How to Protect Your Personal Information

Fraudsters often create a sense of urgency to provoke you to take action immediately. There is no need to respond instantly to an email request.

First, consider carefully whether the business in question would have sent you the request.

• Did you sign up to receive marketing emails from the company?
• Did you sign up to receive emails notifying you of actions relating to your account (such as your monthly statement is available)?
• Are you able to locate the information by going directly to the company’s website?

If you are in doubt as to whether or not an email is legitimate, do not respond to it. If you wish to validate whether the communication is valid, a safe alternative is to contact the company directly through familiar channels. Log into the secure message center of the company’s website and send an email regarding your inquiry. Contact the phone number provided on your billing statement or credit card.

If you make the decision to submit sensitive information on a website, ensure that the site is secure (https). HTTPS means that the URL is secure by the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology protocol.

What is Phishing?

Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) refers to fraudulent communications designed to deceive consumers into divulging personal, financial or account information. Phishing emails often appear to come from legitimate financial institutions or retailers. Such requests may ask for information including account numbers, passwords, user names or social security numbers.

These fraudulent emails often create a false sense of urgency intended to provoke the recipient to take immediate action; for example, phishing emails frequently instruct recipients to “validate” or “update” account information or face cancellation. In addition, marketing offers may also be used for attempted phishing.

Phishers use a variety of techniques, which may include false “From” addresses, authentic-looking logos, or Web links and graphics. These techniques mislead consumers into believing that they are dealing with a legitimate request for sensitive information.

Attachments within an email can also facilitate phishing. Do not open attachments in unfamiliar emails, as they may place programs known as “key stroke loggers” on your PC, which capture keystrokes you make (including when you logon to a site and enter your password). The data obtained can then be used to commit fraud.

In all likelihood, phishing will continue to evolve into the use of more sophisticated tactics. For this reason, it is important to always think twice before you provide any personal information.

So, Who Are We?

Janssen & Associates Affordable Website and Media Solutions for Individuals and Small Businesses

Check out what Janssen & Associates offers to promote your business:

• E-business solutions for small businesses at an affordable cost
• Website development based on your needs
• Dynamic (database-driven) websites using PHP/MySQL technology
• Shopping carts to sell products and services online
• Translation of English websites into Spanish and vice versa
• Search engine optimization
• Conversion of websites from FrontPage to Dreamweaver
• Streaming audio and video
• Converting cassettes, LPs and other media to CDs/DVDs
• Logo design
• Printed media (brochures, business cards, etc.)
• Advanced Photoshop
• Product and commercial photography
• Videography
• Integration of blogs and websites

Don’t be road kill on the Information Superhighway! We create website and media solutions that work for you and with you. Contact us at (408) 993-2086 or http://www.draak.net/.

But I Have No Website

As the industry becomes more reliant on technology and clients become more tech-savvy, it is very important to stay competitive. If you don’t have a Website, you are compromising your professional image and losing business.

Your business is built on three pillars: Image, Trust and Service. If you are operating your business without a professional website, then you risk undermining this foundation. You also risk leaving money on the table. Put simply…you need a website.

Likewise, if you are dissatisfied with your website and/or service provider, give us a try. Come see why hundreds of people have chosen Janssen & Associates to provide them with their presence on the worldwide Web. Please contact us at http://www.draak.net/ for more information.

Some Questions

• Why do you want a website?
• Is this an information site? Retail site? Portal?
• Who is your target audience?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• What do you want your audience to do once they arrive?
• How long is your design timetable?
• Who is responsible for gathering what?
• What do you or your clients do?

Please contact us at http://www.draak.net/ for more information.

Are You Missing E-mails?

As more and more Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have to deal with the increasing amount of spam e-mail, many are beginning to block certain e-mail addresses. The problem is that rarely do they send a bounceback e-mail saying the the e-mail is undeliverable, so you think that the e-mail went through. Guess again!

If you suspect that this is happening to you, call you web hosting service and work with them to determine if the e-mails are indeed leaving the server. If the web host verifies that they are leaving the server, then this is an ISP problem and you will need to work with that ISP to get the e-mail addresses unblocked.

Getting Noticed on Google with Relevance

Years ago, it was relatively easy to get to the top of Google by picking and choosing keywords wisely. That has changed as Google now relies on something called relevance.

If you have a well-designed website with unique and relevant content, then the chances are that Google will like your website and move you up in the rankings.

The most important factor for relevance is incoming links to your website and this involves link building from other sites. Google finds out how many links are pointing to your website from other websites, using this information to determine relevance. Be sure to link to other websites and have them link back to you to increase your relevance on Google.

Please contact us at http://www.draak.net/ for more information.

Why Use Flash Video?

Have you ever tried to load a video on your computer, only to find that it does not run properly or at all?

The reason lies in incompatibilities between operating systems and browsers. Videos in Windows Media format will not work on a Mac. Conversely, videos in QuickTime (Mac) format will only work on a PC if the QuickTime driver is installed.

Flash video supports all formats, include Safari on a Mac and UNIX/LINUX. Best of all, Flash video streams, meaning that it starts to play before it finishes loading. Ever had to wait for a video to download before you could play it?

Look no further, as Adobe Flash 10.0 can be downloaded for free. Check out http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/.

Janssen and Associates can convert any of your videos to Flash video, provided you have the video source. Please contact us at http://www.draak.net/ for more information.

Using Flash Video with HTML Editors

I have many clients who maintain their own websites and only come to me for major enhancements. While I strongly recommend Adobe Contribute because I use Dreamweaver and it has check-in/check-out capability so that no one steps on each other’s changes, many clients opt for HTML editors instead because they are usually free.

One of my clients recently discovered a problem using an HTML editor with Flash video. When she made some text changes and tried to save them, the Flash video section would not save properly and weird characters appeared instead.

This looks like an incompatibility between the editor and Adobe Flash. I am going to dig into this further and post some solutions. Of course, the best solution would be to invest in Adobe Contribute for the reasons that I indicated above.

Linking Blogs to Websites

This is a new service that Janssen & Associates is offering.

You should consider starting a blog and linking it to the website. This way you can send out announcements, advice, pictures, etc. and they will automatically post to the website as links. You (and your team) can easily maintain the blog yourself.

Please take a look at these two websites…

http://www.abundancecoaching.net/
There is a link for the entire blog in the left column menu. She also wanted the 10 most recent entries in her blog displayed on her website. Clicking on a link in the box in the right column will bring up only that blog entry.

http://www.bandarealtors.biz/
This is similar to the website above. There is a link for the entire blog in the  menu section. She wanted the 4 most recent items in her blog displayed on her website. Clicking on a link in the box in the right column will bring up only that blog entry.

Please give this some thought. It would be a great addition to your website. Please contact us at http://www.draak.net/ for more information.