Web hosting via a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is one of the most popular solutions currently on the market, and for good reason. It’s affordable at all levels of business and, with the right web hosting company, is generally highly reliable. However, by its very nature, VPS means that your website’s resources will be limited as the space of a single web server is split between varying sites.

The alternative to this is Cloud Hosting, which combines multiple web servers to create a single network. The resources of this network are then allocated to and disseminated amongst sites as they are required. The result is generally less down time for your site and quicker loading speeds.

This type of hosting is now very popular amongst bigger corporations running a large number of websites or hosting numerous pages and products, Google, Bing and Amazon are three major examples. However, the reason it is popular with these big organisations is that it suits this type of company.

Cloud hosting is a very expensive option and while it does guarantee less down time and faster loading, the difference between VPS and Cloud is probably not worth the extra outlay, unless you intend to grow your business across numerous web sites which will require extra resource. For the time-being, a Linux-based solution is probably a better option.

If your company grows to encompass ten or more sites, or you find yourself hosting a 1000 page + website then cloud hosting may be a worthwhile investment; however, most SME’s will find that VPS remains the ideal, cost-effective solution for their site.

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Google’s so-called ‘sandbox’ is one of the search engine giant’s many tricks to ensure their results remain relevant and of good quality. While this is excellent news for those searching, it does present a potential pitfall for new sites. Newly hosted sites can be placed temporarily by Google in a ‘sandbox’ while their quality is ascertained. Release can take anything from a few days to a couple of months, causing a major loss of traffic to new sites. So how can you avoid the sandbox becoming a sandtrap?

Run a soft launch: Putting your website live a few pages at a time can help avoid the sandbox. Pages are indexed as they appear, so by the time the whole site goes live Google is familiar with much of the content and less likely to sandbox the site.

Use an existing domain: Using a domain name which is already familiar to Google can help you avoid the sandbox, meaning your site is available to your market far quicker. However, using an existing domain for a new business will greatly limit the addresses available and your branding opportunities. It is also potentially very expensive to acquire.

Choose your keywords carefully: It’s great to compete on popular keywords, but very difficult to make a high-rank. Competing on less popular keywords will secure you a higher ranking and make the site appear more relevant.

Content is king: As with so many parts of Google, if you provide what they’re looking for – excellent, relevant content – you’ll be left alone. Make sure your site contains high-quality, original content and it is likely to be released quicker, or avoid the sandbox altogether.

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When choosing a domain name, you need to think carefully about its suffix:

.com – The most popular top-level domain, in use since the Internet began in 1985. Companies anywhere in the world can own a .com domain and there is some evidence that it is prioritised by google.com in rankings. Consequently .com is an excellent choice if you wish to target an international audience.

.co.uk – A second-level domain name, specific to the UK. Many countries now have their own unique second-level domain suffix. It is seen as analogous to .com in many countries, although does geographically bound your site. As a result, while you may rank higher in national search engines, like google.co.uk, it can not compete internationally, where .com will always trump. For this reason, .co.uk is an excellent choice for targeting the domestic market. It also tends to be cheaper than a .com address.

Other domain names you may like to consider are:

.biz –A top-level domain intended to denote a business site. It is not geographically bounded, but does not have the popularity of a .com address. To own a .biz domain, you must prove its use for business and/ or commercial purposes.

.ac.uk – A second-level domain which is industry specific. This can only be used by academic institutions and is highly popular in this field, where it is seen as a mark of quality. Consequently many researchers focus on .ac.uk sites.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that there is nothing to stop a website owning a .com and .co.uk or industry specific version of the same address, for maximum impact.

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Web hosting is the act of renting space on servers to ‘host’ a website. As well as space for your site, web hosts, like NSDesign, also provide full internet connectivity. In short, it’s the internet equivalent of renting shop space.

Hosting comes at the very end of your web design process and is the final step to getting your site live on the internet. Personal web pages and small, simple constructions can be hosted from home through various methods, most of which are free, but require your page to carry advertising.

Complex sites, or those who require a professional advertising-free approach, will need to link up with a web hosting provider. So what questions do you need to ask when choosing a provider?

•    What is the average downtime per month? Downtime is when your website, for whatever reason, is unavailable. Most providers aim to average 99.5% uptime per month, this means a loss of 45 minutes each month.

•    Is there 24 hour technical support? Unexpected downtime can occur when it is least welcome, so you need to know you can speak to somebody quickly and easily to ensure the issue is resolved with minimum impact on your business.

•     What type of hosting is it? Dedicated hosting allows you to retain full control over your server, whereas managed hosting allows the provider to retain administrative functions. There are several other types of hosting, and a good web host should be able to take you through the options to find the one that is right for you.

If you’re looking for a home for your website, then speak to NSDesign for flexible web hosting packages that use the latest Linux technology.

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One of the questions we’re often asked by clients is where they should host their blog. Free blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger make it possible to set-up a blog within a few minutes. The content, by default, is hosted by the software provider and accessed via their domain name, e.g. www.wordpress.com/blogforjoebloggs.

However, we always advise our clients to host their blogs on their own specific domains. This could be a stand-alone blog  such as www.blogforjoebloggs.com, or a new section on an existing website such as www.joebloggswebsite.com/blog.

Even though there are costs associated with buying specific domain names and paying for hosting space, the benefits make it a very worthwhile investment. The free blog sites are great up until a point, in that they enable you to start generating some traffic, but did you know that you don’t actually own the blog? While you own the content, one step out of line and your account could be closed, taking all of your hard work with it.

As your blog and your company expand and become more popular, you will find the flexibility of your own domain name incredibly important. By having your own domain name for your blog, or bolting it on to your main website, you will gain more credibility with your readers as well as enjoying complete control over your content and adding value to your business.

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One of the most important considerations when designing your business’s website is its domain name. When people think of your website, they will think of it by name, just as they would do with a person, so it’s vital to get it right.

Many companies register their domain name after the name of their organisation. For example, the BBC’s domain name is www.bbc.co.uk. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Where you might encounter a problem here is if somebody else has taken your first choice of domain name. In an instance like that, you need to be creative as well as logical at the same time. Here are some things to consider:

Short is sweet. URL names can be up to 67 characters. This doesn’t mean you have to actually use 67 characters. The less that people have to type the better. This is especially true as people are more likely to make typos with longer addresses – meaning less visits to your site.

Watch out for unfortunate combinations of words. Your business might be called something totally decent, but when the words are squished together, it looks rude! For example, if your company was called Pen Is Ink – well, you do the maths …

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There are so many web hosting companies out there, it can be just about impossible to tell them apart. How do you know which ones are going to give your website a secure, reliable home with maximum uptime … and which ones are going to cause untold problems for your website and your company?

Web hosting companies range from one-man-bands through to large-scale corporations, but regardless of size, you can use the following checklist to determine whether they’re likely to provide a good service:

1)    Security is a major concern for website managers. Check whether your prospective web host houses their servers in a secure facility.

2)    The safe-guarding of your website’s files is also crucial. In the event that the server hosting your website should fail, make sure the hosting company has a system for backing up your website.

3)    Find out whether the web hosting company can offer any guarantees to give you confidence in their service levels. Also ask to see any ‘uptime’ statistics to give you confidence that your website is unlikely to crash.

4)    Locality is also something to consider, although it’s less important than the security and reliability issues outlined above. It’s usually a good idea to host your website in the country in which you do business. This is mainly for search engine optimisation purposes. When UK customers type search terms into the search engines, for example, the results will prioritise pages from UK-hosted websites.

5)    Finally, we recommend you choose a web hosting company that gives you a control panel or a suitable alternative that enables you to administer your website 24/ 7.

This seems like an appropriate moment to mention that NSDesign offers all of these web hosting benefits and many more besides … but to avoid too blatant a plug we’ll leave it there and let you come to us if you happen to be in the market for web hosting.

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There’s one particular UK webhost that’s investing heavily in advertising right now, with a campaign claiming that server speed directly impacts your website’s effectiveness in Google, to the extent that Google actually penalises slow loading websites.

Personally, I’m not 100% convinced, and even if Google does pay attention to speed of the server (load speed of the page is another matter) then I’m sure it’s significance is minor compared to many other things I’d consider first if my SEO needed improving.

That said…  a fast loading website (helped by a fast server) is clearly an important thing – moreso for users looking to minimise the time they spend hunting down info or browsing for products/services to buy online. 

At NSDesign, we had a hunch that our servers were among the fatest in the UK, especially since we’re what you might call a “budget host” (at £25 for a standard shared linux host – we’re certainly in the “budget” price range), so we did a little research…

Independant “performance benchmarking” site www.webperf.net lists 170 UK Webhosts, and regularly tests their performance (measuring the Mean Rate in K/Sec – ie: the speed!).  We’re currently at a respectable position 16, well ahead of many of the major Hosting “giants” (the ones you see advertising full page in .NET magazine).  A quick check of the 15 hosts above us, and it’s no surprise that on average, most of these companies charge considerably more than us, with a few just specialising in providing high-end dedicated servers (no end-user hosting at all).

Something to proud of for certain, but how do we compare to the uk host that’s claiming to be so fast that even google prefers them?  Well – unfortunately they don’t list themselves in Webperf, so we resorted to a quick a simple speed test of their own website homepage using www.alertra.com and also did the exact same on the NSDesign.co.uk homepage.

Once we’ve removed the duplicate test locations, the above results show that on average (across the globe), we’re over 60% faster, and when tested in the UK (the London test), our access was over 40% quicker.  FORTY PERCENT quicker than (if we believe the hype) one of the UK’s fastest hosting companies.  Not bad for a little webhost from Glasgow.  Maybe helps explain why our own Google Search listings are so highly placed….  page1, position1 for keywords such as “Web Hosting Glasgow”, and “Linux Hosting Scotland”.  Server speed, or just damn fine SEO?  You can decide, but no matter the conclusion, well done us

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Susan Boyle is currently enjoying unexpected Global success following her recent appearance on “Britains Got Talent”, with the subsequent media hype help making her into a household name, but NOT on the internet.  Why? – because all of the susanboyle internet domains names were snapped up by cybersquatters, the moment they realised the value in her name (with the exception of the .com – which was already owned by a artist in Texas – I wonder if her spam has increased?).

Many of the sites which were registered in the days following her appearance on the show are branded “fan sites”, but call me cynical – I’m sure they’ll also be fully aware of the potential value such a high profile celebrity name brings with it.  With YouTube now at over 50 MILLION views for the Susan Boyle Clip, it’s easy to see how getting just a small percentage of the current Google searches to your site could bring in some financial gain, not to mention the possibility of Susan herself wanting to buy it from them.

On the 17th April, I emailed Talkback Thames (the production company responsible for Susan’s current fame), and explained:

“…surely you have a responsibility to Susan, to help protect her best interests, and with the knowledge that she was likely to become the subject of media interest (given the show is pre-recorded), I find it difficult to understand why you (acting on her behalf) did not takle measures to ensure the relevant domain names were secured in advance of such public exposure, and therefore protecting her online identity for the future.”
 
I did received a response, claiming that they “already have domain names secured for them (they are just not active yet)”, however I’ve still to find the domains they are referring to, and in a news article released just 1 week after this, Susan herself is reported to have confirmed she doesn’t actually have an official website.

The issue of celebrity cybersquatting is nothing new, and I use Susan Boyle as a very current example, however, I could easily substitute any “reality TV star” from Britain’s got Talent, or X Factor etc.  The same thing happens every year with Big Brother – the contestant’s names are registered as domain names often within minutes of them being announced on the first live show.  We know – we’ve seen the orders!

So whether you’re destined to be the next overnight global success or not, make sure that you understand the value in your own name, and take steps to protect it online by registering your domain name(s),  or risk exploitation by all your adoring “fans”.

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Many people take advantage of “email forwarding” – the ability to easily forward email from your domain onto for example your hotmail or gmail home address.

Sounds a perfectly good thing to do, and what harm can it possible cause?  In actual fact – a LOT of harm, to you and any other people hosted on the same server as you!

Lets say your name is dave, and you have the domain poundshop.com.  You setup an email forwarder for dave@poundshop.com to forward to your dave1296@hotmail.com, and all your email arrives very conveniently for you at Hotmail for you to read, and process in the normal way.

But ANYTHING sent to dave@poundshop.com is forwarded on – including all the spam that you’ve been getting lately.  This causes 2 main problems:

1) Some ISPs (such as Hotmail and AOL) don’t recognise the true source of the spam, seeing it as originating from the last “hop” in the delivery route – ie: your poundshop.com domain, and our server.

2) Some ISPs have spam filters in place based on the volume of incoming email, and if you suddenly get a lot of spam email, or – more likely – a lot of “bounced emails” caused by someone spoofing your dave@poundshop.com address, then there’s the potential for a serious volume of email to all be forwarded onto your chosen destination. 

Both scenarios above have the same result – YOU are seen as the spammer, and as a result – the reputation of your domain, and the entire server (with all the other customers hosted on it) is decreased, leading to increased risk of your email being considered spam, or worst case scenario – being totally blacklisted by an ISP or major blacklist provider.

The situation increases exponentially when you setup “catch-all” email forwarding, when EVERYTHING@poundshop.com is forwarded on.  Imagine a spam attack where the spammer sends literally millions of emails to any_word_or_phrase@poundshop.com – all of which are forwarded on, and all of which result in you “spamming” yourself. 

Our advice – NEVER use catch-all email forwarding (in fact never use catch-all email full stop), and only consider email forwarding of any sort if you 100% really have to.  Personally I cannot see any valid reason for needing to forward email.  Some people say that forwarding to Hotmail is convenient as it allows them to pickup their mail from anywhere.  These people don’t realise we provide a perfectly good webmail system to do just that.  Others say it allows them to collect all their various emails into one handy account, and therefore not login to multiple email boxes – this is fine – but forward them all to an address on your domain – NOT an external one.

Many web hosts are now banning email forwarding, removing the capability all together.  And the result for these hosts is a serious decrease in spam complaints against their servers.  We’re not planning on removing email forwarding just yet, but in the long run, it might be inevitable for anyone running a mailserver to come to the conclusion that forwarding email externally is just too much trouble, and the benefits to everyone by turning it off, far outweigh any benefits of having this so called “feature”.

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