WORDPRESS UPDATES

This month, Our clients' website/s have been upgraded and now running on WordPress 5.0.3. This update fixed 37 bugs, 7 performance improvements and more. WordPress 5.1 "Betty" was recently released last Thursday, February 21, 2019.

We're in the process of testing with 5.1 and thus far have seen no issues, so expect your site to be updated to 5.1 this month

HELPING YOUR BUSINESS

Helpful Questions to Take Note of Before Heading to Any Social Event

Darren Hardy, a former publisher of Success Magazine, has recently passed on a series of questions he reviews before going into any social encounter.

You can use these not just for business, but for friends and family!

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL DISCUSSIONS

What has been the highlight of your day so far?
What has been your biggest challenge this week?
What are you working on that you are most excited about right now?
What is the most interesting conversation you've had the last week?
Who have you met or talked to in the last 30 days you think I should meet?
What is the most fun thing you've done in the last quarter you think I should do too?
What’s still on your bucket list? I'm looking for ideas to add to mine.
Are you reading anything right now that you love?
What else have you read I should read?
What is the book you have given out the most as a gift?
Do you listen to audiobooks when you drive/workout? Fav? Fav podcasts?
Seen any great documentaries I have to see?
What was the last movie you cried during? How about snorted laughing?
What's a hobby you always wanted to pick up but never did? I’m looking for a new one.
Do you love what you do? What about it?
What surprised you the most about the job/business you are in?
What’s the advice you’d give a teenager or someone just starting out going into your line of work?
What's the best advice you've ever received from someone else?
If you were to give your own 30-year-old self-advice what would it be?
Who is someone you really admire?

Give these questions a test run on your next social event.

More from Darren Hardy: How to Make a Better First Impression

Become an attractive person inside out.
1. Ponder on "What type of person do you want to be?"
2. Write a list of the characteristics of those folks or that person, whittle it down to six, and rate yourself; Wherever you’re short, you now have your personal development plan.
Stop faking it. Don’t try to impress as people will see through it.
Treat people like people, not like customers or someone on a hit list.
Take a sincere interest in others. Talk less and listen more. Understand their hopes, desire, and fears.
Always be positive - be the one the brightens the room in every conversation. Turn down the opportunity to talk negative about someone, even when agreeing.
Recognize others - give sincere praise. Be so busy giving other people recognition and you won’t worry about getting it yourself.
Give first, give often.

Security Issues and Updates

Credential Stuffing Attacks - What is it? Is it a pressing concern?

Dunkin' Donuts confirmed that their website underwent a cyber attack called "Credential Stuffing" last February 12. What is credential stuffing you might ask?

DEFINITION OF CREDENTIAL STUFFING
A credential stuffing data breach is an act that hackers do that feeds thousand or millions of username and password combinations obtained from other breaches into a website in order to fraudulently gain access to user accounts.

For example, data acquired from Website A is used on Website B in an attempt to steal financial information.

Is it a pressing concern? Yes. Why? All Personal and Financial data gathered will be sold by hackers on the dark web.

HOW TO AVOID FALLING PREY TO CREDENTIAL STUFFING

Last September's Maintenance/Security Report, we highlighted tips you can follow to stay safe:

Use unique and STRONG passwords for your accounts, especially those that have sensitive information such as contact info and financial accounts.
Use 2-Factor-Authentication as much as possible (a good way is via text message, but the BEST way is through an app on your phone).
Have a password policy and tools for your company (we can give you recommendations).
Keep all software up-to-date on your computer, smartphones, and websites (we handle your website for you).
Use a good password manager.
Run anti-virus on your computers.
Think twice before responding to anyone calling or emailing you telling you to change your password or verify your security settings. You may need to, but just make sure the email address the email is coming from is legit and the link you’re clicking on is good.
Backup EVERYTHING!
Monitor your finances for unauthorized spending.

If your company is the target of a data breach in any way, a good email to send

Not long ago we received an email from Pipedrive, the tool we use to manage our sales pipelines and follow-ups with clients and potential clients.

The email was a good example of something to send to your clients if something happens.

It’s also a warning to be careful of clicking on links in emails, as well as giving your login credentials to anyone via the web.

See more: https://www.evernote.com/l/ABGmMHF6w4hKhbNZ6Tp0_8y1PjnUdRNb7so

Read the rest of the article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billhardekopf/2019/02/13/credential-stuffing-attacks-yet-another-security-concern-for-consumers/#7971d85c64c4

The Site of the Month

Check out cyrustravel.com

Cyrus Travel is recognized by the 1.5 million Iranian nationals now living in the United States as the nation's premier source for travel to Iran and Europe. It is also recognized in a highly competitive market to provide outstanding, value-added services to its customers.

Working together with Wordflirt, we hand-crafted a beautiful site with extensive customization. Here are just a few things we did:

Put together a very nice slider with images and text moving on the home page to draw visitors into an experience
Created a custom post type called "Tour" that has a standard format for showcasing each tour
- Each tour has a timeline on what will happen each day that's laid out in a timeline format
Implemented a "mega" menu so that simply by hovering over the down arrow on each tour item, a very nice menu shows up that shows the tour picture. This way people can quickly see all the tours that are offered and go to the one that interests them the most.
Had form submissions "detect" which page they were on so there is the context in the email indicating the tour selected.

If you want to check it out, go to https://cyrustravel.com/.

February Client Maintenance Report