Google teams up with Citizens Advice Bureau
Google, in partnership with the Citizens Advice Bureau, have launched an excellent new site called ‘Good to know’. The site aims to provide tips and advice about online security and privacy issues to users of all levels to help them protect their personal information on the web. Check out the site for yourself here.
The site offers advice on a range of issues from choosing online passwords, password strength and signing out of web sites correctly to more advanced issues such as secure sites, SSLs and cookies.
As you would expect from Google the site is well designed and easy to use, all the information is written in a way that can be understood by all levels of user, almost all the advice given comes with a tutorial video to explain the issues further and there are many links to other sites that you may find useful. There is also a handy Jargon Buster section for those who don’t know their spam from their cookies.
This site is an invaluable resource for almost all internet users, but it is also very useful for anyone who owns a web site. Web site owners (particularly those with ecommerce sites) should take a look at the Good to Know site and assess if their own sites conform to the advice given by Google about safe sites. If your site does not conform to Google’s advice then you may lose credibility; but more importantly you may also lose potential customers who do not trust your site enough to make purchases on it.
If you feel your site does not conform to the advice given on Good to Know or you want to discuss any specific issues around the security of your web site, give us a call and we will be happy to advise you of ways you can increase the security of your site.
Do yourself a favour and upgrade your browser today!
Having worked with many clients over the years, I’ve noticed that many people are still using old, out of date versions of their web browser. Many of them don’t even realise how much they are missing out on!
Most web developers and major companies have dropped support for older browsers like ie6, so some sites will not display how they are intended to. Although all good web developers will insert alternative code for older browsers to display correctly, a lot of new technologies will only work in new browsers
For example, all those nice rounded corners and shadows on your new design will not appear in older browsers without a lot of extra work and code that will slow down your sites performance. You could be missing so many features on your own or your favourite website without even knowing it!
The more you stay up to date, the more it will push the web industry to give a more innovative experience to you, the user.
Older browsers are also more and more vulnerable to modern threats. Of course you shouldn’t just rely on a browser to protect you, but an older browser can be an easy way in for these threats – so why not update?
The best part is that all of the major browser updates are free to download, so there really is no reason not to keep up to date and take advantage of all the great new features out there!
The Google +1 button is rolled out for use on the move
Google+ has enjoyed huge success since its release in late June of this year, reaching 10 million users within the first two weeks! Now that Google + is available to everyone, its popularity is growing and this trend looks set to continue.
A lot of Google + users have described it as a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter – a new social networking tool that integrates with the web seamlessly. Both Facebook and Twitter are available as smart phones applications, so when will Google follow suit?
Google+ is taking its first baby step in to the mobile web world with the introduction of the +1 button to mobile browsers. It should already be available to anyone running either iOS 4.0+ or Android 2.1+ browsers. More browsers are destined to follow.
We should expect continuous updates from the search giant over the next few months. Technically, Google+ isn’t even out of the Beta stage yet – so who knows how powerful it will become once all the bugs are ironed out.
It is estimated that more than 1 million websites have the Google +1 button embedded into them – make sure yours is one of them and call eSterling to update your site today!
The world has gone social networking crazy… now Google+ joins the party!
The internet has changed beyond recognition. I remember the early days when an email address alone was considered one of the coolest things a guy could have.
Can anyone remember Geocities, Netaddress, Yahoo Chat etc? In those days if you could string a few pages of a website together; you were considered a Guru… Yeah. I recall my first encounter using the internet with much nostalgia.
Today the internet is (kind of) the same as it was, however, we have embraced it and are using it in such a way that is far different than a decade ago. Today we are accustomed to using social networking in our everyday lives.
To me, if you are not ‘part’ of the internet by having an active email address, website, social media presence etc, then you are missing out on a massive change in the way humans interact in the 21st century.
Now we have another social media network available to us – Google +, which I’ll be trying out as soon as I can!
I have no idea what is in store for us within the next decade of the evolution of the internet. However, I do believe we are going to see some changes and new ideas popping up all the time.
The internet is now very social…are you part of it? And do you have any fun memories of your interaction with the internet over the last decade or more?
The Freddie Mercury Google Doodle
When you work with search engines every day, like we do here at eSterling, you inevitably notice when one of them has had a makeover.
Yesterday our good friend Google livened up its homepage with a brand new Google doodle celebrating what would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday. The doodle features pictures of the Queen frontman making up the Google logo, with a large play icon in the middle. Make sure you’ve got your headphones on for the next bit, because when you hit the button you will be treated to Queen’s 1978 hit Don’t Stop Me Now and a colourful animation of the singer in full swing.
When the doodle is done, you will be taken to the search engine results for ‘Freddie Mercury’. Here you can read more about the singer’s life (and how it was tragically cut short in 1991) by reading Freddie’s Wikipedia entry, buy Queen merchandise using Google shopping; or have a look at Google image search to see what pop stars wore in the 70’s…
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google doodles, they are graphics that replace Google’s normal logo to celebrate a special occasion, birthday or anniversary that is happening on a particular day. Over the years Google has created over 1000 doodles, some of which have become infamous in the internet community. Some memorable doodles include an interactive Pac-Man doodle to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the arcade game and a playable electric guitar to celebrate the 95th birthday of Les Paul.
The best thing about Google doodles is that they change every day and are used to celebrate anything and everything. But just don’t take my word for it – take a look at the Google homepage every day to see what doodles pop-up to catch your interest.
And whilst you might not be able to have your own Google doodle for your business, eSterling can help you achieve brilliant search results for your website. Get in touch with us for more information about our Search Engine Optimisation services by emailing helpdesk@esterling.co.uk.