Category Archives: Hosting

Is Web Page Load Speed Really Important?

Hosting, Organic SEO, SEO, SEO tools, ,

Yes! Tips and Advice to Make Your Website Screamingly Fast.

Photo by CircaSassy / Flickr

The amount of time it takes for your website to appear is very important for quite a few different reasons. We’re going to explore those below, but before we begin, it’s important for you to know the current page load speed for your homepage at least. To do this, you can use Google’s Pagespeed analysis online. Use the free tool to see how well you stack up against your three major competitors. Not liking the results? Keep reading.

Why Web Page Load Speed is Crucial

First of all, you have to think about your human visitors. Whether they’re using a mobile device or desktop computer, they expect your website to load quickly. If it doesn’t, they’ll click away and find another one. Additionally, Google and the other search engines are using page load speed as one of many factors to determine whether or not to rank a web page and where to rank it in their index.

Tips to Improve Page Load Speed

Here are some easy things you can do to decrease the amount of time it takes for your pages to load.

  • Follow the Advice – If you followed the instructions at the beginning of this article, you should know how long it takes for your web pages to load on average. You should have noticed in the tool that Google gives you quite a few suggestions on how to improve your speeds. This is the very first place you should start to look for ways to get your website loading quickly.

  • Strip it Down – If something is not absolutely necessary on your website, get rid of it. Too many websites try to do everything for everybody. This is a mistake – even for mega sites like Facebook. Instead, pick one or a handful of things and do them all really, really well. Going deep rather than wide is a wise strategy in the Information Age. When you do this, you’ll find that you don’t really need all those bells and whistles that can slow down your website.

The speed of your website is very important to people and to Google’s robots. This is why you should make it a priority for all of your web properties. The good news is that once you do the work, you can reap the benefits for a long time to come. If you have any other specific tips for decreasing the amount of time it takes to load a web page, leave a comment and share your wisdom below. (And take a moment to let us know what you think about the time it takes for this website to load. Be honest, please!)

Author Bio:-

Sheila Kurdinger is a fan of Festool brand tools. She’s even bought them as gifts for her family and friends who aren’t so mechanically inclined. When not reclining in her chair in the living room, she likes to read about infographics online.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS): The Virtual Future of Small Business

Hosting, Technology, virtual private network, virtual private servers, VPN, vPS, ,

virtual private serversVirtual private servers (VPS) are re-defining the way small businesses use the Internet. Small businesses who need a secure, private server can connect to the host and agree to the terms and conditions to achieve their goals. Not only is VPS convenient, the Small Business Administration reports approximately 25 percent of small businesses have backed up data using a web host/server.

A private server is a web-hosting medium where information is stored and shared among specific groups who are allowed access to the information. Large web hosting companies provide service to a multitude of companies at one time. With a private server, the web hosting companies offer each business its own secure network. This eliminates issues with one server from impacting another. Other benefits include:

  • Security – Each private server is provided maximum security. Information can only be shared with others who have been given access through pass codes or a direct link. This prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to highly sensitive or confidential information.
  • Cost Effectiveness – Small businesses often run on a tight budget. Using a virtual private server is cost effective. There is no need for expensive storage or additional servers and programs when everything is centralized and accessible from one location.
  • Stability – Private web hosts and servers offer stability as well as security. Because it is a private network, the activities of other companies using the host server will not be able to affect or impact your network in any way. They are totally separate entities and do not interact with one another.
  • Consistent Resources – As your business grows, its information and data storage needs will continually change. By using a VPS system, you have access to consistent and guaranteed resources as you need them. You don’t have to worry about not having enough RAM or losing files because they aren’t compatible with another program in the system.
  • Flexibility – Several operating systems are available to choose from. You can choose the one you are accustomed to using without worrying about learning a new one or converting your IT programs. This familiarity adds convenience and practicality.
  • Maximum Control – You have maximum control over your network. If there is something you need, install it. If you want to upgrade the system or change accessibility requirements, you can. You control your environment, and it stays the way you design it. According to Webhostinggeeks.com, being able to control data storage and this ultimate flexibility make the service worth its price.
  • Designed to Meet Your Needs – Web hosting companies provide networks designed to meet your needs. Their scalability allows you to grow within your system without worrying about having to stop and install new programs or add new resources. Each “container,” or environment, comes with exactly what you put into it at the beginning. Over time, the environment has the capability to expand and grow right along with your business, keeping you up to speed and on track for growth.

Author: Peter Marino is the owner and CDO of reelWebDesign.com and SocialMediaMarketing.co a website design and Inbound marketing company in NYC, respectively.

Denial Of Service Attacks Growing In Size And Frequency

Business Tech, Cloud Hosting, Hosting, Reputation, Security, Small Business Marketing, , , , ,

DDoS Attack

A distributed denial of service or DDoS attack can make a website or an entire network unavailable to users for hours, days or even longer. This type of attack is accomplished by groups who overwhelm a website with data or requests until it slows down or crashes completely.

Denial of service attacks have been increasing in the past few years as the hackers involved in this have perfected their skills in knocking people offline.  Attacks grew by 70 percent in the first half of 2012 and have even been used against large corporations and government agencies. The increase in DDoS has many worried that they too will become a target for these kinds of attacks.

Denial Of Service

Those who engage in denial of service attacks are very skilled at shutting down their targets using botnets.  A botnet is a network of hundreds or thousands of infected PCs that the attacker controls which can flood a website with requests.

The numerous requests end up cutting off access to the site and the user is no longer able to connect to their website. Botnets can even be hired out solely for the purpose of denial of service attacks. People can also volunteer their own PCs to be used in an attack.

Impact Of A DDoS Attack 

The impact of a DDoS attack can be catastrophic for organizations that lose access to their sites and cannot communicate or process transactions for days. Many businesses must suffer significant financial losses from losing access to their site as a result of these attacks even if they are only offline for one day.

Some attackers target bigger organizations but almost any company or website can be vulnerable to a DDoS attack. There are more than 7,ooo attacks daily but this number is still on the rise as they are growing more rapidly than ever before.

A Growing Trend 

The trend with the growing number of DDoS attacks seems to be shorter attack duration but bigger packet-per-second attack volume. The average attack bandwidth has increased by more than a hundred percent in the past few years. The increase in the number and size of the attacks has many companies alarmed about what could happen if they are targeted for an attack.

It appears that many of the attacks are motivated by political or ideological conflicts. Those involved can often implement an attack because they disagree with an organization’s policies. There are many other types of attacks, however, and it hard to say whether anyone is safe from this growing problem.

The Targets Of Service Attacks 

As more people become the targets of denial of service attacks it is a growing concern for those who stand to lose a lot of money from being forced offline. In order to prevent these types of attacks from occurring, people need to seek better security for their companies and be more aware of their vulnerabilities.

Anyone can be a target for a DDoS and it is important to be more cautious about the possibility of attack so as to prevent it from happening at all costs.

Our Guest Blogger, Leo Hart, has a passion for cloud computing from his time spent with Custom Cloud where he helps businesses setup customized virtual servers http://www.customcloudhost.com.

When web hosts fail, what happens to individual web sites?

Hosting, Small Business Marketing, Technology, Web Design,
When Web Hosts Fail: What You Need to Know

When Web Hosts Fail: What You Need to Know

Millions of web site owners found out the hard way on September 10th, when their web sites were down and unavailable for most of the day after an outage of epic proportions hit the well-known domain and web hosting firm GoDaddy. Reuters noted that the wide-ranging outage impacted some of the 10 million users of GoDaddy’s web services, including RunningShoes.com, which said its site was down sporadically during the day. The outage reportedly caused them losses of about $50,000 in sales as potential customers clicked to another site.

Most business owners sink a good amount of budget funds into getting a secure, reliable and fast-loading web presence for their site. And when a server overload, technical snafu or network malfeasance occurs, then web sites do not appear. That’s the unfortunate part of being on the web, when technical issues far away or regionally close can affect website performance and stability. 

So what can business owners do to prevent this type of outage to their sites? Unfortunately, nothing is fail safe in web hosting, but companies should double check the list below to see if they’ve handled the basic parts correctly.

What Type of Hosting is Critical to Your Site?

Your site has specific needs for its operation. If you’re selling clothing materials all day long, you’ll need plenty of web firepower in load times, image renderings and more to keep your site at the top of the search rankings and review sites. Dig around for well-known web hosting companies, but be prepared to shell out significant monthly fees to these web hosts.

Lifehacker offers up some name brand web hosts that might help get you started in your search, or you might want to simply choose a better-priced VPS hosting plan alternative that gives you often as much as the leading web host companies.

Is the Web Host Right for Your Site?

Is your web site a much-trafficked daily news site with lots of video loads and image renderings? Perhaps you’re offering art downloads and need massive amounts of storage for data transfer to your customers. If so, you’ll need a strong web hosting plan with plenty of bandwidth and storage capabilities. Seek out plans that offer gigabytes of storage and good backup possibilities.

Does Your Web Host Offer a Backup Plan for Outages?

Clearly, if GoDaddy can have an internal issue that affects many web site users, then any host firm can suffer an outage. What matters most is how a web host offers a strategy to limit damage or downtime from an outage. That’s the crucial part of a web host company choice. 

Make sure a web hosting company’s claims matches its actual service work. A web host might guarantee 99.9 percent uptime, but that guarantee may be nowhere in the small print of the contract. Check for any compensation to web site owners if the web host doesn’t match its terms of service. A guarantee without compensation is worthless.

Double checking these areas of your own web sites right now can help lead to better web host choices in the future. Always take time to weigh your options and only settle for best services you can find.

Last updated by at .