Make Your WordPress Password Secure

Posted by Jocelyn Mozak on May 21, 2013

While website administrators fret over the security of their software from a programming standpoint, most of them fail to realize that they’re their own worst enemy. The single biggest threat to your security is a weak password. By understanding how to make a strong password, you can avoid becoming the victim of hackers.

Step #1: A Password is not a Word

Sadly, the word “password” makes it seem like your security credentials have to be a word. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A password should be a mix of numbers, upper and lowercase letters and symbols. For example, instead of the word “security”, you’d do better to use a symbolic password such as “53UritE!”. This makes guessing the password nearly impossible.

Step #2: Length

Using a longer password is always more secure. Each character increases the security of the password exponentially. The minimum length accepted by most websites is 8 characters. Remember that this is a minimum, not an optimum. You should endeavor to make your password as long as is practical for you.

Step #3: Convenience is Dangerous

One of the most dangerous security trends is the “convenience” offered by sites that allow you to log in to several different sites with the same password. This is akin to using the same key for your house, your car, your safe deposit box and everything else. Avoid this at all costs. It’ll save you a lot of headaches in the future.

Step #4: Change them Frequently

Remember to change your password frequently. If you suspect the security of your site has been compromised, change the password to something completely unrelated to your former password. This is imperative. If you’ve made sure that you don’t use any of your passwords on more than one site, you can be more certain that one hack won’t cascade into a series of other hacks.

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Catchy Blog Headlines: 5 Tips to Capture your Readers Attention

Posted in: Blogging Tips

Posted by Jocelyn Mozak on May 14, 2013

Catchy Blog Headlines: 5 Tips to Capture your Readers Attention

People judge books by their covers

and now

People Judge Blogs by Their Headlines

If the headline isn’t entertaining or compelling, your potential readers will expect the same as the rest of your blog post, and they will not bother to take the time to read it.

Let’s face it, writing great headlines can be a challenge.

You need to make it captivating for your readers while incorporating your keywords for SEO.

Surprisingly, this is not as hard as you might think. After all, both you and Google are striving to deliver the best possible content to your readers.

Here are 5 tips for writing effective post headlines:

Communicate your main idea.
Make sure your blog title clearly communicates what you will be talking about through out your post. You want to make sure somebody scanning titles on the internet can quickly discern if your post is of interest.
Add a number.
Readers are drawn to posts with numbers in their title. Numbers provide additional information on what they can expect from the post beyond the main idea.
Put your keywords first.
Engines like Google give higher priority for the words at the beginning of the title. So if you feel writing about parsley’s many benefits, rather than writing “Twelve Powerful Many benefits of Parsley,” rephrase so that it is, “Parsley: Twelve Powerful Health advantages.”
Make it interesting.
The best titles often have bit mysterious or cleverness. However, be careful not to sacrifice clarity in the interest of cleverness! You’re far better off going with a straightforward title than being obtuse.
Keep it short.
5-10 words is plenty.

So how to you approach blog headlines?

I invite you to share any tips you might have for creating enticing blog headlines that capture perspective reader’s attention.

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I Love my Website … Why Doesn’t Google?

Posted in: Increase Traffic to your Website

Posted by Jocelyn Mozak on May 7, 2013

If only Google could appreciate the graphic design of a website.

Alas, all it sees is the code behind the scenes and the content written on the page. Google could care less about a perfect image or words that are able to dance on the screen. Yet, with that said, us humans do care about a web site’s appearance. We like pictures and art.

So what is a business owner to do?
As with most things striking a balance is key. Too much text and your customers will leave; too little and Google will ignore you.

My advice:

Add a BLOG to your site
The addition of a BLOG allows you to share information with the public. Google loves this. The more you say, the more of an encyclopedia you become. Share tips and tricks with you clients, or blog about upcoming local events. Share what matters to you. Visitors to your website will read what you share and connect with you. These are the relationships that allow businesses to flourish.

Partner with a Web Designer you TRUST
A quality Web Designer can strike the balance between art and technology. In fact the great ones are masters of both. They create graphically unique sites with cutting edge code behind the scenes.

Does your site strike that balance or is there a website that you’re in love with? Do share!

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Good Copy Tip #1: It’s not about you

Posted in: Connecting with Your Customers

Posted by Jocelyn Mozak on April 30, 2013

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I often see website homepage text that reads more like an “About Us” page. While the history of your business and all the services you provide have their place; make sure the homepage is engaging to your viewer. Speak to them. Why have they sought out your business? What needs do they have? What solutions do you offer?

By writing content that speaks to clients on an emotional level you can connect with them. If they feel understood then they will think … Wow, this business gets me – I’d like to work with them.

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Single Opt-In: Keeping newsletter readers happy

Posted in: Connecting with Your Customers

Posted by Jocelyn Mozak on April 23, 2013

The traditional way to build your email marketing campaigns was to utilize double opt-in. The idea being that this would prevent fictitious email addresses from ending up in your database and minimize user spam complaints.

However, these days, a large number of businesses are choosing the single opt-in route when creating newsletters and other electronic correspondence. Let’s look at the user experience to better understand this trend.

Double Opt-In Scenario, Making The User Work Too Much

Example: I go to someone’s website and it says,

“Get this amazing, free form, just enter your email address here”.

Step 1: I enter my email address and it takes me to a page that says, “Go check your inbox and click on the confirmation email”.

Step 2: So I run over to my inbox and I look for the email, that’s hopefully not in my spam folder. I find the email and it says, “Do you want to be on this email list?”.

Step 3: I click “yes” to confirm. Then it would pop up a window that says, “Thank you for joining the mailing list”, and then it would send the free report to my inbox that was promised to me.

Step 4: I click on the new email and open up my free report.

Phew – that was a lot of work for one little free report!

The double opt-in problem is, is that you’re relying on the person to go racing to their inbox just to confirm they want to be on the mailing list and then run back again to go get that “free report”.

Double opt-in violates the primary rule of web design:

“Never make your client work!”

Single Opt-In, A Smoother Process

Let’s run through the experience again; this time using single opt-in.

Example: I go to someone’s website and it says,

“Get this amazing, free form, just enter your email address here”.

Step 1: I enter my email and click submit.

Instantly, two things happen:

First, I’m taken to a webpage that says, “Welcome! Here’s your free report”.
Second, an email goes to my inbox that says, “Welcome, here’s a link to your free report”.

All done! NO Step 2.

The “Don’t make me Think” Philosophy

I like to think of it the single opt-in as the “Don’t make me Think” philosophy”.

Don’t make life difficult for someone who is trying to engage with you. If they’re required to do the double opt-in and have to jump through hoops, you’re making them work.

If you set up your mailing list in the single opt-in fashion, “boom!”, they’re on your list and you didn’t make them work too hard.

The result: a much happier potential new client.

While single opt-in does run the risk of your giving away your free report to someone who use a fake email address; I believe that this is a small price to pay in order to connect with people who are really interested in what you have to say.

What do you think.

Have you had any personal experience good or bad that you would like the add to this conversation? If so please comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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