SEO – a case study

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This AM Data Service entry is a little different from many of my other postings, the focus is not on IT Technology, or repair, but rather on an aspect of the business cycle than many companies encounter. Marketing, and whether SEO is ideal for their brand and efforts.

I recently received a letter from a close friend that has been developing their own record label, that focuses on the Jazz Market. They have a website that has some great albums and some really innovative musicianship, the problem has been their inability to generate sales. It’s a well known problems and something a lot of businesses face. How do I SELL my product or services. I realize that this entry is a little more specialized, but I believe a lot of the concepts in my reply are pretty sound.

 

Here is the email (it has been redacted but you’ll get the idea):

Hope you and your family are well! As always, it’s been too long since we’ve seen you; hopefully, we can rectify that sometime soon!

I know you’re an Internet guru, and I have a dilemma — I’ve been using a company called (REMOVED) (I know, silly name…) for several purposes. They tweaked our website, and they’ve been doing SEO.

The SEO is done in 6-month increments, at $60 per month. We’ve done the 1st 6 months, and, honestly, I have no clue if it’s working. We get analytics, but our online sales have actually plummeted.

My questions:

–Is this a fair rate?
–Is SEO usually done in 6-month chunks?
–Is it true that we should continue this ad infinitum (as our guy suggests)? He basically said that, without him doing SEO updates, we’ll fall off all the Search Engines, etc.

Is there a better solution?

I’ve attached the most recent Analytics — Don’t know if this will help you, but there ’tis.

I’d appreciate your thoughts about all this. Obviously, we just need the best, most cost-effective method. And I just don’t know enough about any of this!

 

Best,

(REMOVED)

 

 

Dear (REMOVED),

Goof to hear from you, I can certainly do my best to answer your questions, and will most likely be answering some questions you haven’t asked (as I believe they are the source of your real problems)

 

The SEO is done in 6-month increments, at $60 per month. We’ve done the 1st 6 months, and, honestly, I have no clue if it’s working. We get analytics, but our online sales have actually plummeted.  

This is actually a rather common practice. SEO is a LONG process and does require continued upkeep and maintenance. The idea behind it being that you can gather more traffic into your sales funnel by providing new content and relevant data to prospects, rather than a pay-per-click or even worse the billboard type advertising.
My questions:

–Is this a fair rate? It really depends on 2 things. Is it working? And what is he doing. I would prioritize it in that order too. If he is doing very little but the effect is actually turning out to be a lot, then I would call it a success. If he is doing a lot, but it is amounting to nothing… then… well, fail! $60 per months is not a lot for true SEO, Most places charge several hundred dollars a month, but budget pricing on something that doesn’t work for your Market Niche… it not a sound idea.
–Is SEO usually done in 6-month chunks? Let me start by saying that I have personally never had much luck with an SEO company providing actual results. Secretly I believe the entire industry to be a nod and a wink. People charge what they charge and no one ever spills the beans that it is fluff. Like robot insurance (to protect you from attacks by robots… or land sharks). But I think I may also be oversimplifying or at the very least projecting my bad experiences on all providers

In truth though, I have seen very effective SEO generate good relevant results. However that related more to the efforts by the webmaster than an outside agency (writing articles, staying connected to consumers, etc). Part of the reason for this is also that the company bringing in an SEO expert is also rarely aware of their marketing needs. What terms to target, what terms convert for their sales pitch.

Here is the pitch for SEO: You work to build strong relevant organic traffic that is catered to match your targets keyword niche.

The reality is that there aren’t too many keyword niches left. Most have all been plundered (meaning that there is already a strongly indexed presence in that space). Were this 2001 I’d say you could thrive in any keyword market… now… it is really hard to generate traffic from SEO, that will convert into sales.

Here is the reason. SEO is not a true marketing to improved sales funnel corollary. Having a great SEO strategy doesn’t mean sales. It means potentially increased visibility in search engines. People buy SEO products based on an anticipated outcome, but that is not what is actually being sold.  Is it helpful yes. Does it have the longest potential for residual income (assuming the sales funnel works) yes. Is it predictable. Absolutely 100% not.  Major search engines change the fundamental search ranking algorithms on wild and varied timetable (see, Jagger update).  It can flip up to down and down to up and erase months of hard SEO work.  Your strategy could be link building and now that is a punishment rather than a boon.

The reason I see little success with SEO a lot of times is that it is hard for the SEO company to understand the needs of the client. They will look at keywords (yours for example…also you need to change these)

record label, jazz bands, jazz musicians, jazz records, jazz cds, swinging jazz artists, recording artist, jazz artists, music label,

And make sure that you rank the highest for those terms. There is no sales foresight applied to the process. You want an outcome, they get paid for the efforts. So using the above keywords, you may actually be ranked #1 for all those keywords… but who is actually searching for any of those terms with the intention of BUYING SOMETHING, having a relevant search result does not mean people will click to get to your site. And going to the site does not mean people will buy products.  So even if your search rankings are going up, it may contribute little at all to your website traffic and have little to no effect on your sales.

 –Is it true that we should continue this ad infinitum (as our guy suggests)? He basically said that, without him doing SEO updates, we’ll fall off all the Search Engines, etc.  Yes, but not entirely true. SEO is a content is king methodology. Adding new and fresh original content shows your site is actively building a presence and user experience. If it goes stagnant (meaning no one adds anything) it will drop in rankings (Simply because other sites will be continuing to add to their own SEO efforts. It is a lot like a foot race. . What are they doing for SEO? Link building, Blog? What is their strategy?

Is there a better solution?  SEO isn’t going to do much until you know what keywords lead to sales conversions and are able to target those. With what you currently have, there is no buzz for people to be looking for the targeted terms. SEO works for huge companies because people are already looking for them or the consumables in their niche, Nike, Coke, Etc.  They can corner the market on, sneakers and soda terms. But if you are advertising or promoting something that no one knows about, or rarely searches for, it wont matter how high you rank on the search engines, because it will be a very low volume search term.  For example I could rank #1 for glinkinshpoinks.  I could be #1 forever on it… but no one will ever find it, because they would need to know about that term before they look for it.

I’d appreciate your thoughts about all this. Obviously, we just need the best, most cost-effective method. And I just don’t know enough about any of this!  

Ok I am going to shoot from the hip here since we are old friends, this is your business and something that you want to generate money with and I want to see it become successful. Also I would expect the same from you were we on opposite ends of this email so no punches pulled, here are my thoughts.

Using the website as a means to SELL records is not the most effective way to generate actual sales. Technology has outpaced the idea.

Now, let me clarify that. The way that consumers (regardless of whether they are Jazz fans or not) consume media and related infotainment has changed fundamentally and is increasingly changing each year. Music stores (mega stores), and music sections in mega stores (Wal-Mart) are shrinking, they are doing so at an alarming rate. This is almost exclusively due to the advent and spread of digital media. I know you have heard me ringing that bell ad nauseum, but there is a reason for it.

Right now impulse consumption of media takes all of 10 seconds. I can drive my car and download an album at the same time. I can think of a song and want it, and have it, in 5 button clicks. Record/CD stores are convenience killers. Only a handful of people continue to use them as their way to get music, but it will eventually be obsolete. “Inventory” as it is, is such a 90s idea.  Who needs a bookstore? Who needs a record store? I can put the collected works of every author ever, in all of recorded history from every country, on a device that fits in a pocket.  Convenience is the key. You can’t market your product in a place that people aren’t going to buy that kind of product anymore. It simply doesn’t work if it isn’t in front of the consumers that are going to buy the product it won’t do its job.

Online sales was what added convenience to the brick and mortar shopping experience and struck the first lethal blow to the “Music Store”. It revolutionized things making it easier to get things quickly and on your own time. Digital distribution has done the same thing to online shopping. If I can get it now, why would I want to wait? And if I can get something else now, why would I wait for that original thing? Yes, there are still consumers that will handle with care and enjoy the arrival of a CD or related product, but they are a thinning market. It would be catering your business-model to the diminishing and not expanding market. Like selling those old fashioned licorice candies. Sure there are some people that will eat them, but they are old, and there will be fewer of them every year (the people… and the candies).

So my thoughts, As they are, are that you should be using the website to develop your brand, and building brand recognition with it, content related to artists, buzz builders promotions, and using every possible highly traveled digital distribution source to actually SELL your products.

 

Make it easy

Make it convenient

MAKE IT FAST

Use familiar interfaces

Incentivize the process

Innovate

And focus on the core of your business – you aren’t a drop ship provider, you aren’t a sales portal… No, you are a record label. Make good music and put in in visible places. Use sales to capitalize expansion and run from there.

We have all had to put our notions about how things work in check, but if something isn’t working continuing down the same path is an exercise in futility. Believe me I know that more than anyone. The reason sales are low has nothing to do with the layout of the site, the SEO, content, etc.  It doesn’t even have to do with the products.   I know, I have impulsively purchased tons of (REMOVED) albums.

If you want actual results where you can test an A-B outcome, try marketing through ad-words, create identical campaigns and link one campaign to itunes and link the other to your site and see which generates the greatest net profits for you. You may make less with each itunes sales, but walk away with more, because it is zero overhead sales (no shipping, no packaging, etc). Also this marketing will allow you to identify the terms that are converting sales, which will in turn help you to fuel an SEO expansion. CPA and other controlled campaigns for marketing allow you to build a roadmap for success. if you simply press on without any of the data on what works, you could end up WAY off-course.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with it all!

Choosing a Backup Solution

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There are a variety of different Backup solutions out there, some free some incredibly costly, some catering to local backups, some designed for offsite.

There are many things to consider when evaluating a back-up solution. Most companies look to strike a balance between protecting their valuable Data from total loss, and planning how best to rapidly redeploy saved data in the event of a loss.

Each year the number and types of solutions that exist become more robust, with features that can truly help a company to all but eliminate downtime in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure, or to recreate a functional operating environment in the event of a natural disaster that affects the business.

Let’s start with the simplest notion. Should you be backing up your data? The answer: Absolutely, 100% yes!  Even for the most basic of reasons a data backup is a failsafe in the event that you have a hardware failure. For example, let’s say that you run a database program in SQL that contains all of your business contacts, vendors, billing information, or any other business critical data. In the event that you raid array or other systems fail, that data could be lost. Info and contacts that took years to create could end up gone in just a matter of moments.  A backup plan allows you to ensure that even if the equipment fails, the data itself is still safe.

Local Backup – This is a methodology where on a regular basis data is automatically backed up to a local (often external or Tape backup media).  Local backups allow for the fastest restoring of the data to a new machine (if your server fails).  But local backups can be an issue if what caused the systems to fail was something like a fire or natural disaster. Unless the backup media was stored in a separate and safe location it could be lost as well.

Online Backups – Online backups are a great tool for keeping data in a safe and remotely located storage system. Online backups do tend to take more time to be completed; this can be impacted heavily based on the amount of the data being transferred and the internet connection speed. Online backups are not subject to the same potential losses in the event of a disaster at the business location; however they do tend to take a little longer in the event of a necessary restore (depending on the size of the data backup).

 Virtualization Options – A new and really intriguing option offered by some remote/online backup companies is a feature called Virtualization. Though incredibly expensive, it can be a true lifesaver for those businesses that cannot have any downtime. In essence they will allow you to use a virtualized machine to allow you access your data and continue business while your local computer asset is restored to working order.

 

No matter what solution you choose it is important that you choose some sort of backup strategy for your data, or face a cost to your organization that is many orders of magnitude higher than you might expect. .

Post Holiday (virus)Cleaning

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Every business experiences that slowdown in productivity at the end of the year. People take vacations, get excited for holiday events and spend more time giving gifts and sharing niceties than any other time of the year. Personally, I like the holidays. But as a business owner it is important that you are still being diligent with the security of your networks and IT assets.

The last thing that you want to deal with is a network crisis when your employees are daydreaming about sugar plums.  One of the things we see quite frequently during the holidays are MORE viruses. Spammers and Ne’er-do-wells often take advantage of the holiday times to infect computers with viruses disguised as playful holiday greetings. E-cards, forwards, emails, and all sorts of other infection sources are spread more often and opened more readily during this time of the year.

This is why effective and thorough virus scanning software is such a necessity and not just a suggestion.  The more our home, office and mobile computing environments become intermingled, the more vulnerabilities we create for our IT Assets. We recommend the Antivirus packages Malwarebytes and ESET Nod 32. Certainly there are many more options out there, but we find that the ease of use, limited demand on system resources and thoroughness of the scanning and removal tools give them a more consistently effective review on our part.

Understanding How To Save the Most (taking advantage of the internet)

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“The AM Data Holiday Shopping Special”

Sure this isn’t exactly in line with all our previous iterations of Tech Service and IT Support. Instead it deals more with how consumers can save more during the holidays. It is our annual divergence in a section we like to call “The AM Data Holiday Shopping Special”

For many of us the End of the year represents a great increase in our consumption of goods. We buy gifts, indulge, travel to see family; Basically we spend more and due more during this period of the year. At no point is that more evident than the period from Black Friday, to the visit of Jolly Ole’ St Nick.  With each passing year it becomes easier and easier for us to consume and shop through the internet. Often there are discounts and sales and more than any other motivator, no lines. With all that added up, it’s little wonder that more and more purchases happen online, but did you know that there is a way to actually capitalize on additional savings, just by HOW you place your orders.

Before I get to the how its important to understand the WHY. Online businesses/ and the online presence of brick and mortar locations,  save a tremendous amount of money by facilitating online sales, they don’t have to staff people, they don’t have to pay for location and standard foot traffic enticements. Their potential margins are better than a typical store because the ordering process is basically a direct interaction with the warehouse.

This also means that they have more potential price flexibility when woo-ing a customer.  Perhaps an additional 10-30% price flexibility depending on the type of product.  Most big box retailers that maintain an online presence also maintain rich tracking information on potential buyers. They understand that it is easier to make a concession and get the sale than lose it altogether due to inflexibility.  So knowing this can help you to make the right steps when purchasing an item.

Here is how it works:

If you are looking to purchase a big ticket item, go to the retailer you intend to use. Select the item, enter your contact and shipping details, enter everything EXCEPT for your billing/payment information. When you get to the point where you are ready to submit the order, simply cancel out of the transaction. This will create a database entry that shows what you want to buy, who you are and how they can contact you with incentives to order. You WILL see a coupon that arrives in your email within the 3-5 days (5% off, 10%, free shipping – something like that). Go through the same process, enter everything, enter the coupon code, even enter your billing info, however do not SUBMIT the info, simply cancel out of the order again and wait. You will get an additional discount from the retailer, a coupon code, access to an insider sale – something that represents additional savings. This will likely be close to the best pricing you are able to get from the retailer. If you want you can try again, or take advantage of the savings and move on to the next one.

The tactic above has worked for years and will likely continue to work into the future. If you find success with this, please let us know. More importantly, if you need IT Support, or Tech Support give us a call.

Happy Holidays from AM Data Service.

The Holiday BUG

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It is no secret that many organizations, not in retail, experience a slowdown in business during the holiday season. More employees are on vacation, days are seemingly shorter and many are more concerned about lunch time shopping trips than with work and output.

This can cause a unique issue in the IT world. Because many people are spending more time online looking at the internet and non-work related items (sales, activities, events, travel sites, etc) more people at your organization are opening up your network to potential viruses and issues.

Each time a site that is not trusted is accessed it can create issues with malware, spyware, and key logging software. Add into the mix people using their company email to sign up with virus laden Bargain or Coupon information sites, and you can start to see how this time of year can cause problems with your infrastructure.

It is important for most companies to ensure that their systems are well protected during this time of year. Ensure that Antivirus software is active and running on all assets. Ensure that Firewalls are active, anti-spyware is running, and that there is an aggressive schedule for scanning during the week.

Everyone is excited about the holidays, but no one will be excited when equipment fails due to virus intrusion and hijacked software.

Blog Spam is very annoying

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For many companies the use of a Blog is an excellent way to communicate to their client base, whether it is through enriching educational content, company information and updates, or even details on the overall industry. Regardless of the exact reason for using a Blog, it is a truly valuable tool.  For us, here at AM Data Service, we use our Blog for an amalgam of the reasons listed above. It is our way to let our clients know that we are here for them, to educate them on changing IT trends or ways to save money on their troubleshooting efforts.

If you find yourself currently maintaining a Blog, or are considering using a blog for your organization it is best that you prepare yourself early on for one of the biggest annoyances in maintain a Blog (or Forum or any open communication tool online), BLOG SPAM. It is the most pervasive, irritating and mathematically certain component of maintaining a Blog.

The discovery of it generally plays out like this. You write some truly exciting copy, something about your business, or industry that you are passionate about. You post it to the Blog and smile with the invigorating sense of self-satisfaction that only comes from writing.  Within a few days you see that a comment has been posted to the blog and is awaiting your moderation. You go to your computer with hurried excitement and anticipation to read the comments and are crushed to discover what has been posted is instead a cheap marketing post, or even worse some incoherent comment babble used by Black Hat Marketers.

So what does Blog spam look like? It is typically quite flattering. It will contain a question or something that seems like an engaged reader took their time to try and learn more from you, but it will also most certainly be virtually unreadable. Most of the SPAM posts we have received to this site seem like they were first written in Chinese, translated to Portuguese and then back into English. The grammar, syntax and organization of the statements are complete nonsense- to highlight this I am including some posts. These are word for word comments that we received (minus the coveted backlinks) to our blog.

“Thanks for the share! Very useful info, looking to communicate! “ – Hey not too shabby…

“I precisely wished to appreciate you yet again. I am not sure what I could possibly have made to happen in the absence of the concepts provided by you regarding my area of interest. It was before a very distressing problem in my circumstances, but witnessing this expert form you treated it took me to leap for gladness. I’m grateful for your support and as well , pray you find out what an amazing job that you are accomplishing instructing others by way of your web site. More than likely you have never met any of us. “ – Say Wha?

“Magnificent goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too excellent. I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it sensible. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is really a wonderful site.” – Why thank you…

OK you get the point. Heck, you have probably seen these types of posts on other sites and thought, “what’s wrong with that person.” Well the truth is that Blog SPAM performs a function for many of the marketers that are taking advantage of it. It generates back links. It creates a way to have other sites link to yours by imbedding back links in blog posts. Without getting too technical on this topic they are used as a way to increase a site’s rankings in search engine searches. Most engines give more value to a site that has more sites linking to it. By using Blog Posting software many marketers are able to place backlinks on thousands and thousands of blogs, effectively increasing their backlinks, and hopefully improving their organic search engine results.

You can protect your blog by ensuring that your blog is set up so that posts must be approved. This will allow you to have a real dialogue with real clients, and not allow the spam posts to benefit from your site.  You should also check all your posts for links. If there are links and they do not go to a reputable to relevant site, simply block the post or remove the links from it before approving it. If you see any of the apparent SPAM posts, be sure to mark them as SPAM.

Other than that, there is very little that you can do, simply accept that it is likely an inevitability.

Connectivity Issues and How to Fix Them

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Every company will experience network problems at one point in time or another. Anticipating these potential problems can help to ensure that you fix them quicker and more easily.

Common problems can often be anticipated ahead of time and working to prevent or avoid them is the best way to reduce calls to the Help Desk and ensure a less bumpy experience. When we receive calls related to network issues the problems them self tend to be similar in nature. This is because there are some common problems that can present themselves in any network environment.

One of the major and more frequent problems that occurs is “the duplicate IP address.” This means that the address that the network uses when identifying specific network equipment or computers is duplicated for 2 or more devices. For a network to function properly each device needs its own unique IP address. Instructions on what to do or how to handle information are sent to each unique IP.  Every single PC  and laptop – possesses a unique IP address, but sometimes two devices may receive the same IP address as the result of an error. When this occurs, communication problems arise within the network and services may begin to stop working.  When there is a duplicate IP within the network, it will often require a Systems Administrator or Network Engineer to change the address on one of the computer terminals in order to fix the problem.

Another common issue relates to connectivity. These issues can often be caused by the malfunction of connectivity devices, such as in the case of a switch, router/hub or can happen as the result of configuration changes on the same devices. Its wise to always look at the simplest possible solution first, like for instance, did you accidentally unplug yourself. (so check your physical connections). If something is disconnected, reconnect it, and see if the problem is resolved. If all connections are in order, work your way backwards, check that the port on the hub or switch to which the cabling is connected is on and working properly. There should be a green light on at the port site which indicates that the port is live and ready to connect. Similar testing can be done with other switches and routers. If there doesn’t appear to be an issue with cabling, it may be that the equipment used to connect to the network needs to be reconfigured to accommodate any changes to the network.

It’s a sad truth but sometime cabling and connections just simply go bad. Connections and connectors can break or go bad, or short out. If nothing appears to be physically damaged or disrupted, then cable testers can be utilized to test for other types of electrical and networking problems. These include connection problems, electrical shorts in the cabling, incorrect cable connections and the interference level.

 

When you have eliminated all potential for physical problems, the next thing to look at is potential software problems. Software issues can also cause networking problems. A variety of configuration problems may be at the root of the situation. Registry problems may also cause a networking issue, as well as a number of other software-related possibilities. Depending upon the cause of the problem, you’ll need to either make configuration changes or, perhaps, reinstall a specific piece of the software that may have malfunctioned.

If you should find that your connectivity is unusually slow, this may be a sign of excessive network collisions. A collision is the result of two devices on the same Ethernet network attempting to transmit data at exactly the same time. The network detects the “collision” of the two transmitted packets and discards them both. This is sometimes the result of a poorly planned network. Also these transmission lags can happen when a user ends up transferring an inordinate amount of information at one time, which floods the network. A “jabbering” network card – a network card that’s stuck in the transmit mode – can also cause excessive network collisions. You’ll be able to recognize this because the transmission light will remain on continuously, which means that the network card is transmitting continuously.

 

Having a well-planned out network, and engaging in active monitoring of your systems and network components can help to minimize any exposure your organization might have to these problems.

The IT Miracle

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There are only a few moments in life when a simple action can yield exceptional results. It is even rarer that the action can be repeated and yet still yields the same exceptional results.  In the world of IT, it can be quite hard to find that hidden treasure, however this post is dedicated to that simple action… “a computer restart.”  Ok, lofty words to hammer home a relatively simple point. Many, and I do mean many, errors or simple glitches within a computer system can be remedied by a simple system restart.

Small businesses could perhaps save themselves a tremendous amount of time and wasted effort troubleshooting IT issues by simply restarting their machine. In fact, it is such a commonly overlooked simple resolution that there are numerous humorous sites and post (such as http://www.restartyourcomputer.net/) dedicated to this very topic.  So why is this so often overlooked? Why do most people fail to turn to the system restart when they experience system instability?

I believe the answer to be rather simple. Most people don’t understand what happens when a machine is restarted. They fail to turn to the restart or reboot as an option, because they don’t understand why it would work.

It is with this in mind that we plotted the course of the remainder of this informative text is to enlighten people on WHY a system restart can be a computer user’s friend.

There are 2 forms of booting a system:

A COLD boot (or Soft Boot) occurs when the computer is started up from a powered down state. It is important to remember that you should always wait a few seconds after switching off the computer before applying the power again. Failing to wait could cause damage to your computer.

 

A WARM boot (or Warm Boot) refers to resetting a computer that is already turned on. Resetting it returns the computer to its initial state. A warm boot is sometimes necessary when a program encounters an error from which it cannot recover. On PCs, you can perform a warm boot by pressing the Control, Alt, and Delete keys simultaneously. If you have a reset button, this could be pressed

 

So what happens when a boot takes place. Well, first the POST (Power On Self Test) process takes place. When you power on or restart a computer, it goes through its Power On Self Test (POST) routine, which determines:

  • The amount of real memory.
  • Whether the needed hardware components (such as the keyboard) are present.

Once the computer has run its POST routine, each adapter card with a BIOS runs its own POST routine. The computer and adapter card manufacturers determine what appears on the screen during the POST processing.

In essence the Booting process refreshes the system. It closes services and processes that may have failed and restarts them, a clean slate of sorts. This action can often resolve the issues may otherwise have not been solvable through troubleshooting, IT hours and wasted productivity.

So, when you find yourself in situation where your hair is in your hands, and you are ready to pay any price to get the issue fixed, pause, restart your computer and if you are lucky you may be able to take part in an IT Miracle.  Either way, restarting your machine is a requisite step in the IT troubleshooting process (your IT professional is going to recommend you do it, no matter what).

Patch Management Processes – How a Managed Service Provider Can Help Your Company

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Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for all the existing Microsoft Windows Operating Systems currently being supported (an older OS may not have active patches being created for it).

Microsoft Update is a wholly expanded version of the Windows Update service providing updates and patches not just for the operating system and Internet Explorer, but also for other Microsoft software running under Windows such as Microsoft Office.

Collectively the management of these various update patches is known as Patch Management. These updates are important as there are always improvements to the software’s base reliability, performance and security that need to be addressed. Patch Management is a more hands on approach to managing the software patches themselves. It requires an involvement and awareness of the potential ways that the Patch could impact your system.

In many cases i recommend the use of a Managed Services model, not just as a self-promotion method (though it is a service our agency offers), but because the Installation of Patches is being scheduled and handled remotely, it does not have to interfere with your daily business. Meaning that best practices are likely being implemented, and that the impact to the business network is at an absolute minimum (since Patches and Updates can require server restarts and system interruptions) by having them take place in off times and over the weekend. Also, by using a reputable company that provides qualified Managed Services you can be pretty sure that they are aware of the patches that may or may not be beneficial or detrimental to your organization.

A qualified Managed Services provider should take the following steps with regard to installing or applying Windows Updates or Patches.

Approval of Patches

Most often, patches should be deployed in a test environment to ensure that they are error-free and stable, before rolling them out to your entire network. In those cases where a business has multiple departments and/or a team of system administrators, you should ensure that the patches tested by one department are able to be directly approved for deployment, saving time which can be used for other tasks.

Patch Deployment

Deploy Patches based on missing Microsoft patches or system vulnerabilities, while comparing the Patches with known incompatibilities to ensure successful patching. Patches should be applied at a time where there is minimal network downtime or core business interference. Typically a Managed Service Provider will schedule these patches to occur on evenings or weekends.

Patch Reports

You should be provided with regular patch reports, which provide details about your business network, system vulnerability level, missing Windows patches, applicable Windows patches, installations status, etc.

Your Managed Service provider should be:

  • Scanning computers regularly to identify any potential missing patches
  • Identifying missing patches and downloading them from the appropriate vendors’ Web sites
  • Downloading patches that are required for your network and scheduling tasks related to patch deployment of those patches that could impact network operations (Server updates).
  • Downloading patches that your business requires and automatically installing them on to specific workstations computers

Security Definitions and Antivirus Updates

Antivirus definition updates is quite crucial for all small business enterprises. Antivirus software is critical for all machines that regularly transmit data to/from the internet (send receive email, browse webpages and download content or email attachments). Antivirus definitions are the current list virus/malware/spyware threats that are being actively scanned for and protected against by your Antivirus software. Keeping current Antivirus definitions ensures that you are protected as soon as possible from all new and recently concocted threats.

With the volume of malicious code increasing each year Network Administrators need to keep an eye on these frequent definition updates to avoid any possible mishaps. However, this process can also be made easier by using a Managed Services Provider.

Supported Operating Systems and Applications

Most MSPs will support a long list of software and OS options. If you see that your small business network runs on, and or uses the majority of the software listed below, you may want to consider the value of a Managed Service Provider.

  • Windows 7 (Enterprise, Professional, Ultimate)
  • Windows Vista (Enterprise, Business, Ultimate)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2(Datacenter, Enterprise & Standard)
  • Windows Server 2008 (Standard, Enterprise & Web Server Editions)
  • Windows Server 2003 (Standard, Web & Small Business Server Editions)
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Windows 2000 Professional
  • Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Office 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Internet Explorer
  • Windows Media Player
  • .NET Framework

What Are Windows Updates and Patches and Why Are They So Important to My IT and Network Operations?

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What are Windows Updates and Patches and Why Are They So Important to my IT and Network Operations?

Most of us have been aware of the little pop up box on the task bar of our PC, which states rather bluntly, that there are “Updates Available” for our computer. Some will click on Approve/Install, while others will simply ignore the pop-up indefinitely. But, make no mistake; there is a good reason why your computer tells you that there are updates available.

Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for all the existing Microsoft Windows Operating Systems currently being supported (an older OS may not have active patches being created for it).

On top of the Windows Update there is also a service known as Microsoft Update, which is a wholly expanded version of the Windows Update service providing updates and patches not just for the operating system and Internet Explorer, but also for other Microsoft software running under Windows including program suites such as Microsoft Office, Windows Live, and Microsoft Expression Studio.

Collectively the management of these various update patches is known as Patch Management. These updates are important as there are always improvements to the software’s base reliability, performance and security that need to be addressed. The different updates include Security updates which specifically address software security vulnerabilities only. Also, there are critical updates which are designed to protect against vulnerabilities to malware, security exploits and errors which could compromise the stability of the OS or Windows program.

These Security and Critical updates are routinely provided on the second Tuesday of each month, known within the industry as “Patch Tuesday.” What is important to note is that as these patches are provided there are always chances that application of the patch itself can cause instability in the system. I have personally witnessed numerous occasions when applying a new “.net” patch or “XP Professional” patch causes the computer system or server to lockup requiring a rollback to the previous un-patched version.

Because of this, it is very important that your IT company or in-house IT specialist is aware of the stability of the patches before applying them and that they apply best practices when installing new patches to the OS or Software, as downtime costs your business time and money. Typically this would require establishing a pre-installation restore point, evaluating IT reviews of the patch or known compatibility issues. It is also wise to wait a 2-3 weeks (at least in my experience) before applying the patch. This way any critical issues will often be made known either through Microsoft or other IT publications.

Many people and small businesses can get into the frame of mind that “if a patch can cause a system to fail, then why apply any patches at all?” Though this does seem a logical response, it is important to remember that the software (when originally released) was designed to operate with the functionality of existing peripherals and features – which can grow and change over time. And from a security standpoint, the software or OS was designed to combat the currently existing threat levels and modalities for compromising systems. Over time the tactics used by hackers and their ilk work to beat the existing system security levels, requiring users to update and improve their security. Failing to consistently update can therefore create major security issues and network vulnerabilities that will only compound over time.