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Top 4 Reasons You Need Insurance for Your Home-Based Business

April 30, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

Top 4 Reasons You Need Insurance for Your Home-Based Business

 

Did you know that more than half of all businesses in the US are home businesses? That means you’re in good company, especially if you are one of the 40% of small office home office businesses that carry adequate insurance.

Here’s what you need to know about having insurance for your home business:

Your homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover your home-based business.

We repeat: Homeowner’s insurance DOES NOT cover business assets

One would assume that a homeowner’s policy would provide sufficient coverage for a home business, but it doesn’t. Even if it does include business coverage, the amount is likely rather limited. The average policy offers around $250 for premises, and it doesn’t necessarily cover business assets, such as:

  • Outside buildings used for business purposes.
  • Damage or loss of data or business records.
  • Loss of income caused by loss of business property.

Here are some good reasons to consider getting yourself a policy that is designed to cover your small office home office:

  1. If you’re a financial adviser and a client sues you because your advice cost him money, your homeowner’s policy will not even look at it.
  2. If you’re a photographer or an IT professional, your home may be targeted in a robbery and you could lose all your expensive equipment. Since your computers, cameras and other equipment are considered business property, it will not be fully covered by your homeowners’ insurance.
  3. Most homeowners’ policies do not cover third party claims, especially for business deliveries, so they will not cover slip and fall accidents that occur when someone is delivering something to your home.
  4. If the outbuilding or shed on your property from which you run your business catches fire and you lose your equipment as a result, your homeowner’s policy will not cover it.

However, for a small additional fee, you can probably include add-on cover to your homeowner’s policy to protect you from the situations described above. It may just be sufficient for your small one-person operation, especially if you don’t have a lot of business equipment, and if you don’t receive many deliveries or visitors.

But, if you require better protection, you may want to consider:

General Liability for your SOHO – This policy will protect you from third-party claims, such as those from delivery drivers, liability or slander, and damage to a third party’s property (if you rent temporary office space, conference facilities or storage).

Professional Liability – Errors and omissions insurance provides protection in case you are sued for negligence.

Business Owner Insurance – Business owner policies provide comprehensive cover, including professional liability claims, loss of business data or equipment, and general liability.

Property Insurance – General liability insurance policies usually include property insurance.

Life, Health, and Disability Insurance – This policy provides an extra layer of protection in case you and or your employees suffer injuries or death.

Be smart about your home business in the short term, and you will reap the rewards in the long term.

Filed Under: Business Development, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized, Value Tagged With: home business insurance, home business tips, work from home

Project Highlight: New Mom School Online

April 23, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

Project Highlight: New Mom School Online

Industry: Online Courses / Teaching

Company: The New Mom School Online

Type of Work: Website Design

The New Mom School Online is a digital e-course that educates expectant and new moms on what to expect and how to handle each milestone before and after the birth of their child.

The Challenge

Alexandra with The New Mom School wanted to take her local education classes digital and offer her resources to new moms across the globe.

The Unbound Solution

To help The New Mom School launch their new digital venture smoothly and elegantly, Unbound Web Design built a detailed, but clean sales page on the Kajabi membership platform.

The Results

The resulting sales page is clean, elegant and informative without being overwhelming.

View The Live Project Now

Filed Under: Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Portfolio, Project Highlights, Uncategorized, web design, web presence Tagged With: ecourse website, Kajabi website design, web design, website design

6 Small Changes to Give Your Website A Big Facelift

April 9, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

6 Small Changes to Give Your Website A Big Facelift

If you’re looking for a few quick ways to give your website a facelift without a complete overhaul – you’ve come to the right place.

As a web design and development agency, we work with many small businesses who don’t always have the resources or the desire to perform a complete makeover every single year. However, it’s important to keep your web presence current, and that’s where the minor functional adjustments below come in handy.

Here Are 6 Small Changes to Give Your Website A Big Facelift:

1. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Responsive

Having a mobile-friendly site is critical to business success in the digital age. If your site is not yet mobile responsive, it probably means that it has not been updated in quite some time It also means that you’re missing out on a massive potential market – all those people who use primarily their phones to research and buy products or services online.

Mobile responsive design will not only look good and function well across all platforms, but it will open your business up to more potential leads. Plus, Google tends to give ranking preference to sites that are mobile-friendly and function well at all screen sizes.

2. Update Your Widgets and Plugins

Developers regularly update their plugins or themes to meet the changing needs of the WordPress platform updates.

If you don’t update your widgets or plugins regularly, they will not always work as intended and may even compromise your site’s performance or security. This applies to social widgets, shopping carts, and all kinds of third-party plugins.

3. Align With Your Marketing Strategy

Just because you changed your marketing strategy does not necessarily mean you have to redesign your whole website. However, it’s a good idea to review your website objectively to ensure that it matches your new marketing strategy.

This means placing your latest promotion in a prominent spot on your website so that your visitors don’t have to struggle to find it.

4. Refresh Your Web Content

Great website content is the key to improving just about everything else on your site.

If you’re looking to make major content improvements to boost user-experience and conversion rates, it is a good idea to consider a website redesign or hiring a professional copywriter.

But, you can make small adjustments on your own to jazz up your current SEO rankings or website flow.

5. Review Your Analytics

Your website is beautiful and functional, but it’s not turning visitors into customers. Do you know where the disconnect is happening?

A quick look at your Google Analytics should give you a good idea of where you can improve. Here’s what you should consider, based on your website analytics, conversion statistics, and traffic:

  • How easy is it (for a visitor) no navigate your site?
  • Is your content of good quality, and compelling?
  • Do your landing pages incite enough curiosity in visitors?
  • Can you enhance your call-to-action to compel visitors to find out more?

When it comes to a website, there are a few crucial aspects to constantly tweak and improve:

  • site navigation
  • prominence of important content (promos, contact details)
  • up-to-date product and service pages

6. Refresh Your Branding

Finally, consider when last you updated your logo and color scheme. A small update can renew your branding image significantly.

The desire for a website facelift often goes hand-in-hand with the need to make it function better for your visitors. Take the time to implement these 6 small changes to give your website a big facelift or give us a call to discuss making bigger changes to your site.

Filed Under: Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Uncategorized, User Experience and Mobility, web design, web maintenance, web presence Tagged With: web design, website design, website tips

Pros & Cons of Popular Website Design Platforms & How to Choose

March 26, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

Pros & Cons of Popular Website Design Platforms & How to Choose

So, it’s time to invest in a website, but with so many different options available, which should you choose?

If you don’t have much time at your disposal and you don’t have technical or design knowledge, you may want to invest in professional web design. Unfortunately, some business owners have had bad experiences with developers.

Whether an unscrupulous designer deliberately set out to break a client’s trust, or whether there was a miscommunication over the terms of the agreement or simply undue expectations, these things happen.

That’s why it is important to consider your options carefully, ask all the questions you need answered, and deal with a professional with excellent references.

Here Are The Pros & Cons of Popular Website Design Platforms & How to Choose

It’s impossible to cover all the different design platforms and website builders available today, so we will just look at a few of the most popular options.

Wix

Arguably the most popular option at the moment, Wix is a free platform which hosts more than 109 million websites and almost 3 million paying subscribers. The platform offers 500+ professional looking templates and a drag and drop interface and helpful tutorials.

The free plan does show visible advertising to your visitors, but you can pay to upgrade.Upgraded plans range from $5-$25 a month. If you want to change your template, you will have to rebuild your content, which can become a hassle for a new business owner settling into their brand. Although the sites are indexable and crawlable by search engines, the page URL structure is not attractive.

Weebly

Weebly has more than forty million users, and the website builder is minimalistic and easy to use. They regularly add new mobile responsive templates and offer 40+ pre-designed web page layouts. Although their designs have not been as sophisticated as Wix, they are certainly improving. If you have coding experience, you can modify the code to enable more styling options.

Plans start from $8 a month to $49 a month.

WordPress.org

If you’re a confident coder/designer, you can host your own site using WordPress.org software. All you need is to buy a domain (approximately $10) and hosting (from $3 a month). You can use one of the dozens of free themes provided, or buy a premium theme. You will also have access to thousands of different free and premium plugins to customize your site to suit your exact requirements.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com offers a range of options that must not be confused with WordPress.org.

You can get a free website (yourdomain.wordpress.com) with free limited templates, or you can opt for one of the paid options ranging from $4-$24.92 a month, billed annually. The free package is fine for a personal blog, but if you run a business, you should definitely opt for a paid option instead.

The paid packages offer a range of benefits, such as custom domain names, essential Jetpack features, support, different levels of themes and customization options, storage, and the ability to remove ads. The two bigger packages allow you to monetize your site, which is crucial for any serious business owner.

The Business package is ideal for business sites, as it allows you to:

  • Install third-party themes and plugins.
  • Integrate Google Analytics.
  • Attend live courses.
  • Access SEO tools.

In addition, you can remove all WordPress.com branding.

Yes, you can get a decent-looking site for cheap or even free. But there’s more to a website than just a beautiful design.

  • Functionality
  • Quality content
  • Security
  • Storage
  • Backups
  • Premium features
  • Customization
  • Integration

All of these are crucial elements of a quality, functional website.

If you want a professional business website, we highly recommend that you opt for one of the premium WordPress.com options that allow for maximum customization and design flexibility. Working with a professional will ensure that you receive a site that meets current best practices, and it will give you peace of mind, knowing that you have a secure site.

Need help choosing a web design platform? Get in touch with us today.

Filed Under: Branding, Business Development, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Uncategorized, web design, web maintenance, web presence Tagged With: business website, web design, website builder, website builder platform, website design

Beginner’s Guide to Website Tax Deductions

March 12, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

Beginner's Guide to Website Tax Deductions

Some brick and mortar business owners shy away from the investment of a company website. But, in order to run a successful business in 2018, you need a business website.

We all understand that designing and launching a new website can be a daunting task, and often a costly one. But, the good news is that your business website may be tax deductible, so read on to learn more.

A Basic Guide to Website Design Tax Deductions for the New Business Owner

As a new business owner, you might want to know whether the costs of website design are tax deductible, leading up to the new tax year.

Good news! A lot of what goes into designing, launching, and maintaining a business website is deductible because it typically falls under “marketing.”

While we are simply website people and we can only provide you with our interpretation of the IRS’s rules, we do know a little about what you can and can’t write off when it comes to your business website. But, ultimately, you should definitely speak to a certified tax professional about whether your website design and maintenance costs are tax deductible.
So, How Do You Write-Off Website Expenses?

First off, it would seem that there are no formal guidelines as to whether website design, development, and maintenance costs can be deducted. In order make it work, some tax people recommend including it in write-off categories that correlate closely with a website as a tool and business asset.

A new business website will require quite a bit of upfront costs, including design, development, platform fees, and subscription costs. Because of this wide range of individual costs, the rules will sometimes differ, as website design may be considered a start-up cost.

Code 197 governs Amortization of Goodwill and Certain Other Intangibles reads as follows:  

“A taxpayer shall be entitled to an amortization deduction with respect to any amortizable section 197 intangible. The amount of such deduction shall be determined by amortizing the adjusted basis (for purposes of determining gain) of such intangible ratably over the 15-year period beginning with the month in which such intangible was acquired.”

Websites are intangible, which means that this category is best suited to website costs.

However, a website design has a relatively short lifespan – it is standard practice to refresh the site content once a year and redesign the entire site every three or four years – and should therefore not be deducted over fifteen years.

What If My Website Is Software-Related?

Websites that are considered software follows the rules for Tax Deduction Guidelines for Purchasing Software. As such, a software website’s costs can be amortized over the three years following the date it goes live.

Your website may be considered software if:

  • It dynamically interacts with users.
  • It interactively generates data.

This means that many e-course platforms may be considered software depending on the extent of the customizability and user interaction required to return data.

How About Advertising or Marketing-Related?

When website design is considered advertising, it opens the door to the most favorable tax write-off category. However, insofar as can be deduced, only websites with product listings or displayed products may be considered as advertising.

Ideally, you should speak to your accountant about the best way to claim tax deductions for your website and related costs. While you’re at it, don’t forget to ask about:

  • Personal funds invested in your business.
  • Charitable donations.
  • Home office space or co-working spaces.
  • Office phone use.
  • Mileage.
  • Business travel costs.

Don’t overlook any available tax deductions this year. A professional accountant can talk you through all the different options.

Filed Under: Business Development, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, simplicity, Time and Money, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized Tagged With: running a small business, small business, tax deductions, website design, website development, website maintenance

11 Best Blogs to Follow for Small Business Inspiration

February 12, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

11 Best Blogs to Follow for Small Business Inspiration

One of the best things about being a small business owner is that the world is your oyster when it comes to finding inspiration. You can select a mentor to follow and emulate, or you can select a bunch of successful people from whom you can draw inspiration. There’s literally no limit.

In keeping with that, we decided to compile a list of Best Blogs to Follow for Small Business Inspiration.

Best Blogs to Follow for Small Business Inspiration

  1. Big Ideas for Small Business – Headed by Barbara Weltman, the blog’s content deals with technical and legal aspects of running a small business.
  2. Success Harbor – George Meszaros inspires small business owners to achieve success by their definition.
  3. EOFire – Kate Erickson inspires entrepreneurs with great content and step-by-step resources on how to start and build their businesses.
  4. Location Rebel – If you’re a new small business owner still looking to earn your first few thousand dollars online, Sean Ogle will inspire you to break through with his awesome tips on online marketing, productivity and building a lifestyle business.
  5. Buffer Blog – Learn all you need to know about how you can use social media marketing to the benefit of your business with Ash Read’s in-depth posts.
  6. Social Media Examiner – Lisa Jenkins runs the world’s most prolific social media marketing resource.
  7. A Better Lemonade Stand – Starting a business involves thousands of little decisions. Richard Lazazzera will help make those decisions easier.
  8. Nav Blog – Kali Geldis provides great financial advice for small businesses. Learn how to save money while running a successful business.
  9. The Personal MBA – Don’t let your lack of a business degree make you think you can’t run a business because this blog provides helpful tricks and tips to help you become a pro at managing your business.
  10. Smart Hustle – Grow your business to the next level with insightful commentary and interviews with Guy Kawasaki and other inspiring business celebrities.
  11. Hubspot – Hubspot’s marketing blog is a thought leader in the world of online marketing, sharing insightful content, data, research, and reports.

There you have it! Our favorite blogs for small business owners to follow. Did we mention your Best Blogs to Follow for Small Business Inspiration? Please share in comments below!

Filed Under: Business Development, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, simplicity, Time and Money, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized, Value Tagged With: running a small business, small business, small business inspiration

A Beginner’s Guide to Navigating Landing Page Design & Development

January 22, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

A Beginner’s Guide to Navigating Landing Page Design & Development

Landing pages have arguably the biggest trend in web design for the last year and a bit. If you’ve been a bit slow on the uptake, you’re not yet too late, because landing pages are not going anywhere. Now you may be wondering how to go about creating your landing pages. There are three options:

  • Designing your own pages from scratch (DIY).
  • Using a web-based landing page editor.
  • Hiring an outside agency to create it for you.

Navigating the Virtues of Landing Page Design & Development…

Each of these options offers its own unique features, along with advantages and disadvantages. It’s up to you to weigh up the options and choosing the one that fits your needs best. Let’s look at the differences.

DIY Landing Page Design

Foundation and Bootstrap are the two most common options for businesses who wish to design their own landing pages. Since these online landing page builders don’t have drag-and-drop or point-and-click interfaces, you will have to code it yourself.

The fact that DIY frameworks are usually free is a huge selling point and since you’ll be doing the coding yourself, your options are limitless.

The only disadvantage is that you need major skills. You need to know how to code or how to borrow snippets of other people’s code. Of course, you could learn how to do it, but there’s no instruction manual. It will take time to figure it all out, unless you have a team of designers who can code your landing page, do split-testing and make all the necessary changes.

Online Landing Page Builder

This option is a hybrid between the first and last option. It is half-DIY and half similar to hiring an agency to design your landing pages.

An online landing page builder is created by coders and designers to provide a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ editor. It features design templates and plenty of pre-made code, and it is editable and mobile ready.

These online landing page builders typically integrate with popular site builders, email marketing platforms, social media networks and payment gateways.

Templates mean that you give up some of your flexibility, so if you have very specific design requirements, an online landing page builder may not be for you. Most online builders also require a monthly subscription fee.

If that’s not an option for you, you may want to consider the last option…

Hiring an Agency to Design Your Landing Pages

We’re not biased when we say that hiring a skilled agency with professional designers and programmers will more than likely result in the best possible landing page. Professional design agencies have the skills and the tools to deliver the exact landing page you desire.

Your landing page will be feature-rich, easy to use and mobile responsive. Yes, it will cost you a bit more than buying your own online landing page builder, but the investment will be worth the customization options. It may well be cheaper than the time you will have to invest if you opt to build your own DIY landing page, though.

There really is no one-size-fits-all or one-option-beats-all landing page solution, but one may prove to be more valuable or sensible to you depending on your situation.

Which landing page design solution do you prefer and why? Let us know in the comments!

Filed Under: Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Time and Money, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized, User Experience and Mobility, web design, web maintenance, web presence Tagged With: landing page, landing page design, web design, website design

The Ultimate Small Business Owner’s Guide to Having a Great New Year

January 8, 2018 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

The Ultimate Small Business Owner’s Guide to Having a Great New Year

The New Year means big things for small business owners, but envisioning and having a great New Year are two different things.

As we gear up for 2018, it’s a good idea to set your intentions about what you want to achieve and how to take your business to the next level.

In 2016, Statistics Brain reports that only eight percent of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions end up achieving their goals.

Eight percent! That’s like dreaming about tacos for 12 months and then only being able to eat one bite before it vanishes.

As a business owner, you don’t make resolutions…you make adjustments to how you do business with your eye on the long-term. Although that’s a smart way to do things, sometimes you can get a little tripped up throughout the year.

However, when you break it into small steps, it should be easier to achieve. Let’s sail right into it.

Introducing the Ultimate Small Business Owner’s Guide to Having a Great New Year: 2018 Edition

Reflect on 2017

What important milestones have you achieved in business this year, that can be carried through to help you grow in 2018?

Also, take some time to go through your statistics; such as profits and losses, web traffic, foot traffic, and other important factors to find out where your business is strong and what weaknesses can be improved upon.

While you’re working with these statistics, spend some time organizing and backing up your data from 2017.

Set New Goals

Over time, our goals change. As a business grows, you are exposed to new things and your focus may change. That’s perfectly fine.

However, this is a great time to have a look at your goals to ensure that you are not just going with the flow, but actively pursuing the direction of your dreams.

If you find goal setting tedious, you may want to consider Pray Rain Journaling. This simple method has the power to help align your mindset with your goals to bring about dramatic shifts in your attitude and experience. Many people who have practiced it, have seen life-changing outcomes.

How did you fare in terms of achieving your 2017 goals? If you’ve achieved them all, congratulations!

If you didn’t quite get there, measure just how close you came and consider how you would attempt it, if you had the same goal again.

Use the intel derived from this reflection to set new goals for 2018. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself!

Do Market Research

The best way to serve your clients is to know them and to understand how they feel about your business. It starts by taking an objective look at your website.

If you were in a customer’s shoes, how would you feel about the business?

Does the website inspire trust?

Try to look for ways in which you can simplify the user experience and provide better content.  Work through the entire process as a mystery shopper: submit a mock inquiry, order a product, submit a return and see how satisfied you are with the process.

Then, mystery shop your competition and see how you compare.

Related Posts: 4 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Good Marketing

Reach Out

Stay on top of people’s minds by reaching out to them. Make it your goal this year to scroll through your contacts and to reach out, even if it’s to one person per week.

Another great way to reach out and to spread brand awareness is to attend networking events in your community.

In fact, to help you get the most out of your networking, here are a couple of quick related posts for you:

8 Quick Tips To Networking as a New Entrepreneur

5 Tips to Make the Best Out of Business Networking

Educate Your Audience

You’ll be surprised by how social media can help your company stay relevant. Share your articles, business news and photos via social media.

People do business with people, not with companies and these types of posts make your business seem more approachable.

Invest In Yourself & Your Team

The quieter time of the year is a great time to invest some time into knowledge and betterment.

Whether you decide to advance your skills with a refresher course, learn something new, or read some industry magazines or blogs, or even a book by someone who inspires you, just do it!

Manage Time Positively

We all love to multitask…it makes us feel productive. But, the truth is that multitasking is inefficient and simply exists as a convenient excuse for some of us.

Innovative Time Management Tips for Small Business Owners provides some great insights into why people waste time, and explains why multitasking is no longer effective.

Instead of falling into your old multitasking routine, try to focus on tasks that provide the most value to your business and customers. These tasks can make or break the year and require time and dedication.

Ditch the Politics

2017 was a rough year, politically and emotionally, for everyone. So, to start 2018 off on the right food, we suggest that you ditch the politics in your business and daily life.

That’s right. Ditch ‘em.

Unless your business IS political, you don’t need to burden yourself and your employees with the stress of political agendas and logic battles. Just put it out of your mind and focus on what’s important: serving your customers well.

Learn to Delegate

Managing time is not about doing more with less, but about achieving results. It’s about spending 80% of your time doing the 20% of activities that bring the most results. Learn to delegate mundane tasks that do not require your personal input.

Get More Out of Your Day

By getting up an hour earlier in the morning, you can achieve so much more.

No time to exercise or eat a healthy breakfast? Well, by getting up earlier, you can do that. Of course, you don’t have to exercise, but do something that will positively influence the rest of your day.

Related Posts: 7 Keys to Less Stress and More Achievement

Do you have more insights into making the most of 2018? We’d love to read more about them in comments below.

Filed Under: Authenticity, Branding, Business Development, Create, decision making, Engage & Nurture, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, simplicity, Time and Money, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized, User Experience and Mobility, Value Tagged With: goal setting, goals, marketing, small business

4 Reasons to Use a Premium Website SSL Certificate

December 18, 2017 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

4 Reasons to Use a Premium Website SSL Certificate

In 2014, Google announced a new ranking parameter that they wanted to implement in search engine results: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure or HTTPS for short.

Although subtle, you have probably noticed that some website addresses start with http:// and others with https://, which helps designate which website utilizes a new type of security encryptions. The “s” stands for “Secure” and is typically used on websites that ask for personal or financial information.

HTTPS websites are powered by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. In this post, we are going to explore this technology a bit further and explain the reasons to use a premium website SSL certificate.

First of all, what is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology?

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology establishes an encrypted link between you and your web server. It keeps all data transferred between the browser and the server private.

Without SSL, a hacker can place a small, undetected program on the web server. This software is activated when a website visitor types information on the website, and it will record the information and send it to the hacker.

However, when a site is secured with SSL, a secure connection is instantly formed between the browser and the web server that no third party can access.

Here are 4 solid reasons to use a premium website SSL certificate for your business website:

1. It secures your data.

Google’s new Chrome v. 62 browser now indicates when a site has a form but is not SSL-enabled.

You may have noticed a “Not Secure” prefix on some websites already. If you are like 85% of people who were part of a recent HubSpot Research panel, you will probably navigate back to safety instead of continuing with the unsecured site.

You don’t want visitors to navigate away from your site to that of a competitor, so be sure your site has a premium SSL certificate.

2. It’s SEO friendly!

Google has stated in a public forum that when two sites are equal in search results, one that has SSL enabled will be given a slight rank boost which will outweigh the other.

3. It provides additional authentication.

An SSL certificate from a trusted provider delivers additional authentication. It uses a public key infrastructure (PKI) that ensures your information is sent only to the intended server. This information is not accessible from any other device on the same server.

4. Free SSL certificates are shared.

Free SSL certificates were initially created to provide security for admin dashboards, rather than for public sites. If your site collects private data, it is better to use a premium SSL certificate.

If the server’s private SSL keys land up in the wrong hands, it will compromise all the businesses sharing the certificate, potentially exposing all the financial information collected on those sites.

So, where do you go from here?

Does My Site Have an SSL certificate?

You can use HubSpot’s free SSL checker to see whether your site uses SSL. It might also display a lock icon in the address bar. However, even if your site seems to be SSL enabled, your certificate may have expired, which means that you don’t have protection.

Navigate to View -> Developer Tools in Google Chrome, and click on the Security tab to check on the status of your SSL certificate by clicking “View Certificate”.

How Do I Get an  SSL Certificate?

First, you need to figure out the type of certificate your site needs. Most web hosts can get away with a standard SSL certificate. However, if you’re in a regulated industry – such as insurance, health, or finance – it is best to speak to IT about it. If you host content on separate domains and subdomains on multiple platforms, you may need different SSL certificates.

If you’re unsure about which SSL certificate to use, or if you need help installing it, get in touch with Unbound Web Design.

Filed Under: Authenticity, Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Uncategorized, User Experience and Mobility, web design, web maintenance, web presence Tagged With: business security, website maintenance, website security

Project Highlight: Prolific Communications Consulting

December 11, 2017 By Tara DuBois Leave a Comment

Project Highlight: Prolific Communications Consulting

Industry: Consulting

Company: Prolific Communications Consulting

Type of Work: Website Design

Prolific Communications Consulting is a brand new boutique consulting firm focused on helping businesses communicate more effectively both internally and externally.

The Challenge

As a new consulting business, Prolific had a lot of catching up to do, starting with a stellar branded website to tell their story and showcase their capabilities to potential clients.

The Unbound Solution

We helped Brittney from Prolific Consulting develop the perfect WordPress website for her new company with a customized template.

The Results

The final website is a clean and bright representation of what enhanced communications can do for your company.

As a new small business owner, I felt exceedingly overwhelmed by the entire process. One of my greatest concerns was finding a high-quality web designer that would represent the product and the business well. Tara embodied all of my business needs and the spirit of what I needed for my business. Tara worked quickly through the creation, collaboration/editing, and final development process for my website. Tara has this keen and unique ability to take nothing and make it EVERYTHING you could have asked for and more. My clients and colleagues consistently are taken aback and mesmerized by the website and its professionalism. Tara DuBois is most certainly a shining star in her industry, and her work will brighten your star in your industry. – Brittney Foster, Owner

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Filed Under: Live Life Unbound, Living Life Unbound, new post, Portfolio, Project Highlights, responsive web design, Unbound Freedom, Uncategorized, web design, web presence Tagged With: web design, website design

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