Facts, Opinions, Stories and Observations

Things we see, things we know, things we care about and a few questions that need answers.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Heartbleed opens a few eyes. But not enough.

by Tom Davis

The Heartbleed bug has revealed how little most people know about the underpinnings of the World Wide Web. I have seen several articles where the reporter is astonished at how few people are involved in creating something like the OpenSSL software that is the center of the Heartbleed story. Their articles take on a tone of scandal. Why? Because up to now they viewed the Web as magic — and free (free as in money). Like most people they never asked questions about the software they use.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Big Data: 1 and Real Customer Engagement: 0

by Tom Davis

Most companies do not review their emailing lists enough. If you have huge lists that is probably OK, but just don't expect the names to always look right when you include lame "personalization". People know the email is sent in huge numbers. Don't try to (unsuccessfully) make it look one-off. If you have a small list, you really need to review it to make sure the data is correct.

Friday, March 07, 2014

The danger of Internet provider supplied email addresses

by Tom Davis

As a personal corollary to yesterday's post about separating a small businesses email hosting from its website hosting, individuals need to think about their personal email addresses.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

Keep your website and email hosting separate.

by Tom Davis

This is especially true if your site is hosted on inexpensive shared hosting.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Everyone using the Internet needs to watch this.

by Tom Davis

Which means everyone. If you think security problems are just about desktop computers, this video will enlighten you. This video is 17 minutes - don't let your attention span get in the way of watching the whole talk.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Email Marketing and Personalization

by Tom Davis

Many marketers mistakenly equate personalization with relevance. Certainly people like to hear their name, but that is just not enough to make a spam email into a legitimate email.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

A neglected website is a dying website.

by Tom Davis

A personal story that clearly illustrates the need for website owners to actively manage their site or see the site decay in value. Also, just to prove this post is not just ranting, at the end of the story is a video from Google weighing in on this topic.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Your Web site is under attack, this is not a drill.

by Tom Davis

Malicious software robots roam the Web looking for locks that are open. Lost of them. All day and all night. From millions of IP addresses.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Why do unsolicited marketing emails include a "Terms and Conditions" link?

by Tom Davis

You sent me an email I did not want, now you are giving terms and conditions? My terms are that you stop sending me emails.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Do Social Ads Work for Small Business?

by Tom Davis

That is the exact headline from the first page of the Wall Street Journal's Marketplace section in early November (2013). I was stunned that the Journal would ask such a dumb question. I have ranted here before about the importance of asking the right question, but this brings us to a new level: irrelevance.