25Jun

The Web is No Longer a Level Playing Field

see-sawIn the early days of the World Wide Web, it provided a level playing field for anyone with something to say. If a website published good content, it could rise quickly through the ranks of search engine results, and get placement in major Internet directories. In short order, a small website could become a widely-recognized resource.

Now, in 2018. this is no longer the case.

I am currently experiencing this firsthand with a project I am working on.

I have a new website, EDtreatment.info, which provides information, resources, help and support for erectile dysfunction sufferers and their partners. There is already a great deal of information about ED on the web, but we are trying to do two things that other sites are not:

  1. We tailor our content specifically to the needs of the ED community. We participate in many online forums, where we see the questions that people are asking. We sponsor ongoing survey research to understand how ED affects men and their partners. We use this information to prioritize our content development.
  2. We provide links to clinical research to support and justify the information we provide.

Despite the fact that my site provides very useful, relevant, and accurate content, I am struggling to gain visibility and traffic.

The purpose of this article is to explain why.

The Rise of Megasites

Search engines give better placement to sites with a high Internet presence – that is, with many high-quality inbound links. (In the past, we could estimate this Internet presence with a measure called Google PageRank. Google has stopped making this metric public, so we now use metrics such as the Moz Domain Authority, or AHREFS Domain Rating.)

Large websites have lots of inbound links, and therefore a high rank.  The sites pass the power of their rank on to every page on the site… so as sites become larger, the number of inbound links increases, and each page on the site becomes harder to compete with.

In the case of my own site, EDtreatment.info, I have many inbound links… but I can’t begin to compete with the number of links to megasites such as WebMD.com. And therefore, it is very difficult for pages on my site to compete with pages on the WebMD site.

Authoritative Links

Search engines give preference to websites with “authoritative” links pointing to them. These authoritative links typically come from news sites, government sites, and educational sites.

Large sites tend to accumulate these high authority links. If someone at a major publication is writing an article on erectile dysfunction, they are likely to include a link to information on WebMD… and much less likely to include a link to a small website such as mine.

Thus, sites that already have a strong web presence grow stronger and stronger, and it is virtually impossible for small sites to catch up.

The Consequences

If the web is no longer a level playing field, a small number of megasites will come to dominate broad categories of web searches… and it will become virtually impossible for new sites to establish themselves by providing better content or services.

30Nov

What To Do If You’ve Been Hacked

How do you know you’ve been hacked?

shutterstock_107248619Often, the first sign of hacking is that your friends get email that you did not send.  The email has your ‘from’ address.  If may reference specific details of the relationship between you and your friends.  And it will most likely contain a link to some sort of login page for a service that you use (such as PayPal or a bank website).  The login page is faked – the hackers are trying to trick your friends into entering their login information.

Another warning sign is unexpected activity in one or more of your online accounts.  Someone is using your accounts, and it’s not you!

Most often, hackers obtain information about you by downloading a virus onto your computer.  In addition to your e-mail info, the virus could potential find lots of other things:  bank account info, account login info, confidential business documents, etc.

What To Do If You’ve Been Hacked

If you suspect you have been hacked, there are several things you should do right away:

Run a virus scan on all computers that you use.

Change all of your passwords for every online account.

Contact your bank, and monitor your bank balances and credit card statements.  Your bank will advise you to change your bank accounts and credit cards, and sign up for an identity protection service if you don’t already have one.

Consider reporting this to the FBI cyber-crime unit, and see if they have any additional advice:

www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber

Being hacked can be very serious.  Please don’t take it likely.

If you’d like to know more about avoiding hackers, and “staying safe on the Internet,” consider taking my online course:

www.streamthelearning.com/product-category/internet/

11Aug

Is Silicon Valley Getting a Bad Rap on Diversity?

gender-equalityIt’s become commonplace to beat up Silicon Valley companies for lack of diversity. Fear of PR repercussions probably had a lot to do with Google’s extreme response to James Damore’s internal memo.

There is a lot of emotion on both sides of this issue, but it is something that needs to be discussed.  I’d like to share my own perspective.

I have worked and managed in Silicon Valley for more than 40 years. I’ve worked at some of the best-known companies in the Valley, as well as a number of venture-funded startups. Throughout my career, affirmative action has been a major goal, and has become institutionalized in the culture and practices of most companies.

But after more than 40 years, efforts to increase diversity have not solved the problem. In fact, these efforts have barely moved the needle.

I was once congratulated by the HR department at Oracle, because my department had the best record in the company for “hiring, retaining, and promoting women.” Oddly enough, I pretty much ignored the affirmative action goals that I was given. I tried to hire the best people for the job, and then give them opportunities (and mentoring) to help them be successful in their jobs. I don’t recall ever taking into account supposedly gender-related factors in my management decisions.

And as it happened, that worked out pretty well. I had a great team… probably the best I’ve ever worked with.

But here’s the thing: when I exceeded the company goals for hiring and retaining women, it probably meant that another department failed to meet theirs. Or perhaps another company missed their targets. Because, at the end of the day, we were all hiring from the same pool.

Now, I understand that there are barriers to women and minorities in the workplace, and I am not dismissing them. Certainly there are some companies in Silicon Valley where discrimination and sexual harassment are egregious. But by and large, most companies try to do the right thing. And they have been trying for a long, long time.

It’s time to recognize the fact that this is a broad societal problem, and there is only so much that any company can do to solve it. Believe me, the biggest challenge in Silicon Valley has always been recruiting good people, and I think most managers don’t care anything about a person’s gender or race if they can get the job done.

We need more people in STEM fields, and that means we need to draw on a large and diverse pool. But it’s time to get real. Building that pool is not the sole responsibility of the companies that do the hiring.

40 years of affirmative action have not worked. Isn’t it time to look elsewhere for solutions?

17Dec

New Law Protects Consumers’ Right to Post Reviews

consumer-rightsThe Consumer Review Fairness Act, signed into law by President Obama in December 2016, protects consumers’ rights to post online reviews.

In recent years, many companies and service providers have required their customers to sign contracts that prevent the consumer from posting online reviews.  Some contracts assert a copyright interest in any review written by the customer, effectively preventing publication and sharing of the review.  One of the biggest offenders in this regard is a company called Medical Justice, which provides standard contracts for use in the medical profession

In some cases, companies have even sued customers who broke the agreements and posted disparaging reviews.

The new law invalidates contracts that prohibit consumers from posting reviews.  The law does not invalidate existing laws against libel and slander.

Learn more about the business of online reviews at the Rating and Review Professional Association.

Related Posts

Internet Law and Your Web Business

Manage Your Business Reputation Online

14Apr

Five Reasons to Avoid WordPress Page Builders

Over the past few months, I’ve been approached by three clients to make modifications to their WordPress websites. In each case, I found that the sites were built using  WYSIWYG “page builders” as part of their WordPress theme.

The page builders (different on each site) allow the administrator to drag and drop a selection of page components.

The standard WordPress Visual Mode editor is a little cumbersome to use, and adding fancy user interface components often requires arcane shortcodes. On the surface, a WYSIWYG page builder is a big improvement. But there are significant disadvantages that most business owners may not understand.

(1) Site Bloat

One of the biggest issues with elaborate themes, which include page builders and UI components, is that they are very large. Displaying a page may required hundreds of files to be downloaded. Slow sites give a bad user experience, and are penalized by search engines.

(2) Incompatibility

Site builders include a built-in library of UI components. But if you prefer a different component, it can be difficult or impossible to make it work with the site builder. There are over 40,000 WordPress plugins currently available, but a site builder may prevent you from using all but a handful.

(3) Learning Curve

One of the great advantages of WordPress is the fact that it is a de facto standard. There are hundreds of thousands of designers and developers who work with WordPress. But when you base your site on a specific site builder, the typical WordPress designer will need to start from scratch to understand how the theme works – and this may add a lot to your expenses. (Of the three projects I was recently offered, I turned down one because the site builder looked too “non-standard.”)

(4) Lock-in

When you build your site with a page builder, you are tying the future of your site to the developer. If the developer stops making updates, you may well be stuck when problems or incompatibilities show up. You may even need to rebuild your site from scratch!

(5) Software Bugs

In the two page builder projects that I accepted, I quickly found things that did not work as advertised. One of the developers responded quickly to me, and fixed the bugs I found. The other never responded.

Most theme developers are individuals or small companies. Their products may not be well tested, and they may have little or no budget for support and updates.

I would love to see the WordPress team up their game and include a WYGSIWYG page builder in the core WordPress code. But until that happens, I will avoid page-builder themes, and advise my clients to do so as well.

31Jan

Internet Law and Your Web Business

internet-lawWhen people launch websites, they usually think about technology, marketing, and financials, but they rarely give much consideration to potential legal issues… and that can cause serious problems!

In this post, I’m going to discuss a few of the key legal issues affecting websites. I’ll discuss mainly US law, with a few comparisons to other countries. The purpose of this post is to alert you to issues that you should consider.

I am not a lawyer and I am not offering legal advice, so you should discuss these issues with an attorney specializing in Internet law, or cyberlaw. Note that this body of law is made up of specific legislation, as well as precedents set by judges attempting to adapt and apply existing law to the Internet.  As such, it is changing rapidly, and there are many gray areas.

Trademarks

A trademark is a collection of words or symbols that uniquely identifies the source of goods or services. For example, when we talk about Kodak® film, we are identifying the Kodak brand as the source of the film.

In the United States, trademark rights are acquired through using the mark in commerce. Additional rights are secured by registering the mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office, but that is not required. The point here is that there are literally tens of millions of trademarks, registered and unregistered, in use in the US alone. When you launch your website, there is a good chance that you might be conflicting with someone’s trademark.

That’s why, before investing in a domain name and marketing for your brand, you should contact an attorney to conduct a trademark search. You can do a very basic trademark search yourself by using the search feature on the USPTO website, and also using Internet search engines to find unregistered brands. But if you are serious about building your business, you should invest in a professional search, rather than risk a lawsuit just as your site starts to take off.

You should also discuss the merits of registering your trademark, in the US and possibly other countries. (Each country has its own trademark registration process.)

Copyright

When you create original content for your website, it is automatically protected by copyright law. You can strengthen those rights by registering your copyright with the US Copyright Office, but that is not necessary to secure your basic rights. Unlike trademarks, copyright protection is worldwide; you don’t need to register your copyright in each country.  If you are operating a content-rich website, you should be familiar with the basics of copyright law.  You should also conduct periodic searches for violations, in order to protect your rights.

Bear in mind that copyright protection also protects other websites. Material that you find on the Internet is protected by copyright (with some exceptions that we won’t discuss here). You can’t simply copy someone else’s work because you “found it on the Internet.”

Your website may allow 3rd parties to post content, in the form of a social network, a discussion forum, comments, or ratings and reviews. If a user posts something on your site that violates copyrights, you could be held liable.

You can avoid this liability by complying with the takedown provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Briefly put, you must provide a way for copyright owners to file a takedown request if material on your site violates their copyrights. (You, as the site operator, may contact the party who posted the content to ask if he or she wishes to contest the copyright claim.)

Provided you follow the DMCA process, and remove infringing material from your site, you cannot generally be held liable for damages. Note that this safe harbor protection is not absolute.  For example, if it is determined that your site systematically encourages copyright violation as a core part of its business, then complying with the DMCA will not protect you from liability.

Libel and the Communications Decency Act

In most of the world, if a user commits libel by posting false and damaging allegations on your site, you could be held responsible, and sued or even prosecuted. But in the United States, your site is protected from legal liability by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA).  Section 230 also protects the website from liability for other types of user-posted content… even criminal acts!

However, you could still be sued in another country… perhaps Canada or the United Kingdom, where anti-libel laws are much more stringent, and you are not protected by Section 230. In that case, you may well lose the overseas lawsuit. But when the plaintiff attempts to have the judgment against you enforced in the United States, their claim will be denied. Under the terms of the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage (SPEECH) Act of 2010, foreign libel judgments cannot be enforced unless the suit would also be valid under US law.

Section 230 has been called the most important Internet legislation ever enacted; it has made possibly the proliferation of social networks, discussion sites, review sites, and more. However, the law is under attack.  A number of state attorneys general have petitioned congress to amend the law to exclude certain types of user-supplied posts.

Even under current law, states have tried to hold websites responsible for user-generated content. For example, several states have threatened to prosecute Craigslist.org over ads for prostitution posted by users of the site.  Despite the protection of Section 230, Craigslist ultimately bowed to the pressure and blocked the ads for sex services (at least the most blatant ads).

In addition, some judges have ignored Section 230 protections because they simply don’t agree with a law that provides such blanket immunity.

Because of the ongoing pressure, this body of law could change in the future, so it’s important to be aware of the ongoing discussions.

Privacy Policies

Privacy has become a major concern for many people, and as a result legislative bodies are moving quickly to enact privacy protections, in particular for children; see the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Currently some of the most stringent requirements can be found at the state level, notably in California, Connecticut, and Delaware.  Privacy laws in the European Union are general much stronger than those in the US.

Common provisions include:

  • Requirements for a posted privacy policy stating how you track user activity, what information you collect, and how you use and share that information.
  • Limitations on collecting and storing certain information such as social security numbers and credit card numbers.
  • Requirements for parental permission before minors can participate in online communities.
  • Requirements to allow content posted by minors, and data collected from minors, to be deleted from the website.
  • Limitations on good and services that can be marketed or advertised on sites targeting or directed at minors.

In addition to laws, your site may be subject to the policies of partners or services that your site uses.  For example, if your website displays ads from Google Adsense, Google requires that you include specific provisions in your privacy policy.  And requirements for handling and storing credit card information – the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) – are actually dictated by the credit card companies.

There are a number of online services that will generate a privacy policy for your site, based on your inputs.  There are also downloadable templates for privacy policies.  However, because the laws are complex and changing rapidly, it’s worthwhile to consult with an Internet law specialist so that you actually understand how the laws affect your site.

Terms of Use

A website’s Terms of Use agreement may overlap the privacy policy, but often includes other provisions, such as rules of conduct for site members, or legal rights and obligations.

In order to be enforceable, the user must “assent” to the provisions.  Some sites simply present the terms of use and state that, by using the site, the user agrees to the terms (this is called a browsewrap agreement). Other sites require the user to take a positive action, such as clicking a button or checking a box, to indicate that he accepts the terms (a clickwrap agreement).

Although there are legal precedents upholding both browsewrap and clickwrap agreements, courts have been more willing to recognize clickwraps as valid contracts, while showing skepticism about browsewraps.

General Law

In addition to the various special laws affecting websites, Internet businesses are subject to the same general laws as traditional businesses.  Examples include truth in advertising laws, commercial codes, and tax laws.

In other words, when launching a web business, legal issues are as important as technology, marketing, and financial considerations.

09May

Google “Mobile-Geddon” Impact Appears to be Small

mobile-friendlyRecently I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the Google mobile algorithm change, which was rolled out on April 21.

The change – which the press dubbed “mobile-geddon” – affects sites that are not mobile-friendly. If a web page is not designed to display properly on a mobile phone, it will be penalized and will show up lower in search results on mobile phones. The change will not affect search results on desktop computers, laptops, or tablets.

(You can find out if a page is mobile-friendly using the free Mobile Test Tool provided by Google.)

I wanted to assess the actual impact of the April 21 changes on real sites. Rather than looking at placement in search results, I decided to focus on traffic.  I made a few assumptions:

  • If a site is not mobile-friendly, it should now appear lower in search results on mobile devices, which should result in fewer clicks, and less traffic.
  • If a site is mobile-friendly, it should now appear higher in search results on mobile devices (because “unfriendly” sites have slipped lower), which should result in more clicks, and more traffic.
  • Placement in search results (and hence traffic) on non-mobile devices should not be affected.

Given these assumptions, we can assess the results of the algorithm changes by measuring the percentage of traffic that comes from mobile searches, both before and after the algorithm change.  Mobile-friendly sites should see more mobile traffic, and unfriendly sites should see less.  I used percentage rather than absolute numbers, because traffic can vary for many reasons unrelated to the Google change.

Using Google Analytics, I examined eight sites that are mobile-friendly, and nine that are not mobile-friendly.  I gathered data for the period from April 11-17, before the change, and for May 2-8, after the change.  Both periods begin on a Saturday and run through Friday; there are no significant US holidays contained in either range.

The aggregate results are shown below.

Non-Friendly

Prior to the change, 30.6% of site traffic came from mobile devices.  After the change, 28.8% of site traffic came from mobile devices.  As expected, the percentage of traffic from mobile devices fell.  The decrease amounted to 1.3% of overall site traffic.

Mobile-Friendly

Prior to the change, 26.7% of site traffic came from mobile devices. After the change, 26.3% of site traffic came from mobile devices. Surprisingly, the percentage of traffic from mobile devices fell!  The decrease amounted to 0.4% of overall site traffic.

Conclusions

The fact that the percentage of traffic from mobile devices fell, even on mobile-friendly sites, calls into question the validity of the results – despite the fact that mobile traffic on “unfriendly” sites fell more (as expected).

It may be that my sample size was too small, or that other factors I have not considered affected the results.  But one thing is clear: the affect of the April 21 algorithm change is small.  It was certainly not “mobile-geddon.”

Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that mobile use is increasing. Google and other search engines will probably favor mobile-friendly sites more over time.

Plus, once you make a site mobile-friendly, it takes some time for Google to re-crawl the site and recognize the changes (see Were You Ready for Mobile-geddon?).

If you haven’t already made your site mobile-friendly, it’s time.

 

05May

Were You Ready for Mobile-geddon?

shutterstock_114417286On April 21, Google made sweeping changes to their search engine algorithm for mobile devices. Sites that are not “mobile friendly” will appear lower in search results on mobile devices.

Google announced the change months in advance, to give site operators time to make changes. They even provided a Mobile Test Tool to determine if a page is mobile friendly.

Many sites made great efforts to be ready for the April 21 deadline… but neglected to take into account Google’s indexing cycle, which may take weeks or months to revisit a site.

One client’s site was ready for the change by April 18.  However, Google last crawled the site on April 14.  Now, two weeks after the algorithm change, Google Webmaster Tools still reports 56 pages with mobile access errors (despite that fact that all pages have been fixed).

I am gathering data on how the changes impact a number of sites, and I’ll be reporting the results once the dust settles.  However, many sites that made an honest attempt to meet Google’s widely trumpeted deadline are still going to be penalized until Google catches up.

Despite the delays, the recent changes are a clear indication of the direction search companies are going.  Sites that have made changes will benefit in the coming months. Businesses that have not upgraded their sites should do so soon.

11Feb

Do You Need a Responsive Website?

A responsive website adapts to fit the size of the viewing window. It should work equally well whether it is displayed on a large-screen desktop monitor or a smart-phone.

When you visit a responsive web page, the server sends your browser the complete content for the entire page, as well as styles, or display instructions, for all types and sizes of device. Your browser then uses the style information to determine what to display, and how to display it.

The styles may tell your browser to re-arrange elements on the page, or to discard some elements entirely. Pictures and graphics may be scaled down, type sizes may be changed, and navigation menus may be displayed differently.

On the surface, this sounds like a great idea. The webmaster need only manage one version of each page, and it will be automatically formatted to fit any device.

However, there is a cost! Responsive sites are often made up of many large files. As a result, it can take a long time for a responsive page to download, especially if the user has a slow data connection (which often happens with phones). If the connection is really bad, the page might not display at all.

Also, it’s important to realize that desktop users and mobile users are looking for different things. Someone who visits a business site using a smartphone may want to know your business location, or hours of operation; he may want to see a restaurant menu. However, smartphone users are usually not interested in reading large amounts of text, or visiting lots of pages.

Rather than building a responsive website, it often makes sense to build a small number of pages specifically for small-format devices and phones. The pages should contain just the information that mobile device users are likely to want, and they should be made up of small files built to load very fast.

Your server can be configured to automatically send the simplified pages to mobile device users, resulting in a better experience for your customers.

Note that this website is built using a lightweight, responsive commercial theme from Mojo Marketplace.

28Jan

Themes Versus Custom Websites

A custom website, designed and constructed from scratch, can be the perfect way to create a unique image and brand for your business, with precisely the features you want to offer site visitors. Unfortunately custom websites are expensive, often costing tens of thousands of dollars or more.

To reduce costs, many companies purchase commercial themes, which can be uploaded to your content management system to create an attractive, feature-rich website. Most themes allow a degree of customization, allowing some control over the website appearance.

However, there are potential problems when using commercial themes.

Themes are often designed to offer as many options and features as possible, thus increasing sales. But at the same time, to keep costs down, the companies that build themes may skimp on development and testing, resulting in features that simply don’t work, or are incompatible with other third-party plugins.

Also, in order to support a lot of features and design options, the theme may be made up of many large files, resulting in a site that is very slow to load. I’ve worked with commercial themes that downloaded over 100 files!

If you decide to use a commercial theme, choose one that has been downloaded many times (this information is generally shown on the developer’s website), and has good ratings. Plan on downloading and trying the theme before making a commitment. If you plan on using other plugins on your site, test them with the theme before investing time in completing the entire site.

Unless you have a lot of experience building websites, you may need to hire a professional web designer even if you use a commercial theme, and the cost to install, test, and configure the theme will likely costs more than the theme itself.

You may also choose to take a hybrid approach. Some web design shops use themes as a starting point, and then create a child theme with extensive customization to meet your specific needs.

Note that this website is built using a lightweight, responsive commercial theme from Mojo Marketplace.