Vipa Solutions

For your Earth Day enjoyment, consider this:  before the introduction of email and the internet there were letters, copies of everything that needed to be recorded and copies of copies of important documents. They were all printed on paper.  Now any information you need can be found on the internet database instead of thousands of topics and pieces of information being housed in a set of encyclopedias.  All of that mail correspondence expended in gas by the USPS has dwindled down to a trickling stream in the eyes of the post office who is considering stopping mail delivery on Saturdays all-together.  So instead of chopping down trees to create pamphlets, newspaper articles and ads agencies are turning to online resources such as company websites, micro-sites and online ads to reach out to consumers. 

Re-Use, Reduce and Be Resourceful!

Other paper reducing habits you can employ to be a happy and earth-saving company:

• File Sharing Sites- Stop printing everything off!  Instead use a sharing website to collaborate with documents and projects
• Newsletters can be sent through emails or posted on a press page instead of being mailed to everyone
• Use a projector for meetings instead of printing meeting details for everyone, then email the notes so everyone still gets their own copy.
• Re-use paper that you have printed on by making into scratch paper.  Everyone loves to doodle and jot quick notes, now you don't even have to buy sticky notes for them!
• Print in duplex-  by printing on both sides of a sheet of paper you can reduce your consumption by half.
• Recycle- This is an easy one, just do it. 

<JE

Today's title as you may have read just above this first paragraph is entitled: Making Time to Blog.  Normally, you would think blogging would be fun-and it is- until you run out of things to write about.  Take for example, this Vipa Solutions blog.  My co-workers and I were charged with the task of upkeeping the company blog, each person assigned a topic to talk about, and the intention was that everyone would blog maybe once a week.  The absence of a post for this blog for the last few weeks until now is a great example of what not to do, and I do apologize for any inconvenience our readers may have had, the idea of  the strenuous exercize of  my creative writing muscles  it would take to write something appealing to readers was not appealing to me, but that will be the last of excuses, and now on to the point.

Company blogs can be good, when they are used, for many things.  They add a personal side to a corporate office, they let the viewers know what they are working on or helpful tips for their businesses. Blogging although fun becomes a task dreaded by many especially after a week or two hiatus from writing.  But, it doesn't have to be a painful or anxiety ridden task and literally anyone can write a blog, as long as you know how to write, reading helps too. 

The lesson this week as indicated by the title, is to make time for blogging.  When you make time to write a blog you are doing 5 things right:

1. Writing as a skill, comes easier as you practice and in turn when you don't write for awhile, you become rusty again and will need to work up to your prime abilities through practice.  Ultimately this helps your communication skills.

2.  Making time to blog whether each day, week or two weeks gives your readers an idea as to when they can check out the blog for the next post instead of just sporadically posting. 

3. When you make time to write the blog, you are prepared, ideas come easier and you know that you have time because you scheduled the time

4. Ideas come easier when you know you have to write a blog each day/week. 

5. Blogging in general, generates interest by the people who already know you, but the people who don't know you may look to the blog to get an inside glimpse to the company, this could be one of the first impressions an outsider makes and gives a more in depth and personal view of your company.  It also gives the reader a look at your writing style and creativity which, for those aspiring writers, can give you some practice and a free audience.

When written and maintained correctly, blogs can become a great tool for your company and an entertaining and knowledgeable base for clients and even outsiders who may then become prospective clients.

Here are some tips to get you started and keep you going:

• Establish the purpose of your blog and who will write the blog, then make sure those things happen.
• When you are null and void on ideas look in the following areas to spark your creativity: industry news, industry blogs, company news and also think about tips/items you may want to convey to your clients. 
• When in doubt, have someone else read the blog first
• Unless you are a rockstar at writing, you will probably need to check your work and re-work it a little.  Always check your work for typos and misspellations, general gramatical errors, also- no one likes an unprofessional blogger who: TyPeS LiKe tHiS, OR THIS THE ENTIRE TIME or doesn't capitalize a proper noun.  When in doubt read it again, then have someone else read it.
• Starting a blog and not commiting to it will not get you any followers, so make blogging a regular practice, keep it relevant and be confident of your abilities.
• Asking for user feedback is always a great way to get feedback.  When you ask, you receive.  See example of this below:

Need Help?
The Vipa Team would love to answer your questions about setting up a blog for your company and give you some tips on how and what to write. 

 <JE

Let's play a game. Let me try to guess your password. Is it your name, your significant others name, your dogs name, your anniversary or birth date, the name of your hometown or simply the word 'password'? Any of these followed by a 1 or 0 since most passwords require numbers these days

If its not one of those, let me keep trying...

Is your password all lowercase letters, consecutive numbers like 12345 or letters such as 'qwerty'? Maybe it's a mixture of the two, like 'abc123'.

If I've guessed it by now you might as well know that your passwords are more like billboards posting the phrase "Hack me! Hack me!" on the side of the interstate, and not the small three lane interstate that graces the outskirts of Lincoln NE known as I-80, think more like the freeway in LA.

If you are using simple passwords, you are still posting a small banner on the side of a busy intersection for hackers of all ages, even thirteen year old boys can hack passwords that are all lowercase, and it only takes a few minutes.

Here at Vipa we require seven characters in a password with at least one upper and lowercase letter and a number as well. But, if you really want to be safe (and you should), don't use words from the dictionary, instead use a *passphrase* over 6 characters with multiple symbols (!@#$%^&*) numbers and random upper and lower case letters.

Don't believe me? What do you use passwords for? Do you online bank? Buy things online? You know those are attached to your credit card numbers, don't you? Just ask any of the thousands of people who are hacked each week.

Other things you probably need to change:

• Never duplicate your password for other user names
• Secret Questions are really easy to find out, what is your mother's maiden name? I can find out through an ancestry website, your local newspaper or anywhere else online. Same goes for anniversary dates and the town you were born in.

Moral of the Story: Treat passwords like you would treat your social security number, its private and its assigned only to you no one ever needs to know it, and change them often so no one finds it out.  

Want to test the strength of a password now that I have scared you into believing you are the next hacking victim? Try: https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx