An informative video on how to Archive email and its benefits

A bloated mailbox can cause issues with the performance of your mail client (such as Outlook), and result in additional hosting charges if you exceed your allocated server space.

Please look at this informative video, on how to archive your mailbox, and reduce the space your email uses on the server.

How to prevent your email being marked as spam

pam is defined as email that is sent to a large number of recipients, where the recipients have not explicitly given permission to be emailed and the purpose of the email is to solicit a commercial action, eg. selling a product.

Mail servers use spam filters in an attempt to prevent spam from reaching the intended mailboxes. These spam filters use a variety of filtering techniques to attempt to accurately determine whether an email is spam or not. Many of these spam filter ‘rules’ are based on words or characters that are commonly used in spam.

These techniques are dynamic and adapted on a regular basis as spam emails evolve in nature and content in an attempt to fool and bypass these filters. For this reason there is no complete list of rules to guarantee that email will pass spam checks. There are, however, some best practices you can follow to lessen the chance of your email inadvertently being classified as spam.

Email best practice

  • Avoid using all capitals in your subject and body unnecessarily.
  • Avoid using punctuation in the subject.
  • Avoid using excessive punctuation in the body, eg. punctuation!!??
  • Avoid substituting letters with numbers, eg. w3b h0sting
  • Avoid having gaps between the letters in words, eg. l e t t e r s
  • Avoid using many different font colours in your email.
  • Avoid using large font sizes.
  • Avoid using gimmicky words or phrases that are commonly found in spam emails, eg: Click Here, Buy Now, As Seen On, Money Making, Get Paid, Make Cash, Pre-Approved, Hot Deal, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Lowest Prices, Save Big, etc.
  • Include a text version of your email if you are sending an email in HTML format.
  • Maintain a good text to image ratio, ie. for every image include at least two lines of text.
  • Ensure that your internet IP address assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider is not listed on a spam blacklist.
  • Add an accurate SPF or DKIM DNS record to your domain.
  • Avoid using shortened URLs (web links) in your email body, eg. bit.ly or goo.gl
  • Avoid adding a large number of URLs (web links) to the email body.
  • Avoid using rude language or poor spelling.

Even if you do follow the above best practices, there may still be a chance that an email you have sent ends up in the recipient’s junk or spam folder. Spam filter administrators do not publicise their filtering techniques in a bid to stop spammers from circumventing spam filtering.

It is therefore advisable that if you do not receive a response within the expected time frame to follow up with the recipient via alternate means to confirm receipt of your email.

How to identify a phishing scam

Phishing alert – protect yourself from online scams

Phishing scams are getting more sophisticated. Staying alert to common threats and increasing your awareness is crucial for businesses operating online – especially during peak shopping seasons when online activity is at its highest.

Here are some tips to avoid getting caught out by a phishing scam.

What is phishing?
Phishing is a type of cyberattack where victims receive an email or text message from what they think is a trusted source, but is actually a clever fake designed to trick them into sharing sensitive information like usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, or other confidential data. This data can then be exploited for fraud, identity theft or other malicious purposes.

How to identify a phishing scam
Phishing emails are easy to spot if you know what to look for. Keep an eye open for:

  • Spelling mistakes or bad grammar
  • An unfamiliar or strange sender email
  • A strange URL
  • A sense of urgency to take action

How to protect yourself from phishing

  • Be suspicious of urgent requests
  • Don’t open unexpected attachments or follow links
  • Never send personal or financial information via email
  • Use two-factor authentication
  • Educate your team on how to identify a phishing email
  • Put email spam filters in place
  • When uncertain, confirm directly with your provider

What to do if you have fallen for a phishing scam
If you have fallen victim to a phishing attack, here are some immediate steps you should take:

  • Change any passwords that were affected
  • Run a virus scan to ensure your device hasn’t been infected with Malware
  • Report the attack to the business the email pretended to be from
  • If your credit card details were compromised, cancel them immediately and call your bank’s fraud support line
  • Enable two-factor authentication as an extra layer of security
  • Review your credit card and bank account statements
  • Contact the authorities. Cybercrime.org.za is South Africa’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre

Let us take care of the Technical updates on your WordPress site

The rise of hacking attacks have been increasing exponentially over the last couple of years. As a result, the developers of content management systems, such as WordPress, themes and plugins, constantly releases updates to stay ahead of the onslaught. You may not realise that your website CMS and technical components are being updated at increasing increments.

In an endeavour to help you keep up to date with the latest release versions of themes, content management systems and plugins, we have decided to make our technical update retainer package available. If you are on any of our standard retainer packages, you do not need this add-on.

WHAT IS THE WORST HACKERS CAN DO?

Malicious code is injected into the site usually to infect the devices of the visitors to your site, or redirect your site links to cloned versions of your site. They then interact with your clients, extorting information, or funds or diverting your traffic to unsavoury sites. Depending on the extent of the hack, the website sometimes need to be completely rebuilt.

WHAT THIS SERVICE COVERS

  • We will update all of these components that are still covered by the subscription licence, on a monthly schedule, for up to 30 minutes per month.
  • We monitor WordFence and firewall notices are diverted to us, so that we can monitor and respond to warnings.
  • We will let you know if any plugins are no longer supported or compatible with your existing website architecture.
  • We will install the paid version of CleanTalk malware scanner, and monitor it for malicious activities.

 

WHAT THIS SERVICE DOES NOT COVER

  • Content updates and copywriting changes.
  • Your personal device security, updates and malicious program cleaning.
  • Graphic design, web development, hosting or any of the other services we offer.
  • Websites not hosted on our servers are not eligible for this service.
  •  

NEED MORE SERVICES ON RETAINER?

We offer various retainer packages that can be used for updating content, graphic design, technical support and other services:

  • 2 Hours per month at R550
  • 4 Hours per month at R1100
  • 8 Hours per month at R2100
  • 20 Hours per month at R4200 (includes 5gb hosting services and 1 URL renewal)
  • 40 Hours per month at R7000 (includes 10gb hosting services and 1 URL renewal)
  • Social Media marketing add-on R4800 per month (excludes booster budget and other services)

    New business website and hosting special offer

    Need a website? Take us up on this limited time offer and save big!

    Spring 2023 is here, and we have put together some very special offerings for businesses that does not have a website, to help your business bloom!

    These offers are only valid during September 2023, so don’t delay.

    For only R6840, you get:

    • Basic WordPress website with a home page, contact page, and three more pages that can be used for services, a blog or more.
    • 1 x .co.za URL registration (first year included)
    • 12 months of hosting (5gb server space), with up to 100 email addresses

    This is a saving of more than 30%.

    In order to qualify for this special offer, you need to supply:

    • Signed debit order for yearly renewal and hosting fees for when hosting and URL renewal is due in September 2024.
    • Your Logo and required content to be provided in editable format.
    • Full payment during September 2023.

    If you do not have a logo, we can provide you with 3 logo options to choose from for an additional R1500 (usual fee R2500). This design fee includes a MS Word letterhead template, Business card design and MS Outlook HTML signature.

    Website maintenance and updates excluded, but our team are always ready to do updates and additions at our hourly fee of R550 per hour (or any 15 minutes thereof).

    Take action now and complete your billing information here:

    or contact us on 087 808 6706 to find out more.

    Google my business – you cannot NOT be on

    How often have we heard the expression – Just Google it! Google has become a household name, a giant source of information from the smallest detail, fact, or figure. Your business cannot afford not to leverage off it.

    You must naturally be visible on Google, and one powerful way to do that is by creating a Google My Business Account. Your free Google business listing (known as your Business Profile) can do more useful that you initially think. When correctly used, it displays your outstanding offerings and potential clients can easily discover, learn about, and contact your business.

    Irrespective if you are aiming to get more clients through your actual or virtual door through web traffic, Google can proves to be the ultimate search referrer. A Google Business Profile helps ensure that people find your business when looking for products and services like yours mostly in their local area.

     Why specifically create a Google My Business account?

    Most importantly, your Google Business Profile makes you visible to clients. Is that not the most important aspect of running a successful business? Clients must be able to find you, know what you are offering and where to find or contact you, all in one place, with one easy search. That must surely be enough to persuade you to create and maintain your Google Business Account.

    So yes, it is established now that having a Google Business Account is imperative, but having an account is not enough. You must maintain it! Your information must always remain relevant, up to date, and user friendly. It creates a way of monitoring reviews customers are posting, and managing your reputation.

    Remember to stay ahead or at least with your competitors. If your Google Business Account reflects poorly, it can be compared to an unstocked or untidy storefront. Your business depends on the next click, so draw your clients in and keep them there.

    Your Google My Business listing will enable clients to easily visit your business. A Google Business Profile also improves your local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Don’t forget to make use of all the available tools Google has to offer, including Google Maps.

    Apart from getting ‘feet in the door’, Google My Business enables you to manages and update your online business information instantaneously and build trust through monitoring and responding to reviews. Stuck on how to make the most of your online visibility using Google My Business? Contact us to assist at our affordable hourly fee.

     Remember to ask us about integrating your GMB rating directly on your website!

    Your website may stop working in October 2022

    PHP 7.4 (the software running on the servers) will be discontinued at the beginning of October 2022. This means that your website may stop working if your theme or plugins are not compatible.

    It is imperative that you take action now, and contact your hosting service provider, to confirm if your website is compatible with PHP 8, or you will loose all content on your website, and you will have to pay for re-developing your website with a compatible theme and plugins.

    Updating your site may cost as little as R450, and we urge you to contact us (if we are hosting your site) to run the realtime tests.

    Contact us at 087 808 6706 now.

    Why do I need to upgrade my PHP version?

    All major content management systems recommend PHP 8.0 and above due to the performance and security benefits. Using an older version of PHP leaves your site vulnerable to malicious activities from hackers, as security updates for this version have reached end of life. 

    I don’t know how to interpret the compatibility report provided. What do I do know?

    We recommend that you share the compatibility report with your web developer who will be able to interpret the report and make the necessary changes. 

    I haven’t experienced problems with the older version of WordPress that I am currently using. Do I still need to upgrade?

    It is best practice to make use of the latest version of PHP so that your website is not vulnerable to malicious activities from hackers.  

    How to add a facebook Timeline in WordPress

    Would you like to know how to add a Facebook timeline in WordPress?

    It is super easy!

    The SocialMediaFeedWidget plugin is a FREE plugin in the WordPress repository. You can use the plugin to display your Facebook timeline in any sidebar on your website. You can also customise the layout of the widget.

    You can download the plugin here – https://wordpress.org/plugins/socialmediafeedwidget/

    The left screenshot is how the Facebook timeline will appear on your WordPress website. The screenshot on the right is the options available in the widget.

    You can change the frame width/height as well as show/hide friends/likes and show/hide the cover photo.