Wordpress hacked again

Regularly we are contracted to repair websites that have been hacked (that other website developers have setup).  This happens when a website is setup using Wordpress with a bunch of plug-ins and installed on some basic insecure hosting account.  It’s only a matter of time before Google blocks your site since it’s infecting people’s computers or you open up your home page one day and there is a giant “F U” on it!

I don’t mind fixing this problem for people, it’s good business.  But I feel sad that so many people think this is a viable solution.  It can be, but in practice, it’s not.  Hence why I don’t recommend it for anyone.

Like most things in life, if you just focus on price in the short-term you’ll likely pay more and have more headaches in the future. 

If you are running Wordpress and your site has become compromised, please let us know and we can help.  Part of the solution may be to switch to a more secure CMS and hosting account that isn’t wide open for abuse.

Posted by Robert

Remarketing – what does it mean?

Have you noticed that the ads being shown to you recently seem to know your search history, perhaps a little too well? 

Take Clearly Contacts for example: I used to only see their ads on the sky-train and then my girlfriend visited their website.  Now, almost every ad I see when I browse the web is for Clearly Contacts.  They are relentless!

I believe what has happened is that we have been flagged by their website to Google, letting Google know that we are interested in glasses and would be very happy to pay for us to come back to their site and make a purchase. 

As we browse the web, Google attempts to bring us back to past websites we’ve visited in order to convert us into a sale.  Increased relevancy should leads to increased clicks, which means more money for Google and potentially the advertiser in getting a returning visitor who completes the sale.

If you currently have a Google Adwords campaign then this “remarketing” feature is already available for you to use.  You simply need to define some “audiences” and assign those audiences to different pages on your site.  For example, if you sell glasses then you would define a “glasses” audience and place the tracking code on your pages pertaining to glasses.

If you would like to nudge previous visitors of your website to come back through the use of advertisements or just want to keep fresh in their minds, give remarketing a try.

Learn more and watch a video by visiting Google’s help page here.

By the way, my girlfriend did buy lots from clearlycontacts.ca afterall.

Posted by Robert