~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Do Images Matter?

With the meteoric rise of Pinterest comes the renewed discussion around image. Once upon a time, “It’s not what you look like, it’s what’s inside that counts” rang true; now if you are engaged in any form of online marketing image is everything.

Well, not everything. What’s inside does still count – in fact since Google keeps changing its mind about what constitutes “proper” SEO and is leaning further towards Content Is King, what you write, the “inside” bit, is more important than ever. Great ideas, badly composed, will be lost not only on Google but by any potential voyeurs on all social media platforms.

But it is no longer enough to have great copy – the new Facebook timeline is all geared up towards images, and Google+ has embraced the visual from the start. Even dear old Twitter upgraded its timeline to enrich the visual experience of users.

And here is the crux of this post – as a company we manage social media accounts for businesses who don’t have the time (or, shhh, don’t tell, the inclination!) to engage online. This requires us to hungrily scour the web for great articles and blog posts that we can use for our clients.

And we would love to share your blog post – it has all the fantastic content so pertinent to one of our clients – posting a link from their Facebook page to your website will mean fantastic exposure and endorsement of your company (we have some great clients!), BUT WE CAN’T IF THERE’S NO PICTURE!

We cannot put a link out on Facebook or on G+ if you haven’t added a great image – if we do it reflects badly on our client. Pictures on Facebook have always meant a higher click through rate – and Pinterest is proving how much we all love a great picture.

So the next time that you write a fantastic, share-worthy blog, make sure that you put the same time and effort into sourcing an image (that you are legally allowed to use) and you may just find yourself being the talk of the Twitterverse.

In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

~ Maria Bartiromo

Will You Choose Cookies?

Cookies (not the scrumptious ones) have been around in IT for a while, but have recently been top of the news again.

A new data protection law, enforceable from May 26th,  will require all websites to obtain users’ opt-in consent before they install cookies. And all non-compliant websites may be subject to a fine.

What does this have to do with you?

You may have noticed that you’ve been asked to give your permission for a website or a company to use cookies – but what are we talking about here? What are cookies?

A cookie will “record” what you’re looking at and will take note of various things that you do whilst on that web page. The site then knows that you have been there before, and in some cases will select what you first see on the screen.

Cookies aren’t “saved” on each website that you visit – should you visit (without adding log in details) the same website but from a different machine it won’t know who you are or where you’ve looked. Cookies are downloaded onto your PC. When you return to the same site, your computer or laptop will check to see if it has a cookie that is relevant and it then relays information back to the site.

Are cookies bad for you then?

Not always. There have always been ways of opting out; the law has just been changed so that you have to opt in. Without cookies, shopping online would be a lot more difficult – they are used, for example, for storing the information when you add items to your “shopping cart”; and rather than you having to trawl through larger sites looking at irrelevant things, they will guide you to where you want to be.

We hope that this clears up any confusion you may have had over cookies. However, if you would like any further clarification on this, or any other aspect of IT then please do get in touch. In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

~ Charles Eames

Quality Links?

I was honoured to be asked by City College Brighton to present at their Business Breakfast Club in April. They asked me if I could do a talk on Linkedin, and I spoke to the members about how to maximise their Linkedin profiles to reflect their company’s professionalism.

There was enough time at the end to open the floor up to questions, and as the questions asked are ones I repeatedly hear, I thought that I’d share the top 5, and the answers, with all of you.

5 Questions About Linkedin:

Q 1: I’ve filled in my profile and have included adding my school, but now I’m getting loads of requests to connect. They all say we’re “classmates” but some of them I don’t know – should I connect?

A 1: There is no rule that says that you should accept every opportunity to connect on Linkedin. Never accept a Linkedin invitation if you are unhappy about it. If you don’t know them, or you don’t particularly want to connect, then hit the “ignore” button. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it.

Q 2: I’m thinking of starting a Linkedin Group – is this a good idea for connecting with people?

A 2: Groups are a wonderful way of getting the most out of Linkedin, and starting your own group has extra benefits, not least considerably raising your profile and having “access” to a whole new set of connections. However – big word of warning – you should only consider starting a group if you have the time and the resources to dedicate to it. Linkedin has always had a low  tolerance of spam ( they would argue zero tolerance, but it is getting through) and it is, at present, proliferating on several groups. A closed group should help with this and yes, it is a great way to keep in touch with people.

Q 3: I have a new marketing person on board who thinks I should get rid of some of my contacts – I have over 500 – do you think I should?

A 3: Unless your contacts are causing you any problems then no, I wouldn’t get rid of them. It has been claimed that one of the “secrets” to coming up more often in Linkedin search is to have more than 500 contacts. If you upgrade your Linkedin account to Pro you have access to the Profile Organizer which enables you to organize your contacts into your own personal folders (amongst other things).

Q 4: How do you remove a connection on LinkedIn?

A 4: Look at your top tool bar, third heading, Contacts. Click this and you will be taken to the page where all the people that you are connected to are listed. On the right hand side you will see the options to Add Connections, or Remove Connections. Click Remove Connections – a new page will display and your connections will be listed alphabetically. Scroll through and click the box next to the name of the person you want to remove. Click Remove Connections, and voila! They’re gone.

Q 5: Is it worth upgrading to Pro?

A 5: Biggest question to throw back at you here – depends on what you want from Linkedin and whether you have the time to achieve it. If you have the time and the resources to use Linkedin to its fullest potential as a marketing tool then yes, there are definite benefits to paying for the premium service. However, I would first make sure that you are using it to its full potential on the free version as there is so much you can do with the resources you already have access to.

I’ve had some really positive feedback since, thank you to all concerned. If anyone has any other questions on Linkedin, or any other social media platforms, then please feel free to ask.

In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

]]> http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1796 0 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1789 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1789#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:12:10 +0000 siren http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1789 “A man is only as faithful as his options.”

Chris Rock

Which Is Better? Mac or PC?

Which is better, the Mac or PC?

Apple lovers have always been very loyal and protective over their love of their computers. Time and again you would here Mac lovers telling you they never went wrong; they don’t require an anti virus as they never get infected; you don’t need any form of backup as they never fail.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold true anymore.  As more people are buying Macs so we are receiving more enquiries about fixing them.

More than half a million Macs were infected earlier this month with a new piece of malware, and this is only the beginning of Mac attacks.

It was, we suppose, inevitable: as more people started using Macs, so more hackers became interested in what damage they could inflict.

And the numbers moving over to Apple are definitely increasing. On our travels we are meeting more people who have tried an iPad, or love their iPhone and have decided this is enough to go over to “the other side”. Is this a good thing?

Ultimately, you are very unlikely to persuade an Apple addict to swap over to a PC. The arguments for the PC include the fact that most businesses use them, there is a wider (and often cheaper) range of applications and software available, and they are generally cheaper to repair/upgrade if needs arise. Macs are more “aesthetically” pleasing and have traditionally been loved by those in the design industries. Consensus of opinion is that a PC is much better if you are using it for gaming purposes.

So is it six of one, half a dozen of the other? At the moment, if cost is a consideration, PCs win out. Whilst Macs are less susceptible to viruses, infection rates are increasing. Most businesses do use PCs, but more people are moving over to Macs, and compatibility issues are decreasing. (And to just to re-emphasise the decreasing compatibility issues, a new report states that Macs are now spreading Malware to PCs )

If you are struggling with this decision, may we recommend you get in touch with us, or with another IT support company who works with both systems? Pop into the Apple shop and you’ll come out with a Mac; talk to an IT firm who only supports PCs and, well you know the answer here.

What matters more than which computer to chose is what you need it for – all decisions should be based around your very own, bespoke requirements.

~ Golda Meir

Our Most Precious Asset?

What is the one thing that pretty much all small businesses have in common?

Time – or rather, the lack of it.

We all know that we should be “engaging” with our clients – current and new customers – and as well as finding the time to go to networking events, we need to have an online presence.

Check out your competitors websites – do they have links to their social media accounts? To a Twitter account, a Facebook page, a business page on Linkedin and/or Google+? And if you follow their links, are those accounts active and up to date? It’s no good signing up to all these platforms and then leaving them dormant – what message does that give out?

So we’re all jumping on the social media bandwagon – the police are tweeting regularly, BBC news has its Facebook page, City Councils are on Linkedin, and Richard Branson is prolific over on G+. The more that you can post online, the more likely it is that people will find you online. But here is where that age old problem of time sneaks in….

How can you run your business, promote your business, get out networking, answer the phones and email, manage your staff, your suppliers, your customers, deal with your accounts AND add in social media?

The “purists” will tell you that should run your own social media campaign – and to some extent they are correct. A successful social media presence should reflect the personality and individuality of your own company. But if you just don’t have the time to do it, there is an alternative.

Guy Kawasaki recently “confessed” that the secret to his success on Twitter was to hire Ghost Tweeters – if it’s good enough for him, surely its ok for your company?

There are options to hire someone else to help you post updates on not just Twitter, but to your Facebook and G+ business pages, and your Linkedin company profile, as well as blog posts and any other platform – just make sure that you’re not paying the earth, ideally they come from a referral, and definitely check them out online first! You may be surprised to find some that social media marketing experts don’t have their own social media presence.

If you would like help with your social media and online presence, please get in touch with us. In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

]]> http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1776 0 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1764 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1764#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:21:26 +0000 siren http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1764 “Hardware:  the parts of a computer that can be kicked.”

~Jeff Pesis

How Slow Is IT?

If you have reached the stage of thinking that the best way to speed up your computer or your laptop is to hurl it through the nearest window, may we hold you back for just a little while?

We’ve collated our top five tips, our simplest check list, to see if there are alternatives to testing Newton’s law of gravity in speeding up your IT.

Top 5 Tips To Add Speed To Your Computer Or Laptop

1. Viruses: I know, we do go on a bit about viruses don’t we? But the fact is that millions of people are victims to them, as well as spyware and malware every single week. Even those who have an anti virus installed can still fall prey to them – do a virus scan if you know how to, and if not just ask us.

2. RAM: we have to admit that not all computers or laptops can have memory added, but a great many can – if your computer or laptop is able to take more then it could speed it up significantly. Again, if you are unsure please feel free to ask and we’ll let you know.

3. Disc Space: it doesn’t matter whether you have a laptop or a desktop, you should always have 25% of your hard drive free at all times. Over loading your hard drive will lead to a lethargic laptop.

4. Internet: here’s a thought – what if it’s not your computer’s fault? Some internet provision is so slow it could feel like your laptop is taking forever, when actually it’s your internet connection – and if it’s slower in some parts of the house this can be resolved very simply.

5. Router: You may have super internet provision, but has your router been configured correctly? Or is it clashing and fighting with your neighbour’s router by both trying to access the same channel?

These are just 5 reasons that your computer or laptop is close to bringing you to tears. Please don’t let your IT stress you out at all – we are always happy to take a look, or have a chat, and see if we can give you stress free IT.

In the meantime, we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

]]> http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1764 0 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1752 http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1752#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:02:43 +0000 siren http://www.dolphinupgrades.com/blog/?p=1752 “Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.”

~S.D. Gordon

Spring Clean Your Social Media

Easter: our first “proper” break since Christmas, and an opportunity to sort out some business bits and pieces you don’t usually have time to do. We’ve mentioned spring cleaning the IT you use to distribute your social media, but what about cleaning up those social networking accounts as well?

Spring Clean Your Social Media:

Facebook: now the new timeline has been introduced to all of us, whether you wanted it or not, it’s worth you taking an objective look at your Facebook page. Make sure you are logged out and then search for yourself by typing your businesses name on Facebook – so for us it would be, “Dolphin Computer Upgrades on Facebook”. This will show you how others see your Facebook page – what do you think? Does it match all other media representations of your brand? Does it look professional, or does it look like you have a Facebook page because you “just feel I should”?

Twitter: there are third party apps that will help you filter out who you are following – are they tweeting enough, are they spammers, are they of no relevance to you etc; but if you follow the advice of the “gurus” social media should be as personal as you have time to make it. Maybe an app will deem a tweeter isn’t relevant to you, but you (should) know your followers better than an automated process. Maybe someone hasn’t tweeted enough, and yes, for the purist you shouldn’t bother with them on Twitter anymore – but are they someone you see “in real life”? By all means sort out who you are following, but if you can find the time, do it yourself.

Linkedin: there is a proliferation of spamming and pure self promotion going on in some Linkedin groups at the moment, enough to drive most of us a little mad. Should you change the settings when this happens so you receive less frequent, or even no email notifications? Or should you start a discussion point in said group bemoaning the state of play? Or how about upping sticks and leaving the group all together? There were two groups that I belonged to where the spam messages were getting out of control and in both instances I contacted the group Manager to seek their views; one never got back to me, the spam multiplied faster than a virus, I left the group. The other got back to me immediately, thanked me for pointing it out, and dealt with the spammers. Linkedin groups are where the networking takes place, let’s help clean them up.

Google+: ok, so G+ is still fairly sparsely populated so there isn’t the huge volume of spammers and bots you get over on Twitter and Linkedin, so thankfully there should be less “cleaning” to do over here. But it may still be worth you having a look at your circles – are all the people in the right places? Is it worth creating new circles? Have you looked at the “Top Suggestions” recently? People are joining all the time, its worth seeing who else has arrived. And remember, you can add people to your personal circles and/or add them to your business page circles (you do have a business page as well don’t you?).

Blogs: a laborious task, going back over your blog posts, but something really worth your while doing. Are all those links still going to the right pages, or are some of them now 404s? Have you changed your style over time, can your old posts be brought up to date? I know, I know, it’s hard enough finding the time to blog regularly, but if you’ve invested this time then make use of blog posts, old as well as new. Sending out links to posts on social media as well as internal links to blog posts you’ve written will all help your SEO.

Of course, there are plenty of other social networks that you may be utilising, but we reckon this will be enough to keep you busy during the Easter “downtime”. We wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing, and are always here if you need more help or guidance.

Happy Easter!

~ Wayne Dyer

Is Your Smart Phone Secure?

Do they? Are we scaremongering when we talk about security? Are we just being paranoid about our phones? Are we?

Could you live without your phone? Would you mind anyone else accessing all of your messages, your emails? Does it really matter if someone else accesses your Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin account and starts posting messages that every single one of your friends/contacts believe is from you?

Now we’re just being plain silly aren’t we – this will never happen to you or your phone – will it?

How about just doing a few simple things that will help make your phone a little more secure?

Top 8 Security Tips For Your Mobile Phone Security:

1. Lock It: apply a password, or a lock code, or a pin number. Even if this won’t keep the more au fait hackers out, it could stop your kids accessing your work emails.

2. Hide It: don’t leave your phone on display in your car, or on the pub table, or sticking up out of your bag.

3. Update It: make sure all the relevant software is kept up to date – if there are any security glitches, any upgrades should have the latest “patches” to keep you safe.

4. Turn It Off: leaving your Bluetooth on all the time leaves you vulnerable to “Blue-jacking”, and accessing public wi fi can open you up to nearby hackers.

5. App It: one of the most “popular” ways of attacking a phone is through downloading a malicious app – make sure you know its safe before adding it to your phone.

6. Shield It: as with a computer, you should have an anti virus on your phone to shield it from malware, viruses, scareware and worms. A good one will include a tracking and wipe out device.

7. Save It: phones are mini computers, so you need to treat it as one, which means keeping a backup of all your important information.

8. Reg It: should the worst happen and your phone gets stolen, if you’ve registered with immobilise.com and the police find it, they can return it to you.

None of this will give you a 100% guarantee of total security, but it will help give you a little “insurance”. If you would like any further advice on this, or any other IT/security related issues then please do get in touch.

In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

~Margaret Atwood

Does Your IT Need A Spring Clean?

….but your computer shouldn’t.

As Spring rolls in and the sun returns, thoughts turn to clearing out the cobwebs and dust ready for the welcome return of long, sunny days. And whilst you can’t “wash” your laptop and hang it up to dry, there are things that you can do to make sure your computer also gets a good spring clean.

5 Tips For Cleaning Your Laptop Or Computer:

1. Screen: Perhaps the most obvious starting point is your computer monitor or laptop screen; after all, not only is this the most evident place to see the dirt, if your screen is dusty or covered in marks then you’re not going to be able to see much. Always clean it very gently and with an industry specific cleaning wipe, NOT window cleaner!

2. Keyboard: Now glance down at those keys – pretty sight? Some keyboards carry more germs than the average toilet seat – lovely! You can remove tiny particles by very gently tapping the keyboard whilst upside down; or you can get tiny brushes that will clean between the keys. Again use an industry specific cleaning wipe to get rid of the nasty, lurking germs. Should you have access to some, compressed air will blast things out nicely.

3. Mouse: some you can take apart and clean inside, but if this doesn’t apply to you, you can still use a specific anti-bac wipe to cleanse the surface, making sure you clean inside the joins as well.

4. Components: we do NOT recommend that you start to take your computer or laptop apart to clean inside it, but dust, lint and other lovely bits can accumulate inside both desktop computers and laptops. It may be worth you considering sending it off on a little “spa break” with your IT guys to get it thoroughly cleansed.

5: Viruses: having all the hardware clean is one thing, but it is also worth your while making sure you have no unwanted files, or viruses, malware, scareware etc lurking in the background. Again, many IT firms can offer a health check to ensure your computer is thoroughly cleansed of any un-necessaries.

Of course, none of this has to be done in spring – regularly maintaining your computer will increase its working life and should be undertaken on a regular basis.

If you would like any more information on this, or any other aspect of computer care, then please do get in touch – we always love to hear from you. In the meantime, we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.

~ Lee Rainie

Cereal Tweeting

There are still a large number of businesses who feel that Twitter is a load of old nonsense, and that all anyone ever tweets about is what they had for breakfast. Whilst it can’t be denied that you will find food related tweets, it is a misconception that Twitter cannot be utilised, and very successfully so, by businesses. It is in fact geared up in favour of smaller businesses rather than huge conglomerates, and if used correctly is a powerful addition to creating and maintaining your brand awareness.

With this in mind, we have collated some useful advice for Twitter novices:

15 Tips On Using Twitter For Business

1. Listen – you can discover so much by “listening” on Twitter. Find out what your competitors are up to, what your potential and existing clients are talking about, and keep up to date with the very latest industry news.

2. Conversation – get involved with conversations. If you just use Twitter to “broadcast” you won’t reap the benefits. At the most basic level, if you’re unsure of how to get involved, why not retweet (RT) something you found really interesting? And if someone does the same for you, THANK THEM.

3. Who should you follow? – This is somewhat subjective, depending on your type of business, and what you want from Twitter. But remember, anyone can see who you are following. Take care then if your clients would be offended to see you had a passion for a certain sport, or a political leaning etc.

4. Personal V Professional? – again this is your decision based around you and your company, and an argument that continues to rage amongst social media experts.  What is essential to remember though is your personality shines through online whether you like it or not (see also point 2).

5. Quality over Quantity – never get hung up about how many people you are following/are following you. It’s more important to have the RIGHT PEOPLE interacting with you than a numbers game. There is little point in you being able to boast of over 1000 followers if none of those followers read your tweets, or ever RT you. Far better to have a select few, well connect followers who you actively engage with.

6. It takes time! – you cannot/should not expect to see any major results, whatever your expectations are, immediately. Realistically, you should expect to see results within 6/9 months IF you are using Twitter to its full potential.

7. How many tweets should I send? – back to subjectivity and the nature of your business, but ideally you need to be sending a minimum of two tweets a day, 5/6 days a week. One sure fire way to annoy the Twitterati is to save all of your tweets up and then send a whole heap of them out, one after another, then tweet nothing for ages.

8. What should you tweet? – one of the most frequently asked questions; it is probably easier to say what you SHOULD NOT TWEET. If you just use Twitter to self promote you will fail, dismally. Your tweets should be relevant to your line of business. It’s no good you tweeting about bread recipes if you are an accountant, but you could well include recipes of all sorts if you are a kitchen designer.

9. When should you tweet? – we’ll refer back to number 6 here – IT TAKES TIME. The people you follow, when are they tweeting? Have you been RTd? When was that? Who are you targeting? When are they online? It’s tempting to send your tweets when it best suits your time frame, but your messages could well be lost to your target audience.

10. Share your expert knowledge – one of the key aspects to succeeding in a professional capacity on Twitter is to be known as an expert in your field. When you have a question, if you know the right Tweeters you will find your answer. You need to become one of those “right Tweeters” in your own field.

11. Can you measure your results? – There are 3^rd party apps (such as Hootsuite ) that give you access to analytics, such as how many clicks you’ve had on your links, how many times you’ve been RTd and more. Google analytics allows you to track your social media activity. And of course there is “real time” interaction. Whilst out networking people will come up to us and tell us how much they enjoy our tweets – this can be from total strangers who know us purely from our online presence.

12. Be flexible – rather than just saying Twitter doesn’t work, it’s a waste of time,  consider changing tactics – reassess who you’re following and your followers, the things you’re tweeting, when you’re tweeting. Have a closer look at the tweets you enjoy reading – what makes them work?

13. Help others. – the more you help other people on Twitter, the more successful you can become. Seen someone tweet they need help finding a printer? Recommend one if you can, or RT if you don’t know. Try to answer people’s needs whether or not it will directly enhance your own business.

14. SEO – use the 80/20 rule – roughly 80% of your tweets are conversational and sending people to information relevant to your sector but written by SOMEONE ELSE, and roughly 20% should be tweets linking directly back to your website, ideally your company blog. Again, use Google analytics to track the success of this and hone your blog posts accordingly. There are other ways of utilising social media to enhance #SEO, but that’s another blog post in itself…..

15. Variety and Consistency – once you’ve found your style, you should remain consistent in your tweeting – the times, the content, the amount of interaction etc. HOWEVER! If you are also using other social networks, you SHOULD NOT post the same thing on all platforms – don’t post the same message on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google +, or if you MUST then at least vary the times the messages are sent.

We hope this has given you some food for thought. We are happy to advise you further on any aspect of this, or social media in general, and can offer bespoke training, presentations, and management options for all businesses.

In the meantime we wish you, as always, continued happy and safe computing.