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U.S. and EU Compliance: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
18 Apr 2018

U.S. and EU Compliance: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Do United States (U.S.) based websites need to be GDPR Compliant?

The short answer is YES. Owning, managing and running a website in the United States does not make you exempt to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) being enforced in the European Union (EU) starting May 25th 2018. As of that date, anyone doing business with or collecting data from any EU citizen MUST be in compliance with the GDPR. If there is one thing that people know about the GDPR it’s that fines (administrative fines) can go up to €20 million or 4 percent of annual global (note global!) turnover, whichever of both is highest. At the time of this article being written (04-23-2018) €20 million = $24472160.00 USD. At present there are 28 countries in the EU

Understanding as a U.S. based site owner what your responsibilities in regards to EU citizens data are is critical. As you can see above the fines can be astronomical and could bankrupt a small company. I’m sure you are wondering what your responsabilities are and how to become compliant. There is no blanket formula but there are certain general areas that need to be addressed. Below I will list a few key points concerning the GDPR.

Info below from business.com

  • “Consent
    • GDPR stresses consent above all else. In fact, that’s really the entire point. While obtaining data, consent needs to be explicit, crystal clear and corroborative. According to Article 4 of GDPR, consent is defined as: “Any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of his or her wishes by which the data subject, either by statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to personal data relating to them being processed.”In addition, while dealing with data of children under 16, parental consent is necessary. Moreover, citizens of the EU can have their personal data erased if the company doesn’t require it for the initial purpose of collection anymore.
  • Cookie Usage
    • All database driven websites and even some static website use cookies. Cookies are little text files stored on your computer that do many things when it comes to saving data such as analytic data, saving password information, and identifying certain content, or individuals demographics among others. Citizens of the EU must be able to identify and eliminate this type of stored data. In other words, “the right to be forgotten”.
  • Notification of data breach
    • If a data breach occurs, the supervisory authority needs to be informed within 72 hours of the happening. If the privacy of any EU citizens is at risk, they need to be notified as well. Starting this May, you’ll need to be vigilant and acutely aware of any actual or potential data breaches that may impact customers or individuals located in the EU.
  • Right to be forgotten
    • Pursuant to Article 17 of GDPR, every individual reserves the right to ask for the deletion of their personal data in situations when the data is no longer required: ” … in relation to the purposes for which it was initially collected or otherwise processed.”With this in mind, be prepared for any customers you might have in the EU to request that you remove any information you have stored pertaining to them. “

GDPR can be your competitive edge

Customers and clients love to feel companies they are doing business with really care. One of the biggest concerns people have online today is their information privacy. That’s where the EU have built from the ground up the (General Data Protection RegulationGDPR)Everyone collects data on us today from huge companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon to small the small Mom and Pop online stores. Who has your data and what they do with it is always on our minds. It’s used everywhere from keeping us logged into a site to marketing our everyday products to us.

Being compliant not only protects us when EU citizens and businesses access our sites, but also can give us that competitive edge. People are much more at ease with transparency. It lets the individual or business accessing your site know you genuinely care about their privacy. Contact us, we can help you become compliant. There is no one shoe fits all solution to this undertaking. Every business and website has unique issues to overcome but there are a few basic elements as described above. These are the issues we will address to get started with becoming compliant.

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04 Jan 2018

Help! I’ve been hacked!

Before you need to use those words, answer these questions.

  • Are you a small to medium sized business, blogger, or just running a personal website using WordPress as your website’s Content Management System (CMS)?
  • Do you have a SSL Certificate on your site? July 1st 2018 is coming quickly! In Google’s own words.
  • Are you keeping your CMS at the latest version for bug fixes and security issues?
  • Do you have difficulty keeping plugins up to date?
  • Is your theme kept up to date and secure
  • Are you checking your site’s overall performance?
  • Do your pages load quickly? (Google will penalize you in the Search Engine Results Page(SERP))
  • Do you know how often your site is off line?
  • Do you make sure you have regular backups in case your site is hacked or files get corrupt for whatever reason?
  • Are you looking for a way to better understand your site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) needs?
  • Would you like to have monthly, weekly, or even daily reports on all these issues?


View our Managed hosting and care plans here

These are all questions that need to be addressed on a regular basis when you own a website. We’ve been building sites for almost 20 years and we’re here to help you with each and every one of these questions. Take a look at our managed hosting plans or if you already have a hosting company you are satisfied with, you can browse through our managed WordPress care/maintenance  plans. Whichever works, we are here to help. “What can we do to help your business? 

01 Jul 2017

How Do I Choose Key Words And Phrases For My Web Site Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

How do I choose a list of  key words and phrases for my site?

This is a question many clients ask and is a reasonable question. Often a web site owner will not think outside the box for search words that may find new customers or clients. Below I will list several ways to process a full list of viable key words for your business.

First write down the list of key words and phrases you would use to find your business. Have several other people to do the same. Ask as many different types of people as possible to do this for you. Choose the people you ask by age, sex, demographics, and any other variable that may suit your business.

Enter searches into a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo and see if competing businesses come up.

Use your search words and phrases to do a search and research the companies that come up by reading through the content on their pages, paying close attention to key words and phrases that would relate to your business. You will be surprised at the words you may have never considered.

Use a key word generator tool to help in this process Google has a great tool for AdWords campaign that works very well.

If you are in need of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and are looking for a company that has the experience and knowledge to place you where you want to be in an organic search, contact DeZineZone today  for a free no obligation consultation and quote 1-716-578-0475 or Contact Us

10 May 2017

Fifteen SEO / Marketing Acronym Definitions

It is sometimes difficult to understand the terminology used by search engine optimization specialists.  Here is a short list of Fifteen SEO / Marketing Acronym Definitions I feel will help not only with reading this blog, but also to understand your SEO when he / she is discussing your project or needs. Please feel free to retweet this to anyone you feel may have a use.

What does this acronym stand for?

CMS – Content Management System

CSS – Cascading Style Sheet

CTR – Click Through Rate

DMOZ – Directory

HTML –  HyperText Markup Language

PPC – Pay Per Click

PR –  PageRank

RSS – Really Simple Syndication

SEF – Search Engine Friendly

SEM – Search Engine Marketing

SEO – Search Engine Optimization / Optimizer

SERP – Search Engine Results Page

SMO – Social Media Optimization

URL – Universal Resource Locator

XML – Extensible Markup Language

Why Is Social Media So Important?
08 Apr 2016

Why Is Social Media So Important?

The playing field has changed again. Please take note. This is a VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR in how your website will rank now and in the future. Social networking has become a major factor in how you are ranked and positioned by the search engines; in particular, Google. The Penguin update has made algorithmic changes that affect the way your site is positioned my adding more factors related to your sociability.

Being social is not just about Facebook and Twitter. It includes sites such as Yelp, SuperPages, HotFrog, local directories, forums, Google Places and many others. Interaction on these sites by yourself, clients and customers are what determine how socially active your online presence is portrayed. Positive feedback toward you and your business has a huge effect on how the search engines view your credibility as an individual or business.

Below I will list some of the ways you can become more interactive online and let others help.

  • Write articles that you are cited.
  • Have people write reviews.
  • Use your email signature as a review vehicle.
  • Ask people to check in at sites like FourSquare when they visit you.
  • Leave feedback for others in social networks.
  • Interact on sites like Twitter.Marketing

These are just a few examples of social interaction that will help your online presence and enhance your visibility on the internet.
Remember, BE SOCIAL

Please leave a comment below if you found this post helpful.

16 Mar 2013

Add ACL to Joomla 2.5 – Access Control List For Users

[ad#Google Adsense]

Log in to the admin

Create a new group
Users > Groups > Add New Group
Here you will add the students name i.e. stephanie (all lower case)
Group parent is Public
Click Save in upper right

Create access level
Users > Access Levels > Add New Access Level
Here you will add the students name i.e. stephanie access (all lower case)
and add them to their own group and the group Super Users (Adding super users the access give you permission in their group
Click Save in upper right

Create a new user
User Manager > Add New User
Add their Name
Add their Login Name
Add their Password
Add email address i.e. noreply100@noreply.com (any address you like)
Give them access to Themselves and Students groups

Set Global Configuration
Site > Global Configuration
Click on the permissions tab
Scroll down to the new user ou created
Click on their name
Under Site Login change to “Allowed”
Click Save in upper right

Create a new page
Name the page i.e.Stephanie”s Page
Publish the page
Give it stephanie access
Add any content i.e. coming soon ( you need something in the page to save it)
Click Save in upper right

Give yourself, Students and Me  permission to the new user
Users > User Manager
Your Name
Tick their name in the permissions
Repeat for Students (Will have all students checked)
Repeat for mine

16 Mar 2013

Add ACL to Joomla 2.5 – Access Control List For Users

Log in to the admin

Create a new group
Users > Groups > Add New Group
Here you will add the students name i.e. stephanie (all lower case)
Group parent is Public
Click Save in upper right

Create access level
Users > Access Levels > Add New Access Level
Here you will add the students name i.e. stephanie access (all lower case)
and add them to their own group and the group Super Users (Adding super users the access give you permission in their group
Click Save in upper right

Create a new user
User Manager > Add New User
Add their Name
Add their Login Name
Add their Password
Add email address i.e. noreply100@noreply.com (any address you like)
Give them access to Themselves and Students groups

Set Global Configuration
Site > Global Configuration
Click on the permissions tab
Scroll down to the new user ou created
Click on their name
Under Site Login change to “Allowed”
Click Save in upper right

Create a new page
Name the page i.e.Stephanie”s Page
Publish the page
Give it stephanie access
Add any content i.e. coming soon ( you need something in the page to save it)
Click Save in upper right

Give yourself, Students and Me  permission to the new user
Users > User Manager
Your Name
Tick their name in the permissions
Repeat for Students (Will have all students checked)
Repeat for mine

01 Jul 2012

Joomla upgrade from 1.5+ to 2.5 latest

[ad#Google Adsense]

Should I upgrade my Joomla 1.5 website?

Joomla! 1.5 will hit it’s end of life as of August 2012. What this weans for you as Joomla site owner is, after August 2012 there will be no more security updates released by the Joomla development team. Your Joomla 1.5+ website will continue to work but the vulnerability for hacks and other security issues will become greater and greater as time passes.

Between version 1.5 and 2.5 there were stable versions of 1.6 and 1.7 releases also. These where transitional releases and should also be UPDATED to the latest 2.5 It is highly recommended your site be UPGRADED to the latest 2.5 release. UPDATING and UPGRADING are two entirely different processes. For a better understanding of these processes and the differences between the two will be described below.

Updating Joomla 1.5+ to latest 1.5 version

In order to update a Joomla 1.5 website you must:

  • Back up your site and database
  • download the update from Joomla
  • unzip the file
  • upload all files in the zipped up folder to your server

Upgrading 1.5+ to 2.5 latest

This process is a more difficult process to execute. There are several components built by developers in the JED to assist in the process. These components DO DOT work on ALL 1.5 websites and there is ALWAYS additional work to perform after the upgrade component is executed.

One issue you will run into is finding all the updated versions of your components, modules and plugins that you have installed on your 1.5 installation for your new 2.5 installation. You will find that some of these will have been either left at 1.5 version only or are no longer maintained. If you have used extensions developed by reputable developers they will most likely have been upgraded to 2.5.

  • Back up your site and database
  • locate and download all updated extensions needed
  • Download and install jUpgrade on your Joomla 1.5 site
  • Run the jUpgrade component from your 1.5 site. This will move all your articles into the new site.

All your existing website will stay intact and your upgrade is installed in a sub- directory on your server. Once you have run the upgrade you will find the links at the bottom of the script  for both the upgraded site and the administrative backend.

Now you can log into the new upgrade and re-organize all the categories. Joomla 2.5 uses nested categories instead of sections and categories like Joomla 1.5.

Install and configure all the new extensions on on the Joomla 2.5 upgrade. You will have to move your existing content such as testimonials or other content that was in your old site into your upgrade site.

Once you have everything moved and you have tested all extensions for proper operation you can remove the Joomla 1.5 site from the server and move the new site onto the root of your server.

Updating 2.5 to latest 2.5 version

Once your site is upgraded to Joomla 2.5 the updates become much easier than the Joomla 1.5 updates. All updates can be performed in the administrative backend with a one click installation process. Change the paths in the configuration file and your new site should be in place.

If you would like to have your Joomla 1.5 professionally upgraded to 2.5 you can give us a call at: 716-578-0475 or request a quote here.

 

23 May 2012

Is Your Website Smartphone Compatible?

With Google claiming 500,000 Android phones activated a day and Apple claiming over 400,000 new iPhones sold every day and There are 5.9 billion mobile subscribers. The need to have your website smartphone compatible has become a necessity in order to keep up with your competition.

When a website is accessed via a smartphone a normal website may appear too large or some graphics may not fit the screen correctly. These sites are meant to be accessed at a much higher screen resolution therefore are difficult to navigate on smaller smartphone screens.

Our Joomla Content Management sites are fully accessible on mobile devices. Check our site Here: http://www.dezinezone2002.com to view a site configured as a mobile accessible website. If you would like more information on making your site smartphone accessible Contact Us.

23 May 2012

Why Is Social Media So Important?

[ad#Google Adsense]

The playing field has changed again. Please take note. This is a VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR in how your website will rank now and in the future. Social networking has become a major factor in how you are ranked and positioned by the search engines; in particular, Google. The Penguin update has made algorithmic changes that affect the way your site is positioned my adding more factors related to your sociability.

Being social is not just about Facebook and Twitter. It includes sites such as Yelp, SuperPages, HotFrog, local directories, forums, Google Places and many others. Interaction on these sites by yourself, clients and customers are what determine how socially active your online presence is portrayed. Positive feedback toward you and your business has a huge effect on how the search engines view your credibility as an individual or business.

Below I will list some of the ways you can become more interactive online and let others help.

  • Write articles that you are cited.
  • Have people write reviews.
  • Use your email signature as a review vehicle.
  • Ask people to check in at sites like FourSquare when they visit you.
  • Leave feedback for others in social networks.
  • Interact on sites like Twitter.

These are just a few examples of social interaction that will help your online presence and enhance your visibility on the internet.

Remember, BE SOCIAL

Please leave a comment below if you found this post helpful.

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