By partnering with Hosting.com, the Brookfield Group now offers an additional level of protection for your company’s most important asset – your mission-critical applications and data. Together, we can help you prepare for the unexpected by replicating your system environment in one of our geographically-dispersed datacenters.

An outage or disaster can prevent you from accessing vital company records and applications; sometimes for extended periods of time. Most businesses are unable to handle even short periods of  downtime without detrimental results. According to Gartner, approximately 40% of companies who experience a disaster and are unable to access their data within 24 hours will go out of business. Therefore, as part of a company’s business continuity and disaster prevention plan, it is necessary to have a reliable disaster recovery plan in place that includes off-site replication of your critical data.

By providing data replication with geographic redundancy, in the event of a system interruption or failure, the replica automatically and seamlessly engages, ensuring continued access to applications and data. Your data is not only protected with enterprise-class security, it is continuously available, which means your business continues uninterrupted.

Most businesses simply do not have the resources to setup their own data centers in multiple locations.   The costs required for the data centers, hardware, networks, security and a staff with the technical expertise to not only provide the setup, but also manage backups, data replications, provide assessments and 24/7/365 security and support for each location is cost-prohibitive.

The Brookfield Group’s data replication solution, however, enables any size company to employ enterprise-class protection for their applications and data. “In today’s dependency on instant data access, information stored on systems and servers must be well protected for business survival. Businesses that do not include data replication as part of their disaster recovery may close due to an expected failure. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and data replication are critical components of a well-designed survival strategy,” according to Fadi Abdallah, founder and CEO of the Brookfield Group.

For far less than the costs of setting up your own geographically-redundant data replication, we can provide:

• Advanced security with our SAS 70 Type II certified, geographically-dispersed data centers
• Redundant UPS, so you never lose power
• Tier one connectivity for the fastest speeds
• Optimal airflow management
• The highest level of security which includes biometrics, video surveillance and three layers of NOC monitoring
• Access to your applications and data 24/7
• Complete backup and retention
• Seamless application and data replication
• Real-time server replication

By designing a disaster recovery and data replication solution that fits your specific business needs and budget, the Brookfield Group makes securing your data easy and affordable. With our 24/7/365 security and support, we ensure your data is backed up, replicated, and always accessible. Contact one of our experts today to learn more about our data replication solutions or to receive a free consultation. We’ll analyze your company’s technical and business needs and develop a disaster recovery and data replication solution that’s right for you.

Has your business entered the social networking arena? If not, there’s still time. According to iStrategy Labs, from January 2009 to January 2010, Facebook gained over 100 million users in the United States (hitting more than 500,000 active users in July). And the amount of time Americans spend on social networks and blogs increased 43% from June 2009 to June 2010 - making it the number one online activity [source: Nielsen NetView].

But the bigger question is - SHOULD you? Deciding whether to tweet, setup a wall on Facebook, or join MySpace, LinkedIn or other networks is not a question of whether to have a presence simply because everyone else is doing it. It’s a marketing decision, and like any marketing plan, it requires a well thought out strategy to be successful.

One of the first steps is to simply understand the social networking audience and their expectations. Users are not looking for general information about your company. They are interested in interacting, engaging and gaining personal insight into your business or brand. And the users of each network have their own expectations of content. For instance, Twitter users are interested in interaction and learning about your business on a one-on-one basis. Facebook users cover nearly every age group and are more interested in socializing and communities - for example, learning about your company’s activities and events. Whereas MySpace users are comprised primarily of youth and teens, sites such as LinkedIn offer great venues for business networking and recruiting employees.

The next step is to determine which, if any, fit into your marketing strategy. Then make them an extension of your brand. Social networks give your business the opportunity to reach out and connect directly with individuals and online communities. Users aren’t interested in a constant barrage of tweets trying to sell them the latest widget or service. And they don’t want to visit a Facebook wall filled with the products on sale this week (save it for the company email). But offering Facebook users an exclusive sneak peak at a new product before it hits the store shelves or providing Twitter users with an exclusive discount code is a great way to drive traffic to your page.

Show your network fans the personal side of your businesses (just not TOO personal!). A sporting goods company putting up photos from the latest company softball game may be fine, but photos from the holiday office party are probably not. Getting personal doesn’t have to translate to unprofessional.

With Americans spending an average of 906 million hours each month on social networks and blogs [source: Nielson NetView, June 2010], the online arena may seem like a marketing goldmine. And it can be IF businesses remember to always be mining for partners and clients. Acquiring 200 followers is like collecting 200 business cards at the last conference or trade show. Connect with contacts on an individual basis in order to build a relationship or create a strategic alliance. Engage your audience in a two-way conversation and ask questions - network users want to be heard.  “Daily Twitter users are 300-400% more likely to write a blog, review products, upload videos, and every other social behavior, than are non-users. In fact, the research shows that 72% of daily Twitter users write a blog, 61% write at least one product review per month, and 53% upload videos,” according to Convince and Convert.

While it can be harder to control your marketing message on the social networks, it is a cost-effective venue for increasing awareness of your brand and increasing customer loyalty. And although there is always a risk of negative exposure or criticism from those who use social networks to express their frustration, it’s also an opportunity to respond positively and constructively. It’s about more than just selling. Social networks are opportunities to build a culture around your brand.

Do you have social networking success stories? Share them with us in the comments section below. We’ll post the top success stories in our next article!

Whether you’re using Google Analytics to learn more about your website traffic or to measure the ROI of advertising campaigns, understanding Google reports and utilizing the Analytics tools can enable businesses to reach marketing goals and convert more visitors to customers.

1. Understand your report
The Google Analytics reporting feature enables you to quickly view a graph of your site visits by day, week, month or a specific date range. Like a stock chart, you can choose which metric to view or compare. The chart makes it easy to see spikes in traffic on specific days or during specific times.

Click here to watch the Google dashboard tutorial on YouTube. 

2. Breaking down the site usage terminology
In order to fully understand how your site is being used and by whom, it’s important to learn the differences between industry terms such as “visits” vs. “pageviews.”

A “visit,” for instance, is simply a single session. In other words, one person visiting your site and then closing the browser when they’re done is considered one visit. A “pageview,” however, is tallied each time a page is loaded (as long as that page contains the tracking code). So one visitor could generate many pageviews. The number of pages per visit (“pages/visit”) is simply an average based on these two numbers.

The “bounce rate” refers to the percentage of visitors who left the site after the entrance or landing page. This doesn’t necessarily mean they landed on the home page and left – the visitor could have entered on any page of the site. A high bounce rate could mean they have entered a landing page, filled out the requested information and left. Or, if they’re entering your home or another website page and leaving, it may mean you need to modify your message to drive people deeper into your site vs sending them away.

“Avg. time on site” refers to the average time a visitor remained on the website. And the percentage of “new visits” is recorded when a visitor accesses your site for the first time from a browser. Google is able to determine this by placing a cookie on the person’s browser.

3. Understanding your visitors
The Visitors Overview provides at-a-glance numbers and chart for the “Absolute Unique Visitors”. As opposed to the number of “visits” listed under Site Usage, this section gives you incite into who the individual visitors are. After all, a unique visitor can visit your website more than once during the reporting time period.

The map report enables you to view a detailed overlay of exactly where your visitors are from – you can view a global overview or drill right down to the city simply by clicking on any highlighted section of the map. This is a great resource if you’re running a localized ad campaign. 

4. Determine how your visitors found you and what they visited
The Traffic Sources report provides detailed information regarding how your visitors found you. For example, did the visitor come directly to your website? Did they click a link on another website (a “referring” site)? Or did they find you on a search engine?

Once they arrived on your website, the Content Overview report provides a detailed analysis of what they did. You can find out which page they entered, how they navigated through your site, and which pages they viewed. The content section provides a variety of tools to enable you to understand how your visitors view your site and what you can do to optimize your web pages as well as landing pages.

5. Use your reports to improve your website and advertising campaigns
Whether you simply want to learn more about your visitors, are trying to increase conversion goals, or are running campaigns, Google offers many tools to help you drive traffic and increase ROI. For instance, if your goal is to motivate visitors to register by offering a free white paper with sign-up, the Google Analytics “Goals” section enables you to setup your objective and track all traffic and conversions. For more information, click here.

For more information on using Google Analytics Goals and optimizing your e-commerce website, click here to watch the video tutorial. 

The reporting feature also enables you to track events, Google AdWords campaigns and keywords, analyze ad conversion, setup alerts, custom reports, and more. To get the most from your Google Analytics account, we recommend visiting the vast collection of resources and tutorials Google offers. We’ve listed a few below to get you started:

Google Analytics Resources:

1. For a more detailed breakdown of the Google Analytics report, view the guide.

2. For a detailed terminology guide, reference the Glossary.

3. Visit the Google Analytics YouTube channel for videos on learning and using their tool.

4. Get free online training at Google Conversion University.

5. Have questions? Visit the Help center.

6. For Google Analytics products, support and education, click here.

Part 1 – Getting started

As organic traffic to your website (aka: website traffic you don’t have to pay for) becomes a vital method of marketing, selling and branding for any size site, Google Analytics can play an important role in helping you understand your visitor, generate additional traffic, analyze campaigns and more.

An enterprise-class tool, this service is offered free by Google, and it takes only minutes to setup and begin tracking. The search engines already track your site’s performance and traffic – you now have the ability to see what they see and use this information to put yourself ahead of the pack. Follow these four simple steps to get started:

1. Get a Google account.
If you already have a Google account, you can simply use it to sign in. If you do not already have an account with Google, you can sign up for one (it’s also free and easy and gives you access to all of Google’s tools). You can use any emaiI on your account (it does not have to be a Gmail address). When you sign up for a new account, be sure to check your Inbox to confirm your account.

2. Sign up for Google Analytics.
Now that you have a Google account, and are signed in, you will need to signup for Google Analytics (another free and easy signup):

Enter the details regarding your website (in two very short forms, and agree to their terms), and you’ll be off and running!

3. Add the tracking code to your site.
Once you’ve created your Google Analytics account, you’ll be given a script which needs to be placed within the code of the website you’re tracking.

If you’re unsure how to add the tracking code to your website, copy and paste the script to a text file and save it. Then contact the Brookfield Group, and a representative can help you place the code on your site. Without the tracking code on your site, Google will be unable to track and display your website data in your Analytics account.

You can also click here to use Google’s handy online guide to troubleshoot.

4. Check your status.
It may take up to 24 hours for Google to begin tracking. If your tracking code was placed on the site correctly, then once Google detects the tracking code on your website, your “status” icon will change. Click here to see the icons and definition for each or view diagram below.

If you have any issues getting the tracking code to work properly, please contact a Brookfield Group representative to assist you.

Google also offers a video tutorial to help you get started quickly and easily:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8BYmKvMSW8 

Once you’ve successfully setup your Google Analytics account and your website data is being populated into your reports, it’s time to begin analyzing the data and using it to improve your business. To learn more, come back next week to read Part 2 of Using and Understanding Google Analytics.

As cloud computing has gained momentum over the last several years, it has become less of a possible passing IT fad, and more of a viable means of managing business applications cheaper and faster by leveraging the cloud to reduce costs and increase speed and scalability.

The term “cloud” has been in use for decades by the telephony companies who used an image of a cloud to represent the telephone network. In an attempt to utilize their bandwidth more effectively, telephony companies began offering VPN services which allowed them to balance traffic based on usage. This network structure was represented with the image of a cloud.

Today, cloud computing follows a similar philosophy on a grander scale. Although some have tried to use the term “cloud” synonymously with the internet, and others have referred to it as another form of software-as-a-service (SAAS),  the cloud can offer these services and much more. In its simplest form, it is a real-time, subscription-based service used to enhance IT capabilities.

Whether you need applications, services, storage or infrastructure, cloud computing providers such as the Brookfield Group, enable rapid deployment, cost savings, and scalability. Some of the components found in the cloud include:

1. Software-as-a-service (SAAS): Provides web-based applications to clients, thus eliminating the cost of software licensing, servers and hosting, upgrading and maintenance, and other requirements.

2. Web services: Provides APIs that enable clients to enhance their websites and web-based services. You may already be using web services in the cloud such as Google Map’s API.

3. Platform-as-a-service (PAAS): PAAS enables clients to build their own application and distribute it to their own users via the cloud.

4. Managed services: Providers manage their clients with a set of scalable IT services for a subscription fee. Examples include anti-spam, anti-virus, virus scanning for email, and a variety of other services.

5. Utility computing: Similar to the telephone network, utility computing offers a package of IT resources such as storage and virtual servers and typically charges for these services based on usage.

Chart: Average worldwide traffic for “cloud computing” on Google from 2004 until now.

As cloud computing continues to grow, providers continue to develop new services and components. The basis for the cloud computing, however, remains the same – from rapid deployment of services to reduced costs, the cloud has begun to change the IT scene by offering businesses the ability to operate their IT systems more efficiently.

The advantages include:

1. Ability to rapidly deploy services

2. Reduction of costs and capital expenditures – the cloud reduces hardware, software, licensing, maintenance, administrative and other costs.

3. Scalability – easily expand or reduce services to fit your business needs.

4. Disaster recovery – your information is protected and backed up in the cloud.

5. Web-based access – The cloud is location and device independent which allows users to access systems via any web browser or device.

6. Maintenance – Because cloud services and applications run “in the cloud” and are not installed on individual computers, office computers are easier to manage. Updates to cloud services and applications can be done in one location and accessed instantly.

7. ROI – Most cloud computing vendors provide cloud access on a metered basis which enables clients to quickly measure their return on investment (ROI) in comparison to traditional systems and manage their usage more effectively.

For more information on cloud computing, the following resources are available:

1. The Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI)

2. The Open Cloud Consortium

3. Cloud Computing Plain and Simple [video]  

4. Cloud Computing Video