Displaying items by tag: Industry News

Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, the World is seeing a shift in the way business is done. With much of the World’s work-force sidelined, and with retail stores closing across the United States, our economy is evolving and consumers are looking for virtual spaces to wander. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for those of us who are fortunate enough to remain healthy, some of us have taken advantage of the World being paused, by getting our Spring cleaning accomplished at home.  Clearing closets and clutter have been accomplished. However, if you are a business owner and/or website owner, knowing where the World's economy is headed (online), have you reviewed your business plan and website to make sure they are both adequate vehicles that are capable of carrying your business into the future? 

This article provides some insight into copyright infringement and/or copyright claims, as it relates to the use of images on websites, while also offering ways to avoid copyright claims. This includes providing proactive actions and links to resources for free royalty-free stock images and paid royalty-free stock images.

If you own a website, or are a web designer who has used images without securing licensing then you probably know this can be a real costly endeavor. Copyright infringement is a real and occurs more often than you think.  This occurs both on purpose, and inadvertently.  In any case, the attorneys who will be contacting you do not care if it was a mistake or not. This is why it is important to use images from a trusted source (not Google Image Search), and/or license your images from a trusted stock image resource.

Before we get into providing solutions to avoiding copyright claims, let us first understand the nuts and bolts of the issue which can be realized by reviewing some frequently asked questions and answers relative to copyright infringement as it relates to "image usage on the internet".

In October of 2018 Google announced they would be "Protecting your data, improving our third-party APIs, and sunsetting consumer Google+".  Later in December another update would come as Google announced "Expediting changes to Google+". Most recently in December of 2018, deletion dates were provided when Google emphasized that it will shut down Google+, "due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations." as provided in Google's official statement.

While the number of mobile device users is growing, the number of social media networks is also constantly growing. However, with the recent news of Google sunsetting Google+, the "social media battle field" just got thinner. 

Mobile devices and social media have surely become a part of most peoples daily life. Today, these pocket sized computers have proven useful for users of all age groups. While smart phone owners use their devices for a variety of tasks including: entertainment, information and/or business; mobile devices coupled with the growth of social networks maybe changing the world beyond providing convenience as relates to access to email on the go. The use of mobile devices and the growth of social media may very well be responsible for shaping history, as it is widely believed that social media may have played a major part in the 2016 Presidential election. 

Though politics are discussed in this article, the focus of this article is technology based.

In 2015 Google notified all website owners of issues on their site relative to mobility issues. If your website was deficient and/or you have received an email that provided a warning stating that “Google systems has tested your site finding a percentage of your website’s pages to have critical mobile usability errors", then this is something you really should resolve.

Is it a valid concern if a website is not optimized for mobile devices? That question depends on the answer to another question. How many mobile device users are their versus desktop users. In May 2015, in the “Google Inside Adwords Blog”, within the article titled "Building for the next moment", Google stated that “Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan”. Furthermore,  www.statista.com authored an article titled "Statistics and Facts on Mobile Internet Usage" which reports that "mobile phone internet user penetration was 52.7 percent in 2015" and suggests the figure will climb to 63.4 percent by 2017.

If you don’t know who Matt Cutts is, then you probably have not been paying much attention to the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you own or manage a website and have an interest in growing your web presence, then its time you learn more about Matt Cutts.

When viewing Google’s Management Team Page, provided on their company website. You will not see a photo or even a description of Matt Cutts. I find this funny considering, that when Matt Cutts speaks, his words have a more significant impact on the world of SEO than any other Google staff member.

Perhaps you are more familiar with the "stay thirsty" ad campaign put on by Dos Equis Beer. Whereas their spokesman is a older distinguished gentlemen who is lauded as "the most interesting man in the world". I could not help but to rewrite many of the popular sayings so that they are relevant to the world of SEO and Matt Cutts.

"Search engines base their results upon his guidelines"

"His words are considered golden"

"He is fluent in all search engine algorithms, even those that have not been developed yet"

Healthcare.gov may be the most talked about website since the days of Facebook going public! Healthcare.gov is a healthcare exchange website created by and operated under the United States Federal Government as per the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which was signed into law March 23, 2010.  The PPACA was designed to serve the residents of the thirty-six U.S. states that opted not to create their own state exchanges.   In order to achieve the goals of the PPACA, as with many other businesses, industries and endeavors, a service based website was required.

Healthcare.gov is the government website which was developed to provide a way for Americans to “comparison shop” between different possible health insurance options for an individual within his or her state, with a visual format somewhat similar to websites such as Amazon.com and Etsy.

While the Healthcare.gov website has been criticized and dragged through the mud, is it really a broken website or is all the noise created by those who oppose the politics behind the National Health Care initiative?

Is your Business located on Google Maps and Google Places for Business? 

If not, it should be! Despite the simple fact that search engines such as Google and Yahoo have replaced the stone aged telephone books, both of these search engine titans also possess business listing services. Google has Google+ Places and Zagat, while Yahoo has Yelp. All which utilize map based business listings. These map based business listings assist consumers in finding business near their physical locations. This is even more relevant in today’s age of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets.

For instance, as a consumer is driving on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. A person in this vehicle is seeking a coffee shop nearby. They grab their iphone, open their web search and enter coffee shops. Their mobile device will provide map results, prior to providing web page results because the search engine has detected that they are mobile. Will your business show up if a smart phone or tablet user searches for your business type? If your business is not listed on Google Places for Business or Google+ Local then the answer is no!

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Even as Facebook currently enjoys recent gains in the stock market, questions continue to whirl in the media about how Facebook plans to satisfy investors in moving forward with a plan to monetize?

What does the monetization of Facebook really mean to its users? Is it possible that Facebook will require paid memberships, or will Facebook be able to satisfy its shareholders without asking it's members to foot the bill? This article reviews Facebook's stock performance history and explores the real mechanisms that Facebook is already implementing to monetize its successful social network.

As reported on the Joomla Website, Lenoardo Di Caprio uses Joomla on his new site LeonardoDiCaprio.com.

Leonardo Di Caprio is one of the most famous actors in the world. Leonardo has shown the ability to choose great roles, starring in movies from Inception and Gangs of New York to Titanic and Catch Me if You Can. It seems he can also choose great software. His new site LeonardoDiCaprio.com runs Joomla. This is a particularly interesting site in its design and its navigation.

Who else uses Joomla? Leo joins the ranks of numerous other big names that use Joomla. Other big names that use the Joomla platform include Major Television Networks, Retailers, Car Manufacturers and even Government Agencies. Names such as McDonalds, Jaguar,  Pizza Hut, MTV, Sony Pictures, Mexico City and even the United Kingdoms Ministry of Defense.