Blast from your past (Host1Help1 Update)

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Welcome to April! If you need a blast from the past check out the WayBackMachine. You can see snapshots from almost anybody’s website in the past. This can help for competitive research or even if you accidentally deleted a page on your website, the WayBackMachine may have a snapshot of it. And bonus, you can ask it to take … Read more

So many unread emails!

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Tired of an overflowing Inbox? For many years I’ve tried the ‘read it only once‘ approach for managing emails. For example, if I read an email, and already know the answer, I try to reply immediately. If I use the time and energy to read the email and think of a response, but don’t immediately reply, I … Read more

What is my IP address?

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100,000 people per DAY google this question! An IP address is exactly that, your address on the internet. Every computer and connected device in the world has an IP address. The original format (IPv4) & the new IPv6 follows the following pattern. So, what is MY IP ADDRESS? Now you know.

Which is better? Google or Facebook Ads?

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Google Ads or Facebook Ads?  Will your customers find you IF they are searching on Google? For example, if you are Mt Baker Roofing, then YES, your customers are searching on Google for “bellingham roof repair“. Google Ads will be super effective to attract new business.  But if you are The Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham, your audience … Read more

How accessible is your website?

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Is your website properly configured for individuals with disabilities? This can include font contrast, text magnification, image descriptions, etc. There are some fairly straightforward tools to help in the process. Equalweb has a free WordPress-ready tool which I use on Host1help1.com. Do a quick scan here: https://accessibe.com/accessscan to see how your website scores.  Bonus: You can receive a tax credit for … Read more

Pay attention to your competition or your customers?

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Thanks to a friend I came across Amazon’s Leadership Principles today.  First in the list is “Customer Obsession” and it made me wonder how often we, as business owners, are actually obsessing about our customers. We can easily get distracted thinking about our competition OR just thinking internally.  If we are 100% focused on our customer’s … Read more

Boring Privacy Policies

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Who doesn’t love a conversation about your website’s Privacy Policy or Terms and Conditions? If you haven’t recently reviewed your policies – it is probably time. Just like having insurance on your car – making a plan before the accident is always wiser.  I came across a between Kerstin from KerstinMartin.com and Hans from Termageddon.com. You will find some time and … Read more

Google knows what??

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What does Google REALLY know about you?  Get logged in to your google/gmail account and visit: https://adssettings.google.com … you will be shocked to see how they have categorized your interests and how many data points they have about you. If you don’t like one of their categories, you can turn it off. Google flagged me as interested … Read more

What is stored in my images?

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It has long been known that photos taken with our phones also capture a ton of extra data (“exif metadata”). This include several pages of misc phone & photo data, but most importantly your exact GPS position!  Super helpful if you want to figure out where a photo was taken. But maybe consider removing the extra … Read more

Are your emails landing in spam?

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Not sure why your customers aren’t replying to your emails? Maybe they were flagged as spam. I’ve recently been helping several clients deal with their emails getting stuck in recipient spam folders. Your domain name’s DNS configuration is important including SPF, DKIM, MX, and in some cases DMARC records are essential. Here are a few tools … Read more