Tag Archives: Web Hosting

Why Website Builders Bundled With Hosting May Not Be A Good Idea

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Why Website Builders Bundled With Hosting May Not Be A Good Idea

Why Website Builders Bundled With Hosting May Not Be A Good Idea

Many web hosting companies around the world are offering free website builders or website template editors bundled with their web hosting plans. Some companies offer 100 templates while others offer thousands. For a new website owner, it may sound like a good idea to cut designing costs and take a bundled template system. But in the long term, the website builders may actually be doing harm to your online presence. This article deals with why the free website builders or website template editors could be harmful for your website and online presence.

Dependence

The main aim of the website builder services is to make you dependent on their service so that you are lured into buying a paid plan. Once you have setup your website and put in your information into their system it can become pretty difficult to migrate out of it or customize it to suit your needs. This dependence is exactly why these businesses are able to get renewals of the account. If you don’t renew the bundle, you end up losing everything. If you decide to split the bundle and buy hosting from another place, they will not allow you to use their template system. An article on TheSiteWizard website rightly says:

“Building your website using a site builder only seems easy on the surface, since it provides the illusion you don’t need to dream up the visual appearance of your website. You can simply use their provided templates.”

The article goes on to clarify: “Will you be able to move to another web host simply by transferring all the files to the other host? If you find that the terms of use of those templates do not allow this, you should not even consider using the site builder. Never allow your site to be locked into any web host. If the hosting company deteriorates, or unreasonably increases their rates, or even goes out of business, your website and your business will be held hostage.”

Limited Templates and Editing Options

The template editor, image, designs and layout are all limited to whatever the service offers. This means that however incorrect or irrelevant the elements in the template may be, you have no other choice, but to use them. Even addons for backups, colour schemes, customized coding, inserting external code and modifying the source will be restricted. Somewebsite builders also offer free code templates like for ad banners, chat scripts and even contact forms. However, these code snippets may not allow the customization that you want. For example, if you want to add a Captch Image verification, the form may not allow you to do so. Similarly if you want to log the IP address of the form sender for security purposes it may not be very suitable.

Impact on SEO

Many website builders have inherently haphazard coding with deprecated code. This means that the software contains obsolete code which is no longer used as a modern standard. The obsolete parts have been replaced by more efficient and optimum code to execute the same functions or perform the same actions, but your editor framework does not contain these improvements. Some services also prevent external apps and software from accessing the website code. This means that you are dependent on the internal addons and plugins which the vendor provides. These maybe buggy, obsolete or even vulnerable, but if you want that functionality in your website you have to use them.

Advertising Banners and Popups

Some website builders come free, but with some conditions. This means that if you use the site builder to make your design, you are consenting to allow popup ads or banner ads on your website. Every 3rd or 4th website visitor will be greeted with a popup advertisement inserted by the site builder and only if he closes the popup will he be able to access your website. Some website editor services go a step further and first redirect random visitors to an affiliates websites and then allow the visitor an option to go back to your site. This can be very damaging for your website, especially due to the fact that all your hard earned traffic is being diverted for the benefit of someone else. A friend of ours was suspicious that randomly on his website a banner ad would appear and then disappear after a while. Since he was not very tech savvy, he requested us to investigate. We noticed a suspicious script running on his home page, which had been placed there by the free website builder software that his web host had given him. Even upon removal, it returned. The problem stopped when he switched to a different web host.

Tips To Prevent Failed Backups Of Your Website

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Tips To Prevent Failed Backups Of Your Website

Tips To Prevent Failed Backups Of Your Website

Most of us keep regular backups of all our important data, especially which is on the internet. Websites should also be backed up regularly as a safety measure in case of a disaster and also as a version tracking mechanism. This ensures that in the event of our website being hacked or becoming corrupt, we can quickly restore it to a prior version. Most of us have automatic mechanisms to take a backup. But little do we realise that taking a backup doesnt really end there. We need to ensure that it is a workable backup and not a dummy file which has not value. This article explains how we can prevent backup file failures and how to ensure that our website backup will be of use when we need it.

Elements

An important aspect of taking backups is not to forget any of the elements that make up your account. Your web hosting account has several elements which need to be backed up so that you can restore your entire account. This means that you need to backup things like Email, Website Files, Databases, Configuration Files, Web Statistics, Email Forwarders and any other customizations that you may have done with any of these elements. Hosting Control Panels like cPanel or Plesk may allow you to take backups of these elements separately or compile them into a single compressed file. Forgetting even one part of your account backup may render your website useless. Many people forget to take a backup of their database files since the backend is not something that the users interact with. Similarly, the small configuration files and customizations can also boost the speed and efficiency when you attempt to restore the backup.

Disk Space Shortage

The in-built backup options of your web hosting control panel will usually save your backup in the home directory of your account. This means that the backup will also consume hosting space within your account. If you are on a limited space plan, you should have atleast 50% free disk space before you backup your account. If you do not have enough space, the backup may not complete fully or may get corrupt. This can be disastrous when you are dependent on it and when you want to restore the account. Ensure that you have enough free space so that your backup is not stuck.

Failed Download

One of the most common failure points when taking a backup is the download to your local machine or onto the media you are ultimately backing up on. Very often, when the backup file is being downloaded on the media or machine, the network connection may drop or the process maybe terminated. This may indicate that the file has been downloaded, but actually the file is only partially downloaded. A client of ours who was switching from shared hosting to a dedicated server was taking a backup of his website on his own. He started downloading the backup file from his hosting account. The size of the backup file was about 600 MB. On his internet connection, it indicated that about 8 minutes were left for the download to complete. In between the download process, his internet connection dropped. He noticed that the file transfer had stopped and file was on his hard disk. However, he did not notice the file size and assumed that the entire 600 MB has been downloaded. The backup file was corrupt and had downloaded only 350 MB. Luckily he noticed the mistake and was able to retrieve the backup file. You may not always be so lucky.

Integrity Check with the Checksum

The best way to ensure your backup file’s integrity is using a checksum tool to verify the checksum of the file before and after it is downloaded. Ideally this means that you get a unique hash value of the file from the web server. This unique hash value is tied to the file and is almost impossible to reverse engineer. Then, after you have downloaded the file, retest for the checksum of the downloaded file on your backup media. The checksum of the file should be exactly the same. If the file is corrupt or tampered or has not downloaded properly, the checksum will mismatch and you will get to know easily. This ensures data integrity and provides assurance of a healthy backup file.

 

Why Free Business Email Services Like Google Apps Are No Longer Free

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Google Apps, Microsoft’s Outlook.com and many other smaller providers used to offer free business email accounts. This lured a lot of people into moving their business mail to these giant corporations. However, when these giants withdrew these free services around 2012 to 2014, there was a mass exodus of users to the regular paid email services. Although users who had signed up prior to the free account withdrawal were “grandfathered” in and allowed to continue using their accounts, there were very few upgrade options for them. This article deals with why most of the free business email services did not find it lucrative to continue their services at no cost.

Support

One of the most important concern for free email users was tech support. When you do take an email service for your business, when your business expands and the Proprietor is not the same as the IT Chief, then you know that you have outgrown the free services. The paid services of most of these providers was prohibitively expensive for most types of businesses. People expected a lot of support and assistance in managing and setting up their account. This is something that Google and Microsoft lacked. Although they did appoint authorized service providers to help local businesses, the continuous support requirement was getting overwhelming. This meant that for a free service, these companies would need to hire support personnel, without getting any direct returns. We must remember that companies like Google and Microsoft did not aim to make money from their mailing services. Their aim was to make money from profiling users for advertising revenue. Microsoft’s story is similar. Hence there was no intent to put back the money in giving any more than their standard free features.

Configuration

Going hand in hand with support are the configuration issues that people used to face. Almost every user at some point in time will need to configure or sync or connect their account with some hardware device of theirs. Whether its a mobile phone or desktop or laptop, this was inevitable and should have been foreseen. However, Google Apps and Microsoft lacked the basic support infrastructure that paid email providers were offering. Hence, even though their service was free, their support partners charged money and made up for the free service. This money did not benefit Google or Microsoft and hence did not help them in any way. There was no direct incentive for offering free email services, especially when people required extensive support when setting up their account.

Expensive

Google Apps for business is priced at $50 per user per year, whereas Microsoft charges $48 per user per year at the minimum. When you realize that they also offer a free email service till today, you feel cheated. In effect you feel that you are actually paying for something which is being given out for free. What most people don’t realise is that the free accounts come without any support or without any assistance. But nobody wants to pay just for the additional support. Although the companies are justified in their pricing, they are not able to match competition, due to the simple fact that they have large expenses. Just like all other branded products, business email from these large corporations also costs more, without any visual value addition.

What About Website Hosting?

Why Free Business Email Services Like Google Apps Are No Longer Free

Why Free Business Email Services Like Google Apps Are No Longer Free

A big put off for people who used services like Google Apps and Outlook.com was that they wanted a one stop solution which included their website hosting, file storage and email. While Google Apps offered business email, it left a big void as far as web hosting was concerned. Google did offer alternatives like Google Sites, but the options left a lot to be desired. Almost all the business email options offer their own website editor with a limited number of templates. Beyond that no customizations can be made. The same was the case for Microsoft’s Outlook and Office 360 service. This is one of the main factors why people prefer conventional web hosting, even if they have a free option.

Why Your Website Should Be Mobile-Friendly

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Why Your Website Should Be Mobile-Friendly

Why Your Website Should Be Mobile-Friendly

With the improvement of smart phone technology, websites are being constantly accessed from mobile browsers and mobile devices. This means that the conventional design techniques may need to be tweaked to suit different screen sizes and be cross compatible with the plethora of devices in the market. With multiple companies launching newer models every day, the competition for how your website will be viewed is also hotting up. The experience of a mobile user is so significant in making or breaking a sale that now website’s are forced to change the way they looked or behaved based on what the users want. This article explains why you should make your website responsive or mobile friendly if you haven’t already started.

Higher Ranking in Google Search

Starting April 2015, Google will start giving priority to websites which have a mobile-friendly version of their site. Google has already started providing tags to search results which indicate which web page is mobile friendly i.e. can be easily viewed on a web page. As per Google’s Webmaster Blog:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

They go on to say: “When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns. In the past, we’ve made updates to ensure a site is configured properly and viewable on modern devices. We’ve made it easier for users to find mobile-friendly web pages and we’ve introduced App Indexing to surface useful content from apps.”

Other search engines are also most likely to follow suit and give preference to mobile friendliness in a website. Yahoo and Bing, like Google also give priority to responsive websites and openly indicate that.

Multiple Screen Sizes

The main aim for any website should be to serve up what the user wants and how the user wants. With the drastic shift in internet usage to mobile devices, websites also need to adapt to this shift in pattern. This is called Responsive Design. Responsive Design is used to reduce data usage on mobile connections by stripping off unimportant parts of the website and only focusing on the important aspects. Modern web design must make adjustments for different types of screens including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, projectors and even window displays. Every screen needs to have the unique features based on their usage and based on their functionality.

W3CSchools says that “RWD stands for Responsive Web Design; RWD can deliver web pages in variable sizes; RWD is a must for tablets and mobile devices.”

Focus on important features

Larger buttons, larger font size and a design optimized for a mobile screen are ideal in giving the best website experience to a mobile user. Other factors which are given priority is element spacing, especially for things like links, popups, buttons and even drop down lists. The whole point of this is to ensure that the end user focuses on exactly what they want and not the flowery features of your website which are presented to desktop users.

Buying Web Hosting Space From Your Web Designer? Watch Out

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We all love to shirk responsibility and hand over some of our problems for people who are willing to handle them. Buying the right type of web hosting maybe quite an overwhelming process for a not so tech savvy business owner. The task of how muck disk space, how much bandwidth and all the technical jargon involved can get quite taxing to understand. This is a primary reason why web designers are more than happy to bundle a web hosting account along with their designing fees. But there are many ways in which such relationships can get sour if the terms of the bundling are not made clear initially. This article explains what could go wrong if you buy web hosting space from your web designer rather than buying it independently.

Buying Web Hosting Space From Your Web Designer? Watch Out

Buying Web Hosting Space From Your Web Designer? Watch Out

Price

Although you may feel that you’ve got a great package deal on your web hosting along with design fees, you should be aware that web hosting fees are recurring fees and usually payable monthly or annually. Don’t get carried away with the waiver of fees for the first year. Some website owners are in for a rude shock when the next year on the renewal anniversary, they receive a huge invoice for renewal of the web hosting account. Design firms are almost always resellers or affiliates of web hosting companies and never a web host themselves. This can be a positive thing as well as a negative thing. Sometimes they may be able to offer you a highly competitive pricing, while some of them may just exploit your ignorance or inability.

Lock In

Taking a package from your website developers may lock you in to their web hosting package as well as their design. More than a physical barrier, it creates a sort of psychological block which prevents you from switching services or choosing a different design for your website. This is precisely the reason why low cost packages are offered and customers are lured to them. Website owners fear that if they shift the design services, then the developers may not be too cooperative and not give them control of the hosting account. Similarly, even if the hosting account has limited features or provides bad service, you may be willing to stick to it if it is bundled with your development package. You should always have control of your hosting account and also have your design source code with you.

Support

If your web designer is knowledgeable, well equipped and efficient, you may get good technical support. Issues related to your website’s hosting will be solved quickly. But if your designers are new to the hosting world, they may not be of much help. Sometimes it maybe helpful to buy the hosting and design from the same company, so that all your services are under one roof. This way there can be no blame game as to which service is deficient, in case of a failure. However, this can also be a disadvantage if you have hired a nascent design firm. They maybe too raw to know the intricacies of hosting and may not be able to keep up with changing technologies or may not be competent to provide the right security or optimization measures. This should not be expected from them either, as designing is their primary business and all other things are side businesses.

Control

If you are taking a package deal, make things clear at the beginning. What happens if you decide to hire the services of another designer? Who keeps the control of the website? On whose name is the domain name and hosting registered? How do you login to control your website files? These are some of the basic questions that you should ask when you are offered such a deal. You don’t want to end up having a disagreement with your web designer, who turns off your website and takes control of your domain name, leaving you high and dry.

Web Hosting And Net Neutrality In A Nutshell

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Web Hosting And Net Neutrality In A Nutshell

Web Hosting And Net Neutrality In A Nutshell

Net Neutrality is a phrase which is being sprayed all over the internet without providing a simple and clear explanation to the layman. Web Hosts are as affected by Net Neutrality decisions just like any ordinary internet user. Many people are quick to point out that Web Hosts also practice data discrimination and should be placed on the same guillotine as ISPs. However, this is not the case as there is a huge difference in providing Bandwidth and in providing a web hosting service. This article points out a couple of reasons why the Web Hosting industry also embraces Net Neutrality with open arms and why a comparison maybe equal to apples and oranges.

Low Entry Barriers

Unlike Internet Services in any country, it is pretty simple for a person to start a web hosting business. To become an ISP, there are several legal and business hurdles that one must cross. It’s not an easy task and needs deep pockets and great influence to start the business. It is on par with a Telephone Company or Electricity Supplier. On the other hand, starting a web hosting business can be done with little or no investment. Web hosting resellers don’t even need to own a server or commit any sales to start their business. A small or medium host can spend a couple of dollars every month and lease a hosting server. This means that to enter into this industry the cost is very low and regulation is negligible. There is no Government control or paper work that needs to be done to sell hosting space. This automatically increases the number of players in the industry.

Intense Competition

The low entry barriers cause such intense competition, that the ultimate beneficiary is the end user. If one web host starts acting restrictive, people can easily switch to another one without much ado. Due to customer-facing side of the business being virtual and online, there is easy accessibility and no physical hindrances to switching. However in most places around the world, the number of ISPs are miniscule and in rural areas there may not even be more than one or two. This kills the competitiveness of the business and gives a dominant position to the ISP, which can be misused to exploit subscribers. Often, when there are only a couple of ISPs operating, it leads to a sort of cartel and price fixing which cannot be questioned. Anti-competition laws around the world prohibit such behavior and try to break up this dependence.

Cut-throat Pricing

Besides striving to offer the best service in terms of speed and resources, every web host aims to offer the best price too. The price-war is so aggressive that even customers find it hard to make a decision as they are spoilt for choice. This is exactly what ISPs don’t want. ISPs want to create restrictions among different website services or online facilities by throttling the popular ones and charging a premium for them.They may either recover the premium from the customers or may ask the web services to cough up that money. If a web host throttles traffic for a certain type of domain name and prioritizes traffic for one that he is selling Eg: .co domain names, then he will soon be out of business because all his clients will switch. As we have learnt from free online services, the consumer doesn’t like to be restricted. The more restrictions you place, the more they will shun your service.

Security and Convenience

Web Hosts do restrict certain type of traffic and also do some filtering, but this is not to create unfair competition or to get a dominant position advantage, but to ensure security and stability of their services. Eg: A host may limit simultaneous FTP connections from a single IP address to a maximum of 50. This is to prevent abuse of their FTP server and to ensure that other users on the same shared server are able to enjoy the service too. ISPs want to filter traffic to commercially exploit the end user, as they know that the end user has limited options for accessing the internet.