In order to keep your computer safe, you need to keep up to date on internet security measures and fortify your machine with quality anti-virus software. Here are a few more tips that will help you protect the security of your computer:

Choose Strong Passwords
Many of your services and files are password protected, including your email account, online banking and social networks. A lot of private information is held within these types of password protected services and so it is worth taking the time to choose a strong and secure password.

Don’t use the same password for all of your services, because if a hacker obtains one password they can access all of your information with it. Also, refrain from using obvious personal information such as your date of birth or your name. People who are trying to hack your account will try different combinations of words they glean from your personal data.

To create a secure password, choose one that is at least eight characters long and uses numbers, letters and symbols.

Always Use Protection
Whenever you are accessing the Internet, you should always ensure that quality anti-virus software is installed on your computer. There are several to choose from, and once they are installed on your system they will automatically protect you from incoming threats. Make sure that you update the software whenever it asks you to, so that you can receive information about the newest virus threats. Otherwise, you could miss up-to-the-minute virus information and get infected by a new type of malware.

Watch Out for Unsecured Wi-Fi
Did you know that when you log onto the Wi-Fi at your local coffee shop, you could be logged onto an unsecured network where anyone in the area could see your personal data? This situation could lead to identity theft, especially if you are using your online bank account or making transactions while connected to public Wi-Fi. Before using public wireless internet, check out whether or not you are on a secure connection which is password protected, or an open network.

Know What You Are Doing
When a pop-up window comes up on your screen giving you a warning message, do you actually read it or do you simply click “OK” so that you can continue your task? Many people simply don’t understand how their computer’s security systems work and they miss certain warnings that they are doing something dangerous. Then one day, their computer self-destructs suddenly due to a virus and they wonder what has happened. If you can be more aware of what all of the pop-ups, warnings and other information on your computer screen means, then you can spot security risks before they compromise your system.

Take the time to learn about your browser settings, what the warning pop-ups mean and how to properly use your anti-virus software. You can read about it online, in a book, or even get a computer-savvy friend or relative to explain how everything works for you. You might find it a bit boring and geeky to learn these details, but they are important to know if you want to be aware of the health and security of your device.

These are just a few ways that you can improve the security of your computer and protect yourself from any threats.

There are many ways that you can protect your computer from threats, such as by installing a reliable McAfee internet security program.

A referred prospect comes to you as a hot lead, not only pre-disposed to buying your product or service but also with a certain amount of goodwill towards you, bestowed by word-of-mouth. Because a friend, coworker, mentor or family member has recommended you, this new customer already has a sense of what they are getting and a baseline of trust established. This makes them ripe for easy conversion from prospect to client. There really is no better kind of lead.

Referral Marketing Systems
Studies show that the majority of customers would be happy to give a referral, if they had only been asked. That means that to increase your sales, you simply have only to ask your existing clients for a referral. If you don’t already have one in place, it would really serve you to implement a referral marketing system.

A referral marketing campaign can be done through e-mail, phone calls, direct mail or even social media. But whatever you do, get started today. Then automate as much of it as possible to help you leverage your time and resources. The more automated your system, the easier you make it for you and your employees to ask for those sought after referrals – and easier means it’s more likely to be done consistently.

Brand Advocacy
Want to know the top reasons people “friend” or “follow” a brand? Often it’s to give feedback, praise or complaint, but the overwhelming reason nearly two-thirds of people “like” a brand, is to receive special offers and promotions or to participate in contests. This represents quite a marketing opportunity for savvy business owners.

There is nothing quite like brand advocacy. At what other point in time could you so easily identify, engage and recognize fans of your brand? With social media, your brand advocates seek you out and gladly hand over their information in exchange for engagement, input and perks.

This is where you can be most effective – your social media presence can act as a loyalty program for your fans. Remember, fans are potential brand advocates waiting to be asked for their opinions, referrals and opportunities to be your brand ambassador. Social media allows for easy market research, the chance to encourage and reward brand advocacy activities and reaffirm customer loyalty to your brand.
It’s an exciting time to be in business, never before could you so easily and inexpensively market to your ideal segment, earning quality referrals and loyal brand ambassadors – you have only to act.

Kass Clinics offers four distinct types of services:
Varicose Veins Treatments
Treatment for Hemorrhoids
Cosmetic Care like Botox, Adult Acne & Treatment for Sun Damage
Healthy Aging Treatments like hormone replacement therapy

We wanted to design a site that was easy to navigate, elegantly designed, SEO friendly & provides the content people are looking for. We choose to create a homepage with four entrances that link to landing pages for each specific service group. All of the areas are equally represented, nothing is buried below the fold and the design is clean. Mission accomplished!

I just got an iPad 2, and yes I’m giddy as a school boy. I didn’t just get it for fun and games though, I plan on putting it to work. Specifically, in my video production work flow.

At ArcStone we produce lots of video content for our clients, specifically geared to a web audience. We frequently have a fast-paced production schedule that many times requires us to go from shoot, to edit, to distribution in a single, manic day. With such an aggressive work flow any tool that saves us time, expense, and headaches is very welcome.

I see incredible potential in the iPad, and especially the iPad 2, which in addition to a camera has two new excellent multimedia applications. In a series of blog posts I will share my experiences, the successes and the failures, and how I employ the iPad 2 in my daily video production.

Last week, David and I attended the annual luncheon for our friendly neighbors, Domestic Abuse Project (DAP). For over 30 years, DAP has worked with women and men to curb domestic violence. Their ability to combine immediate crisis response with long-term care and behavioral therapy made them the first of their kind in Minnesota.

With over 500 in attendance, speakers told heartfelt stories of DAP’s success as healers and teachers.

Earlier in the summer, ArcStone began working to donate a newly designed, SEO-friendly website that will provide resources for domestic abuse victims and raise awareness about their organization. Our designers and developers have gone to great lengths to create something special for DAP. WordPress 3.x has been incorporated into the site so that DAP staff can economically (and oh-so-easily) keep content up-to-date. Laying the groundwork for DAP’s first ever SEO campaign will ensure higher visibility on the search engines. Direction over rich media placement will result in the site’s audience being better engaged.

Needless to say, I am very proud of my colleagues for taking the time to give back to the local community.

Site launch is a scheduled for just a few weeks from now. In the meantime, we wait in eager anticipation.

To learn more about Minneapolis-based Domestic Abuse Project, visit www.domesticabuseproject.com. If you would make a donation, please visit this website.

I received notice last week that Nik Rowell, TechTranslated contributor, friend and fellow ArcStonian will be leaving us to work for the social e-commerce start-up Alvenda (which I have to say seems to be a pretty cool business).

Thank you Nik for all the fantastic work you have done here at ArcStone.  Time and again you have made us proud – you’ll always have friends here.

In no way does this mean he’s been spending retirement fishing and playing the StarTribune’s daily Sudoku. Well – those are both pretty accurate – but much of John’s retired days are spent sawing, varnishing and wood-burning away at his lake home in Outing, MN. This has become the studio of Nature Enhanced, John’s creative outlet for all wood products. Handmade.

Just over 5 years ago, when I was writing my first lines of html, I told my Dad that someday I’d make him a website for Nature Enhanced. And just recently, I decided it was time to make up for the long wait. In the end, Nature Enhanced received an entire handcrafted package, including …

Full Re-Branding and Logo Design

It was time to replace the old clip-art logo with a fresh, logo that played off of the wood theme and the fact that all products are branded, literally, with “HANDCRAFTED BY JOHN E. ROWELL“.

Handcrafted Business Cards

The cards were printed on 13pt, Uncoated 2″ x 2″ cards, using UPrinting. They were designed to double as a product hang tag, and each was given a hole punch and a string. I decided that the cards also needed to embody the ‘Handcrafted’ theme of company. To accomplish this, I first gathered sticks during a late night stroll along Nicollet Island. The sticks were then broken into approximately 2″ pieces and laboriously super glued to the bottom of the cards. I prepared about 100 of these to get my Dad started, and gave him a hole-punch, string and super glue to finish the remaining 400 on days that Sudoku only takes him a few minutes.

Website Design, Development and Admin Area

The site was also designed closely around the wood and handcrafted themes – using wood background textures and brown tones. The navigation was kept simple: –
HOME – a very brief intro to the company.
PRODUCTS – sample products and descriptions, with a ‘lightbox’ javascript effect for viewing product photos.
OUTLETS – locations where Nature Enhanced products can be found, using embedded google maps
CONTACT – Office and studio info and a simple contact form.

I also set up a basic admin area that walks through accessing the new nature-enhanced.com email accounts, working with the online store, and cut-and-paste code to allow using the Nature Enhanced logo on Craigslist ads and other websites.

Product Photography

Using white foam board, masking tape and some flood lights, I created a makeshift photo lightbox to allow for isolated product photography.

E-Commerce Solution

I set up a Free account at Big Cartel to get John started with an online store. The free account allows for 5 products, 1 photo per product and basic stats. The Big Cartel admin area is very well designed and easy to work with – and, because they allow for custom CSS on all accounts, I was able to fully style the store to match the look of the Nature Enhanced website.

Hopefully all of this was worth the 5 year wait… In fact, I hope it’s so good that John has to fire up that phone, fax and email a bit more often.

Season’s Greetings from all of us at ArcStone!

View our Holiday Card >

Mmmmm, Firefox cake…

We would like to wish the folks of Mozilla a happy Firefox birthday because it has been a favorite platform for us to make our award-winning websites. Here is to the next 5 years and beyond… Cheers!

Firefox, currently at version 3.5, is a free web browser that can be downloaded at http://www.firefox.com.

That’s our world.

We Love A Good Challenge

Our latest project coincided with the kick-off of Minnesota hockey season. Atomic School came to us with a unique challenge: They needed an e-commerce website that would allow the parents of Minnetonka, MN hockey players to easily order clothing and accessories. But there was a catch.

There were over 730 youth hockey players in Minnetonka. Each player’s team needed to have its own “store,” meaning its own personalized URL, as well as a simple checkout that ensured their orders were sent to the right places. Timing was tight. Hockey season was only weeks out.

But Minnetonka loves its hockey and we will always love working on web apps, so it was the perfect storm.

Unique Problem? No Problem.

Using Magento, a popular open-source e-commerce platform, we did some intensive customization to to allow the Atomic School staff to setup multiple “stores” with the click of a button.

We were able to improve upon the base Magento functionality, in this case to speed up the setup process. A member of the Atomic School staff uploads the entire inventory to Magento exactly once. They then enter the URLs and shipping details for each team.

Now it takes a customer less than three minutes from start to finish to order a Bauer Team Jacket. That’s the magic touch.

What’s Your Idea?

We love new and fresh ideas and Magento is just one of the many tools that we have at our disposal. And yes, we still offer one of the best guppy consulting services in the Western Hemisphere. What’s your idea? It would be great to hear from you.