What I Wish Everyone Knew About the Name HeartWired

What I Wish Everyone Knew About the Name HeartWired

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Our company name HeartWired Digital Solutions literally defines our business. Sure it may be a play on words, but it encompasses much more than that. Ever since I started my company in 2016, I have hoped and prayed that everyone would know that we were a company that cares for the individual behind the organizations we serve just as much as we care for our own. We pour our heart into every web design project and treat it as if it were our only one.

HeartWired was initially a play on words for “hardwired” a common term in the technology industry meaning “involving or achieved by permanently connected circuits.”

Even the Ethernet cable in the form of a heartbeat in the logo is representative of the vein of our company’s being. Our deep rooted desire to serve each client where they are has become the focal point of our business model.

Compassion and technology are usually terms that are rarely used in the same sentence. In a fast paced world, focused on numbers rather than service, it is all but a lost art. Our motto “Technology and Web Services with Heart” has become our mission.  Rather than treating people like a number, we prefer to learn about their story and get to know their heart before we ever take them on as a client.  In doing so we believe we believe we can restore the heart and compassion one satisfied customer, better yet friend at a time.

Small business owners at the core are community leaders, they hold the responsibility to build relationships within their local neighborhoods and cities.

Whether your business is a brick and mortar or strictly online or perhaps a combination of both, you serve your community first and foremost. The more involved we have gotten in our own local area, the more businesses we have been able to serve, the more we have grown through word of mouth more valuable than any advertisement dollars we could spend.

Occasionally there is confusion when people look at our logo, they ask if we are in the medical or health field. While we have served clients in those industries as well as nonprofits, realtors, local businesses, bloggers and more, we are a technology and web design agency through and through. While we offer web design solutions, SEO services, digital reputation management, proximity marketing and more, at the heart of it all we provide various ways for people to share their heart-filled stories online.

Is Two-Factor Really Worth the Hassle?

Is Two-Factor Really Worth the Hassle?

Read the headlines of almost any newspaper, magazine, or newsfeed and you will find stories of hacking.

People just like you and me having their identities stolen, their emails and privacy breached, your website wiped away, your credit cards used on shopping sprees around the world, yet it CAN be prevented. If more people used two-factor authentication, they could stop it all from happening.

So what is Two-factor authentication exactly?

Two-factor authentication, also called multiple-factor or multiple-step verification, is an authentication mechanism to double check that you are well you. It validates your identity as only you can and if the person trying to access it fails they don’t get in, simple as that.

There are a few different ways that Two-factor work, yet the concept is all the same. The first layer is your username and password combination that almost everything uses nowadays from social media, credit cards to simply accessing your phone or pc.

The Second Layer – hence making it TWO-factor can be any of the following:

  • You and only you know – this could be a pin number, a secret question or even another passcode.

Two-factor usually is combined with another code on a different device

  • Physical validation – This is something such as a cell phone, USB, token, keychain, generally a random code generated device.

You and only you can protect yourself and use two-factor authentication on all devices

  • You are the answer – As technology advances, so does verification from facial recognition, voice matching, retina scans, fingerprints and more.

Ultimately you are your own best defense.

Usually, any of these secondary factors also have a time stamp and even location involved. Similar to the Mission Impossible theory that the message will self-destruct. In this case, they are usually invalid after a period of time and have to be requested again if time expires.

Hacking has been the new income. Forget the Bitcoin, stocks or anything else. In today’s economy information sells, namely your information.

That’s right! What we once thought to be sacred to the point where we stored our social security cards in safes or lockboxes is now an everyday commodity.

The recent Equifax exploitation should prove our information is not safe. Not even safe with those who market themselves as the guardians of our personal information.

Some questions people ask:

  1. Isn’t virus protection enough to protect my information?
  2. I use a password manager like LastPass, that is safe enough right?
  3. Why is two factor so cumbersome?

First virus protection, protects you from most viruses. It is not 100% effective and it does not keep your information away from others. Think of it more of a preventive like the flu vaccine.

Password managers while some are fantastic, they too are a hackers paradise. I personally use and recommend LastPass. Even with that being said it is not perfect.

Two-factor is not supposed to be necessarily convenient. If it were, everyone would have it, and it would be easy to be hacked as well.

When combining two factor with a password manager, you are building up lines of defenses to protect your information. Having a password and an extra factor authentication does not make your accounts 100% safe. It’s not a foolproof way, that will make your account unhackable. No, it only makes it more difficult to access by those unsavory people who have no right to your information.

You might be wondering what accounts call for two-factor, here is a list of the obvious ones, some of which actually require it, all of them should.

  • Bank accounts (any time you access your bank online, even to check a balance)
  • Email (Yahoo just got hacked, in fact, might want to just quit using them entirely)
  • Password Managers (LastPass is my recommendation, but any and all should be protected)
  • Social Media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn add it to all of them even if not required)
  • Notetaking applications (Allo, Evernote, anywhere you put notes or data online)
  • Cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud)
  • Messaging applications (Messenger, Zoom, Skype)
  • Shopping (Amazon, Overstock, Ebay, wherever you shop)
Keeping Your Website in Motion with Flywheel Hosting

Keeping Your Website in Motion with Flywheel Hosting

Ever had a website go offline with a server error with no explanation?

Similar to the flywheel of your car, people take web hosting for granted until it breaks.

Spinning your tires when you need support for your site is no fun!

I cannot tell you the hours I have spent, not to mention the frustration trying to get an issue resolved only to be spun off and get transferred to another department.

All of that changed when I moved my web design agency from another web host to Flywheel. Any mechanic will tell you without the right tools, it does not matter what you know, same goes for hosting support.

With Flywheel WordPress hosting that does not get bogged down with email, hosting other products besides WordPress sites. Therefore they are able to provide optimum service on the services they provide. They have everything you need from a local host, cloning, staging, and more. Whether a web design agency like we are or a single site owner of a blog, they are the best choice by far when it comes to customer service, hosting.

With an all-around pleasant user experience, which truth be told is worth every penny in my book, why go anywhere else?

A worry-free host is invaluable these days.

With hacker-free security, blazing speeds, nightly backups and much more. I rest easy and am able to focus on my clients’ designs knowing that their hosting is in good hands.

There have been a couple times that I have contacted Flywheel for help. It was like taking my truck to the local mechanic that specialized in Ford trucks rather than the dealership that “specializes” in numerous makes and models. It is expedited personal service like this that keeps all my clients’ sites up and running. At the end of the day that is what matters most.

Add in a free SSL that is included rather than extra. This gives that extra layer of security to both clients and designer. This helps keep all the bearings greased up and running smoothly for our clients and their businesses that they run online.

Just as in any equipment or service, you get what you pay for. With Flywheel, you can count on their great team to help keep you up and running. From pain-free migrations to staging a new client. Flywheel is not only where I host my clients’ sites, but who I trust with my own hosting as well.

So if you are in the market for a new web host, we can help.

We only offer Flywheel hosting as our WordPress hosting provider if you host your site with us.