You can pay someone to do it for you, or do it yourself!

Here are some tips for increasing your search listings.

• Keyword Research – What are your potential customers searching for to find businesses like yours? Go to www.adwords.google.com and type in the website for one of your competitors to get a detailed listing of search terms that people are using to land on their site.

• Use Keywords in your file names. When building your website, name each file and page specific keyword names. For example, instead of naming your “Links” page links.html, name it links-computer-repair-in-salt-lake-city.html. Don’t use spaces in the names.

• Make sure your content matches the optimal keyword searches for your business. Content is king. Write new content often and make sure the top keyword search text is included. Search engines are constantly scanning websites, so new content is important.

• Get linked. Having other websites link to your website is very useful for improving SEO. Submit your website to the popular site DMOZ (www.dmoz.org). It may take some time. Just make sure you list your website in the correct category.

• Social Media is on the upswing. Facebook and Twitter posts are starting to show up in search engine results. Make sure you use optimal keywords in your social media.

Most of these tips are fairly easy to perform, but can be time consuming.  It may be a better choice to use an SEO company if time is an issue.

You power off the computer, turn it back on and voila, it seems to be working fine.  So what is the deal with that blue screen error?  And what happens if it starts freezing and displaying that screen more often?

Memory Conflicts – The memory on a computer is like a pie, and every program needs a piece of that pie.  Windows manages what programs get their slices of pie.  Sometimes, a program will take a bigger piece of pie than offered.  If that happens, and another program is already chowing down on their piece, you may see the blue screen of death.  This is called a memory dump, and is usually a random event that occasionally happens.

Corrupt System Files – If you continually get the blue screen of death, especially when trying to turn on the computer, the Windows system files may be corrupt.  To fix this issue, you will probably need the Windows installation disk to run a repair on the operating system.

Hardware and Drivers – Installing a new hardware device, and subsequently the software drivers for that device, may also be the source of the blue screen.  If you have recently added new hardware, and suddenly your computer crashes every time you turn it on, try removing the hardware and uninstalling the drivers to see if that helps.  If it does, you may need updated software drivers for the hardware.  Check the website for the hardware manufacturer for the latest drivers.

The blue of screen of death happens for a reason, and by doing a little research, you should be able to resolve the issue.

What is a firewall, and should we keep the Windows firewall, or use the 3rd party software firewall?

A firewall is a hardware of software application that blocks unauthorized access to a computer or network.  It also lets the right kind of access in or out, meaning you can still access the internet and applications you need.

For most small businesses and home users, a software firewall application is suitable.  For larger networks, or high security, a robust hardware solution may be the answer.

There are arguments for using or not using the built in firewall in Windows.

• FOR – The windows firewall is automatically configured and turned on by default.  You don’t have to do anything to start it up.
• AGAINST – Microsoft Windows is a huge target for hackers.  They are always looking for ways to find ways into the system.  It may be harder to attack a system with another software firewall running.
• FOR – If you have a hardware firewall application, or the firewall setup on your router, it does not hurt to keep the Windows Firewall running on your individual computers.
• AGAINST – A company that specifically makes security software is focused on the purpose of security.  A 3rd party firewall application typically provides greater protection, though it does require more interaction and configuration.

Whatever your decision is, having a firewall running on your computer(s) is a good idea.  There are thousands of viruses, worms, and other threats floating around in cyberspace.

VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol.  When you send an email, download a song, or view a webpage, all the data is sent using small packets.  VOIP works in a similar way, breaking down your conversation into small packets and sent along with all the other internet traffic.

There are several ways to communicate over the internet using VOIP.  A popular commercial option called Vonage allows you to connect a regular telephone to a device that plugs right into your internet connection.  Vonage gives you all of the same features you had with your old phone, but their service is usually less expensive.  The quality of the phone calls is very good, and with cool features like multi-number forwarding and voice mails that are delivered into your email box, you may find the switch to be an easy one.

Another way to communicate over the web is to use Skype.  Skype has a similar commercial service like Vonage, but you can also use their service for free when calling other Skype members.  It is free to join, and does not require any special hardware to be purchased, though if you have a webcam, you can do video telephone calls!

Many businesses have switched from expensive and hard to maintain telephone switches to VOIP systems.  With a new telephone switch costing several thousand dollars, VOIP is a great way to get all the benefits of a multi-line telephone system without a huge cost upfront.