2020

 
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Keeping your business and personal information safe needs to be one of your top priorities if you run any part of your business online. If Facebook is part of your business plan, are you utilizing all of the privacy settings they offer? 

Facebook is an incredible and powerful tool. We talk about it all the time! It's amazing what it can do for your business when used correctly. It can gather amazing information about your clients, the demographic that follows you, how you can achieve a better reach, and how to improve your content and ad campaigns. There is no other platform that knows how to learn about you better than Facebook. With every post liked, every ad you click on, every group or company you follow, Facebook learns more about you. It's so intelligent that it will keep showing you more of what you love as time goes on. As much as it learns, is there ever a point where it's learning too much? Even the strongest, smartest, and most powerful companies have their flaws. Facebook privacy has been breached and private information has been leaked before, it's not immune to these attacks. Some of these leaks have been due to hackers, some have been due to apps that use Facebook to log into them, and many other reasons. 

When it comes to private information getting hacked, it can be a difficult thing to recover from. When a company's information gets leaked, it can be devastating. Privacy needs to be one of your top priorities when running your Facebook Business Page. Thanks to the built-in safety precautions Facebook has added to the platform, you have the power to maintain and control your Facebook pages at all times. Don't let it control you. To help keep you and your company as safe as possible, we wanted to share some tips and suggestions on how to utilize the built-in privacy settings on Facebook. Please note; these tips and suggestions can be found on every Facebook page. You can access them through the Facebook Help Page or your Settings page. To learn more about each of the settings, you can read more about them on Facebook's help page (listed at the bottom of this blog) or through countless videos on YouTube! 
  • When you have a business account linked to your personal Facebook account, always go the extra mile in achieving privacy and top-notch security. One of the first steps you can take is to go into Facebook and turn on the Two-Factor Authentication option. Choosing this option will require anyone new logging into your Facebook account to supply more than just a password to log in. You can choose between receiving a text message or to use an authentication app. Every time a new login happens, you will personally have to approve it. 
  • It is recommended to turn off Face Recognition on Facebook. This is a wonderful tool for your phone, but not so much in the Facebook app. When this is turned on, Facebook learns about you through your pictures and videos and collections information on what you look like. It learns from photos posted by you and by anyone else on Facebook. 
  • Be careful about what apps you're allowing or giving permission to log in through Facebook and what apps you're giving data access to. Remember, this isn't just your data that you're giving away. It could also be the data of your friends, the groups you follow, the businesses you support, and your business. To see how many apps have permission to your page, visit the privacy section of your Facebook account. Click on the "apps" button and it will list everything connected. Make sure you keep your eyes on this setting. 
  • Visibility is very important for your Facebook Business Page. You want the right people to see your page at the right time of day to get new clients, new business, and new support. What happens if you start getting negative visibility? What if countries or groups of people who have no interest in your company or what you offer start spamming or harassing you? What if your business is geared towards an adult audience and you want to keep your page clean? You can choose what groups are allowed to view your page and from what countries. You will find an option for Country and Age restrictions in your settings for your business page. 
  • Keeping a close eye on the comments your followers leave is very important, too. Wanting to keep biased opinions, curse words, and other forms of harassment off your page benefits your sanity, your company, and your target audience. In your page moderation filter, you can choose to target keywords to control comments. You can use the profanity filter to block unwanted words, spamming, and harassment. 
  • Location! This has to deal with the Facebook app on your phone. It's great to let your clientele know where your business is located. But, they don't need to know where you are at every second. Facebook logs and tracks your location unless this option is physically turned off in the settings on your phone. If a hacker gets ahold of this information, it could mean bad news. If you turn this option off, its also a great battery saver for your phone. In the same vein, turn off your location history. Facebook logs every place you've ever been with your phone (if you have the Facebook app on it) and that's not information anyone but you need to know about but you.  
  • Make sure to visit the "wall tabs shown" option in your privacy settings for your account. This will be a personal preference for your company, and it's an important one. This decides if you want your audience to just see your posts or for them to see other comments and posts by your followers on your page. Also make sure to decide if you want your Facebook page to allow your audience to post on your page directly, or just in the comments. 

There are more safety and privacy settings available to you than what we have listed here. Make sure to utilize all of them, or at least know and understand where they are and what they do. Spend time going through your privacy settings on your personal and business account on your phone and your computer. If there is something you don't understand, we urge you to look it up and not pass it over. If you would like more in-depth training and someone to help you walk through your issues, we can help you with that. We offer individual social media training to walk you through on how to use each platform. If you or your company wants to take another step up in your online business world, we are here to make that happen. Don't hesitate to reach out. We are here and excited to help your company grow. Thank you for continuing to follow us, learn with us, and support us. We are here for you Summerville, no matter what! 

To directly visit Facebook's privacy settings visit the link below: 
https://www.facebook.com/help/1297502253597210
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The Big Question: SSL Certificates

7/18/2019

 
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SSL Certificates. The need to have them has been in debate for some time now - and it looks like Google is going to make the final decision for us all. But what does that mean for the future of your websites and will you be paying for this protection?

Happy July everyone! It's been an exciting month so far for Creative Consulting and we are so excited for the rest of this year to follow suit! There has been an important topic on the back of our minds though - with SEO being our bread and butter, there is one particular topic that has grabbed our attention. The need of an SSL Certificate and what that means for the future of web design, the future of websites SEO, and if you have to pay for this protection or not.

For those of you new to an SSL certificate, or a Secure Socket Layer Certificate, is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server. It serves as an electronic passport that establishes online credentials when doing business or just surfing on the web. It creates a secure connection from a web server to a browser. If a hacker ever gets their hands on information or a website that is protected by an SSL, all they will see is a cryptographic code that cannot be broken. Even with the aid of a computer. It ensures total safety while browsing the web, as long as the pages your visiting have an SSL! When it is applied to your server correctly the application protocol, the HTTP, will change to HTTPs. The "S" stands for secure. Sometimes, depending on which SSL Certificate and web browser you're using, a small padlock will also appear in the browser bar and it might even turn green when visiting a website that has an SSL Certificate installed too.  SSL Certificates have typically been used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer and login information, and protection on social media websites. But thanks to Google, it looks like it might become mainstream for everyone to have an SSL certificate.

Why do you need an SSL for your website? It keeps all data secure between servers, it increases your Google Rankings, it builds and enhances your customer's trust, and it improves conversion rates. Automatically if your website sells products or services and deals with credit card transactions there is no question that you should have one. If your website is not available over HTTPs you may see a loss in traffic, loss in user trust and your SEO ratings will start to go down. But even if you don't sell something on your website - it is something that you should highly consider. Once you've established an SSL for your website, all traffic to the webpage will be secure. But what does that mean for the future of SEO and your interaction with Google? We all know that drives so much importance in the traffic to your webpage, and Google has been an incredible tool for that. With Google Chrome being the most popular web browser in the world, it's no surprise that they're making the call for the need of SSL Certificates. But let's go back to the beginning.

In 2014 Google created a new algorithm update that automatically favored HTTPs over HTTP. So already, those websites that were going unprotected were getting fewer views. This continued into 2018 when they announced that if you were not an HTTPS website a "NOT SECURE" message would appear either in your browser bar or when you came to a page that wasn't protected. By October of that year, the warning went from being grey to red - they were getting serious. This year Google has made a push on how they will treat websites with and without SSL. The new default that you should expect in Google includes encryption and a secure connection that is required. It is no longer just a feature for online banking and shopping sites. When it comes to SEO ranking if two websites sell similar products or are similar in topic - if one has HTTPs and the other does not, the website with HTTPs will automatically receive a higher SEO rating. It is not a default in ranking just yet, but with the direction Google has been going in, it could become a default in SEO rating in no time.  

Good news though! Most Webshots today provide SSL by default. There are also plenty of Certificate Authority companies that you can get them for free, like Lets Encrypt. It makes it easy and simple for most web users - and those making their websites. But there are still some roadblocks. Some of our favorite platforms to build our websites in are Wordpress, Weebly, Madesimply, and Wix!
Some offer SSL certificate protection, but they have two different sets of rules. Wix offers SSL for free as part of their platform, all you have to do is make sure that the SSL option is turned on when you first publish your website. If you already have a Wix website created - all you have to do is activate it!

Weebly and MadeSimply are a little different. You can automatically add an SSL certificate to your websites, but the only SSL certificate that works for the domains attached to these websites are the ones that come from their company. You cannot get a free SSL from Lets Encrypt and then add it to your Website that are run by Weebly or MadeSimply. It has to come directly from Weebly and MadeSimply. But, the SSL protection only comes with the paid website options, not the free options. Even if you decide to go with the free options, the free SSL won't work for their websites and will still have the "not secure" warning when anyone visits your pages. So, if you already have a page made on Weebly or MadeSimply - you will have to upgrade to a paid account for this protection. It is frustrating to pay for something else for your webpage. But it will protect your SEO ranking on Google - and your clients. So those few extra dollars a year just might be worth it. The other options might be more costly in the end. You could be facing a loss of clients, business, attacks from hackers, and more.

If you are using a website builder that doesn't give you free SSL security but does allow you to purchase an SSL Certificate, they can range between $5-$15 a year on the cheaper end - and can become more expensive depending on what kind of protection you're looking for. And don't forget - there are plenty of free options too.

So it looks like SSL certificates are here to stay - the transition might be a little frustrating for you and your business, believe me we can relate. But at the end of the day, the protection is worth it.​

By: Maddie Casto 

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