Category: Client Updates

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Managing Spam Filters

How to Manage Spam Filters to Reduce Email Spam and Keep Your Inbox Clean

Managing spam filters effectively ensures a clutter-free inbox while ensuring legitimate emails aren’t missed. Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail use advanced algorithms to detect and quarantine spam, but fine-tuning these filters is key to optimizing email deliverability. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to manage spam filters, customize settings, and reduce email spam without losing important messages.

Why Spam Filter Management Matters

Spam filters protect your inbox from unwanted emails, such as phishing scams, advertisements, or malicious content. However, overly aggressive filters can misclassify legitimate emails, sending them to the spam folder. Proper spam filter management balances security with accessibility, ensuring trusted emails reach your inbox while blocking spam.

  • Save Time: A clean inbox reduces time spent sorting through spam.
  • Ensure Delivery: Prevent important emails from being flagged as spam.
  • Enhance Security: Block malicious emails while allowing trusted senders.

Understanding Spam Filters

Spam filters analyze emails based on sender reputation, content, and user behavior. Common types include:

  • Default Filters: Built-in algorithms in Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail that detect spam automatically.
  • Custom Filters: User-defined rules to whitelist or blacklist specific senders or domains.
  • Advanced Solutions: AI-driven tools like Microsoft Defender for businesses, offering real-time threat detection.

How to Manage Spam Filters: Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these steps to fine-tune spam filters in popular email clients and reduce email spam effectively.

1. Configure Default Spam Filters

Email providers offer built-in spam filters that you can adjust for better performance.

  • Gmail: Log in to https://mail.google.com, click the gear icon, and select See all settings. Under Filters and Blocked Addresses, review existing filters.
  • Outlook: Go to https://outlook.live.com, click the gear icon, and select View all Outlook settings. Navigate to Mail > Junk email to adjust filter sensitivity.
  • Yahoo Mail: Visit https://mail.yahoo.com, click the gear icon, and select More Settings > Security and Privacy to manage blocked addresses.

2. Create Whitelists and Blacklists

Customizing your filters ensures trusted senders are never flagged while known spammers are blocked.

  • Whitelist Trusted Senders: Add email addresses or domains to a safe senders list to bypass spam filters. Learn how in our email whitelisting guide.
  • Blacklist Spammers: Block specific senders or domains by adding them to a blocked list (e.g., in Gmail’s Create a filter or Outlook’s Blocked senders).
  • Example: In Gmail, create a filter to block spammer@example.com by setting it to Delete it.

3. Review and Train the Spam Folder

Regularly check your spam or junk folder to rescue legitimate emails and improve filter accuracy.

  • Open the spam folder in your email client (e.g., Gmail’s Spam or Outlook’s Junk Email).
  • If an email is misclassified, select it and click Not Spam or Not Junk to move it to the inbox.
  • Mark unwanted emails as Spam to train the filter to recognize similar messages.

4. Use Advanced Solutions for Businesses

Businesses can enhance spam filter management with AI-driven tools for real-time threat detection.

  • Microsoft Defender: Offers advanced spam and phishing protection. Configure via https://security.microsoft.com.
  • Other Tools: Solutions like Barracuda or Proofpoint provide robust spam filtering and reporting.
  • Combine with employee training to reduce human error in identifying spam.

Best Practices for Spam Filter Management

Keep your inbox clean and efficient with these spam filter management tips:

  • Check Spam Folder Weekly: Review for misclassified emails to train the filter.
  • Update Filters Regularly: Add new trusted senders or block persistent spammers as needed.
  • Enable Two-Factor Authentication: Protect your account from spam-related account takeovers (see our email security guide).
  • Use Antivirus Software: Scan attachments to block malware hidden in spam emails.
  • Educate Users: Teach employees or family to recognize phishing emails disguised as spam.

Conclusion

Effective spam filter management keeps your inbox organized and ensures important emails aren’t lost to the spam folder. By configuring filters, creating whitelists and blacklists, and reviewing your spam folder, you can reduce email spam and improve deliverability. For more tips, check out our guides on whitelisting emails or email security.

Have questions about managing spam filters? Share your thoughts in the comments or contact us!

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Email Security: How to Protect Your Email from Cyber Threats

Email security is vital for safeguarding sensitive information from cyber threats like phishing, malware, and data breaches. With email being a primary communication tool, securing your accounts and data is essential to prevent unauthorized access and protect your privacy. This guide covers key email security measures, practical steps to secure email, and best practices to stay safe in an evolving threat landscape.

Why Email Security Matters

Email accounts often contain sensitive data, such as personal details, financial information, or business communications. Cybercriminals target emails through phishing attacks, malware, and account takeovers, leading to identity theft or financial loss. Effective email security ensures your data remains private, builds trust with recipients, and complies with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.

  • Prevent Data Breaches: Secure emails reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
  • Avoid Phishing Scams: Proper measures help identify and block fraudulent emails.
  • Protect Business Reputation: Secure communication fosters trust with clients and partners.

Common Email Security Threats

Understanding the threats you face is the first step to protecting your email from cyber threats. Here are the most common risks:

  • Phishing Attacks: Fraudulent emails trick users into sharing login credentials or clicking malicious links.
  • Malware: Attachments or links in emails can install viruses or ransomware on your device.
  • Account Takeovers: Weak passwords allow hackers to access and misuse your email account.
  • Man-in-the-Middle Attacks: Unencrypted emails can be intercepted during transmission.

How to Secure Your Email: Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these actionable steps to enhance your email security and protect against cyber threats.

1. Use Strong, Unique Passwords

A strong password is your first line of defense. Weak passwords (e.g., “password123”) are easily cracked by hackers.

  • Create passwords with at least 12 characters, mixing letters, numbers, and symbols (e.g., G7#mP9$kL2!v).
  • Use a unique password for each email account to limit damage if one is compromised.
  • Consider using Google password manager LastPass to generate and store secure passwords.

2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second verification step (e.g., a code sent to your phone) when logging in.

3. Encrypt Your Emails

Email encryption protects your messages from being intercepted during transmission.

  • Use email providers with built-in encryption, such as Gmail (TLS) or ProtonMail (end-to-end encryption).
  • For sensitive emails, use tools like ProtonMail or browser extensions like Mailvelope for PGP encryption.
  • If I manage your website hosting you have managed SSL. But also be sure your email client is set to use SSL/TLS (check settings in Outlook or Apple Mail). Or ask me about Google Workspace for Business

4. If you don’t use Google Workspace, Deploy Secure Email Gateways (SEGs)

For businesses, SEGs filter incoming and outgoing emails to block malicious content in real-time.

  • Popular SEGs include Mimecast, Proofpoint, and Barracuda.
  • Configure SEGs to detect phishing, malware, and spam before emails reach users.
  • Combine SEGs with employee training to maximize effectiveness.

5. Educate Yourself on Phishing Protection

Phishing emails often look legitimate but contain malicious links or attachments.

  • Check sender email addresses for misspellings (e.g., support@gmali.com instead of support@gmail.com).
  • Avoid clicking links or downloading attachments from unknown senders.
  • Use email filters to flag suspicious emails (learn how in our email whitelisting guide).

Best Practices for Email Security

Stay proactive with these email security best practices:

  • Update Software Regularly: Keep your email client, browser, and antivirus software up to date to patch vulnerabilities.
  • Use Antivirus Software: Install reputable antivirus tools like Norton or Malwarebytes to scan email attachments.
  • Backup Emails: Regularly back up important emails to avoid data loss from breaches.
  • Monitor Account Activity: Check your email account’s login history for unauthorized access.
  • Train Employees: For businesses, conduct regular cybersecurity training to reduce human error.

Conclusion

Protecting your email from cyber threats requires a combination of strong passwords, 2FA, encryption, and vigilance. By implementing these email security measures, you can safeguard your data and maintain a secure communication environment. For more tips, explore our guide on whitelisting emails or learn about managing spam filters.

Have questions about securing your email? Share your thoughts in the comments or contact us!

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How to Whitelist an Email to Bypass Spam Filters (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo)

Whitelisting an email ensures messages from trusted senders or domains land in your inbox, not the spam folder. Whether it’s work emails, newsletters, or personal messages, learning how to whitelist an email in popular clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail is simple. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to help you bypass spam filters and keep important emails accessible. Follow these tips to master email whitelisting today.

What Is Email Whitelisting?

Email whitelisting involves adding a sender’s email address or domain to a safe list or creating a filter to ensure their messages avoid the spam folder. This process is essential for ensuring critical emails reach your inbox. By whitelisting, you can improve email deliverability and prevent emails from going to spam.

Why Whitelist Emails?

  • Ensure Delivery: Important emails (e.g., from clients or services) won’t get lost in spam.
  • Save Time: Avoid searching the spam folder for missing messages.
  • Boost Marketing: For marketers, whitelisting increases open rates by ~20% and strengthens sender reputation.

Ready to whitelist? Below are detailed instructions for Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail.

Step-by-Step Guide to Whitelist Emails

How to Whitelist an Email in Gmail

Gmail uses filters to whitelist emails, marking them as “Never send to Spam.” Filters are created via the desktop website, not the mobile app.

Desktop (Web Browser):

  1. Log in to Gmail at https://mail.google.com.
  2. Click the gear icon (top-right) and select See all settings.
  3. Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
  4. Click Create a new filter.
  5. In the From field, enter the email address (e.g., sender@example.com) or domain (e.g., @example.com). Use | for multiple entries (e.g., sender1@example.com|sender2@example.com).
  6. Click Create filter.
  7. Check Never send it to Spam. Optionally, select Always mark it as important.
  8. Click Create filter to save.

Mobile (Workaround):

  • Gmail’s mobile app doesn’t support filters. Instead:
  • Open the Gmail app, find an email from the sender, tap the three dots (top-right), and select Add to Contacts.
  • If in the Spam folder, open the email, tap the three dots, and select Report not spam.

Tip: Drag emails from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab and confirm “Do this for all future messages.”

How to Whitelist an Email in Outlook

Outlook uses a “Safe Senders” list to whitelist emails, available in both web and desktop versions.

Desktop (Outlook App):

  1. Open Outlook and click Home > Junk > Junk E-mail Options.
  2. Go to the Safe Senders tab.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Enter the email address (e.g., sender@example.com) or domain (e.g., @example.com).
  5. Click OK, then Apply and OK to save.

Web (Outlook.com):

  1. Log in to https://outlook.live.com.
  2. Click the gear icon (top-right) and select View all Outlook settings.
  3. Navigate to Mail > Junk email.
  4. Under Safe senders and domains, click + Add.
  5. Enter the email address or domain and press Enter.
  6. Click Save.

Mobile (Outlook App):

  • Open the Outlook app, find an email from the sender, tap the three dots (top-right), and select Move to Focused Inbox.
  • Choose Move this and all future messages.

Note: Adding senders to Outlook contacts also helps prevent emails from going to spam.

How to Whitelist an Email in Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail supports whitelisting via contacts or filters.

Desktop (Web Browser):

  1. Log in to Yahoo Mail at https://mail.yahoo.com.
  2. Option 1: Add to Contacts:
    • Open an email, hover over the sender’s name/email, and click Add to Contacts.
    • Fill in details (if needed) and click Save.
  3. Option 2: Create a Filter:
    • Click the gear icon (top-right) and select More Settings.
    • Go to Filters and click Add new filters.
    • Name the filter (e.g., “Whitelist Sender”).
    • In the From field, enter the email address or domain.
    • Set the action to Move to Inbox.
    • Click Save.

Mobile (Yahoo Mail App):

  • Go to the Spam folder, open an email from the sender, and tap Not Spam.
  • Alternatively, open an email, tap the sender’s name, and select Add to Contacts.

Note: Yahoo’s spam filter processes emails before custom filters, so marking emails as “Not Spam” may be needed initially.

Best Practices for Email Whitelisting

To ensure your whitelisting efforts work effectively, follow these tips:

  • Mark as “Not Spam”: If emails land in the Spam folder, mark them as “Not Spam” to train the filter.
  • Add to Contacts: Adding senders to contacts often mimics whitelisting, especially in Yahoo and AOL.
  • Test Filters: Send a test email to confirm it reaches the inbox.
  • Review Regularly: Update your Safe Senders list or filters as needed.
  • Stay Safe: Only whitelist trusted senders to avoid phishing emails.
  • For Marketers: Include whitelisting instructions in welcome emails to boost deliverability.

Additional Tips for Other Email Clients

Using a different email client? Here’s how to proceed:

  • AOL: Add senders to contacts to whitelist, as AOL trusts contact list emails.
  • Apple Mail: Create rules to move emails to the inbox.
  • ProtonMail or Others: Check the provider’s help center for “whitelist email” instructions.

Search your email client’s support page for specific guidance or contact their support team.

Conclusion

Whitelisting emails in Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo Mail is a quick way to ensure important messages bypass spam filters. By following these steps, you can streamline communication and avoid missing critical emails. For more email management tips, check out our guides on email security or managing spam filters.

Have questions about whitelisting or email deliverability? Leave a comment below or contact us!

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Solving Your Most Complex Email Issues: A Journey Through SPF, DKIM, and PTR Records

Image of a person working at a keyboard with messages swirling around in a vortex, tunnel like room. Perfect for Solving Your Most Complex Email Issues

Background

As a designer with a preference for UX design, I’ve had to learn scripting languages when interactive design emerged in the 90’s. Software like Macromind, then Macromedia Director and later Flash used ECMA based Action Script for example. This and JavaScript were and remain big challenges.

Building websites continued to challenge my abilities as I started hosting, then managed hosting and now some fairly complex CDN Virtual Machine setups in Google Cloud Compute. Cloud Domain and Cloud DNS management have become common in my day to day. But email configurations have been challenging to learn.

Today I found myself finally understanding some of the complexities in level 1 email hosting. Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t enjoy email server issues. However, in the ever-evolving world of technology, email remains a vital communication tool for businesses. Ensuring the proper configuration of email systems is not just about deliverability; it’s about security, integrity, and trust. I also like to keep technology disruptions to an absolute minimum.

As someone who has now navigated the intricate landscapes of email configuration, I recently faced a challenge that I’d like to share. If you’re reading this please stop. Go do something fun. If you’re a recruiter, you have better things to do. I leaned on ChatGPT for entire sections of the post below. So you may not even be reading what I wrote.

But if you must, this is the story of how I tackled complex email issues involving SPF, DKIM, and PTR records.

Section 1: Understanding the Challenge

SPF Records: Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a crucial part of email authentication. It helps receiving servers verify that the email comes from a trusted source. A misconfiguration here can lead to emails being marked as spam or rejected altogether.

DKIM Records: DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) ensures the integrity of the email content by signing it with a cryptographic key. A proper DKIM setup is vital for trust, but it can be tricky to configure, especially with long keys.

PTR Records: Pointer (PTR) records are used in reverse DNS lookups, allowing receiving servers to verify the hostname of the sending server. A valid PTR record enhances email deliverability.

The Complexity: These configurations are intricate and interwoven. A single mistake can lead to delivery failures, bounce-backs, and security vulnerabilities.

Section 2: Navigating the Solution

Analyzing the Error Messages: The journey began with a perplexing error message: “550 5.7.1 Relaying denied.” This was sent to me via screenshot from a client. Through careful analysis and collaboration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, I dissected the error to pinpoint the underlying issues.

SPF Configuration: The SPF record required alignment with the IP address and included domains. I configured it both in cPanel and Cloud DNS, ensuring consistency.

DKIM Configuration: The DKIM record presented a unique challenge. The long cryptographic key had to be split into smaller parts to be accepted by the DNS provider. If you’ve experienced the help text in Google Cloud DNS you know it can be somewhat helpful.

PTR Verification: Verifying the PTR record required using command-line tools like nslookup for example. The result confirmed a proper configuration, aligning the IP address with the correct hostname.

Section 3: Lessons Learned

Importance of Testing: This experience reinforced the need for thorough testing and validation. Tools like Verisign Labs, MX Toolbox for lookups and Microsoft Terminal helped confirmed discrepancies and resolutions.

Collaboration and Support: Working with experts and leveraging available resources can lead to successful outcomes. OpenAI’s ChatGPT provided invaluable support, demonstrating the power of collaboration.

Adaptability: The ability to adapt and find creative solutions to unexpected challenges was key to success. From splitting the DKIM key to aligning SPF records, adaptability was at the core of this journey. Yes, “journey!” Thanks ChatGPT.

Conclusion

Navigating the complex world of email configuration is no small feat for this designer. This journey through SPF, DKIM, and PTR records was a testament to the importance of attention to detail, collaboration, and adaptability. If you find yourself facing similar challenges, know that you’re not alone. With the right approach and a willingness to seek guidance, even the most complex email issues can be resolved. If you’re not using ChatGPT to elevate your game and expand into new arenas, the time has come. Although I think I’m starting to write like a bot.

Feel free to reach out to me for assistance with your email configuration needs. Together, we can ensure that your emails not only reach their destination but do so with the trust and integrity they deserve.

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Enterprise Data Migrations from OneDrive to Google Drive

Secure, HIPAA compliant, and eDoc compliant platform change to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus

We plan and execute large-scale, business-critical account migrations

It’s vital that everything go smoothly during a business-critical enterprise migration. You can rely on us to handle the automated work so you can focus on your work. We provide all services as well as user training, and support. 

Three Steps for a Successful Migration:

1. Planning

Connect

We connect to the services, domains, and to-be-migrated user accounts. We check and ensure that everything is ready to go for each account.

Scan

We scan all to-be-migrated accounts in advance and provide an overview with updated plans.

Schedule

We schedule migrations in advance and prepare switchover plans for users, networks, and devices.

2. Migration

Initial Migration

Next we move mountains of data in the background while your users continue working as normal. 

Sync-Up Migrations

We then perform interim sync-up migrations to fetch all recent changes from the source accounts.

Switch Over End Users

Once ready, your team can make the switch being working in their new accounts.

3. Audit & Clean Up

Item-level Reporting

We track progress at each stage so we can identify exactly what happened during the migration.

Clean Up

We archive source data and clean up any accounts or data that were intentionally left behind. 

Support, if you need it

Everything is communicated each step of the way. We answer your questions in a jargon-free way that is easy to understand and actionable. We schedule all work and keep disruptions to an absolute minimum. When you feel it is helpful, we provide training to ensure productivity remains high before, during and after the migration.

We’re local and we’re here for you throughout your process and in the future when you need us.

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Effortless eDoc Retention & Compliance Tailored For You

Facing the tightening grip of regulations? We’ve got you covered. With our professional eDoc retention and compliance services, we save you money and time by navigating the complexities of electronic document management. As AI revolutionizes the regulatory landscape, we help local businesses stay ahead of the curve to protect your business from costly compliance issues.

Learn more about our AI-Enhanced Compliance Solutions

Legal Compliance Made Simple: We translate numerous complex laws and regulations into actionable strategies for your business. We ensure you meet all legal requirements, thus shielding you from potential legal and financial repercussions.

Streamlined Support for Litigation and Audits: Get quick access to relevant eDocs during legal disputes or regulatory audits. Our efficient retention strategies enable you to produce essential records swiftly, reducing the risk of non-compliance.

Robust Data Privacy and Security: Your trust is our top priority. We implement stringent data privacy and security measures to protect your eDocs and ensure compliance with all data privacy regulations.

Boost Business Efficiency: Our organized and efficient eDoc retention strategies accelerate information retrieval, freeing up your team to focus on expanding your business in highly regulated industries.

“Bringing legacy systems into regulatory compliance involves quite a few moving parts. I want my customers to know that I can get the job done. I can develop, deploy and train your employees. When you hire someone for a compliance job of any size, it’s critical to ask questions about previous jobs, errors and omissions insurance and relevant experience.” -Brent

Our Services:

Bespoke Retention Policy: We craft a tailored document retention policy that perfectly aligns with your industry regulations and specific business needs. You receive shareable compliance policy documents for your business associates.

Secure & Encrypted Storage: Sleep easy knowing your eDocs are safe with us. We use advanced encryption technologies in our state-of-the-art storage solutions.

Regular Compliance Audits: We conduct regular audits to ensure your document retention policy remains current and compliant amidst ever-changing regulations.

Organization-wide Consistency: We ensure a uniform application of the document retention policy across all departments and employees in your organization.

Resilient Backup & Disaster Recovery: We have robust backup and disaster recovery plans to shield your data from ransomware attacks and other unforeseen circumstances.

Effective Employee Training: We offer comprehensive onsite training to educate your team about eDoc retention and compliance. Our engaging and memorable classes foster a positive shift in your organization’s approach to data security, privacy, and compliance.

Unleash the Benefits of eDoc Retention & Compliance

Where some see barriers, we see opportunities. We can help contextualize the value of compliance and security beyond meeting regulatory compliance. So don’t let eDoc retention and compliance weigh you down. We provide secure, custom-fit solutions that protect your business and ensure compliance with all relevant regulations. Our unwavering dedication to your success inspires us to deliver top-tier services, enabling you to focus on exceeding your clients’ expectations.

Learn about our HIPAA Compliance Solutions for covered entities.

Learn about our Data Migrations. Consult with us early in your process.

Ready to learn more? Any questions?

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HIPAA Compliance Services for Covered Entities

Navigating the intricacies of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) can be daunting. Let’s simplify it for you. This guide will explain HIPAA, its key provisions, and the vital role of Business Associates in maintaining compliance.

Learn more about our AI-Enhanced Compliance Solutions

HIPAA and Its Implications

HIPAA protects patient information and applies primarily to:

  • Health Care Providers conducting certain electronic transactions.
  • Health Care Clearinghouses processing healthcare transactions.
  • Health Plans offering health insurance coverage.

These entities, known as “covered entities,” must safeguard protected health information (PHI) according to HIPAA’s Administrative Simplification regulations.

Role of Business Associates

However, you may be a business associate of a covered entity. If you receive PHI from a covered entity or send to a covered entity you must provide assurances that the information will be used correctly and protected. “Business Associates” perform functions involving the use or disclosure of PHI and can be health care providers, health plans, or health care clearinghouses.

Business Associate Contracts

To ensure compliance, covered entities must have written contracts or agreements with their business associates. These contracts detail the permitted uses of PHI, safeguards, and measures for addressing breaches. For example our fully implemented solution includes procedures for recovering your documents in the case of a ransomware attack.

Exceptions to Business Associate Standard

In some cases, covered entities can disclose PHI without a business associate contract, such as for treatment purposes, health plan sponsor disclosures, and in organized health care arrangements.

Business Associate Agreement (BAA) & Personal Health Records (PHRs)

If your business handles PHI, we can guide you through the BAA signing process. Also, while Personal Health Records (PHRs) are not legally considered records, PHRs provided by doctors or health plans are subject to HIPAA regulations.

Why HIPAA Compliance Matters

Compliance with HIPAA regulations ensures the privacy and security of patients’ sensitive health information. Violations can lead to severe penalties, making it essential for covered entities and business associates to understand and adhere to HIPAA.

Your Path to HIPAA Compliance

Understanding HIPAA is vital for those dealing with PHI. We offer regulatory compliance services tailored to meet your business needs, ensuring your clients’ data remains safe and secure.

Leverage Cutting-Edge Technology for HIPAA Compliance

Our solution harnesses Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Cloud Identity to support your organization’s HIPAA compliance. We provide a comprehensive set of tools and services that ensure regulatory compliance and data protection.

Understanding Your Data Protection Requirements

We guide you through HIPAA implementation and compliance, customizing solutions for your employees handling PHI. We’ll assist in crafting a data policy and terms related to HIPAA compliance, security, and eDoc retention.

Privacy Commitments and Enhanced Security

We prioritize privacy and security. Your data is under your control, secure, and in strict adherence to industry best practices. We recommend organizations increase their security posture to further protect sensitive data.

The Power of Compliance

Gain access to a comprehensive HIPAA compliance solution combining Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Google Cloud Compute, and Cloud Identity with our guidance. We empower you to focus on delivering your exceptional services while we keep you compliant with regulatory requirements.

Also learn about our eDoc compliance and data migration solutions or reach out for a conversation.

Prefer to use a form to send us a note?

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Backlink Ideas – Steal These 7 Simple Ideas

Safe and effective strategies to generate valuable backlinks for your business:

  1. Create High-Quality Content: Crafting valuable, unique, and informative content is a powerful way to attract natural backlinks. When your content provides real value to readers, other websites will naturally link to it as a valuable resource. Ask me about content creation tips.
  2. Guest Blogging: Contributing guest posts to reputable websites in your industry is a legitimate way to earn backlinks. Choose authoritative websites with relevant content and ensure your guest posts offer valuable insights to their readers. Ask me how to get started with guest blogging.
  3. Build Relationships with Influencers and Industry Experts: Engage with influencers and experts in your field, collaborate on projects, and provide value. As they recognize your expertise and content quality, they may naturally link to your website. Ask me about building industry relationships.
  4. Online Directories and Listings: Submit your website to relevant and reputable online directories. Look for directories specific to your industry or location to gain quality backlinks. Ask me for a list of online directories.
  5. Leverage Social Media: Actively promote your content on social media platforms to increase visibility and reach a wider audience. This can attract backlinks from others who find your content valuable. Ask me about social media promotion.
  6. Resource Linking: If you have valuable resources, such as guides, tools, or research, promote them to relevant websites or bloggers who may find them useful. Genuine and helpful resources may naturally earn backlinks. Ask me how to promote valuable resources like the one you’re reading now.
  7. Content Outreach and PR: Proactively reach out to journalists, bloggers, and influencers in your niche. Offer them unique insights, data, or stories that may interest their audience. If they find your content valuable, they may include it in their articles and provide a backlink. Ask me about content outreach.

Remember, the key to safe backlink generation is prioritizing quality over quantity. Focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative and relevant sources rather than engaging in manipulative or spammy practices. Building a strong backlink profile takes time and effort, but by following ethical strategies, you can generate backlinks that contribute to long-term search engine rankings without compromising your website’s reputation.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please let me know!

Happy backlink building!

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Website Backups Are Not What You Think

Clients are often surprised when a backup is compromised. But it’s very common at shared hosting providers. Hostgator, Siteground, Godaddy, 1+1, all of the shared hosting providers offer “secure backups” but they are not secure.

For example, a common attack is what’s known as a SQL injection. A simplified explanation would be something like this; 1. The attacker gains access to your database through a vulnerable theme or plugin. 2. Code is added inside your database that adds code to your posts and pages. 3. Visitors to your site can get infected or just experience a warning depending on the browser and many other factors.

The reason most attackers do this is to access A. Your website so they can add links to your site that point to their client’s sites or B. Gain access to all the websites at a certain IP Address. Attackers usually want access to all sites. The aforementioned website hosts will put hundreds of databases and their website files on the same machine in the same location using the same IP Address and security.

So what’s up with my backup?
It depends. If your attacker gains entry and after doing so decides to go get a cup of coffee, I may receive a notice of increased attacks on your site. If I do, I will immediately review and lockdown your site by permanently blocking any agents that are accessing your site nefariously. It takes me about ten minutes to do this if I’m in front of my computer when I get the message that you are under an increased attack. If I’m able to stop the active attacker while they’re getting coffee, I can also block their reentry. But I still have not determined how far they got into your website or database.

So the next step is to basically perform a website and database scan to determine if any of your core WordPress or SQL database tables were compromised. I’ll then follow up with an email to let you know what happened and what actions were taken. However, if the attacker performed the SQL Injection before they got a cup of coffee then I am likely faced with a compromised website and database.

In this case, the next step is to scan your most recent backup to see if it was compromised and if it was then I try to find a secure backup that’s older. There are only two places to check. If both backups were compromised, your website is compromised. At this point keeping the site harms your online domain reputation until it is secure again.

Next, I will contact you with the bad news, possibly some alternative situations and prioritize my tasks for recovery. I’ll review server health be sure any of your other sites were not also compromised.

What does recovery mean when backups are compromised? To explain, “recovery” is not the best descriptor. Repair is now the correct way to describe what happens next. Repairs can be done by third-party contractors we hire to repair your database and website files. Experts can repair a site in a day. Meaning they have tools to that can effectively search and replace code in your database and files. It’s not uncommon to have thousands of files and tens of thousands of database entries to clean. The cost could be as low as fifty bucks for small websites. The cleaned website is not the same as your pre-hacked website. Removing malware can also remove code that affects the way your site looks and feels or worse, your site functionality.

If I did the malware cleanup and I originally built the website, I can more easily get the site back into its pre-hack condition. But the bottom line is time. In a scenario where either your database or website files are compromised, your site will be down for an unknown period of time. From days, to never. Some folks will just give up after learning the real cost of the fifty-dollar website clean ups.

The moral of the story is, “It’s easier and less expensive to protect your site than it is to repair your site”.

What Can I Do To Make Sure My Site Is Protected?

  1. Use our Managed Hosting services. We use industry best practices. firewall, blocking, and scanning services. If you’re not already a managed hosting client, take appropriate action now. We take the time to manage your site security and download backups of your site to our local, external hard drives. This will provide you with a working backup that might be a little dated but at least we’ll have a way to wipe clean your infected site and upload a replacement.
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Let’s Talk SLAs – Service Level Agreements

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Service Level Agreements between a business owner and service provider can be expensive. It’s one of the top IT expenses for many growing businesses. SLAs play an important role for businesses that cannot afford to lose online services. Or a more accurate description would be, businesses that want to be compensated when services go down.

Disruptions to online shops, automated services, communications, productivity, it goes on and on. The more you rely on revenue from the Internet, the more you are susceptible. Some of the most frequent and worst outages occur at the Internet backbone level. This is where access to the internet becomes slow or unavailable. A service disruption at Amazon is more likely and could affect your marketing emails served by smaller provider who rely on those services. For example, an automated email scheduled to send from MailChimp could be delayed as a result of an Amazon service disruption. As we centralize storage and computing of data at large data warehouses like Amazon and Google a chain reaction occurs during downtime. For example, your website is hosted at a Google Data Center in Iowa. Other major hosting providers like Siteground host in the same data center. Once broken the chain can affects everything all the way down to your smartwatch. So SLAs are important to hedge against lost service. Our Google Workspace and Google Cloud Compute clients have SLAs. But the actual value of these SLAs primarily exist in very large budgets when millions of user accounts are affected.

We could provide and have provided SLAs to clients. Today the costs are often prohibitive. Over the years downtime at hosting providers has become less of an issue as they move to larger data centers with redundancy. An SLA costing $500 to $750 per month could give you peace of mind but it’s likely not what you think or what you need.

If we sold you an SLA we would be promising you monetary compensation if our services go down. The realized benefit is limited because disruptions and outages are calculated on a monthly basis. An hour of downtime on a busy Monday morning may not result in compensation unless the downtime resulted in an average monthly uptime drop below say, “95%”.

Because we use Google services for your platform we, like you are still at the mercy of the providers to restore service during an outage. When a service disruption occurs we also wait for service to be restored. We would check last backup integrity, monitor and report progress. This is good for peace of mind but it’s not great for your R.O.I. Especially considering Google service disruptions affect our clients a couple times every few years.

For example, the huge service outage you may have read about last night caused gmail to go down for a small portion of users for 24 minutes. The truth is very different from the stories, at least that’s what we see in your dashboards. For example, this so-called, “widespread outtage” was likely imperceivable by any of our clients or their team members. We hear things like, “yeah, google was acting a little funky” but we cannot be 100% certain the funkiness was a Google issue.

In fact, your Google Admin Dashboard is nearly always above 99.00%. Again, this is calculated over a month so as always the details reveal the real issue. In this case the 1% of downtime experienced in 2020 could happen at the exact time you are trying to warn your team about a virus circulating through your office wi-fi. In this case 1% downtime can be incredibly frustrating and the SLA would automatically credit your account for a few days or dollars of service time. The $2-$5 dollars compensation or free day of service essentially nullifies the value of the SLA. What you really want is someone to be responsible for monitoring and reporting problems to you that are affecting your online business. That’s what we do for managed hosting and marketing services for clients. It’s less of a feature and more of a commitment.

For the reasons mentioned above, uptime is of course critical during certain minutes of the day. But disruption or outtage reporting should not cost you $500 per month. Especially for a healthy business with great backup and retore processes. What you really want is to only pay for SLA services during a problem. It doesn’t mean your other software and hardware doesn’t experience downtime and we’re available to help. Your Google Workspace Account is covered by this SLA.

That’s exactly what our managed hosting clients receive. We don’t report issues that do not and likely will not ever affect your business. From time zone and data center locations to the way you use Google services in your business, you simply do not need to know when the Singapore data center is having a ten minute service disruption for 10% of local users in Singapore at 3am HST. You need to know your online business is protected with standard operating procedures that work. Especially your website security. Security is a much larger threat and a considerable amount of energy is placed in your website security. You really want to know your data is safe. That’s what we do and that’s what you get when you trust us with your online business services. Your security information is always available in your WordPress dashboard. You can always take a look at the Google Workspace Status Dashboard and make your own decision.

But we also want to hear your experience. Did you notice any service disruption? Any funkiness in your Google services i.e.; Gmail, Drive/Docs/Sheets, Calendar or other on any device?