What are Facebook's new privacy settings, and should you be alarmed?

What is Instant Personalization?

Instant Personalization by Facebook has long been in the making (since April of 2010) but only recently has it been implemented. So what is it exactly?

Essentially, Facebook is now sharing part of your personal profile with other websites. It seems really scary at first, and many users have a right to be freaked out by this concept, but it might not be quite as dangerous as it sounds.

First of all - it's only a select few websites. Rotten Tomatoes, TripAdvisor, Clicker, Pandora, and Yelp as well as a couple more are the sites your information is being shared on.

Secondly, it's not sharing private information with non-Facebook friends. So whatever information you have set as public (who your friends are, your profile picture and your name) will be available - not your home town, status updates, or anything like that. In other words - they can't see anything that they couldn't already see by going to your Facebook page.

The idea behind it is to make the sites even more social and more personal. Take movie review site Rotten Tomatoes for example - when you go to their page, you'll see that some of your friends like a certain movie. They can also see what movies you like.

It's basically taking some of the information you've already given to Facebook and sharing it on other sites. Friends can see it, but no one else.

Let's say that your friend Bob clicks the "like" button for the movie Gone with the Wind. When you go to Rotten Tomatoes you will see that Bob "likes" that movie, and you may be interested in watching it yourself.

What Facebook users are particularly annoyed with is that Facebook automatically installed this feature...rather than it be an opt-in feature, you're enrolled automatically. It's a little unsettling to go to a new website that you've never been before, and for it to have a picture of you with your name on it. How did they get that info? Well, it's public information on your Facebook page. But that doesn't mean it isn't going to freak out a lot of people.

What you should do

First of all, make sure you know exactly what information is public and private on your Facebook page. We do not recommend letting non-friends see your pictures. And if you're even just a little bit private, make sure that friends of friends can't see your pictures either.

Secondly, if you feel uncomfortable about Instant Personalization, then just opt out. Here's how you do it (it's kind of hidden):

Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Apps and Websites > Instant Personalization > Edit Settings, and un-check "Enable".

The important thing to know is that as long you are comfortable with your privacy settings for Facebook itself, then you have nothing to be worried about as far as security. Nothing not already public is being shared...the only difference is that now it's being shared in several different places. However it would still be nice if Facebook was a little more sensitive about sharing our information with other websites.

How to Get Started on Your Website

Want to know how to get started on building your website? If you're like most people, you have questions in areas such as:

• How to even begin
• What all the terminology means (domain names, hosting, DNS, CMS, CSS, HTML, SEO)
• What should the end product look like
• What to look for in a web development company
• What options do you have to include in your website (like photo galleries, video, social media, PayPal, etc.)
  

In this article we help give you a strategy that will get you started on your website. Whether you create it on your own, hire a professional, or something in between, you need to know these tips on getting started with your website.

Who are my competitors online?

This is ALWAYS the first question we ask people who get a new website. This is what you should do:

• Go to Google.com
• Type in your industry, and the city and state - example, "web design companies, hampton virginia"
• You should hopefully recognize some of the top hits - they're you're competitors. Make a list of the top 4 or 5 websites that come up. Whether you like everything about their website or not, make notes about what they do well, what they don't do well, what you like, don't like, what you'd like to improve upon, etc.
  

In this step you're just getting ideas. Maybe you never thought to add a Testimonials page but you see that your competitor has one. You don't want to copy them so you look the same, but just get some ideas.

Who is my audience?

Figure out who you're trying to reach. There are many different ways to break up your market:

• Age
• Geographic location
• People with a certain interest
• Businesses
• Parents

For example, Fresh Look Web Design is targeting primarily small businesses and non-profits who understand the importance of marketing through the internet. A business with no interest in trying to market itself will never get a website, so we aren't too concerned with them. Focus on the audience that you are trying to reach.

What do I want people to do when they visit my website?

This may sound simple but it's a tough question to answer. Your website needs to be driving people towards accomplishing a goal. People don't usually browse aimlessly and then decide to purchase...they're looking for something in particular and they need help finding it.

There are some goals which apply to all websites:

• Post contact information so people can contact you
• Improve your image with a professional design
  
• Get found on the search engines
• Post general information about your company on your About Us page
  

There are also goals which apply to some websites, but not others. When people visit your website, you may want them to:

• Download your brochure
• Fill out a contact form
• Make a purchase
• View your portfolio or pictures
  
• Register for an event
• Apply for employment

Make sure you have a good "Call to Action" on your website. Examples include:

• "Click here!"
• "Call now!"
• "Download our brochure"
• "View our portfolio"
  

You want to let people know what to do, and make it very easy for them.

Checking out the competition, targeting your audience, and setting goals for your website are the foundation of every good website. Sometimes just taking that first step is half the battle, and if you do these 3 things you're off to a fantastic start.

How to easily update your own website

Are you ready? This is probably the best way to save your company lots of money. Don't pay a professional every time you update your website. Don't hire a full time employee to manage your website for you. Do it yourself. Or hire an intern to do it for you. It's EASY. Here's how it works:

Get a web developer or someone to help you set up your website into a "Content Management System" (or CMS). A CMS is just a way to manage your web content easily. The most important feature about a good CMS is that you don't have to know HTML or how to code or program. That would be a good thing.

The concept behind each CMS is the same. Your website is setup in templates, with pages associated with each template. You don't usually change the template, but rather the content inside the template.



Some CMS's only let you change the content area. Others let you edit the template as well, although that usually requires HTML coding. Below we'll take a look at a few CMS's and the pros and cons:

1. Dreamweaver Templates

Although maybe not technically a CMS, having a site set up in DWT's is a common way to manage your own website.

Pros:

• Complete control of your site
• Simple
• Doesn't require a database
• Extremely mobile
• Easier to undo mistakes
• Not too difficult to change template
  

Cons:

• Requires file upload - computer skills required
  
• You have to purchase the software (about $250)
• Takes longer to make changes (have to wait for files to upload)

I actually have moved away from Dreamweaver Templates recently. They're nice, but there are better options out there. Plus the lack of plugins means that if I want to add dynamic content like an interactive calendar than I'm out of luck.

Grade: C+

2. Contribute

Also by Adobe like Dreamweaver, Contribute is actually compatible with Dreamweaver Templates. This software is a step down from Dreamweaver, and simplifies a lot of what DW can do.

Pros:

• Very simple
• Cheaper than Dreamweaver (about $100)
• Hard to make mistakes
  
• Extremely mobile

Cons:

• Can't change the template very easily
  
• Have to purchase software still
• Can be buggy

Contribute is a good starter way to test the waters of updating your own website. It's much easier than Dreamweaver since you don't have to worry about uploading files. But it's very limited, and if possible we recommend trying something else.

Grade: C

3. WordPress

WordPress is a blogging platform which can also serve as a CMS for your website. WordPress is popular and easy...and if you like blogging it is ideal.

Pros:

• Very easy to use
• Free
• Great for blogging
• Has many plugins such as shopping cart, contact form, SEO, etc.
• Widely supported so if you have a problem, so do other people. Google it.
• Easier to add new pages than Dreamweaver or Contribute
  

Cons:

• While it does have a shopping cart plugin, it's not great for e-commerce
• Limited in functionality. The plugins are generally basic. A large, professional corporate website would need more than WordPress
• It's not developer friendly. Upgrades to the system may cause bugs, requiring you or your developer to fix it.

WordPress does come with plugins, and can now do more than just blogging, but it isn't ideal for larger websites. If you love blogging, and have a small website, it is a good solution.

Grade: B+

4. Joomla

Joomla is a very robust, sometimes complicated CMS designed for any size website. Fresh Look Web Design uses Joomla more than any other CMS because of the flexibility and performance it offers our clients.

Pros:

• Free
• Has fantastic plugins, particularly the calendar, business directory, and SEO upgrades
• Developer and designer friendly
• Easy to create multiple templates
• Very widely supported and great community of developers
• Easy to modify template and add pages
  

Cons:

• Can be more difficult to learn if not trained properly
• Not as intuitive as WordPress

Joomla's biggest strength is the additional plugins you can install. JEvents, the calendar addon, is an invaluable tool for many of our clients. Here is an example of it in action. The business directory is also very robust. It's great for Chambers of Commerce - here is an example. There are hundreds of other plugins to choose from depending on your needs. The only downside is that because there is so much to Joomla, one can get lost without help.

Grade: A+

Here's our recommendation - if you want a website, you need to update your website. If you update your website, you need to do it cost effective...which means you need a CMS. Our top choice is Joomla, but pick the one that fits your needs the best.