Quick Update

Just a quick update and a look ahead with things from Engage Your Divers.  Things here have been pretty busy and hectic to say the least.  Unfortunately like everyone else, the blog is usually the first thing to get put off...

As some of you are aware, this website was compromised in late June.  This was caused by a non-updated script on the server being used by someone else.  We've taken measures to prevent this from happening.

Although the site was only down for a few hours, it couldn't have come at a worse time as our announcement went out in DiveNewsWire and I was heading to the other side of the country for two weeks. Many thanks to the folks at DiveNewsWire for taking such good care of me.

But as Nick over at NewScubaMarketing posted, it does happen, so remember to take regular backups of your website and always, always make sure all security updates are applied.

Website Evaluations:

I'm just about caught up with all the free website evaluations.  So if you haven't received yours yet, it's on the way soon. These are done by hand so please understand that they do take some time and the response was great.

Facebook Pages:

Recently we've done a few custom Facebook pages for sites that aren't using our CMS. They're built using what's called Facebook Markup Language (FBML) so anyone can have their own custom fanpage for their dive center.

I'm really "becoming a fan" of custom pages because they allow you to put a large amount of information out there for the 500 million facebook users to look at without having to leave their comfort zone of facebook. 

It also lets you use your wall for engaging your divers and actually having a conversation with them rather than just posting links to courses on your website.  There's no need, all the info is right there at their fingertips.  It's like having your own min-website right there on facebook. 

Check out the Ocean Concepts Facebook page and you'll get the idea.  Become a Fan or Like it while you're there!

Blogging for SEO:

In my last post I touched on dive shops using blogger.com or something similar to host their dive blogs instead of just setting up their own using wordpress on their own domain or subdomain.

Then I got to thinking...If I were the dive shop manager/owner would I really want to go through the whole setting up a MySql database, copying and extacting files really not knowing what I was doing and that I perceive as just too hard to do?

Probably not.  No matter how many blog posts Nick, myself or anyone else writes about how easy it is to use wordpress and why it's better, people are short on time and don't see the value in learning something that seems pretty alien to them.

Which is why many people just bite the bullet and use blogger or whatever service they come across.

This has actually taken up a lot of my time lately so be on the lookout for some new features here at EYD.

Enjoy your summer diving!