By Debbie Gregory.

This event will be held May 5, 2020 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

The El Paso Community College Contract Opportunities Center will host the 16th Procurement and Contracting Symposium. The conference will be held at the Centennial Banquet & Conference Center, 11199 Sergeant E. Churchill, Fort Bliss, Texas 79916 on May 5, 2020, from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.

This conference has historically been an important event for the business communities in El Paso County, West Texas and Southern New Mexico.  It has also presented an opportunity for government agencies and government prime contractors to extend their outreach to the region.  Invitations have been sent to all federal agencies, all known government prime contractors, regional state and local governments, and small business concerns throughout the region, and beyond.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Federal, State, and Local Government Representatives
• Prime Contractors
• Small Business Firms
• Individuals interested in Training Sessions
• Individuals and Firms interested in Forecasts and Upcoming Projects

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

• To Network and Develop potential working relationships with Federal, State, and Local Government Agencies, Buyers, Prime and Sub Contractors, Suppliers, Providers, and the Regional Business Community.
• Participate in Excellent Training Sessions that are provided by Respected National Trainers
• To Receive Government Contracting Guidance, Updates, and Upcoming Forecasts.

Don’t miss this chance to network in one of El Paso’s Best and Largest Contracting Event.

General Registration Fees:  The registration fee is $35 per person (presenters & panelists excluded).  The registration fee includes continental breakfast and lunch. To register please visit the General Registration page.

Government Registration: There are no registration fees for Government Funded Entities.  Government Funded Entities may register up 2 attendees and may include a booth at no cost.  Any Government Registration that includes more than two attendees will incur of $35 registration fee for each attendee beyond the initial 2 waived attendees.  Government Funded Entities may register at our Government Registration Page.
Booth Space: Requests for booth/exhibitor space must be received at the time registrations are submitted or no later than two weeks prior to the event.  There will be a fee of $100, for booth /exhibitor space, in addition to the $35 registration fee. Electricity is available for an additional fee of $25. Priority for booth/exhibitor space will be given to sponsors, government agencies, and government prime contractors. All others will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis as long as space is available.  All booths must be paid 1 week prior to the event.  Booth space is 8ft wide.  Any display that is wider than 8ft must be noted when registering so that proper accommodation can be made.  Please note that any display wider than 10 ft may require the purchase of additional booth space.

Sponsorship Opportunities: Conference sponsorship opportunities are available. All corporate partners, supporting organizations and interested firms are invited to sponsor this event. For more information about sponsorship please click here.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT:

www.elpasococ-events.org/conference

CNN put together this Game Plan – Check List on How to coronavirus-proof your home. It has some excellent tips. VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association recommends that you print and post it. The sources are expert physicians as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stay Safe.

How to coronavirus-proof your home

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

Life under coronavirus means staying at home as much as possible — but you’ll likely need to make a trip to the grocery store or pharmacy at some point. Download or print this tip sheet to make sure you don’t bring the virus back home with you.

Note: Recommendations for Covid-19 may change as officials learn more, so monitor your local health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for updates.

 Make a game plan

• Designate one person to be your errand-runner to limit your outside exposures
• Set up a disinfecting station — an area outside your home or in a room with low foot traffic where you can disinfect packaged food

 When you’re out

• Avoid coming within less than six feet of others
• Wipe handles on carts or baskets while shopping
• You don’t have to have gloves or a mask — just wash your hands frequently while you’re out and avoid touching your face

 When you get back

• Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds
• Disinfect takeout boxes and packaged foods at your disinfecting station
• Thoroughly wash produce before putting it in your kitchen

Disinfect

• Disinfect everything you touch — doorknobs, light switches, keys, phone, keyboards, remotes, etc.
• Use EPA-approved disinfectants (these include Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and certain Lysol sprays) and leave surfaces wet for 3-5 minutes

Delivery

• Ask workers to drop deliveries off on your doorstep or an area of your complex
• If they need you to come to the door, keep six feet of distance
• Pay and tip online when possible
• After you pick up mail from your mailbox, wash your hands

Laundry

• Wash clothes, towels and linens regularly on the warmest setting
• Disinfect your laundry hamper, too, or place a removable liner inside it
• Don’t shake dirty laundry to avoid dispersing the virus in the air

Guests

• You shouldn’t allow guests over right now
• If you need to house a family member or friend, avoid shared living spaces as much as you can
• If they need to enter shared living spaces, ask them to keep six feet of distance

 If someone in your home gets sick

• First, consult your doctor
• Isolate them in another room and ask them to use a separate restroom
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces every day
• Avoid sharing items with them
• Wear gloves when washing their laundry
• Continue to wash your hands frequently
• Ask them to wear a face mask if they have one

 Supplies you’ll need

• EPA-approved disinfectants
• f you don’t have disinfectants, make a bleach solution:
  • Mix four teaspoons bleach per quart of water; or
  • Use a 70% alcohol solution
• Laundry detergent
• Trash bags
• Prescription medicines (you can mail order these)
• Canned foods — fruits, veggies, beans
• Dry goods — breads, pastas, nut butters
• Frozen foods — meats, veggies, fruits

Pets

• Supervise your pet in your backyard
• It’s OK to play with them outside — just keep your distance from other humans
• If you’re sick, ask someone you live with to take care of them while you recover
• If you must care for them while you’re sick, wash your hands frequently

Sources:

• Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner and an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University in Washington.
• Dr. Koushik Kasanagottu, an internal medicine resident physician at John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and who is among the thousands of health care professionals treating patients with coronavirus.
• Dr. Richard Kuhn, a virologist, director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease and editor-in-chief of the journal “Virology.”
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By Debbie Gregory.

As a small business, you need to maximize your business site’s value as a marketing tool. Your site needs to attract visitors, build their trust, engage and inform them and finally convert them into customers.

Part 1 of this series covered your images, calls to action, your about us page, and the importance of FAQ pages. We will continue in Part 2 of this series by going over your value proposition, trust signals, social proof, and why your site should have separate landing pages for important services or products.

5.) A Clear Value Proposition Is Essential To Your Website:

Your website also needs to clearly and quickly spell out why a consumer should buy your product or service. This is best done with a quick tag line, slogan, or proposition statement that is included on every page of your site or alongside your company logo. The best value proposition statement will target your ideal customer, define the problem you solve for them, and explain what makes your solution unique.  It will also create your own identity.

Some Good Corporate Examples Include:

• Geico’s old slogan “15 minutes could save you 15% or more.”
• WalMart’s “Save money, live better.”
• Allstate’s “You’re in good hands.”
• Disneyland’s “Where dreams come true.”

6.) Make sure to Include Trust Signals and Social Proof:

Both trust signals and social proof are critical for small business websites and can impact whether or not someone chooses to conduct business with you and generate revenues for your business. These two items are the best way for your business to build credibility and boost sales.

A few examples of trust signals include:

• Badges/logos for accreditation bodies
• Money back guarantees
• Payment assurance certifications

A few examples of social proof include:

• Case studies
• Customer Reviews (ideally from third-party platforms such asYelp)
• Testimonials

7.) Optimizing Your Landing Pages:

A landing page is a page that is designed to be a place where a visitor “lands” after clicking a link in an ad or social post.  A landing page is designed with a clear goal, minimal distractions, and leads your website visitors to call, visit, or purchase from you. A landing page can be your site’s homepage but it should ideally be a separate, highly focused, sales tool page.

Just like your overall website, your landing page should include:

• A compelling headline
• High quality graphics
• Your value proposition
• Clear benefits to the customer
• Social proof
• Trust signals
• A strong call to action

As you can see, your website can be a powerful marketing tool as long as it contains the right mix of essential elements. Your site needs to build trust, educate, entertain, inform, and guide prospective customers.  Your call is to lead visitors to call, visit, or purchase from you. Incorporating these seven essentials on your website will certainly provide your small business site a boost.

By Debbie Gregory.

Today, having a quality website is the cornerstone of your business’s online presence and overall marketing efforts. Your website should attract visitors, build their trust, engage and inform them, and finally convert them into customers. Keeping all of this in mind, there are key elements that your business website needs to be competitive in today’s marketplace that include:

1.) High Quality, Clear, Clean Images:

The first thing a visitor to your site will see are the visuals displayed on the pages. These visuals include your logo, header images, product photos, portfolio pieces, etc. The human brain is wired to notice and remember images much more than text. Make sure that every single image on your site is crisp, clean, and interesting. Carefully selecting the right images and taking the time to take high-quality product photos will really bring your site to life and engage visitors.

2.) Include a Minimum of One Call to Action on Every Page:   

A call to action is critical to have on every page of your site. Most businesses have one or two on their home page but often forget to include them on the other inside pages of the site. A call to action is designed to help guide your prospective customers to reach out to you or make a purchase.

Calls to action are usually buttons that include phrases such as:

• Buy now
• Call today
• Click here for more information
• Get in touch
• Get offer
• Send us an email

Placing multiple calls to action on pages such as blog posts, about us, single-page landing pages, portfolio pages, testimonial pages, and other pages on your site will help reduce the number of visitors who navigate away from your website without taking further action.

3.) An About Us Page Is Essential to Your Business Website:

The second most viewed page on your website will be your About Us page. This page needs to be carefully worded so that it clearly spells out how your company can help your prospective customers as well as informing them about your business history.   Often it is most engaging when you tell your story in an interesting way.

4.) FAQ Pages Must Be Included on Your Business Website:

Most people like to do their own research before they reach out to a physical person. Having extensive FAQ pages that clearly answer the most common questions your business receives enables you to establish your company as an expert in your field.  It also saves you money on support costs as well as helping your customers ease their valid concerns on their own.

Stay tuned – Part 2 of this series on  “Essentials for Your Small Business Website” will review your value proposition, trust signals, social proof, and why your site should have separate landing pages for important services or products.

By Nick Porter – Guest Blogger

Whatever industry you’re in, having a strong online presence is vital to any business hoping to grow to its fullest potential, and in many cases, it’s necessary to operate. To that end, much like you need to protect physical business assets, you need to protect your online presence as well. People care and will check if your website is safe. Cybercriminals are constantly operating, and they are usually organized.

While cybersecurity is a complex topic, here is some of the basic information you can use to get started protecting your online presence:

The Human Factor

When running a business, the absolute most important thing to remember about cybersecurity is that human error is responsible for the vast majority of successful cyberattacks. Whether it’s lax security, mixing personal and business accounts, or other common lapses in judgment, hackers use social engineering techniques far more often than the type of brute force hacking you might first think of.

You need to make sure your staff is trained and remember that the weakest link in the chain is going to be the one that causes issues. As easy as it might seem to let things go at some point, it won’t be easy to deal with the fallout of a data breach.

Lock Down Your Website

Depending on your business and website, it could have valuable information attached to it or have accounts related. Many websites are different, and so specific recommendations here as to how to best secure your site wouldn’t be effective. However, you should invest in an SSL certificate, use tools or plugins to secure your website (and update them), and check for potential exploits.

Implement Strict and Formal Policies

Related to the importance of reducing human error is the fact that businesses that have a formal cybersecurity plan (for both prevention and response) will be less susceptible and less damaged by cybersecurity threats. Take some time to develop it with whoever is on your IT team, and make sure everyone is on the same page once it is complete.

Common Threats

Here are some of the most common threats and issues you or your team may encounter:

• Phishing Scams: Either through email or phone (or on occasion other methods), a scammer will attempt to get login or other information out of you or one of your team members, and then either use it against your system or for profit. This is where having strict cybersecurity pol
• Malware: If you don’t have proper firewalls and cybersecurity suites installed on office computers, malware can cause a wide range of malicious effects, ranging from stealing data to slowing down (or even ruining) your computers. Instruct employees to stay off of suspicious sites and be careful of unknown files.
• Ransomware: A specific type of malware that will hold a device or data hostage until you send money. Never pay those responsible what they want under any circumstances.
• DDoS Attacks: Effectively, hackers, through various means, can try to overload requests to your server. It’s unlikely for a business to be a victim but know that data is relatively safe (even if your business is disrupted).
• SQL Injection Attacks: An injection of code into your website that exploits a vulnerability on your website. These types of attacks can affect your site, allow hackers to access data, and more.

Update and Adapt Regularly

Cybercriminals and cybercriminal organizations are regularly going to use new social engineering tactics and tools, and as such you need to adapt regularly and keep abreast of what you should look out for. Learn about recent common scams, update your applications and security programs, and review your business cybersecurity strategy at least every six months.

Conclusion

In some ways, this article is only breaching the surface when it comes to cybersecurity for your business, but you must start with the basics and the important tasks listed above. The sooner you get these items taken care of, the sooner you can settle into a routine for it and otherwise focus on growth and the other things that matter. We hope that this information proved useful and wish you success in your future endeavors.

An additional source for your online security:

https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/how-to-tell-website-safe-legitimate

Nick Porter is a writer and blogger who is especially interested in Cyber Security and Digital Marketing.  Sharing his knowledge to help his readers be more productive with social media and SEO brings him great joy! He also enjoys educating readers on more effective online security controls.