The Internet is a necessity for many these days, and when it’s slow, it can be frustrating.
Complaining to your Internet service provider (ISP for short) often leads them to upselling you to a faster plan when it might not be needed. So here I share some tips on dealing with slow Internet issues:
Discover what speeds you’re paying for: ISPs sell their Internet access with varying speeds, typically represented in megabits per second (Mbps), often spoken as “megs,” for the download speeds. Since quoted upload speeds are usually much less than the download speeds, they can be less than 1 Mbps, which they would then be represented in kilobytes per second (Kbps). About 1,000 Kbps equals 1 Mbps.
First, find out exactly what speeds you should be getting for the plan you’re currently paying for. Sometimes your monthly bill or online account from your ISP will tell you, but other times you might have to call them.
Test your current Internet speed: Next, test your actual Internet speeds to ensure you’re getting what you’re currently paying for. There are many ways to do this, but my favorite testing website is www.speedtest.net. Go there and hit Begin Test, and within a minute or two it will show you the results.
Keep in mind, the computer you use to test the speeds and the way in which that computer is connected to the Internet can negatively affect the speeds. You should try to test using a computer that’s hardwired to the Internet modem/router gateway. If you must use a computer that’s wirelessly connected via Wi-Fi, you should ensure it’s relatively close to the Internet gateway.
Reboot your modem/router and computer: If you ever see test results much lower than what’s promised by your ISP or you’re having any other Internet issue, first try rebooting everything. Unplug the ISP modem/router gateway for a couple seconds, keeping in mind you might temporarily loose TV and/or phone service in addition to the Internet. Then reboot your computer and see if that helps.
Call your ISP to test your connection: If you’re still seeing problems after rebooting the equipment, give the ISP a call. Though they might try to just sell you a faster plan, insist on them testing your connection, which they can usually do remotely while you’re on the phone. They might detect a low signal or connection quality due to a problem in your home or with the lines outside, which then they will likely send a tech out to investigate further.
Call a computer pro to check it out: If you need help in testing your Internet speeds or are still having issues after talking to the ISP, consider calling a computer professional. A slow or corrupt computer can cause slowness. A poor Wi-Fi connection can also cause slowness for wirelessly connected devices.
In addition, don’t forget: Having lots of devices on the Internet at once and/or video streaming can certainly slow things down, and you might consider upgrading to a faster plan. On the other hand, if you have one of the faster connections, you might actually be able to downgrade your plan to save money if all that speed isn’t necessary.
If you do only simple web browsing and emailing, one of the slower plans with download speeds in the 1 to 5 Mbps range might be fine. If you do video streaming (like with YouTube or Netflix), I’d suggest the 10 to 20 Mbps range, or more if you have multiple people in the house regularly video streaming.
Tracking the strength of website design has come a long way from the era of “under construction” animated gifs and text files on URL references. With the advent of tools such as Google Analytics, it is now possible to track how a visitor came across your site, including from offline or internet of things sources, as well as how long visitors stayed, and what kind of content or keywords kept them there.
When reviewing these kinds of details, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the breadth of information available, especially if you’re not quite sure which part, or a combination of parts, are important to you and your site. ForbesAgencyCouncil members were asked to identify one valuable piece of data they look for on behalf of their clients and why it matters. Here’s what they shared:
1. Study Bounce Rate
One of the most important pieces of data is bounce rate. If there is a large percentage of visitors navigating away after viewing only one page, then we know there is a problem. This tells us that we need to go back and optimize that page with better call-to-actions or more engaging content, like video that will intrigue the visitor to dive deeper into our clients’ offerings. – David Shiffman, Brandamos, LLC
2. Analyze Potential New Markets
By looking at the geographic breakdown of what traffic does when it gets to the client’s site, you can analyze new potential markets. We have a client who was looking at expanding their footprint in Australia and Europe, and by looking at their traffic and conversion rates, we were able to identify three other countries in the Middle East and South America they hadn’t identified. – Dave Pavlu, AdsUpNow
3. Seek Resonating Content
By identifying what pages already have traffic, conversions or results – you can glean insights into what content is resonating. When you know what’s resonating — create more of that. – Sara Davis, Foxtail Marketing
4. Attribution Is Important
The attribution data point within the “model comparison tool” section is one piece of data that is quite important. This data point allows you to gather better insight into which channels are assisting in the conversion. The default attribution is “last interaction,” but I find that using the “first interaction” allows you to understand how each channel assisted in the conversion. – Matt Bowman, Thrive Internet Marketing
5. Study Behavior Flow
Beyond basic traffic and click-rate KPIs, valuable visitor intent insights can be extrapolated with the “behavior flow” tool in Google Analytics. Behavior flow moves beyond raw statistics to provide visual diagrams that can help decipher your web visitors’ intent by analyzing things such as what pages they interacted with and the page where they disengaged and dropped off your site. – Mike Skeehan, Salted Stone, Inc.
6. Examine Trends
Every element of data in Google Analytics is dependent on additional dimensions to explain it. An infographic going viral will skyrocket bounce rates. Attaining ranking on a highly competitive term can drop pages per session. Neither is necessarily a bad thing. Focus on trending data; day over day, week over week, month over month and year over year! – Douglas Karr, DK New Media
7. Discover Sources Of Traffic
Knowing where traffic is coming from (paid versus organic) can be huge insight into the future online marketing for the client. It can show what ad buys are driving traffic to the website, what organic efforts (such as blogs) are working and can also show what, if any, money spent on social media is effective. – Duree Ross, Durée & Company.com
8. Study Users Flow
My favorite feature is the behavior flow, labeled as “users flow” in Google Analytics. Understanding customers’ behavior and interaction with the website is essential to study carefully to understand their likes and dislikes before making any changes. You can’t improve what you can’t measure. – Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
9. Leverage Attention-Grabbing Pages
The length of time that consumers spend on a single page is an interesting piece of data that can tell clients how to leverage their most attention-grabbing pages and content pieces into sales conversions. Reviewing traffic levels and traffic sources with the length of time that a consumer is on a page can help brands maximize their website conversions. – Joey Kercher, Air Fresh Marketing
10. Set Priorities: Desktop Vs. Mobile
Google Analytics provides important data on whether your web traffic is coming from desktop or mobile devices. With mobile web browsing beginning to take over desktop browsing, mobile optimization should be a major priority for your business going forward, if it isn’t already. If you’re receiving a high bounce rate on mobile, fix it! Be sure to optimize your website for speed and responsiveness. – Brock Murray, seoplus+
11. Watch Cross-Channel Attribution
Looking at aggregated data gives us a much better read about which channels influence performance. While last click remains the most common model, Google Analytics, especially Analytics360, gives a clearer view of channels driving introducer clicks and not just focusing on closers. With this data, we can make much smarter about how to position our clients to capture and close sales. – Dan Golden, Be Found Online
12. Identify Keywords Driving Visits
Employ Google Analytics to reveal the keywords people are using to reach your client websites. What terms are people searching for when they find a client? And importantly, does the client want to be found for those words? If not, time to review and change up the website content. Google Analytics will also show when clients are not being found for the words they would like to rank for. – Bernadette Coleman, Advice Local
13. Enable Google Search Console
The holy grail of organic search traffic data originates from Google Search Console. However, too few website owners take the necessary step to enable Google Search Console data to flow into Google Analytics. Once enabled, a treasure trove of data is made available to you for analysis, including keyword performance and what users see in Google search results before they decide to click to your site. – Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
14. Don’t Look At Only One Thing
There are pitfalls only looking at a single component. When only looking at one thing, you could miss the bigger picture, or experience a bias if you don’t have the other data to put the component in context. Solely looking at users in analytics tells you nothing of sessions, which could tell you if you have a high level of repeating visitors, or pages per session and engagement activity. – Jon Simpson, Criterion.B
A lot goes into building a new website or redesigning an existing site. You need to decide what you need it to do, how visitors will use it, how staff will use and update it, and what it will look like. You’ll also need to find ways to make sure it can be found on the web by people searching for it.
Selecting the right Content Management System (CMS) for your needs is just one step in the process, but it’s a critical one. A CMS is an important tool that enables your staff to post useful content and provide important information to your constituents. If the CMS is hard to use or staff members don’t like it, your website is more likely to slip out of date or lack useful content.
Rushing into a system. It’s common, especially for nonprofit managers, to hear an enthusiastic testimony from a friend and to think, “We need that!” But, do you? First, think about the problems you need to solve and do your research to find out whether this system best addresses those issues or whether other systems might do a better job of helping you solve your problem. A thorough evaluation up front might take a lot of time, but website projects can get messy and expensive if you don’t think through the details at the beginning.
Not understanding the software landscape. For better or worse, your limited experience with one or two systems sets your expectations. If your old CMS made it easy to integrate with your constituent relationship management (CRM) or design eLearning content, you might assume those are common features. And if you really liked a CMS, you might think it’s the only one that offers your favorite features. Check your assumptions and make sure you’ve reviewed a diverse range of content management systems to be sure you understand what’s available within your budget.
Thinking bigger is better. A CMS is supposed to make it easier for non-technical staff to update your website. A big, complex CMS might enable a lot of fancy features, but do you need all those features? If your CMS is too sophisticated, your staff probably won’t be able to take advantage of those features, and they might look for workarounds that compromise your site.
Lacking focus. Website projects can be exciting and inspire a lot of ideas, but unless someone is able to sort through the ideas and decide what matches your organization’s goals, you risk creating a Frankenstein site that tries to do too much and accomplishes very little.
Treating selection as a tech project. Your CMS is fundamentally a communications tool. If your IT staff takes the lead on the project and doesn’t fully partner with others at your organization — especially communications staff — it’s very likely that users will find the configuration frustrating and the features you need most will be underutilized. The end result will be a website that doesn’t accomplish your organization’s goals.
SEO Shark, Australia’s leading SEO experts, have put together a list of must-know Cyber-Security tips all website owners need to consider as we begin 2017. With more than ten years of experience in SEO and web design, SEO Shark’s suggestions include installing an SSL certificate and backing up your data regularly to ensure your data remains safe.
An SSL certificate is essential for every website, ensuring your data is kept safe and encrypted. SEO Shark recommends making the installation of an SSL certificate a priority in regards to Cyber-Security in 2017. SEO Shark also advocates using strong passwords and suggests never to use the same password twice. You can use secure services such as IPassword or LastPass to keep track of all your passwords.
Due to the rising number of hackers and spammers that roam the internet, it is extremely important to have Cyber-Security measures in place. The potential damage that hackers can do if they gain access to your information makes spending the time to put strategies in place well worth the effort.
“Data security and the threat of hackers is a critical component of web ownership in 2017,” says Lucas Bikowski, Managing Director of SEO Shark. “Simple but often overlooked measures such as having an SSL Certificate and backing up your data will go a long way to ensuring you avoid any potential headaches,” according to Bikowski.
Bikowski also recommends running an inside analysis of a threat beforehand to identify any shortcomings. “If an insider can uncover data and information then a hacker most certainly will. Performing an inside analysis is essentially like proofreading your work before you submit it.”
Further, SEO Shark advises using a few different verification systems to make gaining access more difficult for hackers, while encouraging website owners to learn from their past mistakes.
Tech novices need our help. They tend to run into the same pitfalls, and some of them make the same mistakes over and over. A novice friend may have cost you hours of informal tech support. Here’s something you can show them before that next desperate phone call. To the novices out there: Get smarter by reading this.
Don’t fall for a remote support scam
Remote support scams usually start when someone calls you out of the blue, saying you have some computer problem or have been hacked. You might see a dialog box pop up on your computer, prompting you to call or download something. The person who answers may say they’re from Microsoft or Windows support, or are certified from them.
The scammers typically show you a bunch of false or misleading issues, and they’re too often successful at scaring novices into believing their promise of a fix. They usually offer some type of long-term support plan, anywhere from $100 to $800 for one to four years of support.
Never trust them! Do not go to any website they mention, do not let them onto your computer, nor provide any payment information. No legitimate company will ever cold-call you, and no legitimate software will ever inundate you with pop-ups demanding you call them or purchase something to fix your PC.
Back up those files
Backing up your computer is one of those things most people put off and don’t appreciate until they lose all those important documents, photos, and other files. Don’t be one of them!
At the very least, grab yourself a good-sized external hard drive or a flash drive and use the backup features built into Windows. In Windows 8 and later, you could use the backup drive as the destination for File History. To further protect your data against fire or other local disasters that might destroy your drives, consider an online or cloud backup service.
Get extra malware protection
No one antivirus program can catch the millions of viruses and their variants out there. Many of them also don’t stop other junk, which may not officially be malware but can lead to other problems, commonly called potentially unwanted software (PUP). Therefore, it’s best to have some extra protection alongside your full antivirus, whether you’re running the built-in antivirus in Windows 8 and later or a third-party antivirus. My favorite for extra protection is Malwarebytes Antimalware. It’s free to run manual scans, but I recommend purchasing the premium edition for the active protection and scheduled scans.
Don’t get me wrong—I love a good deal and consider myself an economical shopper. But I also know you get what you pay for, and novices often get short-changed by buying supercheap computers and tablets. Before making a tech purchase, ensure you do your research and have a knowledgeable friend or family member to help you find the real deals.
Ultra-low-cost PCs typically have very low-end processors and also skimp on USB ports, expansion slots, and other features you might need over time. Low-end Android tablets might look appealing, especially when on sale for under $100, but they could have a poor touchscreen, an inadequate battery, or a mediocre interface.
The CPU in that computer or tablet matters more than anything else, yet it’s one of the hardest components to compare due to the variety of naming and numbering schemes. Here’s a pro tip: You can use a third-party benchmarking website to compare the performance. Simply find the processor model number from the specs and search for its Passmark CPU Mark number. The higher the number, the faster the processor should be. Avoid the more sluggish CPUs, as they’ll end up frustrating you.
Compare online and in-store prices
It’s not true that you’ll always find something cheaper online (on Amazon, Newegg, or eBay). Brick-and-mortar stores run sales or put products on clearance, and they don’t charge for shipping, a frequent catch with online purchases.
Restocking fees are another online danger that you’ll rarely encounter in a real store. Always read the fine print on returns before buying from anywhere.
Comparing prices is the first step to shopping smarter for your tech, and you could also save on shipping if a local retailer’s willing to match a price.
If an online price is cheaper, ask a local retailer if they’ll price-match. It’s a great way to get the product sooner while still saving money.
A note about online reviews: They can be helpful, but read carefully to make sure you’re getting sound advice rather than an unjustified rant.
Reboot before you call your tech
One of the first troubleshooting steps for just about any computer or tech issue is to reboot all the affected computers or other devices. Better yet, it’s something a novice can do as easily as any expert.
For instance, if you’re having an issue with printing, reboot both the computer and printer. If your Internet connection disappears or becomes sluggish, reboot the computer, Internet modem, and router if you have a separate one.
Speaking of rebooting, you should make a habit of rebooting your PC or shutting it down completely. Gone are the days when simply letting it sleep was a good idea. All you’re doing is burning extra electricity and letting your RAM accumulate leftover bits of programs and files like your kitchen’s junk drawer.
I usually suggest doing a full shutdown of your computer when you’re done using it for the day, instead of letting it sleep. If nothing else, reboot every few days.
Set up remote locating on mobile devices
As you may know too well, smartphones and tablets are easily misplaced or stolen. Taking a couple of minutes to set up remote locating may help prevent a major headache in the future. Depending on the device and its operating system, you may be able to do some of all of the following:
Pinpoint the device on a map from another device or computer.
Make the lost device sound an alarm to help find it.
Remotely lock or wipe a lost device.
Display a message for those who find it.
You can access the remote capabilities of Apple and iOS devices via the iCloud and Android Device Manager. But you might want to double-check it’s set up and working now, before you really need it. For both platforms, there are also many free and paid apps that provide remote functionality.
Don’t get oversold on Internet and data plans
I often see novices with higher-than-needed Internet speeds at home. What a fast-talking salesperson won’t tell a novice is that buying a faster Internet speed won’t make the computer faster, or even make the Internet faster in some cases.
If your browsing or downloading speed seems slow, consider the computer speed itself, the quality of the Internet connection, and the quality of the connection to the computer.
Check the speed of your Internet connection with a free online service like Speedtest. Ensure you’re getting the Internet speeds you’re currently paying for before moving to a higher speed. Most households can get all the web content they need with Internet speeds in the 5 to 20 Mbps range.
Buying a faster data plan won’t help you if there’s a bottleneck somewhere else, such as a slow computer or a flaky Internet connection.
I also see a lot of tech novices with larger-than-needed data plans for their smartphones and other mobile devices. Take a look at the history of your data usage to gauge what’s needed and make changes accordingly. Also, remember that using Wi-Fi connections can help reduce the amount of cell data needed.
