And have you ever considered what would happen to your personal information if someone were to get their hands on it?

Everyday we hear nightmare stories of Stolen Identities. One way to avoid becoming the next statistic is to use unique passwords for the websites you visit. Below is one of the many ways to make passwords unique and secure. And all the while, easy to remember.

1. Passwords should be at the minimum a combination of numbers and letters.
2. The ideal password would also combine the numbers and letters with symbols.
3. Passwords should be a minimum of 6 characters long. The ideal length of passwords should be 8 – 10 characters.
4. You should use a combination of capitalized and non-capitalized letters in your password.

So how are you going to devise a password that does all of the above and still be memorable? Here is a simple strategy.

• Capitalize the third letter of a password.
• If symbols are allowed, some websites may not allow symbols, convert the vowels to a symbol:a = @, e = 3, i = 1, o = 0, u = ^
• Start you password with two numbers, if symbols are allowed you can use the equivalent symbol for the numbers(i.e., 1 =! , 2 = @, 3 = #, etc.).

Examples:

For the website: HomeDepot.com

Pick two favorite two digit numbers. For this example my numbers are 45 & 87.

My symbol combinations for my favorite numbers are: $% and *& respectively.

Example #1 – 8 character password

$%h0M3d3 This password uses symbols, numbers and capitalization. The password is difficult to guess and hard to crack. But if you are consistent with your personal password rules, it will be very easy for you to remember.

Example #2 – 8 character password, no symbols

45h0M3d3 This password should only be used when symbols are not allowed. It is always best to include a symbol. Please note, all the same rules applied without the symbols.

Example #3 – 13 character password

$%h0M3d3p0t*& This password uses symbols, numbers and capitalization. The password is difficult to guess and hard to crack. But if you are consistent with your personal password rules, it will be very easy for you to remember.

In this example, we used both of our favorite number combinations as symbols.

Last Example: 8 character password, symbols and a very short domain(website name):

For the website: Go.com

This provides us with a variation using all of the rules we learned before. For an eight character password, we have to juggle somethings up.

$%g0.C0m Instead of using just the domain name, we also included the suffix of “.com” by using the same rules. When used in combination, all of these passwords are considered to be very strong and hard to guess.

Here are a couple of Do’s & Don’ts

Here are some guidelines about what secure passwords should not include:

• Your name
• Your spouse’s name
• Your parent’s name
• Your pet’s name
• Your child’s name
• Names of close friends or coworkers
• Names of your favorite fantasy characters
• Your boss’s name
• Anybody’s name
• The name of the operating system you’re using
• The hostname of your computer
• Your phone number
• Your license plate number
• Any part of your social security number
• Anybody’s birth date
• Other information that is easily obtained about you
• Words such as wizard, guru, gandalf, and so on.
• Any username on the computer in any form (as is, capitalized, etc.)
• A word in the English dictionary
• A word in a foreign dictionary
• A place
• A proper noun
• Passwords of all the same letter
• Simple patterns on the keyboard, like qwerty
• Any of the above spelled backwards
• Any of the above followed or prepended by a single digit

Good passwords:

• Have both upper and lower case letters
• Have digits and/or punctuation characters as well as letters
• Are easy to remember, so they do not have to be written down
• Are seven or eight characters long
• Can be typed quickly, so someone else cannot look over your shoulder

SecurityStats.com This site has a great tool to test the strength of your passwords along with some other useful tips.

Microsoft.com Has a wonderful article about Strong passwords: How to create and use them you can read this by clicking here.

While there are many different strategies commonly used in customizing passwords, I have found this to be the easiest to remember for multiple websites. Another great way of managing passwords is to use a software based program. There are many available for both PC’s and Mac’s. A Google search using the phrase of “password manager mac” or “password manager pc” will provide you with an abundant list of alternatives.

Maintain Frequency Until Requested Otherwise

When the going gets tough, it’s human nature to do more of something to increase your odds of success. But in email marketing, sending more campaigns with reminder messages, offers and requests to respond will likely backfire and alienate opt-in prospects, customers and advocates. It’s important to remember that your target audiences have many other marketers sending them messages that may not be as valuable as yours – but it can all become a blur when email volumes increase in the PC, social or mobile inbox. Stick to the game plan that audiences agreed to unless they tell you different. Maintain a rhythm to help ensure your messages are anticipated, welcomed, responded to and shared, instead of ignored or shut down with spam.

Focus On Value, Not Fluff

Give people what they want, when they want it, and make it very easy for them to quickly experience the value of your information and offers. This is achieved when marketers apply the right blend of preference center and CRM thinking to help identify wants and needs, and deliver content that is expected and perceived as valuable to each individual recipient (not one-size-fits-all to the entire list). Design can certainly play a significant role in making valuable information easier to understand and act upon. Keep messages short and simple instead of long-winded and complex. This strategy is not only good for email campaigns. Short, comprehensive messages can also be repurposed much easier and faster for mobile marketing messages like SMS.

Be Confident

Confidence, not arrogance, is a very attractive quality when people communicate with one another. We’re all a little bit nervous about the economy and certain world events. Prospects, customers and advocates will respond better to email campaigns that are fact-based, relevant and come from a thought leader with a credible voice and calm nature. Remember, great email and messaging is a conversation between people and not a blast to a list.

Incorporate Social And Mobile

Email, or messaging in general, is taking on new forms via a variety of inboxes across channels, including traditional email, social and mobile marketing. That said, marketers need to remember that their campaigns and content can get more mileage across channels – which can lead to better engagement with audiences at lower costs to marketers. Call it repurposing or just better orchestration, marketers can save money and improve campaign results by thinking in terms of “tri-messaging” via email, social and mobile.

Don’t Trash Your Sender Reputation

Sure, email and messaging have great delivery economics on the surface, but resist the temptation to save time and money by cutting corners when it comes to sending best practices. There is a fine line between being a reputable email marketer (that ISPs, spam filters and recipients respect) and a spammer. Stay abreast of how to create a good reputation online, and apply time and investments to remain reputable. This will go a long way to improving your business results and brand equity in any economy.

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About The Author

Erick Mott is the communications director for Lyris. Connect with him on www.twitter.com/lyris or www.linkedin.com/in/erickmott.