First the pros:

SugarSync (IMHO) does have some advantages over Dropbox (for my uses):

1. the ability to sync any folder (not just one designated folder)
2. the “SugarSync” File Manager
3. “Share folders with permissions and password” – haven’t tested this
4. Like Dropbox, they offer bonus space if you refer people to their service, this means that you could potentially get up to 7GB free space (more than Dropbox) if you refer 20 people.

There’s a full comparison page on the SugarSync website: www.sugarsync.com/sync_comparison.html

Now the cons:

• I think that although it’s a good feature to be able to sync any folder, this makes the system more complicated, and makes it more difficult to keep track of which folders are synchronized; the file manager therefore becomes a necessity (for Dropbox a file manager would just be a non-essential feature).

  For advanced users this isn’t a problem of course, the file manager makes it all quite clear, and there’s a visual indicator on files/folders too (as with Dropbox).

• No Linux support

• Now the big one (disadvantage): presumably because they want to push as many people as possible to paid plans, the free account is feature limited This page shows how “You can only backup & sync up to two computers“, and there are a couple of other limitations too.

Of course, limiting features for the free plan is a strategic decision for SugarSync, but as I have more than 2 computers, if I were to consider a paid plan, currently I would favour Dropbox as I can already test all the features with all of my computers (obviously I would look at the value £s to GBs).

I also think that providing the same service to free and paying customers (other than storage space) improves the adoption of the Dropbox service, which means better brand recognition, presumably leading to greater take-up of paid plans.

Verdict

I will keep SugarSync installed, and test out some of the features.  If you only have 1 or 2 computers, SugarSync may be the best choice for you.

However for simplicity and ease of use, and being able to use all of the features even with the free version, I am happy to stick with Dropbox as my primary ‘Cloud’ sync/backup system for now.

If you want to sign up to SugarSync, please consider using my referral link: https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=minj5qmy6ohd

These excerpts from the Dropbox website should help explain…

Dropbox uses Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) for storage.  Amazon have a robust security policy, which you can read about in their Overview of Security Processes document.  Apart from physical security, there are also other technical security precautions in place to prevent unauthorized access to data.

Back to Dropbox… they say:

Nobody can see your private files in Dropbox unless you deliberately invite them or put them in your Public folder. Everything in your Public folder is, by definition, accessible to anyone. Otherwise, the only way to access the files in your Dropbox online is with your username and password.

Here are the key points in their “Advanced Users” section:

Dropbox uses modern encryption methods to both transfer and store your data.

• All transmission of file data and metadata occurs over an encrypted channel (SSL).
• All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES-256) and are inaccessible without your account password
• Public files are only viewable by people who have a link to the file(s). Public folders are not browsable or searchable
• Dropbox employees aren’t able to access user files, and when troubleshooting an account they only have access to file metadata (filenames, file sizes, etc., not the file contents)

This was enough to satisfy me, although I don’t store my most important files on there. (Perhaps I should!)

To answer questions I posed at the start…

1. Can the guys and gals at Dropbox read what’s inside your super-secret file? No (see above)
2. What happens if you, or someone you’re sharing a folder with, accidentally deletes something important?
   Dropbox keeps snapshots of every saved change in your Dropbox folder over the last 30 days.  So you can restore deleted files with a few clicks.
   Dropbox also keeps a hidden collection, or cache, of your files (in your Dropbox application settings) as backup storage . Files in the cache folder are stored there often after they are moved or deleted after syncing. If you can’t find your file using all other practical methods, you can try to recover the file from Dropbox cache as a last resort. The Dropbox cache will keep files for up to 3 days after they have been moved or deleted.
3. Where are your files actually kept?
   If you’ve installed the Dropbox desktop application, your files are stored both on your computer (in your Dropbox folder) and on Dropbox’s secure online servers in data centers located along the east coast of the United States.

I logged into my Dropbox account and moments later a balloon pop-up in my System Tray informed me that I had another 250 MB space.  I hadn’t yet referred another friend, although I was thinking about doing it.  So assuming that Dropbox weren’t giving me extra space just for *thinking* about referring someone, I had a look around my account to find out why I had been given the extra space.

Once you have logged into your account there’s a Recent Events tab.  I clicked on that and the latest message informed me

You became a Dropbox Guru and earned 250MB of bonus space!

I had no idea how I had become a ‘Dropbox Guru’ so I did some digging and found out that if you click on the Getting Started tab, there’s a message at the top:

Welcome to Dropbox. Complete these steps to become a Dropbox guru!

It gives a list of things to do; after you’ve completed each one, you get an extra 250 MB!

I had managed to cross everything off the list without even realizing it!

Edit: If you’re interested in how secure files stored in a Dropbox are see Dropbox Security.

I investigated some of the options and narrowed the choice down to:

• Mikogo
• Yuuguu
• TeamViewer
• CrossLoop

Each of these is free, they all have pros and cons for me.

I didn’t install each one, but read others’ reviews and the product websites.  Finally I thought I’d reduce the choice to TeamViewer and CrossLoop, simply because I didn’t want to have to keep spelling out the website address over the phone!

Finally CrossLoop won out (although the first person I used it with did ask me to spell it!), as it appears to be more suited to remote support than having a primary focus of “online meeting” which is the case with some of the others.

You do have to register, giving your name and email address, but other than that it appears pretty simple.  The downside in contrast with Logmein Free is that you can’t access a remote computer without someone being there.  But for remote support, and screen sharing, it looks pretty good.

In my next post about CrossLoop I’ll explain exactly how download, registration and connection is done, and then point clients to it, to help them get connected.

You can pay to increase this space to 50 GB ($9.99 per month) or 100 GB ($19.99 per month).

Another way to get an additional 3 GB (5 GB total space) is by accepting a referral, or by referring up to 12 people.

If someone refers you, and you use the link they sent when signing up, then you instantly get 2.25 GB on signup.  The person who referred you also gets an additional 250MB of space.

You can then refer other people, and for each person who signs up, you get an extra 250MB, up to a maximum of 3GB extra space (5GB in total) with a free account.

Here’s how to refer someone:

1. Sign into your dropbox account at www.getdropbox.com
2. On that page you should see:
   
3. Click on the ‘referring your friends’ link and you should then get a page with 3 options (A, B and C).
4. Options B and C involve you entering someone else’s email address into a website – not something I’m ever comfortable doing – so I would use option A:
   
5. If you copy the whole link then paste it into an email, you can then send it to whoever you like.
   If you have a Facebook or Twitter account you can click on the links provided to share your referral link that way, or you can just paste the link into a blog or MySpace page etc.  That’s what I did on my earlier blog post.

The link is unique to you, so when your friend uses it to sign up, Dropbox know you’ve referred them and will give both of you some extra space.  I haven’t got the maximum space yet so here’s a handy referral link for you to use: https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE3MTg4ODM5

To find out how to share a folder with someone, see Sharing a Dropbox folder.

Yes, it reduces the irritation of having to email things to myself, or remembering to save onto USB key when I want to take a file somewhere, great

Possibly the best thing about it though, is being able to use it to send/share large files with others (https://www.getdropbox.com/tour#3).

My sister wanted a video she saw on my computer of one of the children the other day, and when I looked it was around 97 MB – too big to email.  Now, we could have found a USB key and copied it to that, but we decided to test out sharing on dropbox.  Here’s how we did it, and how you could too:

1. I created a new folder called “Aunty” inside my dropbox:



2. I right-clicked on the newly created folder and selected Dropbox > Share this folder…



3. This took me to the dropbox login page in my browser, where I entered my email address and password to log in.
4. After logging in I was presented with a page headed “Share Aunty” (the name of the folder) where I could enter the email address of the person I wanted to share the folder with.  So I entered my sister’s email address.

   

   Ideally the email address you type would be the one they used to sign up to dropbox.  However, I think you can use any email address that you know they’ll receive (I haven’t tested this yet).  In fact, I don’t think they even need to have signed up to dropbox yet, they will just receive an invitation to do so if they haven’t.  I’ll post a comment when I know for sure.

5. I then copied the file she wanted into the folder and after a few minutes uploading, we could see that it was synchronized on the dropbox server (the green checkmark shows that it’s synchronized).



6. As my sister had her dropbox set up already the “Aunty” folder just appeared in her dropbox.  Her computer downloaded (synchronized) the files in the folder automatically, so now we can just drag any file we want to share into that folder, and dropbox does the rest.

   As you can see this works with any type of file, large or small, so it’s great for sharing documents and photos too.If she’s using a different computer, without the dropbox client installed, she can just sign in to the website and download any files through the browser.

Try it out with your friends and family, and let me know how you get on!  If you register on this blog, you can post your comments below.

If you find that you need more space, see: Get more Dropbox space.

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation”.  It means optimizing a website so that search engines will visit, index it and display that website when people search for particular ‘keywords’, the words they type to find things.  The most popular search engine is Google which is why many people concentrate specifically on trying to get higher rankings on Google.

At the time of writing (Aug ’09) Google Search has almost 80% market share, Yahoo! is the next most popular with approx 7%.

When you type a search phrase into Google, you get a list of results.  Everyone wants their site to be as high up that list as possible, preferably at number 1.

Getting there is the problem because there’s no rule that says ‘do this and you will get to number 1’; no-one outside Google can tell you exactly how it views, indexes and rates your site.  I read recently that at a search engine conference in London, 2 Google employees got up on stage to discuss it and even they couldn’t agree on how it worked!

Is it hard to get the number 1 position?

No, within a few weeks any decent website developer could get a specifically designed page high up in search engine rankings and probably to number 1.

However it will probably be for a keyword or phrase that is no use to anyone, for example “green turtlewax shoes”.  Try it now by clicking here and see which page is a No. 1

Good SEO strikes a balance between search words and phrases that people will actually type into their search engine, and those that aren’t already being heavily used by other websites.

Choosing Keywords

Keywords can be single words or phrases.  For example ‘gemstone ornaments’ may be referred to by a web developer as a keyword, as would ‘car dealers in Aberdeen’.  A “keyword” then is any combination of words that people may search for.

Choosing keywords can be one of the most difficult aspects of SEO, and unfortunately for you, your website developer can’t do it for you.  You must try to understand what your audience would type into a search engine in order to find your site. Very often, if you ask a company to help you with your SEO, they’ll ask you to list all the keywords you want to be found for (I do).

Unfortunately, you’re possibly the worst person to ask.  You may find it difficult to imagine what an “uneducated” audience will search for, because you know the finer points of your business, however you probably also want to be found for the “obvious” searches.

If for example, you sell computers, you’re likely to ask that you get ranked highly for ‘computers’, or ‘home PC’.  But that would mean you competing with PC World, Apple, HP etc., as well as thousands of other Computer journalists and resellers (not to mention eBay!), so it would be a pretty impossible job.

The best way to get good results is to look for a niche, although that can be as much to do with your Business Development Plan as website design!  Think about what makes your business different from the competition.

A good place to start is to think local.
your business + your location = a good keyword

Search engine optimisation is a gradual process.  If someone promises you instant results it’s likely that will charge you a lot of money and demonstrate some temporary success (or charge you an extortionate amount to keep you there).

Where do the keywords go?

Keywords generally go in three main places:

1. In the code of a website, put there by the website developer.  You can see a website’s code by clicking on the View menu at the top of a browser window and then Source or Page Source.  It looks very different to the displayed page.
2. In the website description – a short paragraph of text, possibly even just one sentence that describes your business
3. In the content of your website (see below)

Website Description examples

Breaking news, sport, TV, radio and a whole lot more. The BBC informs, educates and entertains – wherever you are, whatever your age.
- www.bbc.co.uk

Official site. Shop online at Marks & Spencer for clothing, furniture and homeware, flowers, gifts, wine and much more.
- www.marksandspencer.com

Search engines take notice of this, because it should accurately describe what visitors will find in the website.

However, if you try to take advantage by “stuffing” the description with keywords so that it isn’t very easy to read, or it’s too long, search engines will penalise you!

Site Content

If you try to set up a website only with Search Engines in mind, then you will have limited success.  You may be able to drive visitors to your site, but you might drive them away just as quickly.

It’s important also to think about:

• capturing someone’s attention quickly
• how easy the site is to use
• what will keep people on the site once they’re interested, and
• what will make them want to come back, and keep coming back

The text that is put in the site is also indexed by Search Engines, so your list of keywords should also feature in the content of the pages that you write.

Links

If you can get other sites to link to yours this will really help, particularly if those sites are already popular and feature in Search Engine results.

Obtaining links is one method SEO companies will use to push your site up results pages.  However, often these links will be posted on unrelated websites, and so may only have a temporary effect.  If it appears that you are “spamming” – just trying to post your link anywhere you can – search engines can, and will, penalize you for it.

Try to get links from related businesses, if not direct competitors, and reputable directories, yell.com for instance.  You need to pay for an entry in yell.com, but there are free directories available too.  Some will ask that you put a link to their website on yours, this is known as a “link exchange”.

If your site has lots of inbound links it indicates to search engines that it is popular (people want to link to it, or are talking about you).  Lots of outbound links can indicate that your site is relevant as you are referencing other resources on the Internet.

Submitting to Search Engines

Your website can also be submitted to search engines (such as Google and Yahoo!) and Internet directories.  It’s worth spending some time doing this.  You won’t see instant results, but in a few days or weeks the search engines will begin to visit and index your site.

I can help you with this, but this isn’t part of my initial website development quote (unless you specifically ask for it).

Should I pay for sponsored links?

You can pay Google, and other sites, to display a link to your site for specific search terms, or phrases.  It is debatable how useful this is, particularly for small companies.  These “ad campaigns” may work on the basis of pay-per-click.  You say how much you’re prepared to pay when someone clicks on your link (NB. not when someone buys something, just when they click on your link) and that amount is charged to your account.

You have to constantly manage your campaign to ensure the best results, and it’s easy to be tempted into paying higher and higher amounts for clicks.  I’ve heard of some companies paying £££s per click!

On Google you can set a daily budget, when the budget runs out your ads won’t be displayed until the next day.  You can also set times of the day, days of the week etc.  It’s a job in itself which is one reason why I would recommend you try this yourself if you’re interested in this type of campaign, asking me to do it may not be cost effective for you.

Updates

Keeping your site up to date is also important.  Yes a website that is never updated may remain in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) for some time, but it won’t be as interesting to search engine “robots” (also called “bots” or “spiders”) as a site that is regularly updated.

A page update will trigger a robot to take fresh interest in the page, re-index the site and follow links.

How can you enable them to use the Internet and explore subjects that interest them, without exposing them to danger; whether individuals who would do them harm, or information that is inappropriate for children?

Well, there are things that you can do, but you must consider these issues:

• How technically capable are your children?
• Are they likely to try to find ways around any “protection” you’ve put in place?
• How much effort are you prepared to invest to make sure they’re safe?

For instance, there are Firefox add-ons (more here) that give you control over the websites that your children can visit.

However, Firefox is only one of many Web browsers available, most of which you won’t have even heard of.

If you configure Firefox, but no other browsers, and if there are no restrictions over who can install programs on your computer, then a child with just a little initiative will use Internet Explorer (IE), or find and download a different Web browser.  Then whatever protection you’ve put in place on Firefox will have no effect.

So, what can you do?

• The very best thing is to spend time with your children, sit with them when they use the Internet and teach them how to recognize, and avoid, ‘dodgy’ sites.
• Put your computer in a room where everyone can see the screen.

But what about technical options, what can be done with the computer?

As with most things you have choices:

1. Learn about how to protect your children yourself
2. Pay for “Parental Control” software
3. Pay someone to configure your computer

Obviously there cannot be any guarantees, but the best way is to put the effort in to find out how to configure the computer yourself, and remain vigilant.  Technical ‘solutions’ aren’t a panacea.  It’s not a ‘set and forget’ situation.

The added incentive of protecting your children (rather than yourself, or your own information) may be what you need to put the effort in to understand more about your computer.  The added benefit is that you will probably prevent other computer problems like viruses.

More information, and links to resources I’ve researched will be in my next post on this subject.

A folder on your desktop works like all your other folders, but a little (green) icon tells you whether the version in your Dropbox is synchronized.  You can then access that file on any other computer, either in the same way – through a folder – or by logging in using a web browser.

You can also share folders with other people, which makes Dropbox an easy way to share large files with friends and colleagues around the world.

Edit 28/9: If sharing files with others is what really interests you, this post shows you how to share a Dropbox folder.

I’ve heard about similar services before (like SugarSync and drop.io), but not investigated.  This looks pretty good, particularly as it is cross-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux) unlike Ubuntu One, which seems to be similar, but only for Ubuntu.

…by preference I’d probably prefer to use something written by Linux/Ubuntu programmers, but cross-platform support is a real advantage.