5 simple but relevant business tips to help you survive in difficult times

1. Develop the site

The official page on the Internet is the business card of your business. It should be not only visually appealing, but also understandable and user-friendly. Put yourself in the place of the client and analyze your site: the first page should already have answers to the main queries.

For the smooth operation of the site, you need to take care of its security. If the budget allows, it is better to hire a specialist who will take on this task. He will be able to regularly test the site for vulnerabilities and fix them. And also fight against cyber threats like DDoS attacks that can completely “put down” your site. If you calculate the lost value from virtual threats, spending on the services of a cybersecurity specialist seems quite reasonable.

Also, make sure your hosting provider is reliable. You need to be sure that the company has effective scenarios for responding to unexpected failures and attacks.

2. Save data

In the event of unforeseen circumstances such as external attacks, blockages or hardware failure, backup will come to the rescue. Not every business can purchase servers to store valuable information, but SSD drives and USB drives are much more affordable. You can create virtual copies of the site, databases, mail and other important things in the work. This will help maintain the stability of the activity. If you lose information, you can restore the last saved version.

Backups can also be placed in the cloud - this is a cheap and convenient way. But there they are most vulnerable, not protected from information leakage, so you should not store really important or secret data in this way. In the cloud, just in case, you can duplicate backups that are already present on other media.

3. Eliminate Phishing Opportunities

Fraudsters are able to create a website that looks exactly like yours. In this case, even the address will almost coincide - the user may not notice the substitution the first time. As a result, someone will pass off their criminal business as yours, which will cause not only financial but also reputational losses.

To protect against phishing, antivirus software on all office devices is useful. Don't forget to update it regularly to the latest version. The same should be done with browsers. Their developers are constantly trying to fix vulnerabilities that are used by scammers to attack. It will also be useful to use a firewall - a firewall to filter data passing through it. As a rule, this function is built into popular operating systems.

Another effective way to protect yourself from phishing is to monitor daily advertising results for queries related to your business. Sometimes scammers deliberately place copies of sites on the first lines of search engines in order to confuse users.

4. Secure your corporate network

Cybercriminals infiltrate the computers of company employees most often with the help of various viruses. They can access internet banking or even infect staff smartphones with malware over the wireless network. As a result, you risk losing your money.

In addition to explanatory conversation with employees that you should not open dubious links and sites, install up-to-date anti-virus software on all computers. And you also need to configure the corporate network and equipment so that the system prevents the download of potentially dangerous files and blocks threatening pages.

5. Find new ways to communicate with customers

Social networks have long ceased to be just a place of entertainment, turning into a way of promotion. And for some entrepreneurs, these sites are the only sales channel. After a wave of blocking popular social networks, you need to find new opportunities to communicate with the target audience.

It's worth building a customer base if you haven't already. Enter all the information you have there - names, phone numbers, email addresses, and so on. This can be done both in the CRM system and in Excel. So you will not lose regular customers, and you will also be able to work additionally with those who have not yet decided to cooperate. A good way to increase customer loyalty can be a mailing list. Send them special offers, tell them about new products and promotions, and just share company news.