LinkedIn is a B2B or Business to Business social media website that business owners find useful for making new connections and creating more business.

If you are not already in LinkedIn, it’s worth registering now.

And if you are a member, then you should check out these new Privacy Setting changes.

Here is the information that I received on the subject . . .

Linkedin have quietly implemented new settings that have the potential to affect your privacy.  Most importantly, your ability to prevent unwanted emails (spam).

The default on these new settings is turned ON.

They also allow Linkedin to use your profile information, names and photos in third-party advertising.

To opt out of these default settings, please check the links below.

The following URL’s should take you directly to the settings you need to review. (Cut and paste into your browser if they don’t work as live links.)

Manage social advertising:

https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-social-advertising&tab=account

Manage enhanced advertising:

https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-enhanced-advertising&tab=account

Data sharing with third-party applications:

https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-data-sharing&tab=groups

Partner InMail:

https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-partner-inmail&tab=email

What should you do now?

1. If you are in business, look into joining LinkedIn.

2. Use the links above to check your Privacy Settings in Linkedin.

3. While you are there, review your profile and update your information.

4. If you want some help or ideas, just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.

Quote

“You may think the grass is greener on the other side.
But if you take time to water your own grass it would be just as green.”
~ seen on FB

Remember – Check your Privacy Settings in Linkedin

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

It’s the difference between a SALE …or… NO SALE!

So,

. . . is your domain name

properly covered?

I was sent a link to a holiday property in Fiji called Fiji Beach House.

Of course, I just clicked on the link and went straight to the website.

All Good !

Yes  ? ?

But if I told you by word of mouth to look up Fiji Beach House, what domain name would you type in?

Would you type:

http://www.fijibeachouse.com/

or:

http://www.fijibeachhouse.com/

Can you even spot the difference in these 2 website names?

That’s right – the first has 1 letter “H” and the second has 2 letter “H”.

But which is correct?

In fact, this is the correct one, so please click on it later and check out what looks like a great holiday resort.

http://www.fijibeachouse.com/

The intuitive way is to spell the domain with 2 letter “H”.  But for whatever reason, they chose to register the domain with just 1 letter “H” and missed out on the other domain name.

And that one oversight could be the difference between a SALE …or a… NO SALE

Domain names are relatively cheap, so make sure that you register any and all possible mis-spellings and permutations of your domain name.

You could easily recoup the cost in just one missed sale recaptured.

And we can point each domain name back to your website, or to a specific page within your website.

What should you do now?

1. Check your domain name and consider mis-spellings and variations.

2. Ask people how they would they think your domain would be spelled based on your business name.

3. Register any new domain ideas now.

4. If you want some help or ideas, just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.

Quote

“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

A spoof email about LinkedIn

Spoof or spam emails are often related to finances in some way, including your bank or paypal accounts.

But this one was about a Social Media account that I hold with LinkedIn.

As a B2B version of Facebook, LinkedIn is a great way for businesses to network and connect.

Here  is the text of the email – it looks quite genuine.

> Subject: LinkedIn Security Update
>
> LinkedIn
>
> For security reasons, your LinkedIn account has been blocked due to
> inactivity or because of too many failed login attempts.
> To remove the restrictions please Follow this link
>
>
> Thank you for using LinkedIn!
>
> –The LinkedIn Team
> http://www.linkedin.com/
>
> Š 2011, LinkedIn Corporation

So what did I do?

When I received this email, I immediately forwarded it to LinkedIn to get it checked out.

And here is the response that I got back.

> Hi Philip,
>
> Thank you for bringing this item to our attention.
>
> The email you mention has been identified as a fraudulent email and was not sent out by LinkedIn or anyone associated with the company. Please be cautious in opening any attached files included in these types of malicious spoof emails as they may contain Malware which could be damaging to your system. Your privacy is our top concern. We work hard to earn and keep your trust, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:
>
> 1. We will never rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes.
> 2. We will never share your contact information with another user without your consent.
> 3. Any personally identifiable information that you provide will be secured with all industry standard protocols and technology.
>
> I apologize for the inconvenience the malicious sender has caused.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> LinkedIn Privacy Team

SO !!

Be on the lookout!

Spoof or spam emails take many forms.

What should you do now?

1.  Never open attachments in emails when you don’t know or cannot verify the source.

2.  Never click on a link in emails when you don’t know or cannot verify the source.

3.  If an email makes reference to your bank accounts, or any other type of account that has a password, immediately be suspicious.

4.  Best thing is to delete the email immediately.

5.  If you do want to check it out, find a genuine email address for the company involved and forward the email to them to verify.

You will always find that the email is a fraud, because no reputable company, especially banks and financial institutions, will send you an unsolicited email asking you to confirm your account.

Quote

“The happiest people do not necessarilly have the best of everything . . .

But they make the most of everything.”

- anon

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

Now that’s a new concept!

Or is it?

It happens quite often for us, at Hotpink Websites.

How is that, I hear you asking?  Well, the very simple secret is . . .

Our Advertising is not really Advertising!

Our advertising is information that people find to be:

• very useful for their business
• helpful for their website
• easy to read and understand
• doesn’t take much of their time

In fact, you are reading some of our so-called “advertising” right now.

It’s our blog – newsletter!

Our so-called “advertising” adds value to people’s lives and businesses and rarely, if ever, tries to sell anything.

So ask yourself these questions:

• Is your advertising changing people’s lives for the better?
• Does it make you look like a hero to your prospective clients and customers?
• Or does it just interrupt and annoy them?

What should you do now?

1.  Ask yourself those important questions about your advertising.

2. If you are not sure about it, contact us to discuss how to turn this around.

Quote

“Failure comes when will surrenders to reason.

Success comes when reason, the store of experience, surrenders to will.”

- Bowl of Saki, January 23, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VI/VI_28.htm

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

And why have so many websites gone BLACK on 18th January like we did?

It’s all laid out in great detail in this article . . .

http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/sopa-dangerous-opinion/

. . . so I am not going to try and cut through all the legalese here.  This article does it very well.

However, I will quote the following summaryfrom the article:

Any site that allows users to post content is “primarily designed for the purpose of offering services in a manner that enables copyright violation.”

The site doesn’t have to be clearly designed for the purpose of copyright violation; it only has to provide functionality that can be used to enable copyright violation.

This means that YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Gmail, Dropbox and millions of other sites would be classed as “Internet sites dedicated to theft of U.S. property,” under SOPA’s definition.

Simply providing a feature that would make it possible for someone to commit copyright infringement or circumvention is enough to get your entire site branded as an infringing site.

And reading between the lines, this could mean that every blog site and website that allows comments could breach the SOPA Act.

The implications for website and the internet in general are scary and outrageous.

http://www.hotpinkwebsites.com.au/SOPAisDangerous

For more information on SOPA and how you can help prevent it becoming law, please visit:

http://americancensorship.org

Quote

“For every minute you are angry,

you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

And what is all the fuss about with QR Codes?

A QR Code (short for “Quick Response”) is simply a two-dimensional matrix barcodes that can store website URL’s, plain text, phone numbers, email addresses and pretty much any other alphanumeric data.

When scanned by a mobile phone camera, they link users directly to a website or other information.

Here is one now!

Are you already thinking of the amazing possibilities?

Firstly, think about how many people use mobile phones these days.

We have already talked in other posts about how mobile phone usage is becoming rampant, and the technology that supports that usage is extraordinary.

Users can browse websites virtually anywhere.

They don’t have to wait to go home to the desktop PC anymore!

So when someone is walking through the shops, or sees a billboard, they don’t have to wait to get home to look up a website.

They can do it immediately.  BUT it is cumbersome typing in, (and perhaps remembering), a website address on a tiny keypad.

What if you could hold your camera phone in front of the QR Code image for just 1 second, (barely even that long), and the website opens automatically.

Don’t believe me?

Then go to the App Store and download one of the free QR Code Reader apps.

Start the app and hold your phone in front of this post showing the QR Code.

Within seconds you will be seeing the website www.HotpinkWebsites.com.au on your mobile phone.

Attn: Real Estate agents!

HOW’S  THAT!  It will even read the QR code off a computer screen!

QR Codes have many applications for businesses that use computer screen displays, and especially computer screens in after hours window displays ?!

What information can be encoded?

• Website URL
• YouTube Video
• Google Maps Location
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• FourSquare
• iTunes Link
• Plain Text, such as product information
• Telephone Number
• SMS Message
• Email Address
• Email Message
• Contact Details (VCARD)
• Event (VCALENDAR)
• Wifi Login (Android Only)
• Paypal Buy Now Link

This revolutionary concept has been in use for a while, but only recently is being applied in online marketing.

What should you do now?

1.  Quickly review any plans for items in the list above.

2.  Contact us to discuss how to use QR Codes in your business.

3.  We will even send you a QR Code that you can use immediately.

Quote

“Million dollar ideas are a dime a dozen.

The determination to see them through is what is priceless.”

- Robert Dieffenbach

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

Years ago we were sold on the idea of giving our customers a Freecall number to make it easier for them to contact us.

So why is this no longer such a good idea?

And what should you do about it?

Firstly, think about how many people use mobile phones and how many people use landlines these days.

In fact, consider how many people use a mobile phone exclusively.

I for one have not used a landline in 10+ years!

Now consider how many mobile phone plans include in the plan unlimited or very generous allowances for land line calls.

BUT ! !

Calls to 1800 and 1300 numbers are timed calls for your customers on mobile phones, and you are paying a timed rate as well!

As a friend of mine just said to me now . . .

“. . . a waste of time, and I learnt that 1800 numbers are not free calls from a mobile phone!  Misleading to say these are free call numbers.“

This is why 1800 numbers on your website can be a killer!

Silly as it sounds, it can be a turnoff for someone who was keen to contact you.

So by offering ONLY an 1800 or 1300 number on your website, you are actually PENALISING your clients and prospective customers.

Want your online customers to call you?

What should you do now?

1.  Make sure that your website shows a landline number in addition to any 1800 numbers.

2. Contact us to discuss the Instant Contact FREE Call option.

3. Ask your customers how they prefer to contact you, and then implement that.

Quote

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,

but in rising every time that we fall.

- Nelson Mandela

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

can be an expensive business if you don’t first

know what you are getting into before you start!

To give you some idea, here is an example . . .

This person, (let’s call him Gary), came to Hotpink Websites for help with his existing shopping cart software website because it just was not working for him the way he wanted it to.

Gary was just ‘nuts’ about his business, and wanted his website to start producing a significant proportion of his sales.

So he had purchased some website shopping cart software.

They were attempting to make it work themselves, thinking that this would be a cheaper option that having a professional website custom built for them.

Here’s what they said about it afterwards . . .

“. . . we are not inclined to ditch the software at this stage, (even though we are not really happy with it).

While it was a modest cost initially, having bought a number of add-on modules since then has bumped up our investment considerably, actually a lot more that I thought.

Over the six or so months since we purchased “X” there has also been an upgrade version. To be honest I didn’t factor this in at the beginning so I guess at the end of the day a custom-built website may not have cost us that much more.“

Indeed, a custom built shopping cart website would have given them exactly what they wanted, and would not have had the recurring update costs that software “X” apparently has, and most website software has.

Not only that, but they could have saved significant amounts of their own time that instead could have been dedicated to improving the business – making the sales that would pay for a professional website.

Buying a DIY shopping cart software package really put Gary in a difficult position.

What should you do now?

1.  NOTHING – if you are not in the market for a website now.  Otherwise . . .

2. Carefully weigh up the “REAL COST” of a DIY website versus a custom built website – including the value of your time.

3.  If you are buying a website now, then ask some good questions about add-on and upgrade costs.

4.  And check into the ongoing costs of shopping cart software, and what you actually get.

Quote

“It is not joy that makes us grateful.

It is gratitude that makes us joyful.

- David Rast

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

Here is the link . . .

http://www.hotpinkwebsites.com.au/how-to-clear-your-web-browser-cache

Why would you need this?

Mainly, if you have made changes to your website, and are not immediately seeing the changes displayed.

The page explains why this happens, so check it out now . . .

http://www.hotpinkwebsites.com.au/how-to-clear-your-web-browser-cache

By the way, there are instructions for PC & MAC, and all manner of browser types.

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'

So I have been going through and updating a lot of the content, including this interesting tid-bit about Paypal.

PayPal has a whole area of their website dedicated to Online Security.

Here is the link: PayPal Security Advice

https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_security-center-outside

By the way!!

If you have not yet read our   F r e e   21 Day email course on Internet Marketing Strategies, you can register on any page of our website.

Or . . .

If it has been a while since you read it, register again now and update yourself with all the new content.

'What is it that you want to achieve
and how can I help you achieve it?'