Keys to Cybersecurity Everyone Should Know

Securing your servers and networks and protecting your privacy from online criminals has become a demanding task these days. Hackers and scammers have been inventing new ways and coming up with sneaky plots for breaking into the company’s accounts and system for the money.

Hacking has turned into a very profitable business, and people from all across the globe have been trying their luck in this illegal profession. From SMEs to big tech conglomerates, privacy has more or less become an increasingly rare commodity, and hackers are exploiting your personal and business information, including your family and business details, email address, social security number, phone number, vendor details, and much, much more.

There’s certainly no denying that cybersecurity has become a serious issue and companies want to prevent their vital information from getting stolen. According to a study, cybercriminals will exploit any opportunity at their disposal and manipulate both business and personal identities. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Most cybercriminals steal sensitive data for money that would be acquired either through taking ransom or selling the information on the dark web for money, which accounts for 77% of total online security breaches. You may be surprised to know that only 15% of cases were reported in 2016 against cybercriminals who went on stealing others’ information for personal reasons. Here are some keys to cybersecurity everyone should know.

Social Media Apps and Cybersecurity

The growing popularity of social media and tempting social apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc., where they have brought people together and provided a playground to interact seamlessly, have also created many troubles. The internet and social media, where are a blessing, are also a curse.  

They have a dark side that can hurt people’s image and reputation and damage them emotionally and physically, which is why there should not be any compromises on one’s online security. Also, people have to realize that they need to prevent shady individuals, online con artists, and cybercriminals from entering their systems and networks. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

The fact is the bad guys want to steal from you no matter how they will make that possible. Once, they had to hold on to your data only when they will be in a position to manipulate you for ransom or anything else.

Giving you a reality check, never fill out your social media profile with legit or accurate information as it can lead you to real trouble. It’s better to restrict your social media activity and limit your online presence as much as possible. Or else it can pose a threat to your online security.

One thing is clear, the more information you share online–it will become easier for someone to get their hands dirty and damage your reputation. So, never provide important personal information such as contact number, email address, complete bios, and date of birth on social media platforms. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

What Else Can You Do?

Online security needs are not compromised no matter what. Besides restricting your online presence on social media apps, you need to keep your system and networks safe from cyber-attacks. For that, you need to come up with a well-thought-out plan and clear-cut prevention strategy for protecting your data, bookkeeping records, personal and business details from cybercriminals.

You can create your security policy or hire an IT professional to get things right for you. Setting up strong passwords would be troublesome for cybercriminals to break into your computer or network.

Moreover, you need to be careful with software installation and keep your software, browsers, and operating systems updated. Strong anti-virus software can help prevent cyber-attacks and keep cybercriminals away from infiltrating your system. A layer or layers of firewall can a stepping stone for a greater and more robust online security, so install that very carefully.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

7 Current Marketing Strategies for a Successful Business

Finding out how to reach and connect to the target audience can be overwhelming, so it is also a great idea to seek out brands that have been successful and examine their best marketing practices. It would help if you found brands that match yours to see how they stay true to the brand through their marketing campaigns.

The pandemic has revolutionized how businesses work. Many companies turned more towards online marketing efforts since other marketing efforts were difficult with shutdowns. Marketing online is a competitive sense. Many companies and giants were already well-established through this marketing strategy.

Newcomers to online marketing may be less experienced, making the competition uneven. The online presence is a primary factor in a successful marketing campaign when you go digital. Because of online scammers using marketing tools, potential customers may be wary of any online marketing efforts you may attempt. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Truthfully, as with any other business practice, it is best to find tried and successful methods by your established competitors. This strategy would decrease the risk of failure while simultaneously increasing the chances of success. Businesses have been struggling, and it is better to use existing trends rather than going for radical innovation and trying to bring something entirely new. Here are seven current marketing strategies for successful businesses.

Social Media Marketing

Almost all of us have social media accounts for personal use to connect with friends and family or find new connections globally. But social media can do miracles in marketing too. Social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat allow you to publish marketing content and give you options to optimize it or use paid advertising to promote the content. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Search Engines

State Counter’s Research discovered that more than 92% of all the search engine traffic generation is through Google, surpassing its main competitors, Bing and Yahoo. Both Bing and Yahoo see a fraction of the share of search engine traffic that Google experiences.

A newer search engine called DuckDuckGo has seen massive growth in the last couple of years due to its no ad and privacy-driven search approach. It hit a significant share of searches, hitting one billion in January of 2019.

Structured Data SEO

Structured information is any well-prepared and organized data that makes categorizing and crawling easier for search engines. The content developer can do this in their backend code in tables with labeled rows and columns by managing data in a well-mannered way. When done appropriately, organizes data gives a significant SEO boost in one or another. You can rank in that wanted position of zero.

Email Marketing

Many people primarily use their smartphones over any other device to do anything online. Therefore, the whole email advertising business will change. The email design needs to be mobile-friendly and must have a call-to-action button at the bottom of the email to go forward in the purchasing process.

Email marketing won’t soon fade as a digital marketing tool as it brings in a large share of new business daily. It is still one of the top marketing options though many delete marketing-based emails. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Visual Marketing

All social network platforms are concentrating on video advertisements. Future marketing strategies will be coming into existence to shop the products from videos directly.

Follow traditional content and video marketing techniques by placing your promotional advertising on a platform like YouTube. You can also do visual marketing videos on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok.

Branding

To develop trust, you have to create a solid brand. Branding is crucial because of Google’s E-A-T model. It stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Google does more than rank good content; it provides a user experience by looking at the most well-researched, updated, reliable, authoritative content on any given topic, mainly formed by the industry’s experts.

Neuro-Marketing

Neuro-marketing is one of the newest marketing trends that is taking the marketing world by storm. It may sound like a science fiction film plot. However, this technology is growing fast and will soon become a more used tool for marketers.

Neuro-marketing is a method that examines a person’s neuro system and brainwave activity to assess the kind of content they find interesting. This type of marketing could be the way of the future.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

5 Steps to Preparing You and Your Employees for a Crisis

Many businesses face a crisis of one kind or another. The pandemic was a shared crisis affecting the entire world and highlighted how you and your employees handle a crisis. Some businesses and employees are prepared, but many are not prepared to handle a crisis.

Owning and operating a business is not just about making the business a success. It is about ensuring that your business will thrive and survive during a crisis. Crisis management needs to be the focus of every business to survive when disaster strikes.

While some businesses are prepared, many businesses are not prepared for a crisis, whether internal or external, affecting everyone. Therefore, you need to understand how to manage your employees in a crisis and help them handle it. Here are five steps to preparing you and your employees for a crisis. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Set Your Employees Up for Success

If you are an effective leader, you will consistently be focused on the success of your employees. If you do so in other aspects of the business, when crisis strikes, your employees will be prepared to handle it with grace. It would be best if you focused on removing roadblocks that will hinder your employees from handling any situation that arises.

You should be setting your employees up for success during everyday operations. You should also be setting them up for success during a crisis.

Communicate Often

Open and transparent leaders are important to your employees. The expectation is that those in leadership will be open, honest, and transparent, which fosters trust. If you have open communication with your employees, they will handle a crisis easily. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Open communication is not something that comes easily to most people. Communication is important in every relationship, whether business or personal. Therefore, open communication is key during a crisis.

Continue Professional Development

While many people obtain a job to pay the bills, many others look to create a career with a job they accept. Therefore, you must ensure professional development is focused on every employee.

Professional development should remain a focus, even in times of crisis for the business. Advancement should not be abandoned because a crisis has hit the business or the economy. If you abandon development during challenging times, your employees will work for a business that remains focused on the advancement of their employees.

This investment will also pay off in the long term when you are trying to keep your business open during difficult times. Employees will stay loyal to your business because they feel cared for during a crisis. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Have Processes in Place

How a crisis is handled is different for every person. However, as a business, you should be focused on how to handle a crisis, should one arise. If you have plans or processes to handle possible issues, your employees will know what to do and their role when disaster strikes.

The entire staff should develop the process or plan in place. This participation will promote confidence and give every employee some power to handle a crisis.

Reward a Job Well Done

While you don’t need to pat every employee on the back for every accomplishment, you should let your employees know when they have done a great job. This acknowledgment will encourage your employees and raise morale. High morale can be helpful should disaster strike. Employees with confidence will handle any crisis with that same confidence.

Conclusion

The pandemic proved to be a shared crisis that was experienced by everyone worldwide. It highlighted how you and your business handle a crisis. Many businesses suffered because employees were not able to handle the crisis. If you focus on your employees and handle a crisis, the next one that arises will be handled well by you and your employees.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

How to Keep Financial Control of Your Business

During the early phases of any business, it faces certain challenges, which need to be handled head-on. Keeping control over your business is fundamental to its success as it will allow you to maneuver the business in your desired direction. 

Financial insufficiencies found in small businesses can cause the loss or damage of assets, resources, and a drop in revenue. These deficiencies, however, can be fixed by slightly changing or altering existing processes and introducing basic control procedures. Here are four key areas where a business might struggle with financial control and gain it back. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Inadequate Documentation

Your receipts, invoices, and other documents are evidence of all the transactions that your business undergoes. These documents are then further used for bookkeeping and to maintain accurate records of every deal your business goes through. All your financial documents should be assigned numbers ID’s so that they can be identified.

Also, if something is missing in the series, you’ll know that the serial numbers would not be in order and that there is no document duplication. The financial control for your documents should be developed to easily review it in any aftersales, customer, or vendor queries.

Proper sequencing of your records will ensure that all the queries are answered satisfactorily, which means that you develop good terms with all your partners and customers. This sequencing will also help you when filing your tax returns. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Undefined Business Processes

Many small businesses often overlook the need for defining key business processes. As much as there is a need for written policies and defined standard operating procedures that should be followed, they often lack implementing even basic procedure flowcharts.

This might be one of the most underused financial tools to add the most value to your business without much effort. Every business has its own unique needs, and based on them, certain cycles during the year may be important to them. However, sales and accounts receivables, accounts payable, banking procedures, and cash management are key areas that every business has to deal with effectively.

Businesses involved in selling products would have to develop inventory control procedures more rigorously than any other. Documenting key controls in each business cycle will offer transparency, steadiness, and specific roles and responsibilities that can easily be assigned to particular individuals. 

No Authorization of Transactions

Before you commit to any resources, authorization of purchases must be completed. Based on the scale and kind of business, a level of authority can be introduced to effectively carry forward with the business transactions and reduce the risk of inappropriate spending. For example, you could set a certain amount under which your managers or other designated person can approve all the transactions. Anything above must go through proper channels before getting approved. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Also, when you authorize the transactions before the actual order has been made, it serves you with an opportunity to evaluate your decisions better and align them with your business objectives. Therefore, financial control in business transactions is one of the key areas that businesses must focus on as they often miss it amidst many other tasks.

No Oversight and Review

Small businesses often get themselves so much involved in the day-to-day work that they overlook certain basic requirements of running a business, such as review procedures. It is your job as a business owner to review your financial records after a defined period.

You can save yourself from fraud and unfavorable circumstances by implementing a procedure that forces you to review your financial information regularly. Not much time is needed to assess monthly revenues, expenditure reports, inventory reports, budget vs. actual amounts, and variance reports, and the benefits are immense.

It is also a part of the financial control to take review procedures seriously and take a more hands-on approach. More often than not, this will prove to be the most vital exercise. You will be able to highlight the problem areas in your business and be well acquainted with the financial information to make better decisions regarding your business’s future.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Performance Management Theories

Performance management is a crucial part of human resource management, as it enables the effective use of available resources. The core benefit of using performance management is that it enables the management to mold the employee’s performances following the strategies of an organization.

These aspects can be pivotal to increasing employee engagement to increase the organizational outputs to meet customer satisfaction and improve quality. Human resource management of organizations, to increase employee motivation, uses several theories.

Motivation theory

Frederick Herzberg has introduced a motivation theory based on two factors. Therefore, the theory is also referred to as the two-factor theory. These factors are based on Motivation and Hygiene; hygiene factors are considered extrinsic motivators, and motivation factors are considered intrinsic motivators. The hygiene factors include working conditions, salary and job status, company policy and benefits, and working relationships.

Unavailability of these extrinsic factors in the workplace tends to decrease the motivation level of employees, which can adversely affect their performance. The main reason behind this aspect is that these factors are considered the essential elements in any workplace and organization. However, where these elements are focused more, organizations can grow rapidly due to the enhanced motivational level of employees, which will ultimately result in an increased level of performance. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Although these factors cannot affect and increase employees’ dissatisfaction, they are responsible for affecting the performance level of employees within the workplace. However, motivation factors are intrinsic motivators, and these factors include recognition, achievements, the level of responsibility, and the need for personal growth.

These factors can be pivotal to increase the satisfaction level, and a decrease in these factors would increase the dissatisfaction in employees, which will ultimately affect and change the performance level of employees. However, these changes can be positive or negative as well. This aspect can be presumed by using the concepts of incentive programs used by the organizations, particularly by human resource management, to enhance the organization-wide performance.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning determines that several rewards and punishments can change employees’ behavior and help them learn new behaviors, meet and increase the performance level of employees.

The theory is based on two concepts of reinforcement and punishment, whereas both can be negative and positive. The management reinforces the positive behaviors of employees by using positive and negative reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, employees tend to provide incentives and rewards.

Rewards or incentive systems are used as a mechanism to control the activities, and this concept has gained widespread attention by the management to surge the employee’s performance level. The incentives provided by the organization can be based on increased salary, bonuses, share in company’s profit, Privilege Rewards, as well as upward promotion in an organization, which can also increase the benefits provided to the employees.

These benefits can attract the employees to increase their performance and efficiency and provide them with the desired behavior. Negative reinforcement tends to remove the unfavorable stimuli after the display of behavior. The management reinforces the behavior. Rewards are paid to employees to increase their performance, but management withdraws these rewards in several cases. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Furthermore, punishments are provided to the employees to omit their unsatisfactory behavior. Positive punishment is used when employees show certain undesirable behavior. These punishments can be used to enhance the daily-based performance level. Punishments are provided in terms of penalties to withdraw the negative behavior of employees.

Negative punishment is based on removing an element to reduce the chances of occurrence of certain undesired behavior. For example, downward promotion and withdrawal of certain rewards and benefits can negatively reinforce the behavior.

Furthermore, they can play an essential role in increasing the motivation level and increasing the employees’ performance level. However, some researchers suggest that using negative reinforcement techniques can negatively affect employee satisfaction and self-esteem.

Certain controversies surround the use of punishment and its role in increasing the effectiveness and controlling human behavior. The author considered this approach the traditional method, which was not accepted in today’s society, as a means of control.

This technique can be essential to achieve positive results only on a short-term basis. Human resource management can use this practice to form a competition-based motivation, which can play an essential role in compiling employees to increase their performance.

The performance level of employees can influence the output quality, as it is crucial to improving the performance. Management and administration use reinforcement techniques to enhance the efficiency of employees across various divisions and units in organizations. One of the most influential practices of Performance Management is training and development programs, which can be pivotal to increasing employees’ efficiency level. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Quality management and Performance Management

Along with incentive programs and proper performance management, employee motivation can be enhanced, but firms can also bring innovation in their operations. In addition, the satisfaction level of employees enhances their engagement and interest in their working activities, which can play an incremental role in increasing employee efficiency.

The efficiency level of employees can be pivotal to bringing innovation in employees’ activities, which can increase the innovation in organizational operations. Authors, to enhance the quality, have introduced several theories.

Deming theory is crucial to enhance the quality by using 14 points illustrated in theory. The theory suggests that organizations have used this system to evaluate the needs of quality improvements while keeping in mind certain quality standards.

Quality standards must comply with customer expectations related to quality, as it can increment the customer satisfaction level. However, gaps in quality standards and customer expectations related to can affect their satisfaction level adversely. This aspect can also affect the company’s profitability as well as productivity in the market.

Deming 14 points can play an incremental role in increasing customer satisfaction while exploring their quality needs. Furthermore, the theory also provides a process based on four principles to identify, maintain, and implement the quality needs within a continuous process.

The process is based on four principles, which include plan, do, act, and check. The process can play a pivotal role in planning and working on the quality needs and then consistently checking and improving the quality. Quality can be based on providing quality products and services, but high-level operational quality is also required to achieve a competitive advantage in the industry.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Keys to Deal with Financial Risk

All companies and entrepreneurs want to achieve success. They have dedicated hours of effort and work, their money, and their future with the goal of generating a profit. However, in many cases, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs forget that profitability is linked to another term: risk.

Financial risk is defined as the uncertainty that accompanies any investment in which it may not be profitable. Unprofitability may result from the poor reception of the product or service by consumers, by a change in the sector, or by the instability of financial markets. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Risk is a constant analysis equation; what varies is the percentage. In stock markets, investors have an indicator, “β,” that measures the systematic risk that a company can experience based on elements, including the type of business or the industrial or financial sector.

Companies with high risks suffer very sudden movements in their prices. The low values ​​correspond to companies that are already consolidated and whose stock market oscillations are weaker.

There are different types of risk within the stock market:

Systematic Risk or Market Risk: refers to the possibility of changes in rates, oil prices, new government regulations, or changes in currency values.

Specific Risk: is that which affects only one sector or one company. It can be caused by poor financial management of the company, due to the appearance of a technological advance that destroys the need of the previous product, or by the failed expansion of a business to a foreign country.

However, there are other types of risk: Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Credit Risk: is present when one of the parties to a financial contract does not comply with established obligations. For example, a bankrupt distributor; a customer paying in installments does not meet the quotas. These are risks that every entrepreneur must account for and evaluate.

Liquidity Risk: occurs when one of the parties to a financial contract has assets but does not have sufficient liquidity to assume the agreed obligations.

Operational Risk: is associated with poor management and company operations.

Economic Risk: covers the loss of competitive advantage in a market.

Legal Risk: occurs when a contracting party breaks the agreement or violates intellectual property rights.

Once you understand what a risk is and its various forms, the question then become: how do I avoid it?

When a project, business, or investment is being developed, you must be mindful that the risk consists of three parts. If each of them is thoroughly analyzed in the context of your business, then risk can be reduced:

  • The cost and availability of investment capital: what capital do I have? What capital will I have during the realization process of the business or the investment, and how much backup capital is available?
  • Ability to satisfy cash needs: plan the fixed and variable costs that you face and consider possible eventualities. To meet any of these types of expenses, capital must be available.
  • The possibility of increasing capital: At what point in my process will my capital start to increase? Through what resources will I obtain income? Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Having analyzed each of the parts that make up the financial risk reduces the chances of occurrence. However, there are additional factors to consider relating to risk:

Information: is another way to reduce risk is to evaluate profitability and future forecasts. The more information you have at your disposal, the less likely you will make decisions based on impulse.

Diversify: and invest in different projects with joint risk and those that offer safer future projections; both will be compensated.

The Savings or Plan B: is having extra capital for emergencies will reduce risk and allow you to act with greater freedom.

Derivative Contracts: are contracts whose value is subject to another principal asset known as the underlying asset. Underlying products typically include oil, metals, or financial assets.

Future Contracts: are purchase agreements in which the asset, the price, the quantity, and the date in which the transaction will be made are established. Both buyer and seller accept the obligations subject to market expectations that each one perceives. This type of contract generates stability since prices are pre-established and fixed despite movements in the stock market.

Risk is inevitable; however, the best strategy is to make decisions based on extensive research that informs us of our possibilities, costs, and benefits.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

The Ultimate WordPress Security Guide

WordPress security is considered the hot top, and it has immense significance for each website owner. Google blacklists more than 10,000 websites daily because of malware and approximately 50,000 because of phishing per week.

If you are worried about your website, you have to pay attention to and be more concerned with WordPress security best practices. Here, we will share almost all the WordPress security tips that help you protect your websites against malware and hackers.

Although WordPress core software is highly secure and audited daily by hundreds of developers, there are many tips you can choose to keep your site safe.  Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

At WP Beginner, we consider that security is not only about risk removal. It is also regarding risk reduction. As an owner of the WordPress website, there is a lot that could enhance your WordPress security.

We have a measure of actionable steps that could protect your website against security weaknesses. 

Be ready to get started!

Why is Website Security Important?

A hacked WordPress website could cause severe damage to your business and its reputation and revenue. Hackers could steal your personal information, data, and passwords, install malicious software, and even distribute malware to you and your users.

Worst, you might find yourself paying some amount to hackers to recover access to your website.

In 2016, Google reported that 50+ million website users had been alerted that a site they were visiting might have stolen information and malware.

Moreover, Google blacklists 50,000 and 20,000 websites because of phishing and malware every week. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

If you have a business website, you need to pay extra attention to WordPress security. 

Likewise, your responsibility to save your business website is how it is the business leaders and owners.

Keeping WordPress Updated

WordPress is considered an open-source software that is maintained daily ad be updated. By default, WordPress automatically installs some slight updates. For immediate releases, you have to start the update manually. 

WordPress also comes with millions of themes and plugins you can install and customize according to your website’s requirements. These themes and plugins are maintained by third-party developers, who also release updates daily.

These WordPress updates are necessary for the stability and security of your WordPress website. You have to ensure that your WordPress core theme and plugin are updated.

String Passwords and User Permissions

The most common WordPress hacking tries are made to steal your passwords. You could make that challenging and complex by using stronger passwords that are different for your website. Specifically for the WordPress admin area and for database accounts, your custom email addresses, and WordPress hosting accounts that use your website’s domain name.

Numerous beginners do not like complex passwords because they are difficult to remember. The good thing is that you do not need to remember passwords anymore. You can utilize a password manager. Another approach to lessen the risk is not to provide anyone access to your WordPress account unless you have if you contain a big team or guest authors, then ensure that you understand and know users’ capabilities and roles in WordPress before you add an extra or new user authors and accounts to your WordPress website.Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

WordPress Security in an Easy Way

We know that enhancing WordPress security could be a terrible thought for beginners, particularly if you do not belong to the technological sector. Guess what! You are not alone.

Many tutorials or even service providers assist thousands of WordPress users in making strict security of their WordPress websites.

Here is the list below through which you can secure your WordPress website.

  • WordPress Backup Solution
  • WordPress security plugins
  • Limit login attempts
  • By web application firewall
  • Covert your WordPress website to SSL or HTTPS.

Fixing a Hacked WordPress Website

Numerous WordPress users do not identify the significance of website security and backups until their website is hacked.

Wrapping up a WordPress website could be highly complex and time-consuming. The core solution is to seek professional assistance to protect against security attacks in the future.

Hackers mostly install backdoors on the affected websites, and if these backdoors are not fixed completely, your website will likely be hacked again. 

Bottom Line

I hope this blog helped you learn the best practices and find the best WordPress security plugins for your site ad and listed other ways to protect your WordPress website.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Performance Evaluation and Business Productivity

When employees face a performance evaluation, they either increase their productivity or decrease their productivity level. Effectively managing employee performance helps in increasing the level of business operations. Fulfillment of organizational objectives takes place when employees have an improved level of productivity.

Today, companies struggle for sustainability and gain a competitive advantage through powerful strategic planning and professional human resources. In the 21st century, human resource is the significant strength of corporate more towards designing productive systems and strategies.

Performance evaluation systems are the systems for assessing the performance of employees working in the organization. Therefore, analyzing the relationship between performance evaluation systems and the employees’ productivity is essential for maintaining employee performance. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

In a complex workplace where employee satisfaction and motivation become difficult, managers are concerned with fulfilling business optimization outcomes. However, empirical studies have proven that employee performance is impacted by the level of performance evaluation systems present in the organization.

The process of performance evaluation is critical because it shapes the level of employee motivation and productivity. The performance evaluation process is completed with the help of the two-way communication process between the employee and the supervisor. If the performance evaluation system is not effective, it can decrease employee performance and productivity.

Only those organizations will be successful in the 21st century and will focus on integrating HR strategies associated with the corporate’s systems and processes. For example, the process of the performance evaluation system and the connection between business optimization outcomes design the level of employee motivation and productivity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Practical studies suggest that effective performance evaluation systems are healthy for the growth of employees. Equity theory states that employees measure their inputs versus the outcomes (intrinsic and extrinsic rewards) they receive. If a performance evaluation system is not developed on an equal basis, employees can decrease their productivity levels. Therefore, evaluation is a serious component in the appraisal system of employees.

If a performance evaluation system is effective, it will motivate individuals to be more productive and fruitful. Therefore, the performance evaluation system needs to be effective and transparent to act as a tool for motivating and developing business optimized outcomes.

The topic of performance evaluation explores the link between performance evaluation systems and employee performance. Employees of the service sector were used for the research study. Results of the study explored that performance evaluation systems in hierarchical structures provided limited results.

Managers of these companies are not willing to take two-way feedback from their employees. However, in flat organizational structures, performance evaluation systems are effective. Therefore, 360-degree feedback systems are adopted by these companies taking two-way feedback from their employees.

The current study aims to examine the effects of effective performance evaluation techniques on employee performance and productivity in companies to optimize business outcomes. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

The scope of the present article is to provide the companies with insight related to improving their performance evaluation systems to reward and motivate their employees, which in turn results in optimizing the company’s business outcomes. Empirical studies conducted on the same topic have examined a positive relationship between performance evaluation systems and performance optimization of employees.

Employees look at the methods of performance appraisal adopted by the company. When respondents were asked about the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in their company, most employees stated that they are satisfied with the systems.

The link between the performance of the employees and the overall fulfillment of organizational objectives was explored. Employee productivity and motivation can be shaped with the help of performance appraisal systems.

Employee productivity is linked with the level of motivation and satisfaction. Factors for increasing the level of employee motivation are job security and leadership adopted by the managers. Performance is linked to the level of the environment in which they are working.

It is stated that performance evaluation is one measure for analyzing the level of employee productivity, but it is not the only measure for analyzing the performance outcomes.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

6 Steps to Starting Your Own Agriculture Business

With population increases and threats posed by climate change on the rise, agribusinesses are needed more than ever. It is estimated that by 2050, the global population will reach approximately nine billion.

If you’ve been looking to kickstart an agriculture business, now is the opportunity to take that leap of faith. There is no need to worry if you don’t know about agriculture businesses and are completely new to this domain. Here are six steps to starting your own agriculture business. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

  1. Establish your goals

Formulating the objectives is a crucial step in the process of starting any business. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, you must ask yourself the following pertinent questions.

  • Why do I want to start an agribusiness? Why not something else?
  • Am I doing it solely for profit or for giving back to society as well?
  • What do I want to achieve through this business venture?

Once you have answers to the above questions, it’ll be easier for you to choose the direction you want your business to take.

  1. Identify your niche

Knowing what you want to grow is not enough. It would help if you also had a clear idea about your market, buyers, and competitors. Thus, you must undertake extensive market research to assess your business strategy. So, if you are already interested in a specific product, you should study more about your local market.

Look at other farmers’ markets, talk to other local producers, and meet consumers as well. If you can, survey other markets to see if any crops are undersupplied. Another critical part of the research process is turning to the local state department of agriculture. They will provide you with the latest information on farming in your state and help you with the legal procedures. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

  1. Choose the most suitable land

After figuring out your agriculture business objectives and niche, you’re going to find the right farmland. Besides, it would be best if you decided whether to buy or lease land. Leasing land is a popular choice for many new farmers as it minimizes financial risks and reduces upfront costs. If you’re inclined towards leasing, find people who own farmland but don’t do much. If you end up choosing to purchase land, you need to consider the following things.

  • Your land’s proximity to markets
  • Water supply
  • High-quality soil
  • Facilities and infrastructure
  • Neighbors
  1. Arrange financing for your agribusiness

If you are a budding entrepreneur, chances are you are going to seek loans for your farm. You must be realistic when initially applying for funding. You might not be able to secure such funding initially, to splurge on fancy farm equipment, and you’ll need to be careful as to which tools to invest in.

For getting a loan, you’ll have to write a business plan. Even if you’re not seeking a loan, a business plan is useful in helping you figure out which of your ideas are worthy of application. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

  1. Market your agribusiness

Marketing is an essential component of any business. You cannot expect your farm produce to reach consumers without having advertised it in the first place. You can successfully spread the word about your business by creating a logo for it, writing a catchy tagline, launching a website, and advertising it through newspapers.

Initially, you may need to allocate a bigger chunk of your budget to marketing. But it is vital to the growth of your agriculture business and sets you apart from your competitors.

  1. Hire a workforce

Running an agriculture business is certainly not a one-person job. Unless you have a family to help you manage all chores at the farm, you will have to hire some employees. However, before you start recruiting people for the farm, you must keep in mind a few things.

First, you need to assess the areas you need help with. Second, you must consider the budget you can allocate to employee wages. Besides, it would help if you also analyzed whether you would hire full-time or part-time staff. Finally, after charting out a plan, acquire the help you need to make an enduring impression on your customers.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Types of Storage in the Cloud Understanding The Functionalities and Advantages

Thanks to the storage in the cloud nowadays, things as simple as changing computers have become much simpler processes.

Companies have also benefited, for example, by always and everywhere providing information about their business.

To understand what it is and what types of storage in the cloud exist, join me in this post for the next few minutes!

What is cloud storage?

This name has been given to the type of storage that keeps information and keeps it always available on a server. To achieve access, it is essential to have an Internet connection.

Also known as cloud computing, this type of service allows you to store content of all kinds, whether text, image, sound, or video, and in turn, you can access them from any device with an Internet connection.

Some web applications also manage this type of storage so that their programs work and their users have access to information, such as marketing automation tools, CRM, among others. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Because of the amount of information that can be stored, the storage in the cloud has limits that depend on the company that provides this service.

Most have free accounts, which may be more than enough for many, while for others, it may seem little.

An average user will use approximately 5 to 10GB of information stored in the cloud per year. How? well, between photos, music, and videos, this space is easily consumed in a short time.

Types of storage in the cloud

According to the properties, limitations, and access to the information they present, there are different types of storage that you or your company should consider before deciding on a possible investment.

Public cloud

This type of storage has few restrictions on access to information. In addition, by having a company dedicated to your care, the maintenance that you must do to your account is minimal. The risks of losing information are low because they have a good level of security.

This is the option most used by users of this type of storage due to its low or no cost and ease. Some of the most common are Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, Soundcloud, among others. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

In summary, we could say that public cloud storage is ideal for personal use, small entrepreneurs, and marketing professionals who are beginning to build their portfolios.

Private cloud

This type of storage in the cloud has better performance in terms of security and personalization compared to the public, apart from being able to count on occasions with much larger storage capacities.

Data backup providers, tools for scheduling queries, or image banks could be examples of this type of computer cloud.

This solution is more used by companies since they need high storage capacities and also security in their information.

Hybrid cloud

This is nothing more than a mixture of the two previous clouds, and they are used when, for example, you want to have a data reservation, but at the same time, you want to return a part of the public.

We can mention a company that uses Big Data and that needs this type of cloud to store sales information, OKR, and sensitive metrics of the company, but at the same time wants to share some useful information with its collaborators.

Types of cloud storage service

As I mentioned earlier, there are companies whose products or services depend on this storage in the cloud.

These services can be infrastructure, platform, or storage. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers

Starting with the IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) that are the most common, we can find companies such as Amazon, Rackspace, Flexiscale, which have large storage servers that provide the basis for other services.

If the service has an operating system, a programming language, a database, and a server, it is known as a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), some of them are Microsoft Azure, Salesforce.

And finally, we find the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), which works with a web application model where users can find solutions many times cheaper than buying a Software license. Some examples can be HubSpot or Pipedrive.

Conclusion

The storage in the cloud gave space to a great digital transformation. The great change occurred in access to information and the number of services and solutions that emerged from it.

Then, we can say that public clouds are feasible to be scalable, but they are not known for performance since their focus is the individual consumer.

Private clouds provide high confidence but are limited in their long-term scalability.

Finally, hybrid clouds offer the internal control that some companies are looking for, but they tend to be more expensive.

The choice will depend on the strategy you want to use and, of course, do not forget that this must be considered within any marketing strategy, for example, in the use of a marketing automation tool or a CRM.

Check out America's Best Bookkeepers About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Check out America's Best Bookkeepers