Patrick Oak

I'm an internet consultant. Over the past 10 years, I have built my own online businesses and helped companies build theirs. From strategy to development to marketing I am a jack of all trades and love sharing my experiences and advice.

Five outsourcing websites

Outsourcing often gets a bad rap, but if your business needs to build a new website or have a brochure designed, for instance, and lacks the expertise in-house, outsourcing your project at home or abroad is often the most viable and cost-effective solution.

So where can you find qualified contractors to complete your projects? Thanks to the internet, it's never been easier to not only locate talented contractors but to get them competing for your business.

by Patrick Oak 22 August 2008 10:35am 5 comments

Accepting credit cards online - merchant account basics

If your business needs to accept credit card payments online, chances are you may have started out with a service like PayPal because of the low costs and the ease of integration.

But when you "outgrow" such a service, it's time to step up to a merchant account.

by Patrick Oak 20 August 2008 08:45am 11 comments

Finding a domain name for your business via marketplaces

Are you looking for a great domain name for your business but can't find one?

It's a common experience due to the volume of domain names that have already been registered, especially .coms.

by Patrick Oak 18 August 2008 09:26am 0 comments

The five factors of compelling content

I've been involved with online content in a number of capacities. I've run my own online content ventures, consulted with people running online content businesses and obviously am a content producer myself.

by Patrick Oak 13 August 2008 08:45am 3 comments

5 wireless network security tips

As my fellow E-consultancy blogger Drama 2.0 discussed earlier this week, the theft of more than 40mn credit and debit card numbers was due to insecure wireless networks.

If you run a wireless network at home or in the office, the same sort of security breach could easily occur if you are not taking advantage of your wireless router's security features.

by Patrick Oak 15 August 2008 11:45am 6 comments

Web app security basics - filtering input and escaping output

If you have a web application, there are basic security best practices that should have been implemented when it was built.

In this post, I'll discuss two of the most important - filtering input and escaping output. It's so easy to do, yet so many web developers don't do it.

by Patrick Oak 11 August 2008 09:00am 0 comments

How to price your product

I'm currently consulting with an individual who is starting a subscription-based online business, focused on providing high-value content in a lucrative niche.

One of the biggest questions he had was: "How do I price my subscriptions?"

by Patrick Oak 08 August 2008 08:50am 1 comment

When third-party code takes your site down

Some very popular websites learned the hard way this past weekend that placing third-party code in your website's pages is a liability.

by Patrick Oak 06 August 2008 08:45am 1 comment

Do you need insurance?

If you are an independent contractor or run an online business, you may never have considered the need to obtain an insurance policy that covers your business activities.

by Patrick Oak 01 August 2008 08:45am 1 comment

Data backups - a practical overview

Chances are that if you've worked with computers long enough, you've had the unfortunate experience of losing all of your data due to some sort of malfunction or failure.

by Patrick Oak 04 August 2008 08:45am 1 comment