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3 Ways To Ensure All Of Your Certificates Are Secure

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Businesses of all sizes rely on digital certificates to keep their data safe. Certificates provide a layer of security that helps protect your company from hackers and identity thieves. If you are responsible for managing a company’s digital certificates, it is essential to ensure they are always secure. This article will discuss three ways to keep your certificates safe and secure. Follow these tips, and you can rest assured that your data is always protected, safe, and free of harmful programs and malware.

Types Of Certificates

According to Keyfactor, you may come across several types of certificates. The most common type is the SSL certificate, which is used to secure communication between a website and a web browser. Other certificates include email security certificates, code signing certificates, and document signing certificates. Each type of certificate has its specific purpose and should be treated accordingly.

X.509 Certificates

All digital certificates follow the X.509 standard. This standard defines the certificate’s format and what information must be included. When looking at a certificate, you will see that it contains a lot of technical mumbo jumbo. However, you should pay attention to a few critical pieces of information.

Expiration Date

The first is the certificate’s expiration date. You will want to ensure that the certificate has not expired, which means it is no longer valid.

Common Name

The second is the certificate’s common name. This is the website or organization to which the certificate belongs. Make sure that this matches the site you are visiting; otherwise, you may be on a phishing site.

The Issuer

The certificate’s issuer is the third and final information to look for. This is the organization that issued the certificate. You can usually find contact information for the issuer in case you have any questions about the certificate’s validity.

Code Signing Certificate

A code signing certificate is a type of digital certificate that is used to sign software. Code signing allows users to verify that the software they are downloading has not been tampered with and comes from a trusted source. When looking for a code signing certificate, you should ensure that it comes from a reputable authority and has not expired.

Client Certificate

A client certificate is a type of digital certificate that is used to authenticate a user. Client certificates are typically used with SSL/TLS to provide two-factor authentication.

Ensuring Security

Tip #1: Keep Your Software Up To Date

According to Keyfactor, one of the best ways to keep your certificates safe is to ensure that your software is always up to date. Hackers are constantly finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in software. Keeping your software up to date ensures that these vulnerabilities are patched and your data is protected.

Tip #2: Use A Certificate Authority

When creating a new certificate, you must choose a certificate authority. A certificate authority is an organization that issues digital certificates. By using a trusted authority, you can be sure that your certificate is valid and that your data is safe.

Tip #3: Back Up Your Certificates

Like any other essential data, you should always back up your certificates. This way, if something happens to your originals, you will still have a copy you can use. You can back up your credentials by exporting them from your browser or using a tool like a Certificate Manager.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your digital certificates safe and secure is essential for any business. By following the tips in this article, you can rest assured that your data is always protected.

Features to Look for When Shopping for a New Phone Case

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Smartphone repair technicians know more than most people about the stupid things people do. Shakespeare is great at making sharp observations about people, but the people who fix our phones see us at our most vulnerable, with broken hardware in our hands and usually some embarrassing mistake to confess. 

Some companies have seen everything. A client dropped his phone in the snow and found it in a puddle of melted snow two months later. A customer brought in a phone that had been run over by a truck. The screen had tire chain marks on it. 

Their experience shows that even if you promise to be careful, the world is full of tech dangers, so it’s best to be proactive and put a case on your phone. 

Keep your phone safe from drops. 

Customers most often go to repair shops because their glass screens are broken. Screens are more likely to break if they are hit in a corner, where the force on the glass is more concentrated. 

Choose a case made of a shock-absorbing material (like silicone or rubber) that protects your phone’s corners as a minimum level of protection. Some experts tell people who own smartphones not to use plastic cases because they don’t absorb shock well and are likely to cause the device to break if it gets hit. 

After that, the phone you buy will depend on how and where you use it. If you’re sure you’ll only bump and drop your phone a few times a day, a thin case might be fine. Cases with thick, bulky shells weigh more and can take more of a beating. 

Think about what you need 

Screen damage is much more common than water damage, but it happens when people accidentally take their phones swimming on long weekends or in the summer. If you can’t resist the call of the sea, find a case that is waterproof and has been tested for drops so that it can handle being dunked by accident. 

Since water resistance became a standard feature in the best phones, water damage is less of a problem, but keep in mind that this protection doesn’t work in the ocean. Saltwater can damage your phone, so a waterproof case might be a good idea if there’s any chance it will get wet. 

If you’re always maximizing battery use, some cases can also be used to charge it. Wallet cases (sometimes called folio) can hold your phone and other important things, like your drivers license or discount card you often forget to bring to the pizza joint. As a plus, these can protect your phone surprisingly well, since many of them cover the edges completely and have a metal clasp that holds the phone in place. 

Should You Protect Your Screen? 

Phone accessory stores often sell screen protectors that stick right to the touchscreen surface of the phone. Our experts say that you should buy tempered glass screen protectors instead of plastic ones because they are better at preventing scratches. 

A screen protector can only protect against some kinds of damage. Sticky screen protectors do a good job of protecting phones from direct force on the touchscreen, but they don’t work as well when the phone is hit from the side or corner. A case should be used with a screen protector made of tempered glass. 

How to Find Your Best Fit 

You should choose a color and design that fit your style, but there are a few other things to think about. Think about how the case will feel when you hold it. Many cases have ridges on the sides or a different finish to make them easier to hold. After all, the best way to protect your phone from drops is to never drop it. Do you want a kickstand so you can watch movies on your phone in landscape mode? 

Watch out for stiff button covers or cutouts that don’t fit well. Ports and camera lenses should have big enough holes so that they don’t get in the way of using your phone. Sometimes, thicker, more rugged cases can get in the way of wireless charging. If you can’t try out a case before buying it, read some reviews online or contact the maker. 

Most phone cases are made of plastic, usually a mix of polycarbonate, TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), or both. But what will happen when you get a new phone in a few years? That case will probably end up in the growing pile of plastic trash and could easily last longer than you. We’re starting to see biodegradable phone cases made of plastic, but if you’re worried about how plastic affects the environment, you might want to choose another material, like wood that doesn’t harm the environment.

How to Effectively Find Your Audience on Social Media

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Social media is the most effective way to find an audience today. With millions of users in the United States alone, effectively marketing your content on social media can lead to great success. It can be difficult to cater to so many users though, so it is important to understand how to best use social media to your advantage. 

Before creating content on social media, you first need to know what kind of content you want to make. Is your content entertaining or educational? Is it easy to consume, or is it for a niche group? These questions will help you better understand your target audience. Every social media platform is used differently by different groups of people, and knowing what audience you have can help you to tailor your content to a specific platform.

A common mistake when trying to build an audience is creating the same content across all social media, but this often does not work. Understanding the audience you want to reach and tailoring content to them on only one or two platforms is the best way to grow your platform overall. 
After finding your audience, it is important to keep up with demographics to continue making content that will be enjoyed and spread to grow your audience. To learn more about how to create content that will grow your social media audience, take a look at the infographic below:

Finding A Perfect Audience
Source: Bang Productions

How Probiotics Work to Improve Your Health

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Probiotics are some of the most popular health supplements used across the country. With over 20 million Americans suffering from a chronic digestive disease, people look to probiotics to help heal their digestive system. So how do probiotics work, and do they actually help people feel better?

Probiotics are marketed as helping to build “good gut health”, but what does that mean? The gut is a microbiome that is affected by different life habits. Things like antibiotics, excess sugar, or a lack of movement can make the gut unhealthy and cause digestive discomfort. Probiotics help to colonize the digestive tract to help reverse these symptoms and help improve your overall digestive health.

While claims that probiotics can help heal conditions like respiratory infections, metabolic disorders, and food allergies have yet to be proven, research does support that probiotics are effective in other ways. Probiotics are known to improve symptoms of digestive discomfort, clostridium difficile infections, and even necrotizing enterocolitis in infants!

It has been proven that probiotics are effective in healing certain digestive related conditions. If you think you may benefit from probiotics in your diet, talk to your doctor to see if it is the right choice for you. You can also take a look at the infographic below for more information:

Do Probiotics Really Work?: Why Probiotics are Necessary
Source: Nouri


Why You Should be Using Facebook Watch to Build Your Brand

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As of 2022, Facebook is the most-used social media platform in the world, with users spending an average of 19.6 hours per month browsing the site. This dependence can be harnessed into a marketer’s dream, giving you access to millions of receptive individuals who could benefit from your product or service.  

As an entrepreneur or business owner, you’ve probably already set up your Facebook brand page or paid for boosted adverts. But have you delved into Facebook’s innovative video platform, Facebook Watch?

Facebook Watch is a streaming service that lets users post videos, like this one, to a large audience without forcing them to navigate to another platform, like Youtube. This inbuilt streaming service is a great way to build your brand and engage with prospective customers.

Here are five key reasons why:

1) It’s Free

One great reason to incorporate Facebook Watch into your marketing strategy is that it won’t cost you or your audience anything. While paid adverts can quickly deplete your budget, creating stories or short clips to promote your brand is completely free and can result in high levels of audience engagement. 

2) Videos are Personalized

A frustrating thing about promoting your brand can be identifying your target audience. Facebook Watch takes the guesswork out by only showing your video on the Facebook Watch feed of people who have nominated relevant interests. For example, your new mold remover might appear on the Feed of a mum who has previously liked cleaning tip Facebook groups. Research has shown that this targeting process significantly improves ad performance and responsiveness.

3) Connect with Customers in Real Time

Using Facebook Live, content creators can stream videos to Facebook Watch in real-time. This feature is a powerful opportunity for brands to introduce new products or services before they launch and create hype. You could also use this feature to present live demonstrations of your existing line-up to reignite interest.

A key benefit of live content is the ability for your audience to interact with you more directly. While you broadcast, your customers can leave comments with any suggestions or criticisms they might have. You can then answer these in real-time to alleviate consumer and promote engagement. Studies show that even addressing negative comments about your brand can do wonders for your brand’s PR. Customers feel empowered when they can have their say.

4) Increase Your Reach

Posting videos on your brand’s website or even Youtube makes it more difficult for your fans to share your content. Although sharing is possible, most people simply won’t bother. Content on Facebook Watch, however, can be shared to a user’s (or friend’s) timeline in just two clicks. This increases the likelihood that your content will be disseminated and receive increased engagement.

5) Collaborate with Influencers

We’ve talked about creating your own videos, but Facebook Watch is also ideal for collaborations. Facebook Watch is home to a great deal of content, including influencer videos, skits, and episodic series. 

If you can strike up a deal, such as a free product in exchange for a mention, your product could be featured in a well-known content creator’s work. A product placement (e.g. an actor drinking your coffee in a scene) can work well to unobtrusively put the idea of purchasing your goods/services in the audience’s mind and may be more effective than a hard-sell sales pitch. The idea that an influencer is associated with your brand can also increase customer trust in your product.

Using Facebook Watch is an easy way to reach Facebook’s over 1.82 billion users and boost the growth of your brand online.

Generation Z: The Newest Addition to the Economy

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Gen Z is made up of more than 2 billion young people! Gen Zers all fall between the ages of 10 and 22, meaning the vast majority of them are starting to make and spend their own money and are thinking about the products and brands they want to support. With such a large group entering the economy, Gen Z has the ability to totally change the market and the ways that companies sell their products.

It is predicted that Gen Z is going to surpass Millennials’ income by 2031. They are expected to reach over one quarter of global income and grow to over $2 trillion in global earnings in that time! With such a large amount of spending influence, brands are trying to change the way they market products in order to stay relevant to the new generation. 

One way brands are changing their marketing strategies is by placing more effort on social media advertisements. Members of Generation Z spend more time on social media than any other generation, and they are more likely than others to buy products directly from ads they see on platforms like Tiktok or Snapchat. Brands that are able to utilize this strategy have a higher chance of staying relevant and benefiting from this new generation.

Generation Z is entering the market and are already making big waves with the new way they choose which brands to support and how they buy their products. With their estimated earnings predicted to grow significantly over the next few years, it is easy to see how Gen Z is going to be affecting the economy in a positive way.

How Gen Z Relates To Brands and How it Will Disrupt Global Markets

Why You Need an Analytics Partner: Switching to Google Analytics 4

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The world of enterprise analytics is shifting.  By 2028, the data analytics market is expected to be worth over $500 billion.  Approximately 28 million active websites use Google Analytics, and the company just announced an important shift.  Google recently publicized that Universal Analytics, introduced in 2012 as their data analytics processing feature, would stop processing data in the second half of 2023.  While this news may be shocking, this announcement gives businesses time to migrate to the future of Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

GA4 is designed to simplify data collection by combining app and web analytics in a single platform.  Google Signals collects event data across mobile and web to track users who are logged in to Google.  GA4 data streams report hits for each platform, including web, Android, and iOS.  Instead of reporting visit length and time between page views like Universal Analytics, GA4 can report the average passing time before a user takes a certain action. 

So, what can you do to preserve your Universal Analytics and be ready for GA4?  Universal Analytics is a separate set of properties than GA4, meaning there is no direct upgrade path.  A shift to GA4 requires the realignment of a business’s data strategy.  Rewriting queries and setting up data export to BigQuery, recoding existing tags to work with GA4, and redoing dashboarding to track new metrics are just a few examples of this realignment.  This information may seem daunting, but with the expert help of InfoTrust, your analytics transition can occur with ease.

History & Future of Web Analytics
Source: InfoTrust

Market Volatility, Sanctions, and the War in Ukraine

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War has historically led to economic downturn and volatility and the war in Ukraine is no different. The West, through sanctions, is taking action against Russia’s invasion. This comes in the form of removing Russian banks from SWIFT, stopping Russia’s international payments. It comes in the form of the U.S stopping all oil imports from Russia, weakening their largest export. And it comes in the form of freezing Russia’s reserves in other countries, isolating half of Russia’s total reserves.

These efforts have led to an expected 15% downturn in the Russian economy in 2022. This is a major dip for any nation’s economy and Russia saw their currency, the ruble, drop 30% as the sanctions were announced. 

In response drastic actions were taken to stabilize this currency. This was accomplished through a 10.5% increase in interest rates, forcing Russian firms to translate 80% of their USD into rubles, and stopping all Russians from sending money abroad. These are likely unsustainable measures but did serve to stabilize the economy. 

Aside from Russia, economic issues are arising in other nations. The U.S is seeing the highest recorded gas prices, historic stock market lows, and widespread inflation. Gold is at an eight month high, signaling high market volatility, and crypto is similarly volatile as of late.
These are the effects that are expected as a major war arises. Sanctions hurt the desired nation at the expense of the global economy at large. Individual companies are even suspending operations in Russia. Overall the average citizens are the ones most harshly affected, and that’s the cost of war.

financial war
Source: USGoldBureau.com

How You Can Help Victims of Domestic Violence in Your Community

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It is an unfortunate fact that over 200 million womens and girls experience intimate partner violence in a typical year. These women and girls could be our sisters, mothers, friends, or co-workers. 19% of people know a friend or family member that has been the victim of domestic violence, and 17% of people know someone who has subjected another to some sort of domestic violence. If you think someone you know is being abused or is abusing someone else, it’s important to know what you can do to help. 

The best thing to do if you know a friend is being abused is to offer your support. Oftentimes victims of abuse will feel isolated or ashamed and will have trouble coming to people for help, so make sure you know the warning signs of abuse. If a friend confides in you, make sure to listen without judgment and check in with them regularly. Make sure they have a safe way to leave when they are ready, and keep gas in your car and your phone on you if they need help.

Even if you don’t know someone close to you that is a victim of domestic violence, you can help in many ways around your own community. Consider donating to shelters that help victims by donating money, food, clothing, or sanitary products. Spread awareness of domestic violence in your community and refuse to support any media or companies that glorify violence. 

It can be hard to tell if someone is a victim of domestic violence, so it is important to always be sensitive to these topics and make it known that you are a supporter of victims of domestic abuse. All it takes is one support person to change someone’s life. Learn more about what you can do to support victims of domestic violence in the infographic below:

Domestic Violence: How You Can Help

UX Factors That Affect Your Website’s SEO Rankings

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It’s no secret that a great user experience (UX) is important to the success of any website. But what many people don’t realize is that UX can also have a significant impact on a website SEO rankings.

There are several UX factors that can affect your website’s SEO, including site speed, mobile-friendliness, and content usability. By improving your website’s UX, you can not only boost your visitors’ satisfaction and engagement levels but also improve your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).

What exactly is the user experience of UX?

User experience (UX) refers to the way visitors interact with and experience your website. A good UX is essential for keeping visitors engaged with your site; if they have a positive experience, they’re more likely to come back. On the other hand, a poor UX can drive visitors away from your site, leading to high bounce rates and low conversion rates. Here are some of the most important UX factors that affect your website’s SEO:

Website’s navigation:

The navigation of your website should be easy to understand and use. If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for, they’re likely to leave your site without taking any desired action. This will not only result in a high bounce rate but also send negative signals to search engines, which can impact your SEO rankings.

In addition to this, also ensure the navigation works seamlessly on mobile devices as more and more people are using their smartphones to access the internet.

Layout and design:

The layout and design of your website can also affect its UX and, as a result, its SEO. A well-designed website with a clean and organized layout is more likely to engage visitors and encourage them to stay on the site longer. On the other hand, a poorly designed website with a cluttered layout is more likely to frustrate visitors and make them leave the site quickly. This again will result in a high bounce rate and can negatively impact your SEO.

If you’re using a theme, then you need to check whether it’s responsive or not. A responsive website design is essential for a good mobile experience, which is important for both users and search engines.

Site speed:

Site speed is a major factor in both UX and SEO. Visitors expect sites to load quickly, and if they don’t, they’re likely to leave before even taking a look at the content. In addition, search engines also take site speed into account when determining rankings. So if your site is slow, it’s not only affecting your UX but also your SEO.

You can easily check your website’s speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. This tool will give you a report on the speed of your website and also suggest ways to improve it.

Mobile-friendliness:

With more and more people using mobile devices to access the internet, it’s important to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. If it’s not, visitors are likely to have a bad experience and are less likely to convert. In addition, mobile-friendliness is also a ranking factor for SEO. So if your website is not mobile-friendly, it’s affecting both your UX and your SEO.

You can use Google’s free tool to test whether your website is mobile-friendly or not. This free tool will help you uncover technical issues so that you can make the necessary changes to improve your website’s mobile-friendliness.

Content usability:

The content on your website should be easy to read and understand. If it’s not, visitors are likely to get frustrated and leave the site without taking any desired action. This again will result in a high bounce rate and can negatively impact your SEO.

You can also conduct a content audit to check the usability of your website’s content. This will help you identify any issues so that you can make the necessary changes to improve the UX of your site.

Website’s architecture:

The architecture of your website plays a role in its UX as well as its SEO. A well-structured website is easy for both users and search engines to navigate and index. On the other hand, a poorly structured website can be difficult for both users and search engines to use, which can negatively impact your SEO rankings.

You can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to check the structure of your website. This free tool will help you identify any issues so that you can make the necessary changes to improve your website’s architecture. As more search engines are focusing more on the user experience, it’s important to make sure that your website provides a good UX by implementing the schema markups.

Wrapping up!

By improving your website’s UX, you can not only boost your visitors’ satisfaction and engagement levels but also improve your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). So if you want to improve your website’s SEO, make sure to focus on improving your UX as well.