VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

Good Password = Good Idea

This time of year, with all the online shopping, shipping, and marketing to be done, you might find yourself signing up for many different web-based products and services (like VerticalResponse maybe?). While it's tempting to rush through these signup processes to place your order faster or start using the product quicker, you want to use a strong password (or passwords) to keep your information secure.

We bring this up because SplashData, a password management application provider, unveiled its "25 Worst Passwords of the Year" for 2011, which was also featured by online news sages Mashable.

SplashData compiled their list "from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers" and stated that "Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords…". So when they say "worst," they basically mean the most common, and therefore the most easily stolen.

Here's the list:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
   
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

I'm a little disappointed not to see "opensesame" on this list. Wait, I've said too much...

Anyway, SplashData also provided some helpful dos and don'ts for creating stronger, more secure passwords:

• Do: make your passwords at least eight characters
• Do: use a variety of letters (capital and lowercase), numbers, or special characters (#, $, *, etc...) when possible.
• Don't: use the same username/password combination on multiple sites. Microsoft agrees.
  

If you feel like you won't be able to remember lots of different logins, you can either write them down somewhere safe, or use an online password manager to help you keep track.

Hopefully this post is just a friendly refresher course on password security. But, if your password does happen to be "password," go ahead and change it; we won't tell anybody.

Posted by Brendan Hill.

Brendan Hill is a Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter at @BrendanHill.

How to Run Your Business With Virtually NO Software to Install

I was thinking the other day that every single time we need new “software” for the business, Jonathan, our VP of Engineering says, “Can you fine an online solution so the engineering team can concentrate on creating value for our customers and not managing all kinds of software?” Fine Jonathan, and we'll even do it on the cheap!

Jonathan and Alf helped me out with this one and it's a goody. The main reasons for wanting a online hosted solution are:

• No servers to manage or maintain
• All you need is a browser, so they're normally compatible with both Windows and Mac users

So together we came up with a list of online solutions, that you can get either free, have inexpensive monthly fees or pay as you go, and you don't need to manage anything. It isn't an exhaustive list but we think it's some of the best.

One more thing...this is a list of products we like or products we use ourselves. There is no paid advertisement going on here.

Running the Biz

800# and Hosted Phone Lines – VirtualPBX ($25 set up, $10/month per line)

Conference Calling – totallyfreeconferencecalls.com (Free, each caller pays for their minutes)

Fax to Email/Email to Fax - eFax (from Free to $20/month)

Payroll - ADP (less than $100 for a 40 person payroll)

Word Processing & Spreadsheets - Google Docs & Spreadsheets (Free), Zoho (Free, comes with TONS of features, I may finally and fully leave MSFT)

Data Backup - Mozy (Free 2GB), xDrive (Free 5GB), SOS Backup (5GB $4/month), iBackup (5GB $10/month)

Photo & Video Storage - Phanfare (unlimited backup of full resolution photos and video $6.95/month) Flickr (100MB/month, 5 MB/Photo Free), Snapfish & KodakGallary (Free for 12 months as long as you buy one thing from them.

Group Chat/Collaboration - Campfire (Free to $49/mo), Zoho (Free)

Organization - to do lists, notes, files, images, calendar, reminders - Backpack (Free - $14/month) Zoho (Free), Google Calendar (Free)

Project Management – Basecamp, Go Plan (Free to manage 1 or 2 projects.)

Marketing/Sales

Email Marketing – Obviously VerticalResponse (about 1¢ or less an email)

Website Hosting & Creation Templates – WorkZ Sites ($20/month)

Website Analytics – Google Analytics (Free), Technorati for blogs (Free)

Brand Monitoring – Andiamo Systems ($99/month coming soon, I've seen it, it rocks)

CRM/Contact Management – salesforce.com ($65/month/user, stripped down version for $9/month/user), SugarCRM ($40/month/user), Highrise ($149/month unlimited users.), Zoho, (Free up to 3 users)

Direct Mail – VerticalResponse, iprint ($ Depends on # of pieces)

Online Store - Yahoo Store ($40/month), eBay Stores ($15.95/month), Amazon Stores ($40/month), Miva (from $14.95/month)

Surveys – SurveyMonkey ($20/month 1000 responses)

Create a Logo – LogoYes ($99 to create your own Logo in minutes, it's pretty fun)

Blogging – TypePad ($4.95/month)

Website Rankings – urltrends, Alexa (Free)

Do you use an online solution you love but Got any others? Love to hear them.