Why do people hack into websites? Well according to Web Hacking Incident Database (WHID), in the second half of 2010 the top reasons for hacking were:
website downtime 33%
defacements of websites 15%
leakage of information 13%
Not upgrading security of open-source software can lead to serious hacking, the Evolved CMS is NOT open-source, some common hacks we’ve witnessed include:
1. Pornographic Content (website defacing)
The hacker inserts pornographic material on the website, usually in blog comments (also called comment spam) linking it to their own website in an attempt to lure visitors away. They may also setup redirects to their own website, so visitors are automatically sent to their own website.
2. Illegal Back Links (search engine optimisation)
Hackers insert links to their own websites on as many pages as they can, often hiding them with Javascript or CSS so they are undetectable to visitors, however Google and other search engines then count these links as ‘votes’ for the hacker’s website, boosting their position in the search engines. This may also lead to the hacked-website being black-listed by search engines.
3. Political / Fun Hacks (website defacing / mischief)
Illegal political groups or simply kids may hack into websites as a test of skill and post anti-government statements / images or just their pseudonyms as proof of their hacking skill.
Potentially the worst kind of hack is when someone gains access to the Administration area and can steal usernames, emails and passwords for all customers, email subscribers etc.
NOTE: The Evolved CMS has never been successfully hacked into.
A great quote which very much applies to our business:
“It’s difficult for inexperienced merchants to recognize value.
We’d spend countless hours trying to explain ‘pain’ and our cure but some just didn’t care because they hadn’t felt it yet.”
Its so hard to convince new clients that our Evolved CMS offers good value, all they see is the price tag. But for clients who have already had a CMS that doesn’t work, or it too technical like Joomla, or too easy to mess up like WordPress, they have felt the pain, and can value a stable, easy to use website such as the Evolved CMS.
Selling to people looking for a cure is so much easier than trying to describe the pain, and why they need our cure. A good cure sells itself.
We’ve been trialling some new software which allows us to record and watch customers moving their mouse around the website to see exactly what they are doing wrong, its helped our clients to identify issues on their shopping cart and increase sales.
Examples of improvements we’ve made to clients websites based on these recordings:
we noticed that customers accidentally add the wrong size clothes to their cart, as the sizes keep reverting to ‘XXL’, which frustrates them as they need to go back, add the right size and delete the wrong size from their cart. We now save their chosen size on all similar products.
find customers who have abandoned the cart, those that added items but never checked out, and watch to see why they left (e.g. to find out the freight price was a common reason)
added a ‘continue shopping’ button for customers who added 1 product to cart but acted lost after this. A simple call to action with the ‘continue shopping’ button made the shopping process much smoother.
converted a size chart image to a table that can be clicked to choose your size, after we noticed confusion among shoppers how the size chart worked.
You can see a short video of someone filling out the Evolved Websites contact form, see as they type and also move around with their mouse:
…and another video on Visitor Tracking – Filling out Forms:
Blogging is great if you have a need for it, something to say, something to get out there. It might be your opinions on something specific to your business, so if you have a wine website it may be talking about the wines, vintages etc.
What it should NOT be is a constant update on what the business is doing, as this is not what people go to blogs to read. I.e. its not a place to post news releases.
It does mean extra work for you, and rule of thumb is to post a new blog at LEAST once a month, if not more. And it takes time, months or a year to build up a following.
What it can do is to engage with your customers, provide great information for SEO and also create a strong online community by linking and discussing other blogs and websites.
Now to a little house-keeping, a very annoying bug we’ve been wrestling with for years has finally been resolved, thanks to some new technology (jQuery): in PAGES area you can now drag n drop to re-order pages that have a scrollbar
Previously the pages below the scroll area would not be sortable, this fixes that and will make it much easier for clients with dozens of pages.
I’m always impressed when I re-visit the Sun Dive website with all the photos and videos they put up, check this out:
Massive Bait Balls at Julian Rocks Since late May, we have experienced bait balls gathering at Julian Rocks in never before seen dimensions. Whole areas around Julian Rocks are covered in tiny bait fish, giving a spectacular display of silver flashing when they are chased by predators. The bait balls also bring in huge schools of big fish feeding on them such as Snapper, Trevally, Kingfish and Jewfish. Even the Grey Nurse Sharks want some of the action and start munching on the little fish.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting an Online Essentials workshop to a group of businesses in Brunswick Heads.
I’m here to help local businesses get the most out of the internet, how to use email, websites and other online tools effectively to save time, frustration & money.
More importantly, this is about making businesses easier to run, not harder. Understanding what tools in the web industry will work for your business, and those that won’t, so you can concentrate on running your business.
Topics covered included:
2 Effective Tools – Google Alerts / Google Analytics (Alerts use Google Alerts to keep me up to date with any mention of my name ‘yari mcgauley’ or ‘evolved websites’ http://www.google.com/alerts)
Email & Text online, writing properly, subject lines, breaking up text (Texton the internet, scan not read)
SEO, keep it simple, what’s good for your visitors / customers is good for Google. Get the code right, the rest will follow. Basic tips on good sales pitches (keywords first, headings)
Twitter / Facebook using it or not (social media generally)
Google Tools, show more? I.e. Webmaster Tools, Google Apps, Gmail, Calendar etc
eNewsletters, great if used well. See spike in traffic / sales for some businesses like Sax Leather (confidential). Use email templates, auto-responders etc
The Cloud, using file / email / calendar sharing to your advantage. Highlight Google Apps, Dropbox
The complete slideshow can be viewed below (using Google Docs to embed it on my website):
Lookout for dodgy domain name resellers people, in late Dec 2009 I received an ‘offer’ to register my domain www.evolvedwebsites.net.au, for just $245.00 AUD.
As .com.au domains should only cost about $50 this is a total rip-off, the letter is very well presented and even offers a free iPod shuffle if I buy before Dec 18th (at $79 they can afford to give one away right?).
This scam is often tried on domains due to expire, they will send you an invoice to renew your domain name, and in the fine print it will say ‘this is an invitation only’ which makes it legal. Just.
My advice, check with who your domain registration company is first (do a search in your email, they will have sent you a receipt), such as NetRegistry.
