Does your Website Suck?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Katie

Pointers on how to help your website make the cut.

Katie Dexter, CEO of Appletree MediaWorks, LLC; a union communications company of Fenton, Michigan; recently appeared on the The Union Edge: Labor’s Talk Radio show to share pointers on improving the user experience level of your website. Website designers and developers spent dozens of hours creating your website, but all too often some of the most important components are missed. She shares her tips below.

>Click to Listen to the Full Interview from The Union Edge Radio Show

Website Usability

Usability goes hand in hand with readability but is not the same thing. When was the last time you visited a website and were surprised to find so much information available but none of being what you came to the site for? This leads to an increased bounce rate in your website analytics because visitors just aren’t getting that they came for.

Effortless Usage should be your goal.

Keep sign up and contact forms short. (Don’t worry, you can ask your subscriber for more information later).
Highlight important news and announcements.
Don’t make the user scroll horizontal.

User Interface Design

Make sure your fonts are also readable on all devices and keep your audience in mind at all times. Your colors should match your logo or business colors but don’t make your website colors and fonts offensive or difficult to read. If your colors combined are offensive any way you change them then it’s time to call in a graphic designer.

We all love photos but on a website they should be present for a reason, not just to fill in space. They should support your site’s content. An important aspect to your website should also be a union label. This is a sign of a website created with pride and precision by professionally trained union members.

A Tip for The Times

If you are going to invest in some website improvements, the best place to invest is in making your website mobile ready. Image downloading can be a nightmare for a mobile user; websites need to be simple and short for mobile access. Your user wants everything but you must be considerate of their device capabilities.

Appletree MediaWorks, LLC is a union online communications company based in Michigan. Their employees are members of the GCC/IBT (Graphics Communications Council of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters). For more information visit: AppletreeMediaWorks.com

Protecting Your Facebook Account

Posted on March 29, 2013 by James

Let’s face it, any website that houses the daily drama of over 1 billion users¹ is going to become a pretty huge target for myriad hackers, pranksters, and scam artists alike. That’s right, Facebook has over a billion users, most of whom have no idea how to protect themselves. According to a report by the Escapist Magazine, over 600,000 Facebook accounts are compromised every single day². Want to avoid becoming a statistic? Following these simple guidelines will greatly reduce your vulnerability and help you stay as safe as possible.

Use Strong Passwords

No matter how many security measures you take, if you don’t use a strong password, your door is wide open. Strong passwords should contain at least 8 characters and have a mixture of lower- and upper-case letters, symbols, and numbers. Too hard to remember? Why not try using phonetics? For example, tooeasy123 is a bad password. But To03asy!2E is a fantastic one.

Contrary to popular practice, passwords should always be something random and unrelated to you. Too often, people use their pet’s name, their child’s name, or a hobby. Keep in mind that such things are easy to guess or look up. Also, if your password can be found in a dictionary, it will easily fall prey to a simple dictionary attack. Again, obfuscating phrases with numbers and symbols is a great way to strengthen your passwords.

We also recommend changing your passwords about once every 3 months. If you have trouble remembering passwords, you might consider using a password manager such as 1Password or LastPass to help you keep track.

Think Before You Click That Link!

If a friend sends you a link via email, text message, or instant message, make certain that you know what you are clicking on before you do it. Short links such as bitly are especially vulnerable, since you are not given any clues as to what you are clicking on before it’s too late. Don’t worry, your friends will understand (and often appreciate) when you ask them what they are sending you. Often when an account gets compromised, the original owner may not even be aware that links are being sent out in their name. If they don’t remember sending any links, chances are good that they have been compromised (and you just avoided sharing in all the hassle!)

Don’t Believe Everything You Receive

I always tell people – never send anything via email that you do not want to see on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow morning. Even as the Internet has evolved, email itself remains one of the most insecure protocols on the planet.

It is frighteningly simple to spoof email and make it appear to come from somebody that had nothing at all to do with it. We’ve all probably received a scam email or two from a “stranded Nigerian prince” who just needs us to help him out so he can get back to his fortune and reward us for our random assistance. This has become one of the most tired scams in the book.

But thanks to Facebook, we are now seeing a fun little twist to this tale of sorrow and woe. Instead of appearing to originate from someone in Nigeria, the latest strategy is to pose as one of your friends from your Facebook friends list! Be aware that the next time one of your friends appears to be asking for a big favor via email, it is likely a scam. Before you click on any links or respond to the message, always call your friend and make sure that it is real.

These guidelines will help start you down the path towards better Facebook (and Internet) security. However, always remember that security is a constant battle. Hackers and scammers are very clever opponents, by definition. We must always be vigilant and keep our eyes open for suspicious behavior. Facebook’s Help Center offers a wide array of additional security suggestions and tips. And of course, Appletree MediaWorks is always available to assist in keeping your accounts secure.

1. Forbes reported in October of 2012 that Facebook now has an account for one out of every seven people on planet earth.

2. Reported by The Escapist Magazine in October of 2011, these numbers were first compiled into an infographic by Sophos Security. It is worth noting that although 600,000 is a very large number, it is only .06% of Facebook’s total user base.

5 Steps to a Great Website

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Jessica

This article from Forbes poses 5 questions you need to answer in order to effectively plan out your business’s website.

1. How will you get people to your website? More specifically, what marketing techniques will you be using to attract your target audience? Is it search engine optimization? Pay-per-click advertising? Social media? PR? This step is very important, as it often answers many of the questions below. Tip: Calculate which marketing technique works best for your site, by figuring out which has the lowest cost-per-acquisition (how much you spent on getting a customer).

2. Who will be coming to the site? Your website needs to take all kinds of visitors by the hand and help them find what they are looking for. Within a few seconds of getting to your site, a visitor needs to know what to do next. Do they need to sign up? Should they click a link to learn more? Once you determine what visitors are coming, you’ll be able to determine what they need to do once they get there. Tip: Don’t try to please everyone, but have your site clearly laid out to direct visitors wherever they need to go. If you do too much your website will become busy and difficult to navigate. Focus on a few key features that majority of your visitors will benefit from.

3. What questions will my visitors have? Am I at the right place? How long have you been in business? Can I afford you? How do I know your product or service is any good? How can I learn more about your services and company? How do I contact you? Tip: Try to answer the questions before they are asked. For example, if your visitors come to purchase a specific product that you’re well-known for in the industry, have that product easily located so they know they’re in the right place and can access product details right away. Clear, short messages work great.

4. What do you want your visitors to do? Should they pick up the phone and call you? E-mail? Sign up for something? Buy your product online? A great website will guide your traffic where you want them to end up. If you’re selling a product, convince the visitors to buy and make it easy for them to do so. If you offer a service, let them know how and why they can benefit from it. Tip: Be clear and concise. Don’t make visitors think.

5. How do my visitors like to stay in touch? Keep in mind, that most people who come to your website won’t become a customer. In fact, the average conversion rate on the Internet is around one percent, meaning only 1 out of 100 visitors will end up contacting you, signing up, or buying something. Find out what forms of communication your visitors prefer and give them the means to stay connected: e-mail, a blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, RSS Feeds, and more. Tip: Engaging your customers is important, as most people don’t convert on the first visit. Keep them coming back by identifying your target visitor and catering to the market that best reaches them. If they’re entry-level professionals and they’re constantly engaging in social media, have a social media presence and actively provide them reasons to return to your site. By engaging visitors you’ll give them incentive to return, convert, and hopefully invite their network to do the same.

Contact Appletree MediaWorks to get your company started on the right foot.

Monitoring Your Brand Online

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Jessica

No matter how big or small your company, monitoring your brand online is an essential task that must be done on a regular basis. With the prevalence of social media, it’s far too easy for one person’s bad experience to go viral. Watching for and correcting these issues is the only way to ensure your brand remains in a positive light.

There are many tools out there to assist you with monitoring your brand, and most of them are free.

The easiest tool to use is Google. You can set up a Google Alert (sent right to your email) that searches regularly for whatever you want – in this case, your best bet would be your brand name. You can also refine it to just send you news, video, discussions, blogs, etc.

Another great tool is Twitter – using the Twitter search, you can monitor your name, your company’s name, or even your competitors, and have the results fed into an RSS reader for your convenience. And since Twitter posts are so rapid, you may want to use TweetDeck or HootSuite to keep a closer eye on things.

While not free, Trackur is an excellent tool for small business to keep tabs on social media. You can “monitor your reputation, your news mentions, your PR campaigns, your employees, or your competition. Trackur’s social media monitoring tools are easy to use, yet offer a surprising number of features.” With plans starting at just $27 a month, any small business can easily afford to sign up.

If your business is booming and you’ve got a little more to spend, try out UberVu. Their dashboard monitors and analyzes mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and more. You can also perform a “sentiment analysis” to find out what the general feeling is towards your brand, and you can even use UberVu to compare your brand to your competitors.

These are just a few tools that are available for monitoring your brand online – more in-depth research may uncover something perfect for your organization.

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show Interview with Katie Dexter of Appletree MediaWorks

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jessica

Katie Dexter of Appletree MediaWorks joined Charles Showalter on The Union Edge Talk Radio Show yesterday. Mentioned were some of the custom-built tools that both the UWUA and P4A use on their websites. Listen to the full interview by going to our Media page and clicking “Listen” under the 12/5/2012 heading, or read the highlights below.

Here are some of the topics they discussed:

Affordable, customizable union-made website packages that include social media integration.
- Social media is an important growth tool for unions – allows you to further your reach and share with other unions.
- Social media is easily updated and can be rapidly shared – this allows news and information to “go viral” – not only putting pressure on companies to resolve union matters faster, but also allows union members to organize quickly and efficiently when time is of the essence.
Custom union tools.
- Secure Intranets – areas for members and officers to log into, share information, and securely upload and store documents.
- Expense and Payroll Tracking Programs for Unions – including uploading of receipts for audit purposes.
- Member Dues Program – track, bill, and accept payments online for members. This includes custom reports and mail/email ready monthly statements.
- Certification Tracking System – Power for America Training Trust Fund utilizes this system in order to keep track of apprentice training and schooling. Also used by Utility Workers Military Assistance Program in Chicago for instructors to track grades.
- Test Taker Program – new program for P4A and Consumers Energy students to take tests online. Tests are secure, timed, and instructors get detailed results instantly.
Currently in the works.
- New website for UWUA on WordPress featuring Web 2.0 upgrades.

Web 2.0 Tools For Your Website

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jessica

Katie Dexter (of Appletree MediaWorks) gave an interview yesterday on WFRNLive, talking about Web 2.0 tools for websites and for organizing union activities. Highlighted were Facebook and Twitter social media plug-ins for your website, and she also touched on Google+, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. Listen to the full interview on our Media page, and read on for more information about what Web 2.0 is and what it can do for you.

So what exactly *is* Web 2.0?

The term Web 2.0 is used to describe websites that go beyond static content and provide users a way to actually interact with the information they’re taking in. For example, before Web 2.0 was the norm, news websites would just display their news articles (plus relevant images) and call it a day. Nowadays, not only do we have multimedia content (video, audio, etc), but websites are actually engaging their audience by utilizing plug-ins for social media, which reaches not only their users, but their user’s friends as well. That same news website has not only furthered it’s reach, but has also engaged it’s audience in the content by allowing them the opportunity to share and comment. To learn more about Web 2.0, visit the pages dedicated to it on O’Reilly Media, as well as the article describing it on Wikipedia.

What are some Web 2.0 tools I can implement today?

If your organization doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter feed on it’s page, that’s a good place to start. You’ll also want to make social sharing icons available so that if a user browses to a page they’d like to share, they can do so immediately without leaving your site. Additionally, Google+, LinkedIn, and Tumblr are also some good applications to plug in to your website – some people may have a preference of one over another, so you want to give them as many options to choose from while still implementing good design decisions.

Do you have questions on implementing Web 2.0 functionality in your website? Contact us at Appletree MediaWorks and we can get your website on the path to engaging your users and extending your reach.

They’re trying to take the Internet

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Jessica

The International Telecommunications Union (or ITU), a United Nations agency, is considering new rules that could clamp down on the fundamental freedoms of citizens online. A group of giant internet corporations and countries, including China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia—countries that already impose heavy restrictions on internet freedoms—have put forward proposed regulatory changes to the UN World Conference on International Telecommunications on December 3.

Under their proposals, governments and companies all over the world have much more scope to restrict internet access and monitor what we do online.

So far the proposal has flown under the radar, but its implications are so serious that we’re mobilizing right now to make sure that the ITU and its member countries know that we won’t let them take away our right to free speech online. And this won’t just have repercussions in the US—people in poorer countries and under dictatorships would be hurt even more.

If accepted, the changes would allow:

Increased government restriction or blocking of information disseminated via the internet;
Creation of a global regime of monitoring internet communications, including the demand that those who send and receive information identify themselves ;
Requirement that the Internet only be used in a ‘rational’ way;
Governments to shut down internet access if they decide that it may interfere in the internal affairs of countries or that information of a ‘sensitive nature’ might be shared;
Introduction of a new pricing regime which would increase costs and slow down internet growth, especially in the poorer countries.

So many workers are affected by internet policy, even if we don’t think about it as we go about our day. The Internet represents one of the few places in our world that is open and accessible by everyone. We need to make sure our voices are heard before US representatives head to the conference.

Stop the proposal to restrict the Internet in its tracks by signing right now:

go.aflcio.org/Stop-The-Internet-Clamp-Down

CISPA

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Jessica

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or, CISPA, is a proposed law in the United States which would allow for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and certain technology and manufacturing companies. The aim of the bill is to help the U.S government investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyberattack.

Its predecessors, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) were blocked earlier this year; however, CISPA has been passed in the House of Representatives and is now awaiting attention in the Senate.

Overview of CISPA

While SOPA and PIPA were meant mostly for stopping pirated material from being transferred over the internet, CISPA is an entirely different can of worms. Succinctly put, it allows both the government and private businesses to share information about cyberthreats. (Cyberthreats are anything making “efforts to degrade, disrupt or destroy” vital networks, or anything that makes a “threat or misappropriation” of information owned by the government or private businesses.) CISPA rewards companies for collecting data from internet users, intercepting or modifying communications, and providing this information to the government.

What does this mean to you, as a company with a website?

CISPA mostly affects individual internet users, however, its intent is to allow companies to protect their computers and networks against global cybersecurity threats. Information-sharing with the government is voluntary; however, data anonymity is encouraged and not required (from “CISPA Will Improve U.S. Cybersecurity” by Matthew Eggers at the US News and World Report).

According to an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “One of the scariest parts of CISPA is that the bill goes above and beyond information sharing. Its definitions allow for countermeasures to be taken by private entities, and we think these provisions are ripe for abuse… These countermeasures could put free speech in peril, and jeopardize the ordinary functioning of the Internet… These countermeasures could even serve as a back door to enact policies unrelated to cybersecurity, such as disrupting p2p traffic.”

Additionally, “Heritage [Foundation] discussed how CISPA gives private entities ‘clear legal authority to defend their own networks.’ While we think private entities should be able to defend their networks, they should not be able to do without accountability in a manner that threatens free speech or disrupts the Internet.”

Where do you stand?

Appletree MediaWorks believes privacy is of the utmost importance, however, in a democratic society such as ours, we recognize the need for discourse on all topics of this nature. Please feel free to comment with your opinion on CISPA.