the sephone blog

If you read this blog frequently, we talk about random things on the internet.  Security, getting good deals, saving time – stuff like that. But we also talk about how to promote you and your business in a cost effective way.  Sometimes the cost is “TIME” which we all only have 24 hours in each day, so that is precious, but it isn’t CASH out of your pocket.

In the passed 3 weeks we have had 3 clients that have had ideas about “getting their word out”, interestingly enough 2 of them were not specifically related to their businesses, but to causes that they find dear to them.  They want to do something good, share an experience, raise some money for their cause.

Many people that use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter all ready have had success creating buzz, getting people to attend an event, raise cash for a cause, this is nothing new and the people using these tools, in a few clicks they have spread the word to people that want to listen rather than to waste time with those less interested.

You can do this with girl scout cookies or a PTO event, saves lots of time and money on the phone.

If you have a long term project or cause that you are working on, perhaps a blog may work. (Here’s a “How To” Link) Blogs can keep people engaged over the long haul. Friends and family far and wide.  One of my friends used “Caring Bridge” while his wife was in the hospital and in treatment for breast cancer.  Hearing the perspective from a husband with a family struggling through this time was inspiring and was so different from many others having these experiences.  A young husband, with twin boys helping mom (and wife) through the fight of their lives, the good news is they are winning the fight now!

Even if you haven’t embraced these tools quite yet, people that have are seeing results.  You may be amazed at how many folks you know are and how “out of the loop” you may be by not participating!

Can you believe this!?

This is the same as our friend from Nigeria who is looking for a trusting soul to move his uncles money-  Only this time it is a “a supposed Captain” in the United States Marine Corp.

For those who are already savvy- please excuse me as it is my obligation to inform the others…

DO NOT BELIEVE “capt.” Collin Lachappelle!  THIS IS NOT REAL, NEVER WAS REAL and WILL NEVER BE REAL!

From: IMCEAEX-_O=BRIDGEWATER+20STATE+20COLLEGE_OU=BSC_CN=
RECIPIENTS_CN=CLACHAPELLE@bridgew.edu
Subject: Personal
Date: February 8, 2010 8:17:52 AM EST
To: noreply@contact.com

I am Captain. Matthew Stamford with the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Hard to believe but, I have $900,000.00, found at the start of Operation Khanjari on July 4 2009, in Poshteh Afghanistan. I need to move this money out to a safer place. Can I trust you to receive it on mybehalf upon its evacuation from Kabul? Contact me on matstamford@admin.in.th

Thanks, I needed to do that-

It is a repeating effort that these low-life’s are using-
hoping that an unsuspecting individual, usually a senior citizen who is unlucky to receive this notice and thinks they are helping- will respond.

My first thought is, “Why did it take so long to retire that guy, the former Prime Minister, Prince, Son of the Prime Minister, Nephew to the Sultan? ”

The fact that they have moved on to US “soil” is disturbing, can they really believe that Americans are that gullable?
Again, unfortunately there are some that are, especially since it relates to patriotism and $900,000.00
So-

Pass this along, share it with your web-connected family and friends. If they want to help someone, donate to the USO, find their local Troop Greeters organization, or send $10 to Haiti;

Karma will know.

Technology and the Web are constantly evolving and changing. It seems like every day there’s something new to learn. We know it can be tough to keep up with, and while we try to make our products easy to use, we know some of you might need a helping hand to step into Geekdom.

Sephone Resource Center - for people who feel like this when editing their website. (Photo from http://lolcatz.wordpress.com)

And so the Sephone Resource Center was born! We often have similar questions about the “how-to’s” for the person that is just learning, or if there is a new person doing the job.

The Resource Center is a collection of tutorials for how to do common (and some uncommon) tasks in services like our content management system, datAvenger and datAvenger pro. This list of tutorials will continue to grow with new text and video tutorials and will continue to cover even more Sephone services.

Here are some examples of tutorials that are currently available:

• Adding links
• Adding images
• Uploading images and documents
• Managing User Accounts
• Reordering navigation

Check it out! Visit sephone.com and click on ‘help’.

Back in June of last year we published a report of browser market share for some of our most visible sites. As we explained then, these statistics are really helpful for web developers in order to find what people are using to view sites and, in turn, what technologies developers can use to create those sites.

It’s been six months, and we wanted to go back and look how the usage stats in December compared to those in June. As we did in our first report, we looked through our Google Analytics reports for six of the most-visited sites we developed and maintain in real estate, tourism, news, education, and other markets.

Here’s a look at the trends of browsers over the last six months:

And a look at market share by reporting period:

The past six months have seen an overall loss of market share for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 and a gain across the board for Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. In addition, Internet Explorer 8 usage more than doubled over the last six months on all of the six sites we surveyed. Safari’s spike in market share may be due to the popularity of iPhones, which run a mobile version of the browser. Google released a version of Chrome for Mac and Linux systems which may have contributed to its increase in usage in December. And web developers everywhere can rejoice: in our survey, the Internet Explorer 6 market share we found ranged from 7.0 – 10.3% as compared to 15.3 – 17.1% in June.

We’ve published an introduction to the major web browsers in the past as well as a post about our views on Internet Explorer 6 support. Please consider reading those posts for more information.

Read on to see the full report data with percentages and methods.

(more…)

Last year Facebook raised $100 Million in capital to scale up their service by 50,000 web servers, recent best estimates put their current number of servers at about 30,000 (apparently they haven’t spent all of their money yet) but they are continually scaling up to meet the needs of their growing user base which currently stands at about 109 Million active users.   In comparison Business Week estimates that Google is running in excess of 1 Million servers and Microsoft over 200 thousand.  These are big numbers and it takes a lot of space, bandwidth and power to keep datacenters of these sizes up and running.   Facebook has a population of a decent-sized country, Google by some estimates is responsible for about 16% of consumer bandwidth, and Microsoft…. well Microsoft is gunning for Google with Bing (in the same way the gunned for the iPod with the Zune… but that is the subject of another blog entry).

Let’s think about Google for just a minute.   100 Million servers means web servers, database servers, application servers, file servers; lots of different computers all working together to serve all of Google’s web properties, Search, GMail, YouTube, GoogleDocs,  etcetera, etcetera.  Some fast facts gathered from doing a Google search:  1.  Google claims it takes 1 kJ of energy to answer a typical search query.  2. Their data center in The Dalles, Oregon uses enough energy to power Tacoma, Washington  3.  Google’s estimated monthly bandwidth usage is 184 petabytes (a petabyte is 1000 terabytes or if your counting 1 Million gigabytes) and 4.  Google’s annual bandwidth cost is 344 Million… about a 1 million dollars a day.  These are really, really big numbers.

So, aside from just being astounded at the enormity of Google (or Microsoft, or Facebook) there is a very practical reason for talking about it.   Today’s websites demand much more server horsepower then in days past.  Not long ago, at the beginning of the decade, it was quite possible to host hundreds of websites on a couple of reasonably powerful web servers.  But web servers up until then were merely file servers doling out images and HTML as simple independent HTTP requests, a really simple task.   And remember that web servers are just computers and can only do so many things at one time.  When they try to do too many things at once, they slow down… or worse.

The last five years has seen an explosion of complexity in websites with much more intricate designs, increased functionality, improved user experience and enriched media.  All of those things that we now take for granted when we shop online, update our Facebook status, or pay our Credit Card bills online.  Today’s websites need need to talk to database servers to deliver dynamic content, or talk to media servers to deliver video, or talk to Ad servers to delver banner ads, or talk to external websites to grab RSS feeds, Tweet streams, or Facebook status updates.  As users we expect more.. in fact we demand more from the websites we visit.  All of this means that web servers have to work extra hard to deliver what are now considered basic sites.    Multiply that by ever-increasing Internet traffic and all of the sudden you might actually need a dedicated server to support just a handful websites or in some cases several servers to support just one website.   If your website is complex and gets a fair amount of traffic, you just might need your own server.   Think about it… Google has over 1 Million web servers, Facebook 30,000.  Those are WOW numbers.

Lots of customers will call us for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because when they “Google” something their site isn’t where they think it should be.

Here are just 3 quick reasons why this may be so:

1. The site was designed several years ago and doesn’t conform to Google’s latest search engine practices.
2. The content doesn’t change on it very often.
3. Your company has changed and the look and feel of your site just doesn’t match what goals you have in your mind for your recent marketing efforts.

These are all easy things to have happen. And these things are all things that can happen to anybody.  Looking at your site objectively is just as challenging as looking at your business objectively.  It is like a parent thinking, “My child is ugly.” – that just doesn’t happen!

A website needs a “facelift” using SEO and most often a new design if any of these 3 things are the case.  Oftentimes you can do all the perfect SEO things and still your web traffic isn’t what you want it to be.

Why?

Is it because your website may be “ugly?”  I don’t mean “ugly” from the definition of “ugly,” but I mean Google can rate you top on the list all day long, but if people continue to get to your site and decide it wasn’t what they thought it may be, or it was frustrating to find their way around, Google finds out and you will slip in your rankings. 

This is because your website no longer makes the user engaged when they get there. They have no reason to care to learn more.

And hey, that’s good information to have!  If your business isn’t growing or changing with the challenges of the times, then you are not doing business!  One way this can really pop out at you is to be engaged in marketing your company online, you insert a link to it, once people get to the site, they “BOUNCE” off it.  (Maybe you are doing some social media, Facebook fan pages, etc.) The visitor doesn’t like it, it isn’t what they thought it might be, they could be confused by your message.

Who was the person that said, “Part of the problem is recognizing there is one” ?  No one is telling you, your business is bad, your company is bad, you don’t even know who these people are!  But they are telling you something needs to change.  Either a new look and feel, spruce up your logo, change the content on the front page, add some new things that draw them in .  What is your competition doing? When you change the message so it reflects how your company is NOW. – Depending on your company perhaps people want to interact with your website?

A website isn’t meant to look the same, be the same, act the same for eternity.  How people are using the internet today is different than they were 5 or even 3 years ago.  You probably are too!  So spice it up a bit.  If you are marketing a site that isn’t really who you are or isnt being found, all the programming your web developer can do to get your ranking in Google better may not matter because once your potential customer gets there he may be saying, “Ewwww.”

We talk about Search Engine Optimization on this blog all the time.

Here are some links if you would like to read more:  Click here

Here is one about Site Measurements

Remember “Search Engine Optimization” is like painting a house. A fresh coat of paint looks nice from the outside, but if the house is falling down and in bad repair, then you need to look at the HOUSE (your website) itself.

If you have been watching my Facebook posts or tweets I have been in a technology nightmare for more than a week.  You never really know how much you depend on something until it doesn’t work now, do you? Just like everything else!

Some bad person or robot  decided to use my Twitter address to SPAM my followers by sending them a direct message about some quiz I wanted them to take.  My followers (I have only 800 or so) started sending me notes because they knew I don’t do that.  So I go in to my Twitter account and changed the password.  Then I believe that same robot kept trying to get into my account (using the old password) and I got locked out of Twitter when I tried to log in.  It also effected my Tweetdeck Account. Twitter is such a great tool for me, when I couldnt use it, it completely threw me off guard and my schedule just flew out the window. AND I had to wait for Twitter and Tweetdeck to unlock my access, which took a lot longer than I thought it would.  If you are looking for any help like this on Twitter, click here.

THEN, I tried to synchronize my Blackberry using Desktop Manager. Unfortunately, because I had tried a trial version of MissingSynch earlier this year and didnt like it, I decided to never used it again. Couldnt figure out how to uninstall it. When I tried to synch using Desktop Manager it kept bumping into MissingSynch which kept telling me to buy it for $39.95 and wouldn’t allow Desktop Manager to synchronize for me.  SOMEHOW, as I looked over at my Blackberry I noticed that I had this spinning hourglass on the screen that was all it did, spin and spin.  When I “Googled” the error code it was horrible news.  Google sent us to Crackberry.com. At first glance it looks like a store, it is more than that! There are helpful forums and here is a link to them. So I learned then my whole operating system was history.  I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but with the help of Central Maine Wireless and my business partner Scott, I was able to get a loaner Blackberry and uninstall MissingSynch (the uninstall file was missing, so we had to be cautiously creative to remove it!) I will never recommend this application to anyone, even though I am not sure what happened in my situation but I am very leary of it.

The good news is, I have a copy in a secure cloud of my stuff that didn’t get effected.  The bad news was, I didn’t dare synchronize it with my loaner because I didn’t want to risk anything else happening! So finding people’s phone numbers and other information that I had in my original phone has been problematic.

Maybe it has been the full moon or just technology gremlins, but when it happens to you, take a deep breath and know the world isnt over, it just has slowed down a bit!!

Was a comment on one of my report cards in 1st grade.  It was also followed up with something like,  “…but sometimes her concern for others getting along and cooperating interferes with her own work.”

Who’da thunk it?

My friends, family and business partners can attest for it, but what about in Social Media areas?  How do people know that you REALLY CARE?

Or better yet, “How  do you know who doesn’t and is just pretending to care?”  It seems like these days 60-75% of my work time is dedicated to doing something in Social Media and it is increasing every week.

Social Media brings us together and yet distances us all at the same time. Periodic non-visible online interactions take longer to sort out who is real and who isn’t.

I recently attended a conference where Chris Brogan spoke (it was my first time meeting him and I was sooo excited)  Mike Volpe also made a great presentation.  If you don’t know Chris, he is amazing you should follow him.  He is as real as they come and in person, he can make you laugh so hard that your sides split.

Mike Volpe of Hubspot fame was a lot different than I thought he would be.  I watch their podcasts religiously and read their blogs and I would recommend anyone feeling intimidated about social media and applications you can lurk around on any of these sites and learn a ton.

What did I mean when I said Mike Volpe was different than I thought?  I knew he was smart, I knew he knew his stuff.  His podcast partner Karen Rubin, is mega bubbly.   When I met Mike at the conference, what I met was a kind of shy guy.  Not what I expected.  He puts forth so much confidence on his sites and podcasts, I was a bit intimidated at the idea at the face-to-face.

Chris Brogan has this message that he calls “Be Human”, he has a great post here outlining what this means.  In fact, when you Google the term “be human” his blog entry comes up in the first 5 searches.  Rather than to reiterate what these captains of industry have to say, I included several links here so you can easily find them.

Clients will ask me, “Why do I care if someone’s eating high fibre cereal for breakfast?’ or “That their kids soccer game was a blow out?” Truth is YOU may not care, but one of the thousands of other readers may. If you were one of the people in the battle to fight cancer, you could provide support to many in different situations and stages just by seeing these buzz words.

This makes a “human” connection that is important to an often hard to connect with medium.  Some of us don’t use real photos as profile shots all the time.  Some of us are vague about how to find us.  Maybe our user names aren’t exactly intuitive. The internet is full of great people as well as weirdos.  That doesn’t necessarily make you a “Nervous Nellie,” but if someone is trying to learn about you or your business, you may seem a little less “human.”  What you have to deliver and say becomes that much more important.

First impressions can be misleading.  Establish yourself or your business as the someone you ARE.  Stick with it on blog comments, blog posts, other platforms.  Because after all, the keyboard doesn’t type itself. A HUMAN does!

Wake up Mr. Bin Laden, Mr. Ahmadinejad and others (you know who you are)

Rodney King had it right when he asked “Can’t we all just get along”? Captain Kirk and crew had it right too in the 25th Century.

While reading the blog of Kelly’s (LadyOTrout) hero Chris Brogan- I saw this little diddy.  I thought I would share it with you all too-  Thanks Chris.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/chrisbrogandotcom/~3/Rb0stU9lUug/  (you’ll need to go here to see it)

Chris Brogan found this video on Collaboration

CB “I got this via Maura’s site after she complimented my recent Twitter avatar.

What’s this have to do with anything? Nothing. Except, maybe, if you think about it: Twitter is a serendipity engine for the web, and maybe there’s a story in understanding that power. There might not always be profit, at least not in the business sense, but maybe there’s a lot more wealth in these hidden kingdoms than what you’re thinking about right away.

Just a thought.”

It isnt magical, or spiritual, I didnt understand one single word of it (since it was in Korean?) but it shows what we as a people across the world can do if we tried.  In this case it is kinda silly; but sillier things need to happen to make us forget our differences and see what is common between us-

I thought it was cute and if 100 people can take time out of their days to follow some web-based choriography to put a smile on my face, well they deserve my thanks and attention.

Why did I bring attention to the axis of evil-doers? well- 1.)  to catch your attention, and b.) to maybe catch theirs. 

We can all learn from this-  the Joe’s, the Scott’s, the Kelly’s; but also the Obama’s the George’s,  & the Kim’s, the Gordon’s & the Angela’s too!

We’ve had a few of our clients send us a copy of a rather official-looking email they received over the last couple of days. We’ve even gotten a couple of copies of it at our own addresses. So far, we’ve seen subject lines starting with “A new settings file for the…” and “For the owner of the…”

In short, it’s a phishing scam and you shouldn’t click the link. Here’s one version of the email:

Dear user of the example.com mailing service!

We are informing you that because of the security upgrade of the mailing service your mailbox (someone@example.com) settings were changed. In order to apply the new set of settings click on the following link:

http://example.com/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email=someone@example.com&from=example.com&fromname=someone

Best regards, example.com Technical Support.

Again, don’t click the link. Even though the link looks like it points to your company’s site, it will actually bring you to a site that tries to steal your personal information. A quick search brings up some results of similar emails over the last few days sent to people around the world, so don’t be surprised if you see a similar email sent your way.

As always, we’ll never ask for your personal information via email. If you ever have a question about the legitimacy of an email, give us a call or send us a note to check before you decide what to do with it!