What Changes Are Predicted in 2020 for SEO

There is no doubt that SEO has transitioned on many aspects during 2019. Conventional SEO methods have continued to diminish in effectiveness and new trends and ideas are beginning to emerge. According to this article, a few predictions that are being made for SEO this year include an increase of Artificial Intelligence expansions for search engines and social media, a probable increase in voice searches, and mobile traffic changes in Google Discover. It’s interesting, Google made its first public announcement that good content does not always have to be human-made. Machines are learning new algorithms and they now have the ability to generate content that is useful to users. Google will most likely revise their guidelines regarding robot generated content in the near future. SEO in 2020 continues to build on the importance of understanding your customers’ needs and wants; specifically, to better understand how they are using your website in order to grow your online presence and increase sales. 

Few Short Weeks Until Windows 7 Reaches End Of Life

The year 2020 is only days away and with a new year, comes many new changes to occur including some in the technology world. One of the biggest changes to expect is the end of life support for the beloved Windows 7 operating system. What does it mean exactly for the end of life? Many consumers are under the impression that their PC will no longer function and therefore “die”, however, the computer will continue to perform daily tasks but will shortly become outdated with no new updates to keep it optimal and secure for your tasks. The last security update will be released on January 14, 2020 and Microsoft is continuing to urge its users to upgrade their software to the newest available. According to the article, there are roughly 28% of windows users still using Windows 7 currently. It is important to adapt to the new upgrades/ changes as time continues on and there are many helpful tools available online or at your local computer store that can help guide you through the process.

Jetpack Plugin Creates Security Flaw for WordPress Websites

Website owners and admins are being strongly urged to update to the latest version of Jetpack 7.9.1 for security risks that have been an open vulnerability since the older version of Jetpack 5.1. Some people may be wondering what Jetpack plugin is or what is it used for. It is a widely used WordPress plugin for websites to provide free security with features to optimize a website’s performance, create site backups, and run preventative scans for infections as needed. To read more information about Jetpack and the effects of this vulnerability, more can be read in this article. Although this new information can sound very alarming, many users that were currently using an outdated version of Jetpack have already been automatically updated to the most recent update but it is always important to manually check your website and make sure that this update has been applied to your specific account as well.

Marketing Your Business Through Social Media

It is very important for a business to choose proper marketing strategies to invest in their company to be successful. One of the most useful and cost-effective marketing tools inside of digital marketing a small business can use to reach their target audience is through social media. What makes social media so powerful for marketing? It has been studied that over 97% of businesses are using it to reach their audiences, below are several reasons why.

Your Customers and Competition Are on Social Media

One main reason for small businesses to be utilizing social media for their marketing strategies is the fact that many of your customers are spending their time on these channels already. Studies have shown that 70% of the U.S population has at least 1 form of social media accounts created. With the great mass amount of people accessing these platforms, sometimes even multiple times each day, it creates a great opportunity for businesses that are wanting to reach online audiences.  Not only are your potential customers using social media but so are many competitors. No matter what style of industry, or who the targeted audience is, social media can impact your business marketing. To remain competitive is important to build a presence online in social media to present your brand in a unique way to show your industry expertise and knowledge.

Social Media Marketing Is Cost-Effective

Choosing to use social media for your marketing needs will help you cut costs for advertisement without sacrificing results. Social media will cost you time that you invest in creating and posting content more than the actual dollar amount associated. Even just a simple few hours a week focused on your account can see great results. If your company decides to use social media advertising as part of your marketing strategy, depending on the goals of the campaign it can still be inexpensive to run paid ads on media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Improve Search Engine Rankings

When increasing your online appearance through social media, there is a good chance you are also, in turn, improving your search engine optimization at the same time. Search engines such as Google may use social media presence as a factor in website ranking. Brands that tend to be successful have healthy interactive social media accounts that can flag their accounts as valuable and trusting. Search engines also pay attention to behavior on social media that has content with links and social signals, such as likes, and shares associated with the posts as well. Ranking factors are in a constant change but having an updated and well-maintained social media account will typically always bring positive effects.

Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing.  All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming, and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results.  For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.

Are Your Downloads Killing Your PC?

Having proper knowledge and routine maintenance for your computers will extend the life of a PC. Installing regular updates for windows or keeping your antivirus up to date are a few helpful downloads that need to be done in order to stay secure. However, there are several harmful downloads that you could install in the background without even being fully aware of it occurring. In the article published by Fox News, some of the common downloads that can be harmful are discussed more in detail. Often, many users will try to “clean up” their own PCs by downloading freeware that promises be helpful by speeding it up, enhancing online experience, or make certain tasks more simple but unfortunately, it will typically make things a much larger mess than it was in the beginning and can install malware/viruses and other unwanted programs that will take up hard drive space and actually slow down the PC, not speed it up. In life, we typically get what we pay for and should be very conscious of what the word “ree” really entails. If you need a professional computer clean up or repair, the technicians at CPS are available to always be of help and offer their technical expertise. Give us a call today!

The Difference of a Custom-Made Website

When owning a business, one of your top priorities is to find the best way for your customers to find your company and promote the desired appearance to provide a unique first impression to potential new customers and will create interest for them to reach out to begin working with. The way technology is today, it is important for your company website to display your company in a professional, creative, and responsive way that will set you apart from your competitors. Unfortunately, in the web design market, many phrases of “custom design” are used but not to its true meaning. What makes a website truly custom made? Let us take a closer look at web development and understand what will be the best website for your business needs.

Using Templates

One of the most common ways to start a website is by using a simple site such as WordPress or other companies such as Wix or Squarespace that provide a theme that allows a person to choose different templates that can be purchased and edited with their personal business information. These type of website creations are chosen mostly due to the low startup cost aspect as well as development times are much shorter. However, as with many things in life, you get what you pay for as it's always said. There are disadvantages that should be considered when using these website creators as well. Many other businesses could be using the very same templates that you have chosen so this will remove the uniqueness and will not stand out as much from competitors.

Choosing A Custom Design

Quality web design is an art and science incorporated together. The placement of pictures, videos, shortcuts, etc is all arranged in a specific format that has been analyzed for industry trends and to better target a business audience. The main goal of a customized website is for the visitors to gain a complete visual representation of a company and what they have to offer. Having a custom website will also allow the possibilities for specific features to be utilized as well whether you are needing to incorporate e-commerce capabilities or be able to utilize CRM software to input data from a website. Another large aspect that will impact a custom-designed website is your SEO placement. Google can recognize a site’s uniqueness and in turn, will promote a higher rank than a standard template website.

Weighing the Options

Making business decisions is not always easy and of course, everyone is always hoping they are making the right choice based on the facts that they are presented with. A company that is just starting out and needs to get a website up fast and inexpensively may get away with a template or website with starter sites available. Keep in mind, these templates should be used as just a simple stepping stone and the only way to reach the top of your business’s potential is by choosing a custom design. Several websites will state that custom website design is dying however that is far from the actual truth. There is no doubt, as time continues on there are more templates being used each day but this will only give a custom-designed website even more of an advantage, it’s better to stand out than to blend in with the rest!

Creative Programs and Systems is an all-inclusive tech company that specializes in Custom Development, Managed IT Services, and Digital Marketing.  All work is done in-house, we never outsource services from custom server builds and workstations, custom software programming, and phone app development, to search engine optimization and paid advertising, our professionals provide results.  For more information on CPS check out our website at https://www.cpsmi.com.

Which Platform is Better? PHP or Java?

The web development industry is constantly changing it is important for web programmers to understand and learn and multitude of different programming tools and languages to continue to create unique and custom websites that are both mobile friendly and responsive to users. Two of the larger coding languages that are well known are PHP and Java which are equally popular and do many of the same functions. A question that is often wondered by business owners is what type of website will be best to use? In the article, a list of pros and cons such as cost, compatibility, speed, ease of learning and other general differences between these two languages to help you better understand which code will be best for your site. Still uncertain which type of website you are looking for? CPS specializes in custom website programming that our team of experts can sure to answer all of your questions.