Showing posts tagged with: Big Island SEO

September 1, 2019

Hawaii Search Engine Optimization – SEO Companies

If you’ve landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog while searching for Team Vision Marketing, please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials. If you’re interested in learning more about Search Engine Optimization and SEO, please continue reading.

Search Engine Optimization – SEO Tips for Hawaii Businesses  

Updated: September 1, 2019

Chances are, if you own a business, run a business, or market a business, you’re familiar with the term Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and many of you are implementing Hawaii SEO strategies at one level or another. What we’ve found in our 20 plus years of web site design and development experience, is that many small businesses are either overlooking SEO completely, they’re doing it themselves at a very basic level, or they’re assuming their web design company is handling SEO properly – and they’re often not.

This article is designed to provide small business owners an overview of some of the best practices currently being utilized in the world of  Search Engine Optimization and things that we know work because we actively use and test them for our Hawaii clients. That being said, SEO requires a large investment of time on an ongoing basis, it requires some technical knowledge, and it also requires you to consistently monitor changes in SEO best practices and then adapt to those changes regularly. If you do decide to handle SEO on your own, here are a few key SEO tips to get you started. Contact us if you would like more information or assistance with your Hawaii SEO needs.

Why Is  Search Engine Optimization So Important?

Before we get into recommendations to help you improve your web site’s SEO, it’s important to start off with why SEO is so important for your web site. If your web site does not appear on the first page of search results (Google, Bing, etc.) when users execute a keyword search, then your company will basically appear as non-existent to online users. Therefore, it’s critical that you get into the mindset of your customers, determine which keywords they employ most often to search for and find your web site, and then optimize your site’s Search Engine Optimization strategy for those keywords

1. Web Site Design and User Experience for SEO

Many marketers don’t realize just how critical their web site’s design, navigation structure, functionality, content, and even the Content Management System (CMS) are to an effective Search Engine Optimization Strategy. Because Google can’t rely on your keywords and content alone to gauge the value of your web site, design and user experience now play a major role in how Google evaluates and ranks your site in order to provide searchers with the best possible listing results they can.

What are the key indicators Search Engines look at when evaluating web sites for search engine rankings? Here are two of the big ones.

  • Bounce Rate – this reflects the amount of people that go to only one page of your web site and then leave. For example, if you were to search for Hawaii Advertising Agencies, click on Team Vision Marketing’s search result, hit our home page, and then immediately click the back button to go back to the search results, then that would be considered a bounce and reflect poorly on our search engine rankings. If too many people only visit one page of our site and then leave, eventually our search rankings will drop. This is why it’s important for businesses to monitor web site analytics regularly and make adjustments to your web site when you see negative trends such as high bounce rates.
  • Time on Site – this one is self-explanatory. The longer you keep visitors on your site, the better. This shows Google (and other search engines) that you are providing relevant and high-quality content that users who land on your web site are truly interested in engaging with.

How can I improve bounce rate and increase time on site?

Your web site’s design, user interface and content can all affect bounce rates and time on site. The good news is that you can improve many of these items on your existing site if they are not currently up to par. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your current web site. Does your web site look current and incorporate responsive design techniques so that your content is optimized for whatever device and screen size your end user is viewing your site on? If not, you may have to think about starting over and creating a newly designed site. Does your web site include current information, pictures and videos that encourage web site visitors to keep reading and viewing? Does your site feature strong content that provides value to your users and encourages them to share it with others? Does your site funnel users through a path to get them to click on multiple pages until they reach the point of purchase or a contact form? By using a strong design strategy and well-developed content, you will be able to guide users to where you want them to go and then make them feel good about it when they get there. This will increase time on site, lower bounce rates, and improve your overall search rankings.

2. Web Site Optimization for SEO

In addition to having a strong web site design, it is important that your web site be optimized for the following – before you even begin developing your list of target keywords.

  • Fast load times
  • Quality user experience
  • Mobile-friendly/responsive design web pages
  • SSL security (a must since July of 2018)
  • No 404 Page Errors

We’re not going to go into detail on each of these items, because if you aren’t already familiar with these terms, you probably shouldn’t be handing your own SEO. The bottom line? You can have a great web site design, quality content, and even a sound keyword strategy, but if your site doesn’t include the recommended optimizations above, your search rankings will suffer.

3. Crawlable and Accessible URLs

It’s critical that you design your site so that Googlebot’s (and other leading search engine’s)spiders can access your web site and understand everything on it, from navigation, to text and keywords, to videos and anything else you want Google to index. This step is another critical piece of the puzzle. Without it, none of your other optimizations are going to matter.

4. Content Best Practices for SEO

Although the basics of content marketing haven’t changed much in the last year, we have to include a section on Content when talking about current SEO best practices. Here are a few key strategies we recommend.

  • Leverage video content.
  • Update old blog posts with current information.
  • Review and edit the content on your site to make sure it’s still current and high quality.
  • Regularly review and update your backlinks strategy.
  • Optimize your content for long-tail keywords ( long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that contain at least three words. They’re more specific and less competitive than generic keyword terms).
  • Linkless mentions (mentions of other brands in your text without linking to them).
  • Topic clusters (a collection of interlinked articles or pages around one umbrella topic).
  • Longer blog posts (current recommendation is 2,500 words or more).
  • Interactive content.

5.  Compelling Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Depending on which articles you read, some will say that Google no longer uses meta descriptions and tags for search rankings, and others will say that it is still used and important. From our experience in managing and studying SEO results for our clients, we feel it’s still very important to optimize your site’s meta titles and descriptions. Even if they are not used in the search rankings algorithm, there is a high percentage of time that the meta description and the meta title from your web site are used in the search results text. How Google displays your search engine result can determine whether people click on your listing or a competitors, so make sure you develop strategically written titles and descriptions, and monitor your competitors search listings results so that you can evaluate and modify your meta data to remain competitive.

6. Primary, Secondary, and Long-tail Keywords


What are Primary keywords?

As the name suggests, a primary keyword is a keyword that is used before any other keywords on a web page or in an article. It’s the most important keyword on a web site and should be used in a site’s title, domain, as well as in the site content. Primary keywords are the main keywords for which you want your site to rank in search results.

What are Secondary keywords?

Secondary keywords are those which play a supporting role to the primary keywords. They can be a more flexible than your primary keyword. Try to pick words that people are most likely to use when searching for your product or service.

What are Long-tail keywords?

Long-tail keywords are more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re closer to the point-of-purchase or when they’re searching for a very specific product or service. They can be hugely valuable if you know how to use them. For example, as an advertising agency, our primary and secondary keywords might be “Hawaii Advertising Agencies” or “Honolulu Advertising Agencies.” A long-tail keyword would appeal to users searching for a specific advertising agency service, such as “Facebook Ads Management Companies Hawaii.” Long-tail keywords may have less searches, but the conversion rates are much higher, and they are less competitive because they are so specific.

Once you have all your keywords in place, don’t limit yourself to using them on just your web site. Incorporate them into your social media channels and posts, in any website-related blogs, in your e-newsletters, and in any digital press releases.

7. Social Media as part of SEO

Does social media marketing have an effect on search results?

Yes. Social media is designed around mass sharing. Optimizing your social media efforts will drive a lot more traffic to your web site which can positively affect your SEO rankings. The more people that share your content or link to your web site from your social channels, the more visibility and traffic your web site will receive – both important factors in SEO. In addition, we already know that Google crawls and displays personal Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, and LinkedIn pages. And more recently, we have begun to see business pages (i.e. Facebook Pages) being returned as search results for keyword searches that are linked to the Services descriptions that Facebook now offers.

Well there you have it. These are just a few of the many Search Engine Optimization tips and best practices that we deploy here at Team Vision Marketing, and there are many more. You didn’t think we’d give away all of our secrets, did you?

If you found this article on Search Engine Optimization interesting and insightful, please give us a call at (808) 536-0416 to learn the rest of our SEO secrets, and find out how we can help you improve your digital marketing efforts? We’ve been a leading full-service Hawaii advertising agency, Web design and digital marketing firm for over 20 years. Take a minute to view some our client video testimonials and hear directly from our key clients on how we helped grow their businesses. Then, search for Hawaii Advertising Agencies on Google and tell us what you find.

Contact Us:

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Web: www.www.teamvision.com

Hear from Bruce Barrett, VP of Sales & Marketing at Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

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Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

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March 29, 2019

What Is IP Targeting and How Can I Use It for My Business?

If you’ve landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog by accident while searching for Team Vision Marketing, please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials. If you’re interested in learning more about IP Targeting Campaigns, please continue reading.

IP Targeting – What Is It and Should My Business Use It?

If you’re a marketer, you’ve probably heard of IP targeting, but maybe your business or your advertising agency hasn’t yet added it to your marketing mix. This article is designed to give you an overview of what IP targeting is, explain some of the pros and cons, and give you a few examples of how you might use it for your next integrated marketing campaign.

What is IP Targeting and IP Advertising?

Here’s a quick definition for those of you who might not be familiar with IP Targeting. IP Targeting is the process of targeting digital advertising to specific households, businesses, etc. based on their Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address is a string of numbers assigned to your internet connection that allows you to speak with other devices on the Net.

How Does IP Targeted Advertising Work?

When a user connects to your web site, an IP address is provided for the transaction to take place. IP targeting captures that IP address, determines the location of that IP address (a home or business), and then matches that IP address against 3rd party databases of personal information.  Once that IP address is captured from a web visitor, you can then conduct one-to-one marketing directly with that IP address or person. In addition, if you have customer or prospect lists with physical addresses, you can  determine the IP address for homes or business locations on your target list, and then conduct digital advertising campaigns directly to those IP Addresses. Yes, there are privacy restrictions that must be met with IP targeting, but solutions to these issues have been addressed and are in place.

What are the benefits of IP Targeting?

The benefits of IP targeting over traditional cookie-based targeting is that with IP targeting you can acquire a user’s specific information.  In contrast, with retargeting (or cookie-based targeting) you may never know who the actual end user is unless you get them to register or take action on your web site.  To take things one step further, more recent advancements in IP targeting by certain providers now provide the ability to determine the home or business address from a user’s IP address.  The additional benefit here is that you can then advertise to those prospects via digital marketing as well as printed direct mailers directly to their homes. Here again, there are privacy safeguards in place to protect the end users’ personal information.

Retargeting and other forms of digital marketing are based on placing a cookie on each user’s computer. Once a user deletes those cookies from his/her browser,  or blocks cookies via their browser settings, you have lost that customer as an advertising prospect until they come back and visit your web site again. This is not the case with IP targeting which does not rely on cookies.

Is IP Targeting the Same as Geo-Fencing?

First, let’s define geofencing. Geofencing refers to drawing a virtual fence around a location and using a group of IP addresses. Ads inside this virtual boundary can be seen on computers, tablets, or mobile devices by any user within the defined location.

Although nearly all forms of location targeting use an IP address somewhere in the process, IP targeting and geo-fence targeting are in fact different – and each offers unique advantages. IP targeting is often seen as superior to geo-fencing because it uses an individual IP address versus geofencing which uses a group of IP addresses within specific geographic locations. The best way to explain the benefits of each method is through examples.

Scenario 1 – IP Targeting

Let’s say you own a refrigerator rental company and you want to target ads to students within the local university. Well, many universities share a web login with a single IP address with all registered students. Once you obtain that address, you could then target your ads to all the students’ devices that have accessed that university web site or wi-fi. For this scenario, you could also use geo-fencing as a strategy, but you would experience more advertising waste because your ads will not only reach students (your desired target audience), you will reach everyone who is within the university location geo-fence (including teachers, parents, friends, staff, delivery people, commuter traffic, tourist, etc.).

Scenario 2 – Geo-Fencing

Let’s say you own a visitor attraction, like our Dole Plantation client in Hawaii, and you want to target specific offers to all customers who are currently on your property. Since it’s likely that the majority of the people on the property are visitors, the best strategy to use here would be to create a geo-fence around the property and target people within that geofence. We currently do this using Dole Plantation Snapchat filters which can only be accessed via Snapchat on users’ mobile devices who are currently at the Dole Plantation location.

Scenario 3 – IP Targeting

For this example, let’s say you own a popular Hawaii real estate marketing web site and you want to send a print direct mailer to all people who visit a specific page on your web site, but you don’t want to require customers to complete a subscribe form. The best way to do this would be via IP targeting. Under this scenario, when a user visits your web site, their IP address is obtained and then cross referenced against 3rd party databases to acquire the user’s physical address and any other available information. In addition to targeting this user with digital advertising, you can also use their mailing address to send a highly targeted direct mailer to their home for a more integrated, and higher converting, marketing approach. It’s important to note in this scenario, matching IP addresses back to physical addresses is not 100% accurate (estimates range between 50-70% accuracy), but since you only pay for successes and actual direct mail pieces sent,  it is still a highly effective strategy when integrated within your overall marketing strategy.

Scenario 4 – IP Targeting

This is a popular use case scenario currently being utilized by Colleges and Universities that use IP targeting to attract potential new students. These schools are able to target households where qualified, college-aged students are living with their parents. Because the address is normally a household IP, the campaign will reach both the parents and the student which is very effective because parents are nearly always involved in their child’s college selection process. Conversely, if you simply used a geo-fence strategy to target an entire zip code or neighborhood, you would waste advertising dollars by reaching a lot of households with no college-aged children, or no children at all.

Are There Issues with IP Targeting?

Just as geofencing, retargeting and other forms of digital marketing are not perfect and have their unique set of issues such as automated bots using up valuable advertising clicks, IP targeting also has some unique challenges, and that is why we always recommend a balanced integrated marketing approach for our clients. Here are just a couple of well-known issues of IP targeting.

Dynamic IP Addresses. Some users have what are called dynamic (or changing) IP addresses versus fixed IP addresses. This means that each time they connect to the Internet, their IP address is different. For an advertiser targeting a person through IP targeting, once that user’s IP address changes, that prospect just became a different person.

Router Complications. In some cases, people in a public location (i.e. Starbucks) access the Internet through a shared wi-fi service using the same IP address, the IP address the router uses to connect to the internet. Once those people leave that location and reconnect to another wireless device, their IP address changes again. This is why it’s best to target specific households or businesses where IP addresses tend to remain fixed.

How do I go get started with IP Targeted Advertising?

The best way to get started is with your existing database of prospects or customers. The home addresses can be used to find the IP addresses for households or business on your list, and then you’re ready to create targeted digital ads that can be deployed to this group via their computers, phones and tablets that access the internet via the IP you are targeting. If you don’t have a specific target list, you can purchase lists from list providers, and you can also target IP addresses by a number of other criteria such as business locations, household zip codes, event venues and more.

How are IP Targeting Advertising Campaign Results Measured

One of the great benefits of IP Targeting campaigns is the ability to track conversions back to a specific customer and campaign. For example, in an IP targeting campaign, you normally will have the customer’s physical address on file. After an IP Targeting campaign is completed, we can take the purchaser list and compare it against the IP Target list to determine exactly which customers purchased who originated from a specific IP Targeting campaign. This helps our clients more confidently calculate accurate sales numbers and ROI.

If you’re interested in exploring an IP Targeting campaign for your business, please contact us at (808) 536-0416, or via our contact form.

This is the blog of Team Vision Marketing, a full-service advertising and marketing agency located in Honolulu, Hawaii and serving clients on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

Contact Us:

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Web: www.www.teamvision.com

Hear from Bruce Barrett, VP of Sales & Marketing at Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

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Contact Us for Help with your IP Targeting Advertising

Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

December 28, 2018

11 Must Have Web Site Features For Hawaii Business Web Sites

11 Must Have Web Design Features for Hawaii Businesses

With the introduction of more and more “do it yourself” web design tools like Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and others, you may think it’s easy to create and maintain your own web site but there’s a lot more to it than you might think. Trust us, Team Vision Marketing has been designing and programming web sites over the years for Hawaii clients, including Ke Kailani, Ainamalu, Islander Ukulele, Castle & Cooke Hawaii, Koa Ridge, Wailele Ridge and many more.

If you’re about to engage in the process of either designing your own web site or hiring someone to create a web site for you, here are eleven must-have basic web site design features your business web site needs.

If you need help with your business’s web design, let us know! We would love to help!

1. A Well Structured Menu

An organized menu is a KEY element for achieving a higher Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking because search engines want to present the best web sites on their search results page, which considers such factors as ease of navigation and content organization. A well-structured navigation will also prevent high bounce rates. New visitors should be able to instinctively know how to navigate through your web site and not waste their time digging through your menus to find the content they want.

Team Vision recommends listing what type of content or web pages you need to have on your site. Then, group the web pages into relevant categories or subcategories.

Pro Tip: Map out your web site design with all of its web pages in a flow chart and then refine that flowchart to create the most simple and organized navigation menus you can.

2. Visually Engaging, Responsive Web Site Design

There’s no excuse for a business web site to have a bad web design. If you make the effort to look your very best for face-to-face interactions with potential consumers or clients, then you should make the effort to make your site visually engaging. See TeamVision.com as an example of a well-designed, mobile-friendly business web site.

It takes less than 15 seconds for potential consumers or clients to analyze the look of your site and determine if they want to continue browsing through it. A clean layout, high-quality imagery, and well-written content make your site appear more trustworthy and give you a higher SEO ranking, which can result in increased web site conversions.

If you have the budget for it, there are many web site design companies that can help you create an aesthetically pleasing, responsive web design that’s fully customized to your needs. If your budget dictates that you need to go the less expensive route, DIY web site tools, like WordPress, also possess some decent web design templates, but your customization may be limited without an experienced web development team assisting you.

3. Call-To-Actions (CTA)

Call to actions are instructions designed to provoke an immediate response from your web audience, such as “Call XXX-XXXX Today!” or “Buy Now!” buttons. CTAs are important for conversions, so make them conspicuous and readily available throughout the site. Ideal CTA locations are on applicable sections of web pages, and within the site’s header and footer.

4. Visual Components: Images, Videos, and Infographics

Strong visual elements are a must for any web site design. Photos, graphics, and videos are much easier to comprehend than text, they increase brand awareness, and can help increase conversions.

• 46% of users take action after viewing a video ad (Geniusmonkey.com)

• Videos on landing pages can increase conversion by 80% (Forbes.com)

According to the 2018 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, three of the top six content types being prioritized by B2B marketers are visual content, such as videos, infographics, and illustrations/photos

Although photos and graphics still provide creative visual interest, videos are the fastest growing form of visual content. Videos are more engaging, helpful for testimonials, demos, and storytelling. Infographics are also growing in popularity for tutorials and sharing analytics.

5. Well Written Copy with Keywords

Copy is vital for gaining more traffic, increasing conversions, and keeping your web visitors on the site longer. For SEO purposes, your web site’s text content factors in heavily. So, your copy should be relevant, concise, and rich with keywords that relate to your business, products, and services. Bad grammar, misspellings, and poor organization will get your web site flagged by search engines as a low-quality site, negatively affecting your SEO ranking and your web traffic.

Your copy should also clearly communicate all the information your audience needs to know in a concise fashion. If your web visitors can’t find the information they’re looking for, then they will quickly leave your site and go to one of your competitors. But be mindful of not sounding too sales orientated. If the tone is too promotional, then it might deter your audience from wanting to read more.

6. Enhanced Tracking and Tracking Pixels

These little snippets of code are important for measuring the effectiveness of your online marketing programs. When someone visits and takes action on your web site through Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, the pixel’s report the action and automatically adds the web user’s information into a remarketing or lookalike audience list. Pixels also optimize conversions so Facebook and Google ads can determine how to best deliver your ads to audiences that are more likely to take action.

7. Quick Load Times

Load time speed plays a primary role in building traffic and retaining visitors on your site. Long load times can result in high bounce rates, which will negatively impact your conversions and SEO strategy. SEO algorithms heavily weigh on your web site’s bounce rates when ranking your site on search engine results pages (SERP).

There are a number of ways to improve your web site’s load time, however, most of these techniques will require some coding. There are WordPress plugins that can help but hiring someone to program these techniques might serve as a better investment for your web site.

• Visual content is the usual culprit for long load times. Try compressing and resizing your images and videos before uploading them to your website. Think about it, bigger files take more time to load.

• Use browser caching. This technique allows data to be temporarily stored on a visitor’s computer, resulting in faster load time for repeat visitors.

• Slim down your code. This includes deleting unnecessary HTML, Java script, CSS, and white space between code lines.

• HubSpot suggests adding your site’s external Javascript files to the bottom of the page before closing the body tag.

8. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We cannot stress this enough! It’s 2019, your web pages should already be optimized for search engines. SEO is no longer treated as a bonus in your online marketing, it’s an absolute must! This is how your web site will become more visible on search engine results pages, which will generate increased web traffic and potentially higher conversions.

Read more about key SEO strategies and how to optimize our web site for voice search in our previous blog posts.

9. SSL Certificate, Terms Of Use, And Disclaimers

Security is an increasingly important component of web site design, not just for the audience, but also for web site owners. Adding some security measures is easier than you think.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate
Buying and installing an SSL certificate is essential for your web site. This standard security technology establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser, ensuring that all the data passed between a server and a browser is kept private. Without it, Google will label your web site as “NOT SECURE”, which will negatively affect your search engine ranking and send red flags to your audience. This certificate also gives your audience some peace of mind.

Read more about SSL Certificates here.

Terms of Use
This legal document lays out the rules that users must agree to in order to use the site and use content from the site. It prevents abuses, protects your intellectual property and registered trademarks, and limits your liability if your content has been used incorrectly or inflicts damage. The Terms of Use also states your right to terminate accounts and establishes age restrictions.

Disclaimers
A Disclaimer is a legal notice that protects the company by limiting the legal liability for the outcome of your web audience using your web site. Without disclaimers, you can potentially face lawsuits.

10. XML Sitemap

Building an XML sitemap into your web site helps Google “crawl” through your web pages to determine your site’s indexing on search result pages. With some coding, you can customize which web pages you think are high quality that Google should pay more attention to and which pages Google should ignore. See Team Vision’s XML Site Map as an example.

Learn how to build an XML sitemap and view Google’s sitemap guidelines.

11. Integration With Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an essential tool for every web site. It provides insight on who your web audience is and which online marketing strategies are working best for your site. It can track how your audience found your site, which device they accessed it from, track their full interaction with your web pages, and much more.

Bonus:

Testimonials & Reviews

Testimonials are effective buying influencers. If you have consumers that have enjoyed your product or service, share that with your prospective customers. If you have the capability, video testimonials are more effective than text testimonials.  View examples of quality video testimonials here.

•HubSpot Research also found that 60% of consumers believed customer reviews were either trustworthy or very trustworthy

• According to Nielsen research, “92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer, and 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t even know”.

Portfolios

If you’re selling a service, like advertising and marketing, you should show off your recent and past work. Give your prospective customers an idea of what they can expect from your business. Of course, include some text to give your prospective customers some context.

As an example, check out Team Vision’s extensive advertising and marketing portfolio.

Link Your Social Media Channels to Your Web Site

If you promote your web site on social media, then you should also promote your social media on your web site. Linking your social media to your site can help increase your followers and engagements. Let your audience easily discover a more personal point of view of your company.

Incorporating these 11 key basic web features can help you achieve a higher Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking , improve your web site traffic, and increase your online conversions. Are you scrolling through your web site and noticing that you are missing some of these important features? Team Vision can help you with all your web design and Search Engine Optimization needs. We’ve designed and developed many successful Hawaii web sites and SEO marketing programs for Hawaii businesses on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, The Big Island of Hawaii and Lanai.

Reach out to us at (808) 536-0416 or use our website inquiry form at www.www.teamvision.com/contact.

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his 20 years of experience working with Team Vision.

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Sources:

http://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlbJKOWEPEM

https://www.godaddy.com/garage/does-your-website-really-need-terms-of-use/

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2012/trust-in-advertising–paid-owned-and-earned.html

https://blog.hubspot.com/service/get-customer-reviews

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80471

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-reduce-your-websites-page-speed

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/20-web-design-stats-you-need-to-know-first-infographic/524656/

May 14, 2018

SSL IS NO LONGER OPTIONAL

HTTPS IS NO LONGER OPTIONAL FOR YOUR WEB SITE

At Team Vision Marketing, we have been building web sites for Hawaii clients for over 20 years. Up until just a few years ago, many client sites that didn’t include ecommerce, or that didn’t request or store confidential information, didn’t require HTTPS encryption installed on the site. An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Security Certificate was an added annual recurring expense that many clients didn’t feel they needed, and quite frankly, best practices didn’t yet call for.

What is an SSL Certificate? And How Does It Work?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. After July 2018, Your Site Will Show as “Not Secure.”

SSL Graphic - Team Vision Marketing Agency Hawaii
Image: Beginning July 2018, your non-HTTPS web site will show as “Not Secure” as shown above.

For the past several years, Google has been moving customers toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that ALL web sites adopt HTTPS encryption. Within the last year, Google has been labeling more and more HTTP (Non-HTTPS) web sites as “NOT SECURE” in order to help users understand that they could be at risk by using a particular site.

Google has now announced that beginning in July 2018, it will mark ALL HTTP pages as “NOT SECURE.” If you’re still operating a non-secure web site, this warning message will more than likely deter users from proceeding to your site (just imagine users seeing the following warning before entering your site: “NOT SECURE. Would you still like to proceed to this web site?”). It will also have a negative effect on your search engine rankings as Google’s algorithms will place a preference on secure web sites for search engine result rankings. The adoption of SSL/TLS encryption for online organizations has become a security best practice.

Moving to HTTPS is now easier than ever and the cost of annual SSL certificates has also dropped significantly in recent years. And, if you used a third-party CMS such as WordPress, you may be able to set up the SSL yourself using one of WordPress’ popular SSL plugins like Really Simple SSL.

If you need help setting up HTTPS security on your web before the July 2018 deadline, or if you just want to learn more, please give us a call at (808) 536-0416, or send us an inquiry via our web site.

For more information, check out Googles Security Blog.

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