Eddiz Inc.

04/10/2023

You are not required to choose a domain name in the .com zone. There are many other domain extensions available, such as .net, .org, .info, .biz, .co, .edu, and many others.

Your choice of domain extension will depend on your specific needs and goals. For example, if you are a non-profit organization, you might want to use the .org extension, while if you are an educational institution, you might want to use the .edu extension.

It's important to note that the availability of domain names will vary depending on the extension you choose, so you may need to be creative with your domain name if your first choice is already taken.

The .com domain is often perceived as more prestigious and credible than other domain extensions because it was the first top-level domain (TLD) to be introduced in the early days of the internet, and as a result, it has become the most well-known and widely used domain extension worldwide.

Moreover, the .com TLD has been around since 1985 and has been widely adopted by businesses and organizations, which has further solidified its reputation as a reliable and trustworthy domain extension.

Another reason why .com domains are popular is that they are easy to remember and easy to type. Since the .com extension is so common, people tend to assume that a website they are looking for will have a .com domain, and they will often automatically type in the .com extension even if the website uses a different TLD.

While there are many other TLDs available today, including country-specific TLDs, industry-specific TLDs, and more, the .com TLD remains the most popular and widely recognized TLD, and as a result, it is often perceived as the most valuable and desirable domain extension.

03/15/2023

It is not necessary to have a company name in a domain name. Domain names can be chosen based on a variety of factors, including the name of the company, the products or services offered by the company, or even a memorable phrase or keyword related to the business. In fact, many successful websites and online businesses use domain names that are not directly related to their company name.

However, it is important to choose a domain name that is relevant and easy to remember, as this can impact the success of the website. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the chosen domain name is not already in use by another company, as this could lead to legal issues.

03/13/2023

How to choose the right domain name for your business?

Choosing the right domain name for your business can be a critical decision, impacting your branding, search engine optimization (SEO), and overall online presence. Here are some tips to help you choose the right domain name for your business:

Keep it simple: Choose a domain name that is easy to remember and easy to spell. Avoid using hyphens or numbers, as these can confuse users and make it more difficult to retain your domain.

Make it brandable: Your domain name should be unique and memorable, reflecting your brand and what your business does.

Use keywords: Incorporating relevant keywords in your domain name can help improve your SEO and make it easier for users to find your business online.

Consider the extension: The domain extension, such as .com, .net, or .org, can impact how users perceive your business. .com is generally the most popular and trusted extension, but other extensions may be more appropriate depending on the nature of your business.

Check for availability: Use a domain registrar to check if your desired domain name is available. If it's not available, consider using a different extension or a slight variation of your original choice.

Be careful of trademarks: Before choosing a domain name, make sure it doesn't infringe on any existing trademarks or copyrights.

Overall, choose a domain name that is easy to remember, brandable, and reflective of your business. Consider the extension and availability, and avoid infringing on any trademarks.

04/06/2022

Scary new malware tracks where you go and records your audio

It's spring, which means there's a lot of pollen swirling around in the air. Focus on your smartphone and you'll find even more floating junk - like a nasty strain of new Android malware.

This fraudulent app is more dangerous than most. It can record audio and even see where you've been. Tap or click here for eight hidden maps and trackers you need to switch off.

Cybersecurity experts aren't sure how you stumble upon it. Whether it comes from a malicious phishing link or a fraudulent app on the Google Play Store, we recommend being careful whenever you download a new app. If you don't read the reviews and do your research, a bad actor can lash out and poison your device.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scary-new-malware-tracks-where-you-go-and-records-your-audio/ar-AAVR64h?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=fd9631e217c64bce8d696ccb11bba29a

04/04/2022

Much has changed since 1998 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin officially launched Google Search.

24 years later, Google products are an intrinsic part of everyday life. It affects how we find products and companies (search), how we go places (Google Maps and Waze), how we communicate (Gmail), how we surf the web (Google Chrome), how we shop (Google Shopping), how we consume information (Google News), how we spend our free time (Youtube), how we control our home (Nest, Google Hub) and how we interact with the world (Android & Pixel).

The business world has also been affected by Google. From corporate email (Google Workspace business) to advertising (DoubleClick and AdMob), to user insights (Google Console & Google Analytics), Google has constantly looked beyond searching to diversify its core business.

It’s important to note upfront that, with some exceptions, Google’s mission has remained fairly constant: allow people to find and engage with the people, companies, and products they seek.

The best way for Google to achieve this has been a concentrated effort to become the operating system of the world across channels and form factors.

But here’s the catch: for Google to be successful, it needs to feed massive amounts of data into its algorithms.

Data drives relevance.

So Google needs to constantly stay two steps ahead to ensure that it is positioned in such a way that the company can collect data, interpret it and churn out personalized recommendations.

That’s why, in this issue of the Website Magazine, we pay close attention to the latest advancements, rules, and SEO changes Google has put in place to better refine results based on user search intent, local search results, voice search results optimization, fresh content, SEO & SEM changes and much more.

That’s just one part of the picture.

Google is chasing the future. And the future is interconnectivity. The future of Google and, dare we say, the world, is profoundly interconnected.

Whereas searching will remain the backbone of Google, the company needs to evolve far beyond that. And it has.

03/31/2022

7 Benefits of Social Media for Inbound Marketing

Digital marketing is all about establishing an online presence and driving traffic to your brand. Once your target customer is at your website, however, how do you keep them engaged with your brand? Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to do that. Inbound marketing focuses on creating valuable experiences and attracting prospects with relevant and helpful content. It's about engaging site visitors with conversational tools and platforms with the promise of continuing value to establish your authority and credibility. Most importantly, the success of inbound marketing relies on how you engage with social media.

What was once simply viewed as a way for people to stay in touch and play games, social media has grown to become one of the most powerful marketing tools available. According to sprout social, Facebook has over 2 billion active users, Instagram has grown to 400 million daily active users, and Twitter boasts 326 million monthly active users who sent 500 million tweets per day.

The benefits of social media for inbound marketing go far beyond the considerable volume and broad reach. Social media is a marketing tool that helps you give your audience exactly what they want: interaction, engagement, and a level of trust. From building your brand to boosting SEO, the many benefits of social media for inbound marketing can help you reach the right people, at the right time, with the right message.

According to SpiderWorks, building customer relationships using social media is all about delivering value to today's audience demand. If you can provide relevant, informative, and even entertaining content, your targeted audience will want to connect with you. And when you engage with your audience, whether it’s replying to comments or criticism (in a positive, problem-solving way), you’ll create an even greater connection.

Your prospects are checking you out on social media when they're considering who they want to do business with, and the more active you are, the more those prospects will trust your brand. They are looking not only for credibility and authority but for someone they can relate to who understands their business needs.

Social Media Builds Your Brand
There's no better marketing tool than social media for getting your brand in front of the prospects you want to reach. When you use social media as a core component of your marketing strategy, you create the building blocks for brand awareness. You can share insights to inform your audience, which builds authority. You can reach your audience where they spend the most time online, which allows you to garner a reputation for being tech-savvy and up-to-date. You can, and should, entertain your audience to build a sense of trust and relatability.

Social media is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to let your prospects learn about not only your business but also about you and what you represent. The images you post, the topics you discuss, and your overall tone will quickly help your target audience determine if they think you will be a good fit for their needs. Meet those needs with your social media content, and your brand will become stronger as you increase your reach.

Showing you care about your audience and building your brand through social media is not a one-way street. One of the best perks of using social media as part of your inbound marketing is the "insider" information and feedback you get from the very customers you are trying to attract. When you're active on social media, you have access to more content ideas than you could ever use. Forums, online review sites, and other platforms your prospects frequent offer an almost endless supply of ideas for creating the kind of content your audience is craving.

When you're looking for ideas for creating relevant and trending topics, you can browse these platforms to find out what works for your audience and what doesn't. You can also gauge your competitors' interactions to learn from their successes and failures. And once you’re ready, get on these platforms and engage your target audience. There's no better way to learn what is important to your prospects than by getting direct experience and feedback. Remember, your audience wants to find the right business for their needs, and they'll be glad to fill you in.

03/28/2022

Forget Position #1 – It’s All About Position #0 in Search

We’re an increasingly demanding nation when it comes to technology. We expect answers quickly, whether by typing a query into a search engine or asking questions of our smart speakers in our living rooms. So, it’s no surprise search results are constantly evolving to meet consumer demand, and featured snippets play a big role in this.

What is a Featured Snippet?
Featured snippets are answer boxes that sit above natural results and underneath Google’s paid results. Featured snippets answer a user’s query quickly. Whether the user has typed the query or ‘Asked Google,’ they’ll be presented with a concise, helpful result that answers their query.

Thanks to their positioning, featured snippets mean great visibility for the website featured, yet less visibility for other organic results. Google also recently updated how its ad results appear in search results, making them look more organic than ever. Naturally then, the number 1 position is starting to feel less valuable than in previous years.

There are four types of featured snippets: paragraph snippets, list snippets (with bullets or numbers), video, and table snippets. Paragraph snippets are served the majority of the time (82% according to Getstat).

What are the Benefits?
Featured snippets can be incredibly powerful when it comes to SEO. Unlike ranking organically, authority and brand signals don’t play as much of a role – in fact, you can surpass big publications and competitors and make your way to position 0.

Not only do featured snippets increase brand exposure, they can also increase click-through rate and traffic when you’re a featured result. If competition levels make it impossible to reach position 1 organically, featured snippets could be your answer.

So, what’s the catch? In order to claim a featured snippet, Ahrefs found you must already be ranking on page 1 (top 10 results) of Google search results for a query. This ensures Google is selecting answers from relevant sources.

But you can make your way to #0 by following a few simple optimization rules:

1. Keyword research is key
Featured snippets are usually triggered by long-tail keywords. This is no surprise considering the increasing way we are searching with voice and conversational language. Data suggests voice search queries tend to be three-to-five keywords in length.

However, not all keywords bring up featured snippets in search results. So, to effectively perform keyword research for featured snippets, you’ll benefit by using an industry-leading tool like Ahrefs or Semrush.

Once you have a list of relevant search terms, highlight those that are ranking, or have the capability to rank, higher than 10th position. These are the opportunities you want to look into.

If you’re lacking in current opportunities, have a look at some question keywords or ‘vs’ keywords that could be incorporated into your content. These keywords are more likely to serve featured snippets. From here, you should be able to identify some related content as well.

2. Know your snippet type
Once you’ve identified search terms to optimize for featured snippets, identify what kind of featured snippet shows or would likely show for them. Is a list, table, video, or a paragraph snippet showing? It’s critical to know what you’re competing for, as optimizing for a paragraph snippet is no use if Google wants to show a video at #0.

3. Get optimizing. Set character limits
A featured snippet is usually about 52 words in length. You’ll want to summarize an answer on the page within this word count. Of course, you can expand further, but by having a clear summary of your answer that’s the right length, you’re making it easier for Google to find it. Otherwise, Google has to patch things together from long content.

Create optimized headings
Once you have a succinct answer/table/list in the text, you want an optimized heading directly above. For instance, if you are answering a question-based query, include the question as an H2 directly above your answer.

Break up content
Using images and headings to break up content can also make it easier for Google to source featured snippet text. For instance, add an image beneath your 52-word answer.

Optimize images
As with best-practice SEO, make sure you include quality, optimized images with your content. If Google understands an image to be relevant to your snippet, it will likely pull this along with your content.

Include related questions
Make sure you include other related, relevant questions in your content. You may end up with multiple snippets!

03/24/2022

The U.S. government has recently warned businesses about the potential for Russia to engage in malicious cyberactivity against public and private sectors.

We’re here to give you the technologies expertise and information you need to protect your digital assets against DDoS and other attacks.

The Biden-Harris Administration has warned repeatedly about the potential for Russia to engage in malicious cyber activity against the United States in

03/10/2022

02/23/2022

3 Tips for Optimizing Online Forms to Generate Leads

Businesses use a variety of channels to build awareness and reach out to customers, but websites remain the digital home for most companies. Effective search engine optimization practices can bring new visitors to the site, so it makes sense for organizations to invest in SEO. But there’s one facet of their website that too many businesses overlook — their online forms.

Forms are widely used by businesses of all types, and many companies have multiple forms. But online forms don’t get the attention they deserve as a lead-generating tool. Here are three ways to make online forms work harder to generate leads and create customer relationships:

Use the right type of form in the right place: Forms are designed to serve a number of purposes, such as demo requests, whitepaper downloads, contact information exchange, after-hours chat or email list opt-ins. The type of form that is appropriate depends on what the purpose of the form is; once that is decided, it’s time to choose where to place it.

Forms can appear on the homepage, a landing page created for a special purpose, the blog, or the footer. Forms can also be placed in a smart bar at the top of the site or in a pop-up. HubSpot recommends placing the form above the fold so the visitor doesn’t have to scroll to find it, and it’s generally a good idea to make the form easy to locate.
Keep it brief but gather needed data: It’s important to find the right balance when designing a form. Forms that are too long or that include too many personal questions may intimidate users, which can decrease response rates. Experts recommend including at least four fields for users to complete, with a mix of required and non-required fields that are clearly marked.

When visitors who complete the form fill out all of the fields, including the optional ones, that’s a good indication that it’s a hot lead as opposed to a warm lead. But when designing a form, the most important thing to keep in mind is that the form should be brief enough to invite user interaction while also gathering the necessary data.
Use compelling headlines and offers: The most effective form headlines are a call to action that appears in a link or on a button that leads to the form. The call to action should state what the visitor will receive for filling out the form — “submit registration” for an email list or “download whitepaper” for information on a product, for example.

When the visitor clicks through, the copy preceding the form should be designed to get their attention and further communicate the value they’ll receive for filling out the form. It should also reinforce the call to action in a compelling way and let visitors know why they should download a form at this site instead of at a competitor’s page.

02/21/2022

How To Set Up Email and Website Hosting To Minimize Security Concerns (Part 2)

Install a Secure Sockets Layer Certificate
A secure sockets layer certificate (SSL) encrypts any data that passes between your website and anyone who visits it. All reputable websites have such a certificate, and if a website doesn’t have one, Google will let site visitors know. Like this:

An SSL, then, protects you and your customers. It’s very important for any website to have one, but it’s especially important if you accept payments on your website. If you don’t have an SSL, your customers may find that their banking details are compromised. And if that happens, your reputation would ultimately suffer.

Even if their details aren’t compromised, they will bail out of your site as soon as they’re told that it isn’t secure. This will harm your rankings.

If you’re savvy, you should be able to find an email and website hosting plan that offers SSL for free. Most do. However, for advanced levels of security, you will need to pay extra for a premium SSL.

Use Up-To-Date Software (And Keep It Up-To-Date)
WordPress is a great web hosting tool - but only if you’re using the latest version.

Whatever software you choose to use to set up your email and website hosting, it must be the most recently updated version. This is because updated versions come with new security patches that are able to deal with the latest types of attacks.

It’s the same whenever you use any add-ons to your site, such as plugins. You need to make sure they’re all up-to-date.

You can find out how up-to-date a piece of software is by googling it. For example, you could type “latest WordPress version.”

Install a Web Application Firewall
A web application firewall is essentially a security software that monitors things like data and traffic for any known or perceived threats. This minimizes security concerns and lets you continue with your business with greater peace of mind.

The best web application firewalls’ identity threats and they also eliminate them ASAP.

You should also look for ones that have a clickable Security Shield, as this will let your site visitors know that your website is secure.

Accept Comments Manually
It’s a great feeling when the comments start rolling in on our website. It tells us that we’re doing something right - especially if the comments are positive!

However, did you know that 1 out of 10 URLs left in comments are links to malware or are bots?

To protect your website and your site visitors, it’s a good idea to change your settings so that comments need to be manually approved by you before they’re published.

To do this on WordPress, you need to log in to your account and then head to the “Settings” tab. Then, click “Discussion” followed by “Before a comment appears.” Here, you need to check the “comment must be manually approved” box.

Whichever hosting service you use will make this easy for you. If you’re stuck, contact support.

Conclusion
Email and website hosting security don’t have to cost a small fortune. In fact, most of your budget will surely go on your hosting plan.

Other than that, setting things up so that you don’t have to go to bed worrying about an attack can be done without spending much money at all. Things like anti-malware software will need to be accounted for, but other strategies - such as using a complex password - are just common sense.

02/16/2022

How To Set Up Email and Website Hosting To Minimize Security Concerns (Part 1)

Did you know that being aware of email and website security can actually help you reduce costs? When businesses suffer from malware attacks, for example, they lose precious data, time - and potential sales.

Of course, anyone who sets up email and website hosting has to be aware that there will be some security risks. In 2017, hackers created 317,000,000 news pieces of malware.

On the brighter side of things, the good news is that, while you can’t completely eradicate the risk of a web attack, you can minimize security concerns. And all it takes is a few simple steps and precautions.

Join us as we take a look at how to set up email and website hosting to minimize security concerns.

Choose a Hosting Plan
Secure Shared Hosting
When you share your host, your email and website exist as a folder on a server that other sites are sharing.

How does this benefit you?

It means that your security and server-level operations are taken care of by the host company. For small businesses that don’t need too many resources, it can make sense economically.

Siteground is one example of a shared server that comes with unmetered bandwidth and 99.99% uptime. Others include BlueHost and HostPapa. Here’s a resource that compares a few shared servers.

Virtual Private Server
A VPS that a host server runs as a program that acts as its own server or entity. This host machine can be shared with other customers, but you get to run your own virtual server as an individual entity.

Going down this route means that your email and website will be safe and secure from attacks, and it also means you retain a good level of control over your server responsibilities. This is because you’re not sharing your hosting with another server which means that your website won’t go down due to another server’s mistakes. It’s all in your hands in your own isolated environment.

HostWinds is a good example of a VPS that offers cloud hosting and nightly backups, while InMotion Hosting offers free SSL certificates and server management for updates and patches.

Secure Dedicated Hosting
As a lone customer, a dedicated server makes sense if you want more control over everything, from software to hardware - to security. This is especially ideal for larger businesses who are expecting more traffic because a secure dedicated hosting is able to deal with this with more stability and reliability.

Moreover, you’re free to customize the software, hardware, and security. This is unlike shared hosting, where you’re limited to what’s currently on the server.

The hosting company might offer a few security patches and server-level operating system updates, but you’ll otherwise be in control when it comes to minimizing your security concerns.

Liquid Web is an example of a secure dedicated hosting solution that offers a wide range of options, such as fully managed hosting services, as much as 200GB of disk space, and a 100% uptime guarantee. HostGator, meanwhile, is good for the price, disk space, and uptime. It offers as many as 8 CPU cores and unmetered bandwidth.

Secure Dedicated Hosting
As a lone customer, a dedicated server makes sense if you want more control over everything, from software to hardware - to security. This is especially ideal for larger businesses who are expecting more traffic because a secure dedicated hosting is able to deal with this with more stability and reliability.

Moreover, you’re free to customize the software, hardware, and security. This is unlike shared hosting, where you’re limited to what’s currently on the server.

The hosting company might offer a few security patches and server-level operating system updates, but you’ll otherwise be in control when it comes to minimizing your security concerns.

Liquid Web is an example of a secure dedicated hosting solution that offers a wide range of options, such as fully managed hosting services, as much as 200GB of disk space, and a 100% uptime guarantee. HostGator, meanwhile, is good for the price, disk space, and uptime. It offers as many as 8 CPU cores and unmetered bandwidth.

Whichever hosting plan you choose, here are some tips to set things up so that you’re less vulnerable to outside attacks:

Install Anti-Malware Software
Anti-malware software is exactly what it sounds like - it offers layers of protection to your email and website so that you’re less vulnerable to attacks.

When shopping around for anti-malware software, here are some features you should look out for:

DDoS protection - Protects you from a DDoS attack, which is often the prime reason a website is compromised
Web scanning - Scans your website for vulnerability issues on the regular
Web application firewall - Monitors data and traffic for known threats, and snuffs them out
Malware detection and removal - Keeps your website safe by spotting malware immediately, and removing it before it has a chance to attack your site
Use a Complex Password
Passwords are something so many of us overlook. How often have you created the exact same password for various sites and pieces of software?

When it comes to your email and web hosting, it’s really important that you choose a bulletproof password that no one can guess. It’s also important that you talk to your employees and anyone else who has access to your software about passwords. This is because 40% of small businesses said that a web attack was the direct result of their employees’ passwords being cracked.

When choosing a password, make sure to avoid the obvious - such as ‘password’ and ‘123456789’ and instead use randomly generated numbers of characters. Don’t reuse the same ones and make your password long.

Also, avoid using personal information.