We would like to extend a hearty welcome to all the new folks who took advantage of our Black Friday extravaganza. Welcome! It’s been a bit crazy around here, but that’s just how we like it. We are really looking forward to providing whatever support you all need as you get up and running with your new web hosting packages. Let us know if you need any help, have any questions, or just want to say hello to our friendly staff.

Welcome to the TurnKey family and happy holidays!

We are finally starting to move in to our new data center home! We’ve powered up and started the process of migrating our servers and decorating our offices. After so much anticipation, it hardly feels real! We’re all in high spirits and the move is going smoothly without any disruptions in service.

Once we’re all settled in, I’ll take you on a virtual tour of the space. Highlights will include the ironclad vault, the fishbowl conference room and the data center floor where the magic happens!

We’re really looking forward to meeting our neighbors in the bustling town of Latham. We’re also looking forward to all the delicious lunch options, just a hop away from our front door! Speaking of which, it might be time to dust off the treadmill 🙂

Anyone who spends time online will eventually come in contact with malware. The purpose of malware is to access personal computers in order to procure sensitive information or to cause damage. Many infected files are designed specifically to avoid detection by traditional antivirus software, and may sneak through entirely under the radar. Often the goal of malware is to record a user’s surfing habits for the purposes of targeted advertising. This information is incredibly valuable to marketing agencies, though it is, of course, illegal and a major breach of your personal privacy and security. Even worse, however, is the malware that records sensitive information like credit card numbers and social security numbers.

While consumers are the ultimate victims, it’s the websites they visit that serve as the vectors for distribution. Malware can’t find the consumer without the help of the popular website. If you are the owner and operator of a website (and who isn’t these days?) you may be inadvertently infecting your visitor’s computers with malicious malware! Talk about undermining trust!

If you are a business owner and the malware is secretly being distributed through your business website, you are running the risk every day of exploiting the very people you have worked so hard to attract to your business. If they find out where that malware came from (that malware that led to identity theft, robbery or worse) you better believe they will tell everyone they know never to visit your website!

Worse still, Google is excellent at rapidly flagging websites with malicious content. If this happens you won’t have to wait for a victimized client to complain, your traffic will plummet overnight. Potential clients won’t even see your website in search results and your business will suffer.

Protecting yourself from malware means protecting your clients. If your clients know they can trust your website security, they know they can trust your business. If you are looking for an easy, affordable solution, we offer TurnKeySSL, a security solution that includes HackAlert, an early warning system against zero-day attacks. This system passively monitors your website and identifies breaches right away so you can take evasive action and avoid any potentially disastrous consequences. Keep your customers safe! They’ll thank you for it.

Learn more:
http://turnkeyssl.com

As you may have noticed, TurnKey Internet is offering a series of deep discounts on a wide range of products for the traditional Black Friday holiday sale. Because we love the idea of holiday specials, we’ve started our promotion early! You can now purchase TurnKey products including our line of web hosting (dedicated servers, virtual private servers, SEO hosting packages, Cloud packages, and much much more) at up to 75% off FOR LIFE!

What does this mean exactly? Exactly what it sounds like! These discounts apply to new and existing customers purchasing any new discounted product or service, and the discount never expires. As long as you continue to enjoy the product or service, you continue to enjoy the deeply discounted rate.

Browse around the website to learn more about what we have to offer and feel free to jump on our live chat if you have any questions or need any help with your purchase.

Happy Holidays!

Okay, so maybe this is stating the obvious, but blogging has become one of the most important tools for building a business through audience, and it’s about time we all took a moment to reflect on why. Of course, I’m blogging right now… and now… making this a meta commentary. If you went to a liberal arts college, you will probably be falling all over yourself at the stunning post-modernism. If you didn’t, you’re probably annoyed. Sorry, I’ll move on.

First off, blogging matters because it’s content. Content is what the Internet is made of. It’s the stuff we consume, and we’re all hungry consumers. Content is information and, on the Internet, good, meaningful, non-fluff information is currency.  As more blogs appear every day, the heap of content begins to self-sort. What do you think rises to the top? The good, meaningful, non-fluff information that people actually care to read.

So, quality brings readers. Readers bring business. It’s a very simple equation yet so few people are really working to create blogs worth reading. In part, this is due to the hard work, writing acumen, and creativity that good writing requires. This would be a problem if it weren’t for the thousands of unemployed writers out there. So the problem isn’t finding a writer, the problem is prioritizing writing.

So, step one: write (or hire someone to write) good content. Invest in your company blog because it reflects directly on your company. Again, this is obvious. So why aren’t more people concerned with quality over quantity? I blame the search engines.

The search engines (Google) are the reason blogs became such valuable tools in the first place. Sure, good writing has always had innate value, but on the Internet, static content won’t bring in readers all on its own. With Google’s indexing and the preferential treatment Google began to bestow on fresh, new content, blogging took off, and not in a good way. For a long while (and still, to some extent, today) simply posting new paragraphs of semi-legible writing got Google’s attention. This prompted a huge increase in quantity without much of an increase in quality and, at the beginning, everyone was happy because everyone saw increased traffic. Of course, what happened next was the same thing we will see over and over again… the good content stuck around while the rest, well, didn’t.

Again, this is partly thanks to Google. As Google tweaked the algorithm to identify content that was actually read (based on traffic), it sorted the good stuff from the bad. Still, there is no shortage of poorly-written content. This is actually a great thing for the serious business writer. In a sea of bad writing, it’s not too difficult to rise up and get noticed.

This illustrates the importance of quality, but what about the other benefits of blogging? For starters, a regularly updated blog shows potential clients several things. It shows them that you are serious about building your company. It shows them that you care about sharing relevant news. It shows them that you are interested in having a dialogue. In the relatively impersonal online marketplace, engaging with potential clients about subjects other than what you’re selling creates a connection. It builds trust. The more you can foster non-sales-based connection, the more your potential clients will want to support your company and the more conscious of your clients’ needs your company will be. Let’s face it: we are all world-weary consumers. We all need a break from the sales pitch. How refreshing to find that breath of fresh air on a commercial site!

This is a little bit delicate. You may be wondering how you’re supposed to convert readers to clients if you never mention your products or services. Good point. It is important to communicate what you’re selling. We do it here. But we also work to provide plenty of other content that isn’t self-serving. In the rapid-fire world of technology there is always something that is both news-worthy and relevant to our web hosting services. By combining the two, we remind readers about who we are while offering more than a sales pitch. Really though: don’t worry too much about this. If someone is reading your blog, they’re already on your site. Let the rest of the site do the selling.

A blog doesn’t just provide your clients or potential clients with information, it also provides your employees with a window into the company, and with a forum for sharing their own observations and knowledge. Essentially, the blog creates a social network around your business. Convinced yet?

We welcome your suggestions about how we can make our company blog better. What would you like to read about? What posts do you like or dislike? We got all metaphysical with this because we believe in practicing what we preach. Amen.

This is a phrase we’ve all heard before. That infamous first impression is the moment of truth: when a new person is deciding how to feel about us for the first time. While it may seem overly dramatic, it is hard to deny the power of the first impression. It may mean the difference between getting hired and, well, not getting hired. Even if you endure multiple interviews, the impression you give in that first moment truly does shape enduring opinions about your character. The same is true for making business deals, or forming friendships.

When I first arrived at the door of TurnKey Internet, I was ready for my nerves to sabotage my carefully planned first impression. My resume looked good, my outfit was professional, my hair was coiffed, but still, I was prepared for the worst. That’s why I was so surprised when I was greeted by smiling faces, friendly handshakes and a laid-back professionalism that exuded both confidence and welcome. I don’t know why I was expecting the worst: maybe it was my previous experiences with technology companies, or maybe I was just letting my nerves get the best of me. Still, I was bowled over by the lack of pretension and abundance of humor that greeted me at the door.

I share this story because I think, when most of a company’s interactions happen electronically, it’s easy for the people on the other end of the computer to miss out on the true heart and soul of the company. As someone who works in marketing, I often wonder how to best portray this aspect of TurnKey Internet to new clients. Making a first impression online is a challenge! Of course, there is the customer service and the products, but a company is so much more than that.

I hope by sharing my first impression of TurnKey Internet, I will give you all a little window into the heart and soul of the place. While our CEO, Adam Wills, brought the friendly, professional spirit to the company when he started it, his spirit is contagious. Everyone here shares his sense of pride in what we do, and we hope you will give us a chance to demonstrate that.

Anneke
Marketing