Last year alone, grim statistics point to the urgent need for website owners to take active security measures to defend their sites against cyberattacks.

300%

INCREASE IN
CYBERATTACKS

This year alone, cyberattacks have increased by 300% as hackers increase their efforts to exploit vulnerable websites with poor security.

50%

OF ALL
HACKS & BREACHES

Nearly half of all cyberattacks prey on small to medium-sized businesses. Hackers know most of them don’t have solid security measures in place.

45%

OF ALL
WEBSITE OWNERS

Almost half of all website owners say they don’t have solid security measures in place to defend their sites against attacks.

30,000

WEBSITES
HACKED DAILY

As hackers become more sophisticated, 30,000 websites are successfully hacked each day, leaving website owners to deal with the destruction.

All effective website security strategies need these three things: Preparation, Prevention, and Detection

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1.    It sets the first impression

When your audience visits your website, it gives them their first impression of your business. They will look into it and judge your business within seconds. In these first few seconds, you want to make a positive impact on your audience.

If your website do not look nice or outdated, your audience will immediately have a negative impression of your business. They will not find your website appealing, which will put them off from your page. You will miss leads because they will leave your page for a competitor’s page.

Web design is important because it affects how your audience sees your brand. The impression you make on them can either get them continue on your page and learn about your business or leave your page and turn to a competitor. A good web design helps you keep your leads on your page.

2.    It aids your search engine optimization (SEO)

Various web design elements and practices influence how you publish content on your website, which in turn affects how search engine spiders crawl and index your website.

Aside from how content published on your website, certain web design elements can directly affect SEO in and of themselves. Web design can be difficult to understand if you are not familiar with how it works, but to put it simply, your code needs to be SEO-friendly.

The best way to ensure proper web design practices (and subsequent search engine visibility) is to collaborate up with a web design agency that knows what they are doing.

3. It sets the impression for customer service

Individuals can judge how you will treat them by looking at your website. Your design gives them understanding as to how you view your audience. If you do not put any effort into your website’s design, your audience knows that you will not put effort into helping them.

Your website is like a customer service representative. If your website is bright, modern, and inviting, your audience will feel more welcome on your page. You will give the impression that you are open and welcoming to new people who visit your website.

On the other hand, an outdated and unattractive site makes your business appear cold and aloof. People do not want to check out a business that does not value them enough to make a good first impression.

Think of your web design as the digital face of your business. If someone walked into your physical location, wouldn’t you want a friendly face to greet him or her and make him or her feel welcome? An updated and modern web design is the equivalent to a friendly face greeting your new visitors.

4. It builds trust with your audience

People do not trust poorly designed websites. If they see your poor design or the information looks outdated, they will not trust your site. They may view your site as seedy or shady because you do not have an updated web design.

Think about a individual looking to place a bulk order with a manufacturing company. They are spending a tremendous amount of money, which means if your manufacturing website design doesn’t convey trust, they’ll find another business to fulfill their order.

On the other hand, a professional site signals trust with your audience. They will trust your business and feel comfortable checking it out further.

It is important to build trust with your audience so they continue on your site. When visitors continue on your site longer, you create more opportunities for your business to capture those leads.

5. Your competitors are doing it

If you need a reason for why web design is important, here is a big one: Your competitors are already utilizing web design. If you want to remain in competition with them, you must use web design for your site.

You want your website to stand out from the competition. If you have an old, outdated, and low-quality website, your competitor’s will outrank you. Their well-designed website will perform better than your website.

This means you will lose leads to your competitors. They will attract more leads to their page because their page is more appealing.

Your website’s design is an opportunity for you to set your business apart from the competition. When you are competing with other businesses, you generally have the same services and similar pricing. You need that one thing that will make your business stand out from the rest.

A well-designed website is an opportunity for your business to display your unique features. You can show your audience why they should choose your business over the competition.

6. It creates consistency

When you are trying to get new leads for your business, you want to build up your brand. You want your audience to get familiar with your brand so they choose you when they are ready to convert. Online web designs are important because they help create consistency across your page.

You need to have the same fonts, styles, and layouts across every page on your website. If you have a different design on every page, this will make your site look unprofessional. It also makes it more challenging to build brand recognition because your audience will not know which colors to associate with your brand.

If your website is not consistent, people will bounce from yours to one that looks more professional. By building consistency, you keep leads on your page longer and get them familiar with your business. You will earn more leads and conversions down the line when you redesign your site for this key element.

Build your dream website today

If you’re ready to start building your dream website, contact us online or

Call us today at +233-20-076-5331 to speak with a strategist.

We look forward to helping your business grow!

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01. Business Websites

Being one of the most popular and versatile types of websites out there, a business website can take many forms. Business websites enable you to sell a certain service or product. They often include sections for displaying and describing what you are selling and have built in features that let you make money directly from your site.

Service business websites typically include a booking system which enables customers to easily reserve an appointment to receive your service. Some services may be SaaS (or software as a service) in which case these websites allow you to display your software and help users purchase it.

02. Blogs

Blogs are a type of website that enable you to write long-form content about virtually anything. They consist mainly of articles and images, typically surrounding a specific topic. Some of the most popular types of blogs include travel blogs and food blogs.

You may have noticed that in recent years blogs have taken the internet by storm. This has occurred for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the simplest websites to create and you can easily learn how to start a blog. Also, blogs enable you to write about your niche and express your expertise to the world. They are also a good way to keep friends and family up-to-date with what’s going on in your life.

Lastly – but perhaps most importantly – blog monetization has become a popular means to make money. Many bloggers turn their website into a source of income and utilize tools that can help them make money blogging.

03. eCommerce Websites

Similar to the business websites mentioned above, eCommerce websites, or online stores, allow you to sell products online. These sites typically include product sections which enable you to display your products, as well as shopping cart and checkout features.

These types of websites are best for individuals who are looking to make money online. You can utilize an eCommerce website if you have your own products to sell, or you can start dropshipping which essentially enables you to sell items from a third party at a profit.

04. Portfolios

Oftentimes, people make use of websites in order to display their own work or skills. Portfolios are the perfect type of website to create in order to do just that. They often contain a gallery which displays your work and text which enables you to explain your expertise and provide details about your work.

There are myriad types of portfolios that take on slightly different forms depending on the kind of work you have done. For example, you can create anything from a design portfolio to a marketing portfolio depending on your line of work.

Portfolios are often used in conjunction with resumes when applying for a job, or as a sort of business card that enables people to learn more about you.

05. Event Websites

As more and more of the world has moved into an online space, event websites have become extremely popular. These sites allow you to display detailed information about your event, include comprehensive schedules, transportation suggestions, maps and more. They also might contain scheduling and ticketing softwares which enable people to reserve a spot at your event. This is especially useful for concerts, shows or conferences, and can also be used for virtual events.

One of the most popular types of event websites is a wedding website. When considering how to create a wedding website, you might think to include details about the couple, information about the wedding itself, a place to RSVP and links to registries.

06. Online Forums

Another product of our virtual era is online forums. Forums enable people to discuss topics, ask questions and interact with one another. More and more websites are beginning to include an online forum to enable their site’s members to talk to each other and encourage conversation on their site. This often serves as a type of informal support that allows site users to help one another.

You can also create a forum as a standalone website. This would enable people from around the web to connect to one another through your site. Often forum websites will focus on a certain niche to help bring like-minded individuals together.

07. Personal Websites

Creating a personal website is a simple way to boost your web presence. This type of website is essentially a site surrounding and representing a given person. Many people utilize personal websites to display who they are and what they have accomplished. In many ways it is similar to a portfolio with fewer visual elements making it the perfect format for author websites and actor websites, among others.

One of the most popular types of personal websites is a resume website. Resumes, used globally as a way to summarize who you are and what you’ve achieved professionally, have moved increasingly into the online sphere. A resume website has become a popular medium for people to display their accomplishments neatly and in one place.

08. Membership Websites

A method used by many website owners is to require membership in order to receive full access to their services, tools or resources. This type of website typically enables site owners to make money off of their offerings to members or simply to have more control over their site’s audience.

Membership websites are used in a number of contexts. Perhaps you have an online magazine or publication that requires membership to join. Alternatively, you might have a club or private group that you would like to have a website for, however you only want to give access to members. These scenarios, and many others, make a membership website a surefire way to manage your audience and potentially make money off of your site.

09. Nonprofit Websites

Another website type is nonprofit websites. Resembling business websites, these websites often include a description of the nonprofit organization, details about the work they do, a gallery of past events and a place to donate.

Nonprofits can take on many forms. Some examples of common nonprofit websites include church websites, petition websites and often even school websites. While each of these organizations have different purposes, they all can be well represented with a nonprofit website.

10. Informational Websites

Informational websites are a type of website that encompasses many different things. Generally speaking, they are used as platforms whose main purpose is to convey information and act as a resource. Informational websites are not intended as a source of income, rather are meant to simply be informative.

Some types of informational websites include encyclopedias, news websites, wikis and more. Often these types of websites have many aspects that are similar to blogs in that they include more long form content. Another unifying feature of informational websites is that they tend to make use of search functions so that site visitors can find what they are looking for.

To choose the right type of website

Considering the many types of websites available to you, it might feel overwhelming to decide on which one is just right. In order to choose, start by thinking about what the end goal of this website is, and consider what resources are available to you. For example, if your objective is to make money online, you may consider selling products – however if you don’t have products to sell, you can try monetizing a blog.

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The System Unit

The system unit is the main component of the PC to which other components are connected. The system unit contains:

• Motherboard
• Microprocessor or Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Memory (RAM and ROM)
• Power supply unit
• Disk drives

The Motherboard

The motherboard holds the microprocessor, memory chips (RAM and ROM), expansion slots, power connectors and any other microchips required for the PC to function. It is the actual heart of the PC as it determines the computational power of the computer. The main components of a motherboard are the following:

Photo of a typical motherboard

The Microprocessor
The microprocessor can be referred to as the brain of the PC. The microprocessor is also known as the CPU (Central Processing Unit). The microprocessor does the following:

• Carries out commands to make the hardware components perform actions.
• Processes data. This involves:
• Performing logical instructions such as comparing
• Performing mathematical instructions such as adding and subtracting

Although the instructions performed by the CPU are relatively simple, the CPU can execute many millions of instructions every second. This is what makes the PC such a powerful tool.

Memory (RAM and ROM)

RAM
RAM is used in many parts of the PC. It can be used to provide motherboard, video card, sound card and cache memory. System RAM is a form of high-speed memory; the microprocessor uses system RAM for the temporary storage of programs and data. Unlike disk drives, any information within RAM will be lost when a PC is reset or powered off. This type of RAM can be considered as the working space of the microprocessor.
RAM is measured in megabytes (MB). New PCs are generally shipped with no less than 64MB of RAM; however, many can be fitted with up to 512MB.
Speed of RAM is measured in nano-seconds (Ns): the lower the figure, the faster the memory access time.

ROM
ROM is a special type of memory holding information that has been programmed into it during construction. The PC user cannot change this information.
An example of ROM memory is the PC’s ROM BIOS (Basic Input/ Output System) chip. This ROM chip contains a set of instructions that the microprocessor uses when the PC is turned on or reset. For example, it contains the code that allows the microprocessor to communicate with the floppy disk drive and hard disk drive so that the operating system can be loaded.

Power Supply
The power supply is responsible for converting the incoming electricity supply to the 5v and 12v DC power that is required by the PC for it’s operation. The 5v supply is used to power the circuit boards on the PC. The 12v supply is used to power motor-driven devices such as hard drives or CD-ROMs. Many newer systems also require 3.3v or 2.8v, as current processors tend to use lower voltages. Devices such as CD-ROMs and floppy drives are connected to the power supply using molex or mini molex connectors. The motherboard connectors are known as P8 and P9.

Disk Drives
If data held in RAM is to be kept permanently, it should be saved to a disk drive. Disk drives are the storage area of a PC. A disk drive can be divided into logical areas called directories (or folders). These directories are used to hold the files that contain your data.
The data is recorded as magnetic fields on the surface of the disk. These fields are written in concentric circles (known as tracks) as the disk turns. These tracks are divided into equal-sized blocks called sectors. Each track and sector has a number that is used to remember where each piece of data is.

The 3½” Floppy Disk
The floppy disk represent one of the most common data storage devices. Each side of a high-density 3½” disk is divided into 80 concentric tracks, with each track divided into 18 equal sectors. Each sector is used to store 512 bytes, or 0.5KB of information. Data is transferred from the disk into the PC’s memory (or from memory to disk) one sector at a time. The total capacity of this disk is, therefore:
80 tracks x 18 sectors x 0.5 kilobytes x 2 sides = 1,440KB or 1.44MB.
The 3½” floppy disk drive is often described as a 1.44MB drive.
Floppy disks do not have a sealed covering like a hard disk (see below) and are not as strong. They must be treated carefully, which means keeping them away from dust, magnetic fields and high temperatures. The main advantage of floppy disks is that they are portable and can be used for transferring data between PCs, and for storage of data away from the PC itself.

Hard Disk Drives
Hard disks are the main storage devices of PCs and have high storing capacities of several Gigabytes (Gb) of data. Most new PCs are supplied with drives in excess of 10 gigabytes (GB), and disks are currently available with capacities in excess of 70GB. This high capacity is achieved in two ways:

• Data can be packed more tightly onto the disk
• A number of disks can be mounted together onto a single spindle A hard disk is made of glass or metal as opposed to the flexible plastic from which floppy disks are made, and is mounted in a sealed unit, usually fixed inside the system unit. Hard disks are also known as fixed disk drives.
   Hard disks are considerably quicker than floppy disk drives as they rotate much faster and the data is more densely packed. This allows much quicker access to data than a floppy disk. When there is no disk activity for a few seconds, the motor on a disk drive can be automatically switched off to prevent excess wear on the disk drive. The disk is sealed in a dust-free casing to protect the magnetic surfaces.
  The considerable quantities of data now held on modern hard disk drives, means that a disk failure can be disastrous. It is therefore imperative that any files on a hard disk are backed up systematically and regularly.
  
  A PC may be configured with one or two floppy disk drives and one or more hard disk drives. The most common configuration for a PC is one 3½” floppy disk drive and one hard disk drive.

Do not confuse RAM with disk drives. Disk drives are used to store programs and data permanently and they have slower read/write times than RAM has.

Monitors
There is a wide choice of monitors available for the PC, varying both in screen size and technology. In general, monitors range in size from 14″ to 21″ and use Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology. The most important factor in selecting a monitor is to ensure it is compatible with the display adapter and that it will support its maximum resolution. Other points to examine are the dot pitch and refresh rate of the screen. A smaller dot pitch gives greater clarity. Monitors with refresh rates lower than 75Hz may flicker causing headaches and eyestrain.

Keyboard
The keyboard is the main input device of the PC. It is used for giving commands to the PC or typing documents. Although a computer keyboard is based on the old typewriter layout, there are some major differences in the ways that keys are used. Computer keyboards also have additional keys. Learning to use the unique keys and special functions of the computer keyboard can save you time and make you more comfortable with your computer. The keyboard is like a typewriter but with special keys. You use these keys of combinations of them for special functions. Below you can find some of the most common ‘special’ commands of a keyboard:

Mouse

There are many, many things for the novice to learn so that they are able to navigate Windows. The first thing that you should learn to do is how to use the mouse to navigate Windows. The mouse is another equally important input device, like the keyboard, very simple to use. It is extremely useful for navigation in software environments and can save much time and effort comparing to the keyboard for similar use. Your mouse gives you the ability to point to, select, and move items on the computer screen.

Modem

A modem is a device that translates the digital signals from your computer into analog signals that can travel over a standard phone line. A modem on the other end of the line can understand it and converts the sounds back into digital information. It is the device that will connect you to the internet or allow you to communicate with a friend. Modems come in different speeds and are measured in bps or bits per second.  A 28.8 Kbps modem transmits data at speeds up to 28,800 bits per second. A 56 Kbps modem is twice as fast, sending and receiving data at a rate of up to 56,000 bits per second. Most modems today are 56 Kbps. In case modems come with your PC as external devices they look like the device above. The other alternative is to have the modem mounted on the motherboard so it appears as internal device of the computer.

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Repeating Events Daily

Create a new event or select an existing event to edit. Check the “Repeat” box to display a pop-up window with additional options. Set the “Repeats” option to “Daily.” With the default settings, your event will appear on every calendar day in the future. Optionally, you can change the “Repeats Every” setting to have the event skip a chosen number of days, or set the event to stop repeating on a certain date or after a selected number of occurrences.

Google Calendar includes two tools to help you keep your daily schedule. If you want to set an event to appear in your schedule every day, you can create it once and set it to repeat, rather than make a new item for every day of the calendar. You can also turn on a notification setting to have Google Calendar send you a daily agenda, which contains your schedule for the day.

Receiving Daily Agendas

To set Google Calendar to notify you about your schedule every day, click the drop-down arrow by the calendar you want to use and pick “Reminders and Notifications.” Check the “Daily Agenda” box and click “Save.” Google will email you your schedule every day at 5 AM, according to your account’s time zone. Unlike other notification options, you can’t receive daily agendas by text message.

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By Danielle Fernandez

How to crop on an iPhone, Your iPhone offers a slew of photo editing tools that allow you to crop, refocus and otherwise perfect your shots on the go. For quick work, you can perform minor edits as photos are taken from within the Camera Roll. The iPhoto app, however, is available free for all iOS devices and offers a much more sophisticated set of editing tools, from contrast and saturation sliders to airbrushing effects and photo filters. Whichever you choose, both native apps make easy work of photo cropping.

Photos App

Step 1

Launch the Photos app and select the photo you would like to edit. Alternately, you can tap the thumbnail of an image you’ve just taken in the Camera app to open it in the Photos app.

Step 2

Tap “Edit” at the top and then select the “Crop” tool.

Step 3

Drag the borders of the image to adjust the crop dimensions. You can reposition the image or zoom in and out by dragging and pinching your fingers. To use a standard, preset crop measurement, tap “Constrain” and select a size from the available dimension options.

Step 4

Tap “Save” when your changes are complete.

Your iPhone offers a slew of photo editing tools that allow you to crop, refocus and otherwise perfect your shots on the go. For quick work, you can perform minor edits as photos are taken from within the Camera Roll. The iPhoto app, however, is available free for all iOS devices and offers a much more sophisticated set of editing tools, from contrast and saturation sliders to airbrushing effects and photo filters. Whichever you choose, both native apps make easy work of photo cropping.

IPhoto

Step 1

Launch the iPhoto app and select the photo you wish to crop.

Step 2

Tap the “Toolbox” icon and select the “Crop” tool, which looks like two opposing right angles.

Step 3

Tap the “Options” icon, which looks like three dots, and set your cropping measurements to a standard aspect ratio. You can, for example, set the crop to a standard 4″ x 6″ photo size. You can also manually crop the image by dragging the photo’s borders inward.

Step 4

Reposition the image within the cropping frame using your fingers — you can, for example, drag the image around with your finger or pinch to zoom in and out.

Step 5

Tap the dial at the bottom of the screen and then tilt your iPhone from side to side to rotate the image within the cropping boundaries. Alternately, you can pinch and rotate your fingers on the screen to do the same thing.

Step 6

Tap the “Share” icon, which looks like a square with an upward facing arrow, to share the photo via social network or email. There is no “Save” button; iPhoto automatically saves your edits to a new file as you make them. The original file is not overwritten.

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Student stations

The student stations are the computers that the students will use on a regular basis. The processing power of each computer is dependent on the lab’s purpose. Even the lowest-end computer currently on the market is sufficient to work on office software or for basic programming lessons. If the lab is to be used for video or photography production, video game programming or virtualization lessons, higher-end computers with more processing power and larger amounts of memory will be required. The operating system of the client workstation is up to the teacher and/or information technology team that will maintain the system, but it should be locked down to prevent students from installing unauthorized software, communicating on the Internet or doing other prohibited activity.

Management Station

The management station is the computer that the teacher will use. It will usually be identical to the client station. The management station, however, will have direct access to the server and the management system of the switch, be able to monitor the client stations and have a better access to external resource such as Internet or communication software. The management station also has better security because it makes a more interesting target for students wanting to play hacker and because of its access to external resources.

Server

The server in a computer lab can be used to fulfill several needs. It should store a copy of each workstation’s operating system. The workstations can be made to connect to that server to reinstall the operating system in its clean but configured state in case of a virus or simply as maintenance. The server can also be used to filter the external information the clients can access, for example, blocking Facebook but leaving the Library of Congress accessible. The server can also store the profile of each student and back up their work from session to session.

Switch

Networking is one of the most important parts of computer labs, and in many school computer labs, a hub or a switch is one of the ways this can be accomplished. The switch is the network equipment to which all the computers are connected. A switch can be configured so the clients cannot connect to each other, to limit communication to groups created for a specific project and to grant or refuse access to external resources.

Other equipment

Optional equipment can include printers, scanners, cameras, projectors and headsets. Each piece of equipment should be carefully considered, as the investment needed (for the printers, scanners, cameras and projector) or the high breakage ratio (for the headsets) can adversely affect the budget of the lab and its ability to run smoothly.

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Types

• The traditional one-room computer lab has morphed into three common types of computer labs: the classical lab with desktop computers, the mobile laptop lab that moves from classroom to classroom, and the mini-lab located in an individual classroom for a teacher to use in her daily work without having to leave her classroom . In addition to these three basic types, some schools and districts, like the Irving Independent District in Irving, Texas, are moving to a 1-to-1 laptop program where all students have their own laptop. This effectively makes every classroom a computer lab.

Function

• The computer lab serves as the center for teaching computer use to whole classes, usually by a specialist computer teacher. Classroom teachers also use the lab with their classes for research, or for creating technology-based projects. Technology specialists use the computer lab for teacher in-services where they instruct teachers on various aspects of using computers in educational settings. The traditional computer lab often serves as the location for networked printers and scanners that are used by the whole school.

Features

• A computer lab comes in several configurations: the most common are the “U” shape and the square models. The “U” or square configurations allow the teacher to monitor student activity. Several large tables in the center of the room provide space for offline work. Projectors, smart boards, scanners, printers, software and a variety of peripherals like digital cameras and camcorders are usually stored in computer labs.

Size

• The number of computers in a lab vary from a few computers in the case of a mini-lab to as many as thirty plus computers in a traditional lab. A mobile lab usually resides on carts that have power management systems so that the laptops can be charged when they are not in use throughout the day. Cart configurations vary with up to twenty laptops in one cart, although ten laptop carts are easier to move from classroom to classroom.

Considerations

• When designing a computer lab, three key issues must be carefully considered. The computer teacher needs to decide whether to utilize wall space for whiteboards or bulletin boards. Whiteboards are effective in instructional activities, while bulletin boards provide space for displaying student work. Scheduling is an issue that requires creative planning. The computer teacher or technology coordinator can place a sign up calendar on the front door of the lab so that teachers can reserve free lab time for their classes. A mobile lab has similar a scheduling problem that can be solved the same way. Monitoring student computer use is the third issue. Computer lab management software allows the computer teacher to control all computers in the lab from a single workstation. This is vital for keeping students on-task during whole class instruction.

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