Recently I was reviewing some Google Analytics data for another site and noticed some anomalies. While we often rejoice at getting a traffic bump, it doesn’t help if the traffic is garbage. We had a lot of traffic coming from Boardman, Oregon. As soon as they hit the site, they were gone. In this case, we wanted to exclude the traffic from showing in Google Analytics.
TD
How to Track Projects with G Suite and Asana
This is a reference to a Google blog post article that discusses how you can use Google’s G-Suite with the Asana Task Management system for managing projects and calendars.
Careful When Choosing Your Ad Partners
For many of us who have been using Google AdSense to monetize our sites, we’ve seen steep declines in revenues. Of course, this varies based on your settings. The decline is mostly due to people using ad blockers. On the flip side, I get several advertising inquiries per week from unknown ad companies. Usually, the pitch tells me I can get a much better ROI using their system because of some new technology.
Quick Finds and the Value of Good Headlines
I haven’t been as disciplined in my writing as I’d like. My articles have been few and far between, which is not what I intended. Part of this is because of other time commitments, priorities, and partly the longer story’s inertia. To get back into the swing and get my “writing muscle” going again, I thought I would try referencing good content I see from around the web that would benefit you. While I might not be able to write as often, there’s a lot of good content out there. There are three tools I’ll use for this content curation process you might consider for everyday use.
An Easy Way to Check Your Website Security
It seems the experts are telling everyone that we need to look harder at website security. Well, that’s all fine and good, but how do you actually know that your site is secure? That was a question I needed to answer.
Fortunately, some quick answers come from a free tool that the fine folks at the Mozilla Foundation created. What’s nice is it gives you a simple grade, just like school. And just like school, I never thought I would still be getting F’s.
What’s the Meaning of the Google Chrome “Not Secure” Label
Despite Google giving web developers advance notice, I think a lot of people are going to be caught off guard by the upcoming “Not Secure” connection security label that will start showing in the Google Chrome.
As a result, your viewers and users might be confused and start asking questions. This is particularly true for content management sites (CMS) that have a login link.
Balancing Expectations and Email Permissions
For many webmasters, a key goal is building a list of emails. This makes sense when you have a newsletter or want to communicate to your audience outside of the site.
In the case of eCommerce sites, the email can be crucial as you may need it to communicate about order progress or problems. In setting up for emails, you need to balance expectations as there is always a tipping point where the prospect or client won’t proceed.
Simple Errors that Scare Buyers
Maintaining a website takes effort. This is especially true if you use SSL because it can scare people if not configured correctly. However, I was a bit surprised to see a certificate error this morning from BestBuy.com. My initial thought was they are a well known retailer so maybe this was an outlier case. Even so, no prospect likes to see the words “your connection is not private” or “unsafe”.
No Tears EU Cookie Banners
I don’t want to debate the issue of the EU’s cookie law, especially for webmasters outside the area. The bottom line is that some 3rd party services, like Google AdSense, want you to comply. The good news is there are many solutions. One of these is also a great example of how one company took a growing problem and created a free and useful tool that builds loyalty. The product is called Cookie Consent by Silktide.
Mass Mobile Madness
This week, I got one of those warning messages from Google Webmaster Tools for one of my domains. These emails are a great service, but they can also raise your blood pressure. The gist of the warning was one of my websites wasn’t mobile-friendly. My heart sank as I read the details and saw the words “critical” and “rankings” in the same paragraph.