In this day and age, the internet is the perfect place to market your business. If you do not already have a web marketing strategy in place, 2017 is the perfect time to get started. Don’t delay any longer – put together a web marketing strategy that can really work for you.

Did you know the following facts?:

• Web marketing can help people to find your business on search engines. A good web marketing strategy will involve search engine optimisation, helping to boost your website on search engine results pages.
• A good online strategy will help to make you look more professional. Think about everything to do with your online presence, from your logo to the consistency of your branding.
• You can achieve more sales from online marketing. More people will be able to find your website and, if they like it, will convert and become customers, helping you to make more money.

A headless server is defined as a computing device that operates without the use of a graphical user interface. Instead, it will receive inputs from elsewhere and will be able to function without the use of a monitor or peripherals, such as a keyboard or mouse. Its overall purpose is to provide services for users and other computers.

Many servers are headless, which can have a lot of advantages for a company. Perhaps most importantly, it allows for easy and compact storage. Large data centres will often use rack-mounted servers, where the computers are stored in large racks that keep them neat and easily stored away. They will usually have uniform storage compartments and will therefore be stored with other similar servers that are the same size and shape.

The advantages of a headless server over other kinds of server include security benefits, accessibility and usability. You can leave the server on, so it can always be reachable from the internet, yet it will be reasonably secure.

Outsourcing backups is not something that usually comes to mind when managing a website. Backups are commonly carried out, in-house, by the website developer.

However outsourcing your backups can be a great way to give you peace of mind, another buffer against un-predictable events, and a level of professionalism towards an important part of webhosting data management.

Outsourcing the backup procedure, in simple terms, is the process of allowing a 3rd party to manage the backed up data of your website or any IT based program. They will not edit or update the data in anyway. A backup company’s job is to simply hold onto the data that is given to them.

With data backed up regularly and in a separate location to your IT base of operations a host of advantages are opened up. For one, the data is safe from any adverse natural disasters or theft of the IT hardware, as it is in a different location.

As any webmaster should know, backing up your website’s data is the only sure way to ensure against a catastrophe. Knowing this will still leave you with a lot of questions though, such as; “How often should I back up my website?”, or “How do I back up my website?”.

To answer this question, a simple answer is not enough. This is because the demands of each website is not equal, for instance; if a website is only updated sporadically, then backing it up after ever update could be the most efficient solution; however, if your website holds a massive database with hundreds or thousands of users and products, with new information being added on a near constant basis, having back-ups running nearly constantly could be the best solution, helping you to avoid liability and loss of revenue.

Depending upon the hosting package you’ve acquired, this may already be happening, and if it isn’t, acquiring it through your hosting company is a good choice.

Many people believe that the location of your web hoster does not matter, but the fact is it does, especially in terms of SEO.

Search engine results depend on the national version of Google, and particularly when you have a country domain extension, Google recognises your nationality, meaning you may not perform as well in the UK if you have a .be extension.

If you’re thinking about starting a website directed to a UK audience, it could be beneficial to purchase a .co.uk domain, or perhaps a .com/. The only issue is that more domains are taken each day, and whenever a suitable domain name for the UK come available, you should always snap it up while you can. Or you may end up paying over the odds.

Choosing the right web hosting partner and package can be difficult, especially if you’re a beginner, and you aren’t quite sure what you’re looking for.

To help make sure you don’t come away with regrets, we’re putting a quick list together to make sure you get the right deal for your business’s needs.

• Building a website starts with a domain, and it’s vital to know who owns the domain, because you don’t want to be stuck with one company for the rest of your life.
• Find out the renewal charge. The first year might be free, but there could be a costly renewal. It’s also important to check when the renewal is though it’s usually annually.
• Don’t fall for the convenience trap. Most Web-hosting companies would prefer to have your domain registered with them, and don’t get us wrong, this could be beneficial, they could be a good company, but if they go down, your hosting and domain will both together.
• Try to use PayPal, it’s quicker and it’s much easier to track transactions, meaning your webhosting company is less likely going to cause you problems along the way.
• Don’t pay costs up front. Like many services online, you can get renewal charges cheaper if you pay a lot up front, but with web hosting companies make sure you don’t’ fall for the trap.

Finally, make sure your web hosting provider is experienced, and check reviews, Google them, find out who’s been saying what various things about their company. For truthful opinions you could search their company name through social media networks. Building a website takes time and finding the right hosting provider is the first step. Make sure it’s a step forward and start your journey to the top.

Web hosting users may have heard the term “canonical plugins” if they have been paying attention to what the WordPress team has been up to over recent months. There have been numerous references to it, especially at WordCamps, but what does it mean

Well, essentially, they would be plugins which are developed by multiple people rather than just one and would deal with the “most popular functionality requests with superlative execution”, explained Jane Wells, writing on the WordPress blog.

“There would be a very strong relationship between core and these plugins,” she pointed out. This would guarantee “the plugin code would be secure and the best possible example of coding standards”. It would also ensure “new versions of WordPress would be tested against these plugins prior to release to ensure compatibility”, she commented.

A screen in the plugins section of the WordPress admin would be home to the canonical plugins “as a kind of Editor’s Choice or Verified guarantee”, Ms Wells said.

For a system like this to operate properly, every canonical plugin’s development community will most likely require similar infrastructure to WordPress with things such as Trac and mailing lists.

Ms Wells has now called on people to provide a new name for canonical plugins, as many have no idea what it means and having to spell it out takes away the focus from the core ideas behind the concept. So, will web hosting users get involved and suggest a new, catchy name

There are a number of options partaking web hosting users can choose, including Standard, Core, Premium, Validated, Official and, wait for it … Canonical. As for the latter, the WordPress team said perhaps once people are familiar with it, the term may not be so confusing.

The WordPress team recently announced that beta-2 of WordPress 2.9 is ready to be tested. Web hosting users can see what they make of it by downloading it at their own discretion.

Everyone wants to be online these days. If you aren’t, chances are you will be forgotten. Unless you’re in a niche that word of mouth can solely keep you afloat, it’s time to think about getting your site up. This article will hopefully help you through the clutter of setting up a website and help you focus in on what you really need to claim your spot online.

Starting your website tip 1:
When choosing your domain it’s best to select one that is short and to the point. If you own a bakery for example, by this point www.bakery.com is spoken for. However if you last name is Smith or your bakery has an individual name like Blue Hill Bakery, you can try Smithbakery.com or Bluehillbakery.com. Most hosting companies have a tool to help you figure out if the domain you want is already taken, but my favorite is www.instantdomainsearch.com. It’s simple and gives you suggestions on available .net .org etc. variations on your domain search. The shorter the domain the better, not only with this help with people remembering your domain, but it can’t hurt your organic page rank either. Also, make sure that your provider offers unlimited subdomains. Most do without question, but double check before buying, otherwise you could spend a lot more then you should for a site with only a few pages.

Starting your website tip 2:
Usually when you purchase a domain with a provider, chances are you’ll use their hosting services too. You can aim your site from a domain host to a site provider, but if you’re just starting out it may be wiser to host the site and domain with the same company. Depending on the function of the site, be it a blog, corporate, or retail site, you’ll need to decide your storage space and bandwidth allotments. If your site is going to have multimedia you may want to bump up these selections. I’ve found that it’s much easier to back down your package after a test month then it is to have your site crash or be billed for the overages. Once you have an idea of what the site is going to be, within your accounts Control Panel, or cpanel, there should be many options offered by your provider to help you install the needed Content Management Programs on your hosting server. Little tip, I’ve found that WordPress is the most efficient when it comes to blogging, but Joomla is the best I’ve found when setting up a retail site. Both are very easy to dive into and are very robust, but Joomla seems to have better options when it comes to shopping carts.

Starting your website tip 3:
Traffic and tracking are the bread and butter of the internet. Being able to drive customers and track what brought them there is the name of the game. There are many options when it comes to these topics, but I’ll give you what I’ve found to be the best options to start you out.
When it comes to analytics, Google is a staple. You can sign up for a Google Analytics account for free, and they will walk you through the set up process. Be sure to have access to the HTML code on your site because you’re going to have to place some Google code to allow the analytics to gather information. There are other options out there, many of them, but Google does an excellent job of tracking all information and seems to be the default in the industry.
Now, the age old question of “how do I get traffic” I won’t go into too much detail hear because to be honest there is just too much to write about, but I will clue you in on the basics depending on your end goal. If you own a retail site and you’re pushing a product, your best bet out of the gate is to buy targeted traffic for your site. Be very careful, you really do pay for what you get. You can buy very cheap traffic and never have a sale, or you can overpay for targeted traffic that converts. If you have the budget, stick to targeted, if not, try a mix, but all cheap is definitely not the way to go. If you’re a blogger looking to drive traffic organically, well there are volumes written on this topic. What I suggest in the beginning stages is to make sure your topics are relevant and articles filled with great keywords. But more importantly starting out are links. Once you get some content, go out and find similar sites to yours and try to do a link share with them. The more links back to your site, the better your ranking will become.

I could go on for days about tip 3 but I’ll save those for later articles. I hope this gives you a good idea of what to look for when starting a new site. Be sure to ask questions. Most providers have large staffs waiting to help customers. If you find a good rep ask for their name and see if you can reach them directly if you get stuck. It’s a learning process, use all you can to help teach yourself. Once you get it down, you’ll look back a realize it really wasn’t that big of a deal to carve out your spot on the net.

A successful hosting experience does not end after a web hosting company is contracted and a hosting plan chosen. A knowledgeable webmaster understands the importance of search engine indexing in over overall website achievements. Having a website properly indexed by search engines is the only way for people browsing the Internet to be able to locate the webpage.