There is no doubt that SEO has transitioned on many aspects during 2019. Conventional SEO methods have continued to diminish in effectiveness and new trends and ideas are beginning to emerge. According to this article, a few predictions that are being made for SEO this year include an increase of Artificial Intelligence expansions for search engines and social media, a probable increase in voice searches, and mobile traffic changes in Google Discover. It’s interesting, Google made its first public announcement that good content does not always have to be human-made. Machines are learning new algorithms and they now have the ability to generate content that is useful to users. Google will most likely revise their guidelines regarding robot generated content in the near future. SEO in 2020 continues to build on the importance of understanding your customers’ needs and wants; specifically, to better understand how they are using your website in order to grow your online presence and increase sales.
Few Short Weeks Until Windows 7 Reaches End Of Life
The year 2020 is only days away and with a new year, comes many new changes to occur including some in the technology world. One of the biggest changes to expect is the end of life support for the beloved Windows 7 operating system. What does it mean exactly for the end of life? Many consumers are under the impression that their PC will no longer function and therefore “die”, however, the computer will continue to perform daily tasks but will shortly become outdated with no new updates to keep it optimal and secure for your tasks. The last security update will be released on January 14, 2020 and Microsoft is continuing to urge its users to upgrade their software to the newest available. According to the article, there are roughly 28% of windows users still using Windows 7 currently. It is important to adapt to the new upgrades/ changes as time continues on and there are many helpful tools available online or at your local computer store that can help guide you through the process.
Jetpack Plugin Creates Security Flaw for WordPress Websites
Website owners and admins are being strongly urged to update to the latest version of Jetpack 7.9.1 for security risks that have been an open vulnerability since the older version of Jetpack 5.1. Some people may be wondering what Jetpack plugin is or what is it used for. It is a widely used WordPress plugin for websites to provide free security with features to optimize a website’s performance, create site backups, and run preventative scans for infections as needed. To read more information about Jetpack and the effects of this vulnerability, more can be read in this article. Although this new information can sound very alarming, many users that were currently using an outdated version of Jetpack have already been automatically updated to the most recent update but it is always important to manually check your website and make sure that this update has been applied to your specific account as well.
Marketing Your Business Through Social Media
It is very important for a business to choose proper marketing strategies to invest in their company to be successful. One of the most useful and cost-effective marketing tools inside of digital marketing a small business can use to reach their target audience is through social media. What makes social media so powerful for marketing? It has been studied that over 97% of businesses are using it to reach their audiences, below are several reasons why.
Your Customers and Competition Are on Social Media
One main reason for small businesses to be utilizing social media for their marketing strategies is the fact that many of your customers are spending their time on these channels already. Studies have shown that 70% of the U.S population has at least 1 form of social media accounts created. With the great mass amount of people accessing these platforms, sometimes even multiple times each day, it creates a great opportunity for businesses that are wanting to reach online audiences. Not only are your potential customers using social media but so are many competitors. No matter what style of industry, or who the targeted audience is, social media can impact your business marketing. To remain competitive is important to build a presence online in social media to present your brand in a unique way to show your industry expertise and knowledge.
Social Media Marketing Is Cost-Effective
Choosing to use social media for your marketing needs will help you cut costs for advertisement without sacrificing results. Social media will cost you time that you invest in creating and posting content more than the actual dollar amount associated. Even just a simple few hours a week focused on your account can see great results. If your company decides to use social media advertising as part of your marketing strategy, depending on the goals of the campaign it can still be inexpensive to run paid ads on media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Improve Search Engine Rankings
When increasing your online appearance through social media, there is a good chance you are also, in turn, improving your search engine optimization at the same time. Search engines such as Google may use social media presence as a factor in website ranking. Brands that tend to be successful have healthy interactive social media accounts that can flag their accounts as valuable and trusting. Search engines also pay attention to behavior on social media that has content with links and social signals, such as likes, and shares associated with the posts as well. Ranking factors are in a constant change but having an updated and well-maintained social media account will typically always bring positive effects.
Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing. All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results. For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.
Are Your Downloads Killing Your PC?
Having proper knowledge and routine maintenance for your computers will extend the life of a PC. Installing regular updates for windows or keeping your antivirus up to date are a few helpful downloads that need to be done in order to stay secure. However, there are several harmful downloads that you could be installing in the background without even being fully aware of it occurring. In the article published by fox news, some of the common downloads that can be harmful are discussed more in detail. Often, many users will try to “clean up” their own PCs by downloading freeware that promises be helpful by speeding it up, enhancing online experience, or make certain tasks more simple but unfortunately, it will typically make things a much larger mess than it was in the beginning and can install malware/ viruses and other unwanted programs that will take up hard drive space and actually slow down the PC not speed it up. In life, we typically get what we pay for and should be very conscious of what the word “Free” is really entailing. If you need a professional computer clean up or repair, the technicians at CPS are available to always be of help and offer their technical expertise. Give us a call today!
The Difference of a Custom-Made Website
When owning a business, one of your top priorities is to find the best way for your customers to find your company and promote the desired appearance to provide a unique first impression to potential new customers and will create interest for them to reach out to begin working with. The way technology is today, it is important for your company website to display your company in a professional, creative, and responsive way that will set you apart from your competitors. Unfortunately, in the web design market, many phrases of “custom design” are used but not to its true meaning. What makes a website truly custom made? Let us take a closer look at web development and understand what will be the best website for your business needs.
Using Templates
One of the most common ways to start a website is by using a simple site such as WordPress or other companies such as Wix or Squarespace that provide a theme that allows a person to choose different templates that can be purchased and edited with their personal business information. These type of website creations are chosen mostly due to the low startup cost aspect as well as development times are much shorter. However, as with many things in life, you get what you pay for as it’s always said. There are disadvantages that should be considered when using these website creators as well. Many other businesses could be using the very same templates that you have chosen so this will remove the uniqueness and will not stand out as much from competitors.
Choosing A Custom Design
Quality web design is an art and science incorporated together. The placement of pictures, videos, shortcuts, etc is all arranged in a specific format that has been analyzed for industry trends and to better target a business audience. The main goal of a customized website is for the visitors to gain a complete visual representation of a company and what they have to offer. Having a custom website will also allow the possibilities for specific features to be utilized as well whether you are needing to incorporate e-commerce capabilities or be able to utilize CRM software to input data from a website. Another large aspect that will impact a custom-designed website is your SEO placement. Google can recognize a site’s uniqueness and in turn, will promote a higher rank than a standard template website.
Weighing the Options
Making business decisions is not always easy and of course, everyone is always hoping they are making the right choice based on the facts that they are presented with. A company that is just starting out and needs to get a website up fast and inexpensively may get away with a template or website with starter sites available. Keep in mind, these templates should be used as just a simple stepping stone and the only way to reach the top of your business’s potential is by choosing a custom design. Several websites will state that custom website design is dying however that is far from the actual truth. There is no doubt, as time continues on there are more templates being used each day but this will only give a custom-designed website even more of an advantage, it’s better to stand out than to blend in with the rest!
Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing. All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results. For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.
Which Platform is Better? PHP or Java?
The web development industry is constantly changing it is important for web programmers to understand and learn and multitude of different programming tools and languages to continue to create unique and custom websites that are both mobile friendly and responsive to users. Two of the larger coding languages that are well known are PHP and Java which are equally popular and do many of the same functions. A question that is often wondered by business owners is what type of website will be best to use? In the article, a list of pros and cons such as cost, compatibility, speed, ease of learning and other general differences between these two languages to help you better understand which code will be best for your site. Still uncertain which type of website you are looking for? CPS specializes in custom website programming that our team of experts can sure to answer all of your questions.
AI Technology Is Changing the Digital Marketing World
When thinking of future technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one that we believe is coming soon. Wrong, AI technology is already here, and it is already changing how many businesses perform and this is now including the digital marketing industry as well. AI-based tools are designed to optimize campaign planning, predictive analysis, automation services, and other decision making. These tools can be very helpful
Benefits Of Managed IT Services for Your Computer Needs
Running a business of any size is no small task for a person to accomplish. It can be quite stressful to always be deciding what is best for the company and finding new ways to make it more profitable and efficient. Knowing the ins and outs of your business is key to being successful but what happens when you require additional services such as computer IT that personnel at your business are not familiar with? We live in a world full of computers that are designed to make our lives and businesses easier to run and maintain but when the systems potentially go down or need upgrades as time continues to change rapidly with technology you will find there is a new problem to resolve. Outsourcing your IT needs or more specifically using managed IT will benefit your business dramatically and below you will find exact reasons why.
Preventative solutions that reduce risk
Every business investment will require some type of risk. When utilizing a managed IT company to service your computer IT needs, much of the risk is removed since you will gain the expertise and knowledge of the professionals in the IT field and will understand the compliance and security issues to be on the lookout for. Also, with the expert knowledge, precautions will be installed and will receive better performance with little to no downtime. Daily system scans are done on the entire network of the company to verify no security issues or will be informed of smaller issues that can be repaired faster than if a problem was neglected and became much larger in turn saving more money.
Predictable and Controlled Expenses
A customized plan will be designed by the managed IT consultants to provide the best solutions for your business no matter size if a small business or a global industry leader. Considerations that will help determine the plans that are enough for your company will be details discussed such as budgets, timelines, and future upgrades that are required to take place. Once the proper plan is decided, it will give a peace of mind knowing that your IT will be able to maintain and provide quality service that you will not have to question what will be covered and what repairs won’t. Having managed service providers also help minimize the likelihood of inconvenient, and sometimes very expensive network disasters.
Quicker Service
When businesses work with managed IT consultant’s they will receive the quickest response time support. Wide range of services include 24/7 system and network monitoring, server/ workstation installation and maintenance, security audits, employee troubleshooting and much more. At CPS, we also have a customer support portal that allows customers to request immediate support through in house IT ticket system that consultants can receive day or night. Proper monitoring of systems will inform your IT professionals when an issue is found before it becomes a large issue to save more downtime as well. Communication with software and hardware vendors can be done directly through managed IT company so that a business owner does not have to take additional time trying to understand technical terms or complicated conversations.
Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing. All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results. For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.
Digital Marketing Trends Not to Be Ignored In 2019
Marketing trends have changed more in the last 5 years than any other prior period of time and don’t show any signs of letting up anytime soon. No longer can marketers rely solely on a campaign of
Search Engine Optimization A/B Split Testing
One of the most important trends you will want to implement is the use of A/B split testing. This allows you to isolate variables that increase traffic volumes to your website in an effort to target your approach to changes in website content. Different online tools can be utilized to point out areas of potential, examples where page impressions are high but the CTR is low, to improve in order to increase clicks and traffic.
Artificial Intelligence
It is estimated that by the year 2020, AI technology will penetrate almost every new software products and services. AI is effective in analyzing different consumer behaviors and search patterns. Data is pulled from various social media platforms, blog posts, and such in a manner that helps companies understand how customers are finding their products and services.
Programmatic Advertising
This type of advertising allows AI to automate the buying of ad products in order to target more specific audiences. Real-time bidding opportunities, as with most all real-time strategies, allow more efficient, quicker use of data relating in higher conversions and lower costs to acquire them.
Chatbots
Chatbots are computer programs that are designed to simulate conversations with human users via the internet, text, or phone. This would allow your company to be in constant contact with customers, no matter what time or day it is. Chatbots allow for 24/7 responsiveness.
Personalization
In order to stand out above your competitors it is crucial that you personalize your marketing approach including content, emails, products, services, and more. Generic ads are annoying whereas personalized ads are appealing. When emails are sent based on personal behaviors they are at least 3 times more effective in boosting sales than mass e-mail blasts.
Video Marketing
Another important trend to prepare for has to do with video marketing which doesn’t just involve YouTube. It is proven that video marketing on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn causes higher engagement with a wider audience.
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are well-known celebrities from Instagram and YouTube with a large number of followers. Similar to word of mouth promotion, we are more likely to take recommendations from people we trust. Influencer marketing has been proven to be more effective than corporate advertising.
Micro-Moments
These are the times when we turn to devices like smartphones to take immediate action. Moments where we want information right away and do not what to wait for it. Marketers need to take advantage of the moments when people are searching for products, services, or information.
Digital marketing, just like SEO, is ever changing. No two strategies are the same and therefor there isn’t a one size fits all approach that can be taken when providing comprehensive digital marketing strategies for clients. It is important to keep an eye out and be observant to up and coming trends that are occurring around you.
Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing. All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results. For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.