Tushar, Author at anteelo

Content Marketing Strategies To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Posted on 04/11/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

Websites that have focused on content marketing have done really well for themselves. We are not the only ones saying it. Kapost statistics show that website conversion rate is 6 times more for those who have invested in content marketing as a strategy. According to content marketing statistics for the UK in 2018, provided by the Content Marketing Institute, 86 % of respondents are using content marketing but only 7 % of the respondents said that they are doing content marketing at the optimum levels and getting results from it. This means that there is a lot of scope for creating great content, doing content promotion and increasing your overall business.

There is no doubt that demand for content is huge but only consistent implementation of best practices can result in long-term success in the form of traffic generation.

Here are 5 ways in which you can convert your content into returning traffic and long-term customers.

Blend content that educates and content that sells

Most business owners do one of the two things very well â€“ They either create content that is great at educating customers or they create content that is great in selling to customers. The key is to create content that does both the things well. Doing one at the cost of the other is not an option. Too much of selling or information without any sales pitch will affect the content strategy in the long run and fail to serve any purpose.

A good example of creating content that mixes both educations and sales would be a blog that for example talks about weight loss exercises and at the same time points the prospective customers towards weight loss supplements to buy. The key here is to provide content that appeals to people who are looking for solutions to the problem of weight loss. It has to be content that appeals emotionally as well as logically to prospective customers. Make sure that none of the content looks forced and planted as if youâ€™re trying to advertise your product.

Different types and forms of content lead to more traffic

Your content strategy should be such that you are open to publishing different forms of content and different types of content. Diversity in the type and forms of content will help you to fulfill all your online marketing needs and convert the content into serious traffic.

Here are six different types of content that you should try and publish. This will also help you find out which type works best.

Content Type 1: Blogs

Blogs are probably the most common and one of the most effective means of expressing yourself on the internet. If the quality of your blog is good and you follow different strategies of getting people to your blog such as sharing content on different platforms, optimizing load time of your pages and placing related links inside the posts you can get a lot of high quality traffic to your blog. WordPress is one of the best platforms to set up a blog for your business.

Content Type 2: Infographics

As the name suggests, data presented in a graphical format with illustrations is visually very appealing compared to just bland numbers. You donâ€™t need any technical expertise to make an infographic. You can ask a professional graphic designer to make one for you or simply use online services such as piktochart, Visual.ly and easel.ly which have free as well as premium versions available.

Content Type 3: Videos

Short videos of 2-3 minutes are a great way to speak to your audience and move them to take actions. The videos can be about your products and services or they can be also â€˜take a tourâ€™ kind of videos. Apart from putting the video on your site, you can also publish the video to platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo.

Content Type 4: Case study

Case studies help your customers to understand how your product or service has helped previous customers. A case study starts with an overview of your client, the challenges faced by the client and how your service or product helped the client in getting over his problems. The case study ends with a conclusion and a call to action.

Content Type 5: Meme

A meme is a humorous graphic that usually has a tagline written on the top or bottom of an image. Memes are popular on social media platforms. While memes can be created for almost anything, in marketing, you can use it to create a brand message that will communicate your brandâ€™s humorous message. Memes can be created using online tools such as Meme generator and quick meme.

Content Type 6: Press releases/News

Publishing press releases on online PR sites about the latest updates at your end is a great way to keep your customers informed about the goings on in your business and to get out word about yourself in the market. Remember that unlike most other forms of content, a press release needs to be very to-the-point and has to provide something newsworthy. The content has to be in the form of news.

Know where you’re headed with regular content audits

A content audit is something that you do on a website to find out how far your content strategy and your content has been successful with your audience. Simply putting content out there is not enough. You also need to know which of your content is converting to traffic and which is hitting a chord with your audience. A content audit should be conducted at least weekly, quarterly or monthly so that you know if the content is succeeding in converting visitors into leads. The audit will give you an idea about how to improve your strategy and improve your content. This is also one of the best ways to improve your content marketing.

Create adaptive content for millennials

Millennials can be defined as people who were born in the 1980s to 1996 and reached young adulthood in the 21st century. Millennials constitute a huge section of anything that is technology or web related. This translates to them being a huge chunk of your audience.

Adaptive content is the way to attract them to your content. Adaptive content simply means content that lets people interact with it across different platforms. Just as water takes the shape of any vessel it is put into, similarly adaptive content adapts itself to the screen of the device it is being displayed on. The device could be a mobile phone, a PC screen or a laptop screen.

So for example if a reader started viewing your content on his home PC, he or she should be able to continue the same on their mobile phone and even complete their purchase through another device without being restricted to a particular device or platform.

Consistently Run A/B Tests

A/B testing or split testing is simply testing which you perform to see which content namely content A or content B performs better and converts more. Focus

Irrespective of whether youâ€™re into marketing or a small business owner, conducting A/B split tests will help you ascertain which headlines, call-to-actions and type of content works best for your readers. Once you understand what works best for you, you can fine-tune your marketing strategies and understand what exactly needs to go on your website.

These are the top ways to convert your content into serious traffic. Keep experimenting with different methods and keep yourself up-to-date with the latest trends in content marketing so that you can stay one step ahead of competitors.

If you are looking for high-performance hosting to help your site load faster on mobile devices, take a look at our VPS packages.

6 Social Proof Tips for Boosting Online Sales

Posted on 02/11/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

We use the term â€˜conversionâ€™ all the time when referring to online sales. And itâ€™s a word whose religious meaning is at the very heart of what businesses need to do: to convert consumers to believe in your brand. That, however, is easier said than done. Weâ€™re a society of sceptics, we donâ€™t take advertising rhetoric at face value. We need independent evidence that backs up what businesses say about their products and services. That evidence, today, comes in the form of social proof â€“ and those businesses that use it, are the ones making the most progress.

Social proof, therefore, is a way of saying, â€˜Donâ€™t just take our word for it.â€™ It’s a very effective marketing technique that gives potential buyers the confidence to purchase from you. Here are some of the ways you can use social proof to grow your business.

1. Display your reviews and testimonials

Reviews are the most powerful of all social proof as they provide would-be consumers with honest, independent feedback about products and services. Indeed, reading reviews is now an integral part of the purchasing process with over 70% of consumers doing so before making a decision.

It doesnâ€™t matter if you are an eCommerce store giving reviews of the products you sell or a garage showing reviews about the quality of your services, as long as you have them, customers are more inclined to trust you. If you have no reviews, you are an unknown quantity. For many online consumers, that can be too much of a gamble.

The same applies to customer testimonials, however, to make them believable, make sure that you include the customerâ€™s name, a photograph, and if they are a business customer, the company they work for.

2. Use the power of statistics

People have a tendency to believe statistics because they are based on evidence that has been measured and verified. This makes them highly persuasive things to use in your advertising and website content. Used effectively, they can be a great way to convince people that you are a successful business they can trust.

Some examples of how you can use statistics include:

* Highlighting customer numbers â€“ â€˜Over 500 learners passed their driving test last yearâ€™

* Showing how many customers recommend you â€“ â€˜8 out of 10 cats preferredâ€¦â€™

* How much customers can save â€“ â€˜Average customer saved Â£264â€™

* Show how popular you are â€“ â€˜Sign up and join our growing network of 10,000 subscribersâ€™

3. Promote social endorsements

The power of social endorsements should never be overlooked. When Kensington Palace released a photo of Princess Charlotte for her 2^nd birthday, the John Lewis cardigan she was wearing sold out the same day.

Itâ€™s not just royalty that has this effect, anyone who is socially well-known can do the same â€“ whether itâ€™s a local celebrity, an online influencer, someone who is highly regarded within a specific field or even a prominent organisation. Endorsements give your brand greater credibility and increase the likelihood of sales.

4. Show off your prominent clients and partners

Companies that provide services to the royal family can show off their prominent clients by displaying the various Royal Warrants of Appointment. It says to customers, â€˜If they use us, we must be good.â€™ Today, lots of businesses follow this example by showcasing the logos of their major clients on their websites. Not only does this give your brand a social kudos, it also lets other companies know about the type of clients you are able to cater for and the quality of service they are likely to expect.

Besides clients, also let customers know if you work in partnership with any high-profile businesses or, if you are an eCommerce company, whether you sell high-end brands. Again, this can be done by placing logos in prominent places on your website.

5. Use real-time trending information

As consumers, we tend to follow fashion and like to keep up with what other people think is hot. You can provide this information easily on your website using a range of different plugins or widgets. These can tell your visitors which the most popular products or the most visited pages are.

These real-time statuses persuade inquisitive consumers to visit the pages to find out why these products are so popular. Of course, the popularity is a sign that other people think these products are good, which further incentivises people to buy.

6. Make the most of your credentials

Legitimacy can go a long way to securing new businesses, so if your company has credentials which prove you meet recognised standards, have required qualifications or are members of professional bodies, make sure they are clearly displayed on your site. These are irrefutable social proof that makes customers feel confident about using your services.

For example, if you were a travel agency, people would want you to be a member of ABTA or have ATOL certification, or if you were an accountant, they would want to see that you were a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Conclusion

If you want to convert sceptical visitors into faithful customers, you will need to convince them that the promises you make about your products and services are true. For that, they’ll look beyond your landing page content and seek reassurance from others. That reassurance comes in the form of social proof. We hope the advice given in this post can help you to convince your customers.

30 Ideas For Engaging Newsletter Content

Posted on 30/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

Newsletters are a core element of email marketing and one of the most effective ways of generating new business. They also do wonders for maintaining brand loyalty and for bringing existing customers back to your website. It’s no surprise, then, that more than half of all businesses send out newsletters to their subscribers. However, finding constant things to include in weekly postings can be a challenge, especially if you want to cover a range of topics that keep readers engaged. With this in mind, here’s a list of ideas for engaging content.

30 ideas for newsletter content:

1) As with this post, send out a list of helpful tips to help solve a particular problem your customers might face.

2) Share thoughts about things you are looking forward to, such as the launch of a new product or an event you are attending.

3) Give advice to customers on areas you have expertise in, e.g., â€˜How to build a garden shed in easy stepsâ€™.

4) Promote social proof â€“ great customer testimonials, 1000 5-star reviews, positive social media comments, etc.

5) Make a video showcasing a product or service and include the link in the newsletter.

6) Publish an engaging post by a guest writer that is relevant to your audience.

7) Create a questionnaire or a poll. Follow this up the following week with the results. This is also helpful for market research.

8) Publish a humorous alternative to a yearly report, replacing boring financials with a more personal insight into the company. For example, the number of babies born, how many boxes of biscuits eaten, money raised from the swear box, etc.

9) Take some of the most frequently asked questions you get on social media and write them up as an interview or an FAQ

10)Celebrate company achievements: an award, a million followers, 10 years in business, etc.

11) Write a recommendation for something industry related â€“ a book, an exhibition, a new tool.

12)Create a series of Top 10 posts covering what your customers and website visitors find most popular: e.g., top 10 Instagram pics, most wished for products, most watched YouTube videos, most liked blog posts.

13) Create a video or slideshow showing what happens behind the scenes in your company. A great way to show off hi-tech facilities, traditional crafts and the human side of your team.

14) Share an eye-opening infographic about your business or sector that would engage your audience. Alternatively, create your own.

15) If you sell products, send out present ideas for special days like mothersâ€™ day, fathersâ€™ day and Christmas.

16) Celebrate achievements of employees when they pass exams, get new qualifications, win awards or get promoted.

17) Start generating interest in yet to be launched products and services by giving users a pre-release peek at whatâ€™s on offer. You can do this when upgrading existing products and services too. Great for generating feedback before things go live.

18) Make your subscribers feel special by sending them advanced notice of an upcoming sale â€“ or even better, give them access to the sale before anyone else.

19)Promote the faces behind the brand by creating snapshot biographies of people within the company. Try to get a good balance between the person and the job they do.

20) Write posts about your existing customers which shows how you help them. Even better with images of them with your products or staff.

21) Set up a competition or a giveaway. These always generate a lot of interest. You can follow this up with another post announcing the winner.

22) Write a fun April Fools post about a spoof new product or discovery.

23) Create a post about useful things related to your business. If youâ€™re a hairdresser, write about hair products, if youâ€™re a joiner, recommend the best wood oils, paints and varnishes. You can then start selling them.

24)Been in the news? Share your fame with a wider audience by mentioning it in the newsletter. Remember to add a link if it’s online so your subscribers can see it too.

25)Promote any charities you support. If you are doing a spot of charity fundraising or helping a community project, you can create written posts, videos and photo-journals of what you do. This helps promote the charity and improves your brandâ€™s reputation.

26)Help customers by passing on important industry-relatedÂ news. For example, website developers can send out information about new hacking threats or accountants can talk about the impact of the chancellorâ€™s budget.

27) Share greetings on important days, such as Christmas, Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah. There are plenty of others to celebrate too: Halloween, New Yearsâ€™ Day, etc. If you have customers abroad, donâ€™t forget their celebrations, too.

28)Make the most of the many special awareness days and weeks by posting appropriate images. Some, like National Chip Week, National Bed Week and National Doodle Day are great opportunities for fun posts.

29) Create a fun but relevant quiz to challenge your subscribers. There are plenty of free tools to make these on the internet. They are also great for getting an understanding of your customers.

30) Send out links to free, downloadable resources such as eBooks and â€˜how-toâ€™ guides that readers will find useful. For example, food retailers can provide recipe books.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the ideas here will provide you with plenty of inspiration to keep your newsletters varied, engaging and fun for your subscribers.

Step-By-Step Guide To Building Your First Mobile App

Posted on 29/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

To be able to build an app might sound fancy! But unless the app works successfully either for you or for others there is no point putting in so much of an effort to build your app. Hence, it is important that you keep certain things in mind while building your first app along with the technical steps that is imminent to launch a successful mobile application. When you decide to build a mobile application the first thing that you ought to consider is the reason for building that application.

Step 1

The first step of building a mobile application is to get an idea of the problem. You must have seen that successful entrepreneurs have used their brains and come out with innovative solutions for our day to day lives. For example, for a busy person a grocery app that allows you to get your daily supplies delivered right at your doorstep makes quite a sense. Similarly, you need to make a list of the many problems that we come across every day and then shortlist the ones which makes the most sense.

Step 2

As you get an idea to build a mobile application the next step involves validation of the problem. Google keyword planner is a helpful tool that helps you determine whether people requires the solution that your app is about to provide. The validation of the idea could also be done with the introduction of a landing page that gives a broad idea of the application and you can ask people for email signup.

Step 3

Once you have received validation of the app idea the next step involves laying down the flow and features of the mobile application. It is recommended that you give a detailed idea of the features and the ways in which the users will navigate the app so that it will be easier for the developer to build your app. Unless there is clear understanding one may not be able to come out with a successful application.

Step 4

After documenting all the features of the mobile application that you plan to build it is a better idea that you remove all the non-essential features from the document. It is good to offer only the core features of the app. The features which are “nice to have” can be added at a later stage when the app has already conquered the market. This will help in keeping down the cost of building the app lower.

Step 5

As an entrepreneur when you have finished documenting all the essential features of the mobile application that you want to build, the next step involves hiring a professional who will be able to do justice to the work. At the same time, they might help you with some valuable tips.

Last but the not the least, the building of your first mobile application should have a structured approach if you want success.

Why Managed Hosting is the Best Choice for Legacy Applications

Posted on 28/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

Although the cloud has become a popular choice for businesses, one challenge many companies face is how to deal with legacy apps that won’t work in a cloud environment. Essentially, these businesses are left with three choices: to continue running the apps in-house, to redesign the apps to work in the cloud or to migrate them to a managed hosting service. Which choice a company chooses depends on its budget and on its long-term needs. In this post, we‘ll look at the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

In-house hosting

Hosting legacy apps in-house can offer advantages over cloud and managed hosting. Maintaining your own datacentre gives you greater control over your system and provides easy accessibility which can be important if you run bespoke applications. Private networks can also be beneficial for those that need to comply with strict data protection and security regulations.

However, a significant disadvantage of in-house hosting is the cost. When running your own data centre, there are three types of costs which you need to bear in mind. Firstly, there is the capital expenditure needed for hardware, software licensing, network infrastructure, data storage and for the backup infrastructure. In addition, there are operational expenses, such as support for hardware, software and network infrastructure, costs for datacentre facilities and power, and ongoing staffing and training costs. Finally, there are indirect costs resulting from planned and unplanned downtime.

Redesigning apps for the cloud

If you need to host legacy apps which are not cloud compatible, there is the option to convert them for the cloud. Whilst doing this can bring all the benefits that the cloud has to offer, it can be very expensive and take a lot of time. Doing so also means overcoming quite a few technical challenges. Refactoring an application to work in the cloud can be risky as there is the potential for things to go wrong during the conversion process. If the application is not thoroughly tested in development before going live, there is the potential that you could end up in a disaster situation.

Managed hosting

An easier solution for legacy applications is managed hosting. This service comes with servers, OS, SSD or HDD storage and networking, and can include features such as cloud connectivity, managed security and bespoke technical support. You are able to build the server to a specification that is ideal for your needs and choose an operating system that is compatible with your legacy application. In addition, the hosting provider will take care of the administration, management, security and support.

One of the main benefits of managed hosting is that resources are dedicated entirely to your company. This means that you enjoy the full capabilities of all the infrastructure that you lease. Should you need more capacity, you can scale up by leasing additional servers.

Cost is another benefit. As you’ll no longer need to operate your own datacentre on-site, the savings you make will easily cover the costs of a managed hosting solution.

Besides hosting legacy applications, managed hosting is ideal for a wide number of other purposes. These include hosting web apps, analytics, big data processing, data storage and backups, disaster recovery and development ops. This means, that you do not need to lease a managed server solely for the legacy app but can move other services over too.

Managed hosting provides the performance, scalability and high availability companies need, together with built-in security that helps them comply with regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS.

Additional advantages of managed hosting

With the increased threat of cyberattacks, the advanced security that managed hosting provides helps companies keep their systems secure at an affordable price. Cybercriminals are employing ever more sophisticated techniques to target businesses and it is crucial that companies maintain robust defences. In-house security can be costly; measures such as creating a defensive infrastructure, managing vulnerability, maintaining up to date threat intelligence and keeping data protected and applications secure donâ€™t come cheaply â€“ especially when you have to staff a 24-hour security team. With managed hosting, this can all be done on your behalf by your service provider. A consequence of this is that in-house IT teams are freed up to concentrate their efforts on more business-focused operations that can improve the companyâ€™s products and services.

For companies wanting to benefit from the cloud whilst still continuing to use legacy applications, managed hosting offers the benefit of cloud connectivity, giving them the ability to connect their managed servers to the public cloud or, if desired, to other datacentre locations.

Conclusion

Working with legacy apps can be a challenge. If you want to migrate to the cloud, youâ€™ll need to go through the expensive and potentially risky route of refactoring your app, if you prefer to keep your app running in-house, youâ€™ll continue to need costly hardware and pay for the associated maintenance, IT staff and training. Using a managed hosting solution offers a better alternative, it is less expensive, highly secure and the managed aspect of the service means your IT staff can concentrate on more important matters.

8 Critical Website Mistakes You Should Never Make

Posted on 27/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

Youâ€™ll know from your own browsing that some websites are so badly designed that, even if the content is good, youâ€™ll never go back. Giving a visitor a poor experience can kill a website and destroy an online business. Here are 8 of the most critical website mistakes you need to avoid.

1. Poor navigation

A good user experience is all about doing things quickly and easily. So, when a visitor lands on your site, they donâ€™t want the hassle of having to spend too much time looking for things or having to constantly press the back button to get to the homepage. A site which doesnâ€™t offer great navigation can be frustrating to users, leading them to abandon it.

To achieve great navigation for your visitors, you need a menu in your header or at the top of your sidebar, a content search bar, breadcrumbs to make it easy to retrace steps, and links to important pages in your footer. The links in the footer should also include a link to a sitemap so that those who are really stuck have a better chance of finding what they want.

2. Invisible contact details

Some online businesses want all communication with their visitors and customers to be electronic. Theyâ€™d prefer not to have to deal with telephone calls and letters. However, as a legitimate business, you should put these details clearly on your website. If you are a limited company, you are obliged to show them. These companies lose out because the lack of a physical address or a business number makes customers suspicious and this can have a drastic impact on sales.

There are other companies who want their address and phone number to be seen but donâ€™t make it easy for customers to find them. The easiest solution is to put them in two places. Firstly, they should go in the footer. This way, they will appear at the bottom of every page. Secondly, you should create a contact page which has the details clearly displayed. A link to the contact page should be in the main menu or in the footer.

3. A headache inducing design

Great website design should be easy on the eye. The design on each page and across pages should be consistent, attractive to look at, easy to read on all devices, have plenty of white space and match your brand.

Unfortunately, some people who build their own websites can often get carried away with the wide choice of fonts and colours at their disposal. What results is a website that is too busy. There are clashing colours, an array of badly chosen fonts (some of which are not supported by every browser) and so little space that the userâ€™s eye cannot take all the information in.

Many users will simply hit the back button, not just because it is chaotic but also because it looks unprofessional. Those that persist will end up with eyestrain and a headache.

4. Breaking the back button

As a ploy to keep visitors on their website for longer, some webmasters have configured their site so that when a user clicks the back button they find it has been disabled or it takes them to another landing page. This essentially traps a user and prevents them from going back to Google to find a different site.

This form of tactic offers one of the worst forms of user experience. No visitor expects a browser button not to work and this can cause frustration, anxiety and anger. The only solution is to close down the browser tab.Â After that, youâ€™ll have zero chance of that user ever coming back to visit you.

5. Opening up a new browsing window

When creating links on your website you are giving the option to open the page in the same tab, a new tab or a new window. The general rule is that if the link is to a page on your own site, it should open in the same tab. If the link is to a different site, open it in a new tab so that the user can still go back to your site easily if needed.

There is no need, however, to open any page in a different window. Doing this essentially opens up two versions of the browser at the same time. Not only does this make for a complex browsing experience, it also uses up much more of the resources on the userâ€™s device, slowing down how well it performs.

6. Leaving broken hyperlinks on your site

Putting links to pages on your own or otherâ€™s sites is extremely helpful to visitors. However, when the pages you have linked to have been removed, what you are left with are links to nowhere. When a visitor clicks on them, all they see is a 404 error page. This can be very frustrating for users, especially if your site has lots of broken links.

The easiest way to prevent them is to use a broken link checker plugin. These will regularly check all the links on your site and notify you if any are broken. For links on your own site, you can choose to redirect them so that customers are sent to newer, more relevant pages. For external links, you can opt to remove them or find alternative URLs to link to.

7. Obsolete content

Google and visitors like content that is up-to-date and relevant. Websites should be checked regularly to ensure that the information provided is accurate and fit for purpose. For example, if you have a team page on your site and one of your team members moves on, you will need to update that information in case potential customers still try to contact them. If you donâ€™t, you may lose that customer. The same goes for things like addresses, opening hours, product inventory, shipping details, pricing, etc.

8. Slow loading times

If there is one thing that will force a customer to abandon your site before they even start to read it, itâ€™s a slow loading time. With superfast broadband and 4G networks, internet users expect websites to load more or less instantly. If youâ€™re not fully loaded in a second or so, theyâ€™ll be gone. The business will go elsewhere.

There are many things that can cause websites to load slowly and for a detailed understanding, you should always check your site using the Google PageSpeed Insights tool. Key to faster loading, however, is the quality of your web hosting. A great web hosting solution can have a big impact on the speed at which a site loads and, consequently, on the number of sales your website makes. A one secondâ€™s delay is estimated to reduce conversion rates by as much as 7%.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are some website management and design errors that can have a very negative effect on your website. These need to be addressed both during the design phase of your site and in its regular maintenance. Hopefully, the information provided here will help prevent you making these critical mistakes.

HDD vs. SSD Hosting and Why the Difference Matters

Posted on 26/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

Many hosting packages available today offer customers the option of either an HDD or an SSD hard drive. Most people opt for HDD for the simple reason that it’s the cheaper of the two. However, what many users don’t realise is that SSDs bring significant benefits to your website. In this post, we’ll look at the differences between two types of hard drive and explain why SSD is the best option.

What’s the difference between HDD and SSD hard drives?

A hard drive is the place where all a serverals data is stored. This includes the operating system, your website software and all your website data and content. Any software updates or website changes are written to that drive and when someone visits your site, the information on the drive needs to be read and processed.

On traditional HDD drives, that information is stored on thin, metal disks that spin at around 7,200 RPM. Using similar technology to a CD or DVD, information is written to it or read from it using a read/write head that hovers close to the disks surface.

The Achilles heel of the HDD drive is that it is built using moving parts. At 7200 RPM, a disk will spin almost 3.8 billion times in a year. Over time, this will eventually lead to wear and tear and, at some point, its mechanical parts will start to fail. Its other problem is that the speed at which data can be written and read is limited by how fast it can spin. Again, this is a limitation caused by it using mechanical technology that, in many respects, we first saw with the gramophone.

An SSD (solid state drive) works in a completely different way. It has dispensed with moving parts completely and, instead, stores data on interconnected flash memory chips. It can do everything that an HDD drive can do, however, as it is not reliant on how fast a disk can spin, it performs much quicker and without the risk of mechanical failure.

It is the speed and reliability of SSDs that make them more advantageous for hosting. In the next section we’ll explain the benefits these bring to website owners.

How SSD hosted websites benefit from increased speed

When you use an SSD hard drive, you increase the speed at which data can be written to and read from your server. This means that your website will be able to load faster on your users browsers.

The first benefit of this is higher ranking in search engine results. Since 2010, Google and other search engines have included website loading speeds as a factor in their search algorithms. In their pursuit of offering users ever better search results, they are rewarding faster websites because they offer a better user experience. The reward for higher ranking, of course, is more traffic.

As slower websites are being weeded out, you can check out how well Google thinks your website is performing by using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. This might give you an indication of whether SSD might be worth considering.

In addition to higher ranking, the faster loading also gives your visitors a better user experience. Today’s internet users expect instantly loading websites and have no patience with slow performance. If your site doesn’t load quickly, they’ll hit the back button and go elsewhere. A one-second delay can cost a business up to 7% of online turnover.

Whilst the speed of your hard drive may not be the only cause of a sluggish website, upgrading from HDD to SSD is one effective way to make it faster and reap the benefits.

How SSDs improve uptime

As HDDs contain moving mechanical parts, they are more at risk of failure than an SSD. Although HDDs are robustly manufactured, if yours fails, your site can go offline until a new drive is installed on the server and the data restored. If you don’t have your website backed up, you could lose all your data and put your entire online operations at risk. HDD failures are costly. If your business sells online, the longer you are offline the more custom you are losing. Your company’s reputation may also be damaged if no-one can access your site.

The lack of moving parts in an SSD means it is far less susceptible to failure. This makes it a far more reliable storage device. Indeed, it is estimated that an SSD can maintain data integrity for over two centuries.

Of course, if you want the best protection from downtime, your choice of web host is just as important as the type of hard disk you choose. You should look for a host that offers an uptime guarantee of 99.95% or higher, has backup (failover) servers available in case yours fails and protects you from hacking and malware infection.

HDDs Vs SSD cost vs benefits

Newer, better technology always costs more. The price reflects the fact that the companies which developed SSD technology are still clawing back their R & D costs. However, the price differentials are not enormous. At eUKhost, for example, you can get shared, cloud-based WordPress hosting on SSD for as little as Â£3.99 a month. Our VPS starter packages start at Â£12.99 for both SSD and HDD.

What’s important is whether you consider the small increase in price to be worth the benefits that SSD brings. Its speed and reliability are ideally suited to help websites rank higher and improve customer engagement, two crucial features of a successful website.

You also need to take into consideration that SSDs are taking over from HDDs. They are now used not just in web servers but in laptops, phones and many other devices. Eventually, HDDs will become obsolete.

Conclusion

At present, most web hosting packages offer you a choice between HDD and SSD drives. However, SSDs are superseding HDDs because they are a faster and more liable technology. Because of this, those who update to SSD hosting can benefit from higher search engine ranking, increased traffic, better user engagement and increased sales.

8 Popular SaaS Apps for Business

Posted on 25/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

There is an increasing shift within the business world from self-hosted apps to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) applications. Using a SaaS provider offers a wealth of advantages: guaranteed availability, scalability, provider-based software management and all the benefits of web-based accessibility. These kinds of applications are ideal solutions for CRM, ERP, HR, productivity and collaboration. In this post, we‘ll look at some of the most popular apps in use today.

1. Office 365

Microsoft Office has long been the most popular productivity suite with Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint providing the essential tools needed in industry and many other types of organisation. Today, Office 365 is the cloud-based version of that suite and, with over 120 million users, it is one of the most used cloud-based SaaS solutions.

Available in various editions, its applications work on PCs, tablets and smartphones and sync instantly across the internet. Itâ€™s ideal for working anywhere and collaborating with anyone.

2. Google G Suite

Google has had years to perfect its G Suite tools, offering free versions to millions of users worldwide. As a result, every part of the suite is familiar to users and the company has been able to make sure it works perfectly. G Suite for Business is the coming together of these well-known apps for business purposes: Google Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Hangouts and Gmail, where you can use your business email address instead of @gmail.com. The other differences for businesses are the increased storage capacity, improved security and data protection capabilities.

3. Slack

Slack is a next-generation collaboration app which has become very popular with businesses. It provides enterprises with a central communication hub which can be divided into separate channels for discrete teams, projects or clients. Each channel provides a single location where people can communicate and share tools and files.

One of the benefits of Slack is that it is searchable, enabling everything thatâ€™s been posted to be found. In this way, someone seeking a solution to something can quickly discover if somebody else has already found it. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that Slack has over 1,500 compatible apps in its directory which can be integrated into a channel. You can even build and use your own.

4. Box

Box is like an enterprise equivalent of Dropbox, providing businesses with cloud-based file sharing and content management facilities. What differentiates it from a standard file sharing site is its help with compliance, for example, it features GDPR auditing, key management and data residency.

One of its biggest benefits is its compatibility with many other cloud-based apps such as Office 365, G Suite, Slack and Salesforce.

5. NetSuite

NetSuite is a cloud app that enables businesses to manage their key processes within a single platform. It has functionality for ERP, CRM, PSA, eCommerce, retail and manufacturing. It can be used for resource planning, inventory tracking, financial monitoring, eCommerce hosting and customer management.

6. Salesforce Cloud

Salesforce Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) suite that enables enterprises to manage customer accounts, track sales leads, monitor marketing performance, manage tasks and deliver after-sales service.

Not only is it a global leader in CRM, Salesforce now offers solutions for eCommerce, customer service and marketing. And with the implementation of machine learning technology in its SaaS applications, this is an extremely powerful tool to use.

7. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a SaaS version of the companyâ€™s existing ERP system that is accessible via mobile, tablet and desktop. It has management capabilities for finance, procurement, inventory and maintenance, contract processing, time and cost, HR and big data analytics.

The system provides more efficient financial accounting and liquidity management, helps reduce procurement spending and write-offs, and increases user productivity and organisational agility.

8. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 is Microsoftâ€™s all-in-one cloud-based ERM and CRM solution. The software is divided into seven discrete modules: sales, marketing, field service, project service, customer service, operations and finance. These modules provide enterprises with an all-inclusive suite of apps under a single umbrella, enabling them to be managed from a central hub.

For improved security, a logical access control is built in, so that each user only has access to the particular modules that they need. At the same time, the full suite ensures that there are no errors, duplications or time wasting on the customer journey.

Conclusion

Cloud-based SaaS apps have a lot of benefits. They are easier to set up and configure than installing on your own hardware, there is guaranteed uptime, updates happen automatically, they are available anywhere there is an internet connection and on virtually all devices. There is no major investment needed as the software is leased on a subscription basis and there is the potential to scale up quickly if demand needs it. Indeed, with such a high demand for cloud apps, it is likely that traditional â€˜buy and installâ€™ software will become something of a rarity in the future.

5 Step Beginners Guide to Starting a Website

Posted on 24/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

If you want to create a website but have no idea how to start, you’ve come to the right place. Before you start building your site, there are five essential steps you need to go through â€“ if you don’t, you may face serious problems further down the line. In this post, we’ll look at each of the steps and show you what you need to do so that any issues can be avoided.

1. You’ll need a website name

All website names are registered, so the first thing you’ll need to do is think of the name you want and check whether it is available to use. If it is, you’ll be able to register it and stop anyone else from using it.

Website names are technically known as domain names. They come in two parts, the name itself and the domain extension (.com, .co.uk, .org, etc.). You are free to use a wide range of extensions, though the best to use depends upon the type of website you are creating and, sometimes, the place you are located.

2. Decide how you want to build your website

There are multiple routes you can take to build a website. Hereâ€™s an overview of them:

a) Use an online website builder

No doubt you’ll have seen adverts on TV for services that let you create a website in just a few hours without any programming skills. While it is possible to do this, the drag and drop websites these services create are very limited in the functions they offer.

In addition, you may have to use a domain name that includes the website buildersâ€™ name, so instead of â€˜mybusiness.co.ukâ€™ youâ€™ll have the less professionally sounding â€˜mybusiness.webbuilder.co.ukâ€™. The other downside is that youâ€™ll have to use the web builderâ€™s hosting and this may not provide best or cheapest service.

b) Use a CMS

Luckily, if you donâ€™t have any coding skills, you are not restricted to using a website builder. Instead, you can do what the majority of website owners do and use a CMS (content management system) to create your website. The most popular, by far, is WordPress, which runs 29% of the worldâ€™s websites. Others include Magenta, Joomla and Drupal. All of them are completely free to use.

CMS are programs that let you build websites easily. Creating a web page is about as hard as creating a similar page on MS Word. It takes a little while to learn the software, but you don’t need to know anything about HTML or PHP coding.

CMS platforms enable you to use your own domain name and pick a web hosting package that offers the best services for your needs. They also have thousands of free web templates and plugins you can use to make your site look unique and to give it exceptional functionality.

c) Get a website built for you

If you donâ€™t have the time or the skills to build a website, the only other solution is to pay a developer to build one for you. The main advantage of this is that you’ll get a bespoke site that has all the features you want. However, it will be the most expensive option and you may end up being reliant on the developer to maintain the site over the long term.

3. Choose a web host

In order to build a website or for it to be available on the internet, it will need to be hosted on a server. To do this, you will need to find a hosting service that will host your website for you.

Choosing the right web host is one of the most important decisions you will make when launching your new website. Here is a list of reasons why:

* The hardware used by a web host will affect the performance of your site. This, in turn, can affect how it performs on search engines and whether visitors will stay on your site.

* Hosting that provides robust security can protect your site from hacking and malware infection and help you stay compliant with data protection regulations.
Reliable hosting can ensure your site does not go offline and is always available.

* Good hosting will provide a range of essential features such as email, website backups, easy upgrades and site migration.

* Hosting that provides 24/7 technical support means that, should you have any kind of problem with your site, there will be an expert on hand to help you.

When looking for a host, you need to consider these things carefully.

4. Choosing the right hosting package

Once you have decided on the right host, the next stage is to decide on the right hosting package. This can seem a complicated process as there is a wide range of hosting options available. At the less expensive end of the spectrum, you have shared hosting, dedicated WordPress hosting and some of the smaller VPS plans. If you have bigger hosting requirements, you may need a large VPS package, a dedicated server or cloud hosting.

The type of hosting you will need depends on the size of your website, the amount of traffic you expect to receive and whether you intend to run other applications on the server, besides your website.

5. Planning your site

Before you get started with creating your website, the final stage is to plan your content. To do this, you should have a complete overview of all the pages youâ€™ll need and all the functionality required for the website to achieve your aims (such as a checkout for eCommerce sites).

When planning your site, divide your content into clearly defined sections and subsections. This will ensure that everything is in the right place for your visitors to find things easily. If it helps, use standard website structures so that things are where visitors expect them to be.

Building your site

When all the above steps have been completed, it will be time to start building your site. How you do this will depend on the choices you have made along the way, so there is no single piece of advice we can give to all readers. If you choose a web builder, follow the instructions on their site. If you are using the services of a developer, make sure you have given them a complete list of all the pages and features you require. If you are building a WordPress site, check out our posts, Complete Guide to installing WordPress using cPanel followed by How to Configure WordPress Settings.

Conclusion

As you can see, getting a website off the ground requires you to consider a number of very important factors. Thinking these through, before commencing, can prevent complicated and long-term issues developing further down the line. Hopefully, this post and the posts it links to, will help you make more informed decisions.

10 Essential Features of a Cloud Backup Service

Posted on 23/10/202113/11/2021 by Tushar

What would happen to your company if it lost all its data? If your critical apps, website, database and all the essential information you need to run your business suddenly vanished. You may be tempted to say that it doesn’t bear thinking about. But it does, because it happens. Hard drive failure, acts of God, human error, hacking, all these things and more can result in data death and without a backup, there’s no chance of a quick recovery.

Backups should be non-negotiable. Without them, there’s a significant risk of business failure. With them, disasters can be overcome quickly, enabling your company to get back on its feet.

That said, not all backup solutions are the same. Today, many companies have shifted their backups to the cloud as a way speed up recovery, save money and benefit from improved services. In this post, we’ll explain why cloud backups are so popular and what to look for in a provider.

Cloud backups explained

Cloud backup is third-party service that enables customers to store data, remotely, on the internet. Businesses using the cloud can backup, manage and recover data much more easily than with traditional methods that require additional, on-site storage.

The cloud offers flexibility to cope with varying storage requirements, provides affordable pay as you go pricing and gives complete control over what data is saved and how frequently you choose to back it up.

10 features you should look for in a good backup service

1. Storage space

Cloud providers charge customers based on the amount of data storage they use. Whilst this works out less expensive than buying your own storage servers, you still need to consider what your likely requirements are. This will entail looking at the size of a single backup and then multiplying this by the number of backups you want to preserve at any point in time. This will help you compare the rates of individual providers.

2. Look for scalable storage

The amount of data you need backing up can vary. As your company grows, your storage requirements are likely to increase and, if you occasionally carry out large-scale projects, you might want a temporary backup of the data you are using.

A good service provider will let customers increase their storage capacity on a flexible â€˜as needed basis, enabling you to scale up with growth or to cover short-term needs.

3. High availability

What could be worse than suffering a data loss and then finding out that your backup server was offline when you need to do a disaster recovery? One thing can: discovering the server is regularly offline, so your scheduled backups didn’t take place and your critical data didn’t get saved.

It is crucial that your cloud backup provider offers a high availability service that is guaranteed to stay online. If it doesn’t provide 99.95% or higher, go somewhere else.

4. Vendor disaster recovery

You use a backup service to protect you in the case of data loss. But what would happen if the vendors backup server went down? Before choosing a backup service, make sure that it has its own disaster recovery plan in operation too.

Most service providers have multilocation backups which store several copies of your backups at different data centres. So, even if a fire takes out a complete data centre, one of the copies stored elsewhere can be brought online immediately. Make sure your service provider has this solution in place.

5. Backup frequency as required

Some businesses need to back up their data far more frequently than others. If you have a busy eCommerce business, for example, you may need constant backups so that you do not lose any very recent transactions if data is lost.

Some backup services give customers total control over the frequency of their backups and enable them to be scheduled at times which are most convenient. Others only offer a limited number of backups and at times scheduled by the vendor. Make sure you choose the option which best suits your company’s needs.

6. Backup security

The security of your cloud backups is highly important when you consider the number cyber attacks that take place. If you are passing that security to a third-party, make sure they have robust measures in place to keep your data out of the hands of hackers.

Ideally, they should have intrusion prevention, 256-bit encryption for storage and data transfer, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Protection (TLS) and use multilocation data storage. In addition, the physical data centres should also be well-guarded with security staff, CCTV and access control in place.

7. Data compliance

Data regulation is getting stricter all the time. If you hold personal information you are required to comply with the Data Protection Act and the new GDPR regulation. Even if your data is backed up by a third-party cloud provider, you are still responsible for it. Make sure, therefore, that your provider meets industry standards and follows best practice to help you stay compliant.

8. 24/7 technical support

Backups are essential if you need to recover from a data loss. However, if a disaster does happen, the technical difficulties in getting back online quickly can be challenging. It’s times like these when you need a service provider that does more than simply provide a backup server.

To give yourself the best chance of meeting your Recovery Time Objective, you need a provider that can assist with the technical issues no matter what time of day. To ensure this happens, choose a cloud backup provider that offers expert, 24/7 technical support.

Ideally, support should be available via telephone, online chat and email. This way, should one communication channel be unavailable, there are others you can still use to get the problem solved.

9. Read the T & Cs

Check any terms and conditions carefully before signing up to a backup service. A good cloud backup provider will give guarantees and SLAs to ensure you receive an effective service. Also, check if there are any limitations that might prevent your company carrying out backup operations in the way it needs.

10. What customers think

The quality of the backup service and how well it suits the needs of your company should always be your main priority. If you are unsure about a cloud backup provider, we always recommend looking at customer reviews as these often provide a useful insight into the quality of the company, the services it provides and the support it gives its clients.

Conclusion

From reading this post you should have a clear understanding of how critical it is to back up your data. You should also see how cloud backups provide a quick, flexible and cost-efficient way to back up, store and recover data in the event of a disaster. Hopefully, the 10 points we have raised will help you find the right provider to look after your data.

Blend content that educates and content that sells

Different types and forms of content lead to more traffic

Content Type 1: Blogs

Content Type 2: Infographics

Content Type 3: Videos

Content Type 4: Case study

Content Type 5: Meme

Content Type 6: Press releases/News

Know where you’re headed with regular content audits

Create adaptive content for millennials

Consistently Run A/B Tests

1. Display your reviews and testimonials

2. Use the power of statistics

3. Promote social endorsements

4. Show off your prominent clients and partners

5. Use real-time trending information

6. Make the most of your credentials

Conclusion

30 ideas for newsletter content:

Conclusion

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

In-house hosting

Redesigning apps for the cloud

Managed hosting

Additional advantages of managed hosting

Conclusion

1. Poor navigation

2. Invisible contact details

3. A headache inducing design

4. Breaking the back button

5. Opening up a new browsing window

6. Leaving broken hyperlinks on your site

7. Obsolete content

8. Slow loading times

Conclusion

What’s the difference between HDD and SSD hard drives?

How SSD hosted websites benefit from increased speed

Conclusion

1. Office 365

2. Google G Suite

3. Slack

4. Box

5. NetSuite

6. Salesforce Cloud

7. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

8. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Conclusion

1. You’ll need a website name

2. Decide how you want to build your website

a) Use an online website builder

b) Use a CMS

c) Get a website built for you

3. Choose a web host

4. Choosing the right hosting package

5. Planning your site

Building your site

Conclusion

Cloud backups explained

10 features you should look for in a good backup service

1. Storage space

2. Look for scalable storage

3. High availability

4. Vendor disaster recovery

5. Backup frequency as required

6. Backup security

7. Data compliance

8. 24/7 technical support

9. Read the T & Cs

10. What customers think

Conclusion

Delivering excellence, collaborating across time zones.

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