Overheard at TurnKey Internet, straight from the CEO: “Attaining the SSAE 16 Type 2 certification was a significant goal and milestone for us. We pride ourselves on our unparalleled reliability, quality of service, and—most importantly—customer satisfaction. This certification not only proves that we are excelling in those areas, but also assures our new and existing clients that they are receiving the best possible service.”

You heard right, ladies and gentlemen! We are proud to add SSAE 16 Type 2 to the list of certifications that our green data center in Upstate NY has attained. “What’s that,” you ask? SSAE (or The Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements) No. 16 (SSAE 16) Type 2 certification is an internationally recognized compliance certification, that was created by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in April of last year (2012). It replaced the Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70) to better supplement international auditing standard ISAE 3402.

After a thorough examination, conducted by SOC audit specialists The Moore Group CPA, LLC., our facility was deemed compliant with the regulations required to attain SSAE 16 Type 2 certification. This audit investigates several core areas: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. It verifies that TurnKey Internet is of the utmost security, integrity, and reliability. It confirms that we have procedures and safety precautions of the utmost efficiency in place to ensure the security of our facility and our clients’ data within.

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited. We couldn’t wait to share the good news! You can read the full press release here >

“Let’s Make a Deal!” was a terrific run, wouldn’t you agree? We had a ton of fun deal-making and prize-awarding, through the original promotion and then again with its revival. However, like all good things, “Let’s Make a Deal!” must, too, come to an end. If you find yourself in tears, we understand. Take a moment. We’ll wait…

We would like to extend a final, congratulatory shout-out to our winners of “The Deal of a Lifetime” (Jesse C., Steven S., Danny F., Hendra S., and Adam B.), and an enormous “Thank you!” to everyone who entered. This will not be the last TurnKey Internet giveaway of its kind—mark my words!

With that being said, we have something brand new to share with you! Come on; would you really expect anything less from us? At this point, we hope you know as well as we do that we would be bored to tears without some kind of event going on.

Without further ado, we would like to introduce… The Truckload Sale!

An 18-wheeler just arrived at the TurnKey Internet data center, bursting at the seams with a medley of 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB Intel E3 dedicated servers. To celebrate the arrival of this glorious mountain of technology, we are packing in the savings and marking every single one of them 40% off! All you have to do is enter the coupon E3TRUCK at check-out. That’s it! We’re all about making things easier.

E3’s are what’s hot right now, and they are being snatched up left and right. Don’t miss your chance to get in on this discount, because—trust us!—it won’t last long! Check out the Truckload Sale > 

Also… Yes, there is an “also”. Have you noticed there’s almost always an “also”? The E3 sale isn’t the only new thing starting up at TurnKey Internet this week. Since the truck arrived carrying only servers, we realized that we needed to show our other products and services some love as well. Naturally, we decided to offer savings on… well, everything. We just feel like a new year is started best when there’s a deal involved, you know? Especially when it’s a TurnKey deal, because those are our very favorite kinds of deals. So, see for yourself! Whether you’re looking for a reseller package or a virtual private server or anything in between, with this sale (and the coupon code TK2013), we know you’ll be able to kick off 2013 correctly.

So, are you as excited as we are? We hope so! But save some room for more, and keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We may or may not have another contest all cooked up and coming your way in the VERY near future.

Pssttt… I’ll have it be known that by “may or may not” I mean “definitely do without question”, but that’s between you and me…

Hey, everyone!

January has been a big month for us, as we’re sure those of you who frequent the TurnKey Blog have noticed. We welcomed two new team members, Alan and Dylan, and have been working super hard to put together some exciting plans for the TurnKey community this year (psst… stay tuned!). We hope that 2013 is off to a great start for each and every one of you, as well.

As some of you may know already, I run the social media here at TurnKey. In my Twitter and Facebook adventures, I couldn’t help but notice that January was also a fairly eventful month on the social scene. There was a big response to the article I wrote regarding Instagram’s Service Agreement amendment a little while back, so I wanted to dig up some similar news to chat about this time around. I was trying to figure out which topic I wanted to cover, but then I realized: why pick just one when there are so many good ones to choose from? Here is a round-up of my personal favorites from the social side of the tech world this month:

3. GOOD

I spy…a new social network? Thank goodness, because we obviously didn’t have enough already. No, but on a serious note, GOOD has a lot of potential.

From what I can tell, GOOD is an online community with users (businesses, organizations, independent groups, and just people riding solo) who possess progressive initiatives and are working to do some good in the world. With a GOOD account, you have access to three components that make up the network. The first is a site-run news-feed of sorts, where relevant stories, articles, websites, etc. are published in several categories. Similarly, the second component is a community-run news-feed  where GOOD initiatives can be searched for, shared, and discussed. The last GOOD puzzle piece, and—in my opinion—the most interesting, allows community members to post a goal. The other users can then contribute their ideas about how to reach the goal, and to vote for the ones they support the most. The winning goal is then awarded some kind of aid to see the initiative through to completion.

Good.is is an interesting concept in general, and there are a multitude of reasons why I think we should all join, or at least keep an eye on it. At the top of that list, however—especially as a member of the TurnKey Internet team—is the fact that I believe any initiative to make the world a better place should be of the utmost importance to us all. As the TurnKey Internet team member responsible for Social Media, what could be more fun to watch and help advance than a social network devoted to making the world a better place? Not much else, is what.

Check it out, guys: www.good.is

2. Wikivoyage

I’m honestly surprised someone didn’t think of this sooner. Although, when you think about it, someone, somewhere most likely did, and just didn’t have a Wikipedia-sized foundation to build off of. Regardless, how cool and useful does Wikivoyage sound?!

First things first. If you are unfamiliar with Wikipedia, I am so sorry to hear that. But to fill you in: Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia, collaboratively written by its community. You can read more about it on the Wikipedia page about Wikipedia. BOOM. INCEPTION. Anyway, Wikivoyage is a brand new online travel guide brought to us by the same people who brought us Wikipedia (which is The Wikimedia Foundation, by the way). What’s really awesome is that it’s for the readers, by the readers, just like Wikipedia! It just left beta, so all of you lucky ducks with vacations in your near future should definitely break it in for the rest of us.

1. Facebook Graph Search

I’m not sure about you, but when this story started peppering our newsfeeds and the news/blog sites I frequent, my immediate reaction was, “well, it’s about time…” Facebook rumors are always flying around, and chatter of this-or-that project that its developers are fine-tuning is ever-abundant. A while back, however, I caught wind of a Facebook search engine, and actually put some stock into it. Sure enough, this month, Facebook rolled out a “Graph” announcement.

Check out Facebook’s “About” page for a complete run-down on the Graph feature. I found the “Building Graph Search” video to be particularly informative, if you find yourself a little short on time or interest. Regardless, I have high expectations for Graph, and think that Google, Bing!, and other leaders in the search engine world could potentially find themselves getting a run for their money. This could also end up becoming another Little Engine that Could Have (like Google+, in my opinion) but only time will tell. What do you predict is next for Facebook? Mark my words, I think it will be Facebook Maps.

So what do you think? Did I overlook something bigger or were these at the top of the list for you, too? Was any of this news to you? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts…

The weather outside is frightful, and the weather inside TurnKey Internet has been brain-stormy with a chance of super-fun end of the year contest! Starting today, and running through December 31st, we invite you to join us in the Year End Tell-a-Friend Contest! You can win 6 months of free service, so you don’t want to miss this.

Here’s how it works:

• –  The object is to recruit as many people as you possibly can to sign up with TurnKey Internet
• –  It doesn’t matter which service they sign up for
• –  Each new sign-up earns you a point, but make sure they know to give your name (if we don’t know you sent them, we can’t give you credit!)
• –  As an incentive for your friends joining TurnKey, they can contact our Sales Department via Live Sales Chat and receive their 4th month ABSOLUTELY FREE
• –  On December 31, 2012, we will tally the points, and whoever has the most points, wins!
• –  If the winner is already a customer, he or she will win 6 months of free service. If the winner is not already a customer, he or she will win a $200 credit towards their purchase.
• –  Extra points for hanging out with us! After you earn your first point by recruiting a friend, you can rack up unlimited additional points by doing any/all of the following:

• *   1 extra point for liking us on Facebook, if you haven’t already
• *   1 extra point for following us on Twitter, if you haven’t already
• *   1 extra point for following us on our BRAND NEW INSTAGRAM (!!!)
• *   1 extra point for anyone you recruit to like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, or follow us on Instagram – No limit for extra points here, people. But again, MAKE SURE THEY TELL US! We can’t give credit where we don’t know it’s due.

This may seem like a lot (because it is), so if you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment below, on Facebook or Instagram, or send us a Tweet.

Good luck, everyone!

I am a huge advocate for Instagram. I think it’s a brilliant concept, on the part of its developers. I know that it has caused a lot of eye-rolling among many professional photographers, but I think it’s fun, okay? I like that relatively poor-quality, often blurry mobile uploads can look a little bit prettier, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. As an Android user, I was thrilled when the app opened to us. I no longer had to watch enviously as my not-even-close-to-artsy Apple friends tweeted and posted all of these artsy-looking pictures, and could join in uploading filtered food photos with the best of them.

I generally try to maintain a less personal, company-encompassing narrative in my TurnKey articles, but the topic that I want to discuss with you today has incited a reaction from me on a personal level, and I feel as though I should discuss it as such. I have an issue with Instagram’s amended Terms of Service.

Basically, Facebook (they own Instagram now, if you weren’t aware) is now asserting their right to sell your photos at absolutely no profit to you whatsoever, and it doesn’t stop there! They also declare a right to employ your image and personal information as they see fit. This is not okay with me at all. I understand that the app is free and Facebook wants to generate revenue and all that good stuff, but there are ways around this. Also—I have to say it—are you really losing that much money over Instagram, Facebook? You invested a billion dollars in a company that you are now this desperate to keep afloat?

Here’s an excerpt:

“Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

Improper usage of photographic material is not a new thing at all, and maybe I’m being hyper-sensitive about this due to a background in photography. However, my pictures are mine, and if Facebook wants to use them, they need to ask me first. Regardless, it is not okay—and shouldn’t be okay—for them to use my personal material and information in a way that exploits me.

Usually, I tend to be rather neutral in regards to topics like this. I think they are largely sensationalized by the media, and that people fly into an uproar when it’s not completely necessary. For instance, Dave wrote a really insightful article about the Google vs. EU issue not too long ago, and I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with his stance. If you’re interested or need a refresher, you can read the article here.

Anyway, now we’re faced with a choice: do we just divert our gaze and allow them to do this, or do we wash our hands of Instagram? Do we log out of our accounts and set off into the great unknown, desperately seeking to fill the void in our once-filtered mobile existence? That may be a little dramatic, considering Twitter just rolled out replacement filters after the pull on syncing photos, but that’s another article entirely. Luckily, we have until January 16, 2013 to decide which road we want to take, as that is when the new terms go into effect.

Wouldn’t you know it? This all rolls out almost exactly at the same time that I set up TurnKey’s Instagram account, and I almost want to close it to protest! I won’t though, mainly because I’m border-line obsessed with this picture of a lollipop bouquet.

What do you think? Am I over-blowing this? Do you think this is fair and understandable or invasive and downright wrong? I’d love to hear what you have to say.

After the overwhelmingly positive reaction we received for our Black Friday Special, we have decided to keep the wheels in motion. Today, we’re announcing our Cyber Monday promotion! We’re basically taking our Black Friday Special and changing its clothes, so that you can all enjoy a little extra time with the sale that has everyone (us, included!) buzzing with enthusiasm.

If you happened to miss the sale, don’t you worry! Here’s a little overview:

With the coupon code CM2012, you can get 75% off of  pretty much anything we sell – servers, reseller packages, SEO hosing; if we sell it and you want it, it’s probably 75% off. And guess what? It’s locked-in at 75% off. For life.

Here’s the really exciting part, though. For Black Friday ONLY, we packed in even more savings to the Early Bird Special I told you about earlier this week. Initially, the 75% was only valid with the selection of an annual payment plan, and for Black Friday we decided to throw the restrictions out the window and discount monthly and semi-annual plans as well. Cyber Monday is every bit as exciting for us–if not more, because we heart the internet–so we’re going to put the all-encompassing 75% off into affect again.

Lastly, if you hadn’t noticed, we like to go out with a bang here. Did you really expect us to run a special without giving it a little extra bit of awesomeness? Surely not. As a gift, to thank you for your business and for being so great, we would like to offer your fourth month absolutely free. That’s right, if you participate in our Cyber Monday sale, you will receive the fourth month of your service for exactly $0.00.

Jump over to our Cyber Monday page and save yourself some money! Happy–online–shopping!

Okay, TurnKey fans, we need your help and we need it fast!

This month, our friends over at OurEarth.org have been running an amazing campaign. This campaign has been pumping up awareness and enthusiasm for a group of Earth-loving organizations (also amazing) in their efforts to earn some well-deserved cash in Chase’s Community Giving Contest. Basically, OurEarth.org and these charities joined together and collectively devised a goal of scoring $500,000 of Chase’s $5 Million total. OurEarth.org is calling this campaign “Vote for the Planet”, but in the interest of time, laziness, and my own propensity for acronyms, let’s call it V4TP. I’m glad we got that out of the way.

Over the past few weeks, V4TP has been putting up a serious fight against the competition. Out of a participant pool that is nothing short of massive, multiple V4TP organizations are looking at hefty winnings. Particularly noteworthy, is the fact that it’s not just the charity with the most votes that benefits from V4TP. All charities that rank within the top 196 of the total Chase Community Giving vote counts will be given a grant. If you jump over to the “Ranking” page on the V4TP website, you’ll find a quick-look at where your votes stand to make the biggest splash. For instance, bumping the Save the Manatee Club up just one spot would mean a difference of thousands of dollars! Or, pushing The American Hiking Society into the top 196 would, quite literally, make or break it for them in this contest.

Here’s where the sense of urgency comes in: V4TP is ending soon. How soon, you ask? Well, tonight-soon. 12am, EST-soon. Thankfully, the voting process is incredibly easy. There are more details and instructions on the V4TP website, here. Oh, and do you want to hear something really exciting? You are not limited to just one vote. Each participant can earn up to three voting credits on Facebook alone. Are you a Chase customer? If so, you have a little extra pull, and we encourage you to use it!

Lastly, don’t forget to check out the “Done Voting?” page when you’re –wait for it—DONE VOTING. There, you will find a list of ways you can help raise awareness or get involved with the V4TP organizations after all is said and done.

As of 6am today, the V4TP organizations stood to win $290,000. Think we can push them a little higher? I’m sure you, like me, have been told that more is not always better… In this case, it so is.

Hey, everyone! My name is Emily Wegener, and I’m the new girl on the block here at TurnKey Internet. As TurnKey’s Interactive Marketing Specialist, I could not have hoped for a more fun and exciting time to join these amazing people in the cloud. Let me tell you why.

As you Facebookers and Tweeters and Press-Release-Readers out there have probably already heard, we just began an awesome promotion. For those of you who haven’t, we are calling it “Let’s Make a Deal!”, based on the concept of the popular game show. Have you played yet? If not, you’re missing out!

Here’s the scoop: If you head to www.turnkeyinternet.net/deal, you’ll arrive at the “Let’s Make a Deal” page where the fun begins. You can get there from a bunch of other places as well, like our homepage and social media sites. As long as you get there, we don’t mind how. You decide; it’s your world. Anyway, on the deal page, you’re met with three briefcases and a human. No, that is not an Olsen twin.

This is where the game gets interesting. We’re offering HUGE product offers and discounts on absolutely everything. We picked out the deals that we thought were the coolest, and placed them neatly in the aforementioned briefcases for your consideration. Disagree with us? Think you can come up with a better, more personalized and relevant deal? TELL US. Our spin on this game show not only allows you to do that, but it encourages you to! You’ll see an option to talk to our “Deal-maker”, where you can negotiate your own special deal. It’s fun! Try it!

Lastly, most importantly, and most wonderfully, ”Let’s Make a Deal!” is being served up piping-hot with a side of “Deal of a Lifetime”. As the promotion progresses, TurnKey Internet will be randomly selecting winners from the participant pool, and awarding them a lifetime of free service! That’s right, a LIFETIME. AKA: The rest of your life. AKA: Forever and ever. I’m sure you understand. Didn’t find your perfect deal? Doubtful, but no biggie. We’re just happy you came to play! The giveaway is no-purchase-necessary, and if you would like to enter anyway, simply mail a letter of intent to us at our headquarters in Latham, NY. You can find the mailing address here.

Here’s the thing, guys: we really, really appreciate you. We like that you choose to use our services, and read our blog, and hang out with us in all of the other awesome ways that you do. That being said, we also like to give back to you. We want you to save money, and we want you to have fun doing it. This is our attempt at helping you kill those two birds with one stone. I mean, everyone offers discount codes and coupons, right? But how often can you make your own?

So, without further ado, I know I speak on behalf of all of my new TurnKey pals when I say – Have fun, and thanks a million. No, thanks a zillion.

This summer we have been spotlighting social media here on our web site, blog, and of course on facebook, google plus, Linkedin and  twitter  – all to help you grow your online presence with great tips, strategies and concepts that work on social media and beyond.  We set a goal for our selves to double our followers in the most popular social media forums, and to help our clients, readers and followers learn the ways to do the same and of course benefit from those increased social circles.   It turned out to be a lot more than just adding followers and ‘likes’ for us, and our clients – we found new opportunities, new ways to communicate, and yes we have actually seen a direct increase in sales just due to the awareness of people’s social circles .  We more than doubled our followers, but more than that – we’ve started to communicate through social media in conversations, not just talking to or posting to an audience – but talking back and forth and really listening.  The social media challenge so far this summer has helped us to open new channels to communicate with both current and potential clients.

Part of this social media focus this summer revolved across a national social media challenge sponsored by American City Business Journals in 42 Cities, including here in our home town of Albany, New York.  We competed against 100+ other companies here in our City, and lead the pack almost since day 1 with our “3 C” approach (Content, Communication and Contests!). In fact, our contest to win a free iPad and Visa Gift Cards continues- and we continue new social media related content to bring you the very strategies and tips we have been using our selves.  You can view the competition here, and if you haven’t already shown your support or voted, we would appreciate a vote!  You can vote, and view that competition at http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/exclusives/socialmadness

So a number of people keep calling, emailing and replying to us on twitter and facebook asking for that secret tip that has had us in the #1 seat for over a month, and put us now in the final round against OverIT Media (final round ends July 17th, so if you haven’t voted you still have time!) .  While there is no silver bullet – it is hard work, with real people who create content, intersting conversations, and meaningful information to get people’s attention.  But there is one little secret tip we didn’t mention until now, what we call our Social Media Secret Weapon!  OverIt Media  is a great bunch of people here locally in Albany, and fantastic at the marketing and design work they do – and we feel honored to be among them in the final round of the competition.   While we may not of known we would be competing with OverIT Media in the final round, we didn’t blink when the chance to hire some of their great tallent came upon us!  This summer a new addition to our team, Jared R.,  formerly one of OverIT Media’s team mates the past 2 summers has now taken up the flag of TurnKey, and helped us launch and maintain our entire Social Media Challenge program this summer.   We call Jared, our Social Media Challenge Secret Weapon!  Jared works in our marketing department and fully focuses on the social media platforms.  Jared brings great creativity and ideas to the table, and his previous experience at OverIT Media couldn’t of served him (or us!) better.  And it doesn’t hurt being a little bit lucky either – we are quite fortunate  having a new team member that knows the other team’s play book!  We sure are glad he is on our side as our Social Media Secret Weapon!

Please be sure to give a shout out on our Facebook wall, twitter, google plus or Linkedin to welcome Jared to the TurnKey Family!   In Jared’s own words:

Jared R: I’ve been active on social media websites for years, and I always knew businesses had accounts where you can like their pages, follow them on twitter, subscribe to emailing lists, etc. but I always thought their followers and likes were just for show; like they just want to say “we’re the best company because 5,000 people say they care about our status updates.”  It wasn’t until I started in the design and marketing field that I realized there’s an entire underground (or rather digital) realm of marketing, where these numbers become a matter of life and death.

My first exposure to the business end of social media was right out of my freshman year of college.  With a major in New Media Interactive Development at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I was never really able to learn too much about marketing because of the intensive focus on programming and graphic design.  Before TurnKey Internet, I had my first internship at Overit Media in Albany, NY, where I was able to put my skills from school to use in a business environment.  The experience I gained there has helped me succeed here at TurnKey, where I continue to advance my marketing experience.  The work I do now involves working the Social Media platforms for TurnKey Internet to help amplify its online presence.

So welcome to the TurnKey family Jared, and look for more from Jared in the next few months!

Have you ever logged into your Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.) and read someone’s recent post, status update or comment and think “What the hell were they thinking,”  OR “Why would they say something like that,” OR “What a JERK”?  Do you NOT want to be that person?  Let’s talk about what you should and shouldn’t do on social media, not even just professionally but having common sense and decency is KEY!

#1 – Have a plan/strategy

First you need to figure out what social media platforms best fit your needs or your business’s needs.  Is it Facebook, which is more social and interactive?  Is it LinkedIn where it’s more professional and purposefully networked?  Or is it Twitter or Google+ or Bing or MySpace or Flickr or I could go on.

Do your research on what each site entails and don’t limit yourself to one.  Talk to people in your professional and personal circles, get their advice…Where are they?  What do they look for? When are they on these sites?  What information is useful to them?  What don’t they like to see or talk about?

Then you need to determine how much time a day/week/month you have to devote to social media.  This really needs to fit into your complete marketing plan.  It will depend, however, on the type of industry you are in and/or what your marketing goals are.  Social Media is still fairly new (when it comes to marketing) but there are many helpful tools out there to help you develop a real Social Media Strategy as part of your overall Marketing Plan.

ALWAYS keep in mind:

• Who your target is?
• What platforms are they on?
• When are the on?
• What is your message?

#2 – Be respectful/tactful/professional

REMEMBER – You ARE your business! You ARE your FB page! You ARE your LinkedIn Profile!  You ARE who you are ONLINE AND OFFLINE!  Don’t “say” something on a social network that you wouldn’t “say” to someone’s face….I know that’s blunt but it’s really just common sense.  Don’t HIDE behind the internet, it only makes YOU look bad and makes you look like a “BLEEP!”

Read and re-read something before you post it.  It’s hard to sense someone’s true intentions in writing; you can’t see their expressions or hear their tone.  Think about how your audience will interpret your post or comment.  And, ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING YOU DO ONLINE IS THERE FOREVER!!!!

So, before you post something just say this to yourself: “Is this something that I want my grandmother to see or read?”….if not, then DON’T POST IT!

Stay tuned for more ‘How NOT to be that “BLEEP!” on Social Media – Professionally Speaking’ in next weeks blog