kinetik IT blog spot

Remote backups have become the most popular (and cost-effective) way for companies to keep their data safe in the last few years. And yet, a lot of businesses are fighting this trend. Some are doing so out of the sheer reluctance to embrace change, while others mistakenly believe that they are better protected with tape backup drives and other in-office solutions.

If you fall into either of those categories, we want to tell you that now is the time to start thinking differently. Switching to a remote backup system makes your business and its data much, much more secure. Here are just a few of the most important reasons why:

You’re Safer From Accidents 

When you rely on backup drives within your own office, you’re essentially betting that anything that destroys your saved files is going to somehow leave your backup drive unaffected. That’s just not realistic. Every year, millions of businesses lose data to floods, fires, tornadoes, break-ins, and other issues. Having your data stored safely at a remote location gives you an extra layer of redundancy you might need some day.

Our Cloud Facility Is More Secure Than Your Office

Most business offices have only a minimal amount of security, and even less protection for sensitive computer equipment. A remote backup cloud facility, on the other hand, has the proper ventilation, climate control, automated fire response, on-site security personnel, 24/7 monitoring by trained IT professionals, and enormous backup power reserves. That means your files are far more protected in our cloud facility than they would ever be sitting on a drive in your office or facility.

It’s Much Harder to Steal Data From a Cloud Facility

A lot of business people worry that their data is going to be stolen when it’s transmitted back and forth through the cloud. However, because your stored files are sent to our facility using bank-level encryption, they are highly unlikely to be compromised. Chances are, our security is several times stronger than anything you use in your business communications or data storage.

Remote Backups Get You Working Again Faster

It’s not unusual to find that, after an incident in which data is lost, a company is unable to retrieve or use their own backups. In contrast, our remote backup systems are tested and validated regularly. We have set procedures designed to get you back up and running as quickly as possible, so you can be online at full strength and back to profitability much faster than you would otherwise.

Used correctly, pay per click advertising can be one of the best, and fastest, ways to bring qualified prospects to your website. It's not always as cost-effective as organic search engine optimization, of course, but it does have some distinct advantages: namely, that you can have it up and running in minutes, and that you can specify any landing page that you want, making changes and testing them instantly.

But one thing that a lot of online marketers struggle with is determining the right spending level for their PPC campaigns. Paying too much, and you're basically pouring money down a funnel; commit too little, and you'll never see results.

Here are three quick tips for setting your pay per click budget on Google, Yahoo, and Bing:

Measure sales closely. Ultimately, the decision about how much to spend should come down to the issue of how much you're earning in return. If it's coming back to you in new sales almost immediately, then don't stop as long as it's profitable; if not, then ask yourself why, and set your budget accordingly in the meantime.

Measure other activity. In some industries, a successful "hit" from the pay per click campaign might not lead to an immediate sale. That's why it's so important to track the source of new business, as well as residual effects over time. Just because someone doesn't call or pick up the phone right away doesn't mean they won't later. Often, a PPC campaign can be more profitable than you first think when you get the chance to look at the big picture.

Don't bid all out for no reason. Obviously, the first ad position on any page is going to get the most hits, all things being considered. But what a lot of marketers don't realize is that the second, third, and even eighth positions can get a lot of traffic too – especially in certain markets where there's a lot of competition. That means it doesn't always make sense to pay for the top spots. Try bidding for a few different positions and see how your results are affected – you might find that you can get a much bigger return by having your ad displayed a bit lower in the results.

For all the attention paid to things like social activity and search-optimized blog posts, it’s easy to forget that the static pages on your website – like the home page, about page, and product pages – still have to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to your Internet marketing plan. After all, it’s likely new and potential customers will view these a lot more frequently than they will your ongoing posts, which means they could make or break the profitability of your website.

But how do you know if your static pages are well written and designed? Here are four easy criteria you can use to judge their quality and effectiveness:

1. Is it easy to find? This might seem like a no-brainer, but no one can react to a page on your website if they can’t find it. Internal linking and menu structure are important here, but so are the appropriate search engine keywords. You can’t control the flow of traffic within your website itself, so things like clear navigation and a prominent “search” box can go a long way toward helping visitors find what they’re looking for.

2. Is it easy to scan and read? People love images, headlines, subheads, and lots of white space on a web page. What they hate are long blocks of text, confusing design elements, and pages that seem complicated. The simplicity of your page touches on both the layout and the copywriting, but the two elements should work together to create an impression that your content is easy to scan and understand.

3. Does it have a specific point and audience? Every web page you have should be tied to a specific audience (that is, what kind of viewer you’re hoping to attract to the page) and a point or purpose. The old rule of thumb to “keep to one idea or topic per page” still applies. You’re much better off having a two- or three-tiered navigation structure with simple, easy-to-understand pages than you are cramming multiple thoughts into a single longer section.

4. Is there a clear call to action? Make it as easy as possible for visitors to register for information, schedule appointments, make a purchase, or complete some other action when they reach the end of your web page. Having too many choices can confuse visitors, but there should be at least one or two options for them to continue and take the next step. That’s helpful for searchers who need answers, and the best way to get leads or customers from your pages.

Of course, when it comes to judging the pages on your website, nothing beats a thorough review of your web analytics to see how actual buyers are responding to them. Still, looking at these four questions should give you a quick sense of whether you’re moving in the right direction or not.

Of all the things that go into search engine optimization, one of the most important is one that a lot of business owners never really thought much about at the time, at least not in terms of Google's preferences: their website's domain. 

More often than not, URLs are chosen simply because they're simple, mirror the name of the business, or were just available at the time. Who knew that the right keywords in a domain may help make it to the top of search engine listings? Should you consider moving your website to a new domain just for the search engine benefits?

In most cases, the answer is no. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one of the most important is that new domains aren't given as much weight by Google, Yahoo, and Bing as ones that have been around for a while. In other words, the longer you hang around, the better you're doing.

Besides that, changing domains typically means updating all kinds of links, working with your hosting company to get the content moved, and going through a long and painful process where some customers can’t find you at all… and that's assuming you can find a better URL that's available, which is no easy trick these days.

In fact, the only time we would really recommend moving to a new domain name would be when you're very new and haven't made much progress yet, or when your current URL is close to a bigger brand, or one that people have some sort of negative association with. In other words, unless your domain was registered last week or is actively hurting business, you're probably better off building your search engine profile through new content, social media profiles, and other methods than you are picking up and heading for greener pastures.