Facebook is a lot of fun. Just be sure that you don’t reveal too much about yourself online that might be used against you. And please, for the love of all that is good in the world, DON’T put personal data about your kids online. Besides “cyber predators”, people who prey on children in your own city could use personal data you post to their advantage.
You are welcome to follow us on Facebook. We make special offers available to email subscribers and Facebook fans.
The Computer Advocate has joined RelyLocal.com in Collierville. Here is a link to our main profile.
RelyLocal.com is an affordable way to promote local businesses through cooperative advertising and business to business networking. Most businesses in my area are not excited about the prospect of daily SEO or web marketing to generate more web and foot traffic. Well, probably nobody but me and RelyLocal.com. It is a necessary task to “feed the beast” to generate daily content and keep your site constantly indexed by search engines like Google and Yahoo. But who has the time, right? RelyLocal.com does, and they do it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
We joined because we have the same goal in mind, increase business. Specifically, want to increase LOCAL business. When you spend $10 at a local store, about $6.80 stays right here in town. When you spend that same $10 at a national chain store, less than $4 stays here. The rest of the money goes to the corporate offices. It is the local businesses (like this one) that support local growth, sustain our communities, hold civic events, sponsor the local PTA, etc.
Listing with RelyLocal.com is a smart move because it will save you time and increase your internet presence. Let’s face it, the phonebook is pretty much dead. Most small businesses can’t afford the $3000 it costs to get a print ad. For an investment of $25/mo, RelyLocal gives you an online listing with constant work being done to increase traffic for you. You choose a category (or multiple) in which to feature your business listing and RelyLocal takes care of inputting all of your information; company description, logo, location, hours of operation, web address, email – even coupons, photos, banner ads and links to your Blog, Facebook, or Twitter pages! It works.
Why am I promoting this? For one, I believe in the cause. This is a grassroots movement to sustain our towns. I also promote because as more members join and participate in the campaign, it benefits me as well. That’s how cooperative advertising works. Visit www.relylocal.com today and see what I mean.
Malware is malicious (full of, or manifesting malice) software that has been designed to either damage a computer or to weaken the defenses of a machine for other purposes (such as enslavement, virus spreading, etc.). This is done without the owner’s permission, of course.
Malware, like biological viruses, is all about reproducing itself so it can spread. Therefore, malware is extremely harmful.
Email me today to get my recommendations for good anti-virus/anti-malware software that you can download for free.
You get those emails at least once per week. I get them hundreds of times a day (I manage networks, remember).
“Click here to meet HOT SINGLES in YOUR AREA”
“Click here for your FREE TRIAL of ….”
“Congratulations! You’ve just won ___________. Click here to claim your prize”
Guess what? Nearly 100% of the time, these links can get you into trouble. At the VERY LEAST, you’re opening yourself into additional unsolicited commercial email (aka SPAM). Yet people keep on clicking. How do I know? Because if people stopped clicking on the attachments, spammers would have to move on to a new way to “advertise”. They know a percentage will click, and a small percentage of clickers will buy. That’s all they need to keep on truckin’.
This goes also for attachments. Don’t click them. How do you know an attachment is openable? Well, were you expecting an attachment? If not, ask the person who sent it to you. Don’t know the person who sent it? DELETE THAT MAIL RIGHT NOW.
It should also go without saying that your bank/paypal/credit card is NEVER EVER EVER EVER going to email you asking you to click this link to verify your account information. These emails (some look better than others) are designed to get you to devulge your information and RIP YOU OFF. If you get such an email, call your bank (use the yellow pages and not the email) and ask them. Trust me, you won’t hurt their feelings.
Do you need an antivirus program? The short answer is YES!!!! The average computer user needs at least minimal protection against common threats that come via email and web surfing. Parents, you need this for those times when sites get “accidentally” visited by your kids (or your spouse). Seniors, you need this for those times when the email box just keeps filling up with things you didn’t ask for. Really, everybody needs something.
Now, should you go out and buy Norton Antivirus or some other name brand in the store? Not necessarily. There are some very good free packages available online that you can use. In fact, if you have high speed internet, chances are that your service provider has given you free software for download (McAfee, for example).
I’ll write about Norton later, but for now let’s just get you running some antivirus software, okay? Use what you have. If you don’t have any software from your internet provider, send me an email and I’ll give you my personal recommendations.
I get questions often from customers regarding the cost of keeping their existing website up to date with new content, or how to increase incoming traffic to the site through optimization and tagging. Questions like
Listen, adding content through a blog or article management tool is a great way to add relevance to your site, making it appealing to search engines and also providing your customers with something they need. If you can make the time and you have the access and tools you can do it yourself. Doing things yourself costs you nothing but time and effort.
But I don’t have time.
Is that you? Well then, you should consider hiring us to do your content management for you. Granted, it’s not free, but we assure you that your materials will be handled with care and uploaded to your site on a regular basis that you set up with us. You will be billed weekly or montly, depending on the amount of work we contract with you to do.
What we can do:
If you already have content (hand written notes, emails, unformatted Word documents, etc.), send it to us. We’ll format it and optimize it for your visitors and the search engines on a schedule of your choosing (daily, weekly, monthly). There is an additional charge if we have to create the content, but we’re happy to quote if that’s what you need.
Why would you pay a tech support and web design provider to do “data entry” for you?
You don’t have to train us. You don’thave to pay us benefits. You’ll also find that our rates are affordable.
Talk to us about content management. We’d love to earn your business.
I’ve been studying The Great Depression, and, while I’m no historian, I do think that American leadership has had the opportunity to learn from the past in order to avoid the mistakes that led the US and global economies from a state of recession to a state of depression. I’ve been wrong before, though.
The question I have is this: with all the 24/7 news media outlets constantly banging the drum, what is to prevent the panic we saw in the 20s and 30s? What is going to prevent a rush to the banks or efforts of mass liquidation of assets? Is it military? Is it more rules that no one seems to be able to remember, much less enforce? I don’t know. I guess I have more questions than answers.
What I do know is that Americans, as a nation, are an intelligent lot. We can figure this out. I believe that there will continue to be cutbacks, but I believe that is true because many companies don’t run according to good business practices of hiring and payroll. I believe that the American family can stay together through these rough spots, even if it means giving up some creature comforts along the way and spending more time together than pursuing playtime and personal hobbies.
A $150 million innauguration party doesn’t help matters (nearly twice the amount spent by the previous administration), but it does point to the fact that government must make realistic cutbacks. In my house, when the money is not there or not going to be there, we make sacrifices. We prioritize. We don’t spend more. And we don’t make promises we know we cannot keep. We are realists.
I would hope that my fellow Americans at every level of social and political strata would do the same. We will all be better for it. We mustn’t lose our heads or sacrifice what little virtue remains in this land for the sake of pride, greed, and a lack of faith. If we are wise, we can make it, and come out on the other end victorious.
The Computer Advocate is going to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that its customers can still receive the highest levels of customer service and skills to meet their needs, without needlessly increasing pricing or manipulating our availability.
You hear of economies in slowdowns and you hear of businesses cutting costs. What costs are normally cut? For starters, franchises shut down less profitable locations. Development projects are put on hold. Research and Development departments are sometimes slashed. There are layoffs, buyouts, and early retirements. What is one of the first things to get cut by a business trying to save a buck? Advertising. So why would someone want to invest in a website during a recession?
You’d invest in a website now for the same reason you would invest in a website before, market share. You have a product or service and you need, now more than ever, to make sales, right? How are you getting the word out? Compared to the cost for a print or media ad, a website is a surprising bargain. Here’s the kicker. It doesn’t expire after a month. You have an advertising tool working for you 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, even when there are no eyes on the television, ears listening to the radio, or cars on the freeway. Still not convinced?
Think about the holidays. Advent and Christmas are fast approaching. Once Thanksgiving hits, it’s going to be a shopping nightmare just like almost every year. Wanna know why? Because Americans still will buy holiday gifts. They might not buy as many or higher priced items, but they will buy nonetheless. Here’s where the website comes in. Every year, the number of people doing their retailing through online stores is increasing. Why? People don’t like fighting traffic. People are always looking for a bargain. People have less time to get out there and shop store to store when there is a convenient alternative offering the same products, often at better pricing.
This is where your website comes in. If you are offering people the products they want at a price that is attractive, you save them time, money, and frustration. The customer is happy, and you’re happy to have a new customer and a sale. The best part is, you don’t have to open the doors at 4am, because your online store or website never closes. The customer wins and so do you.
Have you put off that website because you thought it would be too much money? Listen, sites are relatively inexpensive, especially compared to other advertising options. In fact, you probably can have a great site up and running for less than it would cost you to run an ad in your church’s bulletin for a year, and you’ll reach more people too.
If you are thinking of a website, or a webstore, or maybe making some modifications to your existing site, let us know. We do good work and our prices are extremely competitive. Give us a chance to bid on your product. You have nothing to lose, and you invest minimal time to inquire. Email us today.
The Computer Advocate is currently seeking remote support technicians to help us offer the best support solutions around. If you’re interested, please send your resume to information@thecomputeradvocate.com. We will discuss our terms of service and answer any questions you may have. No phone calls please. At this time we are reviewing resumes only.
You got me, man. Really.
No, seriously. In addition to the obvious seo benefits of having a blog on your page, the additional feature provides additional benefits to your site. For The Computer Advocate site, this blog provides me and my staff with an opportunity to write on related topics, or really anything they want. Because we’re human beings, that’s why. How often are you presented with automated help menus? How many times do you call a support line and get someone who doesn’t even speak your language clearly? Do those chat support sessions always end with a solution? You and I know that in our age of automation and “efficiency” sometimes the customer gets the shaft.
Not here.
I’ve set up this blog so you can see that we are real live human beings who have real live opinions and attitudes. We run into tech issues on a daily basis, either from problems you have, problems we have ourselves, or things we read about as we scour the internet. When we see technology trends, we’ll be sure to write about them. If it’s a problem, check our forum. We want to use that as a repository for self-help and diagnosis to “teach you how to fish” so you won’t be constantly dependant on tech support. In the end, we know that it doesn’t hurt our business to give knowledge away. There is a value to earning your trust. I hope you’ll stop by from time to time or even subscribe to the rss feed.
Just a word of advance notice, we’ll have an affiliate program soon. If you’re looking to earn some spare cash helping us locate people in need of support and service solutions, this is the place. More on that later.
