These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
Organization Validation SSL certificate – guarantees the legitimacy of an association;
Extended Validation SSL certificate – Similar to OV SSL, but this requires more documentation regarding the ownership of the certificate.
Purchase the certificate from a reputable certification authority. When selecting a certificate authority entity, check its reputation, popularity, response to security and compliance problems, support, reviews, and if it offers the certificate your business needs.
Proper server configuration will ensure you are using the latest security protocols, secure cipher suites, complete certificate chains, and a Diffie-Hellman Key (DHE) with at least 2048-bit security (lower bits can be vulnerable).
Protect your private keys. Keep the private key as secure as possible. Do this by generating the key in a safe and trusted environment; revoke keys if an employee with access leaves your company; renew the certificate at least yearly; and if you think the private key has been compromised, always generate a new key.
Apply website application best practices. Even with best SSL practices, ensure your web application follows best practices, such as using secure cookies, eliminating mixed content, and evaluating third-party code.
Takeaway Tips
There are two important points that you shouldn’t forget. One, SSLs are secure but also have vulnerabilities that can be exploited; therefore, ensure proper configurations and follow best practices. Two, lack of an SSL certificate affects your SERP ranking, which in turn affects your brand credibility and increases the site bounce rate.
The Importance of an SSL Certificate and Best Practices
October 1, 2020 · Blog, Guest Post of the Month
⏱ 4 min read
What is an SSL Certificate?
An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate used is to encrypt traffic between systems, such as client and server. This is done to protect data that might include confidential information, Social Security numbers, and personal information.
SSL involves the use of a pair of the public (available to anyone) and private (exclusive to destination server) keys to handle the encryption and decryption process.
You might have come across the term TLS (Transport Layer Security) – a protocol that is an improved version of the SSL. The two terms are used interchangeably, but this article will use SSL, as it’s the more popular term.
Why Is SSL Important
Threats to data security and privacy keep increasing as more functions move online. If you own a business website, it’s no longer optional to have an SSL certificate. The main reason for this is to protect users from the man in the middle attacks. And it comes with SEO benefits, too. Search engines such as Google check site security as one of the essential factors in SEO ranking. Some web browsers like Chrome also alert users if a site is not secure – and this could keep some people away from your site.
Other benefits of an SSL certificate are that it serves as a proof of identity (authentication); it is an assurance of information privacy, and it also assures users of information integrity. This is especially crucial if your web application deals with financial or electronic commerce transactions.
SSL Best Practice
Although SSL is secure, attackers take advantage of installation and configuration loopholes to steal data. Because of such vulnerabilities, it’s not enough to install the SSL certificate.
Below are basic SSL best practices that will help ensure the security of data in transit.
Understand the importance of SSL certificates. Previously, SSLs were common in large organizations and financial institutions. Today, even small businesses have moved most if not all of their transactions online. Suppose a certificate expires or is compromised – your business risks loss of revenue as well as a damaged reputation.
Know the SSL certificate your site requires, and get the one that is appropriate for your site. There are three types of SSL certificates:
Organization Validation SSL certificate – guarantees the legitimacy of an association;
Extended Validation SSL certificate – Similar to OV SSL, but this requires more documentation regarding the ownership of the certificate.
Purchase the certificate from a reputable certification authority. When selecting a certificate authority entity, check its reputation, popularity, response to security and compliance problems, support, reviews, and if it offers the certificate your business needs.
Proper server configuration will ensure you are using the latest security protocols, secure cipher suites, complete certificate chains, and a Diffie-Hellman Key (DHE) with at least 2048-bit security (lower bits can be vulnerable).
Protect your private keys. Keep the private key as secure as possible. Do this by generating the key in a safe and trusted environment; revoke keys if an employee with access leaves your company; renew the certificate at least yearly; and if you think the private key has been compromised, always generate a new key.
Apply website application best practices. Even with best SSL practices, ensure your web application follows best practices, such as using secure cookies, eliminating mixed content, and evaluating third-party code.
Takeaway Tips
There are two important points that you shouldn’t forget. One, SSLs are secure but also have vulnerabilities that can be exploited; therefore, ensure proper configurations and follow best practices. Two, lack of an SSL certificate affects your SERP ranking, which in turn affects your brand credibility and increases the site bounce rate.
Disclaimer
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
In last month’s article titled “How to Make the Most of Digital Marketing,” we examined how digital marketing can help your business grow. Unfortunately, this involves more than waving a magic wand. You can either choose to do it yourself or hire an agency to do it for you. Either way, if it’s not well done, you could end up wasting a lot of money with no return on your investment.
Indeed, any business will want to implement a system that promises to grow revenue. But the biggest mistake is to dive into a scheme that you don’t understand well. Understanding the potential of digital marketing and how you can deploy it effectively will significantly help meet your revenue goals.
Tips to Avoid Losing Money in Digital Marketing
Here are some tips to help you effectively target your audience and eliminate wasteful spending in your digital marketing efforts:
Create a Strategy A digital marketing strategy serves as a guide to what you should and shouldn’t do. Invest in marketing that is in line with your mission and goals. And then be ready to make improvements and adjustments because the digital market is always changing.
Understand Different Platforms Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, whether you’re looking at LinkedIn, Facebook, Google ads, etc.
Use Good Content People will easily trust the content that is engaging and adds value in some way. No matter the quality of your product or service, terrible content will cause you to lose potential customers. Always remember your content is a direct reflection of your brand.
Ads When you run ads, they will be displayed when there are searches on the internet relating to what you have advertised. This costs money. To avoid paying on unnecessary clicks or views that don’t convert to leads, run targeted ads. You can also use negative keywords, geo-targeting, or influencers. Keep in mind that any platform offering paid promotion options has as its default to spend your budget as fast as possible (they are in business, too).
Track Your Results Track your results on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This is the best way to know if you are wasting money. Measure and track your campaigns to understand how much you are making off any campaign. For every single $1 spent, if you are not making any returns you need to rethink your strategies. Note that it could take 60 to 90 days to get enough data for proper analysis.
Avoid Buying Fake Followers This is simply a bad idea because you will get little or no return on your investment. The fake accounts will be inactive, and hence no engagement or sales.
Test Carry out A/B testing for anything you want to put out there to your target audience. Be it content, emails, newsletters, social media posts, campaigns or ads, testing will save you from marketing with low or no returns.
Add a Call to Action What do you want an interested reader or viewer to do: make a call; fill out a form; subscribe; make a purchase; or visit a website?
Don’t Ignore Existing Customers Approximately 40 percent of business revenue is from returning customers. Specifically target this group with offers, new products or services, or just wishing them well on holidays.
Don’t Hire Bad Marketing Consultants Finally, you might decide to outsource the marketing if your business doesn’t have employees with the necessary skills, or if it’s overwhelming for your staff. Whatever the reason, don’t make the mistake of hiring bad consultants.
Avoid Wasting Money on Digital Marketing with These Tips
October 1, 2020 · Blog, What's New in Technology
⏱ 4 min read
In last month’s article titled “How to Make the Most of Digital Marketing,” we examined how digital marketing can help your business grow. Unfortunately, this involves more than waving a magic wand. You can either choose to do it yourself or hire an agency to do it for you. Either way, if it’s not well done, you could end up wasting a lot of money with no return on your investment.
Indeed, any business will want to implement a system that promises to grow revenue. But the biggest mistake is to dive into a scheme that you don’t understand well. Understanding the potential of digital marketing and how you can deploy it effectively will significantly help meet your revenue goals.
Tips to Avoid Losing Money in Digital Marketing
Here are some tips to help you effectively target your audience and eliminate wasteful spending in your digital marketing efforts:
Create a Strategy A digital marketing strategy serves as a guide to what you should and shouldn’t do. Invest in marketing that is in line with your mission and goals. And then be ready to make improvements and adjustments because the digital market is always changing.
Understand Different Platforms Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, whether you’re looking at LinkedIn, Facebook, Google ads, etc.
Use Good Content People will easily trust the content that is engaging and adds value in some way. No matter the quality of your product or service, terrible content will cause you to lose potential customers. Always remember your content is a direct reflection of your brand.
Ads When you run ads, they will be displayed when there are searches on the internet relating to what you have advertised. This costs money. To avoid paying on unnecessary clicks or views that don’t convert to leads, run targeted ads. You can also use negative keywords, geo-targeting, or influencers. Keep in mind that any platform offering paid promotion options has as its default to spend your budget as fast as possible (they are in business, too).
Track Your Results Track your results on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This is the best way to know if you are wasting money. Measure and track your campaigns to understand how much you are making off any campaign. For every single $1 spent, if you are not making any returns you need to rethink your strategies. Note that it could take 60 to 90 days to get enough data for proper analysis.
Avoid Buying Fake Followers This is simply a bad idea because you will get little or no return on your investment. The fake accounts will be inactive, and hence no engagement or sales.
Test Carry out A/B testing for anything you want to put out there to your target audience. Be it content, emails, newsletters, social media posts, campaigns or ads, testing will save you from marketing with low or no returns.
Add a Call to Action What do you want an interested reader or viewer to do: make a call; fill out a form; subscribe; make a purchase; or visit a website?
Don’t Ignore Existing Customers Approximately 40 percent of business revenue is from returning customers. Specifically target this group with offers, new products or services, or just wishing them well on holidays.
Don’t Hire Bad Marketing Consultants Finally, you might decide to outsource the marketing if your business doesn’t have employees with the necessary skills, or if it’s overwhelming for your staff. Whatever the reason, don’t make the mistake of hiring bad consultants.
Disclaimer
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
Cut up some celery (the logs). Fill with peanut butter, then sprinkle raisins on top (the ants). Serve with cheese cubes, graham crackers, yogurt, and/or fresh fruit. Kids love this one, especially because of the funny name.
Pancake Lunch
Everyone loves Saturday morning pancakes, so why not serve them for lunch, too? Here’s a thought: prepare a double batch of pancakes, plus bacon and fresh fruit on the weekend; then save half for Monday and pop them in the microwave. This way, you won’t have to prepare them twice. Don’t forget the syrup!
Cottage Cheese and Fruit
This lunch might well be the quickest of all to make. Place two scoops of cottage cheese in a leak-proof container, then add some canned fruit such as peaches, pineapple or mandarin oranges. Crackers (graham or saltines) with a little vat of peanut butter for dipping completes this easy, peasy meal.
We hope that these cost-saving lunches help save time and worry. With all that’s going on, you’ve got enough on your plate!
Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, many schools across America have transitioned to at-home learning. This alone presents a whole new set of challenges for parents, not the least of which is figuring out what to feed your kids for lunch – every single day of the week. While peanut butter and jelly is a reliable standby, here are some cheap, easy alternatives you can whip up in no time.
English Muffin Pizza
Grab some English muffins and top them with pizza sauce or marinara. Either one will work. (Hint: use the store brand because it’s comparable and usually costs less.) If you like, you can even add shredded cheese. Put them in a toaster oven and bake. Now comes the fun part: create a face. Use olives for the nose and eyes. Cut up yellow, red, and green peppers into thin slices to form a mouth and eyebrows. For the extra peppers, use ranch dressing for dipping. This one is fun and healthy!
Lunchables Knockoff
Pre-packaged meals generally cost more. So why not create your own version of this lunch-time favorite and save some money? Buy round, butter crackers with ridges on the edge (like Ritz, but buy the store brand); round, sliced lunch meat; and small, sliced squares of cheese. Place each in the spaces in a plastic divided container. Cut up some fruit (apples, pears, anything you like) and serve. If natural sugar isn’t enough for your little ones, throw in a cookie.
Pita Pockets
You can stuff these full of anything you like. Making tuna salad for a filler is always delish but takes a bit of prep, so for time’s sake, add lunch meat. After that, add lettuce and anything else your child likes. Maybe some tomatoes or cucumbers, then add a condiment, mustard, or mayo. For a side, choose local, seasonal produce. It’s always cheaper than out-of-season choices.
Meat-Free Lunch
Purchasing meat can get expensive, so why not go veggie for a few days? Your DIY lunch kit might include cheese cubes, crackers, cherry (or grape) tomatoes, and green or purple grapes. If you get inspired, cut up apples and bananas into bite-sized portions. Throwing in some nuts for a little extra crunch is always a good idea, too. If you want to make these meals a regular thing, buy reusable, compartmentalized containers like EasyLunchBoxes, affordably priced at $14 for four. You can also buy them on Amazon. Carve out some time on a Saturday afternoon and make these in bulk to save time during your busy week. You might even ask the kids to help!
Ants on a Log
Cut up some celery (the logs). Fill with peanut butter, then sprinkle raisins on top (the ants). Serve with cheese cubes, graham crackers, yogurt, and/or fresh fruit. Kids love this one, especially because of the funny name.
Pancake Lunch
Everyone loves Saturday morning pancakes, so why not serve them for lunch, too? Here’s a thought: prepare a double batch of pancakes, plus bacon and fresh fruit on the weekend; then save half for Monday and pop them in the microwave. This way, you won’t have to prepare them twice. Don’t forget the syrup!
Cottage Cheese and Fruit
This lunch might well be the quickest of all to make. Place two scoops of cottage cheese in a leak-proof container, then add some canned fruit such as peaches, pineapple or mandarin oranges. Crackers (graham or saltines) with a little vat of peanut butter for dipping completes this easy, peasy meal.
We hope that these cost-saving lunches help save time and worry. With all that’s going on, you’ve got enough on your plate!
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.
PROSWIFT Act (S 881) – This Act was sponsored by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) on March 26, 2019. The legislation is designed to improve understanding and forecasting of weather events in space. The bill details provisions designed to improve the ability of the United States to both forecast and mitigate the effects of space weather. The bill designates the National Science and Technology Council’s Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation Working Group as the authority to direct other agency initiatives. The bill establishes a pilot program to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to enter into contracts with the commercial sector to provide space weather data, in adherence to certain standards. The bill passed in the Senate in July and in the House in September, and is currently waiting to be enacted by the President.
