Read this article if you want to protect your privacy and avoid data theft!

Everybody knows the importance of using a strong computer password. Even so, there’s a logical reason for highly guessable passwords like LOVE, QWERTY, JESUS and PASSWORD being all too common: We have human brains and too many digital accounts! Now that we’re expected to have unique passwords for so many services, it’s more difficult than ever to maintain mental notes of passwords that work. This article from the data privacy folks at hostingreviews.com gives you fun tips for creating and remembering passwords that are hard to crack.

What is a strong password? Strong = Long

First things first. What is a strong password? Many IT administrators specify that passwords be at least six or eight characters long and contain a capital letter, number or “curse word symbol” like % or #. The common belief is that formulas like these will foil hackers. If only it were true… In most cases a hacker can crack such passwords within a day! You can verify this claim by testing different passwords at howsecureismypassword.net. An eight-digit password was cracked in less than a second with their simulator, but a password twice that length would require an estimated 16 billion years to guess!

What matters most isn’t non-dictionary words and random symbols, but password length. According to a study at Carnegie Mellon, it’s best to use a password of 16 characters or more.

Tips for the Pea-Brain

So… how can you remember a password of 16 characters or longer? Here are two strategies.

Strategy #1: Create an acronym. Let’s start out small and suppose that I want a short four-letter password. I’ll take the title of my favorite book, Casa de los Espiritus. By taking the first letter of each word I’ll get the password CDLE. This password would be cracked in seconds by a hacker program, but it shows you the clever acronym setup.

Obviously, coming up with a secure 16-character password is more time consuming. This is where numbers step in: They speed things up while adding diversity. However, you should avoid your birthdate, house number, SSN and common strings of numbers (e.g., 2013, 666, 1234, 9999 and 867-5309).

Fun password fact: 867-5309, which is the phone number from the Tommy Tutone song “Jenny”, was the fourth most common seven-digit password in 2012!
Other numbers in your life have little meaning to hackers, and especially when mixed with letters. For instance, you could write a phrase that includes the make of your first car. In this way I created the password IDAF1982NDTSEDJY: I Drove A Freaking 1982 Nissan Datson To School Every Day Junior Year. The phrase is memorable to the creator yet very, very unlikely for a computer program to attempt.

What other numbers could you try? Your weight or an ideal weight would work, and you could turn your password into a belated New Year’s Resolution: I Will Weigh 160 Pounds Or Less By My 10-Year High School Reunion, IWW160POLBM10YHSR. Include the clearance of your RV. Use your preferred annual salary. Any apparently random string of characters will do! The point is that you use 16 characters or more to stay far ahead of hackers.

Strategy #2: Chunk! Chunking is the act of breaking a long string of data into manageable bits. Phone numbers are excellent examples. Most of us aren’t ready to remember random strings of ten digits, but when they’re presented as sets of numbers like 800-555-0100, they’re easier to manage.

The chunking strategy makes it easier remember the passwords assigned by website administrators. You can also use chunking to create long yet memorable passwords. For instance, you could list several objects that you habitually buy at Target: Cat Food. Cat Litter. Paper Towels. Stuff For the Kids’ Lunches. And Things I Don’t Need, because that often happens when we shop at Target. In other words, CF CL PT SFTKL ATIDN. Ha! Another tip: Picturing your list of items helps sear it into memory.

A final word: It’s best to use completely different passwords for each of your accounts. If that’s not reasonable given your brain overload, simply vary your primary password by adding symbols or altering the capitalization.

Techopedia fans, how do you create and remember long passwords? We’d love to hear from you!

The post How to Remember a Long Password appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Most start with a specific niche, like “playing the guitar”. Then they open up the Google Keyword Tool, paste in their main keyword and look for terms that get traffic without massive competition.

They may even do a couple of “allintitle:” searches while they’re at it…

After that, they write or order a few articles, build some links, wait to start ranking and making money, and then get frustrated when this doesn’t happen. They picked the wrong keywords and now have wasted huge amounts of time on their website.

Keyword research is a big part of a reaching success. In a lot of cases, choosing the wrong keywords can be harmful to a website’s content development and strategy. Keyword research drives content strategy, which drives conversion rates.

Most marketers are doing incomplete keyword research. Proper research takes time and effort, but the following strategy is both effective, and fairly simple once you get into a rhythm. It also helps to use a good keyword research tool.

We Still Need Search Volume

Knowing the estimated monthly search volume of particular keywords does two things. The first is that it gives you an idea of the volume of traffic you can get if rank highly.

Second, is that knowing that a keyword gets a certain amount of interest can help to guide your content development efforts. From determining whether an article is even worth writing, to the headlines you use, search volumes provide valuable insights.

Choose your niche, figure out what sort of competition you are willing to deal with, determine the lowest amount of traffic worth your time, and then pick the right keywords.

Transitioning to Market Research

Niches can be broken down into relevant keywords. Relevant keywords can be broken down into relevant, topic based stories. Telling those stories requires that you know your audience.

There are two great places to get a feel for your market first. Number one is Quantcast, a provider of demographic data on websites and niches. The other is the trusty discussion forum.

Quantcast has long been a secret weapon of the most thorough marketers online. Knowing the demographic makeup of an audience is very powerful. Both content and product development depend heavily on this type of information.

Doing forum research is a pain, but it is still relevant and valuable in 2012, and will probably continue to provide value in 2022. Choose one or two and track the most popular threads, then move along.

We only want and need to track a handful of forum threads because we now have social media and a few easy tools to track the information most relevant to our needs.

Using Social Media Resources

Since so many online marketers seem to be a little squeamish when it comes to SEO, we still need to find a way to drive cheap, targeted traffic to our sites. Just creating useful content isn’t enough. It has to be the right kind.

Everyone knows about social media, but few have any idea how to make it fit their general marketing strategy. When it comes to research, there are three important tools to use.

One is Twilert, which sets up alerts on whatever keywords you provide to show what has been shared on Twitter.

The other is Sulia. Sulia lets you monitor what is going on in a Pinterest type of layout, with a storyboard feel to it.

Both of these are great to see what is happening on Twitter, and with Sulia, Facebook as well.

The last one is Topsy. Topsy is a social search engine that will let you enter either a URL, or a keyword, to see what is getting shared the most.

Keeping Up with the Action

This part is a bit boring, but simple to do:

• Set up a spreadsheet with keywords, traffic volume, and competition.
• Add in values for social media shares. While you’re at it, add the top ten most influential people in your market and track their sharing and interactions as well.
• Look for similarities in headlines and the types of stories that spur activity in your market.
• Start your own profiles, and begin sharing other people’s work, interact with them and get an even clearer overall feel for the “flow” of your market.

Take a couple of weeks to compile this information, then sit down and sort through it. Look for similarities in stories with a lot of social sharing and comments. Which types of discussion topics are active on forums? Pick out the items commonly repeated and figure out what they mean to your strategy.

Pro tip: For the big keywords, plan “clusters” of content around them. Use synonymous terms in your headlines, and make sure your headlines are both interesting, and appropriate for your market.

Conclusion

Keyword research goes beyond simple AdWords values and PageRank analysis. It goes much deeper into a market. Take the time to analyze and plan your strategy now, so you can launch to a flow of traffic, and begin making money much earlier with your next website.

The post Keyword Research: Your Visitors are Not Robots appeared first on AddMe Blog.

What Is An Infographic?

Infographics are pictorial representations of information that could also be written in an article. Think along the lines of a graph or pie chart if you will. A pie chart could contain information about what type of food people like to eat on a night out. It could tell you that 40% of people like Indian cuisine, 30% like Chinese cuisine, 20% like American, and 10% like Fish and chips.

While it’s fine to give people that information in writing, a pie chart gives a much better visual representation of the information. Many people take in facts better when they see an actual image instead of words on paper.

So What Types Of Infographics Are There and Which Work Best?

Directional- Directional infographics show people how to get from one point to another. They can be a good way to lead staff members through certain work procedures, and are also very effective in schools, especially used in many science departments.

Often things like arrows, bullet points, balloons, and numbers are used in this kind of infographic to impart the necessary information.

Quantitative- This kind of infographic is used to give statistical information to readers in a quick and effective way. Similar to the pie chart example given earlier you’ll often see pie charts, bar charts, and graphs used to give numerical information in a way that can be easily digested and understood.

Quantitative infographics will also be used in cases where complex information needs to be simplified.

Chronological- These infographics are not unlike their quantitative cousins. They are used to show how things change over a period of time. They’ll normally be used to show things like weight loss/gain, growth of sales and profit, number of crimes, that kind of thing.

These infographics are very effective at showing the relationship between numbers over a certain period of time. They are used very much in business where it’s important to see how a companies strategy is affecting things like profits.

Infographics and Advertising

Infographics are often used in marketing and advertising material as it can help solidify a sales message much more effectively that the written word. The most effective type of infographics will be clean, basic, and concise. The whole point is to simplify a message and not make it harder.

Other factors that become very important in creating a strong infographic are things like color, layout and font. It needs to be easy on the eye, easy to follow, and must grab your readers attention. It’s very important to be very organized in your presentation of information as a reader who ends up confused will probably leave your graphic before they understand the most important points.

As the Internet has grown so has the use of infographics. With so much information out there, and so many other sites competing for eyeballs it has become even more important that ever to stand out, whilst ensuring your readers get the information they need quickly, and in an entertaining way.

With the sudden explosive growth of the Android phones and iPhones, many websites are quickly adapting their information so it’s compatible with customers mobile devices. This means that many infographics are becoming small enough to be used on a mobile phone. Whilst this medium of communicating with clients is proving so effective there’s nothing to suggest the infographic will be going anywhere fast.

This post was sent to us by a blogger named Lior Levin who is a blogger and a marketing consultant to the main security and main political science programs in the Tel Aviv University.

The post Infographic: 3 Types That Work Best appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Every niche has particular questions that are frequently asked, but rarely have conclusive answers. Whereas this recommendation can be helpful for most content based sites, it is particularly applicable with blogs. Invest the effort and time to research, compile and deliver, and you are guaranteed linkable content that will draw new subscribers and visitors.

2. Pay attention to analytics

Visitor tracking software can show you which posts your visitors like best, which ones are not viewed and how search engines are directing traffic. You can use these clues to act and improve your tactics. Feedburner is ideal for RSS. Action tracking can also be a great addition to your blog. This will enable you to see which sources of traffic are attracting the best quality visitors (in terms of number of page views, time spent on the site etc.).

3. Use a human voice

Charisma is a vital quality, both offline and online. In a blog, it is mainly judged by the voice presented to users. People like compassion, empathy, honesty and authority. Keep these in mind when writing and you are very likely to succeed. It is also vital that you remain humble in your blogging. When users begin feeling that a blog is losing its unique characteristics, they begin seeking new sources of content. Be careful to control not just what you say, but also how you say it.

4. Use smart URLs

Blog URLs should be as short as possible, and still contain enough clues for one to make a guess about the content likely to be found on the page. Having a short and relevant URL will significantly improve traffic to a blog.

5. Reveal as much as possible

In the blogosphere, you should feel free to share what might normally be considered private information. If you offer information that is usually private – pricing, trade secrets, contract issues or even harmless rumors, your blog can benefit greatly. Decide what is off-limits and see how far you can go within the limits. Your community will repay you with traffic and links.

6. Create expectations and fulfill them

When you are writing for your target audience, your post timing and area of focus will become linked with your individual style. If you deviate from that style, you run the risk of alienating readers who have been relying on you for particular data. Therefore, if your blog presents you as an analytical expert in your niche, you will need to deliver according to your readers expectations. This also applies to post frequency. If your blog usually publishes two posts per day, reducing this to two posts per week will have an adverse effect on traffic.

7. Build a brand

One of the most vital elements in blogging is brand building. A great brand is one which people are proud to associate themselves with. Insider jokes, exclusivity and emails with regulars may put off new readers, but can be great for sharing common brand experiences with loyal readers. Once you establish a brand that works for you, stick with it. Breaking the mould will result in severe repercussions.

Author Bio

Charles Mburugu is a professional content developer and an entrepreneur. He often writes about real estate, finance, business start-ups and internet marketing. In the past few weeks he has been writing for blogs where you can get the latest Network Solutions promo codes.

The post Smart Tactics for Increasing Blog Traffic appeared first on AddMe Blog.

At a recent eBay event one of the guest speakers started talking about how we can leverage social platforms and drive traffic from these platforms to our sites and stores, one of the tricks is knowing which platform to target, enter How Sociable.

Using How Sociable is simple, enter your brand into the search box and click the button, the tool queries a variety of social networks for your brand. Within seconds the tool presents an easy to read graphical report. The report contains a count for each time your “brand” appeared with in each network. You can then click on each social network and view in more detail where and how you’re appearing.

This tool has two major benefits:

1. It helps you identify where your brand is strong within certain networks and also highlights where your brand is lacking.
2. You can snoop around for your competitors brand, if they’re missing a gap in the social network it’s a great place to jump in a claim your part of the social internet world.

There is also an option to have this report emailed to you on a regular basis, helping you regularly track the shift in brands on the social web.

Check out the video on how to use How Sociable!

Again, enough from me – check it out and see how powerful and simple How Sociable really is.

The post How Sociable are You on The Social Web? appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Granted not everyone will get excited about this (I do, though I find myself easily entertained) that said, I strongly recommend you check this out.

For this example I used the term “Ipod” and then graphed this over a 5 year period. As you can see from the thumbnail, the terms use within Google increases over Christmas time, this is clearly due people beginning their search for Christmas presents.

Another feature of Google trends is comparing multiple search terms, thus giving you a clearer understanding about which terms or perhaps brands a more popular. Try comparing “BMW” and “Mercedes”.

Taking a quick look at the trend graph above you can clearly see BMW being the more popular searched for term within Google. Note the spike in search for both brands at the end of 2007, shopping perhaps? Both brands have had a steady increase in news references over the past 4+ years.

If you’re running a paid search campaign it’s a good idea to throw some of your more popular keywords in here and spot any trends that could be occurring. Using the first example (Yes this is a no brainer though should give you the drift) start bidding on a broader number of “iPod” type terms heading into the Christmas period. You may even be able to beat some of the rush and get the terms in there before your competitor does thus capturing the first Christmas traffic and also helping to increase your Google quality score, lowering CPC etc.

So, next time you’re looking for some further insight into a brand, what search terms to target or even want to compare who’s more popular, Britney Spears or Madonna, don’t forget to drop by Google Trends.

The post Google Trends, Historical Search Trends in Google appeared first on AddMe Blog.