Why do we accept Bitcoin? We’ve recently started accepting Bitcoin as payment for our services. And that’s part of a larger shift among IT, SaaS and other progressive businesses. As of this year, 15,174 businesses worldwide accept bitcoin with a huge number of them being SMEs in the USA. And this trend is only growing. Businesswire reports, “The HSB nationwide survey conducted by Zogby Analytics showed that 36 percent of the small and mid-sized businesses accepted cryptocurrency, while 59 percent of those companies purchased digital currency for their own use as well.” So, it looks like this blockchain-powered money is here to stay. But why would you want to accept Bitcoin? We share our main reasons below: Low transaction fees Accepting Bitcoin is a great way to reduce your cost of sale. According to Investopedia, “While it is considered standard among fiat currency exchanges to charge so-called “maker” and “taker” fees, as well as occasional deposit and withdrawal fees, Bitcoin users are not subject to the litany of traditional banking fees associated with fiat currencies. This means no account maintenance or minimum balance fees, no overdraft charges, and no returned deposit fees, among many others.” Think about all the fees you’re charged by your bank and credit card processor – that’s the potential upside. Now you will have some fees charged by the wallets & payment processors you use, but these are relatively minor in comparison. Fast international payments Next, you can make Bitcoin payments at lighting-fast speed. Traditional overseas payments and wire transfers have hefty fees, conversion charges and waiting or processing times. But with crypto, that’s no longer a concern. With Bitcoin, we’re now able to get paid by overseas clients faster and more securely without the added hassle of international financial reporting requirements. However, that may change for US citizens if the US government has its way. The Verge reports, “The current FinCEN proposal makes more work for these exchanges and for the people operating within them as well as undermining the anonymity for which cryptocurrency is famous. Taken in combination with another recent proposed rule change about how to report cryptocurrency that crosses borders, you can see why some cryptocurrency enthusiasts are nervous.” For non-bankers Lastly, not everyone wants to participate in traditional banking. And, unless your business accepts cash, those buyers were out of reach. But cryptocurrency brings in a new host of privacy-focused consumers into the marketplace. Investopedia also reports, “Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, has been dubbed by some as the secure money of the Internet. Using proper caution, one can make or receive payments to anyone without revealing any sensitive information linked to their bitcoin accounts or wallets.” And this is great for people who never had a bank account for those very reasons. By accepting Bitcoin, you’re allowing these people to transact with your business anonymously -which is a requirement of their patronage. Want to talk about how you can enable Bitcoin payments for your small or medium-sized business? Our expert team is standing by.
The best of IoT Tech Expo 2021 According to IoT Tech News, “IoT has crept into various aspects of our lives, from voice assistants to smartwatches, and they are shaping the way we work, talk, and engage with each other. In 2021, it’s clear that is here to stay, with countless practical use cases around the world. There are thought to be 35.82 billion IoT devices installed worldwide and a markets&markets report has suggested that this will rise to 75.44 billion devices by 2025.” In the recent IoT Tech Expo 20201, held in London, conversations focused on the Green New Deal, business IoT and consumer-facing IoT. So what products do we see shaping the conversation going forward? We explore these three key topics in this 5 minute, best of IoT Tech Expo 2021 recap. Green IoT A topic that came up over and over at the IoT Tech Expo 2021 was green tech. It’s not a new conversation. IEEE postulates that “complicated operations (such as device interconnection, data transmission and service optimization) will consume substantial energy in contrast with the limited energy storage of IoT devices. To improve architectural sustainability and ultimately reduce systemic cost, the [energy-efficient] (green) design of IoT has become more prominent. In particular, with the continuous penetration of advanced information and communications (ICT) technologies (such as VR/AR, UAVs, and automobiles), our smart world is being surrounded by big IoT data that craves energy-efficient caching, computing, networking and securing.” So, look to technologies and products that enable smart buildings and grids to lessen the environmental impact of these interconnected devices. Business IoT Is your workgroup remote now? If so, you’re not alone. And that’s increasing the requirement for IoT devices that allow seamless corporate collaboration. At the IoT Tech Expo 2021, we were able to consider the application of tools like the Cisco Webex Board for in-person and digital whiteboard meeting collaboration. Or door monitoring and access systems that allow you to remotely control building access from any secure location. Lastly, maybe voice assistants to quickly schedule meetings or transcribe meeting notes; it’s all already possible but we never needed to adopt it until now. As teams move to new permanent ways of working, expect to see more business IoT become commonplace.. And budgets will expand to make these tech investments. Consumer-facing IoT Lastly, we’ll see the data we capture from IoT devices become business assets. And corporations will employ more IoT to improve the customer experience. Deloitte states, “companies should seek to create a non-financial value for consumers in order for them to feel comfortable giving up their information. This helps achieve a balance between getting the information the business needs while making sure their consumers feel like they are getting something in return.” So, as we saw at the IoT Tech Expo 2021; more personalisation and predictive engagement will provide help, not pushy sales talk. In-home IoT devices will enable this from the client’s side like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. While on the retailer side, tracking and routing IoT devices will improve the shipping and ordering journey for the customer further. Expect a better understanding of the real-time and forecasted conditions down to the street level. Want to talk about the internet of things, collaboration and green tech? Our expert team is standing by.
Top 10 website development trends in 2021 Now that the year is coming to an end, what were the top 10 website development trends in 2021? What design, copy or media elements defined the year or maintained their dominance? If you’re pressed for time, we see the standout trends as: COVID-19 policies & procedures pages become standard practice. Artificial Intelligence and bots help with UX and customer service. Single Page Application (SPA) sites increase in popularity. Mobile-first development is now the norm but watch out for Apple users. Serverless applications and architecture enable remote working. Product test automation reduces development costs. Motion UI harnessed to funnel users through the journey. IoT dominates the boardroom with web crossover. Content optimised for voice search first. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) plugin saves dev costs. We’ll sort them into the three key development areas of mobile-first, pandemic related and UX inspired trends and provide a bit more flavour to their emergence below. Mobile-first trends More than half of all internet traffic is mobile now. We don’t even need to link you to the reports, intuitively you know. Chances are your own browsing habits have migrated to mostly mobile in recent years. So, it’s obvious that Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), Mobile-First Development and Single Page Application (SPA) are leading the charge in design for phones. We expect these trends to continue with good web development focused on near-instant mobile load speeds, rapid conversion and streamlined UI. Lastly, recent changes by Apple on user privacy rules on their devices have changed a lot about what can be tracked now. Essentially not much is passed on to advertisers, websites and merchants any longer, so it’s a space to watch as well. Pandemic-related Privately and in the corporate world, COVID has changed our lives forever. Safety precautions are now listed on nearly every website and our work from home directives have informed tech. AWS (AWS Lambda), Google Cloud (Google Functions) and Microsoft Azure (Azure Functions) lead the charge on serverless computing allowing commerce and business to continue uninterrupted. And collaboration service partners like Cisco are already thinking about syncing their tech with any return to the office with IoT devices like the Cisco Webex Board. We’ve also cut out unnecessary costs in support through automation and bots to help with testing and customer service. UX-focused Artificial Intelligence and bots now dominate the first-touch response for many businesses. They help direct users to resources or manage workflows for service departments. But design is contributing to the user experience too. According to InVision, “motion helps make UIs expressive and easy to use, it’s one of the newer members of the UI design family.” But with new, vast SASS libraries, that’s becoming less of a concern. Lastly, all content is slowly becoming optimised for natural language as sites compete for ‘position zero’ across search engines and home devices. Want Alexa or Google Home to read your content as a result? You’ll need to write for a natural voice response. Want to talk about design, UX or anything else on the internet? Our expert team is standing by.
What brands need to know about NFTs – non-fungible tokens NFTs- non-fungible tokens are the latest buzzwords to emerge from the cryptocurrency space. Chances are you’ve heard about NFT auctions generating millions of pounds for seemingly worthless pixels. Maybe the whole thing just makes no sense. Or perhaps you’re thinking of how you could use NFTs as a brand? Here is what brands need to know about NFTs or non-fungible tokens: NFTs are digital coupons that entitle you ownership of a digital thing. If it’s vintage, it’s gold. Nostalgia generates revenue. Digital land grabs are happening. Celebs are selling out and cashing up One of a kind According to Forbes, “Although they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notoriety now because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. A staggering £123 million has been spent on NFTs since November 2017.” It’s essentially a coupon that entitles the buyer to own a digital good. That could be a piece of art or something more abstract like a dancing cat video. Because it’s one of a kind, it creates the same scarcity that posthumous artworks do. It’s made up of snippets of code that can’t be reproduced and are stored using the same tech that enables crypto. In fact, most NFTs are bought with cryptocurrency. Nostalgia reigns Maybe it’s just because so many crypto-investors are millennials but 80s, 90s and 00s nostalgia is fetching a hefty price. From beloved YouTube videos like ‘Charlie Bit My Finger” to bespoke collections from Atari for Centipede and Pog; if it’s retro it’s selling like hotcakes. Buyers are snapping up NGTs for digital nostalgia at an alarming rate. Want to own digital Dunkaroos biscuits? It’s possible. For brands with a history in the recent past, this presents an opportunity to monetise old assets in new and exciting ways. Acres of bits A digital land grab is happening too. From parcelling up the real world into fake lots or selling off bits of the ‘digitalverse’; people are buying and selling digital real estate. Why should brands care? Well, it’s expected to boom in the next decade. According to Republic, “Humans now conduct much of their lives through a screen, and virtual worlds that exist only on computers have cropped up. These are places where people can “congregate” by using avatars and have interactive social experiences–entirely virtually. These online communities are called metaverses.” And you can buy them. Is there an opportunity to advertise your product or service in the hubs? Maybe you want to own the metaverse around your actual offices? The possibilities are still unfolding. Celebrity payday From selling the rights to unreleased tracks to making digital doodles, celebs are cashing in. And that’s good for their relationship with fans. But is there a way for brands to participate? Think about famous ad collaborations that would make a great NFT. Do you own “Where’s the Beef?” or “Got Milk?” – those clips could net you millions. Consider your back catalogue of popular ads and highlight any that could see new life as an NFT. And if you need to learn how to sell them, this guide is helpful. Want to talk about NFTs- non-fungible tokens, websites or anything else on the internet? Our expert team is clued in.
5 signs you’ve outgrown your web hosting Web hosting is a modern commodity. You need to have the right abound of storage, bandwidth and speed to enable your customers to buy. Fall down at any of those hurdles and you’re leaving cash on the table. So, you probably know not to simply go with the lowest quote you can get. Chances are, when you make your hosting selection, you carefully compared the packages to make the right fit. But now you may be feeling something is off. The arrangement isn’t as comfortable as it was before. Here are 5 signs you’ve outgrown your web hosting: Hungry neighbours taking more than their fair share. Show load times are costing you money. Poor IP reputation is getting you flagged. Bad performance at peak times. Non-standard software is banned. Hungry Neighbours With any shared service agreement, resources are pooled and used across all subscribers. But not everyone has the same needs. You can bet that for every few low-bandwidth users, there’s a super consumer who is pushing that load to its limits. If your host doesn’t have limiters in place, you probably have noticed a drop in service levels as your host has gained popularity. Slow Loading If you notice that your site’s page loading time has taken a nosedive, it’s time to consider a switch. You can monitor that here. And don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by good desktop loading times. Mobile traffic is fast overtaking desktop browsing as the primary medium. If your mobile load times are slow, you’re missing out on custom. Bad Reputation You must monitor your IP too. If they’re getting flagged for spam and malware, that’s going to affect your business. There are several tools available to keep track of your host’s reputation. If there are any warnings, it’s possible another client of your web host has been exploited. This can happen if they’ve not kept their website up to date or failed to enact good security. But it will hurt you, so it’s best to look at making a change. Peak Time Struggle Shared server resources share demand too. So, during busy periods, the RAM and CPU may struggle to keep up. As a result, you’ll see a temporary reduction in loading speed and hang time on processing functions. The downside is that this may cost you consumer trust. If a payment screen hangs, a client is unlikely to attempt the purchase twice for fear of being double charged. Standard Only Out of the box tools will rarely suit a growing business. When you began, basic software like MySQL was just fine. But now you need better, non-standard software like Percona. If your web host won’t allow you to integrate the systems you need, it may be time to move on. You don’t need to settle for basic programs. We’d love to help you evaluate your web host. Let’s talk about what our hosting packages can offer if you have noticed any of these five signs you’ve outgrown your web hosting.
How to Choose Good Images for Website Sales Conversions The type of images you choose could be reducing your sales figures. Yes, that’s right! People respond to images in different ways and picking the wrong ones could put customers off your product. And it’s not just that. You could be reducing your overall web traffic if you don’t have any images. According to Jeff Bullas, “Articles with images get 94% more total views.” That’s a huge difference in traffic. But having good quality images will make a huge positive impact. So, if you’re wondering how to choose good images for website sales conversions, consider the following: Skip the cheezy, staged stock photos. Show real people having an emotion. Don’t just go with what you like, test it! Use the best quality and clarity image you can. Make it relevant to the content and true to the brand. Ban cheesy stock You know the ones. A comedically overstressed worker pulling at his hair, a frazzled housewife surrounded by messy toys or a smiling ethnically ambiguous woman clutching a shopping bag; these don’t really say anything new. Think about communicating a unique message. Look for photos that jump off the page at you. Scroll past any you feel you’ve seen before. There are loads of options for great free stock photos like Unsplash and Pixabay. Show real emotion People buy from people. Try to use human faces or human body parts wherever you can. This will help your visitor imagine themselves using your product or service. Try to show them what they’ll feel when you solve their problem. Oh and it never hurts if the people in your images resemble your target audience too. Test, test, test Often, people just pick an image they like and go with it. They never actually stop to think if this image will resonate with the customer. One way to test this is to have multiple versions of the same landing page with different images. Keep the one that performs the best. Do this with every page on your site for the best results. Clear, high quality Even if you find the ‘perfect’ image, don’t bother with it if the resolution and quality are low. Today’s modern consumers are used to crisp, crystal imagery. Think of all the perfectly filtered Instagram images they scroll past each day. A poor quality image will do more harm than good. Just don’t chance it. Source another image. Totally relevant Not only should the image be relevant to the topic discussed within that element or article, but the brand should factor too. Think about your brand colours and values. If you’re a bright and fun brand you shouldn’t select dark-background imagery for example. There’s a visual disconnect there between the image and the overall page. They need to marry up. Images are very important to design and sales performance. But if you want more tips on how to improve your website SEO overall, check out our previous article.
Ways to Speed Up Website Loading Times Website loading times have a huge impact on your ranking in search. So, it’s one of the most important issues to address for SEO. There are quite a few quick wins that will make your website faster. And a lot of them are free or incredibly cheap to implement. We’ll discuss ways to speed up website loading times including: Using image compression to reduce file sizes. Employing lazy loading to reduce the bandwidth burden. Applying minify to streamline code on your website. Using browser caching to make repeat visits faster. Image Compression Images are some of the most bandwidth-heavy elements on any website. So, you’ll gain a lot of benefit from making these files as small as you can without losing detail. WordPress has a host of free or cheap image compression options available. You simply install and activate the plugin, then chose the level of compression and let it run. Remember that the number of pictures you have makes a difference too, so try to group images together if you can for fewer requests. That way, it is trying to load only one large image instead of 6 small images. Lazy Loading Lazy loading does what it says on the tin. When you install a lazy loader, your images and text will only appear for the viewable screen. That means, if someone hasn’t started scrolling down the page, the content isn’t being retrieved. Because nothing is loading unless it’s needed, site speed goes way up. Enabling lazy load is easy for WordPress and most other platforms since it’s core to modern design. If you have an older website, it’s a great idea to check that it’s activated for better load times. Your website administrator can help you with this. Minify When you minify code, what you’re actually doing is getting rid of any unnecessary comments, punctuation or pointless characters within the script. Similar to lazy load and image compression, some WordPress plugins offer this with an all-in-one tool. You’ll need to minify all the code on your site including Java, CSS and HTML to see the most benefit. Once the erroneous characters are removed, your site will perform better and load faster. That’s because it’s not having to read as much data to deliver the page. In this case, less is more. Caching Caching is like memory. Your visitor’s browser can store all the info it needs about your website and save it for later. That way, on repeat visits, they don’t need to load everything from scratch. You can set the limits on how long you want the data stored. And best practice suggests a year is a great refresh period. If you need more info about how to implement caching, check out Google’s advice. As we said before, page loading times are extremely important to your search engine ranking, so improving it is critical. We hope these tips helped and if you need more, check out our previous article on SEO.
SEO Plugins for WordPress – What to look out for in 2020 Gallery Getting traffic to your website is an ongoing battle faced by ever small and large Getting traffic to your website is an ongoing battle faced by every small and large business owner. SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – is a major tool in organically driving visitors to your website. But improving your SEO can be difficult when you’re not employing the expertise of dedicated SEO experts. However, SEO Plugins for WordPress can help! The value of SEO starts with search results, as without a decent SEO strategy it is highly unlikely that your website will ever appear as a recommended search result. Our first tip, and one that has inspired much of this blog’s content, is to invest in WordPress. WordPress is a blogging website hosting provider which allows a number of Plugins to make your life easier. All you have to do is determine which Plugin is the most compatible with your vision. So, as we strive towards 2020, we’ve pulled together a list of some of the best SEO Plugins for WordPress. Yoast Yoast SEO is one of the most valuable Plugins on the market, with over 5 million downloads on a global scale. Simply by looking at this one figure you should already be recognising the popularity of Yoast SEO – and for good reason. Yoast handles a wide range of aspects across your WordPress site’s SEO. This includes metadata for both homepage content and individual articles, a detailed sitemap that is automatically shared with different search engines, SEO and readability. And best of all, the basic Yoast SEO plugin is a free download for WordPress users. It has been built in a way that is perfectly user friendly for anyone – even complete beginners. Of course, there is a paid-for upgrade version as well which includes a few additional features, but the basic plugin does more than enough to help you see results. So, what are you waiting for? Schema Schema is what we call a rich snippet plugin. A rich snippet is an additional content that pops up as being immediately interactive, for example, user reviews. Generally, rich snippet content is visually presented and highly compelling, not only enticing potential customers but also enabling search engines to see exactly what your website is about. Of course, adding rich snippets is only one part of improving your online presence. In order for that additional content to be viewed, you still have to have a solid SEO strategy. But with Schema – All In One Rich Snippets, you have the freedom to create a number of different types of content. Including reviews, events and videos. Schema supports the creation and use of rich snippets and is a goldmine of great content once you’ve got your head around how to use it. Broken Link Checker Managing a frequent series of blog posts can throw up unprecedented problems with links. As your site grows, the number of links your site is managing grows. Including both internal and external links in line with all those SEO tips that advocate the use of external links within your blogs. Well, that’s all very well, but what happens when things start to go wrong? The Broken Link Checker Plugin does just that – it checks your content and flags up any broken links or missing images. It also tracks any broken comment boxes or edited URL’s that can damage your own links. Why is this important? Search engines can tell if your site is full of broken content and links, and this can impact on your SEO negatively. WordPress’s Broken Link Checker makes sure that doesn’t happen – so you can just sit back and enjoy creating content. Google Analytics Google Analytics for WordPress has millions of installations, with the Monster Insights version attracting the most popularity in recent years. This is because all of your Analytics content can be viewed from inside your WordPress dashboard. This makes the process very user friendly and streamlined – connecting the GA plugin with your WordPress site automatically. There is both a free and a premium option for the Google Analytics plugin, with the free version providing you with the bare minimum of data you may find useful. The paid option delves a lot deeper into your website activity and as a result, becomes a lot more valuable in tracking site visits. AMP AMP deals mainly with mobile optimisation and the problems that arose when sites began to create content, especially for mobile. Though mobile optimisation seemed like the most important thing at the time, by creating great visual content for mobile the site creators began to impact on their response time. The more content is on the mobile page, the longer it takes to load – and the bounce rate went through the roof. The answer? Accelerated Mobile Pages. AMP was created to optimise the loading of mobile pages, using specially created HTML code to make the page load faster. By downloading the AMP plugin for WordPress, you can rest assured that your website content will become quicker. And this makes it more user friendly for those visiting your site on a mobile device. And with its user-friendly interface designed for website owners as well, using the AMP plugin will improve the experience for you as well as your customers. EWWW Image Optimiser If your content relies on text, adding images and infographics is a must-do to liven it up. Not only do these reflect well on your SEO, but they also help your website to retain the attention of readers. The trick is to make sure that visually engaging content isn’t impacting on your web page load time. The EWWW Image Optimiser was designed to optimise images whenever you upload a new one. Ensuring it only takes up the amount of space it needs to across your site – with no limit on how many images it will upload. When you choose to download Image Optimiser, it will also give you the option to optimise all your existing images across your website. An added bonus that means you don’t have to go through and manually edit every image. Jetpack by WordPress This one was made by WordPress themselves. It’s a culmination of a number of other plugins you may have downloaded throughout your time as a WordPress user. Able to complete several tasks simultaneously, Jetpack covers SEO tools, analytics, site management and performance optimisation, image loading, site backup, security, and much more. It’s a bit like an umbrella that sits atop all the other plugin experiences. Jetpack updates itself on a regular basis to ensure you always have the up to date new features and bug fixes. All in One WP Security and Firewall Added security is something we recommend investing in wherever possible, and All in one WP is one of the best. By guiding you and sitting across everything from password strength to Google reCaptcha, this plugin gives you live updates on the security strength of your website. Plus, it takes ownership across a number of important areas that could otherwise be vulnerable. W3 Total Cache In 2020 users are growing increasingly busy, with little to no time to wait for your website to load. Google and other search engines are also evolving to recognise site speed. It is fast becoming the element of your site that you simply cannot ignore. W3 Total Cache serves as a page store for each individual user. It ensures each time they open a page, there is no need for the page to reload completely. For this reason, enabling page caching is probably the most important feature to note when you set up this plugin. In short, a cache is a form of memory that stores the pages visited. It ensures quick load time for all devices, delivers all the content to high quality, and is compatible with different types of hosting. Ultimate Nofollow For every link you include on your website, Google will backtrack to find out exactly where it came from and why you have linked it on your own site. And when you add in a link, selecting the Nofollow button will make clear to Google that your webpage ranking should not impact that of the link’s target. In short, you are telling Google that the link destination should not benefit from your site’s SEO. Doing this in WordPress is a little more challenging than on any other site as there is no automated option, but the Ultimate Nofollow plugin provides an extra checkbox to your profile when adding new links. Of course, all of the above Plugins cover very different areas of your WordPress site, and depending on your market and target audience, it is likely only a couple of these will be relevant to you. The thing to remember is that plugins actually can make your life a lot easier – and the millions who already use them serve as great advocates for their value. Trust the masses and start delving further into understanding your WordPress site and the options available to you. Need help with your WordPress site?? Talk to us.
Domain Name Fame – 10 of the most expensive domain names For those who aren’t sure what we mean by domain name, this refers to the For those who aren’t sure what we mean by domain name, this refers to the URL that appears in the search bar when you land on a certain website. Like Google.com, Facebook.com, and BBC.co.uk, this is what people need to remember to type into the URL bar when they want to find your website. So ensuring the domain name is short and punchy is fundamental to a successful website. Punchier URL’s tend to be more expensive domain names. The problem is the number of websites out there. Finding a unique domain name is tough, particularly when you are in a sector with lots of competition. You can forget the generic URL’s that you might have wanted – to find something unique as we approach 2020, you have to think outside the box. But this article isn’t here to tell you what to do. This article is to inspire you – so without further ado, here are 25 of the most successful, and most expensive, domain names ever. Introduction It is worth noting that many of the organisations involved in purchasing and selling the most expensive domain names, do not want actual figures revealed. From wanting to keep their competition at arm’s length, to wanting to retain their financial anonymity in the public sphere, there are many reasons to keep these numbers quiet. But their want is not enough, and for the last few years, the health of the domain name market has become public knowledge. Cars.com Cars.com is the most expensive domain name that has ever been sold – coming in at just under £700 million. Of course, if you think about it, something as simple as “cars.com” could refer to any number of things, leaving the clever people behind this domain name with the users looking for rental cars, new cars, used cars, taxi cars, and everything in between. If you’re looking to earn that top spot and invest in a great domain name, GoDaddy’s domain appraisal tool enables you to test the value of each domain name related to your business – using old search history and location to test the effectiveness. CarInsurance.com Another car one – slightly more targeted perhaps, but still worth a hefty £40 million on the market! Insurance.com Closely following its car-specific counterpart is the more general “Insurance.com”, referring to everything from home insurance to car insurance, life insurance and more. Insurance is something everyone has to deal with at some point and so this generic domain name serves as an umbrella over a massive chunk of the market. That’s probably why this domain name is worth just under £30 million. VacationRentals.com As we approach 2020, jobs are getting busier and annual leave is becoming more and more valuable – or at least that’s how it seems; particularly when we look at how much the domain name for Vacation Rentals fetched in. At a whopping £28 million, “VacationRentals.com” solidifies our love of a holiday home. And the rest… Counting down from the number 4 spot it is easy to spot a common trend in the most expensive domain names – and that is their generic nature. Perusing the list, it is easy to identify why these domain names have sold for the most – simply because the sheer volume of traffic they will be receiving from generic search terms must be huge. After all, for someone who doesn’t know exactly what they’re looking for, a generic search term is the easiest option. PrivateJet.com Voice.com Internet.com 360.com Insure.com Fund.com You can check out your own domain name’s worth by entering it into NameBio.com, or using the dedicated GoDaddy tool to evaluate your domain name. Need help with domains? Get in touch!
Fishing for Phishing Emails & How to Spot Them Phishing emails are often so ridiculous that you naturally pass the by without a moments Phishing emails are often so ridiculous that you naturally pass them by without a moments’ though – probably on a daily basis. Unfortunately, however, there are many unsuspecting victims who can fall for these fraudulent messages; opening the phishing emails and sometimes even following the actions recommended within the message. Though there is no “one size fits all” response to dealing with these phishing emails, there are a few different ways in which we can identify them – and help others as well. Check the URL If the message contains links to websites or other sources, spend a minute hovering over them to check the validity. Often a phishing email will contain mismatched URL’s, so the hyperlink will appear differently to the address displayed. If this is the case, the message isn’t real. Misleading Domain Names To understand this one, there is one simple trick you need to remember. If a domain name is linked to a legitimate site, the page you’re looking for will appear before the owner site. For example, info.domainname.com is perfectly legitimate, while domainname.maliciousinfo.com is not. Please do note that these are dots and not forward slashes, as the forward-slash should rightly be at the end of a web link as a page from the original site. If it’s a forward slash you’re safe, but a dot should always be checked. Silly spelling and grammar errors Phishing emails are often created by robots or simply by people who don’t have the competency to check their spelling and grammar thoroughly. If it contains silly errors, it’s probably not legit. Be careful about personal information In May 2018, every company was forced to become GDPR compliant. As such, any email you receive that asks you for personal information needs to be checked – because it most likely isn’t what it says it is, and if it was then that company would be in serious trouble. Is it realistic? This could well be a matter of opinion, but if the offer seems too good to be true then perhaps it is. If the message makes some wild and big promises and doesn’t appear to be from someone you recognise, it’s probably not real. Add that email to spam right away. Are you expecting it? If you get an email saying you’ve won the lottery, despite never having brought a lottery ticket in your life? Common sense points us towards this being a scam. This goes for any sort of prize draw you didn’t enter. Time to block them! Are they asking for any sort of money? It might not be today or even next month, but eventually, a phishing email is likely to try its luck and ask you for money. If all the other tell-tale signs haven’t thrown up a red flag yet, this one is sure to make you think twice. Do they threaten you? One of the most common kinds of phishing email makes claims against you and then tries to blackmail you into giving over personal information or even money. If the threats are unrealistic and you are being accused of something you haven’t done or aren’t in any way linked to, it’s a phishing email and should be blocked. Does it look on the surface like it could be from the government? If they’re pretending to be a government agency, they’re not. These kinds of organisations don’t just email you out of the blue, so you can rest assured that if they claim to be from the FBI or other law enforcement agencies, they’re trying to trick you. It doesn’t feel right The last one relies on your gut instinct more than anything – and that is this, does it feel right? If not, trust your instinct and ignore the message. The worst that can happen is a legit message has to contact you again because you ignored the first one. But that’s better that than falling for a phishing email. Need help with your data security? Get in touch!
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