Tag: boost traffic to website

api-vulnerabilities

API Vulnerabilities and How to Protect Them Part 1

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For API Vulnerabilities and How to Protect Them Part 1

Cybersecurity has never been more critical. In the last several years, APIs have taken center stage for modern stakeholders dependent upon qualities like productivity, reliability, and programming among others. So many of these things modestly exist under the radar of attention-grabbing, leaving them prone to at risk for attack by bad actors. To help you gain a better understanding of what to look for in keeping your site’s APIs protected, here’s a breakdown of the most common types of attacks and what you can do to prevent them.

What Is An API

API stands for Application Programming Interface, a collection of tools used by web developers and programmers to build new ‘middle man’ software that sends information for a task between a site or app and its user. A site or app’s API(s) is like a car’s engine. APIs can also act as layers of security, too, which we’ll be focusing on here.

Why APIs Are A Big Concern

Why does API security matter so much? Well, sometimes that information transfer includes sensitive data, especially when dealing with business APIs, about the customer, user, or even the business itself. Thus keeping the APIs safe and secure helps prevent those interfaces from becoming compromised in any way. 

Typical API Security Risks

The biggest causes for concern when it comes to the risk of API security are

  • sensitive data exposure
  • misconfigured security
  • inadequate monitoring
  • broken authentication
  • rate-limiting and lack of resources

The implications of these and other risks are huge.

Exposure to DDoS Attacks

This type of attack, a Distributed Denial of Service, generally is led by a network of bots to overload a target with artificial traffic. This prevents genuine users from accessing the site, rendering the site inoperable, and so it typically results in damaged brand reputation and loss of customers and sales.

Parameters Attacks

A parameters attack focuses on the URL field, manipulating the site target without the user’s knowledge or consent. This can involve data like a user’s credentials, product information, etc. Because URLs often follow a pattern, they are popular aims for attackers. 

Broken Object-Level Authorization

broken object-level authorization or BOLA means the application did not actually verify the user has the necessary approval to access an asset of another user. Nearly every single company has an API at risk of BOLA.

Insufficient Monitoring and Logging

When lacking information logs or lacking the right context, format, storage, etc, a company’s APIs can therefore also lack the resources to detect a break in security. If these logs aren’t backed up, intruders can erase the logs, essentially covering up both their tracks and their identities. This is especially dangerous for the financial and medical sectors.

How to Protect Against API Security Issues

Identify Vulnerabilities

In order to know the “how”, you first have to know the “what” – What API vulnerabilities are you or your company most prone to? No easy question to answer, especially as a company grows and integrates more and more APIs. A good first step is using an Extended Detection and Response (XDR). It’s specially designed to check for security flaws and support proper authentication.

Use Access Tokens

Using tokens is always a good idea when it comes to securing APIs. They allow sharing of information without necessarily having to share credentials, too. The tokens are always confidential.

Data Encryption

This is the foundation of securing APIs from attacks. Agency Partner recommends you use TLS or Transport Layer Security to scramble any and all data, especially the uniquely identifying kind. It’s also important that valid identifications be required so that only approved handlers have access to said critical data.

IP Whitelisting

Consider this your VIP list. Only specific IP addresses are granted access to the network. This is very helpful in preventing any unauthorized entry that can affect APIs within a particular private network. Whitelisting tends to work best in centrally administered locations that typically deal with a steady task load. This system can take effect in as little as 24 hours, and If any attack does happen, you can be sure that it came from within. 

API security issues are a real and present danger to businesses of all sizes. By understanding the vulnerabilities that exist and taking steps to mitigate them, you can protect your business and its data. Agency Partner is here to help you do just that. We have the expertise and tools necessary to secure your site or app APIs against attack, so contact us today for a consultation!

 

 

increase-website-traffic

22 Ways to Increase Website Traffic

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For 22 Ways to Increase Website Traffic

It’s totally normal for web traffic to be down during the holidays, but maybe you’ve noticed traffic to your site hasn’t picked up again yet as we get further into the start of the new year. Perhaps it’s time to shake things up a little! We here at Agency Partner have put together our top 22 ways and strategies to increase website traffic to get your analytics back on track for 2022!  

1. Leverage on-page SEO 

  • It’s never too late to optimize for SEO. This is a great way to increase site traffic without spending a dime. Meta tags, internal links, alt texts, descriptions, readability – all simple opportunities for higher ranking on SERPs to boost traffic  

2. Cross-promote across social media account channels 

  • Your business has at least one social media channel, right? (…right??) Why not use it to promote the latest blog post on your site to naturally drive traffic? Do the same with your email newsletters? Draw attention by featuring an element of your site as a teaser on your socials that pays off for the user when they follow the link for the full article or freebie exclusively found on your site!  

3. Long-tail keywords 

  • Another facet of SEO, long-tail keywords are the more specific phrases (keywords of 3 or more words) users use as they narrow down what they’re searching for. They account for a big chunk of web searches, so it’s highly useful to know how to wield their highly targeted power.  

4. Influencer marketing 

  • Influencer marketing used to be all about the accounts with hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers. Now we’re seeing the power of micro-and nano-influencers and their hyper-targeted audience. Use that to your advantage with partnerships of features, promotions, and networking. 

5. Guest post on blogs 

  • Help establish you and your brand’s site as an authority by guest posting on other sites about your particular area of expertise. Pitch your content ideas for a feature to both drive free referral traffic and strengthen your position in the market! 

6. Clear out non-performing content 

  • Audit your own site for content that may now be out of date or from early on where your quality or style was still in development. Take the chance to update and revamp it. What’s old is new (and improved) again! 

7. Consider PPC 

  • No shame in Pay Per Click advertising! It’s the fastest route to results, and, exactly as the name suggests, you only pay for the ad whenever a user clicks on it! 

8. Have guests post on your blog 

  • What a great opportunity for some more cross-promotion on this two-way street with creators in similar niches or with audiences relevant to you both! 

9. Email blasts 

  • Email marketing has been around for decades already, and it’s still as powerful as ever to direct traffic to your site with mailing list blasts and automated newsletters about new services or products or blog content features. Just be careful not to overdo it. 

10. Build up your online reviews 

  • Social proof is more powerful than you probably think. Give casual users every reason to click on links to products and services on your site by building up online reviews! 

11. Sign up for Google Trends (aka stay relevant!) 

  • Focusing your content on what’s being talked about Right. Now. is such a simple, efficient tactic to reach audiences. If you’ve done the work for optimizing SEO already, too, a traffic increase is all but guaranteed. 

12. Look at competitors 

  • Get inspiration by seeing what’s working for your competitors – then put your own spin on it! 

13. Link build internally 

  • The longer you can keep your users on your site, the more useful you are to your users and the more SEO will naturally favor you. Look for opportunities in your content to reference your past relevant content via internal links. 

14. Ensure device responsiveness 

  • With mobile device access only continuing to trend upward over desktop access, do not make the mistake of devaluing the responsiveness of your site across all devices. Doing so is essentially telling your users to go elsewhere. 

15. Listen to your analytics data 

  • It’s one thing to know what analytics categories are and that they’re important; it’s another to know how to interpret them. Analytics telling you you have a load time of 4.3 seconds can tell you that your site needs streamlining and that it’s probably too slow a speed to satisfy your visitors’ patience. High bounce rate? Look more critically at your content quality. That’s a ton of valuable info about possible traffic drivers right there! 

16. Write how people read 

  • Speaking of high bounce rates, always remember that people typically don’t read on the internet – they skim. If your content is full of big blocks of text, you likely won’t reach your user in a productive way. Keep your site easily readable.  

17. Use push notifications 

  • Especially useful if you’re a business with a product or service to sell, look into setting up push notifications for your site whenever you have a new feature or sale. Just like with email marketing, though, keep aware of how much is too much for your users. 

18. Don’t forget about Pinterest 

  • People don’t intuitively think of Pinterest as a search engine, but that’s exactly what it is at heart! Do your keyword research for how to caption your pins and create interesting boards featuring your unique content. If your audience demographic is there, you should be there, too. 

19. Appreciate the power of H1 tags 

  • If your content tends to run on the long side, H1 tags are your best friend. They help make your site easier for search engine crawlers to understand the focus of your content, thus helping to boost your SERP ranking and making it easier for your site to be found in searches! 

20. Add social share buttons to your site 

  • Include social share buttons wherever they naturally fit under products or at the top or bottom of blog posts etc. The easier it is for your content to be shared, the more likely the user will help to drive traffic for you. 

21. Retargeting ads 

  • Remind the user of the items they left in their cart on your site as they navigate around the internet. Maybe they just need a gentle reminder to come back for them! 

22. Create a content schedule 

  • It’s so much easier to drive organic traffic when your audience knows when to expect a reason to revisit. Set a realistic content schedule for your output and stick to it!

These ideas will certainly help but know that success takes patience. The change will happen as you implement it wisely and stay consistent with it. It can feel like an overwhelming process as a business owner, and API’s digital marketing and development teams are here to help manage the load for you. Contact us today for a consultation!