Search algorithms are programmed to search and hence keep track of website’s activities, present as well as the past. Best to be safe than sorry!

On the other hand many argue (and rightly so) that Google, sometimes behaves irrationally and indulges in changes to its algorithmic patterns without warning. Websites find it difficult to stay visible under such circumstances, are unable to allow for natural Link Building techniques and subsequently their rankings fall drastically.

Whatever be the case, it becomes impossible for websites to avoid being searched on Google for the simple reason that almost 90% searches are done via Google!

What is a website supposed to do to wake up from this nightmare? Simply follow the guidelines provided by search engines and pray for the best!

Types of Mistakes To Avoid Penalties or Ban

Over the years, excellent SEO practices have ensured that websites avoid going the penalty or ban way by avoiding mistakes that involve content duplication, keyword stuffing, cloaking of text or links, linking to banned or bad sites etc. Some of these are discussed here:

1. Content Duplication or Plagiarism

Image Source: HubPages

Any self-respecting writer would rather gladly suffer from a writer’s block than duplicate or plagiarize somebody else’s work. Good SEO measures ensure that websites do not allow content duplication or plagiarism as it might invite an outright ban. Plagiarism is a serious offence, more so when governments all over the world are introducing stricter cyber laws.

When designing the content for a website, cross verify and check the factuality of the copy that has been finalized. Provide sources wherever necessary. Ensure that the material especially the visuals on display have no pending copyright issues.

2. Keyword Stuffing

Many SEO campaigns are designed only with the aim of ranking on search engine pages. The quality of content is sacrificed by keyword stuffing. Search algorithms are smart enough to read the pattern of the keyword usage. The optimum keyword density should be 1.5 – 2% of the content on the webpage. By natural usage of keywords, not only does the website attract organic website, but also figures high on the trustworthy quotient of search bots.

3. Cloaking Text And/Or Links

Some webmasters are so stressed out that they adopt black hat SEO tactics like cloaking text or links (URL). Text is cloaked by using separate content for the visitors and search engines. Link cloaking is also done in a similar manner. The website displays some other URL for visitors as against the one with keywords to the search spiders. This tactic does not work for long as the bots rank pages not on the keywords used in text or URL, but basically on the keywords used by the browser and subsequent visit to that site!

4. Reciprocal/Cross Linking or Link Buying

Image Source: WizMarketing

Search bots respect quality content. It allows for off page linking only if the content has any relevance with the on page content. Some SEO’s use reciprocal linking techniques to increase their inbound traffic while in extreme cases they might opt for buying links for the same purpose. Google looks down on these techniques as it considers them unethical. Uncalled for and irrelevant reciprocal/cross links will surely attract a penalty if not an outright ban.

5. Linking to Banned/Bad Sites

The internet is a collection of sites providing information to all its browsers so that they can take specific action. Hence what affects site A, might affect site B. This is true especially when it comes to the online reputation of a website. If site A is linked to site B which has been banned or has a bad reputation, it might affect the fortunes of site A in the search engine bots books! Linking to banned or bad sites is not a good strategy. On the other hand if banned or bad sites link to a quality site, the search engines might not consider it for penalizing as it can discern between the outgoing and incoming links.

6. Linking in Bulk

Image Source: AlmostGotIt.com

Some overzealous sites start linking to other sites randomly and within a very short span. This type of bulk linking is considered illegal by the search engines and might invite penalty. The only exceptions are sites about famous people/organizations that naturally have many likes due to their popularity.

7. Other

The Google webmaster guidelines categorically mention that it will not encourage automated queries and linking to affiliate programs that does not support relevant content or provides duplicate content. Spamming in the form of phishing, Trojan viruses and other such illegal activity is totally banned. It also mentions that websites that are slow on load time will be also considered for penalty as they hinder the user’s experience while organizing a search.

Conclusion:

The search engines makes changes to the guidelines for keeping a website penalty free and optimize it for search results. The basic guidelines are simple enough to follow. For the more complicated one, there’s help at hand: just search the web for answers as the chances of an SEO who has already burnt his fingers espousing advice are comparatively higher!

About the Author: The author Divya Rawat believes that quality content ensures a website attracting organic traffic. With this belief in mind she authors blog posts and articles for an SEO Company that has been offering Web Content Writing Service for the past six years.

Technorati Tags: advice, banned website, black hat SEO, Google webmaster guidelines, nightmare, search algorithms, search engine penalty

So with that in mind, here’s what I’d like to see Google do better:

Search Results

That one is pretty obvious!  They’ve made some good progress in this aspect over the last few years with results and suggestions that consider your location and previous searches as well as the new Search, Plus Your World.  But I’d like it to see it evolve further to show me what I want without me having to put any effort in to finding it and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. For example I’m a big fan of football, if I go online on a Saturday tea time I’m probably looking for the day’s football scores.  I’d like Google to know this and not make me tell it. I don’t want to be made to navigate to a website or rely on a widget on my personalised homepage that doesn’t display sufficient information, show it to me there and then.  If it turns out I actually want to search for something else, give me that option as well just put a search bar at the top of the page.

Image Source: Bedford St. Martin's

Based on their single view of me, here’s an ideal scenario for what I’d see:

• A list of the scores
• A stream of the related comments that have been made by my Google+ friends
• Which of my friends checked in at each of the stadiums.

While you’re at it Google, can you also put any related videos that have been uploaded to YouTube in there as well, even if they are inaudible rapturous goal celebrations filmed on a mobile phone from inside the ground by a shaky handed teenager please? Thanks.

Sharing & Collaboration

Call me a skin flint, but since Spotify has started charging, I’ve been more of a fan of creating playlists using YouTube (another Google owned product). Whilst it’s great that I can share these playlists by sending people links to them, I’m yet to find the option to create collaborative playlists like I could on Spotify.

Image Source: Wired.com

This could be taken one step further, with the integration of related useful webpages and possibly even Google Docs for creating information resources that could be shared, added to and could potentially feature in search results.  Let me explain this using the example of putting 301 redirects on an old domain to a new one. There are a whole host of instructional videos on YouTube and a heap of websites that tell you how to do this. Additionally people may have useful spread sheets on Google Docs that will assist in creating the correct code. If these could all be put together in one place, shared easily, accessed in search results and you could also select who could add to this resource, simply from their Google account, that would enable the creation of so many easy to find useful resources for so many people.

Offers

With the introduction of Google Offers, currently only available in selected US cities, Google has a fantastic opportunity to provide a tailored set of offers to individuals that many CRM professionals could only dream of, despite information from Google Wallet not featuring in this unified customer view .  When this is rolled out in my city, I’d personally be happy for the information that Google has about me to offer me things (but only) things that I’d genuinely be interested in. They could blow Groupon clean out of the water if they did.

Image Source: DIY Marketers

Google could know the product, service or brand related searches I’ve made and at which time in the month or year. They’d potentially know the types of places I’d checked in at, even the sort of activities I enjoyed with which of my friends.  All of this information could be used to add real value to me as a consumer.  If the information used well, these offers may be my first port of call when researching buying something online (I’ve mentioned I’m a skin flint already, right?).

How would you like to see Google change to benefit you?

(Featured Image Source)

Matt Devine has worked at several SEO companies.  He is intrigued to see how the SEO services they provide will have to adapt to these changes that Google have made.

Technorati Tags: crm, google, privacy, privacy policy, search engine

There is still a huge difference between people really interested in online activities and common ones but the difference is smaller with each new day. Briefly, the browser is the software that allows navigating on the Internet. An add-on is a piece of coding that enhances a browser to do other tasks; usually the intention is to make the navigation better.

Google Chrome is an amazing browser and one of the best advantages of it is the easiness to install/uninstall add-ons. Besides that, there are tons of amazing add-ons that really improve the browser. While other blog owners prefer to offer very detailed and interested showcases of add-ons that are mostly used by specialists, here are some unknown, but sure and these are useful for all people. The order is totally random and these cover all the fields, from productivity tools to funny ideas. I highly recommend to install all of them and test which one is interesting for you (it’s a piece of cake to install or uninstall, hence the time invested is insesizable).

1. Time machine

Surely, it won’t make someone productive but it’s funny to see how your favorite websites were looking few years ago. It’s nice to see how much web design evolved from year to year.

2. Currency Converter

We are reading news that announce big monetary fluctuations of the markets or updates of the currencies evolutions. Some of us are involved in speculations or simply own some actions and a currency converter is a must. This add-on is an at hand converter and is very useful.

3. Fake Siri

Google specialists and lovers can’t ignore Siri and this add-on try to replace the “Apple new wonder” with a fake one but very cool that deserves trying it.

4. Stop Watch and Timer

The name is self-explaining: there is sometimes need for a stop watch or a timer; you have here both of them close to you.

5. Calc SS3

Any PC has a calculator – scientific or simple but this add-on impresses me due to the graphic interface. Am I wrong or is it really cool?

6. Explain and Send Screenshots

This add-on is really useful: it take screenshots and allows writing on the images made. The advantages are enormous: in a minute you may grab an image, write some ideas for a better explanation and the receiver will better understand your intentions.

7. Hover Zoom

All of us are seeing various thumbnails and many of them are hard to distinguish. This add-on is fabulous because it offers a better perspective by zooming the small images. I use it for Facebook images and it really works.

8. TooManyTabs

I used to have very many tabs opened and sometimes the computer was pushed to the limits. While you will have in front of your face the number of tabs opened it will make you close some of them, letting the computer “breathe”.

9. Click and Clean

Private browsing shouldn’t be regarded only as a help for watching porn movies or something like this, it’s a great feature that is very useful. This add-on simply erases the history of the visited websites and it is doing many other great services.

10. EZ Zoom

Opera is another cool browser that is very useful for people who have different sight issues – it is easy to zoom the text not to be hard to the eyes. Fortunately, a new add-on, still in beta version, also gives this feature to Google Chrome.

11. Web Counter

This add-on is very interesting because it demonstrate us that we are dependent to Google. It’s enough to install it and notice how many times you used Google and YouTube.

12. Forever Alive Password Vault

This add-on is very useful in the unwanted case where something bad is happening to someone. Anyway, it’s safer to thing in advance. The idea is that it stores all the passwords of the user.

13. Proofread Bot

A good grammar and a correct syntax are always welcomed and this add-on is helpful in correcting any small mistake the user is making.

14. Smooth Gestures

It’s my favorite add-on; it makes possible to customize some gestures to make the entire navigation simpler and faster. I.e., by clicking right+ making an arrow to right I go forward one page for the current tab.

15. Facebook Notifications

It’s impossible to stay connected very much to your computer and to ignore the worldwide network. Instead of accessing multiple times your Facebook account it is better to have a visible icon that instantly reveals your activity and the Inbox.

16. Facebook Color Changer

The design of Facebook is awesome but navigating multiple times makes it boring (for some people). In order to change the design, this add-on is perfect; you can customize your page very easily.

17. Nanny for Google Chrome

It’s pretty normal to be obsessed in becoming more efficient and sometimes it is better to have blocked some websites during the work time. Nanny is perfect for this, I recommend it.

18. Easy Live Sports

There are very few people who are totally disinterested in any sport. For those very interested in sport activities, this add-on is perfect; there are many features and it is better to test it yourself.

19. Weather

As the name is saying, this allows any user to find out the temperature in the town and it makes predictions for the next days. Truly useful and at hand!

20. Yahoo Mail Checker

If you are expecting a very important mail this add-on is perfect because it reveals the unread messages from the Inbox and by clicking it, you are able to open the mail.

The market of Google add-ons is impressive and these are only a few of them. The ideas of the creators are simply amazing and the future seems to bring more and more useful and interesting add-ons.

(Featured Image Source)

About the Author: James is a creative designer, blogger and an active developer of webmaster tools. He maintains a network of blogs and has tried almost all known hosting company services. He maintains a few hosting advisory blogs and loves to help people choose cheap web hosting services time to time.

Technorati Tags: browser addons, chrome extensions, facebook, google, google chrome, productivity tools, tools

Perhaps it was the fact that women, by their writing, appealed to the same-sex, providing them with information on parenthood, babies and other subjects of interest. Or, if we are talking about technical blogs, it was the fact that the information was finally presented in clear and easy-to-comprehend terms.

Either way, women have started to have a major influence in the blogosphere of today.

Women are using the blogs nowadays as means of expression; for them, it represents a great opportunity to share their opinion about cultural differences, community issues or even political science. As statistics clearly point out, in 2003, there were 46% women as authors in the blogosphere and 54% men; just a few months later, the percentage was reversed, with 52% women and 48% men.

The age is also important for the blogosphere, as there are different types of blogs according to the writer’s age; most of the female teenagers are writing journal blogs while mature women prefer to present current events, technological advancements and other things like that.

The most important role a woman plays in the blogosphere is the one of a journal writer. The majority of the online journals are written by women and they have a lot of followers, including men. Women can go on and on about subjects that are important to them, whether we are talking about weight loss, pregnancy, or men.

Some just approach every-day events but they have just as many people logging in, to see what else has happened. In the blogosphere, the online journals are clearly dominated by women.

If you enter on a blog belonging to a female, you will see that the content is focused, intellectual and potent. However, there is a still a lot of way to go before we can put the equal sign between men and women in the blogosphere. This is mainly because of the preconceived notions society has, in which the word man is associated with technology.

Women have the responsibility of changing the way society perceives their role in the blogosphere, as they have done before with so many other things. This is the only way to guarantee an equitable outcome.

(Featured Image Source)

About the author: Ram is a creative blogger in the Indian blogosphere. He loves to play around Tech and Design niches. He is a good developer, one of his recent project is pnr status check which provides fast and accurate pnr status for train and air travelers.

Technorati Tags: blogger, blogosphere, influence, journal writer, women, writer

Asking Questions

If you have a question, problem, or assignment that you need help with, you can type it in the text bar and click on the “Ask your question” button.

On the home page you’ll see 10 of the most recently asked questions. Clicking on a question will open it up on a new page and display answer(s) if any were given.

Finding Tutors

On the right side of the home page you’ll be able to click on the “Find a tutor” button in order to see the tutors online. If there are none online, you can see the last time they were active along with a letter grade (A, B, C, D) and contact button.

Each tutor has a short description outlining their expertise so that you can find the one that will best meet your needs. All of their tutors are CRB checked and based in the UK, so you can be sure that you’re dealing with a qualified professional.

Pricing

It’s free to use the actual site to ask questions and chat about problems, but if you would like a private online tutoring session, you’ll have to pay. You can find out more on their pricing page.

As you can see, this is an excellent resource for both online and offline students of all levels.

Head over to Tutorhub.com to get the help you need now!

Technorati Tags: education, homework help, online tool, Online Tuition, online tutors, students, UK

As an added bonus, I also include 5 tools that I’m looking forward to using in 2012.

So, let’s get started!

ifttt (If This Then That)

I reviewed this Web tool back in early 2011 and it’s still exceeding my expectations. ifttt is like having your own personal assistant on the Web because you can create tasks and make custom triggers. Whenever those triggers are activated, an action will take place. It may seem a bit confusing, but it’s really not once you get started.

Here are a few examples:

• Automatically post new blog posts to Twitter or to your Posterous
• Automatically save all Instagram photos to Dropbox or share them on Twitter
• Get email notifications of Craigslist ads based on a specific search query
• Whenever you star an item on Google Reader, send it to Evernote or add it to your Read it Later list
• Get SMS notifications for the daily weather
• Get a phone call whenever your stocks have gone up

These are just a few examples of tasks that you can create on ifttt; the possibilities are literally endless!

Buffer

I did a review of Buffer back in March. This tool, along with a similar tool named Timely, has probably been my most used tool because it makes it super easy to schedule tweets and Facebook page updates. First you have to set up a schedule with the times that you want your tweets to go out. It’s best to set a consistent interval like every 2-3 hours. Next you have to get one of their “goodies” such as a browser extension, bookmarklet, or mobile app.

Once you pick a tool, you can then add tweets and updates to your queue. Free accounts can have a maximum of 10 posts in their queue at any time. Buffer will then automatically post a tweet or Facebook page update according to the schedule you set up. This is also an easy way to keep your accounts active with updates — just keep your queue full and you’ll be all set.

Timely is kind of like Buffer, but you don’t have to set a schedule. Timely automatically sends out tweets and Facebook page updates based on the best time of day — for maximum impact. With Timely, you won’t have posts going out at times when no one is around to read them; instead you’ll have them posted strategically throughout the day when your followers are active.

Xmarks

This tool is nothing new, it’s been around a while and is one of the easiest ways of syncing your bookmarks across multiple browsers. If you’re someone like me who doesn’t use just one Web browser, then Xmarks will come in handy for you.

On any given day I switch back and forth between Chrome, Aurora (aka Firefox’s browser for experimental and pre-beta features) and Safari on my Mac, while using Iron (aka Chrome – no affiliation to Google and without the privacy concerns) and Firefox on my PC. So I really needed an easy way to keep my bookmarks synced across all browsers and platforms.

Xmarks is available for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. You can even access your bookmarks on your mobile device with their mobile app (if you have a Premium account). It also includes a backup and restore feature, tab syncing, bookmark sharing, history syncing, and smarter search.

Slipstream

I used to be a person who tried out a different Twitter client every other week, but now I just stick to using Twitter.com (and the Twitter iOS app every now and then). I also get easily annoyed with tweets about things that I have no interest in, but thanks to this little tool I can hide those irrelevant tweets. Slipstream is basically a tweet filter that lets you filter out all tweets based on a word or phrase.

You can filter that word or phrase based on tweets from a specific user or every user. You can even specify where to filter the tweet (your timeline, in replies, etc). It’s just a tool that makes your timeline easier to read and more enjoyable. You can see more details about it in my review (link in header).

Boomerang for Gmail

Yes, once again here is another tool that I’ve reviewed and is also one of my favorites. Boomerang is a tool that was definitely more useful when it first came out because it didn’t have as many limitations; yet it is still one of my most used productivity Web tools.

Boomerang is basically a snooze button for Gmail. It’s an email follow-up reminder service that can also send emails at a later time, and remind you about an email that you don’t hear back from after a certain amount of time.

I mainly user Boomerang as a tool for cleaning out my inbox. If I’m in a hurry and don’t have time to respond back to a message or just want to read it later, I can Boomerang it (set up a reminder) and have it sent to the top of my inbox a few days or a week later. In the beginning there was a no limit to the amount of emails that you could get reminders for, but now there’s only a maximum of 10 per month for free accounts.

As an added bonus, I also wanted to mention 5 social web tools that I’m looking forward to using in 2012.

Spool

I just started using this tool a few days ago, but so far I’m liking it. It’s a lot like Read it Later and Instapaper. You can save images, videos, articles, and Web pages to view later on your computer or mobile device. It also removes all of the clutter from articles so that you get a Readability-like experience.

Flockler

I’ve only used this tool once, but I do want to use it more often because I like how easy it is to be an online publisher! Flockler lets you create your own online magazine based on your desired niche or topic. It includes a curation tool so that you can quickly add content from the Web, Twitter, or via a direct link. Be sure to check out my first Issue of Social Web Tools, the magazine!

Quixey

Being that app addict that I am, Quixey really excites me because it’s a search engine specifically for apps. You can search for apps on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Facebook, the Web and more. No matter what you’re looking to do, you can probably find an app for it on Quixey. Again, I haven’t been using it much, but I plan to use it more in 2012 – especially when looking for things to write about!

Bottlenose

I haven’t had the chance to get into this tool like I’ve wanted to, but it definitely looks promising. Bottlenose is a Web client for Twitter and Facebook. You can view your timeline in a single column or with multiple columns (much like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck). Bottlenose filters your timeline posts into news, videos, and pictures and it also suggests posts to you based on your interests (which you can specify in settings).

Spindex

Spindex is kind of like Bottlenose, with the addition of RSS and Bing. It’s meant to let you view all of your content in one feed and helps you find out the topics that your friends are talking about. Spindex is a product of Microsoft, so that gives you a bit of an idea already as to how this tool might work. Again, I’ve signed up, but haven’t had the chance to dig in deeper.

Now it’s your turn!

I’m really looking forward to hearing what your top used social web tools were for 2011! What tools did you use most? Also, which tools are you looking forward to using more and learning more about in 2012? I’m all ears!

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Technorati Tags: bookmarklet, browser extension, facebook, productivity, roundup, social media, tools, twitter, web tools, Xmarks

For example, it can be a list of things you wish to get for your next birthday. Or it can even be a list of movies you wish to see.

Maybe a list of books you wish to read?

Do not limit your imagination!

How Wishlify Works

1. Create a wishlist.
2. Populate your list with all the cool things you would like to get.
3. Share the wishlist with your friends or family.
4. They reserve the items they are you going to get you. That way others won’t give you the same item.
5. People, who reserved the items, will have a handy list of all reserved items from other people’s wishlists.

Try Wishlify Now!

Technorati Tags: gifts, list, productivity tools, shopping, wishlist

One of the latest social media sites designed with small businesses in mind is www.aboutourwork.com. This site, unlike Facebook and Twitter, is not designed with the intent to connect corporations to consumers. Instead, aboutourwork.com aims to be a link between small to medium size businesses. This is also different from LinkedIn in that it isn’t a collection of personal profiles. Each business that signs up on the site is able to establish a customizable profile, which can be viewed by other companies. The profiles available on the network have been professionally designed and can even be turned into a public website if a business does not already have another site.

One aspect of aboutourwork that is emphasized as a key feature is its ability to establish and display business connections. The graphs and data that the network assembles can be used to give potential customers or partners a better understanding of your business and the businesses you are already connected with. In a glance, users can summarize your company’s position in the local business environment and determine exactly how they fit within it. Not only does the site show which companies your business has connections with, it also displays the strength of those connections. It does this by showing the depth of the relationship measured in time and the type of relationship your businesses share, e.g., vendor, client, consultant, etc.

This type of information has become invaluable in an age where social media is becoming more and more intertwined with every company’s marketing campaign. This site is just one resource that can be used to build credibility and relationships on the Internet. Social media is all about connections between people. Up until this point, only the largest corporations have heavily ventured into this social arena. Thanks to tools like aboutourwork, small businesses now have a much easier entry into a social space experiencing explosive growth.

Technorati Tags: aboutourwork, connections, profile, small business, social

In a nutshell, Moonfruit is an easy website builder, but it has a unique style to it. The templates that Moonfruit offers aren’t something you would expect from this type of service. Similar services often have incredibly basic templates you can build your site off of. These templates often have very basic color schemes, and seem blocky in nature. Moonfruit avoids those limited templates and give you some very modern looking templates that look much more professional.

Moonfuit offers immense customization. Every piece of text and picture that you add to your site can be rotated, adjusted in font and size, and even have links attached to it. This sheer amount of customization can be performed all over your site. You can alter backgrounds to have a certain color pattern or even an image if that suits your site better.

The service is also incredibly friendly to people trying to open up a business site. Moonfruit lets you set up an online shop. The shop is automatically compatible with the web and mobile devices and integrates PayPal so your customers can have a smooth shopping experience. Social media is also integrated into the shop so your customers can like and tweet about what they are getting, which should in effect get more publicity for you. The store also stands next to your blog which can be added to your site and have the same level of customization and social media integration to get your content the exposure it deserves.

So that is what Moonfruit offers, but how well does it do in execution? The answer is slightly less than desirable. The Moonfruit interface isn’t exactly the drag and drop interface that you might be used to with other services. It looks more like a Microsoft Office program where you can insert stuff and have options in an overhead toolbar. At times the interface can feel cluttered and you may have no idea where a feature you want is among the menus. Moonfruit also comes with different pricing options ranging from free (where you’ll have ads on your site) to plans costing $12-35 that give you upgrades such as Google Ad vouchers, more shop space, more bandwidth and storage, better support, and the ability to have members and member pages.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Moonfruit is the best web design experience I’ve ever had. It definitely has some flaws with its interface and some glitches with some of the features, but for being a brand new site in the niche it definitely impresses. If you want to give it a shot, Moonfuit offers a 14 day trial before you make any decisions on purchasing a plan.

Technorati Tags: free, moonfruit, service, templates, website builder

Consider a Pass Phrase

An easy way to create memorable passwords is to use a pass phrase rather than just one or two words. For example, the pass phrase could be something as simple as “my daughter’s name is Mary and she will be 14 this year.” To turn it into a password, the user simply uses the first letter of each word, including the proper capitalization: “mdniMaswb14ty.”

Length

It should go without saying that a longer password is stronger than a shorter password. Users can lengthen their password by adding numbers or letters, thus creating more secure internet passwords.

Image Source: FGCU.edu

Avoid Personal Information

Surprisingly, the more personal the information used, the easier it is to guess. Avoid using children’s birth dates, last names, pet’s names and other easily guessed words and phrases. Instead, opt for less-personal details that are more difficult for someone else to guess. If a good friend could guess the password, it’s too easy.

Do Not Use Real Words

A number of programs already exist that will run every word in the dictionary through to see if it matches up with a username. Instead, use a mixture of lower case and upper case letters, numbers and if possible, special characters. For example, rather than using “MyPassword123,” use something such as “kcH42mj475&#%.” The combination of letters, numbers and special characters takes longer to crack.

Mix it Up

Finally, it’s important to update passwords regularly. While a weekly change isn’t necessary, every six months is typically sufficient. Aside from updating it regularly, be sure to use different passwords for different websites and accounts. This will keep hackers from entering every account a person has, including social networking, bank accounts and more.

Simple changes, such as a longer password and avoiding the use of personal information can make a huge difference in creating a more secure password. Plus, the more secure a password, the less likely it is that someone will be able to crack it and steal additional personal information, including bank account information or a social security number.

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About the Author: Kaitlyn Peloquin is an information specialist who enjoys helping others learn more about online security. She is also an avid fan of trends in technology and can often be found looking for the best cheap mobile phone deals and accessories.

Technorati Tags: identity theft, internet passwords, online security, passphrase, personal, tips