Keeping Santa’s Secrets Safe in a Digital World
Dec06

Keeping Santa’s Secrets Safe in a Digital World

When I was little, my sister and I used to sneak into my parents’ room and rummage through their closets in hopes of finding clues as to what we’d be getting for Christmas. Today, with online gift buying becoming the norm, it’s not just closets that can leave clues. Digital breadcrumbs can give you away to the tech-savvy kid. Snooping kids can see what stores you’ve visited online and what products you’ve searched for. And, if you’ve made a purchase, your receipts and tracking notifications will be sitting in your email. So how do you keep all this information from prying eyes? Follow these simple steps to keep your gifts a surprise. Keep your browsing private Hiding your browsing activity is the first step to keeping kids from finding out what will be hidden in their gift boxes. Delete your browsing history If you’ve already started shopping, you’ll want to delete your browsing history so your kids won’t know what you’ve been looking at. Chrome – Click on the trip lines in the far upper right of your screen, then “Settings” then “Show advanced settings.” Under Privacy, click on “Clear browsing history.” Firefox – Click on “Firefox” then “History” then “Clear recent history.” Internet Explorer –Click on the tools cog in the far upper right of your screen, then “Safety” and “Delete browsing history.” Safari – Click on “Safari”, then “Private Browsing.” Delete your search history The items you’ve been searching for can giveaway your gifting intentions. So delete telltale terms, if your search […]

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Tea Party Test in Virginia Harbinger for 2014 Senate Race
Nov04

Tea Party Test in Virginia Harbinger for 2014 Senate Race

Call it a test case for the 2014 congressional elections. Tomorrow’s contest for Virginia’s next governor is drawing attention as a national harbinger, and it’s giving Republicans plenty to worry about. Polls show Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former national party chairman and fundraiser, ahead of Republican rival, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. If that’s the outcome of the race, it would make McAuliffe the first candidate of a sitting president’s party in almost four decades to win election in the Old Dominion, a state that voted twice for both former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. “As Republicans, we have to ask, is there a business model issue here?” said former Virginia Republican Representative Thomas M. Davis III, director of federal affairs for Deloitte Consulting LP. “We have a Republican who’s opted to go theTea Party route, and it’s absolutely clear it’s a losing strategy — that’s going to be the message of this” election. The contest has taken on national significance in its closing days, with each candidate working to portray his opponent as a poster boy for all that is wrong with his party. McAuliffe, 56, who campaigned with Obama yesterday and appears with Vice President Joe Biden today, is painting Cuccinelli as an ally of the small-government Tea Party movement that orchestrated last month’s 16-day federal government shutdown. “Ken Cuccinelli has spent his career creating gridlock from the political fringe,” McAuliffe said during his appearance with the president in Arlington. “The question in this election is simple: Will the mainstream, bipartisan majority in […]

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The Art of LinkedIn: Company Profile Edition
Mar11

The Art of LinkedIn: Company Profile Edition

Contrary to popular belief, having a professional-looking website is actually less important today than it has been in the past.  In today’s business environment, the emphasis is on developing a respectable company image via public forums.  The big name is LinkedIn.  Today’s internet-savvy customers will look at your company’s LinkedIn profile to get an idea of what services you provide, what experience you have, and what kind of relationships you have with customers and other businesses.  Potential customers want to see genuine endorsements of your company from previous customers on LinkedIn.  So how can your company make the most out of its LinkedIn presence?  First, make sure the focus of your LinkedIn description is on the customer.  This means emphasizing to your LinkedIn viewers why customers buy your product rather than simply describing your product and its features.  Every key member of your company should have a profile that reinforces your company’s core message.  Use your company’s LinkedIn profile as a means of keeping customers updated on significant events for your brand.  These events could include a big sale, a new hire, or a new product. Instead of working to create a long, superfluous biography on your company website, work toward bringing potential customers to your LinkedIn profile.  The purpose of a company LinkedIn profile is to inform potential customers of what your company represents and why your customers buy from you.  Once your company has mastered the art of LinkedIn, its potential for marketing to today’s generation of social […]

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