Author: Lasting Media

Posted on

What Are You Paying For With Hosting?

Nashville Digital Marketing Company | Branding, Graphics & Online Ads

Optimized, managed, WordPress hosting is $30 a month. You may look at some of the alternatives online and question the cost. Let’s briefly compare what you’re getting for your money.

Why is WordPress Hosting More Expensive?

Essentially a WordPress website uses more server resources. By default, WordPress has to pull all of your content from a database every time the website is loaded. The language that WordPress is written on is PHP, which means your server has to fire up, call PHP and determine what to show your customer, grab all of the information from a database and then render and show the visitor. We can use some caching mechanisms to speed up this process but if you are in the admin area working, this won’t be cached, which causes even more load on the server.

What is a Managed Server?

A managed server is a system that is managed for you. RackSpace charges $100 a month for this service alone. When you rent hosting from a vendor, you are renting the computer and with it you get the data center and hardware maintenance that the hosting company provides. Server updates, security updates, level two plus technical support, automatic scaling and ad hoc solutions are not included. With a managed server you have access to the following:

  • Automatic WordPress and Plugin Updates. This is essential for security. Did you know 49% of WordPress websites were hacked in Q1 of 2016 alone?
  • Spam and Bot Prevention. We have an automatic system that catches and blocks bots so you don’t have to add trashy plugins and get hundreds of email notifications (or get locked out of your own website!)
  • Level 2+ Support When you contact your typical hosting service you speak to an individual that can only read through the knowledge base of articles they are given. While this is fine for instructing you how to make adjustments in a control panel, they often do not understand what the server is doing or do not understand how WordPress is applicable to your issue. With our support, we get right to the bottom of it!
  • Automatic Scaling. Got an event coming up and expecting your website to get hammered? We scale up in time for you. We have successfully routinely taken 150,000+ form submissions in a 20-minute period along without a website blinking.
  • Staging Environment. We will set up a staging server for each of your websites, as needed.
  • SFTP/SSH Access. We provide secure access so you can edit your website and store your files.
  • FREE migration. We will move your website to our servers with no charge.
  • Plugin Installation and Vetting. In a pinch? We will install a plugin for you. If you’re unsure of the quality of a plugin we have a process to vet it to make sure it is secure and the best option for you.
  • Ad Hoc Solutions. What do we need? We’ll see if we can make it happen for you.

But GoDaddy is ONLY $7.99 a Month!

First, this is false. GoDaddy offers a one-year sale at $7.99 a month and then the cost goes to $14.99 a month. The biggest complaint we have with GoDaddy is they oversell their servers. When thousands of website are running on your server and one of these websites gets major traffic, from bots or a hack, or real traffic, this negatively affects the speed of your website. Remember when they tell you that you get unlimited bandwidth and storage space, everyone else on your server does too, which means you could be getting the short end of the stick. Plus, it’s GoDaddy… or more technically grounded information on why it is not a good service.

Major Marketing Hosting Companies

Not all hosting companies are bad, yet you get what you pay for. A few other examples:

Host Gator comes in at $24.95 per month. They have triple the volume on each server that we do, lengthy chat or phone lines and no managed service.

BlueHost comes in at $24.99 per month and offers a similar but worse experience than Host Gator.

At $20 per month MediaTemple is riddled with problems. They have the most helpful customer service we have experienced but refuse to support a modified server. We have experienced domains being lost or moved around on accounts, slow systems and inconsistent support. Additionally they use tools like Parallels or Plesk that stay out of date and insecure. These tools muddy up the server and cause conflicts unless you continue to use the tool.

Posted on

What Is Website Hosting and Why Do I Need It?

Nashville Digital Marketing Company | Branding, Graphics & Online Ads

Web Hosting is the service providing space on the Internet for websites.

Web hosting works by storing your website files in high-powered computers (web servers) connected to a very fast network. When someone types in your web address (such as lastingmediagroup.com), the Internet connects to the web server holding your website files and then transfers your website information back to their computer. From there they can surf and view the pages of your website.

Anything related to managing these servers and its software, security, support, bandwidth, speed and so much more, is what we are all about! Because we provide web hosting services to thousands of websites, we have special data centers that are built from the ground up to serve the purpose of web hosting.

Domain Names

Before we jump into the different types of web hosting, it’s important to remember you have to have a domain name so your website can be found on the Internet. The domain name is essentially your company’s Internet address; the same way your company’s street address is used to find your offices, a domain name is used to find your website. Considering this, pick a domain name that’s memorable and relevant!

Posted on

Websites are dead…or are they?

Nashville Digital Marketing Company | Branding, Graphics & Online Ads

With the wide spread popularity of social media platforms, and the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) are websites dead in 2022? No matter if you’re just starting out or already established, Here’s 7 reasons why you NEED a professional website!

 

1. SAVES TIME!

Providing information to your customers takes time, whether it’s on the phone, face-to-face, in a brochure, or in emails. With an online showcase you can provide lots of information about your products and services. Once your website is up and running, it is available to your customers 24-7, saving you time, and your time is money! Speaking of which, on to #2!

2. SAVES MONEY!

Starting your own business can be expensive. We’ve met with several entrepreneurs early on that thought that they couldn’t afford a professional website. The simple response to this is, you can’t afford NOT to. Although the cost of designing a website varies, once it’s up and running, a website can generally cost under $100 a month and, in some cases, as little as $20, to maintain. Compared with the cost of traditional advertising, when you consider the potential market you can reach with a website, it is a very cost effective way to promote your business.

3. OPEN ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

A website is available to both your regular and potential customers 24/7/365 providing them with the convenience of checking out your products and services, even when you’re not around or even asleep! With today’s busy lifestyles, this is a great selling point when making a purchase decision. Not only that, but consider that the average web user doesn’t type in a web address into their web browser, but they search, or ‘Google’ your name and/or business! As an example, Do a search for your business or name. What comes up? Is it a website? Is it a social media page? Now, Google search your competition. What results populate? A website or a social media page? To that end, ESPECIALLY if you are selling product on your site, understand that your audience that is performing a search to look up you or your products, will generally be less inclined to buy anything from a social media profile that shows up in a search result. If someone is searching ‘Buy (Insert Your Product Here)’, you want that top result to YOUR WEBSITE. Which brings us to #4!

4. THINK GLOBAL!

Whether you provide products or services, your website will provide a digital location to sell them. As a retailer, a website is a great place to sell your products to a WORLD market; even your services can be made available globally! Don’t think you’ll be able to sell your products or services online? Don’t forget, even cars and houses sell online!

5. GO PRO!

To win in your marketplace, the goal is to be seen as the authority when it comes to what you do/provide. To compete as an ‘authority’ you NEED a professional website! Without one, potential customers will search out your competitors that do have professional, easy-to-use websites! Some features of a professional website are (but not limited to): customized layout, fast response/load time, able to be ‘scaleable’ (built out to larger scale) , as your brand grows!

If you already have a website but it is “home-made”, having it professionally redesigned will provide your business with a professional image which will inspire even greater confidence in your audience, when deciding to visit you or purchase your product.

6. 24 HOUR PROMOTION 

Think of your website as being your online brochure, catalogue, look book or electronic press kit. It is much easier and quicker to update information about your products, services, music, etc. on your website than in print material. It’s an extremely effective way of letting your customers or fans know about the arrival of new products, upcoming events, special promotions, or any new services you now offer.

7. 24 HOUR NETWORKING

No matter what type of business you’re in, a professional website is a great place to showcase your work. Show off what makes you and your business unique! Once you’ve established what those special items are, a professionally built website will give you the capability to add ‘Share’ features for your audience to share your content through their social media channels. Not only that, but you can use your website to display your social media accounts! Want people to share your unique item with their friends? Give your audience an incentive or a promotional code to get a special on your product if they share your website content with their friends on social media!
We’d love to hear from you!

Any questions about this list, let us know! Do you disagree? Let us know!