SMBs Online, Peace of Mind and Privacy

September 1, 2011
 

Today’s show features Bruce’s new SEO and Web development offering for local businesses, a conversation with Jonah Stein about website security threats, and user concerns over social network privacy.

Starting off the show, Bruce, freshly returned from Affiliate Summit East, talks to Jessica and Virginia about the unique demands of affiliate marketers and their laser-focused concern with driving traffic. It’s an objective shared by many doing business online, and a challenge for smaller businesses with fewer resources available to devote to optimizing an online presence. As Jessica says during the show: “It’s not supposed to be in the small business owner’s skillset to do this stuff. This is stuff that people who work at agencies do every day, keeping on top of changes.” Enter Localware, an all-in-one program for local businesses, including a SEO, content development, social media management from Bruce Clay, Inc.

Then Jonah Stein, speaks with Virginia about efforts to make the Web a safer place. After noticing a plague wipe out online communities, turning them into “ghost ships flying through cyberspace,” Jonah started encouraging conversations to combat “virtual blight.” What followed in the years to come was a realization that businesses online don’t have solutions in place to protect them from malicious hackers, some aiming to distribute malware, some planting black hat links, and others simply stealing traffic. The consequences of becoming a victim to hackers can be mitigated with the help of CodeGuard, a website backup, monitoring and reporting system.

And wrapping up the show, Susan Esparza makes a special appearance to talk with Aaron Landerkin and Virginia about privacy expectations on social networks. Since they had that discussion, Google+ began requiring users use their actual names on the service. Eric Schmidt even referred to the network as an “identity service,” highlighting the platforms utility for Google as a data mine. Facebook seems to be moving in the right direction as far as giving users more granular privacy control with enhanced sharing features.