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  • How to Secure Your WordPress Site – With 12 Easy Steps

    How to Secure Your WordPress Site – With 12 Easy Steps

    How to secure a WordPress site? If you find yourself asking this question often, you’re not alone. The popularity of WordPress among website owners has made it equally popular with hackers who are constantly looking for ways to attack and break into WordPress websites.  

    If you’re worried about WordPress security, you’re in the right place.  This guide takes you through 12 trusted and recommended ways to secure a WordPress site. Let’s get started.

    How to Secure Your WP Site in 12 Steps

    WordPress security can sound challenging and highly technical, but you don’t need to be a technical or WordPress expert to secure a WordPress website. You can perform these security steps even if you’re a novice user. Here’s what you need to do to set up a robust security posture for your site: 

    1. Take frequent backups.
    2. Keep everything up to date.
    3. Change the WordPress login URL.
    4. Limit the Login attempts.
    5. Use a WordPress security plugin.
    6. Use HTTPS protocol.
    7. Change the WordPress database prefix.
    8. Always use strong passwords.
    9. Secure your wp-config.php file.
    10. Change your default username.
    11. Disable file editing.
    12. Use secure hosting.

    Next, let us discuss each of these 12 measures in detail.

    1. Keep your website updated 

    Most hackers exploit vulnerabilities in the Core WordPress version or installed plugins and themes to get into websites. A secure WordPress site runs on the latest WordPress version and updated plugins/themes. This is because WordPress developers add security fixes to the updated versions for the vulnerabilities introduced in previous releases.

    If you cannot find an updated version of your installed plugins/themes, consider removing or replacing them for the safety of your site.

    2. Change the WordPress Login URL

    Did you know that anybody can access your WordPress login page by adding “/login” or “/admin” or “/wp-login.php” at the end of your website URL? For example, www.mysite.com/login. Why is the login page important? 

    Hackers often target your login page as the first step to gain unauthorized entry into your WordPress account. Once they gain access, they can take full control of your website which can damage the user experience with random warnings. In brute force login attacks, hackers repeatedly send HTTP requests to your login page until access is gained or the server crashes.  Even if they don’t manage to break in, these high volume and incessant attacks often push the server to its limit which can result in a website crash.

    How can you protect your WordPress login page from hackers? There are multiple ways of protecting your login page, but the easiest way is to change the default URL of your login page. You can use WordPress plugins like WPS Hide Login to do this. However, this alone may not be enough. There are chances that hackers know the URL format suggested by popular tools and can find their way around this. That being said, combined with the next two measures, it can make your login protection more robust.  

    3. Limit Login Attempts

    By default, WordPress allows an unlimited number of attempts to log into their accounts. Unfortunately, hackers take advantage of this. 

    In addition to changing the default login URL, you can secure a WordPress website by limiting the number of login attempts to your account, say to three tries. This is the best guard against brute force attacks that use automated bots to guess your login credentials.

    How do you limit login attempts? You can install a plugin like “Login LockDown” or enable the CAPTCHA feature using a plugin like reCAPTCHA to protect your site from bots and brute force attacks.

    4. Use strong passwords

    Configuring long and strong passwords as part of your user credentials is possibly the easiest and yet, most ignored, way to secure WordPress websites and their login pages. Weak passwords like “password” or “123456” are easy to remember for users but equally easy for hackers and their bots to guess. 

    Here is how you can strengthen the password for every user:

    • Passwords should include upper- and lower-case alphabets, special characters (example, _ or @), and numbers.
    • They must be at least 10 to 12 characters long.
    • The same password must not be used for multiple user accounts.
    • Change passwords frequently after a gap of 4-6 months.

    5. Change your default username

    Default or easy usernames like “admin” or “admin123” make it easy for WordPress hackers to use brute force attacks and gain access to your site. After configuring strong passwords, go a step ahead and change the default usernames of all your users – particularly WordPress administrators (or admin users), to block unauthorized access into your WordPress account.

    Here are some considerations for managing admin usernames:

    • Make sure every username is unique and not easy to guess for any hacker.
    • Restrict the number of users with admin privileges to as many as you require.
    • Assign user roles like “subscriber” or “contributor” with lower and fewer privileges to other WordPress users.

    How do you change the default username? First, create a new admin user on your WordPress account, and delete the existing admin users. Alternatively, you can change the usernames of existing admin users with the Username Changer plugin for WordPress sites.

    6. Install an SSL certificate 

    Another great way to secure a WordPress website is to move it from HTTP to the HTTPS protocol.  HTTPS makes sure all the data transmitted between a user’s browser and your website is encrypted. Even search engines like Google consider it a factor for your website’s SEO ranking. 

    How can you switch to an HTTPS website? By installing the SSL (short for Secure Socket Layer) certificate on your site. You can obtain this certificate from your web host provider or install a third-party SSL plugin like Let’s Encrypt. 

    Once you have installed the SSL certificate, you can verify the same by checking for https:// or a lock symbol before your URL. 

    7. Use secure hosting

    Your WordPress web hosting platform can be a decisive factor for your website security. A good and secure host will always keep your website safe and operational, while a weak host can leave your site vulnerable. Apart from security, a good web host can improve your website performance across devices and provide facilities like regular backups and SSL certification.

    If your website is on a shared host and facing regular outages, it’s time to switch to the more reliable managed web hosting that offers a dedicated server only for your site.

    8. Change the WordPress database prefix

    A majority of data breaches happen when hackers gain access and control to your database records. By default, WordPress prefixes its database tables as “wp_,” thus making it easier for hackers to run database attacks like SQL injection. 

    The smartest way to secure WordPress databases is by changing the database prefix from “wp_” to some other prefix. How can you do this? From your WordPress installation folder, open the wp-config.php file and change the value of the “$table_prefix” variable from wp_ to something else, say wp_a1357_, so it looks like this:

    $table_prefix  = ‘wp_a1357_’;

    Note: You can only use numbers, letters, and underscores to do this. 

    9. Secure your wp-config.php file

    If there is one file that can make or break your WordPress site, it is the wp-config.php file that is part of every WordPress installation. Hackers try to take control of this PHP file because it contains sensitive information like your usernames and passwords, along with details on how to access your WordPress database.

    How can you secure your wp-config.php file? Here are some tips:

    • Change the default location of this file in the WordPress installation folder.
    • Add the following code to the .htaccess file:

    #secure wp-config.php

    <files wp-config.php> 

    order allow, deny 

    deny from all 

    </files>

    10. Disable file editing

    WordPress allows all its admin users to make changes in PHP files (including wp-config.php) using a file editor tool. Unfortunately, this privilege is also what enables hackers to break into WordPress admin accounts.

    Disabling file editing or your file editor is the easiest way to prevent hackers from adding their malicious code to plugin/theme PHP files through an admin account. Disabling the File Editor is also among the hardening measures recommended by WordPress itself.

    How can you disable file editing? All you need to do is adding the following code to the wp-config.php file:

    define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

    11. Use a WordPress security plugin

    An automated security tool is probably the easiest way to secure a WordPress site. Security plugins or tools like MalCare, Wordfence, or Sucuri can protect your site from many malware variants by detecting the latest malware and attacks. They scan your website regularly for security holes, vulnerabilities, and malware before it is too late. 

    While there are many free security tools, paid tools like MalCare have advanced and evolving algorithms to detect new and unknown malware that most others miss.  MalCare, for instance, also comes with additional inbuilt features like a firewall, WordPress hardening, 2FA protection, and most importantly, automated malware removal so you can clean your website without having to rely on technical experts.

     It is easy to set up and use and lets you manage, scan, harden, and clean even multiple websites in a few clicks. 

    12. Take frequent backups

    Though strictly not a security measure, this is a good practice to ensure a hack doesn’t disrupt your website operations and take you back to ground zero. 

    Complete backups of your website and database files help you restore your site in case of a crash without losing users and business due to downtime. Frequent backups – daily, hourly, weekly, or monthly – can be configured based on your website needs.

    You can back up your website manually, but doing so repeatedly and regularly is a huge investment of time and resources. WordPress backup plugins like BackupBuddy or BlogVault are easy to install and run and offer scheduled and automated backups at a frequency of your choice. They also come with easy restore options you can use to restore your website from a dashboard in a few clicks. Plugins like BlogVault, have a 100% restore rate and features like Test Restore that make sure you can restore your site without any issues. 

    Conclusion

    A hacked website means more than just downtime. It causes a loss of revenue, damages your user experience, puts your users and their data at risk, impacts brand perception, lowers your hard-earned SEO rankings, and undoes all your WordPress development and business efforts so far. 

    The steps in this article can go a long way in improving your website security. However, there is no such thing as absolute protection from hackers as they are constantly innovating to find newer ways to attack and damage sites. It can be hard to keep up with them. Security plugins like MalCare provide an easy way to ensure ongoing and continuous protection for your WordPress website. They also combine several recommended security measures into their automated user flows so you can secure your WordPress site with minimal effort.

  • 6 Important Things To Consider When Implementing Your Website

    6 Important Things To Consider When Implementing Your Website

    Running a business in this contemporary world requires that you have a solid online presence. As a matter of fact, a solid business plan must include strategies for branding your product or services to reach more potential customers. 

    Having a website is part of business branding. The entire web portal informs potential customers about your business and how to buy your products or hire you to render the advertised services. After you have decided that your company or industry requires a website, here is a highlight of some important things you need to consider when bringing your website to life. 

    Have Target Audience

    The deciding factor on how to structure your website is your target audience. So, it would be best to answer some important questions relating to your customers before or while implementing the website. 

    What product or service are you offering? 

    Who are your customers? 

    What is the age bracket for your target audience? 

    What do your customers want to see when they click on the URL link to your website? 

    What will be their first impression when they get to your landing page? 

    What do they want to see when they navigate through your website? 

    What type of content interests your target audience?

    Will they want to come back again after their first experience on your website?

    You can create an online poll targeting your preferred customer for feedback. The responses will help you put your website into perspective, and you can work with it to make a sitemap or wireframe for the proposed website.

    Build A Sitemap and Plan Your Design

    User Interface and Experience (UI/UX) makes an excellent website and achieves a relatable UI for your target audience. You start with a detailed site mapping. Everyone has an idea of what they want their website to look like or what they think their target audience would like to see when they get to the landing page, all you have to do is map out all the pages you want your website to contain, the categories and header titles.

    When you have named all your categories, you can proceed to wireframe, where you detail what each category represents on the page. You can use an online simulator program to achieve this, as it will make designing your website easy. Website design has many intricacies to wade through, considering that you want your web portal to mirror your business branding strategies and communicate to your target audience in a way they will understand.

    You want to make sure that your website design & development are top-notch. This is why you should take the long road by doing a target audience poll, gathering materials with similar websites, doing site mapping and wireframes. If it happens that you have to hire a professional for the job, you will have a well-structured plan for the web designer to work with. 

    Also, you must prioritize mobile-friendliness features for your website when it is still at the implementation stage, as a large percentage of traffic that will make it to your website will be from smartphone users.

    Have A Plan For Valuable SEO Driven Content

    Content is the heartbeat of a website. The contents on a website complement the design and work in sync to attract potential customers. When planning your website, you have to make a good case for the type of content that will fill up each category.

    When you have a perfect idea of who your target audience is, it narrows down the contents that will fill your website because that will help you with customer retention. If you are into the fashion business and building a website for your brand, know that your blog content must be steeped towards fashion trends but with fewer words and more pictures and videos, as that is what your target audience can relate to. Be double sure that your content aligns with your business brand and the medium used in communicating is satisfactory to your target audience.

    Find a Suitable Web Hosting Platform

    This is a major deal-breaker for your website as it will determine the functionality of your website and user retention. Website hosting will decide if your website survives when it has massive traffic coming its way, so you need to make conscientious decisions on the hosting domains you will be patronizing.

    Hosting providers determines the speed of your website. Slow loading time, frequent non-availability, and server errors will downgrade your site ranking on search engine results, so you need a good hosting provider to help you achieve user retention for your website. Not only that, your hosting provider has a considerable effect on your domain authority. Hence, do your research on the best ones that offer excellent services suitable for your branding journey.

    Be Conscious of Cyber Security

    As a business owner, you need to consider the security of the potential users that will visit your website. In a situation where you want your website to be a one-stop-shop for potential customers, then you should make sure that the security of your website is top-notch. The personal information provided by customers, such as email, credit card information, and other biodata, is it safe?

    When you are implementing your website, ensure that you add an SSL certificate to your budget scope and other security measures to prevent data leaks from your end. You can have an idea of how your website firewall is when you do a bug or split testing and plug any loopholes before the official rollout.

    Have A Budget

    Businesses are hinged on financial transparency and accountability. This is why you have a budget for everything. Hence, it would help if you had a budget for business branding and building a website. During the implementation stage, you should have a list of professional web designers or hosting sites and narrow down which one fits your budget and achieve your preferred business website.

    Implementing a user-friendly website that will help promote your business brand is essential, so consider the points mentioned above when building your website.

  • Top Tips That Every Uber Driver Must Know About

    Top Tips That Every Uber Driver Must Know About

    If you have a passion for driving and more than a few hours on hand to spare every day, becoming an Uber driver is a great career option. You would get to meet new people every day, drive around the town, and get paid for it. Globally, the ridesharing business has around 3.5 million drivers, and the company is sure that the driver network will continue to grow. If you are part of the Uber drivers team or wish to join them, make sure you know these useful tips. These will make your life as an Uber driver safe, easy, and rewarding.

    Understand the Taxes

    When you drive for Uber, you fall under the category of self-employed professionals. This means you will have to file your taxes for self-employment and pay for your Social Security and Medicare, which comes to 15.3 percent of your income. If you have received more than 600 dollars in the form of promotions, referrals, and other non-ride income in a year, you might get the Form 1099-NEC form on your Uber app. The tax summary and form are available in your Uber app as Uber 1099 taxes forms under the accounts tab. If you earn less than 600 dollars, you might claim an exemption under the self-employment clause. However, you might still have to pay taxes for your earnings from the previous year. 

    The IRS website has all the information you will need, including the important dates for paying your taxes. Other information like the mileage deduction, breakdown of the expenses, actual taxable income of the driver, etc., can be found using the tax calculator on the Uber website. You can also find a useful tax calculator online as well. Use these tools to ensure you understand and pay your taxes on time. Else you might face an IRS action and lose your driving privileges.

    Focus on The Service

    While this might seem elementary, it could go a long way in helping you secure more rides. If you are considerate to your passengers, engage them in small talk, have a clean car, take the route that your passenger prefers, and engage in music, it creates a positive experience. All this will ensure you get a good tip from the passenger. Besides that, they are more likely to give you a five-star rating, which assures the app and Uber that you give your riders the best possible experience. 

    Therefore, the algorithm is more likely to assign you rides when you have consistent five-star ratings. Getting those five-star ratings are easier than you think. Smile, treat the passengers nice and make sure you ask them to review the ride at the end of the trip. You are driving with Uber to make a living. Being nice to your passengers and earning five-star ratings will increase the probability of making good money every day.

    Explore the City

    If you are new to the city or driving to a new town, it would help explore the city. You could do this by driving around the city multiple times, talking to your rides, reading about the city, and exploring through Google Maps. This will give you a perspective on the traffic bottlenecks, alternative routes, interesting destinations for tourists, popular dining places, public restrooms, etc. If your ride is for a long-distance trip, prepare a list of restaurants and local restrooms beforehand. Inform your ride every 30 minutes to one hour about an oncoming break spot. 

    The last thing that your ride wants is to be asked to relieve themselves in the bushes and abandoned lot. So, engage them in a conversation and inform them about the places where you could stop if they need a break. This will save them embarrassment and make their ride comfortable. If you are traveling to regions where you are not sure about the availability of public restrooms, always drive to a Starbucks. Your passengers can relieve themselves, use the Wi-Fi and get something to eat or drink at the same time and thus earn you brownie points.

    Make the Most Of the App

    Spend some time on the Uber App. Explore Uber app features like the driver destination, find rides in places with surge pricing, and get assistance on whether you need to keep driving or take a different route during traffic congestions. Besides that, you can track your earnings in real-time and use the app even when there is no network. Exploring these features and trying to understand them will make your life on the road easy and increase your earnings, as you will know how to find a ride every time you are working. You will find better routes, understand the city well, and stay safe on the move. While understanding the app might take some time, it would be worth it because this time would be an investment in your future earnings. 

    Use Uber Accessories

    Accessorize your car with a phone cradle, in-car chargers, and AUX cable to let your riders connect their phone, charge, and use it on the go. These will help you build a great rapport with the rider and earn you a five-star rating, which will increase your earnings in the future. Besides that, you could also have a few books, magazines, and movies available for them to watch if the rides are long-distance. As most of these accessories are a one-time investment, you will not have to spend money on them often for them to yield results. 

    These are just a few handy tips that every Uber driver should know to increase their earnings, make a living, and have a safe life while riding. If you are going to a new city for a ride, make sure you know the local laws. Carry your documents and permits with you at all times as an additional safety precaution. Besides that, make sure you sanitize your vehicle often, keep a sanitizer and a box of tissues and masks handy for your passengers. Stay masked at all times, even if you are vaccinated. This will keep you and your riders healthy, which is paramount.

  • Benefits of Using a Dispatch Software

    Benefits of Using a Dispatch Software

    Dispatch software is used the globe over – for reasons ranging from coordinating truck movement for logistics companies, to assisting first responder callouts. While this dispatch management software is nothing new to industry, the rate at which new tech is transforming management systems is extraordinary.

    Working in public safety holds a particularly important application of dispatch software, as every second counts. Whether your company responds to natural disasters, search and rescue, law enforcement work and policing, time is of the essence. In addition to effective training, the dispatch software you use can revolutionise your response outcomes. So let’s have a look at some of the benefits that using advanced technologies can help you achieve. 

    Reduce dispatch fatigue and burnout

    Unfortunately, public safety agencies are very often on the receiving end of time sensitive calls. And the volume of calls – especially ones of a more urgent nature – can take an emotional toll on dispatchers. Across the country, 911 evidence finds that where the volume of calls increases, so too does dispatcher burnout, absenteeism and the turnover rate.

    When incoming calls need to be assigned to their relevant operators or units, the smallest mistake made could mean the difference between life or death. This is why another huge benefit of dispatch software is the reduction in system or response errors. 

    Enhance communication accuracy

    Dispatching serves an essential function, but no one in any job is immune to human error. What has transformed dispatch software, fortunately, is the introduction of computer aided dispatch systems (CAD). Gone are the days where wrong locations or typing errors could be life-threatening. Now, the requesting agency is able to input details directly into the software! This is usually done through accessing a web portal.

    Having a central response request system, including one with chat messaging functions, means that the need to communicate verbally diminishes. What happens is that the dispatch request data is input and processed on the dispatchers’ system. Because all data is input electronically, request and response information can be processed and analysed much faster. This leads us to the next benefit: response tracking. 

    Response and resource tracking

    What remains key to every law enforcement agency and public safety division, where every second counts, is learning how to improve response time. Being able to access all previous requests and their outcomes is extremely advantageous, and gives your organisation plenty of operational insight to enhance service.

    What is also useful with cutting-edge CAD software is the ability to identify available resources and to allocate these resources effectively. Your agency is granted access to a comprehensive database of vehicles and persons; and with the use of integrated mapping through a more advanced records management system (RMS), you will be surprised at the accuracy with which requests and responses can be tracked. 

    Cloud connectivity and flexibility

    The latest dispatch software is using cloud storage instead of having to need on-site servers, saving you time and money. Instant remote access to your data through the cloud also means that using the software can be done virtually through any device connected to the internet. Being accessible remotely will provide your dispatchers with much more flexibility, as they will not necessarily have to be based at your workstation to respond to requests in the field. 

    How is your data security?

    An added benefit of being cloud based is improved security, as data is automatically encrypted through intelligent software. Due to the data being run directly through cloud servers, it also automates encryption and essential CJIS- and HIPAA- compliance. This increases privacy of data, while being able to immediately detect threats which could compromise the integrity of your response system or information otherwise held on outdated and exposed software. 

    Controlled access to your CAD software

    Technology is improving exponentially, and one of the revolutionary new software offerings is AgencyLink. Through systems like AgencyLink, strictly managing staff and agency accounts is much easier. Secure and controlled access will not only be possible, but it is a fantastic way to ensure that account holders cannot misuse the system. If staff are doing so, their accounts (and access to this information) can be revoked at any time.

    Within the CAD system, all dispatch requests, how quickly the responders were able to get to the scene, as well as any important details about the case are recorded. This allows you, in terms of the responder access, to assess the personal performance of staff and measure the progress of new employees. Being able to have these numbers on your system enables management to improve training for new recruits, as well as upskill current employees if you’re seeing that their response time, for instance, is problematic. 

    Broader reach of requests

    Being able to have more eyes on an incoming or reported incident is vital, so you need software that alerts users immediately. Using the latest tech, did you know that you can now connect with a much broader range of parties who work in the same sector? Being able to instantly contact or receive requests from others in the same sector as you is extremely useful when you are low on resources to respond appropriately and this can work both ways – needing more hands-on jobs and giving a hand to other agencies who need your intervention.

    Being part of a wider network improves inter-agency contact, empowering all divisions and departments in your area about the state of things. From being directly in touch with other public safety agencies to nearby jurisdictions and affected roles, advanced software is breaking the boundaries as to what is possible. 

    Integrated customer support

    Training staff can be intimidating if the software isn’t intuitive or easy to learn. However, one of the benefits of using higher-end CAD software is that the system should offer customer support that sufficiently meets your staff needs. If you’re happy with the tech support, it should see no problem to upskill your staff with the new technology very quickly.

    Remember to do thorough research on the various software packages on the market and keep an eye out for emerging systems. As previously mentioned, tech is evolving quickly, so have your ears on the ground to which products are entering the marketplace – especially those which are designed for your industry. Do not be intimidated to take advantage of software that has artificial intelligence-integrated features that can take your agency’s work and impact to the next level!

  • Optimize Your Customer’s Experience And Reach More People With These Tips

    Optimize Your Customer’s Experience And Reach More People With These Tips

    The first rule of modern-day marketing is that you are not the customer and the decisions should be data-based instead of speculations. In the current fast-paced marketing environment, it is essential to understand your target audience and secure your customers by all means. The easiest way to improve customer retention and attract new customers is to value user experience and mold your product according to their needs while maintaining the original concept of your product.

    For this reason, marketers need to adopt the data-driven approach and ensure the changes made are based on our customers’ feedback.

    Why is User Experience Important in Digital Media?

    As the world is advancing in terms of technology, production ways are also being improved to optimize resources. This is why the importance of user experience has increased in magnitude.

    User experience is nothing but a simulated experience of a random customer of your product/service interacting with your system. The user experience design primarily focuses on the user’s needs and how to fulfill them. This includes steps that could improve customer loyalty to the product/service or brand.

    Although there is no perfect way to determine a great user experience strategy, there are certain basic principles that need to be followed to ensure every customer is satisfied. With varying user experiences for every user, you need to emphasize the fact that you are not them and all your decisions need to be data-driven.

    To make sure you are not making a speculative analysis, you can conduct different kinds of analytical surveys and interviews with your target audience to receive the necessary feedback.

    How To Optimize Your Customer’s Experience and Improve Your Audience Reach?

    Considering the importance of customer experience for your brand, it is essential to understand how you can improve your audience reach by improving your user experience.

    1. Establish a Strict Customer Experience Vision

    Emphasizing the focus on a customer-centric vision is essential to show your employees the significance of customer experience. With the help of a clear and articulate vision, you will notice a significant change in the organization and every member will be adamant to achieve the goal.

    1. Develop an Emotional Connection with Your Customers

    In the field of marketing, the importance of developing an emotional connection with your customers holds great importance. The majority of retained customers prefer to use a similar product/service due to the emotional attachment and the feeling they felt when they used the service for the first time. For this reason, the quote: the first impression is the last impression holds great importance in customer experience.

    1. Value Employee Feedback

    There is no denying that the think-tank of a company has to be in the driving seat for making changes in the entire system. However, factoring in the feedback of your employees can allow the company to welcome new ideas that could improve the process.

    1. Personalize Your Interactions with Customers

    The entire concept of improving customer experience is to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. Now, the pivotal point in any UX design is the setup of personalized interactions with the customer. Every customer demands a personalized experience when using a product/service to feel special. This provides an emotional value to them that generates positive results in maintaining high retention rates.

    Furthermore, these personalized experiences can develop a bond between a brand and its regulars that can also result in an increase in other customers.

    1. Learn from Churn and Improve the Weak Areas

    As the engagement rate decreases, the churn rate increases in any business. For this reason, it is essential to identify areas in your product/service that demand a higher amount of interaction and engagement with the users to ensure the churn rates are lowered.

    Benefits of Improving Your Customers’ Experience

    Understanding how to improve your customers’ experience is an essential step for your business. However, it won’t be of any use if you’re not confident about its series of benefits for your brand. For this reason, here’s a list of the most common benefits of improving your customer experience.

    • Improves Customer Loyalty

    User experience has a direct responsibility to attract new users into their system. However, with a great customer experience, you also guarantee to retain users and convert them into recurring users. All you need to do is understand your target audience’s needs and identify the bottlenecks in your system. This will automatically increase your retention rate and as a result, increase the customer’s loyalty towards your brand/product.

    • Increases User Interaction

    One of the basic techniques of UX designers involves the creation of user personas of potential users of your product. These user personas help the UX designers to visualize the target audience and develop personalized user experiences. Furthermore, with the help of design consistency, the UX designers are able to ensure increased user interaction.

    • Maximize Revenue Generation

    At the end of the day, revenue generation is the sole purpose of creating a product/service, right? With effective UX planning, you can list your users’ journey and optimize all possible potential revenue generation opportunities to ensure that while you are not disturbing the customer experience, your revenue generation is also not taking a hit. This can be done by constant A/B Testing of different experiences and continuing to make changes with respect to user behavior.

    • Minimizes Development Time and Costs

    One of the most important advantages of integrating customer experience into your development process is to minimize your development time and costs. UX designers are able to devise a detailed prototype that works according to the purchaser’s needs which saves time for your developers. With this approach, the prototype only goes into development after the final changes made by the customers.

    You could create an exceptional product/service with great applications and even market it well for a certain amount of time. However, your sustenance in the market depends on your approach to handling your customers’ feedback. Any product/service that does not have the tendency to shape itself according to its consumers’ feedback perishes sooner than its growth. For this reason, the importance of customer experience is emphasized to ensure that marketers understand the severity of user acceptance and user feedback and translate the importance with their management.

  • Just How Safe are VPNs for Work?

    Just How Safe are VPNs for Work?

    Browsing the internet in modern days can be risky. For instance, when you are using public Wi-Fi, any person on the same network with a little tech know-how can easily access your online activity and location. 

    Luckily, virtual private networks, better-known VPNs, provide a good way for remote and in-office workers to mask their online activity and keep prying eyes off their employer’s information. But just how safe are VPNs for work? 

    Keep reading to discover the common cons of using VPNs.

    Complicated setup

    The process of VPN access setup, management, and configuration can be pretty complicated and time-consuming.

    Considering that most employees are not tech-savvy, using VPN networks can become a big challenge and often calls for increased labor in terms of IT support staff. Additionally, the complicated configuration and setup processes translate to more time loss, which could have otherwise been used to engage in other productive activities.

    Luckily, investing in a simple file server access solution such as Triofox can ensure your remote team easily and safely access your network or file server. The best bit about such tools is that they provide secure, remote access without a VPN and still ensure that everyone who accesses your file server is authenticated and uses a secure internet connection.

    VPN hinders collaboration among workers

    Apart from contributing to IT complexity in its setup, VPNs can hinder collaboration among remote workers. Most VPNs are not designed to support entire organizations operating remotely.

    With a large volume of employees connecting over a VPN network remotely, most networks will be overwhelmed. In other words, you are likely to experience a delay in content syncing and file sharing, which are the two most critical aspects of an effective remote work model. 

    Such performance challenges can ultimately affect your business’s productivity which calls for finding more effective ways of securing your work remotely other than VPN.

    Complexity hinders scalability

    As businesses start to experience growth, most enterprises try to solve the overload issues with additional VPN appliances and concentrators. 

    However, this approach only serves to add to the cost and the complexity of the already complex system. These complications become a hindrance to scalability and can only be overcome by finding other options for securing your company data without relying on a VPN. 

    Security loopholes

    While most VPNs may promise maximum security, they may not be entirely secure, and users are always at a risk of having their IP addresses leaked. 

    Therefore, if you intend to invest in a VPN for your workers, it would be important to check online reviews on the provider to see if they have had a history of IP leakage. Free VPNs are especially prone to leaks and must never be used for work.

    Dropped connections

    Dropped connections are a nightmare for any business owner who depends on a virtual private network for their online security. 

    A dropped VPN connection should not be confused with losing your internet connection. Instead, a dropped VPN connection means that you cannot connect to the servers hiding your identity, leaving your true network and IP information on display for everyone putting your company at risk of a cyber-attack.

    Slow speeds

    Because a VPN network is a virtual connection inside a physical network, your internet speeds will be negatively affected. Slow speeds are especially a problem with free VPN, which must be avoided by all means.

    Final words

    VPNs are not developed equally, and you may find them useful for certain purposes in your organization. However, you can find many other alternatives to VPNs, such as file server access solutions, that effectively ensure your business remains safe from cyberattacks.