How to Report Abuse to EVERWORKS

As you browse the Internet often you expect to find content that are relevant to you, but there are times when you will come across content hosted by EVERWORKS that doesn't meet ethical standards, or come to realize a breach in EVERWORKS usage policy or any other kind of inappropriate Internet activity originating from the use of an EVERWORKS service. Sometimes if you receive inappropriate Internet activity that come from EVERWORKS, it is understandable for our EVERWORKS users to be angered, but it is my goal in this post to provide you with background that you need to understand on behavior that we don't condone - what we consider as abuse of our services - might occur on our platform and what we do when we learn about it.

Email Subject & Its Importance

When facing an issue, the EVERWORKS team really wants to help you resolve it effectively. For us to effectively look into your issue, please include relevant subject lines in your email. Clearly define in your subject line if the issue you face is 'Spam', 'Phishing', 'DDoS Attack', or any other form of abuse that you are currently facing. This helps us identify the issue you are facing effectively.

Tips to consider

1. Include Evidence: Without evidence that is clear we are unable to relay a complaint to our customer. 
2. Use Keywords : We use email to handle abuse cases, and a clear subject line is really useful for us including just the word "Spam" or "Phishing" or "DDoS attacks" or others. (Include dates so we can see when you last sent it.
3. Follow Up: We work very hard to investigate and solve all complaints, but due to volume, we don't normally respond to individual emails, but if the issue has not yet been resolved, please feel free to contact us again.
4. Be Respectful: We will only forward evidence and documents that we have to customers that are performing any form of abuse, none of the other parts of your email get sent, so the only people reading profanity are the hardworking EVERWORKS support team. We understand that it is frustrating to be on the receiving end, but please be professional and try to understand our position!!

Common Types of Abuse

The most common types of abuse reported to EVERWORKS are spam, phishing and DDoS attacks. All three will be handled by a 24 hour response team (find out more on EVERWORKS's 6-Hour support response guarantee), but handled differently, so it is critical for me to break down each problem so that you can compile everything for you to be able to report any issue efficiently to our team. Yes, you are on the receiving end of this, and in the thick of the action it is easy to leave out critical information for the EVERWORKS team to determine your problems, so to make it easy for us to solve your problem quickly here are the different types of abuse and the best ways of approaching it and what are the best ways to report it to the EVERWORKS team:

SPAM

Spam is the most common abuse of the three that gets reported to EVERWORKS. In short, spam email are emails that are sent to you without your consent, email you have not asked to receive, causing your email to clog up, hindering your every day email tasks. Rest assured that wherever the spammer is whether it is a direct EVERWORKS customer or an indirect customer, it is the EVERWORKS team's responsibility to help you stop it.

When you receive spam sent through EVERWORKS, you should forward it directly to our support team (cvs@everworks.com), and the matter will be looked into.

Our team needs:

1. A full copy of the email, which you have received, with everything intact.
2. Email Headers. Email headers help tell the story about where those emails are coming from or which customer we need to contact to stop this abuse.

PHISHING

Phishing is another person who is claiming to be you, or a trusted service that you regularly use, to gain sensitive information. Phishing is a serious issue that the EVERWORKS team faces. Any user may be fooled at any time into giving up personal credit card, or banking information or login information and we don't want that to happen. (Take some time to do a Phishing Test by SonicWall just so you know how difficult it is to identify Phishing)

When you come across Phishing contact our support team (cvs@everworks.com), and this matter will be looked into.

Our team needs:

1. The Website's URL. This is for a site that is hosted under EVERWORKS committing a phishing abuse.
2. If you went to a phishing site through email, include a full copy of the email (including the email headers)

DDoS attack

According to Webopedia a DDoS is a type of DOS attack where multiple compromised systems, normally infected through a Trojan, are used to target a single system, where the victims' systems are maliciously used and controlled by the hacker in the distributed attack. The incoming traffic comes from many places, sometimes hundreds or even thousands, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate user traffic and attack traffic.

When experiencing a live DDoS attack contact us at +6(03) 7806 3550 and clearly state the issue you face, and your call will be directed to our technical team for further assistance.

If you face constant DDoS attacks please contact the EVERWORKS team (cvs@everworks.com) with documentation and proof for us so that we can take the necessary actions to protect and ensure that we reduce your losses as much as we can.

Other forms of abuse

As earlier mentioned these are just some of the frequent issues that our customers face, that we face most often. With other forms of abuse that have not been listed here, rest assured, because it all generally involves the same procedures. Send an email with a clear subject line, with a concise report to cvs@everworks.com. The EVERWORKS team will look into your complaint and look for evidence needed to take immediate action.

Work is done, even with no response

If your issues still persists and you don't feel like anything has been fixed, please first check if you have included all relevant information and evidence. Sometimes not receiving a response from the EVERWORKS team does not mean that nothing is being done, but rather than using up precious time to respond to hundreds of emails with the same abuse problem, we look to actually try to solve internally the problem that you face.

If all else fails, and you are certain that everything has been included still no progress has been made, you can always follow up with through social media on Twitter@EVERWORKS, and we will do everything we can to help.

Abuse is serious

At EVERWORKS we take abuse seriously, as it may affect not just our customers, but also our business, and all measures will be taken to ensure that the service we offer, is to the best we can, safe to use. EVERWORKS will seek the relevant consultation from authorities and legal advisors, against the abusers, if the nature of the abuse is considerably detrimental.

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Protect Yourself Against Phishing Attacks

Phishing is an attempt made normally through email, to trick you into revealing your personal information, such as bank account information, login details, and more to the attacker. Phishing emails usually appear to come from frequent services you use, or websites you often visit, or important organizations requesting for your personal information such as credit card numbers, account numbers or login names and passwords. 

Malaysia fact: The highest phishing detected is Internet Banking where users are tricked to make payments or reveal their credentials.

In order for cyber criminals to successfully obtain your personal information, they must redirect you to a "fake" website which resembles a legitimate service that you often use. This redirect occurs most often through email, claiming to be from the legitimate service embedded with links.

Identify Phishing Emails

Phishing emails are effective, because they create sudden fear in people resulting in requiring the person to click through the link and perform the necessary changes to avoid losses.

Among the common causes are:

1. Threat to suspend or close accounts, if there is no response.
2. Penalty charges will be imposed if accounts have not been updated.
3. Claims that your account has been compromised.
4. Claims that important security information has been lost, and needs your info to verify your account.

Protect Yourself

1. Avoid providing personal information by responding to unsolicited requests.

Requests through email and phone, should be taken with care, because you may not know who is the caller or sender. However convincing it is you should ways be aware that there might be a potential for fraud.

2. Double check with official contacts

Double check before committing any information can save you in the long run against phishing attacks. Call official hotlines, dedicated service managers, or people whom you can trust that are verified to be official representatives before providing any information.

3. Never give your password to anyone or any place

Financial Institutions will never usually ask you to verify any information online. If there is a problem they would contact to have you come to a designated branch to resolve the matter.

4. Review your account

Make sure you check and double-check your account activity and see whether it balances with your monthly activity. This will immediately notify you if there are any irregularities such as purchases, or emails sent in your name that you have not committed to.

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What are your experiences with Phishing? Are there proven ways to find out if something is a Phishing Attack? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below!

Referenced from SKMM |  photoby liferoiblog

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How to Start an Online Business in Malaysia

Starting an online business in Malaysia isn't difficult and can prove to be a highly profitable venture. Due to recent successes of Zalora, and the growing acceptance of Internet use as a medium for service, now is a good chance to consider the Internet as a strong contender among more conventional means when it comes to starting new business ventures.

Among the many benefits of the Internet include:

1. Accessibility, customers that are not bounded by physical location limitations.
2. Reduced costs, high rent and high initial commitments were challenges to conventional business models.

Be clear

Before you get ahead of yourself, you have to be clear that starting an online business isn't any different from starting any business. The only thing that is different (or has changed) is the way your product or service is going to be channeled to your customers. Rather than the conventional store front which gives potential to attract only walking-by customers, the Internet opens possibilities to a global audience fairly easily.

Potential stumbling blocks

Although the Internet was created with much thought, your business still needs to be carefully laid out in clear plans. You will need to determine how you are going to transport your goods to your potential International customers, or how you are going to perform a service to another client that is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Internet does provide a vast opportunity and benefits conventional businesses can't offer, but with it comes certain difficulties like logistics management, customer relationship, reliability of the Internet services you are currently using, and much more.

First things to Identify

"Great ideas rarely come out of thin air." Nick Souter. Often successful businesses arise from a need, so start with your motivations. Find out what it is that drives you, and with that you can drive your business. Are you in it for the money, or are you in it to change the world? Both are examples of valid motivations that have driven some people to achieve great success. 

The next thing to determine is which legal structure suits you?
Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or Incorporated.

Each comes with its own perks and some commitments that you must fulfill.
Further Reading: differences between sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation 

Make your business official

All businesses regardless even if it is an Online Business that wishes to conduct business in Malaysia must fulfill these steps:

1. Register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia
2. Be aware of the National Initiatives of setting up an Internet business (Malaysian National Budget 2014)
3. Ensure that if your business requires Personal Information, your business should be compliant with The Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
4. Be familiar with Malaysian tax (including GST - effective 2015)
5. Acquire necessary licenses and permits.

Find a suitable host

Choosing the wrong hosting option could cost you:

1. Loss of Revenue
2. Negative SEO Impact
3. Security and Malware attacks

How to choose the best hosting provider?

1. Understand the different hosting solutions available
2. Excellent Customer support is mandatory 
3. Ability to scale
4. Excellent uptime record
5. Choose what is best for you and what suits your budget

Stop; breathe.

Starting a business isn't an easy task, but nothing is at the beginning. Over time with enough persistency you and your business should prevail, even through testing times. Here is a toast to your business and for your future success, because at the very core of starting any business is; getting started.

Further reading: Overcoming Procrastination

EVERWORKS is Malaysia's leading Colocation Hosting, Server Colocation Service and Mobile Hosting Provider. EVERWORKS houses over 200 servers over 3 major Internet Datacenters in Malaysia.

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Set Up Your Facebook Page in 3 Easy Steps

Malaysians should greatly consider Facebook as a medium for marketing, because of its high potential for it. With more than 1 billion users, Facebook is the world's #1 social network. Facebook offers access to an incredibly diverse audience that spans globally, to different ages, and interests. Southeast Asia has more than 190 million Internet users according to Techinasia. In 2012, according to Internet World Stats Malaysia alone has approximately 13 million Facebook users, 46.6% penetration.

This makes sense for marketers to have a Facebook strategy. You don't need to be an International business to only benefit from Facebook. Considering that there is a large amount of local Malaysian Facebook users it makes sense for local businesses to get involved as well to target very specific types of users, generate more awareness, and find potentially new business leads.

Here is a case study from EVERWORKS.com Malaysia's leading Colocation Hosting, Server Colocation Services and Mobile Hosting Provider, "Implementing Facebook has been a great way for EVERWORKS to keep our customers informed over scheduled server maintenance, important announcements, festive greetings, and Facebook has also allowed us to keep a closer, more personal, relationship with our customers. It has increased awareness on EVERWORKS brand, while at the same time keeping costs relatively reasonable, as compared to more conventional means."

Before jumping in on the bandwagon and getting ahead of yourself, the first most important thing to do is to create a Facebook Page for your business, which is relatively simple to do. Here I will take you through all 3 steps to set up a basic page.

Business vs Personal

With all things in the beginning, you need to first identify whether you are a Business or Personal user. This is fundamental because there are differences for businesses and personal Facebook accounts, representing in a Business Page and a Personal Profile. Personal profiles are designed for individual persons, with features and options that make connecting and engaging with friends easier. By contrast, Business Pages provide options to help promotion and marketing. Business Pages offer ways to connect with more people, more targeted advertising, plus a big bonus of analytics through Facebook Insights that would give information on what type or how your advertising is responding to conceived Facebook marketing plans.

Additional notes: If you are promoting yourself as a "brand", it might seem logical to use your profile page to promote yourself, but I would recommend a Business Page instead. A separation between personal and business is healthy, and the Business Page does offer some technical advantages, such as allowing for additional page managers, Facebook Insights (discussed earlier), and others.

Step 1: Create a Page

There are two options for creating a Business Page

1. Set it up from your Facebook profile
2. Create a new account for your business.

If the second choice is what you are going for, all you need to do is, log-out of your profile and click "sign-up" from the Facebook homepage and then choose "create a page". The disadvantage of separating accounts is that you would just have to deal with another password, and you would have to log-out and log-back-in to access the other account.

Personally I prefer to administer my Pages from my personal profile. It is just easier to manage and I can move between accounts freely. 

Note: People who like your Business Page can't see your Personal Profiles.

To create a Business Page from your Personal Profile, click on the drop down menu in the top right hand corner of your profile and choose "Create a page", and walk through the Facebook Page creation  steps.

Quick Tip:

1. Profile photos should be at least 180 x 180 pixels when uploaded.
2. Facebook will automatically publish your page, so before you go any further, unpublish it. This allows you the time to tweak it until it looks nice before introducing it to the world. To unpublished a page, go to Edit Page, then Edit Settings, and click Unpublish Page. When you are ready and satisfied go back to the same place and Publish your page.

Step 2: Complete your Page Info

With most of the formalities out of the way, it is time to dig deeper and spend a little more time on your Business Page (the stuff that matter). Add a long description, or tweak your short description. Short descriptions are meant to be short, so try to keep it less than 155 characters and include your website URL too. This will show up under your Business Page's profile photo so make sure it is a quick brief and it allows for your fans to click easily to your website. Include keywords to help with Search Engine Optimization - SEO - (everything counts).

further reading: Find out more about SEO, the common mistakes people make, and more.

Choose a unique Facebook Business Page address to make it easier for people to find your Business Page.

This is an example of EVERWORKS's Facebook Business Page URL:
www.facebook.com/everworks

Be careful to get it right the first time, because Facebook shows no mercy, for once your Facebook Business Page address has been set it can never be changed.

Step 3: Cover Photo

The last step (until further updates come along) is to upload a cover photo. Also Facebook has recently relaxed its 20% rule - further reading: Facebook Page guidelines. Now cover photos can include more text, which allows for more promotions, but even with this added advantage you should aim for a clean, uncluttered image. Cover photos should be sized at 851x315 pixels. It would be the best if your cover photo could attract the people in which you are targeting, and not just focus on plain advertising.

Now that your page is complete and you are happy with everything don't forget to publish your Business Page that was previously set in unpublish mode so that it would allow you to prepare everything.

Show us your pages? Take a screenshot and share them with us in the comments section below!

facebook logo from ajc1

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Improve Your Content with Outlines

Having awesome content is meaningless without a clear direction and focused expectation for its readers. Outlines provide that clear direction and focused expectations for its readers. How does outlines improve your articles, and help to strengthen your brand image. Content written by endowed writers lose its edge without strong outlines. Reasons why outlines improve your content are discussed in the 5 points below:

Make reading easier

Having outlines doesn't just make it easier for the publisher, writer, or author. The most important person which the context was meant for benefits from this as well. Having a form of uniformity (structure) eases our minds, it doesn't require us to think unnecessarily, giving our brains space to focus on important things. Take for example chapters in textbooks, it gives its readers a set expectation of when the point stops, when the next point begins, what contents are within that particular section, and guides people in one simple direction. 

In addition, well-crafted headers cultivates interest for people to have an excuse to read on. Often a bunch of words can be intimidating, but with a gentle nudge forward with an enticing header makes the reading substance a little bit more enticing.

Provides Focus

Do you remember having a a conversation with an overly excited friend, when your friend starts talking on a topic and changing at will. Often nothing comes out of those conversations, but sometimes there is a remote chance that it may lead to something more. The point is that more often than not the information although compelling is disoriented and doesn't have much of a focus and that unfocused conversation proves to be hard work to decipher. 

As earlier mentioned outlines make reading easier, but imagine a book without chapters. You wouldn't know what to expect, where to start, or even where to stop. Poorly structured, or unstructured writings are great pieces of mess: they float, provide 'some' value, but only among meandering sentences. Outlines help remedy this confusing wild situations by giving readers a set expectation, and delivering them in a clear, and efficient manner. 

Further Reading: How to Develop Better Topics for Malaysian Blogs

Makes your message more memorable

Case example, a blog is a place where content that is written creates value for its readers, but it isn't the only focus and certainly not its only purpose. Helping your customers, should be the ultimate goal for a business blog, and with that comes a benefit to the business where the brand is strengthened and it allows the business to have a 'proper' conversation with its customers. However, without the 'memorability factor' this effort is muddled. 

Outlines help this 'memorability factor' it helps writers write more effectively (a clear guide), it eases readers burden by providing more focused content, and the end result is an enhanced brand image that portrays various positives.

Easier Referencing

Coming back to work after a long holiday, and picking off where you last left your work sounds relatively straightforward, but as you sit down on your desk you realize the great desk pile of past work papers, and now you think to yourself that holiday was great while it lasted. What if those papers were put into labelled organizers either alphabetically arranged, chronologically arranged or through various other arranging methods. Now that great desk pile of past work papers wouldn't have existed and you could just get down to doing what matters most, without the worry of having to sort through mess.

Outlines provide a similar benefit to having labelled organizers, it allows quick access in the future. Content that is clearly structured, and points that are focused give readers, not just the writers, an easier look-back when required. Readers can look through an entire article in an efficient manner looking for what 'slipped off' their minds.

Invest in Outlines

Organizing has ample benefits, and although the task seems extremely daunting at first, having outlines give a great deal of clarity. It takes the effort off the readers and allows them to focus on actually reading the content that was meant to provide them value, and allows the initial intention of the business (to strengthen its brand image, to educate its customers, and to understand its customers better) to be realized.

EVERWORKS is Malaysia's leading Colocation Hosting, Server Colocation Service and Mobile Hosting Provider. EVERWORKS provides industry standard Web & Email Hosting Solution for your business, giving you peace of mind, cost effective plans, and industry level guarantees. Find out more on EVERWORKS's Web & Email Hosting Solution.

Do you think that outlines actually improve your content? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

image by hawkexpress

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Malaysian 4G Explained: What is LTE?

Like most things new, there have been a recent growth in acceptance across all major carriers in Malaysia touting "the fastest or widest 4G network in the country," but what does all this hype actually mean? What is the difference between 4G LTE and 3G? Which network should I choose for LTE the best LTE Coverage?

What is LTE?

LTE as defined by Wikipedia is an acronym for Long Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.

Although the definition has defined LTE fairly accurately, it hasn't given simple minds like mine an easy enough breakdown for me to understand. Here it is, plainly put, LTE is a faster mobile connection, and data terminals. Look at it as the bigger brother of 3G.

For history junkies (also from Wikipedia): The LTE service was first launched publicly by TeliaSonera in Stokholm, and Oslo.

Everyone is going LTE

Today Malaysian carriers advertise their networks as 4G (a few carriers include Digi, Celcom, Maxis, P1 Wimax, Yes 4G, and U Mobile) which confuses a lot of people. 

The most notable change you will experience when switching from a 3G network to a LTE network is a significant speed upgrade. LTE networks are on an average 10x faster than 3G. Websites load faster, in fact almost everything loads much faster.

You can check for a list of LTE Networks here.

Choosing the right network

There are 8 companies in 2013 who have been granted access to the 2600 MHz spectrum band; Digi, Celcom, Maxis, P1 Wimax, U Mobile and Yes. In Malaysia Maxis was the only company to have officially launched 4G LTE smartphone plans.

"Maxis's 4G LTE offers speeds up to 75 Mbps, which is less than the required speed of 100 Mbps for the required 4G LTE speed set by Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Although Maxis's LTE on average, depending on where you are, offers ranges of 10 Mbps to 30 Mbps remains to be a good speed bump from 3G, it is still lacking from the 100Mbps required speed.

One other popular network provider in Malaysia is, Digi, has been upgrading its network sites in Malaysia to a new network which Digi names 'Tomorrow Network'. With this upgrade Digi aims to cover at least 95.8% of Malaysia to provide High Speed Internet along with a fully equipped LTE network. 

Digi's Tomorrow Network boasts the following benefits:

1. Malaysia's first LTE-equipped network (able to provide fiber like speeds to mobile devices)
2. Expanding High Speed Internet Coverage (EDGE & 3G) to cover 95.8% of Malaysia.
3. More stable network
4. More efficient equipment (green initiative - saves more energy)

Further reading: How LTE affect to Malaysia's mobile content business

EVERWORKS is Malaysia's leading Mobile Hosting Provider, that provides business owners with operator- grade delivery mechanism that connects your SMS content and wireless applications to reach your targeted audiences. 

What are your views on 4G LTE? What is the impact of LTE to Malaysia?

photo by kowitz

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What is Colocation?

Colocation is the practice of housing your servers and devices in a professional datacenter in order to access the benefits of greater bandwidth, lower latency, specialist services and systems, constant security advanced infrastructure, economies of scale, and a bunch of other benefits.

As the demands of the world increase, technologies grow to become more extensive and sophisticated. Constructing or adding to a proprietary, private datacenter becomes a commercially difficult (unless, perhaps, for the larger corporations that have plenty of dough to splash)

Greater resilience to disaster, malicious attacks, greater savings in costs, increases time flexibility as a convenience of service that is immediately on hand. A logical argument for colocation as a positive strategy for many businesses.

What are Colocation Services?

Colocation services are offered by datacenters equipped and configured to allow secure client access to private servers. Colocation services include:

1. Leasing server cabinets and cages
2. Connecting to an ISP's network and physical infrastructure
3. Monitoring server status.

Each cabinet and cage is securely locked and inaccessible to other colocation clients. 

Colocation services let clients take advantage of datacenter infrastructure, while maintaining control over their servers. The benefits colocation customers enjoy are:

1. Environmental control (temperature, humidity, and filtration)
2. Fire suppression systems
3. Redundant power sources, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) backup
4. Large capacity quality bandwidth
5. Around-the-clock physical security
6. Monitoring and technical services (storage, backups, firewall, and DDoS attack mitigation)

Using colocation services is an effective way for your business to achieve continuity, scalability and minimal network latency, while maintaining healthy costs, and at the same time having complete control over the physical server, operating system, and applications.

EVERWORKS is Malaysia's leading Datacenter Hosting Service Provider and Datacenter Hosting Solution. EVERWORKS houses over 200 Dedicated and Colocation Servers in World-Class Datacenters across Malaysia. EVERWORKS provides you with all the benefits of colocation hosting along with a flexible 'priority switch' to any EVERWORKS servers to maximize the best network blueprint at no extra costs (contact EVERWORKS for more detailed information).

Find out more or start colocation hosting with EVERWORKS.

Referenced from PEER 1

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Is eCommerce viable in Malaysia?

Venturing into an unknown domain is risky. Especially when decisions are made without concrete evidence that points to a clear direction. Malaysia has in recent years picked up on an economic front (Malaysia was one of the 13 countries identified by the Commission on Growth and Development in its 2008 Growth Report to have recorded average growth of more than 7% per year for 25 years or more - World Bank).

Have Malaysians taken to the Internet positively?

Clear indicators from some sources have pointed positively towards the acceptability and usage of the Internet in Malaysia. Thus concluding that Malaysia has grown to become a nation that in recent years have come to understand that the Internet is a powerful tool that helps Malaysians in their everyday lives.

1. 60.7% of the country in 2012 is using the Internet. "An example is Zalora Malaysia a large online fashion store, which has seen a tremendous growth since its official launch in March 2012" - Internet World Statistics
2. Trend Micro's recent (Aug 2013) online survey shows that 8 out of 10 Malaysian Internet users now shop online. Computer World Malaysia
3. The number of Malaysians accessing the Internet hit 41% in 2010 a 15% increase over the previous year, according to The Nielsen Company's Mobile Insights Survey

What is eCommerce?

It is defined to be that eCommerce is a form of commerce/business that is conducted via the Internet. - Merriam Webster Online Dictionary

What are the benefits of eCommerce?

1. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Your business runs online without a physical store sales person, without ever needing a break or holiday!
2. Cheaper. Keeping an eCommerce business running on the Internet is comparatively cheaper to a bricks and mortars shop that have utility, rent and other costs.
3. Opportunity. What are your chances of a new international customer that phones you to buy something over the phone? I doubt it is going to happen often, but with an eCommerce store that now becomes possible, because more and more people are connected to the Internet, and the Internet is accessible anywhere.
4. Sell a wider range of stock items. Physical stores have limited display space, but an eCommerce store has unlimited display space.
5. Make more profit. In point 2 it has been stated that costs are greatly reduced in an eCommerce business, thus this logically results in more money!
6. Email marketing. If configured correctly your eCommerce store should be collecting email addresses for you of your potential customers to keep in contact with in future. With email marketing (executed properly) you have a very low cost way of continually driving traffic back to your store. Further reading: Discounts & Deals Don't 'Bite'
7. Important Data. With analytics installed on your eCommerce store you will have found out very critical information that forms an actionable data sheet about your customer's behaviors!

Why would Malaysians consider eCommerce?

With strong indications above showing the market responding actively and positively towards the Internet for shopping options, and the benefits of eCommerce clearly shown, Malaysians should consider eCommerce to be viable.

How to start a small eCommerce business on the Internet?

Now that you have seen that eCommerce is an exciting industry, just where do you start? Attempting to start an eCommerce store is no different from starting any business. Here are some basics to starting a business to get you moving along:

1. Find a need and fill it.
2. Write copy (sales pitch) that sells.
3. Design and build an easy-to-use website.
4. Establish an expert reputation for yourself.
5. Follow up with your customers and subscribers well with e-mail.
6. Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.

How EVERWORKS keeps your eCommerce business online?

EVERWORKS is Malaysia's leading hosting and colocation hosting service provider that has successfully serviced notable companies, providing them with hosting plans that give their businesses reliability and effective costs reducing technical difficulty, and heavy initial investments.

For a total solution package feel free to contact an EVERWORKS specialist to find out how you can have an eCommerce business online.

Email: info@everworks.com

or alternatively 

Phone: + (603) 78 06 3550  

(Malaysia local landline - Not Toll Free - Only during office hours)

photo by psdblast

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Difference between POP3 and IMAP

Email is an indispensable modern tool that improves efficiency and flexibility. Your email is stored in a place called a mailbox. Separate users can have their own mailboxes, to receive emails, for example user1@example.com, user2@example.com, etc. (where example.com is your domain). Sometimes you would like a dedicated, or many, employee(s) and a specified mailbox to receive emails.  An alias can be created to accommodate this, for example the alias support@example.com receives emails related to support and those emails are also sent to adam@example.com and betty@example.com. Thus, the email would be in  all three (support@example.com, adam@example.com and betty@example.com) mailboxes.

Mailboxes can be connected either through Post Office Protocol (POP3) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). Both these protocols are used for email retrieval purposes.

POP3 Retrieval Process

POP3

POP3 being the most common in email protocol, where messages are downloaded and stored on your computer. 

IMAP Retrieval Process

IMAP

Whereas, IMAP stores your email folders (inbox, sent items, trash, etc) on the server. Having IMAP allows you to access your email from anywhere. Email stored using IMAP does count towards your disk space quota.

Webmail uses IMAP to connect to the mailbox. IF your email client connects using POP3, you can still use webmail to view new messages in the inbox, but however you won't be able to access email that is stored in your computer. 

If you want to be able to see new messages in the webmail inbox, while also downloading emails to your computer, you can set your email client to leave a copy of your emails on the server for a specified period of time. However when performing this action, be aware that this setting does not offer the same synchronizing benefits as IMAP.

How do I choose between POP3 and IMAP?

POP was designed for for situations when there is only one and only one desktop computer. Normally these messages are stored/downloaded onto your desktop computer and deleted from the mail server. If you choose to work with your POP email on more than one computer, you may have problems with synchronizing. (Mail archive, if you have one, will be kept on your desktop computer.)

IMAP is designed for the situation where you need to work with your email from multiple computers such as your workstation at work, your personal computer, or/and on a portable laptop. Messages are displayed on your local computer but are kept and stored on the mail server, making accessibility from any location a breeze. You can create subfolders to organize the emails you want to keep, but this will work against your email quota.

Choose IMAP 

1. if you need to access your email, both new and old, from more than one place.
2. use POP, but specify to leave mail in your server.
3. use a synchronizing option

Choose POP

1. if you work with your email from a single location (a single computer)
2. webmail works fine for you if you just want to check email.
3. you regularly backup your email messages, and archive it.

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