Web Site Hosting

Open Source Hosting

The Open Source Technology That Powers Your Hosting Solution

Jerry Leave a comment

When it comes to the technology that powers your business, there are generally two prevailing attitudes about it: 1. I have specific demands and I’d like to know what each piece of software is that’s keeping my website online. 2. I don’t particularly care what the software is, I just want the website to work with minimal headaches. Both of these attitudes are valid, but even if you’re in the second camp, it’s important to know what software is being used to power your website.

 

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to taking your site from a bunch of files sitting on a local computer to a website that’s making you a lot of money. Whether you’re working with a managed VPS or a dedicated server, you need to know your way around even if you’re going to delegate much of the web work to another member of your team.

 

Many hosting environments are powered by Linux, which is an open source base for many different operating systems. You can also find Windows hosting if you’re running proprietary software that requires Windows. Otherwise, Linux is your best bet when it comes to flexibility. Granted, not every specific piece of software that makes up your development environment is open source in and of itself, but many are.

 

Regardless of its truly open source status, each piece of software works together to create the environment you and your team will be working with every day. Some software allows customization and in many categories you have choices when it comes to which solution to go with. Let’s take a look at the OS on the server itself, what control panels you can use to make changes, and what content management system you may want to install in order to generate your user facing content.

 

Linux Server

 

The base of your server, the operating system, is some flavor of Linux which is an open source technology at the kernel level. However, there are some proprietary Linux variants that may be of use to you that aren’t open sourced.

 

CentOS

 

Red Hat is the name in enterprise level Linux, however CentOS is the popular and free, open source variant that has become the backbone of many development environments over the last decade or so. That’s because it has matured into a simple, no-frills stable OS that comes with some helpful security featured baked in. Its most attractive quality is the fact that the development cycle isn’t too rigorous and it is developed in such a way to reduce the risk of crashes and errors.

 

CloudLinux

 

If you’re running a dedicated server with the plan to resell space on it to a multitude of clients, CloudLinux may be of interest to you. This operating system allows you to better divide the space of a dedicated server to “rent” out to clients in a shared hosting arrangement while reducing the chances of one site’s resource usage greatly affecting the resource pool of other sites on the server.

 

Control Panels

 

Many of the most popular control panels aren’t open source in and of themselves, but your host will provide them for you and they are compatible with a Linux environment.

 

cPanel/WHM

 

Easily the most popular control panel, cPanel and WHM are offered by practically every hosting company as an option. WHM is used to generate user accounts that can then be given cPanel logins. Again, this is ideal for a hosting reseller situation where you’re dividing up server space amongst other clients. cPanel itself is where you’ll be doing a lot of the big picture work. You can install your content management system here, alter code, manage email accounts on the server, access FTP, and more. cPanel is flexible and relatively easy to get the hang of so it’s often the default choice in a Linux environment because it is designed with CentOS, Red Hat, and CloudLinux specifically in mind.

 

Plesk

 

Right off the bat, if you’re running a Windows server, you’d be using Plesk (or something else) instead of cPanel because Plesk has Windows compatibility while cPanel is Linux only. However, if you’re on a Linux server (and at KnownHost you would be using Linux) you have a choice. Plesk is seen by some as easier to understand, though this is a matter of preference. Some believe Plesk on Linux isn’t quite as useful as it is for Windows, but your mileage may vary.

 

Content Management System

 

You may not think about your operating system daily and if you’re not a developer you probably won’t even be in your control panel terribly often. But, what you will be using every single day is your content management system. Each of the following content management systems is open source and is great for different reasons.

 

WordPress

 

Over a quarter of the web runs on WordPress, so as far as documentation and developer resources are concerned, the possibilities are endless. WordPress powers many major sites and has evolved to include nearly any kind of functionality. However, it’s the ideal platform for informational based sites. If you’re planning on launching an ecommerce site, you’re better off with a CMS designed for it specifically such as…

 

Magento

 

Magento is the big name in ecommerce CMSes, especially large-scale sites. The learning curve is on the steeper side, and unlike some of the other CMSes, WordPress in particular, you’re going to need a developer on hand to do a lot of the heavy lifting when you need certain types of functionality. Once it’s configured to your liking, though, it becomes clear why so many large retailers rely on Magento.

 

Joomla

 

As far as difficulty of use is concerned, Joomla probably sits somewhere between WordPress and the CMS that will round off this list next. If you need more flexibility and power than what WordPress offers, Joomla is a popular choice. It’s not too technical, but you can certainly go into the weeds if you are so inclined. This flexibility means you don’t necessarily need to be calling your developer all the time. Joomla is great at ecommerce, though it isn’t designed exclusively for it like Magento is. Interestingly, if you’re looking to develop your own social network, Joomla is the best of the bunch to use in order to accomplish that.

 

Drupal

 

Drupal is arguably the most powerful CMS on the list. But, that power comes with a trade-off. The trade-off is accessibility. You’ll need to understand HTML, CSS, and PHP to get anywhere with Drupal, making it the ideal choice for the hybrid developer-business owner or the business with a dedicated Drupal developer on staff. If you have the personnel resources, you can make Drupal do nearly anything you want. Whether you want to develop a website, a store, a social network, or an online application, you can make Drupal work for you.

 

Conclusion

 

Your hosting environment is made up of many parts. They all provide different functionality that makes up your VPS or dedicated server. While you personally may not spend much time tinkering in the backend of your site, someone on your team probably will be. At KnownHost, we’re dedicated to providing you with the customer service you need when you need it. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help your web presence grow.

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Traffic Levels and Hosting

Why You Need to Consider More Than Traffic Levels When Choosing Hosting

Jerry Leave a comment

As far as web hosting solutions go, there are very few solid rules that someone should follow. There is no one size fits all model, though sometimes you may wish for one. But, if an unofficial rule could be made up right on the spot, a good one might be “Plan for the traffic levels you’re getting now and factor in the traffic levels you hope to hit.” If you’re not migrating a site and you’re building a completely new one, you can change that first part to “Plan for the traffic levels you think you’ll get in the near term.” Basically, make sure you’re signing up for a hosting solution that won’t just suit your needs now but will also hopefully last you a few years. Site migrations aren’t exactly fun, so the less moving around you need to do, the better.

 

When initially debating whether shared hosting, a VPS, or dedicated server would be best for your business’ needs, you of course think about the hardware in relation to the ability to handle large amounts of traffic. Make no mistake, traffic levels are the biggest concern when shopping for web hosting plans for a website. If you’re looking to host a software development environment or an email server, your concerns are obviously going to be more geared towards disk space and processing power. But, for a website, the big number to keep an eye out for is bandwidth because that is what gets rapidly depleted by high volumes of traffic.

 

However, traffic isn’t the whole story. While you may not be so concerned with the server hardware’s horsepower if you’re just looking to host a website, you should keep it in consideration because a multitude of factors beyond traffic levels and bandwidth go into choosing the ideal hosting solution. And, yes, some of those factors will rely on the power of your server. While many of the more technical ins and outs of the site will no doubt be handled by a developer, as the decision maker it’s important to understand some of the critical things to consider when selecting your VPS or dedicated server. Shared hosting, unfortunately, is often not up to the task of powering a large-scale business website. This is especially true when talking about e-commerce. Here is what you need to look for when choosing a host.

 

Traffic Concerns

 

While it’s important to understand that traffic isn’t the only concern you need to have when selecting a hosting solution, it’s the big one, so let’s touch on that. There is a close relationship between bandwidth and the levels of traffic to your site. The simple explanation is that the more bandwidth you have in your hosting plan, the higher the level of traffic your site can support. But it’s important not to just think about it in terms of volume over time. For example, if you’re getting 100,000 visitors a month and experience steady traffic at all times, that won’t be as demanding as experiencing 20,000 people trying to access your site simultaneously. Higher bandwidth will protect your site from experiencing slowdowns or, worse, getting knocked offline because too many people are trying to access it at once. Being very popular is a good problem to have, of course, but your infrastructure needs to be able to handle the demand. Traffic spikes and overall traffic are two different metrics you need to factor in when looking at that bandwidth number in the spec sheet for the hosting plans you’re considering.

 

That’s the condensed version of what you need to know as far as traffic when it comes to shopping for hosting. The more powerful the hardware, the more bandwidth you get generally. A dedicated server, beyond having a stronger CPU, more RAM, etc. also has more bandwidth. That’s why they are often the choice for e-commerce. With traffic out of the way, here are other issues you need to keep in mind when selecting a hosting solution.

 

Content Management Systems

 

Even if you don’t concern yourself too much with how your site is going to work on a technical level, you’re familiar with how to make changes to it. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to control the content and functionality of a site: handwritten coding or the use of a content management system. If you have a site of even moderate complexity or you are building an e-commerce site, you are most likely working with a CMS.

 

A CMS can sometimes be a bit of a double-edged sword from a technical standpoint. On one hand, it makes updating the site much easier. This is especially true for those without a development background who want the ability to upload pictures or change content quickly and easily. On the other, a CMS can be a heavy piece of software that is taxing on system resources and can bog down performance. Many of the major CMSes come with what some may define as “bloat” in the code. Add in the fact that the popular platforms like WordPress rely on plugins which can slow your site down for functionality, and you can start to see why you’ll want at least a VPS when hosting WordPress or similar sites. You need strong enough hardware to power through the additional load times caused by the CMS so you can present your audience with a seamless experience.

 

Specialty Software

 

This is a simple point, but an important one to touch on. Hosting companies offer hosting environments that are either powered by Linux or Windows. You’ll find many arguments for each, but at the end of the day, the most important thing to keep in mind is any software you hope to run on your server. If you’re running software that is Windows only, that about makes up your mind for you. Otherwise, it all comes down to preference if you have one.

 

Guarantees and Amenities

 

You may consider these “extras” however they are anything but. For example, having maximum uptime is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Search for a hosting solution that offers 99.9% uptime so you can be confident that your site will be accessible at nearly all times. A site that is offline is a site that is not making you money. Additionally, look for amenities like managed services, free backups, free migrations, and some security provisions. While no host will guarantee a full lockdown, high security set up, you can find some complementary DDOS protection. Just having a customer service team available to contact at any hour of the night is a tremendous benefit.

 

Conclusion

 

Landing on the right hosting solution can often feel like a combination of luck and the ability to see the future. It really isn’t. Armed with the right information, you can make a decision that will suit your business today and in the near future. While growth is of course always the goal, you want a hosting solution that will meet your needs for as long as possible. Whether it’s a VPS or dedicated server, it has to work for you. Contact us today to speak to one of our experts. At KnownHost, we know that choosing a hosting solution for your business is a major endeavor and we’re here to help.

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How to Grow Your E-Commerce Business Fast

How to Grow Ecommerce Fast – 11 Ways to Outpace the Competition

Jerry Leave a comment

Well, this is basically the timeless question of the Internet for its function as a profit-building mechanism: How can you create fast e-commerce growth?

 

Generally, e-commerce is expanding at a fast rate. Year-over-year growth in online sales was 14% in 2015 and rose significantly to 19% in 2016 (2017 comScore study / Marketing Charts).

 

How can you meet and exceed that rate? This article looks at eleven ways to do that:

 

  1. Set reasonable expectations.

 

Everyone knows that growth rate is easier to achieve in the early years. That business truism is mirrored by the growth of a human being: the rate at which a baby grows during the first month (in height) is about 10 times the growth rate that occurs in a teenager.

 

Similarly, startups grow much faster than established enterprises. Here are the growth rates of difference sizes of companies from the RJMetrics report “2015 E-commerce Growth Benchmark” (an analysis of big data collected from the firm’s e-commerce clients):

 

  • < $1 million: almost 140%
  • $1 to $5 million: 40%
  • $5 million to $10 million: 25%
  • $10 million: about 10%.

 

  1. Go where the action is.

 

RJMetrics COO Jake Stein notes how key niche focus is for many companies. “Our report found that product-market fit emerges early, within the first six months of sales,” he says. “If you’re not seeing these indicators of rapid adoption from the start, it’s a sign you need to either change your product or how you’re presenting it to the market.”

 

To follow that advice, you may want to reconsider what you’re selling. That will probably mean tweaking your offerings but could also be a broader concern. At the 10,000-foot level, these are the 2016 YOY growth rates for major retail e-commerce verticals (comScore):

 

  • Watches and jewelry — 39%
  • Appliances, equipment, and furniture — 26%
  • Greetings, flowers, and gifts — 24%
  • Software — 24%
  • Tickets (to concerts/events) — 24%
  • Video games, accessories, and consoles — 24%
  • Accessories and clothing – 20%
  • Hobbies and toys — 16%.

 

Now keep in mind that we are talking about the speed of growth, not size. The largest e-commerce product category is clothing/accessories. Businesses selling those items made a combined $20.3 billion in revenue. The second biggest chunk of e-commerce is computer hardware. That one-two pair remained the same in 2016 as it was in 2015.

 

  1. Test and test some more.

 

When you are preparing for the launch of an e-commerce business (and, really, as time goes by), set aside money for analytics and testing. As you approach testing, consider things from the customer’s perspective, advises marketing consultant Samuel Edwards in Entrepreneur. Use split-testing to compare two or more competing options.

 

  1. Think globally, act regionally.

 

You can use Google Enhanced Campaigns or Bing Ads to change the way you bid on any geographical segment for ads via percentage bid adjustments.

 

Andrew Goodman of lead form company Sleeknote suggests reducing the amount you are bidding in poor-performing regions. Also, “continue adjusting segments until your chosen KPI, such as CPA, is roughly normalized to a target (either the average or an arbitrary target),” says Goodman.

 

  1. Leverage Shopping Ads within Google.

 

Again, it helps to consider that great mass of people flowing through the Google ecosystem with its Shopping Ads. Stefan Mancevski of marketing agency Ladder.io advocates these ads because they permit the display of your product image and price. That can help the CTR greatly because price is often the #1 concern of an online shopper. That simple inclusion of the price helps you draw in people who might otherwise think they couldn’t afford what you’re selling.

 

  1. Market with strong knowledge of your customer.

 

You have to think from the customer’s perspective and respect some of their basic characteristics or patterns, to deliver ideal messaging to them. Many companies do not closely examine regularity of purchases so that they can engage with first-timers in a different manner than frequent shoppers.

 

One example offered by Blue Fountain Media CEO Gabriel Shaoolian in Forbes is that a good way to interact with long-time customers is via discounts and promotions. Above all, your communications with various segments should express how much you value them. “Your existing customers are the lowest cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for new sales,” notes Shaoolian. “[W]hen you acquire a customer, you want to retain them.”

 

  1. Focus on SEO.

 

Keep in mind that the e-commerce economy is still expanding (remember, 14% and 19% respective growth in 2015-2016, as described above). One can imagine from the trends that the overall market will only become increasingly competitive. As times goes by, standing out will require ongoing visibility within the search engines; in other words, great search engine optimization.

 

SEO, like any tech acronym, feel a bit obtuse if that’s not your area of expertise. Keep in mind that this field has become more straightforward since the search sites have become more sophisticated via the incorporation of semantics (the branch of logic and linguistics concerned with meaning). This more highly intelligent capacity of Google effectively demoted keywords as context and intent of content moved to the fore.

 

While the need for specific keywords is not as important as in the past, consistent publication of fresh content on topics of interest to customers is pivotal. In fact, marketing leaders tend to frame SEO and content marketing within the same dual effort, with the real challenge being how to integrate the needs of the former into the latter.

 

  1. Prioritize mobile.

 

The mobile market has been, well, in motion during the last few years. Goodman mentions how much mobile use has advanced since 2013. At that point, attribution was a vaguer science: the devices and operating systems were inferior to newer ones; people were more nervous about mobile shopping carts, and responsive design was not as prevalent.

 

In that climate, mobile was an unsure investment. One of Sleeknote’s clients was slow to address that portion of the web and nearly paid a heavy price for it; they did increase their investment in 2016, or their revenue would have stagnated.

 

“For the month of March 2016,” notes Goodman, “mobile (smartphone) clicks now make up 26.6% of their AdWords spend, and 35.7% of their AdWords clicks, as against 13.8% and 17.6% a year ago.” (Clicks on tablets as a percentage of spend and clicks rose less dramatically, from 17.5% and 15.2% to 19.3% and 17.9%.)

 

Note that during that same period, mobile revenue at the company rose 140%.

 

  1. Think in terms of data.

 

Collecting information on your customers and prospects is critical in terms of the success of your site – but it is also a key component of preparation. You’ll be readier for future launches if you have taken the time to develop extensive databases.

 

  1. Design and brand for success.

 

Through a specialist marketing agency, you can rethink your fonts, logos, and packaging. As you review your collateral, think about how to better introduce humanity to your brand through a personality that couples with professionalism; that way you can impress and intrigue your customers on multiple levels.

 

  1. Choose cutting-edge, built-for-speed technology.

 

RJMetrics’ Stein notes how fundamental technology has been in helping e-commerce brands to grow in recent years. The example tools he gives are Facebook (or social media generally) and SaaS systems, such as those for split-testing and email platforms.

 

There’s another major aspect of technology he doesn’t mention, which is the infrastructure backing the site. The faster and more reliable your hosting is, the better you can deliver content and other resources quickly – leading to higher search engine results (since speed is a ranking factor) and better UX.

 

To fully make use of all the above tactics, we can help give you speed as a foundation. KnownHost offers fully managed SSD powered VPS hosting, leveraging the power of enterprise-grade solid state drives and virtual private servers. See our plans.

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Managed Hosting Prevents Maintenance Headaches

How Managed Hosting Can Help Prevent Maintenance Related Headaches

Jerry Leave a comment

If you’re a small business owner, you often feel pressure to be a jack of all trades. This is both a practical manner and preference. You trust yourself to do the job right and you want that control. Also, hiring staff is an expense. If you’re at the point where you’re looking to launch a business online or at least a digital component, you probably already have at least a small team to make it happen. What the team does is obviously unique to your individual situation.

 

The question you have to ask yourself is, “Is one of those people on the payroll just to look after the server?”

 

Now, you may be wondering why you need a full-time employee just to deal with the server. Let’s just say there’s a reason why a managed VPS is one of the most popular hosting solutions for businesses. For those who aren’t so interested in the technical goings-on of what happens on a server, the perceived savings of going for an unmanaged plan often aren’t worth it.

 

What many business owners may not realize when setting up a website, whether it’s e-commerce or informational, is that it’s not just a “set it and forget it” arrangement by default. With a developer’s help and managed hosting services, yes you can reach that point. You and your team would only need to spend minimal time in the backend of the site. But, those are conscious decisions you need to make when planning your site rollout. The decision of what hosting provider to go with and what kind of hosting solution to sign up for is a critical first step. That’s why it’s so important to not necessarily look at just the monthly price of a hosting plan, but to also factor in the hidden costs you would need to pay if you don’t sign up for the hosting plan that best suits your realistic needs.

 

Let’s explore what those hidden costs are and why most business owners would be wise to opt for managed hosting over unmanaged solutions.

 

What Do We Mean by Hidden Costs?

 

When first looking to purchase hosting, your eyes immediately go to the big number on the bottom line that displays the monthly cost. That should certainly play a role in the decision you make. Any good business owner knows the importance of keeping overhead low. But, it’s important to point out that in the discussion of managed vs unmanaged hosting, unmanaged has some hidden costs that may not be immediately apparent.

 

We’ll get into the major differences between the two next. To put it simply, though, unmanaged hosting gives you login credentials and that’s it. So, nearly everything going on with the server is up to you to manage. This will be an everyday job. In order to keep your site online and working properly, you’ll need to dedicate a full-time employee to handle these rudimentary tasks. It may even require after hours work. That comes at a big cost. The loss of time and personnel resources are major hidden costs that can quickly add up and far outpace the comparatively higher monthly price tag associated with managed VPS hosting. The few extra dollars per month for managed hosting in comparison to unmanaged usually pays for itself.

 

Managed vs Unmanaged

 

When evaluating the pros and cons of going with unmanaged vs managed, it’s easy to get caught up in the weeds of an exhaustive list. By all means, weigh the arguments for each. The decision you make will shape your business. But, it may also be helpful to summarize the ways the two differ from one another for quick reference.

 

Unmanaged hosting gives you nearly complete control and responsibility over your server environment, for better or worse. Backups are on you. Migrations are on you. You can choose the control panel you want to use, but you’ll also need to install it yourself. You could even be responsible for figuring out why your site is offline if you’re experiencing downtime. In many instances regarding unmanaged hosting, the host is only responsible for hardware malfunction. Even upgrading software will be up to you. Having technical knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the OS is a pre-requisite for unmanaged hosting.

 

Managed hosting offers more of a hands off set up. It’s ideal for the less tech savvy and for those who don’t have the time to spend on managing the server. While you are encouraged to always take your own protective measures when it comes to multiple backups and security, your host will provide some assistance on that front. Typically, you get a daily backup and migration assistance should you need it. You have 24/7/365 monitoring should anything go wrong. If your site is suddenly offline, you have someone to call and that can investigate. You also have DDOS protection, which can help you thwart an attack in many of the most common scenarios. The only real downside to managed hosting is you are presented with the hosting company’s options for control panels and the like and you have to use them. If you’re not a tinkerer, that’s fine.

 

How Managed Hosting Contributes to Performance

 

A lot of factors contribute to how well your site performs. Traffic levels, bandwidth, CPU, and your coding are just some of the contributing factors to site performance. While not as direct an influence, don’t discount how managed services will help your VPS perform better. For example, you may see that 99.9% uptime figure and think that’s a great guarantee. That’s only possible with managed hosting because of the constant monitoring that occurs and the customer service you have access to. This is important because performance issues greatly affect your bottom line. This is especially true if you’re running an e-commerce operation. Downtime and slow speeds severely impact customer behavior, to say nothing of the lack of sales if no one can actually access the site.

 

Struggling with Downtime

 

No matter what industry you’re in and what downtime looks like to you, the results are the same. Downtime costs you a lot of money and it’s not just from lost sales. Also consider that page load delays can cost you significant revenue, and you can see why it’s worth having the peace of mind provided by leaving your server in the hands of the experts. In an unmanaged hosting environment, not only do you have to deal with the customer service issues that will arise from a site malfunction, but you’ll also have to figure out how to get the site back online at the same time.

 

Conclusion

 

There is more riding on your hosting solution than you may realize. While everyone recognizes the importance of having a website that is reliable, it’s also critical to your business’ success that you have the right infrastructure to support your personnel needs. Whether it’s hiring more staff or stretching your current staff thin by having them perform duties that are outside their job description, managing your server yourself is often too costly in both time and money. Let your hosting company manage your VPS environment for you. Contact us today. The team at KnownHost is here to partner with you so you can have the hosting solution that makes the most sense for your business. Ask us how our managed services can help your business grow.

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