One of those big announcements is that Google’s Chrome browser is cracking down on websites that collect personal information and do not use what’s known as a “SECURE CONNECTION”.

Normally, Google will announce big changes far in advance to make sure the message is heard loud and clear. This “NOT SECURE” website warning was announced September 2016 and starting January 2017 Google is first targeting pages with password or credit card fields.  Eventually, sites gathering any information will be required to have a “SECURE” website.

It’s All About The “S” … No Trouble!

What’s it all about, you ask? Well, it’s all about the “s”! It’s transitioning your site from HTTP to HTTPS. A “SECURE” connection will be denoted with one of those little green lock icons next to the URL in the browser address bar, and the URL itself starts with https:// instead of http://

With the release of Chrome 56 in January 2017, Google is getting even tougher with their ‘non-secure’ warning messages to website visitors.

In other words, when a visitor comes to your website and you do not have a “secure connection” on your website the visitor will get a warning about your website’s unsecure connection.

So at first this non-secure warning will be a ‘gentle’ flag that will look like this:

But eventually, to make it a point, Google’s plan is to label ALL HTTP pages as non-secure and change the HTTP security indicator to a very obvious red triangle when they detect a “not secure” connection.

If your site is a secure site it will display a beautiful, green lock that will appear in your address bar.

Why All The Google Security Changes?

It’s been Google’s plan all along for the user of their search engine to have a solid user experience in their search, and to browse the web safely.

With the increase of e-commerce sites and login account sites security is becoming a serious concern. Considering businesses can be gathering your credit card information, username, and password information it’s important the user feels safe in providing those details. So Google will call out websites for not being secure.

Google’s rationale is that on every website served over HTTP, the data exchanged between the server and the user is wide open. In other words, anyone with the ability to snoop on the connection, be it a hacker at a coffee shop, or a repressive government could steal passwords, private messages, credit card details or other sensitive information.

HTTPS doesn’t just protect user data, it also ensures that the user is really connecting to the right site and not an imposter one. Fake versions of a website that a user would normally trust, is the most used tactic of hackers and malicious actors. HTTPS also ensures that malicious third parties can’t hijack the connection and insert malware or censor information.

In short, Google’s intention is

to “call out” HTTP for what it is “UNSAFE”

How Does Google’s Security Guidelines Affect Your Business?

First, your website is much more secure from snoopers and hackers. After all, your website is an investment.

Second, your search engine results rankings will be affected depending on your site’s status according to Google. This is huge for SEO. Insecure websites can expect a demotion in any worthwhile search ranking and be hurled into the search engine abyss.

Third, you will note a sharp decline in visitor traffic to your website. If people see a stern message in red “NOT SECURE” it could really freak out your visitors and cause your conversion rates to plunge. After all, it is true – your site is not secure.

Who Should Be Implementing Google’s New Security Guideline?

Everyone who has a website on the Internet should be moving to a secure network (HTTPS://) on their site.

Considering Google is the top search engine with 65% of the market it would be wise to be compliant to Google’s guidelines if you don’t want your website to be hacked and number gazillion on the search results.

The sites affected are websites with any kind of login function – on the front or backend. Flagged elements in HTTP sites include:

• Administrator Logins
• Forms asking for credit card information
• User account logins (front end)
• Forms gathering email address on your opt-in pages, contact pages, or newsletter, sign ups, etc.

Basically, if you are collecting any sort of private information from your visitor from anywhere on your site it would be wise to transition your website to HTTPS!

Helpful Resources

Here are some resources that may help you with the process of converting your site over to a “secure” connection.

1. Here’s an article on Google’s Security Blog titled “Moving Towards A More Secure Web”
2. Here’s a video from Google that dispels some old myths about HTTPS and reasons why it is necessary to make the change.
3. Here’s an Enabling HTTPS on your Servers Guide from Google.
4. You can simply contact your hosting company and request to install the special SSL certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA).

There may be a charge to install the certificate however; some hosting companies include the SSL certificate as part of their hosting packages so it pays to check out the details.  Depending on your host this may be a quick and painless change.

If you’ve found this information helpful feel free to share…Sharing is Caring!

Feel free to connect if you have questions, concerns or need help!

The post Will Your Website Be Shamed By Google Security? appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

Why The Big “Mobile-Friendly” Push?

It has always been Google’s goal for internet users to have a good experience on their search engine.  Panda and Penguin were prime examples.  These updates ensured websites gurus were not keyword stuffing, using inorganic back links, duplicating content on other pages, or other alternate black hat, inappropriate technics. Internet users could confidently receive quality content.

Now, over the last few years we’ve seen a fundamental change in how people search and find their information online.  With the surge of smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices this means that designing your site for a fixed screen size is no longer a way to receive “quality” content.

If you have to swipe side-to-side to navigate through the page, or you can’t click on the links, or the print is too small to read or worse, you can’t get to the site because the site software is incompatible on your device – then the website is a really poor user experience.  Google has realized how frustrating this whole experience is and has decided to change their algorithm accordingly.

Does It Make Sense To Have Mobile-Friendly Websites?

Benedict Evan’s presentation, “Mobile is Eating the World”, at the 2014 Tech Summit highlighted that there will be 2x to 3x more smartphones than PCs by 2020.  Why?  Because mobile devices can be taken everywhere, they are “frictionless”, equipped with sensors, a camera, location-enabled, capable of processing payments, connect to social platforms and, most importantly, easy to use.  And that, makes the opportunities exponential: 10x.

Evan noted that “mobile is remaking the tech industry”.  Smartphones dwarf PCs, there are 4 billion people buying a phone every two years and 1.6 billion purchasing a PC every five years.

The next time you’re “out-n’-bout” note how many times you check your smartphone – the average person checks approximately 150 times a day!

How To Determine If Your Site Will Pass OR Fail?

If you intend to survive this algorithm modification it is essential to confirm that your website is mobile-friendly and in accordance with Google’s requirements.

Google has made it easy to test your website and see if it meets the four basic requirements:

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash.
• Uses text that is readable, without zooming in.
• Sizes the content to the screen of the device so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom.
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct link can easily be tapped.

If you want to make sure that your page meets the mobile-friendly criteria check your website with the Google Mobile-Friendly Test

Passing the test should show a confirmation that the site meets the requirements. It also will show your site on a mobile device for your preview.  On the right side you can use the Google Webmaster Tools – if you haven’t use it yet, it would be wise to review it.

A website that does not meet the requirements will show the areas that need to be addressed, on the left.  On the right it will highlight the necessary steps to make your site mobile-friendly.

What Happens If Your Website Fails the Mobile-Friendly Test?

The change will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks/months and if you pass you may be eligible for Google’s “mobile-friendly” label.

Google plans to add a mobile-friendly label to their mobile search results to make it easier for people to find the information they are looking for and feel confident it will display correctly on their device.  It will look similar to this:

Obviously, if your website fails to meet Google’s requirements or comply with their standards, the label will not appear and it is likely you will see a reduced ranking of your site on Google search engines as a penalty – it’s just that simple.  Although Google is still experimenting with using these signals in the ranking algorithm, it is still an absolute must that your site be mobile-friendly in today’s digital world.

Get Ahead Of The Competition!

In short, it makes sense to have your site web responsive  for you and your clients/customers who are looking for you, your products and/or services.  Take the opportunity to get ahead of the competition, boost your website rankings, and get in with the digital world.

The post Will Your Website Pass Or Fail The Google Mobile-Friendly Test appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

In a recent HR Trends Survey the statistics highlighted that HR departments are using social media for a surprising number of tasks and plan on increasing the use of social media in 2014 in the workplace.

Top areas identified for social media integration included:

1. Recruiting – simply typing in a person’s name in the Google search bar will reveal a host of social media sites the individual interacts in.  Information that is not readily found on a resume.

2. Employee Communications – an ideal place to share ideas, recognition, employee engagement, information and believe it or not – brand recognition.

3. Training – providing employees of available training to help with succession planning, and getting instant feedback from peers assists the organization’s performance management program.

4. Onboarding –  a new employee or a new executive can enjoy a positive onboarding experience. Interactions on social media increases the new member’s comfort level in their new role and enhances productivity.  Giving the newcomer the feeling “I belong here” helps to increase the new employee retention rate.

5. Teambuilding – new teams and existing teams usually start by getting to know each other better, sharing their ideas and expectations to build strong, healthy relationships and social media is a great platform – it’s what social media is all about.

Check out some of the specific responses related to How HR Uses Social Media in the info graphic from BLR

For details, download the full survey results.

Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a  comments and by all means feel free to share.

The post 5 Ways HR Uses Social Media appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

Created by Customer Magnetism, an award winning Internet marketing agency.

Do you find infographics a better way to gather, present, or understand information?  When browsing the internet do you find yourself stopping and taking time to read an infographics before reading a blog?  Leave your thoughts in a comment below!

The post Infographics Builds Engagement and Brand Awareness! appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

Facebook calls this “Sponsored Stories” – messages coming from friends about them engaging with your Page that you as the business or organization has paid to highlight which then gives the post a better chance to be seen by your fan’s friends and a larger audience.

Facebook has always tinkered with the algorithm on a regular basis but this time the change has been made to “minimize brand page posts being seen by those who have opted to “liking” that page.”

To help you better gauge and develop a page posting strategy here is some information you should consider going forward:

• The reach for organic page posts will decrease anywhere between 5% to 40%
• Facebook is looking to grow it’s organic to paid offering ratio where 80% of content in the newsfeed is organic and 20% is paid in the form of sponsored stories or ads.
• So post good content to be included in Facebook algorithm unless you want to pay for sponsored stories or ads.
• Social Oglivy recommends posting two post per day of either audio, photo or video.  Posting text-only at 10:00 am and another at 1:00 pm are not using the new algorithm and will not maximize their reach.
• And, if you really want your great content to reach a wide audience then you’ll need to use the sponsored story functionality.

Learn more here: Social@Ogilvy

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“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is – how well we DO it.”

We are quickly moving from the information age to the communication age and social media holds a special place in our hearts.  It’s changed both how organizations do business and for opening up the lines of communications among brands and consumers.  The addition of multiple social media channels that have sprung up has created more avenues to engage with our customers. We only have to look at their astonishing growth rates and usage – need I mention PINTEREST!  It is indeed exploding and going NUTS! For marketers and businesses that means there are millions of potential consumers searching for information on the social network.  In today’s world, it’s nearly as important to be on social channels as it is to have a website.  Consider that of the millions of searches occurring each second, many are your prospects, current customers or unhappy customers of your competitors.

It’s a great, interesting and entertaining video be sure to CLICK LIKE!

The post Here’s Proof Social Media Is Nuts! appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

If you’ve got a business and are tired of putting up advertisements in newspapers – which is on the decline – or spending your advertising dollars on ads in flyers – which most people discard in the recycle bin – mobile marketing is an excellent opportunity to connect with your customers.

Mobile marketing is HUGE.  There are far more mobile phones than there are desktops and laptop computers.  Currently over 1/3 of humankind has mobile internet access, which is twice as many as the number of internet-connected PCs.  Over 50% of the world’s population is expected to have access to the Internet through a mobile device in 3 years.

Let’s face it, whether we’re a business owner or a consumer, our cell phones have become as important as our wallets and purses in everyday living.  Whether it’s in the grocery store, checkout, sitting in a restaurant, or waiting in traffic, mobile devices have become a tremendous source of entertainment, communication, and information.  Now it’s moving to browsing the marketplace and is expected to grow 30% annually so if you haven’t got your business on the MOBILE MARKETING wagon you’d better consider hopping on quickly.

The post Cell Phones CAN Make Money for YOUR Business! appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

The problem is – it’s not about YOU – it’s what others say about you! The reality is most web sites look just fine.  The colors are fine, the menus are fine, the logo is fine, so on and so on. Because you look at it so often you tire of it but your visitors, on the other hand, are not particularly interested in the colors they’re looking for something — something interesting that they can learn about, get for free, something they can apply to make their family lives better, their professional lives better, products or services that will benefit them, you get the picture you’ve probably done the same thing when you were searching for something…no doubt you’ve probably said..”can’t find it here let’s look at another site” click, click, you’re off to another site, right?

So save yourself thousands of dollars and countless hours on picking fonts and do these three things:

1) Add something collaborative to your site – like a blog so people can interact with you and Google can start picking up new content.

2) Start creating something of interest – today content is king so offer something of value. Remember the rule -“you have to give in order to get.”

3) Focus where the real action is – today people are socializing on the social networks, get connected so they can come to know, like and trust you.

Remember it’s not about YOU – it about others and what they say about you that will matter and drive traffic to your site.

The post It’s Not About YOU – It’s What Others Say About You! appeared first on Ocean Blue Media.

The nice thing about video is that there’s little to no cost in producing a YouTube video.  Ten years ago, your marketing effectiveness was a function of the width of your wallet.  Today, your marketing effectiveness is a function of the width of your brain.  You no longer need to spend tons of money interrupting your potential customer by cold calling or leaving annoying messages.  A simple, short, well done video will capture their attention.

Videos are a great way to educate people about your product or service, a short 30 – 90 seconds is about all you need so you’ll have to be specific in your content.  Think about yourself watching a video – if it hasn’t captured your attention in the first 30 seconds are you going to continue watching or will you “click on?”  The key to success on YouTube is to produce awesome content that people will want to watch and share.  Be careful though, you can certainly produce a video that’s nothing more than a boring commercial for your product or service  (we all mute those on TV or take our bio breaks then) but  it’s unlike to get many views (except maybe your mother, but even she is expecting more amusement from her Web experience these days).

Albeit, some videos do better than others like professionally produced videos will attract the most advertising dollar but with the technology out there today a simple iMovies program on a Mac can produce some outstanding video – people like to watch videos that captivate them so your home movie when done right can be very real and entertaining.  You can also produce some amazing screen capture where you can record a power point presentation on Windows or keynote presentation on a Mac, upload it to your YouTube channel  and voila! your product or service is in the movies!  And really, shouldn’t your company be in the movies?

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