IFTS, Inc. Blog – Page 38

Is your website ready for the next Google SSL update and how will it impact your business?

Does your website start with “http://” or “https://”?

If it is the former rather than the latter, your website visitors (and your business) may have a large surprise starting October 1, 2017!

According to Google, “Starting October 2017, Chrome (version 62) will show a “NOT SECURE” warning when users enter text in a form on an HTTP page, and for all HTTP pages in Incognito mode.”

More simply put, if your site does not have an SSL certificate on October 1, 2017, Google Chrome will mark it as “NOT SECURE” if there are any text fields.

What does an SSL do for me?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates encrypt the connection between the web browser and the server where the website resides. This makes it much harder for someone to intercept the traffic and steal the information, which in turn leads to a safer browsing experience for the average web user.

This is the second step in Google’s plan to force users to employ an SSL certificate. Step one was implemented in January of this year. It marked sites as “NOT SECURE” if they did not have an SSL certificate and accepted personal data, like credit cards or PayPal. This step, implemented October 1, will mark any site with text fields as “NOT SECURE” without an SSL. The final step, planned to roll out soon, is to mark any site as “NOT SECURE” that does not have an SSL certificate.

Because it is so much more secure, Google would prefer to have all websites protected by an SSL certificate. They have reinforced this notion in their ranking algorithm as well, with SSL protected websites ranking more highly.

What does this mean for you?

Your business and your website traffic are at risk with no SSL certificate!

What should I do to avoid this situation?

Talk to your webmaster or the person that handles your website hosting about adding an SSL.

Don’t have an SSL or not sure where to start?

Contact Integrity First Technology Solutions, Inc. (412.559.7177 or si@iftsdesign.com) and let them take care of it for you.

Don’t miss this opportunity to upgrade your website. Protect your clients and your website’s reputation!

Why Do I Need an Email Address With My Domain Name?

Have you ever noticed an email address on a business card or website like “greatlakes16@verizon.net” that just screams “unprofessional”?

Chances are that the answer is yes.

While the email address is not offensive, it does not convey a sense of professionalism (or branding), either. All businesses today should have email addresses using their website domain name (e.g. jane.doe@mybusinessdomain.tld). It is a relatively inexpensive bit of marketing you can do to lend your company’s online presence more credence.

What about individuals that are used to checking just their personal email account, and worry that creating a new email address using their domain name will disrupt their workday flow?

Most email services (Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc) provide email forwarding to overcome this obstacle. One can easily forward all email from their professional email address to another email address (e.g. their personal email address). This prevents the need for checking a separate email address.

So how do you get a professional-looking email address? It is a very simple process, and only requires two steps:

You must have a domain name registered: For example, if you have a website at mybusiness.tld, you most likely already have your domain name registered. If you do not have a domain name, typical TLD’s (Top Level Domains such as .com, .net and .biz) can be registered though IFTS for $19.99 per year.
You must subscribe to an email service: There are several email service providers that offer a number of useful features for business users, including extensive address book tools and spam protection. Expect to pay at least $5 per user per month for an email service. IFTS can facilitate setting up an email service to utilize your domain name.

Alternatively, most hosting providers offer a limited email solution free with a hosting plan that will make use of your domain name. These email services tend to not be as full-featured as the paid email options from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, and are less reliable due to being dependent on your hosting provider’s server availability. In other words, when their server goes down, so does your email!

Which email service is right for you? IFTS exclusively recommends using G Suite by Google Cloud email service (https://gsuite.google.com). This is Google’s business email offering, and offers a very robust webmail experience, as well as included cloud storage and integration with their business productivity web applications.

IFTS can easily route your email to G Suite. The cost is $5 per user per month, and you can have multiple aliases associated with each user.

References:

http://www.productivity501.com/setup-your-email-to-look-professional/262/

https://iwantmyname.com/blog/the-guide-to-getting-your-own-custom-email-address

https://clickwp.com/blog/professional-email-address/

https://problogger.com/how-to-set-up-an-email-account-that-uses-your-domain-name/

Google wants YOUR website to be mobile friendly right NOW…Is it?

Is your website mobile friendly?

According to Google’s Webmaster Blog, “To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly.”

What does this mean for your business?

If you want to rank highly on Google’s search results, your website has to be considered mobile friendly.

What does mobile friendly even mean?

When you open a business’s website on your phone and you have to pinch the screen to zoom in so that you can read it, that is indicative of a non-mobile friendly site. The website does not distinguish how it shows up based upon the device on which it is being viewed. If you make it more difficult for someone on your website to access information, they are much more likely to leave.

Why did Google do this?

According to Marketing Land, 60% of consumers time is spent browsing the internet on their mobile devices. Additionally, 75% of people will search on their phone for a business that they want to connect with (Google Partners).

Google wants to make browsing the internet as easy and as safe as possible for the average web user. Therefore, they are going to return websites in the search results that they believe exhibit these traits. If you are not one of these websites, your ranking position is likely to drop.

Even worse, if your competition IS one of those mobile friendly websites, their position is likely to rise.

What do I need to know about Google’s mobile friendly algorithm?

Important updates to be aware of are (Search Engine Land):

The new mobile friendly algorithm was rolled out in January 2017
It is an on or off algorithm, which means that you are 100% mobile friendly or you are not
It will be on a page-by-page basis

How do I know if my site is mobile friendly?

Google has released a tool where you can check your site for mobile friendliness: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

If you have employed one of the following techniques, your website will be considered mobile friendly:

Adaptive Design: Your website changes the content served based on the viewing device.
Responsive Design: Your website has a fluid layout that changes based on the viewing device.
Mobile-Only site: You have a separate mobile site that shows only on mobile devices. This is no longer recommended because Google indexes your mobile site only.

What should I do if my website is not mobile friendly? I want to be returned highly in the search results!

If you do not have a mobile friendly website, there are four options to explore.

Additions to Existing Website: You can make responsive additions to your existing website that will allow the site to account for the viewing device.
Website Redesign: You can redesign your website as a responsive website, which will ensure that it shows properly on all devices. Additionally, you can add in other changes for other Google updates, such as the new SSL requirement.
Create a Separate Mobile Site: You can keep your site as is and have a mobile site that is served only to mobile users. Again, this is not recommended because Google now indexes your mobile site only.
Do Nothing: If you do not want to rank highly on Google’s search algorithm, then you can leave your site as is.