Website Hosting and What It can do for your Business

Web hosting could be roughly defined as the product which allows your website to be viewed by others on the internet. A web host leases space on its server, so that other devices around the world can have access to your website through a network or modem.

These days, there are hundreds of companies providing web hosting services, they range from low cost services with limited features to higher priced, professional business website hosting services. The option you choose will mostly depend on how you choose to use your website and how much you can afford to spend. Many people put up their website up through their service providers, because it is relatively easy and more affordable.

Nowadays, many internet service providers offer a small number of free web space, along with other services to easily make websites and upload them. These are suitable for people who want to put up small sites with less amounts of traffic. But, sometimes there are some limitations on the rate and so they may not be the best option for an emerging business website. Web hosting which is free will be a better option for lesser personal web pages. The internet has evolved so much and is such an important part of our lives now that, even non-technical people want to use such services.

Now let us discuss some of the benefits of professional web hosting. There is a cut-throat competition among companies providing web hosting services and professional website design.

If a professional web hosting provider only has website hosting as its core business, then the client can be confident that he is getting the best service possible. This will also ensure that he gets an edge over other competitors in the particular industry he is in. Also, professionals in any field are always up to date with the latest change in technology in their field, so if you hire the services of a professional web hosting provider, you can be rest assured that you have technological advantage over your competitors.

Professionals know what they are doing and they leave no room for errors, they will never oversell bandwidth or disk space. They are interested in the long term gains for themselves and their clients. Professional web hosting providers can be trusted with dependable and consistent service of the highest quality and provide great customer support.

Professional web hosting providers can easily find out unique needs of individual clients and even provide customized plans for their clients. They are always inventing new plans and ideas so that the client has more choices to choose from and that is always good for business. In matters of technical support, no one is on par with professional web hosting companies and provide 24/7 customer care services. It is also always good for the image of your company if you are associated with a professional web hosting provider, especially when you are new to the industry.

Do-It-Yourself and Do-It-For-Me Web Design Options

You’ve started a business.  Now you need a website and a web hosting plan.  Great!  EarthLink (web hosting providers) makes it easy, with plans that either let you build your own website, or plans that include a professional designer to do it for you!

Choose a Do-It-Yourself web hosting plan to build pages with our website builder tools (they’re easy to use, so even if you have no experience, your website can look great!).  These tools include a free point-and-click website builder (or store builder for eCommerce sites) with optional templates to choose from to quickly create and publish your business website or online store!  (There’s also a WordPress option to have your own blog!)

If you’re a more experienced web developer, EarthLink offers a Joomla!® Installer for you to manage your content.  Or you could code your site completely from scratch if you know how or have a friend or co-worker who does it for you!

EarthLink has a ”Do-It-Yourself” option, no matter your experience level!

(BONUS: EarthLink’s Do-It-Yourself web hosting plans include a FREE domain name for 1 year, SEO tools, email marketing, social media integration, a 1-page mobile website, and more!)

If you want your website built for you, select an EarthLink Do-It-For-Me web hosting plan.  These plans guarantee you a custom, professionally designed website.

After a one-on-one consultation to understand your website needs, professional designers will create an attractive and effective 5-page business website for you.

(BONUS: EarthLink’s Design & Marketing packages include copywriting services, monthly site maintenance, SEO tools, email marketing, social media integration, a 3-page mobile website, and more. You can also add business logo creation to your plan!)

The Difference between Standard and E-Commerce Web Hosting Plans

EarthLink Website Hosting now offers two main web hosting plans: Traditional and eCommerce Web Hosting plans. One of these plans will fit your online business needs perfectly.

Both plans (the web hosting and ecommerce web hosting plans) can be either Do-It-Yourself (you either code your own site or use our easy-to-understand template-based site builder) or Do-It-For-Me (an EarthLink professional web designer builds your site for you).

EarthLink’s ecommerce web hosting plan includes the features of a web hosting plan with one main addition: ecommerce plans also include an online store (also called a “shopping cart”) that allows customers to buy products within your website using a credit card.  This is a wonderful choice for businesses that sell hard goods (like mugs, key chains, teddy bears, etc).

A standard web hosting plan does not include an online store, and is good for service-oriented businesses (such as a counselor, dog groomer, or other appointment-needed business model).  The website promotes your business (and it will probably generate calls that eventually turn into sales), but is not a web “store.”

Ecommerce web hosting plans are priced higher than standard hosting plans, but being able to sell online can quickly offset that cost, especially when the following features are also included:

• Store Creator Pro – Easy-to-use shopping cart builder.
• Rapid SSL Certificate – Secures online transactions; increases customer confidence
• One-Page Mobile Website *
• Call Tracking – Call-tracking and analytics service helps you improve your online and offline marketing. You get a unique toll-free or local phone number so you can track and record customer calls. Includes click-to-call and other features.
• Advanced Website Template Gallery – More than 5,000 templates to chose from.*
• One List – Enhances SEO with directory listings submissions to 60+ North American-based online directories.*
• Announcer Pro – Send your customers engaging email newsletters using graphic-rich HTML email templates.
• 1,000 Business-Class Email Accounts – Allows for comprehensive email system as your business grows.
• 500 GB Website Storage – Standard website hosting plans include up to 300 GB of storage.

Common Blogging Mistakes that Can Sink a Small Business Blog

Part 1: Blog Set-Up Mistakes

 1.     Not choosing the right platform

You want to choose a blog platform that’s easy to use, offers a wide variety of templates, offers powerful plug-in options, and has a large user base that can offer guidance and support.

In other words, you probably want to go with WordPress. Most top blogs run on WordPress. EarthLink web hosting and ecommerce hosting customers: remember you have access to a free WordPress installer in your Web Hosting Control Center.

Other popular blogging platforms include Google’s Blogger and TypePad.

 2.     Not hosting the blog on your own domain

You can get a free blog hosted on the wordpress.com domain, but don’t do it if you want your blog for business. It’s the equivalent of opening a store inside someone else’s store. You want your blog at a domain you control.

And you shouldn’t publish your blog on a separate domain either, even if you own and control it. If you do, you won’t get all the SEO, branding, and traffic benefits for your main business website.

There are, of course, great stand-alone blogs, but if you want your blog to promote your business, publish it on your business website. The most common places are on a sub-domain (blog.yourdomain.com) or folder (http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/).

 3.     Not linking prominently to your main site

No matter where you end up publishing your blog, make sure it is prominently linked back to your main business website.

You want to make it as easy as possible for customers or potential customers to go from your blog to the areas of your website that pay the bills.

So your logo and/or Home link should link back to your business homepage, not the homepage of your blog. And you should look for other places where you can seamlessly add links back to your product pages. Just make sure you don’t go overboard and make your blog a billboard.

 4.     Not setting up analytics to monitor your blog’s success

Business blogging is typically hard work. So you should make sure you have the analytics in place to measure its success. Sure, there are other ways you can get a sense of your blog’s success, such as lots of enthusiastic comments after your posts, or Tweets and Likes in social media. But you’ll want to know more than that: how much traffic is your blog getting, how much traffic is your blog sending your main site, what the most popular exit pages are, which blog topics are most popular, conversion rates for blog referrals, and other insights only website analytics such as Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/ will tell you. EarthLink Web Hosting customers can easily access built-in analytics from the Manage tab in your Control Center.

 

5.     Not creating an effective team to do all the work

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can do it all yourself – even if you’re an amazing multitasker. That can lead to burnout. Rope in others in your business to offload some work and leverage their expertise. If you don’t have any co-workers, consider outsourcing some of the work to freelancers (or at least getting some advice from friends). You want to make sure you have the resources to blog frequently enough, keep your quality high, and keep the blog going long enough to evaluate its success. So, get some help if you can.

 

6.     Not planning for the long term

Blogs are rarely successful overnight. Many top bloggers report that they were writing for years before things really took off. But you should expect to wait at least a few months to start getting traction with your blog and then at least several more months to evaluate how you are doing. Try to stick it out for a year before you decide to pull the plug.

Some blogging benefits, such as search engine optimization, accrue only over time as you generate a greater depth and breadth of content that establishes your site as an authoritative destination for more search keywords.