These offers are for real domain names that we own.

Even though the domain names are immediately recognized, the fees and the name of the company charging the fee are not. These are the clues that something is not right.

The “Website Listing Service” is a scam. The letter says that details are available on their website, however, there is no website at domain-listings dot org. I have also seen an alternative domain used, domainlisting dot directory. Neither domain has a site that is up and running.

Here is the letter.

The “Domain Listings” Scam Letter

Many have confused this for a domain renewal letter. It is not that either.

You can read on BBB https://www.bbb.org/us/nv/las-vegas/profile/directory-advertising/domain-listings-llc-1086-90027166/complaints that there have been complaints about this Las Vegas-based business over the years. 105 complaints are not trivial.

On the BBB website, the company replies to many complaints with the following text:

What you received from us is a solicitation. We offer companies the opportunity to list their domain names on our online directory domainlistings.directory . In return your customers can give feedback / ratings , Your company can customize your listing however you would like, add pictures, promotions or events and possibly we can help drive more traffic to your web-page. We will place *************** on our do not contact list so you will no longer receive our solicitations. I hope this clears up any concerns you may have had. Thank You, Management

The company has a D- rating on the BBB website.

How to Protect Yourself from the Scam

1. Read the document, especially when it looks like an invoice, slowly and carefully, to be clear about what is being offered or asked.
2. In situations when you are not clear, contact your web, marketing or Internet professional and ask. When you receive a printed letter snap a photo with your phone and send the document along.
3. If it looks like a domain name renewal letter, verify what company you registered your domain name with, and determine if the letter is from that company or not. I have used https://whois.domaintools.com/ for many years to look up where a domain name was registered. Nearly all domain registrars send renewal notifications by email, not letters through the postal service.
4. If there is no phone number listed on the letter, this should immediately raise a red flag in your thought.
5. Search the Internet. See if their site is operational. Add the word scam to the company name then search and read the search results.
6. You may choose to register/purchase a domain name privacy service from your registrar. This will hide your name, address and registration information and therefor prevent companies from scraping that information and then sending you letters or emails like this one.

There is no need for a directory listing. No need to spend $228 here. Please read letters and emails carefully to avoid being scammed by this kind of intentional effort.

Have you seen this or similar letters? Let us know in the comments below.

The post “Domain Listings” Scam appeared first on JBS Partners.

First Contact

Hello I’m Herbert do you offer website design for a new company and also if you do you accept credit cards?  

Thanks
Herbert 

I replied simply with – Yes. You can pay with a credit card through PayPal.

Well, that got a prompt reply, which unfortunately is unusual in my experience. Reading the scammer’s reply a number of points stood out.

1. The punctuation was not correct.
2. He used “need” four times in one paragraph
3. He referenced another website as if to copy it
4. Few clients announce they want hosting
5. He explained that he had all assets; images, logo, text content
6. He gave a budget range
7. A Private Project Consultant
8. The email ends with a request for my cell phone number
9. He wanted to text about the project

I simply put the first line of his second email into the search engine and found many posts in the search results.

Here is the prompt reply. from the scammer.

He used the email address – 1herbertjacksonautomobile@gmail.com

Second Contact

Hello Jim,

Thank you very much for your email,l have a Auto painting company business and i need an information website to promote my business,so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible frontrangedents dot com/. So i need you to get me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, 
he has the text content and the logos for the site.

Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as  premiumautos dot me 
4. i will be proving the images, logos and content for the site My budget is $3,500 to $6,500
I will be waiting for your email for the estimate

Here is my company name: COLLISION REPAIR SPECIALISTS kindly get back to me with your cellphone number so that we can have suitable text on phone

Best regards
Herbert

How the Scam Works

The scammer has a stolen credit card. He offers to pay for the project upfront, which if legitimate would put a smile on any entrepreneur’s face.

Part of the arrangement will include sending the web designer an amount more what is being billed for the project so that the “extra” can be sent on to his Private Consultant.

This Private Consultant works with the scammer. This is the part where they make money. Thousands of dollars.

Now, when the fraudulent credit card is reported, the web designer will be found responsible for the amount he billed plus the amount he sent on to the Private Consultant.

This is a widely known scam. It even has a few names

1. Third-Party Payout Scam

2.  Payment Reversal Scam

3. Advanced Fee Scam 

4. Overpayment Scam. 

You can search the internet and read more information about these scams. It seems unless you have lost money, law enforcement may have little interest.

When you get an inquiry that seems either very out of the ordinary or too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t waste your time stringing them along. Just move along and focus on the real clients who need your help.

Note: I have edited all of the links in the scam emails so that they get no link love from this post.

The post Scam Targets Web Designers – Updated May 2020 appeared first on JBS Partners.

As the Agent, you fill in the Initial Information as part of creating the account. The client can then edit this information to ensure that it is correct.

After this initial information is added, the agent is able to send an email to the website owner to complete the setup.

The Global Install Information screen is now ready to be shared. Click on Users on the left side. A window will pop-up allowing you to enter the email address for the person who will fill out the rest of the required information.

The following screenshots show what needs to be filled out for the Privacy Policy.

After the information is provided, the agent is then able to copy the code from the dashboard into the appropriate page on the client’s website.

The client will need to provide access to the website for the agent to create a new Page (if needed) and to add a text link to the footer for the Privacy Policy.

The same process can be used to create a Terms of Service, EULA and Disclaimer. The annual fee includes all four.

If you are interested in a dynamically updated Privacy Policy please fill out the contact form.

The post How Agencies Create a New Client Termageddon Account Summer 2019 appeared first on JBS Partners.

Privacy Policies

Did you know that European countries and now states in the United States are passing privacy protection laws? Some of these US laws allow citizens to sue businesses anywhere in the United States if they don’t have a compliant Privacy Policy.

Nevada plans to enact privacy laws on October 1st
Maine on July 1st
California on January 1st
and there are about a dozen other states with laws in the works.

Fines start at $5,000 per infraction and go even higher.

This requires us all to have a Privacy Policy and to continually keep it up-to-date as the laws are passed and revised.

Who Enforces?

The FTC is the government body designed to make sure that consumer privacy is taken seriously and that consumers are not harmed by claims that are deceptive.

Who Needs a Privacy Policy?

Just about every website has some kind of form to obtain at least your name, email, or phone number. This is personally identifiable information that is protected by law. This is what requires us all to have a Privacy Policy.

Many websites use cookies to track activity.

Why Do I need a Privacy Policy?

First, because the law requires it if you collect personally identifiable information.

Second, do you use Google Analytics or Google Ads? Are you an Amazon Affiliate? These services and many others have Terms of Service that require that you have Privacy Policy on your website. If you don’t comply they can prevent you from using their services.

Third, prevent getting sued by the US Government or getting sued by clients. Being clear and straightforward about what happens to a visitor’s personal data can help you avoid all kinds of problems down the road.

Fourth, being clear always builds trust which can lead to more happy customers.

Why can’t I just copy another Privacy Policy?

Do you really want to take that chance? The one you copy may come from a competitor who does business quite differently from you.

The one you copy may be poorly written or well out of date.

Finally, you are committing a crime called copyright infringement. You can be sued and fined.

What should I do now?

Consider contacting me to learn more about Termageddon, a service that we are partnering with, that combins the legal and technical talent to watch the laws across the land and update your Privacy Policy or Terms of Service dynamically.

They do the heavy lifting and we will get your pages setup, put the code in place and created the links on your website.

Our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service links are right in the footer.

Jump to the Contact page and get your Privacy Policy.

The post Why You Need an Automated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service appeared first on JBS Partners.

HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP.
Everyone on the web wants to be found. Search Marketers exist to help websites get found through a range of methods including better search rankings in Google.

Image credit SearchEngineLand

Many focus on the technical aspects of hunting down the hundreds of algorithm factors and then tweaking a site to improve results.

In addition, many have found that Google typically wants a better experience for the searcher – their main customer.

Google feels that using a web with secure information is better than a web with insecure information.

As a result, Google has taken steps since 2014 to educate Search Marketers and the public about the benefits of and Google’s preference for HTTPS.

As one of those steps Google has added features to Google Chrome, the most widely used web browser, to make it obvious if a site is using HTTPS or not.

In fact, in a few months, the browser will start warning visitors that it is not safe to proceed to visit a site that uses HTTP rather than HTTPS.

So, whether motivated by technical SEO or a better user experience, switching from HTTP to HTTPS is the unavoidable conclusion.

I thought that only e-commerce sites need HTTPS. Wrong.

In the past, there were specific use cases when it was important to securely send information over the web. Think of buying a product online or signing up for a service that requires personal information, such as a Social Security number. The rest of the web didn’t require a secure connection between the browser and the website server.

Now, there is a clear trend towards all websites switching to HTTPS. This is true even for simple websites with nothing for sale and no secure information being requested.

Does Google really prefer that my site is HTTPS?

Yes. Google wants the world wide web secure. Google even offers an explanation and best practices.

What percentage of all websites are now using HTTPS?

According to W3Tech The default protocol HTTPS is used by 29.7% of all the websites.

Global searches on Google for “change to HTTPS” increasing or decreasing?

Interest in HTTPS has been increasing as seen by global search volume

Will switching, transferring or changing my site from HTTP to HTTPS effect my traffic numbers on Google?

It may have a small effect in Google’s eyes. 

Is there an SEO or Google Ranking impact from switching to HTTPS?

Yes. It is favorable. Back in 2014 SearchEngineLand discussed the issue. The first headline reads, Google to Give Secure Sites a Ranking Boost. This was likely a result of Google publishing a post titled, HTTPS as a ranking signal.
In addition, Google’s John Mueller shared the following reply in 2016
Question – Do I lose “link juice” from the redirects?
Answer – No, for 301 or 302 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS no PageRank is lost.

So, is HTTPS the future of the web?

According to Google, Yes, HTTPS matters and is the future.

If I am building a new site should I use HTTPS?

Without question.

If you have questions about the increasing implementation of HTTPS around the web and how you might switch, you are encouraged to send an email or leave a comment below. We would love to hear about your experiences and questions.

View graphs and read why sites are converting to HTTPS here.

If you are ready to convert to HTTPS please fill out this HTTPS conversion form. Thank you.

The post HTTPS: Do I need to switch from HTTP? appeared first on JBS Partners.

During the 37th Social Media Breakfast in Boston we heard some answers.

The conversation covered a ranged of subjects including one of the Inbound Marketing tenants that says traditional advertising is based on interruption while Inbound Marketing attracts people to your valued content without interruption.

The discussion focused on digital media, including television shows and movies.

And like many I enjoy the time shifting advantages of watching movies and television shows on services like Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime. Major cable companies like Comcast are also now providing the ability to watch movies and shows when you want.

After enjoying a Hulu subscription, returning to the traditional television viewing experience I find that the commercial interruptions drive me nuts more than ever. They are often about subjects that I have no interest in, waste my time and to make the situation even worse are twice as long as ads on Hulu.

I have visited England over 15 years and seen some very entertaining commercials that made laugh. In fact, the experience was welcome and I appreciated the laugh or the thoughtfulness behind some commercials.

So, we may have a flexible definition of what an interruption is here because if I am presented with something that I want I am less likely to see it as an interruption.

However, I asked the panel why the vast majority of television commercials in the US are bad. Extending this into the online realm, we also heard and agreed about how annoying the pre-roll ads are on YouTube. Very annoying.

Tom Gerace, founder and CEO of Skyward, offered an interesting response. He asked the audience to consider the likelihood of a return to the beginnings of television. Back to when Proctor and Gamble sponsored and produced the long-running dramas now known as Soap Operas.

The entire show was their content.

He then offered a modern take using a sports theme. Consider, he suggested, Budweiser owns the NFL and broadcasts all of the games themselves. They would have all competition locked out and it would be their show. Wow, you say? That is what I said.

However, after some thought, we can see that this is what a lot of companies are doing today.  Think of GoPro and Red Bull. And now a competitor to Proctor and Gamble, Unilever, is developing made for web content targeted at women. The modern day Soap Opera. Tom clearly is on to something.

To offer another answer, after the meeting a Brit came up and suggested that back in the day the majority of television channels had no commercials. It was BBC1, BBC2. So, rival channels and advertisers had to produce advertising that would get watched. Furthermore, he noted that these cable providers were willing to be more edgy and show advertising about condoms for example.

Going forward companies will be telling stories that people love. This means there will more and more service providers and product makers creating, owning and publishing content as opposed to buying ad spaces in other people’s content.

Conclusion:

Start creating content, telling stories, preferably in video format that your clients will love. Not about your company or services directly, but more like GoPro which shows how people use their product and allows people to aspire. Or take the Soap Opera model and provide quality content that your audience will love.

(This is a post from November 2014 that never got published. Still good advice.)

The post Inbound Marketing and Interruption Advertising appeared first on JBS Partners.

Here is the cover letter, including initial bribe offering. Notice the language.

1. You were Chosen
2. You represent people in your area
3. Important research for Google
4. Improve Google – what? little old me?
5. Confidential (but explained elsewhere)
6. You have to qualify and agree
7. Money, more money, and more money every month
8. Your convenience
9. Sincerely hope you agree to join
10. Become a member

Google Sniffer Letter

I have to admit, this is masterly crafted and no doubt tempting enough to get folks to see the four color brochure sitting right below this letter.

Look at that title. Look at the font. Look at the >>

Technology has rightly been called a revolution in our lifetimes. This title tells me that I can help technology move forward. Wow!

And look at the smiling, young, smart looking people using technology, except for the first guy who reminds me of photos of the Pope for some reason.

The middle photo manages to represent SIX people.

And below the images you find that the program has been given a name. They crowned in ScreenWise.  Who doesn’t want to seem wise?

Look at the offer: “An exciting and important research project that examines how America uses the Internet.”

I want to be exciting and important!

“Important research project” completely sanitizes the whole thing. Nothing to worry about here.

I am an American and I use the Internet. This must be for me!

Google Sniffer Cover

And now we get to the heart of the matter. Simple:

1. What is it?
2. How much money?
3. Why me?
4. How does it work?
5. How do I start?

Google Sniffer brochure inside first page

The next page continues with the same theme but with more focus:

1. How much money?
2. Privacy?
3. How do I start? again

Closing the deal.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Google didn’t know enough about me and my Internet activity. Or to rephrase, I think Google knows way too much about my Internet activity already.

I think this is all about the mobile devices.

Let’s review the bribery or compensation

1. $5 note included with the marketing material
2. $20 to take a survey and see whether you qualify or not
3. $200 to install their router in your house
4. $30/mo for one active device
5. $5/mo for each additional active device

They encourage you to sign up all the computers, tablets and smartphones in your house.  Let’s assume that this might be 8-12 devices in the kinds of houses they have targeted.

For easy math let’s say 11 devices.

One for $30 per month and the rest add up to $50 per month for a total of $80. If the study lasts 12 months that total becomes $960 for the year, plus the $225, which gives us a grand total of $1,185 for the first year.

SIGN ME UP! It is so well written and I will make money.

No, I will not be signing up because I don’t trust Google. Would you?

The post Would You Let Google Sniff Your Packets? appeared first on JBS Partners.

I have been attending this conference since the days when it was called the Pro SEO Seminar and continue to find great value in attending. LinkLove was good as well, but that series was terminated.

I am not a journalist nor am I well rested so not every speaker got my full attention and interest. Never-the-less after years of posting nothing, I am determined to write a blog post after the first day of SearchLove.

Corrections and additions are welcome. Slide decks will be added as they become available. Enjoy

Brian Massey and his white lab coat kept up the pace while focused on mobile 2.0 optimization.

Tools:

1. www.Optimizely.com
2. www.VisualWebsiteOptimizer.com
3. www.CrazyEgg.com
4. www.Inspectlet.com

Books:

1. Mobile Design Pattern Gallery by Theresa Neil

Sites:

1. Amy Africa

Notes:

A static image of a site does not provide adequate testing. It is often in the interaction that sites fail to deliver. A box hangs off the screen, the close X is off the screen, not all of the web page fits on the screen.

With mobile, there are many factors to check starting with the operating system, the browser, the resolution and the device hardware. In addition, it is important to check both 4G and 3G speeds.

Brian favors a distinct mobile site. He pointed out that with responsive design you often lose control of the position of various assets on the page. When a site is very focused on CRO this is a huge issue because your CTAs can end up in the wrong place.

Different devices deserved different CTAs. A desktop version should/could have a form, while a mobile site should have a phone number rather than a form.

Maps are very useful on mobile, but make sure you did let your visitors get stuck in the endless map scroll. Scrolling the map, rather than down the page, with no way to escape. Yikes.

He recommends always having a CTA visible on the screen.

Adding click-to-call can provide a 20% lift in callers.

Footer blindness seems to be developing. Better to use the header for the CTAs.

There are big differences between iOS and Android in his testing.

The closer a mobile site resembles an app the better.

Tim Wilson – Digging for analytics treasure

Bridget Randolph proved that we are all Not Rand Fishkin and actually have to work to develop an audience that engages, as he did, in all fairness.

Notes:

She shared a number of ideas with compelling titles like broken windows and its subset drafty windows.

The “Shiny Object Syndrome” was cleverly appended with (S.O.S.) and summarily dealt with by using three questions when your client or boss runs in asking for the latest thing he saw over in the neighbors yard.

1. Does this fit with our current plan?
2. Is this more efficient than what we are already doing?
3. Has something changed so that we need to re-evaluate and start this project over again now?

If you all agree that the answer is NO to all three questions, congratulations you have just cured on instance of the S.O.S.

Jeremy Goldberg addressed social media and ROI.

SlideDeck: http://www.slideshare.net/DistilledSEO/searchlove-boston-2015-bridget-randolph-rand-fishkins-weird-trick2

Notes:

1. Mission Statement – prefer a specific goal. i.e. Lower the average age of their clients over the next two years
2. Sizing up your customer
   1. Geographic
   2. Demographic
   3. Psychographic
   4. Behavioristic
3. Create 2-3 specific personas that capture your ideal cleint
4. Competitive analysis
   1. Competitors
   2. Where your clients also shop or spend their time

Facebook advertising works. Posting at unexpected times / when others are not posting works.

Pay attention to algorithmic changes and adapt rapidly.

Provide appropriate but unexpected content, do something unusual to break through the crowd and grab some attention.

Twitter – post at the right time, when your audience is attentive.

Be succinct. Keep your tweets to about 70 characters. This will increase the response rate by 30%.

Be responsive on Twitter  and go the extra mile. This will impress people and they will spread the good word.

Integrate Vine and video into your Twitter feed.

Twitter Cards are HIGHLY recommended.

Justin Briggs spoke on mobile search.

Notes: 

In Google AdWords, search for keywords, select Mobile Trends to see the increase in usage over a longer span of time.

Mobile Friendly = I can read the text, I can click on the links and the content fits on the screen. That is really a pretty low bar.

The hamburger menu is better located at the bottom of the screen where it can be reached. The top of the screen is well out of reach of one handed use.

We need to think about input differences. The usage of Siri and the like will continue to increase.

Focus on task completion and how to make it easier.

Google WebMaster Tools – export your data into Excel and compare Mobile to Desktop

There should be different goals and tasks on Mobile and Desktop.

Mobile, schema  and apps.

Apps are showing up in Google search results now. This is an opportunity to leapfrog rankings and sit right next to the top dog in the search results. Just create an app.

App Store Optimization

Search is becoming more conversational in word usage and less caveman talk.

There is an App Index API  which allows you to show up in the auto-complete when someone is searching for an app.

Casie Gillette shared insights about how the customer experience impacts search.

Tools:

1. www.FaxFox.com
2. www.BuzzSumo.com
3. www.SharedCount.com
4. www.KeyHole.com
5. www.FlipTop.com
6. www.Mention.us

Sites:

1. http://www.spiceworks.com/

Notes:

• 70% of people consult ratings and reviews before making a purchase
• 80% of people trust ratings and reviews as much as their own mother.
• 90% of buyers decisions are determined by reviews.

If you search Google for a hotel, the top results are not hotels, they are instead hotel review and travel sites, like Expedia and Yelp.

A client survey revealed the following items missing from a site caused them not to buy:

1. Contact information
2. Client list
3. Case studies
4. Testimonials
5. White papers
6. About info / Team bios

Say Thank you.

phone call – I wanted to see how you are doing and thank you for being part of our business community.

hand written note – this will stand out.

Showcase customers with photos on your own site.

Offer to guest post.

Ask for reviews.

Craig Bradford spoke on creating a digital strategy

Notes:

For each new client Distilled reviews:

1. Platform
2. Content
3. Audience
4. Conversion
5. Measurement

Strategy = choosing what not to do

1. Choose a good question to answer when setting a goal, inlude a specific date
2. Move from should to could. Explain advantage, Scope, Activities
3. Challenge the status quo
4. Ask what must be true, not what is
5. Test what is true
6. Make a bet

Larry Kim shared insights on PPC marketing for Inbound marketers, which focused on content amplification tactics.

Promoted Tweet Campaign – you can use key word targeting, which means that people mentioned that key wor recently.

1. Tweet more often. Larry tweets 20 times per day or once per hour.
2. Twitter Ads quality score is a cost per engagement.  The more engagement with your Tweets the lower the cost. Similar to Facebooks relevance score.
3. Post 20 tweets. One of them will get much higher engagement than the others. THen promote that one or two. By paying for RTs of your Tweet, you are exposing your Tweet to all of their followers.
4. Use Custom Audiences. You can upload you own list of influencers. Do this instead of email pitches.

Facebook

Don’t click the “Boost Post” button. All this does is amplify those who have already liked your post, including your family and friend and others not in your target audience.

Facebook buys and aggregates data from Axicom, DataLogic and Epsilon. Facebook knows at least 1,500 pieces of data about you well beyond what happens on Facebook.

When creating FB ads make granular selections to reach your ideal audience. “people who bought business services” for example. Then upload your own list. Then layer on further criteria as needed.

Google+

+Post Ads – they go to the Google Display Network

LiknkedIn Ads

Larry is not a fan. Very old technology in use here.

LinkedIn Blogging is great.

YouTube

True View Ads

Increase engagement to lower cost. Engagement is views, comments, shares etc.

Remarketing

Google Display Network. Reach 84%

The more you show ads (remarkeitng) the less likely people are to click on them. Those who do click on them are twice as likely to then convert.

When creating visual ads, used kittens and puppies and your logo. Create display ads that look like content.

Send folks to your content, to an ebook.

Promote your best articles through these methods.

Social ad formats capture all of a person’s contact information. So, you don’t need to use landing pages with them. You already have the information provided by the social network.

Tag everyone who come to your website. Create a remarketing campaign and filter for those who have visited your site only.

The tips everyone offered at the end of the day were also quite good. But we were all sworn to secrecy for 30 days.

My biggest takeaway is the low cost  and high impact of Facebook advertising.

That’s wraps up my takeaways. What impressed you? Leave your comments and questions below.

The post Distilled’s SearchLove Boston 2015 appeared first on JBS Partners.

This past week operating system messages told me that I was out of storage. In fact the virtual machine in which I run a Windows version of QuickBooks couldn’t stay open for more than a few minutes until it ran out of storage and shut itself down as a precaution.

I had already tackled the common and maybe not-so-common approaches to reducing storage requirements.

***BACK UP BEFORE DELETING***

1. Empty the Trash Can – obvious, but easily overlooked. iPhoto, iMovie and Email all have their own Trash Cans
2. Pour through the Downloads folder and delete
3. Delete large files sorted in the Finder
4. Delete large swaths of unneeded emails
5. Remove music or video files
6. Remove Applications you don’t need (Gain 3GB by removing Garage Band)
7. Dig into OS log files and delete

And then there are tools you can use, download or purchase to help in the process

1. CCleaner for Mac – remove unneeded files (clears log, cache, history etc.) (aff link)
2. Disk Inventory X – see what is taking up the most storage space
3. MonoLingual – to remove unneeded language files
4. AppCleaner – entirely remove apps

OK, so those many efforts made me feel like I was doing the work. But, here is where I found the real results.

Remove the iPhone and iPad backups from iTunes.

I have both an iPhone and and iPad and both are being backed up to the cloud. But there were also 8 backups on my hard drive totaling 45GB. That’s right, nearly  20% of my SSD was consumed with these backups.

So, I deleted them and then backed up the devices again. Here’s how:

1. Open Spot Light Search
2. Paste in – ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
3. Click on Backup and you will see folders of backups
4. If you don’t want the backups – delete the folders with the long names like – e3bd04970c03f249b00d7cde7e2282fcd132260d

If you like a friendlier user interface:

1. Open iTunes
2. Click on Devices
3. You will see the same files
4. Select and hit the Delete Backup button at the bottom

I appreciated seeing both ways of viewing the files. The iTunes way showed me which is iPad and which is iPhone. The Spotlight Search way showed me the file sizes and dates.

I deleted all of the back up files. I had my iPhone and iPad sitting next to me, so I felt safe doing this.

BAM – I went from zero to 45GB of free space.

Despite the iCloud backups I manually backed up both devices to my laptop. This reduced my total available storage to 22GB which is still plenty for me to keep on working and I can take my time scheduling the replacement of a new 500GB SSD.

***Be Sure you have good backups that you can restore from before you start deleting.***

What storage creating techniques have worked on your computer?

The post Disk Full: How I recovered 22GB of Disk Space appeared first on JBS Partners.

If you’ve been in a scenario like this before, you’re in the right place. Being an entrepreneur is an exciting yet challenging journey, and involves a lot of work and resources. Although many people share the dream of launching a successful business, the chances are slim for those who don’t know the secrets of launching a startup.

Over the course of five seasons, ABC’s Shark Tank has turned business dreams into realities for entrepreneurs everywhere.

Out of 93 episodes, there have been 377 pitches and 186 deals.

Although only 62 of these deals close, there have been opportunities to create a successful startup.

Creating a business is a lengthy process and it often begins with a strong idea for a product or service. If you want to create a successful startup, you need to know your product inside and out. It’s also important to make sure your product idea fulfills an unmet need and will provide value for people.

After you have a business idea, you need to perfect your pitch. As you meet with investors, you’ll need to know how much revenue you plan to produce within five years of launching your startup and how much funding you’ll need to reach this goal. Remember, investors only care about numbers, so make sure you’re confident in the numbers for your business and can substantiate them.

As you can tell, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the success of a startup. To learn more about creating a successful startup, see the infographic below:

This is a guest post by Ivan Serrano, an online entrepreneur who enjoys writing about tech, globalization, and business communications. He prides himself on his love of sharing information with others. Ivan is passionate about what he does, and aims to stimulate conversation with his work.

The post The Shark Tank Formula for Startup Success appeared first on JBS Partners.