PHP hosting features enable dynamic sites where it is possible to run scripts to produce the web page content based on data stored in a database or in reaction to the conditions at the time of a site visitor.
Typical scripts are blogs, and forums. These save the information including weblog post content in a database, and PHP scripts are utilised to extract the information, and construct the web page. Read More…
Choosing the wrong shared hosting provider can be a nightmare. Crappy policies, frequent outages, and not getting enough storage or bandwidth for your money can all make your life difficult. By asking a potential host some relevant questions you can avoid that hosting nightmare and instead settle with a reliable host that provides good value for money with both services and support.
How much space does your package offer?
While most shared hosting providers will have a clause in their terms & conditions stating you cannot use the space to store audio and video files, most don’t enforce this for small amounts but if you intend hosting your own photo gallery and you link to your hi-res images, you’ll start eating into your allowance so check if there is any charge for going over and what the difference is between the next package up. At Selfless Mind Hosting our hosting packages come with either 2Gb, 8Gb or 20Gb and if that’s not enough we can tailor a package to suit you.
How much data transfer does your package offer?
Some shared hosting providers offer unlimited bandwidth, very often there is a catch in the small print, so check it carefully as often going over even by one Megabyte or two can be very expensive.
At Selfless Mind Hosting our packages come with 20Gb, 80Gb and 200Gb per month as standard but if you think you might go over, let us know and we can work something out.
Will your shared host offer Unix or Windows?
Nowadays more and more people want to run a Windows server, usually there’s not much difference in price but you’ll find things like database add-ons are chargeable, this is down to a licence from Microsoft being required, Windows isn’t open source!
At Selfless Mind Hosting we understand everyone’s needs are different, that is why we offer both Unix and Windows environments.
Do you use in-house servers and tech support?
At Selfless Mind Hosting our servers are housed in one of the UK’s most state-of-the art data centres. There, a dedicated team of engineers and technicians monitor things 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to ensure that when something goes wrong, which it has a tendency to do, they can spring into action ensuring that any downtime is minimal.
Once you have the answers to all the questions above, you can confidently compare hosting providers and choose the one that offers the best value for your money.
WordPress is not only one of the best website CMS programs it’s also one of the most resource hungry ways to create a website. With its multiple CSS, JavaScript and PHP files and a heavy reliance on calls to databases a WordPress site can easily become bloated and slow. Web masters who use WordPress need to look at how they can decrease their website‘s page load speeds. Here are a few ways to help you.
How do I find out how fast my website is the first place?
To see how your site is performing and to get a list of recommended changes I would start with looking at “Site Performance” within the Labs section of your Google Webmaster Tools.
To check out your site on spec you can also install Google’s page speed plug-in for FireFox here http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/download.html. This site within Firebug (also required) and gives a page a score out of 100 along with what you need to improve.
Before we get started, a word of warning. BEFORE you make any changes to your site you must make a back up to cover yourself in case anything collapses. It literally takes a couple of minutes to do and will save you some serious heart ache! Read More…
Directory submission
Directories are not an effective method to build quality incoming links but they will build volume and are a good way to get the ball rolling. Most will have a low Page Rank and pass very little link juice on, but when added all together, it could be enough to get you up to PR1. Rather than try to submit to each one manually it is quicker and just as effective to use a bulk submission service. A quick search for “directory submission” will bring you back a list of potential suppliers. If you know of directories that deal specifically with your niche, make sure you manually submit your site to these as well to build relevant incoming links.
Twitter
Make it easy for your visitors to retweet your website/ articles with a retweet button. Also set up your own account to push news items, blog articles, and special offers to engage with your site’s users on a one to one level. Twitter exclusive offers or resources are a good way to build your follower base quickly.
Social bookmarking
Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Reddit, Sphinn, Design Bump… there are dozens and dozens of social bookmarking sites, some broad others targeting specific niches, and they have the potential to be major traffic drivers for your website. Submit your site yourself and provide visitors with the ability to submit directly from your website as well.
YouTube channel/ videos
A marketing tactic long used by savvy affiliates, this is starting to enter the main stream for small budget websites looking for free traffic. Create a short video about your target subject using your keywords in the channel description, title, video name etc. Make sure your URL is used in your description and is visible in the video. Your video will then be shown in searches on YouTube and viewers can then follow through to your website.
Community
For every possible subject imaginable there is a community online supporting it. Sign up with related forums and engage fellow members to raise awareness of your website amongst your target audience. This will drive traffic and help generate incoming links from related websites. Leaving comments on related blogs is another tactic that helps to achieve the same end goal. In both cases use your domain name in your signature and become genuinely involved with valid comments, don’t just leave comments that simply state your URL and special offers you have on, it will have the opposite desired effect.
Google universal search
Google is much more than just web search, and for many keywords they will show results from blogs, images, video and product searches on the web search results page. These are often ignored by webmasters when it’s comes to SEO and can be a back door method to getting on to the first page. As with 99% of all SEO, it is all about your use of keywords, here are some quick tips (these are by no means exhaustive).
Purchase Email list
Despite the current rush towards social media, Email is still a cheap and effective method for marketing your services. As long as it is well designed, timed and targeted, an Email campaign will provide a positive ROI. Suppliers such as http://marketingfile.com/ will provide you with clean lists at around 20p per record. Services such as www.mailchimp.com will help you build your newsletter and send it out with full tracking services.
Write articles for peer sites
Very labour intensive and you will need to pick a subject that they feel deserves to be covered, but if you have the time, idea and writing skills, submitting an article to your industry’s leading news/ blog sites has many positive effects (e.g. raise your profile, incoming link and referral traffic). For example if I had a web design service or blog I would approach sites within the smashing network to write an article.
Buy low cost advertising
Purchasing advertising directly from appropriate websites can be cheaper and is often much more effective in driving converting traffic and developing your brand. Contact sites your own visitors are likely to visit for their media packs and advertising costs, for example, if you sell vitamins, websites that write about well being and healthy eating would be ideal targets.
If you are looking for a quick intake of visitors without having to wait for your SEO efforts to kick in, if you have the budget, Search Engine Pay per Click (SEPPC) is a good option. Each industry is very different and the costs involved vary a lot so you will need to research the CPC involved and whether you can afford it.
Another option available through Google is to advertise on their content network using text ads are banners. This is traditionally a lot cheaper than the search network but if poorly thought out and/ or left unchecked it can burn through a lot of money quickly. Go here to read more about advertising on their search network and content network.
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Questions to ask a potential shared hosting provider
