Four Business Continuity Planning Essentials
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SEO BASICS – 3 Steps to Get You More Website Traffic
What is SEO, and why is it so important? It seems like everywhere you go, you’ll hear about SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. In fact, it has become so integral to online marketing for all businesses that there is a near $80 BILLION industry market for it [1]. A quick google search and you’ll discover tens of thousands of companies trying to sell you one thing – how to get more website traffic. The value of more traffic can not be overstated. Every business, organization, non-profit, etc., has a website – or they should. Nowadays, without a strong sense of what SEO is and how to execute, you’re going to fail to generate visitors to your site, missing out on potential revenue. Here, you’ll learn the SEO Basics – 3 Steps to Get You More Website Traffic.
STEP ONE: Keywords are… key!
First, what are keywords? Keywords can be defined as the words and sentences in your content that make it possible for people to find your website through search engines. Think of the words you type into any search engine (google, bing, yahoo) as keywords. In order for more people to reach your website, it must have them.
For example, a managed service provider like us should have “IT support, outsourced IT, remote IT support,” and plenty more like that throughout our website, and main pages. You could think of at least 10 keywords and phrases on the top of your head that relate to your business, but it’s most important to consider what your audience is typing into a search engine. In other words, your website should speak the same language as your audience. Websites like https://answerthepublic.com/ and https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ are great tools to show you what people typically search, allowing you to speak the audience’s language on your website
Where can I put keywords? Keywords should be everywhere that’s reasonable – places that it can flow in a sentence, where the phrase is easy to read, and is also appealing to read. Of course, your keywords should appear in your website’s page titles and content, but a great hiding place is any images you have on your website. All images have names and space for alt text (the text displayed in the event the image does not load), and these are optimal places to sneak in keywords. Last but not least is making sure your keywords are also included in the website domain name – like for example www.etechcomputing.com/managed-services/remote-on-site-it-support/.
This may make you think “if adding as many keywords as possible is best, then I’ll only have keywords on my website.” This is called Keyword Stuffing and is penalized by search engines. An example of this would be:
“Welcome to Cats. We love cats, and everything about cats. Cats are the best animal in the world. Cats are so soft, and cats have nine lives. If you love cats, this is the best place for cats.”
It’s hard to even read that, and most of your audience will just leave the page as soon as they get there. Keywords are vital, but it must be readable and appealing, ideally as if they were not there at all. Count how many times you read the word “Website” already… 15 times and it didn’t seem like a lot.
STEP TWO: Let the Linking Begin
Website linking is critical when it comes to search engine optimization, and the reason is improving your Domain Authority – which is quite literally how authoritative your website domain is. The way your domain authority is calculated is how many websites are linking back to your website. Have you ever wondered why Wikipedia is always #1 on search engines? It’s because they have 1.7 BILLION external backlinks[2], just like how I just linked to them.
How do I get backlinks? There is no way to get 1000 backlinks magically, and if you thought creating 1000 fake websites and linking to yours was a good idea, you’ll get penalized for that too. Depending on the type of service and company you are, you’ll have to build links the old fashioned way: creating great content and simply asking people to link to you.
Creating great content is a great way to build your backlinks. People naturally will share great content that they think someone else can benefit from. It’s also important to make it easy for people to share your content and encourage it as well. One of the reasons why many businesses have blogs and recent news pages like ours is to encourage sharing and increase backlinks to their website. If you do not already have a blog section to share your expertise, I would encourage that you start!
If you’re not the type of person to ask others to link to you, another great way is to search for blog’s looking for guest authors. An efficient way to do this is to search ‘(Your keyword) intitle: “write for us”‘ and you’ll find hundreds of blogs looking for authors to contribute. In return, they’ll link back to your website. For example; searching ‘Website Design intitle: “write for us”’ found me 8 680 results of blogs looking for guest authors.
STEP THREE: Content is Everything
We’ve already went over what great content can do for your backlinks, but it can do much more. Great content is important for user experience, and that matters to search engines.
Can you recall a time where you looked up a question, was sent to a website and didn’t get the answer? It’s frustrating, and you leave right away. That means the user experience was not good, and search engines will penalize you for bad user experience.
Conversely, if someone searches up a question, lands on your website and it gives them the answer they were looking for, this is great for your website, and you will be rewarded for that by ranking higher.
In order to write great content, focus on a single niche. Websites that try to write about everything typically do worse then websites posting about their expertise. When you focus on a single niche, you can create lots of content and be thorough. The ideal content leaves the user happy, with no remaining questions.
You should be writing multiple pages covering the same topic, and cross linking the pages together. This will increase the chances that both pages rank on the first page of search engines.. For example; I can write a blog about the the biggest cyber security threats, and how to protect yourself from a criminal’s haven – they both cover the same topics and will feature the same or similar keywords.
As great as your content may be, it will get stale at some point. It’s essential to keep updating your content. It’s 2019, and people want content that’s relevant to the current year – not 2006.
Lastly, share your content on your social media channels! Don’t be afraid to post multiple times. In fact, you should be sharing an article 4-5 times over a 6 month period, increasing your audience along the way.
Feel free to Contact Us for more information.
E-Tech Honored at Inaugural Channel Partners Evolution Awards Dinner
On October 11th, Ian Evans, President and CEO at E-Tech, and Lloyd Evans, Vice President, Information Technology, attended Channel Partners Evolution Awards Dinner. Ian and Lloyd accepted the award for being one of the Best Managed Service Providers Worldwide!
This year, Channel Futures received a record number of submissions – pouring in from North America, Europe, Asia, South America and beyond. E-Tech’s excellent service, dedication and professionalism stood out against the rest.
Channel Futures was pleased to honor E-Tech.
“To be considered one of the world’s most strategic, forward-thinking and innovative managed service providers is truly an honour,” said Ian Evans. “E-Tech’s staff work hard and strive for greatness, and awards like these validate the passion and dedication our staff bring to the table. Among this list are companies like Sirius, Ensono, Konica and much more; being part of this list shows that E-Tech has a bright future.”
E-Tech Awarded the Best Managed IT Solution Provider of 2019
Toronto, Ontario, December 1st 2018 – E-Tech announced today that Corporate Vision Magazine has named E-Tech as the Best Managed IT Solutions Provider for 2019, a part of their annual Canadian Business Awards. This annual list recognizes Canadian Businesses providing the biggest and most positive impact on Canadians.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our staff,” said Shiham Mohideen, Director, IT Operations at E-Tech. “The Canadian Business Awards recognizes the Canadian businesses contributing the best services to Canadians across the country. It proves that the Cyber Security tools that our staff deliver truly make Canadian businesses safer everyday.”
It was important for CV Magazine to award the Best Managed IT Solutions Provider, an award that was never awarded in years past. Managed service providers have become so integral to the success of businesses all around Canada, especially as technology continues to evolve and improve. E-Tech empowers companies to implement and operate complex technologies while staying within their client’s budgets and keeping their focus on their core business.
About E-Tech:
E-Tech was born in 1991 and has been providing system support and information technology consulting services to our clients since 2005. We attribute our strength and success to our close working relationship with each and every one of our clients – regardless of size. We design our services specifically to help our clients succeed in today’s complex business environment, keeping in mind our client’s goals, objectives, and bottom lines. Since our inception, we have been establishing a strong bond with small to medium businesses and not-for-profits by delivering cyber security protection, website hosting services, IT support solutions, and website design services.
Effective Nov 1st – Canadian Businesses Must Report All Data Breaches to the Government
On November 1st 2018, Canada implemented it’s new law on data breaches – what does this mean for you and your business? We read through the legislation and broke it down and made it as simple as possible. Here is everything you need to know on Canada’s new cyber security laws: the Breach of Security Safeguards Regulations.
When do I report a data breach?
As a business keeping personal information about their clients, it’s important to know what a breach of security safeguards even means. Canada recognizes the different ways you can protect your data: from physical measures (like locked file cabinets), organizational measures (like security clearances), and technological measures (like passwords and encryptions). A breach of security safeguards means the loss of, unauthorized access to or unauthorized disclosure of personal information caused by a breach of any of the three measures last mentioned – OR failing to implement any security measures at all. Whether the breach affects 1 person or 1,000,000 people, you still must submit a report. There is no specific timeline you must follow to report a breach. Instead, a report shall be given “as soon as feasible” after an organization recognizes a breach[1]. If a breach to your organization does happen, you must keep record of the data breach for at least 24 months from the day your breach occurred.
Who and where do I report a data breach to?
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is the official government office responsible for processing all data breach reports.
Here is the website for the Privacy Commissioner.
Here is the form to complete to report a data breach to the government. The form can be submitted by email, post mail or in person delivery.
If you believe the victims of the data breach are at real risk of significant harm, you must notify them of the breach. Notification to the affected individuals should be given directly by email, telephone, mail, etc. In cases where direct notification can cause more harm to the victim or the organization, a report can be made indirectly through public communication.
What does my data breach report need to include?
A report to the Privacy Commissioner must include:
- Legal name of the organization breached
- Contact information on who can respond to any questions the government has
- Number of victims affected
- When the breach occurred
- Description of the circumstances of the breach/the cause of the breach
- Description of the personal information taken
- The steps on how the organization will notify the victims
- Any measures to reduce the risk of harm to the victims
A report to the affected individual will need to include all of the following:
- A description of the circumstances of the breach
- The day or period the breach occurred
- A description of the breached information
- A plan to reduce risk for the future
- A plan for the victims to reduce the chance of breach in the future
- Contact information if any victim wants to request more information on the breach
With the Canadian government getting more serious about cyber security, it’s important that organizations and businesses do the same. Cyber criminals have so many different weapons to choose from to breach your data, and it’s becoming more and more important to be proactive then reactive. Lucky for us, there are strong defenses against the best weapons:
Have you been hit with ransomware, or are you scared to be the next victim? Business Continuity Solutions can help you have a plan to retrieve important data in case a ransomware attack happens to your business. Remember to never pay the ransom.
Are you scared that the recent breaches to large corporations, like Facebook and Yahoo have left you vulnerable? Dark Web Monitoring ensures that you know when your credentials are being sold online.
Are you and your employees getting a lot of phishing emails? Email Protection Services and cyber security training makes everything safer, making sure no one falls for the most intelligent of internet schemes.
If you want to learn how to stay cyber safe, Contact Us to see how we can bring your business ahead of the game!
