Hitesh Grover | D2D Websites Marketing

What is SSL – Secure Socket Layer

by Hitesh Grover | Nov 1, 2019 | Cyber Security

Technology is updating every day; it has become a challenge for businesses of all types and the customers to keep their personal data safe and secure. Without a perfect protection strategy, the businesses will be at risk and spread malware, attacks on another website, and also the IT infrastructure. Web Security is a crucial and important component to protect/secure Websites and servers. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a standard protocol used for the secure transmission of documents over a network. Developed by Netscape, SSL creates a secure link between a web server and browser to ensure private and integral data transmission. SSL uses Transport Control Protocol (TCP) for communication. The word socket in SSL refers to the transfer of data between a server and client over a network.

During Internet transactions using Secure Socket Layer, a Web server needs an SSL certificate to create a secure connection. The encryption of the network connection is carried out above the transport layer, which is a connection component above the program layer. An asymmetric cryptographic mechanism is followed by SSL. In this, a web browser creates a public key and a private key. The public key is placed in a data file known as a certificate signing request (CSR). The private key is issued to the recipient only.

How does SSL Certificate Create a secure connection?

When a browser tries to access a website, which is secured by SSL, the browser and the web server establish a secured connection using the process called an “SSL Handshake”. The SSL handshake is invisible to the user and it happens instantaneously. Three keys are essential to set up SSL Connection: Public, Private, and Session keys. Anything that is encrypted with the public key can be decrypted with the private key and vice versa.
This encrypting and decrypting with a private key and public key take a lot of processing power, they are only used during the SSL Handshake to create symmetric session key, After the connection Is made, the session key is used to encrypt the transmitted data.

The browser connects to the webserver (website) which is secured with SSL (https). The browser then requests the server to identify itself.
The SSL Certificate is sent by the server, including the server’s public key.
Browser now checks the certificate root over a list of trusted Cas and also the certificate is unexpired, unrevoked, and its common name is valid for the website which it is going to connect to. The certificate is trusted by the browser, it creates, encrypts, and sends back a symmetric session key using the public key of the server.
The server decrypts the symmetric session key using the private key and sends the acknowledgment which is encrypted with the session key to start the encrypted session.
The browser and the server now encrypt all transmitted data with the session key.

What does EV look like?

If the site collects credit card information, it is required by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) to have an SSL certificate. If the website consists of login sessions or it sends/receives other private information (name, age, street, address, records, phone number, etc.), you should be using Extended Validation SSL Certificates to protect the data. Your customers should know that you value their security and you are serious about protecting their information. A has the number of customers is becoming savvy online shoppers and in return reward the brand, they trust with increased business.

The objectives of SSL are:

The integrity of Data: Data is protected from tampering.
Privacy of Data: Data privacy is ensured through a series of protocols.
Client-server authentication: The SSL protocol uses standard cryptographic techniques to authenticate the client and server.

Protocols of Secure Socket Layer:

SSL record protocol
Handshake protocol
Change-cipher spec protocol
Alert protocol

SSL Protocol Stack

SSL Record Protocol:

There are two services provided to secured connection from SSL records.

Confidentiality
Message Integrity

Application data is divided into fragments in SSL Record Protocol. It is a compressed and encrypted Message Authentication Code (MAC) which is generated by algorithms like SHA (Secure Hash Protocol) and MD5 (Message Digest) is appended. On completion of the encryption of data, the SSL header is appended to the data.

Handshake Protocol:

This protocol is used to establish sessions. This allows authentication of client and server by sending a series of messages to each other. This protocol comprises of four phases to complete cycle.

Phase-1: In this, both server and client send hello-packets to one another. In this IP session, the protocol version and cipher suite are exchanged for security reasons.
Phase-2: Server sends its certificate and also Server-Key-exchange. The server ends this phase by sending Server-hello-end packet
Phase-3: In this client replies to the server by sending its certificate and client-exchange-key.
Phase-4: In this Change-cipher suite occurs and after this, the Handshake Protocol ends.

Change-cipher protocol:

SSL record protocol is used by Change-Cipher protocol. The SSL record output will be in a pending state unless the Handshake protocol is completed. The pending state is converted into the Current state after the Handshake protocol. This consists of a single message of 1-byte length having only one value. The purpose of this protocol is to cause the pending state to get copied into the current state.

Alert Protocol:

Alert protocol is used to convert SSL-related alerts to the peer entity. Each message consists of 2 bytes.

In this level is classified further into two parts:

Warning: This type of alert has no impact on the connection between receiver and sender.
Fatal Error: This type of error breaks the connection between receiver and sender.

Salient features of Secure Socket Layer:

This type of approach has an advantage that the service can be tailored to the needs of the given application.
Netscape was the one to originate Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
It is designed to make use of TCP to provide end-to-end secure service
This protocol is two-layered

Difference between Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS):

Both Transport Layer Security and Secure Socket Layer are the protocols used to provide security between wen server and web browser. The main difference is that in SSL, a Message digest is used to create a master secret and it provides basic security which is Confidentiality and Authentication. While in Transport Layer Security (TLS) Pseudo-random function creates the master secret. The Secure Socket Layer supports the Fortezza algorithm. While Transport Layer Security (TLS) does not support the Fortezza algorithm. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is complex than Transport Layer Security (TLS). SSL is a 3.0 version. While TLS is 1.0 version.
With the increasing number of scams happening over the web, web security plays a crucial role. It is essential in order to attain the trust of the customer and impacts every business.SSL plays a very important role in ensuring web security and builds trust among the customers.

Why SEO is important for your website?

by Hitesh Grover | Oct 29, 2019 | Digital Marketing

What is SEO?

In simple terms, SEO means optimizing the search engine with the help of a few algorithms to make your page visible among the first few pages on any search engine. You might already know how important it is to be visible on the search engine. While you read the article you will surely be knowing many more advantages of why SEO is important for your website.

How does SEO work?

In simple words, SEO is using relevant keywords and phrases which the search engine recognizes. Any search engine performs three tasks before providing results to any search. The three tasks are namely CRAWL, INDEX and RANK.

Firstly the search engine crawls through the entire website and searches for relevant keywords and phrases and the number of occurrences of them. This process is known as CRAWLING. In the next step the search engine stores the content that it encountered during the crawling stage and this stage is known as INDEXING. In the final step, it ranks the websites based on the crawling process and the search results are displayed according to the ranks. This process is known as RANKING.

When all this is done where your website stands decides the amount of traffic and the number of customers you gain. SEO is important for both small businesses and large businesses. It is specifically more important for small businesses to increase their brand credibility and recognition. Small business SEO also improves traffic and customer recognition.

Why SEO is important?

SEO is the second most important factor for your business after good content/services. There is a famous joke that says, “If you want to hide something, hide it on the second page of Google.” This one sentence is in itself a complete proof of why SEO is important for any online website. It has been repeatedly mentioned by many business developers about the positive impacts of SEO on their businesses. If you are still not convinced then read on to find out some of the major reasons to use SEO.

Benefits of Search Engine Optimization:

1. Improves the visibility: As obvious as it is one important result of applying SEO to your website/blog is that it improves visibility. Nobody ever browses through the subservient pages of the internet so it is not just an added advantage but, in fact, a necessity for any page to be available on the initial page of any search engine. Every time you google something you only browse through the first page only once a blue moon you click on the next page. You cannot risk being on the second or third pages of any search engine.

2. Increases traffic: When you increase the visibility of your page, then the traffic on the page is bound to be increased. We always tend to click on the first few results of our search. So when your website appears on the top people are bound to give it a look. This does not happen if your page isn’t in the top results. Many statistics prove that the implementation of SEO has enormously increased the traffic on their sites. It helps you to reach out to larger groups of people.

3. Relatively cheap: When compared to any other business improvement strategies SEO can be credited as one among the cheapest. It is a riskless investment with guaranteed returns. SEO is nothing complex it can be achieved by the simple use of keywords and a little technical knowledge. This won’t cost you much. Less investment and high return is always advisable, isn’t it?

4. One-time investment: Unlike any other business strategies which require you to invest regularly SEO is a one-time investment. It does not require much maintenance and can be your best bet. With guaranteed returns, SEO assures improved reach of your websites which ultimately enhances the number of customers.

5. Increased reliability: Most of the people in today’s world turn towards Google for their questions to be answered. So If your page is frequently visible in the list of the top few pages when searched then the user subconsciously starts recognizing and trusting your page. This builds a relationship of trust between you and the users.

6. Brand building: When people see your website quite often on the search engine they start recognizing the logos and colors and associate them with a positive impression. It also brings improved brand awareness and keeps the users in touch with your website. Trust and brand recognition can go a long way. These small facts can have a lot of impact on customers.

7. Simple: As you know SEO does not require any brainstorming to build complex strategies to work. It is simple and can be understood easily with just a little basic knowledge. Little efforts and more gains. When compared to all other business development strategies SEO is the easiest way to boost your visibility and your profits.

8. Improved user experience: Using SEO to design your website not only improves it’s reach and visibility but also provides a good user experience. Your customers wouldn’t want to make efforts and go to the bottom of the search engine to find your page. In this case, SEO is helpful because it results in your page in the first few websites. Happy customers are the ultimate goal of any website. So improved user experience is a boon to any website.

9. Long term strategy: Remember I told you search engine optimization is a one-time time investment. I forgot to mention it is a long term one-time investment with guaranteed returns. SEO keeps you updated with the latest changes and trends. See how tempting and convincing the advantages of SEO are. Hard to resist, isn’t it?

There are so many advantages of using SEO that the importance of SEO cannot be summed up in one single article. But still In case, just in case you are not convinced by the importance of search engine optimization opt for your business, let me furnish you with some latest statistics.

● 82% report the effectiveness of SEO is on the rise and 42% state effectiveness is increasing significantly
● 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. (Hubspot, 2018)
● 57% of B2B marketers say that SEO generates more leads than any of their other marketing initiatives. (Junto, 2017)
● 75% of internet users never scroll past the first page of search engines. (Junto, 2017)
● 63% of marketers rank generating traffic as their top challenge. (HubSpot, 2017)
● 61% of marketers list improving SEO and search engine rankings as their top goal. (HubSpot, 2017)
● 53% of marketers prioritize blog content creation as their top initiative. (HubSpot, 2017)

All the above statistics are taken from trustworthy sources and prove that search engine optimization is a mandatory business improvement technique in the modern era. SEO has only positive responses with zero negative effects. The facts and the reasons mentioned above prove how SEO is beneficial to your business and can increase the trend in your sales with minimal effort. It will be your safest bet and the best investment. For more information about what does a digital marketing do check out our blog.

Source:

www.impactbnd.com

www.linchpinseo.com

www.bluecorona.com

How to Write Creative Content?

by Hitesh Grover | Oct 15, 2019 | Digital Marketing

Writing comes easy to a few people, whereas others struggle with writing even one sentence. Writing is an art that is to be practiced and mastered. However, merely penning down words is not enough. If you want to remain your reader engaged, you to need to write Creative content.

Writing becomes monotonous and boring if not given a proper creative touch to it. Readers may lose interest and abandon the reading. Losing readers is one of the worst nightmares of any writer. So, read this blog if you want to know the tips that how to write creatively and keep your readers hooked.

Creative Writing Tips For Beginners

1. Content planner: The basic and the most important aspect of writing any article is planning. You need to have a clear idea of what you are going to write and how you are going to structure your article. Without proper planning, the whole writing will be a mess, and it is bound to cause irritability to the reader.

2. Know your audience: With the modern era evolving, people are too busy to waste their time on random things. So before you write something, you need to know who are the people reading your write-ups. You need to keep in mind your audience and their expectations while writing.
3. Content strategy: Content strategy is similar to content planning. You need to figure out the strategy you use to create content and write it. The development and management of the

4. Content Marketing Strategy:

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5. Search engine optimization (SEO): Even brilliantly written articles will not be read by many people if you are unaware of SEO. It plays a very critical role in making your content visible to the appropriate audience. SEO can easily be achieved by using proper keywords. It is an essential tool used in creative content writing and content marketing.

6. Social media marketing: With exponentially increasing trends of social media to give importance to your creative content. It has to be marketed on all or at least a few social media platforms. SMM plays a crucial role in improving the reach of the content. Digital content strategy has to be planned and carried out accordingly to get the desired response from the audience.

7. Proper research: Before you write about a particular topic, you need to know the complete background about it. Even before you decide the title, you will have to do the groundwork and read various existing articles on similar topics to get a good idea about how and what to write.

8. Quality check: One thing you can never and should never compromise on is the quality of your content. Bad quality content may boom initially, but in the long run, it will for sure decrease in value. The readers will never return and will not like to read what you write.

9. Consistency: One article today and the other one the next week and the other the next month won’t work. If you want your public to be engaged in reading the write-ups, you need to write regularly. Maintain a calendar where you note the days you write your content and the days you edit your content. Consistency increases the trust and reliability of the readers. They get used to reading your articles and will eventually look forward to the next one. Whereas when you are not consistent, they tend to forget about it, and it becomes a challenge to garner a proper audience each time you write an article.

10. Smooth transitions: The transitions between paragraphs or phases of an article should never be abrupt. They should smooth like butter. Only then will the readers have ease of reading, and flow is developed in the article. Also, there must be a logical flow throughout the article. Which makes it better to present and understand by the ordinary audience.

11. Using metaphors and analogies: Without examples, metaphors, and analogies, a script becomes exhaustively boring and monotonous. You need to bring proper comparison wherever you can to maintain the enthusiasm in the readers. Creative writing is all about expressing your opinions and emotions. So you must make it as relatable to the audience as possible to make them understand the essence of the article.

12. Using pictures:” All work and no play makes John a dull boy” is an English proverb. Rightly said, if all you can see on a page are words, it will become boring to the reader. Make sure you insert a few relatable images and gifs. And you give your text a proper design. Work in the creative aspects of the page, like the background color and images. Also, do not forget to provide your content with a good title necessarily.

13. Explicit content: what you write must always be on point and crystal clear. There is no beating around the hedge while you are making creative content. If the articles are too long and too exhausting, the readers will not even try to complete it. They abandon it, and it creates a sense of negative impact among the readers.

14. Proper grammar and punctuation: not that all of us are English scholars or something. But the basic grammar and punctuation should always be kept in mind. Without them, the whole article will lose its beauty and become extremely ugly. And spelling mistakes are the biggest red signs.

15. Editing: The second most important thing after content in any article is editing. We, humans, bear to make a lot of mistakes even while being very, very cautious. So write down the article, let it stay there for a while, and after some time, go back to it with a very fresh outlook and see what mistakes you have done. Also, when you approach an article with a fresh mind and a new outlook, you can improve it. The things you have missed can be added, and this brings perfection to your writing. I suggest editing at least twice to be sure.

16. Originality: There is no point in writing anything if it is already available and written by somebody else. Never copy someone else’s content, and there is no other crime as claiming it to be yours. Plagiarism check is essential before you post anything like yours. There are various applications available to check plagiarism. Just be sure that your content is original and authentic before you post it.

These were the few more tips on creative content writing and making your content creation. However, there are many more aspects that can be considered to make your content more viable and attractive to the readers. But there are the basic things that cannot be compromised at any cost. So make sure your content satisfies the basic norms of good content. Happy writing‍.

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