Thankfully, over the past decade or so, the competition in this sector has pushed service providers to improve their products, infrastructure, and offerings significantly. Needless to say, today’s hosting is more than adequate to what users consider acceptable. But more importantly, this progress is far from stagnant. On the contrary, the hosting market is alive and running at a formidable pace. This can be seen by the wonderful plans and products hosting companies offer for what’s essentially next to nothing. Just look at our magnificent offers. Indeed, HostArmada is not a random name in the hosting service community, as we are at the forefront of innovations in this industry. But even so, you can see the endless list of features we offer for what’s essentially an extremely affordable plan.

The best part is that the fast development pace in this industry is far from slowing down. You needn’t look any further than the trends of 2024 to see that hosting companies are beyond dedicated to bringing the best service possible to their clients.

So, what will be new in 2024? Let’s have a look.

1. Improved Website Security

Security has always been a cornerstone of a good hosting infrastructure. Often, it’s the feature that hosting companies take care of the most. Whether it’s development or updating existing software, hosting companies invest heavily in finding new and more robust methods of protecting their clients’ websites and data. And how could it be otherwise when malicious hackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities and weak points?

Moreover, with cyber threats at an all-time high and with our lives and personal information digitized faster than ever, hosting companies will have to put website security at the center of their development efforts. Over 8.2 billion data breaches and cyber attacks were recorded in 2023 alone. This is enough to make you question whether the internet is a safe place. Of course, the answer is “it depends”. It depends on the security infrastructure of the websites you visit.

Well, hosting companies are already introducing various methods to battling this mind-blowing number of threats. All sorts of strategies could be implemented. But generally, the best practice is a mix of various protections, backups, and sophisticated firewalls.

We at HostArmada, for instance, offer over a dozen security features even for our most affordable plan. Among them, you will find a state-of-the-art Advanced Firewall with herd immunity powered by AI. Also, there are the Network and Web Application Firewalls, along with Proactive defenses, Next-gen IDS/IPS, and a hardened PHP. Those are just a few of our security measures, making us one of the most protected hosting providers.

Naturally, most other hosting services will follow suit, as cyber security is the theme of 2024. Whether bullet-proof encryptions, automated threat detection, or more sophisticated protection against DDoS attacks, web hosting companies will implement robust security practices to ensure their clients have nothing to worry about.

2. Multi-cloud hosting

With 92% of enterprises having a multi-cloud strategy ready to enact, it’s hard to argue that Multi-cloud hosting won’t be a thing in 2024. This trend will inevitably become dominant this year, driven predominantly by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the massive boom in the technology sector, and its countless advantages. With the past few years gone, organizations worldwide recognize the importance of resilience, collaboration, and effective data management. This epiphany is actually one of the few benefits of the lockdowns.

The impact of the pandemic is evident in the strategic decisions of technology executives. A significant 76% plan to increase their spending on multi-cloud and hybrid cloud technologies in the next 12 months.

The advantages of multi-cloud hosting lie in its ability to enhance various aspects of business operations. It improves security, interoperability, data access, and IT operations, offering a comprehensive solution beyond the limitations of a single cloud host. However, challenges such as compliance, access control, and security remain, with many companies identifying these issues as their primary concerns.

The multi-cloud approach is gaining traction due to its capacity to seamlessly integrate services from different platforms. It allows businesses to tailor their cloud systems to meet specific objectives. Additionally, it mitigates risk by providing redundancy – in case one cloud host fails, operations can seamlessly continue with others. This risk mitigation becomes crucial as organizations face new challenges and increased cloud usage due to disruptions. For example, what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The added data protection and robust risk mitigation capabilities make multi-cloud hosting a comprehensive and appealing choice. As you can imagine, this will inevitably lead to it becoming unavoidable for hosting companies in 2024.

3. Cloud VPS hosting

With the steady rise of online purchases and 2.64 billion online customers, many websites are updating their shared hosting plans for a better, yet still affordable, solution. One of the biggest problems with shared hosting is the shared resources. If, at any particular moment, a website you share a server with has a surge in traffic, your performance will suffer. It’s like being at an all-you-can-eat buffet. When everyone is taking a reasonable amount of food, everything is fine. Everyone has access to all sorts of dishes. However, if someone decides to take advantage of the system and takes over the meat buffet, emptying the trays, you will have to wait for him to move along before you can get a piece.

The same is true with your shared resources. If a website has a lot of traffic at some point, it will block your website from having the same. With cloud technology, that rarely happens. That’s why HostArmada offers 99.9% uptime, as we can divert resources immediately from other servers via the cloud network. Still, many companies who can’t afford to go down during rush hour prefer to take an extra step – Cloud VPS hosting. The VPS hosting allows you to have your own dedicated resources and utilize them as you please. Naturally, this enhances the website’s security, speed, and performance. In 2024, these benefits will be determining factors for decision-makers. Unsurprisingly, we expect the demand for these services to rise significantly.

4. Managed web hosting

Managed web hosting has been around for quite some time now but never really got into the spotlight. Mainly because most companies had IT departments that took care of everything regarding the hosting. The rest, used whatever resources and knowledge was available on the internet. Many hosting providers, such as HostArmada, have always been ready to help their customers with server problems. However, since the e-commerce boom after the COVID-19 pandemic, this has not been quite enough. Thus, the Managed web hosting service took the spotlight, and in 2024, it will truly become a rockstar.

Though expensive, this hosting service offers an all-inclusive solution to everyone with limited know-how in dealing with servers. This service offers to take care of your server and improve your website performance to the best of your server’s abilities. Moreover, they handle the server optimizations, updates, and security.

This service is particularly popular among small e-commerce operations and other businesses, who can afford the salty price and don’t want to hire an entire IT department. The rise in popularity is due to the fears of competition in the e-commerce sector, where any advantage over the competition is more than welcomed.

Furthermore, with the rise of cyber threats, managed web hosting services will give people with little to no IT knowledge the peace of mind that their data won’t be breached and their business won’t be ruined because of this.

5. HTTPS as the norm

HTTP is dead. Long live HTTPS. This change has been coming for quite some time. Mostly after Google started marking HTTP websites as “not secure” in 2018. As you can imagine, this changed the entire SEO strategy, and HTTPS became mandatory. Still, in 2024, we expect every active website that’s not a fraud, of course, to become an HTTPS website.

The S in this protocol stands for “secured.” It’s actually a sign that the website has an SSL certificate, encrypting the communication between the browser and the server. It’s the most basic security protocol out there, and not having one in 2024 is equal to chasing users away.

The benefits of an HTTPS protocol are countless. It builds trust with the users, protects sensitive data, and, most importantly, pushes your website higher in Google SERP.

In 2024, hosting providers who refrain from offering a complimentary SSL certificate to their customers will simply fall behind. As we already stated, that’s the basic security protocol, and having a website without one is absolutely pointless.

For example, HostArmada has long since offered four complimentary SSL certificates – a free SSL from Sectigo, a cPanel Auto SSL, a CloudFlare Free SSL, and a free SNI.

Naturally, in 2024, every hosting provider who wants to stay on the market will have to offer at least half of what we already provide.

6. DIY website builders

Website builders are on the rise and won’t stop for the foreseeable future. In fact, economists predict that the website builder market will skyrocket by the end of the decade, reaching 14.4 billion dollars. That’s hardly surprising, considering that more than 18 million websites worldwide were built thanks to a website builder.

The rapid pace of this trend is underlined by WordPress’s shift toward drag-and-drop website building infrastructure. The CMS will provide a significant relief for most hosting companies, who offer seamless integration with the most preferred website builder in the world. Still, some hosting companies prefer to have their own drag-and-drop builders, which can be a benefit if you are able to create your own CMS and all you need is help with the front end. In most cases, however, this is not the case.

So, while we truly believe that DIY website builders are the future, in 2024, hosting providers offering seamless integration with WordPress will still be preferred.

7. Offering additional services

Adding some basic complimentary services to the hosting packages is not something new for hosting companies. For example, an SSL certificate and email account support have been the bare minimum for quite some time now. But with the rise of demand and competition, we expect hosting companies to start offering all sorts of additional features and services for free.

For example, at HostArmada, we are providing our customers with not only unlimited email accounts but also a variety of features regarding email. Autoresponders, filters, outbound email filtering, and email virus scanners are typically additional services for which many hosting companies would ask a pretty penny. We offer them for free with every plan, as we understand that email communication with customers is crucial for any business.

Moreover, we offer website consultations, restoration of hacked websites, and a free website transfer.

So, in 2024, we expect those who want to retain their position in the market or grow to start offering additional services as part of their plans. Added value will always play a crucial role in customer decision-making. So naturally, staying behind your competition in this regard is a recipe for disaster.

8. Serverless Hosting

In 2024, Serverless Hosting is set to dominate the hosting landscape, driven by many advantages that cater to the evolving needs of businesses. The serverless architecture offers unparalleled benefits such as instant scalability, faster deployment, cost-effectiveness, and lower latency. Developers experience heightened efficiency and productivity as serverless hosting optimally allocates resources, allowing them to focus solely on coding without the burden of managing servers.

A key advantage of serverless computing lies in its ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, offering flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Users are charged based on actual computation usage, eliminating the need to reserve and pay for fixed bandwidth or server quantities. Despite the term “serverless,” physical servers are still utilized, but the intricacies of infrastructure management are abstracted away, allowing developers to focus solely on their code.

This pay-as-you-go model will become a hit in 2024, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if many more hosting companies implement it in their portfolios.

9. AI at the forefront

Just like with every other aspect of business and life in general, AI will play a significant role. First and foremost, it will be a great allay in customer support. However, infused with different features, it will make the customer’s website faster, more resilient, and much more secure.

AI will be behind personalized server optimization, which will help users utilize the resources they buy optimally.

Moreover, artificial intelligence will find implementations in security features. For example, at HostArmada, we use AI to enhance our customers’ security by implementing it in an Advanced firewall with herd immunity. There, artificial intelligence can detect new forms of attacks based on analytics and data. Naturally, this protects the websites not only from known threats but also from the unknown.

AI’s applications are truly endless. Thus, in 2024, we expect to see many new hosting features utilizing this security and functionality goldmine.

10. Going green

Finally, we have the one thing that will be a trend in almost any industry – sustainability. Regardless of whether you agree with sustainability practices or not, as long as customers find eco-friendly practices important, the industry will follow. Currently, green living is on everyone’s agenda.

So, in 2024, hosting will be going green and sustainable. With 3.7% of all global carbon footprint coming from internet use and supporting systems, this trend is a bit late indeed. Still, it’s better late than never.

This year, an increasing number of hosting companies will participate in eco-friendly initiatives and will try to gain a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) or a Carbon Offset Certificate (VER). With customers becoming ever more environmentally aware, hosting companies have no choice but to follow the sustainability trend. So yes, REC and VER will be a must in 2024 if hosting companies have growth in their plans.

Some final words

As a business owner, it’s important to know the trends so you can find a hosting company that’s at the forefront of the industry changes. Usually, a plan ties you up for at least 2 years. This means researching how forward-thinking the hosting provider is will help you significantly in the long run.

HostArmada is an excellent choice. We implement the latest technologies and make sure to equip our clients with the latest software that could help their websites be the fastest, most reliable, and secure platforms on the internet. Check out our plans, and don’t forget to familiarize yourself with the vast array of additional features and services we are offering for free. Don’t forget that a great website (that’s you) starts with the choice of a great hosting provider (that’s us).

The post 10 Web Hosting Trends to look for in 2024 appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

A Recognition Well-Deserved

The Monster’s Award, known for honoring outstanding contributions to the WordPress Community, has acknowledged HostArmada’s remarkable achievements in the realm of WordPress hosting. This nomination not only highlights the company’s commitment to delivering exceptional hosting solutions but also underscores our team’s dedication to staying at the forefront of technological advancements.

Unveiling the Power of HostArmada

Cutting-Edge Technology

We consistently stood out in the hosting arena by leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide seamless and high-performing WordPress hosting solutions. The company’s robust infrastructure, powered by SSD-based storage and the latest hardware, ensures lightning-fast website loading times and service stability.

User-Friendly Interface

One of our key strengths is the user-friendly interface. Navigating through the hosting platform is a breeze, making it an ideal choice for beginners, seasoned developers, and businesses of any size. The intuitive cPanel control panel, coupled with one-click installations and easy website management tools, empowers users to take control of their online presence effortlessly.

Stellar Customer Support

Exceptional customer support is the cornerstone of our success. We take pride in offering 24/7 customer support manned by a team of experts ready to assist with any hosting-related queries. Whether you’re facing technical issues or need guidance on optimizing your WordPress site, HostArmada’s support team is just a click away with instant response on the live chat.

Client Testimonials: A Resounding Approval

The Monster’s Award nomination is not the only indicator of HostArmada’s excellence. Client testimonials echo the sentiment that HostArmada goes above and beyond in delivering top-notch WordPress hosting services. Clients rave on G2 about the company’s reliability, speed, and the level of personalized support they receive.

On Trustpilot, one client remarked, “Switching to HostArmada was a game-changer for my business. The speed and reliability of their WordPress hosting have significantly improved my website’s performance, and their customer support is unparalleled.”

What Sets HostArmada Apart

Scalability

We understand the dynamic nature of online businesses. Our hosting plans are designed to be scalable, allowing users to easily upgrade or downgrade based on their evolving needs. Whether you’re running a personal blog or managing a high-traffic e-commerce site, HostArmada’s hosting solutions can scale to accommodate your requirements.

Security Measures

In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, we prioritize the safety and security of our clients’ websites. Robust security measures, including regular malware scans, firewalls, and SSL certificates, are in place to protect against potential vulnerabilities, giving users peace of mind and safeguarding their online assets.

Transparency and Fair Pricing

HostArmada believes in transparency and fair pricing. Unlike some hosting providers that surprise clients with hidden fees, we are committed to providing straightforward pricing without compromising on the quality of service. Our users appreciate the honesty and integrity with which we conduct our business.

Looking Ahead: Innovation and Expansion

Being nominated for Monster’s Award 2023 is not just a recognition of past achievements; it’s a glimpse into the future. Our team remains dedicated to continuous innovation, exploring new technologies, and expanding its services to meet the evolving needs of its clients. With a focus on staying ahead of industry trends, HostArmada is poised to redefine the standards of WordPress hosting.

Final Thoughts

The Monster’s Award 2023 nomination in the Best WordPress Hosting category is a proud moment for HostArmada, our team, and our clients. It reaffirms the company’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and customer satisfaction. There’s no doubt that HostArmada will continue to set the bar high in the world of WordPress hosting.

If you would like to review other similar rankings that HostArmada was included in the past, you can check Hosting Advice’s Best Up-And-Coming Web Hosts article and many more.

Whether you’re a blogger, business owner, or developer, HostArmada stands out as a reliable partner for all your WordPress hosting needs.

The post HostArmada Nominated for Monster’s Award 2023 in Category Best WordPress Hosting appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

This is why you must give extra attention when choosing your website hosting provider. They are the ones who provide and take care of your website’s foundation. So naturally, signing up with a reliable hosting service is the cornerstone behind your website’s success. But how do you know which web hosting provider is good and which one is bad? With more than 330,000 web hosting providers worldwide, this task may be a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry, though. We’ve gathered several tips on how to make sure your hosting provider is credible, reliable, and the best option for you.

Check their website

When choosing a product, regardless of its nature, checking the vendor’s website is a must. This way, you can determine whether you will get what you’ve paid for or be scammed. The same goes when you aim to sign up for a web hosting provider. There are several signs all reliable website providers share. Although they are not 100% indicative of whether a website owner is trustworthy or not, they are an excellent way to notice some red flags from the very get-go.

How old is the website

A brand new website is a red flag. True, a new business will have a new website. Still, it’s hard to determine whether a new business will be reliable or not. A website that has been around for several years is much more reliable than something that just popped up.

Check out the URL

The URL usually speaks volumes about a business. First, you must check if the hosting provider has an SSL certificate. This is indicated by the small padlock icon next to the URL and the “S” at the end of the HTTP protocol. Of course, that alone doesn’t guarantee the hosting provider is reliable. Still, it shows that the website is using end-to-end encryption, which is essential if you are going to share your credit card number and other credentials with them.

Check out the design.

The website’s design and functionalities are usually the first clues that something is wrong with a business or service. If the website looks as if done by a 4-year-old, it was obviously done in a rush. Likewise, a poorly designed hosting website should hint at how they do the rest of their work. If they can’t spare the time to care for their own infrastructure, how would they take care of your website foundations?

Review the About US page.

Reliable hosting providers have no problem putting their faces and names on their About Us page. Moreover, their mission, goals, and what content they choose to put on their About Us page will show you precisely the type of people you are about to deal with.

Check out the blog

The next step is to check out their blog. Usually, reliable hosting providers would offer free advice and will have a ton of valuable information on their blogs. More importantly, reliable websites strive to attract organic audiences through their SEO. For this, they need a constant flow of new blog posts. So if their website offers a new blog post every week or two, it’s a good indication the hosting provider is reliable. After all, scammers usually aim to collect as much money for as little work as possible. Creating a website, maintaining it for a year or so, and writing each week a blog post is way too much work for someone who’s made an unreliable product.

Check the Contact page

Finally, make sure to check the contact page. A bountiful contact information is a pretty good sign. After all, unreliable hosting providers will try to avoid contact with their customers as much as possible. They will avert direct communication and ultimately either use only self-help tools or have a ticket system with an astronomical response time.

Of course, none of these signs can determine whether a hosting provider is reliable or not. However, they are a great way to weed out those with a high potential of being untrustworthy. To be able to narrow down the most reliable hosting providers, there are still a lot more factors to consider.

Evaluate the hosting provider’s uptime and downtime history

Evaluating your hosting provider’s uptime and downtime history is one of the most crucial factors in determining their reliability. Essentially this means you need to find out what percentage of the time the hosting provider’s servers are up and running. As you probably guess, a reliable hosting provider will have more than 95% uptime. Otherwise, each minute of downtime costs, on average, $5,600.

The best way to measure the uptime of a hosting provider server is by using an online tool. Whether you use UptimeRobot, Pingdom, or Site24x7 (which, by the way, is a terrible domain name), you can monitor a website’s uptime and downtime. Just check the host provider’s website in these tools, and you will see how often they go offline, if at all.

When analyzing the data, you need to focus on several factors:

Uptime guarantee

Usually, reliable hosting providers will give you an uptime guarantee. For example, ours at HostArmada is 99.9%, as we use cloud-based technology. So, there should be a truly massive cataclysm for our infrastructure to fall apart.

Moreover, reliable service providers will not only give you their word but offer you compensation if they don’t meet their guarantee.

Downtime frequency and duration

When checking the hosting provider’s uptime and downtime, analyze the frequency and duration of their downtime. If downtime is not a frequent but stand-alone occurrence, make sure to cross-reference it with external events that may have been the result. For example, during the terrible earthquake in Japan in 2011 and the following devastating tsunami, many of the servers on the island went black. That’s completely normal, and if a hosting provider has only that blackout, then the downtime is completely understandable.

Check the response time

Checking the response time of the hosting provider’s servers is a great indicator of whether their servers are overloaded and whether they have performance issues. A reliable hosting provider will guarantee enough infrastructure to ensure all of their clients are well cared for.

Check the hosting provider’s security measures

The server security features are another crucial factor you must address when choosing a hosting provider. If you want to be a reliable business partner or provider yourself, you must ensure your server’s protection from any DDoS attacks, hacking, and malware. Naturally, as you hire a server from a hosting company, their security affects your overall reliability. All reliable hosting providers have robust security measures to protect their customer website data stored in their servers. So, before you sign up with a hosting provider, it’s wise to check what security measures the hosting provider has installed.

It’s essential to check if the hosting provider offers an SSL certificate with their hosting plan. This will encrypt data exchange with the server and counter most spy malware waiting to copy your customer’s sensitive personal information.

Furthermore, a firewall is a must. This small security detail controls the entrance and exit from your website. Thus it prevents unauthorized access and hacking attempts, and DDoS attacks.

Finally, your hosting provider should constantly scan their servers for malware. This is malicious software aiming at damaging data or stealing information. Naturally, having such protection makes the hosting provider that much more reliable.

Evaluate the hosting provider’s speed

While slow speed doesn’t mean you’ve ended up on a scammer’s website, each self-respecting hosting provider aims to bring you the fastest speed for the lowest price. Naturally, this grants them more clients and, thus, bigger revenue. So, when browsing around for hosting providers, be sure to evaluate the speed in relation to the price of the plan. For example, we at HostArmada, offer lightning-fast load speed as we use a cloud-based technology, which allows us to overcome some of the traditional hosting limitations like Geolocation. This alone significantly raises the server response time.

So, how can you determine whether the hosting provider offers you enough speed? First and foremost, check their website to see what they are proposing and if the pricing plan you aim for will suffice your needs. Afterward, use a website speed testing tool like Google PageSpeed to test the speed of the hosting company’s URL and other domains using the same hosting provider. Of course, the faster a website loads, the more reliable its infrastructure will be. More importantly, it will be much more user-friendly, which will help you with your SEO endeavors.

Another crucial metric is the SRT (server response time). It’s the timeframe within which the server responds to the browser. A slower response time can indicate that the server lacks resources or is currently overloaded. Both are not great signs, especially for a hosting provider’s official website.

So, the speed the hosting provider can offer is instrumental for your success. Poor website speed should be a good enough reason to stay away from the hosting provider, even if they are otherwise reliable.

Read customer reviews and testimonials

When it comes to credibility, however, there is no better way to check if a hosting provider is reliable or not than seeing how others judge them. But before you get to independent reviews on third-party websites, check for testimonials. Of course, Testimonials on the hosting provider’s website won’t give you accurate information about their quality per se. Still, it proves that people already trust them, especially if they leave their faces and names underneath.

When it comes to looking for reviews on third-party websites, be aware of bias lists and reviews. Many times competitors will leave bad reviews for the new and upcoming competition, so they won’t be able to grow strong. So, what you need to do is follow the patterns. Disregard the 1-star reviews if they aren’t the overwhelming majority. Check the two and three-star reviews (those in the middle) and see the problems. For example, if a hosting provider has a server problem, most negative comments will be about poor speed or downtime. However, unbiased customers will always try to add something positive, whether it’s the website design or the customer service. So, while 1-star and 5-star reviews are relevant in their sheer number, the most important reviews are the 2-3-4-star reviews, which actually give some information on the service.

To avoid getting on a biased website, however, the best way to proceed is to simply write the hosting company’s name and reviews. For example, “HostArmada reviews.” If Google doesn’t show any results, this would be a massive red flag. Otherwise, just like with our brand, you will see various reviews, scores, and comments on the hosting provider. You don’t even need to click on any particular website. All you need to do is browse Google and see the overall opinion.

Research the hosting provider’s customer support

Outside reviews, you can always make sure how reliable the hosting provider is by yourself. All you need to do is research its customer support. Start with visiting the website and checking if the provider has a dedicated customer support page. Usually, unreliable providers will avoid talking to the customers and offer only minimal support in the hopes that users will simply quit trying. So, check what kind of support the hosting provider offers. For example, HostArmada offers a ticket system with 10 minutes response time, a chat, a phone call, or email support.

When researching the support channels, make sure the offered support is 24/7. Some hosting providers will try to introduce additional prices for off-hours support or weekend support. This, in general, is a red flag you shouldn’t miss.

An excellent way to make sure the provider offers quality support is to read reviews and check if “bad support” is not a recurring negative point. It’s typically not a good practice to simply write to the support staff to check if they will respond. Of course, they will, but your IP address can be flagged as an abusive user. So if you want to communicate with customer support, you better have a valid question. For example, “Which one of your plans will best suit my needs?”

Consider the hosting provider’s pricing and refund policy

Speaking of the pricing and plans, you must also check them to determine whether the hosting provider is reliable. A reliable hosting provider will be fully transparent. They will show you all the information and everything you need to know before you sign up. For example, it’s customary for hosting providers to offer you a huge discount on your initial signing. Reliable hosting providers will not hide their regular price, as this will likely be the price for your next period.

Moreover, a reliable hosting provider will show you all the options and everything you will get with it. But, more importantly, it will show you what you won’t get. This way, you can make a fully informed decision.

Finally, a reliable hosting provider will be absolutely transparent with their pricing policies. They will show all cancellation fees, refunds, and others without hiding them in special terms of use or other obscure places. For example, at Host Armada, we ask for no cancellation fees and offer a 45-day money-back guarantee. Most importantly, we have an unmatched transparency policy, allowing our visitors to see every aspect of our offer before they click the buy button.

Reliable hosting makes for reliable websites.

Taking your hosting provider choice lightly is the first step toward failure. Having a reliable hosting provider is instrumental in making a trustworthy and well-respected website yourself. If the infrastructure on which your website is built is flawed, you have little chance of creating a successful online business. Whether it would be the downtime, security, or non-transparent pricing, your website will constantly suffer from unreliable hosting providers if you don’t make an effort to research them beforehand.

If you want to find a reliable, transparent, and secure hosting provider, check out HostArmada. We offer state-of-the-art cloud-based infrastructure, top-of-the-line security, 99.9% guaranteed uptime, and lightning-fast speed. But there is no need to trust us blindly. We have nothing to hide, and we even gave you a great step-by-step tutorial on how to check if we are worthy of being your hosting provider. So, be sure that our sales team will respond as soon as you contact us. We’re here, waiting.

The post How to check if a web hosting provider is reliable? appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

Security features fees

If you aim to create a personal blog, a portfolio, or an online business card, which aims only to inform and not to sell, security might not be the center of your attention. So naturally, to bring the cost down, most hosting service providers offer only a basic security package with their plans. For example, they often include some basic DDoS protection, which, unfortunately, is hardly enough. Especially if you want to gather your customer’s sensitive information. Usually, basic security includes Network Firewall. This is sufficient if you do not expect your website to attract too much attention and won’t collect private information or data. 

However, if you are an e-commerce business, a retailer, or generally collect sensitive information, you need a more complex security product. You’d want some IDS/IPS, a Web Application Firewall, Hardened PHP, Brute- Force protection, constant malware scanning, and more. Unfortunately, many hosting providers do not include these features. Instead, they ask for an additional price to include them. 

Sadly, if you spare money on your security, this will cost you even more in the long run. If a malicious attack brings down your website, you can lose much more than some additional costs. Not to mention the legal trouble you may find yourself in if sensitive information is leaked through your website. 

The best solution is to diligently check what security features the web hosting provider offers. Also, find out if everything is included in the announced price. Finally, ensure it will correspond with your needs. 

e-Commerce features fees

With around 24 million e-Commerce websites online today, it’s hardly a surprise that this is one niche where some web hosting providers would try to hide some prices. In general, some hosting providers have a cap on the people that may visit your website per month. 

Of course, here we can also mention the security features which are a cornerstone of your success, especially if you receive payments through your website. But there are some additional features like a payment gateways. Some hosting providers will introduce a fee for implementing them, even for the most popular gateways like PayPal or Stripe. Moreover, shopping cart software is sometimes part of the deal. However, you may be stuck paying extra for this feature as well. 

The best solution is to use WooCommerce and WordPress. This way, you will generally avoid any such fees. Moreover, you will receive one genuinely good platform to manage your inventory.

Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to know exactly which features you can get from your web hosting provider. Learn what fees you can expect for gateway integration. Finally, find out whether they allow for easy integration of platforms like WordPress and WooCommerce. 

Domain registration fees 

When it comes to domain registration fees, you need to consider two aspects when choosing your hosting provider. Firstly, most big hosting service providers offer a complimentary free domain when first signing up. That’s quite comfortable when you are creating your first website. It can really save you some additional nerves in searching for free domain names in registrars. Moreover, it will certainly cost a bit less as you won’t have to pay additional fees to a third party. So, when choosing your hosting provider, make sure they offer a free complimentary domain. 

More importantly, make sure what you will pay for that domain in the future. Once you register a domain with the hosting provider, you will have it for a year free of charge. Still, once this term expires, you will have to continue your subscription. If you are not careful, this may come at a bumped price. 

Naturally, don’t assume everyone is out to get you. Most reliable hosting service providers are happy to have you as a customer, and they definitely don’t overcharge you with your domain name. Such is the case with HostArmada – we charge one of the lowest domain renewal fees on the market. Still, it’s a good idea to check the renewal rates from the domain name after the first year to avoid surprises. 

Backup and restore fees

Having a backup is essential for any website. The owner can recover lost or damaged data after hacker attacks or hardware failure. This makes it one feature you shouldn’t spare money on since when you go big, you will need to have your data secured. So naturally, most hosting providers offer backup and restoration services. Still, they can also include hidden fees if you don’t read your agreements.

For example, hosting providers usually include only minimal backup services in their plans. They hope you will buy additional frequency, storage space, or other features. Backup frequency is usually the prime selling point of the provider, as most beginner websites don’t change their content that often. So some web hosting providers offer backups once a month or once a week. When these websites go viral and add new data hourly, they risk losing massive amounts of data if they get backed up only once a week. So, naturally, they buy a more frequent backup package.

This tactic goes for backup storage as well. Every fresh new website is relatively light, and website owners might be fooled into getting a plan with small backup storage simply because it’s a bit cheaper. In the long run, however, if you want your business to grow, your website will become bigger, and you will add more data. At some point, you will exceed the limited space, and you will have to buy extra from the provider.

Other website owners will give you everything you need, but they will add high restoration prices. So you will notice this extra charge only when you have to restore your website.
To avoid these extra prices, you must do your due diligence and ensure the hosting provider is transparent with its policies and fees. Nothing more.

SSL certificate fees

The secure socket layer, better known as your SSL certificate, is a general must for any website, regardless of its purpose. Going on a website that doesn’t show HTTPS default protocol at the start of your URL is a major red flag for most people. Many of them will refuse to enter such sites altogether, regardless if they are looking for cute cat pics or buying a brand-new cat sweatshirt. So naturally, 82.5% of all websites use the HTTPS default protocol today. Those asking for personal information or having payment gateways are 100% with HTTPS. 

This small change in the default protocol is due to the SSL certificate. Essentially it is a file that encrypts any information your client shares with your hosting server. So, for instance, if a client enters their credit card number, it will arrive at your hosting server encrypted. So, if there is some malware on your server, it won’t be able to read the file and steal the data. 

Most hosting providers will offer you a free SSL certificate. Still, you need to ensure the hosting provider offers it. Otherwise, an SSL certificate can cost you up to $100 additionally. Moreover, check the SSL features and determine if they will cover your needs completely. Once again, you need to look for a transparent hosting provider that clearly shows what they offer, so you can make an informed choice. 

Site migration fees

If you are changing your hosting provider and already have a website, you need to learn the hosting provider’s policies on migration. Some providers will ask for a fee for this service. It may vary on the website’s complexity and data size. Others may provide you with free migration tools, but you will have to pay a fee if you want them to make the migration. Moreover, some hosting providers will even charge you for the migration tools.

Of course, you should be looking for hosting providers offering free website migration. But first, check how many websites you can transfer for free. Most often, that depends on your plan. So if you have more than one website you want to transfer to your new hosting, make sure your plan allows all of them to get moved for free.

Having your domain name transfer is also an option if the new hosting provider has better renewal fees than the previous one. Some hosting providers will ask for a price, so you must calculate if this will benefit you in the long run. 

Technical support fees

Technical support is something website owners have for granted. After all, it stands to reason that if you pay for a service, the provider must ensure the service is operational at all times. So naturally, all hosting providers have free tech support for their clients. However, there are some that put an asterisk or two on their “free tech support” features. For example, some hosting providers will offer free support only during working hours. For 24-hour support, you need to pay extra. Otherwise, you put in a request and might wait for the weekend to pass to have it resolved. 

Others will offer a number of free tech support calls, after which you will have to pay for additional services. Some hosting providers even have specific scopes on which technical support issues are covered for free and which ones you should pay for. 

Support is undoubtedly one of the most essential features in your web hosting contract. So, ensure your provider offers 24/7 free support, so your website can run smoothly and without unwanted delays. 

Going over the resources fees

Whenever you choose a hosting plan, you reserve some resources from the hosting provider. So, naturally, once you reach the limit of these resources, your website either has to go down or you need to pay for some extra resources. For example, if one of your products goes viral and a surge of people comes simultaneously on your website, it’s easy to exceed your bandwidth limit. In this case, you would want your website operational, regardless of extra fees, as you will make a significantly higher profit. But, on the other hand, if this surge in visits is due to a malicious attack, it’s far better to have your website down for a bit and not pay some extra money on top. 

Some hosting providers will hide extra fees for getting over the limit, regardless of the reason. Good hosting providers will not only give you the flexibility to have such surges. They will also provide you with enough storage, bandwidth, and CPU resources to cover your needs. Furthermore, they will also monitor your website’s traffic and alert you whenever you are close to your limits. This way, you can make a decision on whether to scale or not. 

So, if you exceed your limits, you will pay some extra fees. You need to consider how much flexibility you have before you get there, how early you will be alerted, so you can make a decision, and how transparent your hosting provider is when it comes to these additional fees. 

Email hosting fees

Emails are another goldmine for malicious hosting providers to add some hidden fees, so they can capitalize on your trust. Dishonest hosting providers may claim to provide free email hosting services when they are severely limited based on account numbers, storage, and attachment sizes. So, if you want to have just a single email account, you’ll be fine. If your business grows, however, and you need more emails, you will have to pay additional fees and subscriptions. 

So, before signing up with a hosting service provider, make sure you fully understand all their email policies and included features. Make sure they offer unlimited email accounts, autoresponders, and filters. Most importantly, ensure they include an email virus scanner and spam filtering. 

Conclusion

Avoiding hidden costs in web hosting is not that hard of a task. All you need to do is read a bit of information and know where dishonest providers may hide their fees. However, the best way to avoid hidden costs is to avoid hosting providers that are reluctant to show what their products include. 

We at HostArmada take pride in the full transparency of our products. Therefore, we took the extra step and listed all our services’ features. Moreover, our support team is ready to help you determine which of our products will best suit your needs. Our general policy is to include all our features and resources in the total price, so there won’t be any surprises afterward. Have a look at our extended list of features below our plans, and contact our sales team to help you choose the one that will fit your needs perfectly. 

The post The hidden costs of web hosting appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

Even if you are convinced you need cloud-based web hosting, you still have to decide what product and plan you should choose. As experts in this field, we at HostArmada will happily guide you on this journey. 

Why is cloud hosting the best solution right now?

Before we get started, though, let’s have a look at why you should definitely switch to cloud-based hosting. The cloud-based hosting has become a favorite among businesses of all sizes and industries simply because it offers immense benefits. For example, cloud hosting allows for easy scalability of resources such as storage, processing power, and bandwidth, making it an ideal solution for businesses experiencing growth or fluctuating demand. Moreover, it allows companies to pay only for the resources they use. This is significantly more cost-effective than traditional hosting methods that require businesses to pay for dedicated server space regardless of usage.

Accessibility is another key advantage of cloud hosting. The 2020 IDG Cloud Computing Survey found that 94% of enterprises use the cloud, with 91% using public cloud services and 76% using private cloud services. This shows that businesses recognize the benefits of remote access to data and applications, giving their tech teams unparalleled working flexibility. 

Most importantly, though, cloud hosting providers typically offer high uptime guarantees and have redundant backup systems in place to ensure that data and applications are always accessible. The same IDG survey found that 69% of respondents reported improving uptime after moving to the cloud.

Finally, one of the biggest benefits is the increased security cloud-based web hosting provides. That’s not surprising, as 93% of all users see cloud security as their top priority. Thus cloud hosting providers have invested significantly in security measures and often offer around-the-clock monitoring and support.

In general, hosting your new website or transferring your old one to a cloud-based hosting provider will benefit your business significantly. To make the best out of this deal, however, you need to know what cloud product and plan best fits your needs. But before that, you need to make the difference between these two.

The difference between hosting product and hosting plan

Hosting products and plans might sound interchangeable, but they refer to different aspects of the hosting service. 

On the one hand, web hosting products refer to the physical infrastructure used to host websites. For example, Cloud Shared Hosting, Cloud VPS Hosting, Cloud Dedicated Hosting. These products are typically sold to businesses and individuals requiring a specific hosting solution to meet their unique needs.

On the other hand, we have web hosting plans. These are used to logically separate every web hosting product based on different features and price points. Usually, web hosting plans include features such as storage, bandwidth, email accounts, and more. So typically each hosting product will have several hosting plans.

Take, for example, our Cloud Shared Hosting product. It offers three pricing plans, depending on the website count, disk space needs, CPU power, and RAM size. To determine which product and plan will best work for your business, first, you must analyze your needs and financial capabilities before taking the next step. 

What to consider before choosing a cloud hosting product

Each business is unique and thus has different needs when it comes to web hosting.

For example, a small on-site washing machine mechanic will use their website predominantly as a business card. Naturally, they won’t need much space and won’t expect significant website traffic. On the other hand, a retailer will require significantly more resources. Therefore, before you choose your cloud-hosting product and plan, you need to consider at least five cornerstone aspects of your business:

1. What is your website’s niche?

Before everything else, your cloud web hosting package depends on the business niche you will be operating in. This will dictate how big your website will be, whether you will offer products there, what features you will need, and how many people will visit it each month. For example, if your business is in a tight niche like custom furniture construction, you may offer some products online. Still, depending on your location and business size, that doesn’t mean you will have many visits each month. So while you will want some mandatory features for retail businesses, you won’t need many hardware resources.

2. How much traffic do you expect?

While the niche you are operating in will determine what cloud web hosting product will best suit you, the amount of traffic you expect will push you toward a particular plan. For example, if you are expecting just a few people simultaneously on your website, then a more inexpensive plan would be sufficient. However, if you are a news outlet, for example, and you seek to reach out to as many customers as possible when the traffic reaches the limits of your server, it will simply crash. Therefore, predicting the size of your audience will help you a great deal to avoid this uncomfortable situation.

3. What features do you need?

Before choosing your cloud hosting product and plan, you must carefully consider what features you will need. Most products and plans come with some security, technical, web hosting, caching, and other features. Still, if you are expecting more than 100,000 visitors monthly, you might want to go for a 6-core CPU with at least 6GB RAM. Moreover, if you want to have more than one website on your cloud hosting account, you must ensure your chosen plan allows it.

Furthermore, fewer backups will suffice if your website is something like a business card and rarely changes. On the other hand, if you produce a lot of content daily and want to keep it safe, you might opt for a higher number of daily backups. 

4. How fast will you grow according to your business plan?

Next, you need to consider how fast your business will grow. Naturally, you will already know this if you have made a serious business plan. So, if you think your traffic and resource needs will scale in the following months, you might want to get a pricier plan from the get-go. On the other hand, if you are planning on a small growth process without significant influx for the first couple or even three years, you can go with the most affordable plan, which usually is triennial. Yes, you can always upgrade, but then you will lose the initial pricing discount you usually get when signing up with a hosting company for the first time. 

5. What is your budget

Finally, there is the budget. Naturally, if you are just starting and not expecting high revenues in the first year, investing in a Dedicated CPU Cloud hosting plan is unnecessary. Instead, getting shared hosting or a Cloud SSD VPS Hosting plan is far more sustainable and will cost you significantly less. Naturally, this will depend on your business niche and your needs. Still, allocating the budget should be considered a top priority, as while your first installment will be at a highly reduced price, your next billing will probably be at full price. So you need to be prepared. 

What cloud hosting product best suits you

Knowing the above factors, you can finally start determining what cloud infrastructure will best suit your business. There are several types of cloud hosting products to choose from.

Cloud Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most popular type of cloud hosting due to its user-friendliness, relatively low cost, and low maintenance. Furthermore, shared cloud hosting usually offers all the essential features a person needs to build a successful website without having any knowledge of website development. For example, our Managed Cloud Shared Hosting offers a one-click application installer, which will allow customers to install an open-source platform for building their website in a matter of minutes. On top, we offer automatic daily backups, web server cache, SSD cloud storage, tight website security, an easy-to-pilot service with cPanel, and basically everything one needs to create the online home of their business. 

Pros: 

• Cost-effective
• User-friendly
• Low maintenance

Cons:

• Limited resources
• Customization limitations
• Shared Hardware
• No root access

Who is it for?

The shared cloud hosting is perfect for hobby, personal and professional websites. It’s the ideal choice for users with little to no website-building background and who can’t maintain a server independently. Moreover, it’s an excellent choice for small businesses without the financial resources to hire an IT team to handle every aspect of maintaining their own server. 

Cloud Reseller Hosting

In cloud reseller hosting, the account owner becomes a middleman between the cloud hosting provider and their clients. They can create multiple hosting accounts for their clients and manage them through a control panel supplied by the web hosting provider. The main advantage of cloud reseller hosting is that it allows the account owner to start their own web hosting business without needing to own and maintain their own server infrastructure. Instead, the cloud hosting provider takes care of the server maintenance, upgrades, and security, saving the account owner time and money.

For example, with our Cloud Reseller Hosting, the user can enjoy a 99.9% uptime without having to upkeep their own infrastructure. Moreover, they get Litespeed web server, static and dynamic cache, object caching of complex queries, DDoS Protection,Web Application firewall, IP Based Firewall, and many other features that can push them ahead of the competition when providing their customers with top-notch web hosting plans. 

Pros:

• Easy setup
• Cost-effective
• Scalable
• Customizable
• High-end support

Cons:

• Limited control on server level
• Dependent on the hosting provider
• Support responsibility to the end-client

Who is it for?

The Reseller cloud hosting solution is perfect for entrepreneurs who want to start their own hosting company but lack the infrastructure. Moreover, it’s ideal for web designers and developers and can be used as a valuable add-on. It’s also a viable option for IT consultants and small business owners who operate a number of websites simultaneously. 

Cloud VPS Hosting

Cloud VPS Hosting is often used when a user wants a private space but doesn’t need an entire server’s resources to operate. Thus the hosting provider creates a Virtual Private Server, on top of a cloud platform, with specific features and metrics. 

Cloud VPS Hosting is considered the next step towards independence from the hosting provider, as it offers more flexibility and control than shared hosting. Naturally, as the servers are virtually composed within the cloud, they can be highly customized according to the client’s needs. For example, our Cloud VPS Hosting offers a full ROOT level of access on demand, a 99.9% Uptime Guarantee of the server, and an Nginx Web Server Cache. 

Pros:

• Reliability
• Endless customization opportunities
• Scalability
• High security

Cons: 

• You need technical expertise
• Higher cost

Who is it for?

Overall, Cloud VPS Hosting can be a good option for those who require more resources and customization options than shared hosting but do not need the complete resources of a dedicated server. The most common users are mid-sized retailers and some business niches that value private security much higher than the average website owner. 

Dedicated Cloud Hosting

As the name suggests, this hosting product provides the user with a dedicated cloud server with all its resources dedicated to the hosted websites. The user can fully control the server and customize it to their will being able to rely on guaranteed resources. 

Unlike the traditional physical dedicated server product, the cloud-based product offers higher flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. 

Naturally, you will have full access to the server, but that also means you need some hosting expertise. Moreover, in most cases, you need to be able to manage updates and other tasks the server requires.

Pros: 

• Extremely high performance
• Limitless customization
• Access to the server
• High security
• Unparalleled reliability and uptime 

Cons:

• High price
• It’s highly complicated
• You will need a dedicated IT team.

Who is it for?

Dedicated Cloud Hosting is the perfect solution if you need complete control over your server or its full potential. For example, big e-commerce businesses or dedicated email services will prefer this product over others due to its high performance and security. Moreover, resellers, database servers, and other resource-hungry websites usually go after Dedicated Cloud Hosting. 

How to decide on your next Cloud Web Hosting Plan

Now that you know which product suits you best, it’s time to look at the plans. Choosing the plan is actually easier, as it consists of only five simple steps. 

Step one: Check the available plans for your cloud hosting product

This step should come without saying. You can’t pick up a plan if you don’t know what is offered. Host providers will often offer 3-4 tires of pricing, progressively including additional features and capabilities. For example, for four of our products (Cloud WordPress Hosting, Cloud Shared Hosting, Open Source Hosting, and Development Hosting) we offer three different plans. Start Dock is the smallest and most inexpensive package, which allows you just one website with 15 GB SSD storage, 2 CPU Cores, and 2 GB RAM. It also provides significantly fewer features and is ideal for people just starting with their first website.

On the other hand, Web Wrap allows unlimited websites with double the SSD Storage, CPU, and RAM. If these specs are insufficient, we offer a third-tier plan delivering 40 GB of SSD Storage, six-core CPUs, and 6 GB RAM. So naturally, the Speed Reaper, as the last tier is called, can accommodate almost any website’s needs. 

Naturally, under each pricing plan, there is a detailed explanation of what it offers and its limitations.

Step two: Explore the benefits and limitations

The next step comes intuitively, as you must explore all the plans’ benefits and downsides and see how they fit your needs. For example, if you want to add web hosting to your website development gig, you need to consider several factors. As you probably won’t be able to create more than 20 websites in the first year, even if your schedule is full, you don’t need to go for our Site Nova offer, which gives you 200 GB SSD space, 12 TB Bandwidth, and 200 cPanel Accounts. Instead, you can go for the much cheaper Sitedust, which offers 50 GB space, 3TB bandwidth, and 50 cPanel accounts.

On the other hand, if you are a reseller and you want to go big from the very get-go, you can start with either Protoseller or Web Giant and move on to Site Nova when you reach the client numbers. Keep in mind, though, that each of these offers has its limitations, so make sure to check what they offer thoroughly and see if that will fit your business plans. 

Step three: Compare them to your needs

The third step is determining whether the benefits fulfill your needs. For example, suppose you are an e-commerce retailer and need a VPS cloud server to host your online shop. In that case, you need to consider how heavy your content is, how much traffic you expect simultaneously, and how many products you will add. If you are still a small business that operates within a city or a state alone and you sell niche products, you can go for a smaller package.

For example, our Web Shuttle offers 50 GB SSD storage, 1-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 2 TB Bandwidth, and 2000 Mbps Speed out. This would be enough for a small store that sells bicycle parts, for example. On the other hand, if your reach is broader and you sell food supplements, for instance, with a much higher market share, you would need Web Voyager or Web Raider, as more people will come to your store simultaneously and load the system. Naturally, you will need better bandwidth and RAM to keep your website alive and just as fast. 

So, before you go forward, ensure your chosen plan will suffice your needs completely. 

Step four: Plan ahead

If you’ve created your business plan, you will already know where your business is going. It’s essential to predict how fast your website will grow, so you can properly decide what plan to choose. Changing your pricing plan during your billing term is inconvenient, as you may lose your initial discount. For example, you can expect an initial discount if you get our Low Orbit plan for Dedicated Cloud Server. If you switch it with the High Orbit solution in the middle of the month, however, this will be considered your second billing, and no discount will apply. So, make sure to have a good plan for what you will need for the next few months so you won’t lose on deals. 

Step five: Choose the billing period

The final step naturally is choosing the billing period. Usually, hosting service providers opt for several billing periods for their shared hosting options and go for monthly billings for VPS and dedicated servers. So, if you are a small business and need a shared cloud hosting service, you must decide how dedicated you are to your project. Keep in mind that usually, the most extended billing period is the most favorable. For example, if you decide to purchase a shared cloud hosting from us, a Triennial subscription will cost you 10% less per month compared to what you will pay if you take a biannual subscription. So, if you are committed to your online project, you might as well go for the longest period, as that’s where the best deals usually are. 

Conclusion

Deciding on your website hosting is definitely not an easy task. There are a ton of things to consider and a lot of products and plans to choose from. The best thing you can do is to give yourself enough time. Research all available options, check all the benefits and limitations and consider all features you might need. We know how hard it is to make this decision, especially when it comes to your first website. Thus, we offer our potential customers a free consultation with our experts. Just contact them, and they will help you choose the best hosting product and plan for your needs. 

The post What Cloud Web Hosting solution should you use for your website? appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

What is DNS?

To understand what DNS is, first, you need to know the basic concept behind IP addresses.

Internet Protocols (IP) are unique numbers that represent each machine that has been connected to the Internet. Essentially, IP is the physical address of each device. So, whenever someone’s looking for your website, the user’s browser searches for the server’s IP address that contains your website’s data.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is an integral part of this process, as it’s the one that translates your domain name into the numbers that lead to the server where all your data is stored. In other words, the DNS is much like a phonebook, with a specific IP address under a specific name. This way, users won’t have to memorize lengthy IP addresses like 192.158.1.38 or, even worse, 2001:cb6:1234:5678:9012:3456:7890:1234. for IPv6.

For example, if you are looking for our website, you will probably type hostarmada.com or https://www.hostarmada.com/ in the address bar of your favorite web browser. To find our website, your browser needs the IP address of the server where our website is stored. So it will send a query to the DNS, which will check its database and find which IP address corresponds to the domain name hostarmada.com. Then, the DNS will relay that information to your browser, so it can send a request to the server to deliver specific data to show on your screen.

In a nutshell, the Domain Name System is the connection between the user’s browser and your website’s server. But if you want to fully understand how your website comes in front of other people, we need to dig a little deeper. For starters, there is more than one DNS server type.

What are the DNS server types?

There are four main DNS server types, each playing a separate role in getting your website on the user’s screen.

Recursive Nameserver

This is the first step, where the browser would look for the domain name’s IP address in the Recursive Nameserver. The resolver, however, doesn’t hold any records, so its main idea is to point the browser to the correct Root Nameserver. It operates much like a library catalog, where you can find the place where the book you need is stored.

Root Nameserver

The Root Nameserver is the first that has some logs and can transform your website’s letteral description into machine-friendly numbers. In other words, the Root Nameserver is the first in line with IP address records. This DNS server understands the query and can actually pinpoint the exact location where the server is. It’s much like first-level support. It understands your needs and transfers you to the correct person that can help you with the resolution.

TLD Nameservers

The Top Level Domain servers, as the name suggests, are closely related to your website’s TLD. These are the extensions at the end of your domain name, like .com, .org, .gov, etc. Each TLD stores information in its own TLD Nameservers, so depending on which TLD is used by your website, the user’s browser would be transferred to the correct TLD Nameserver. These servers, on the other hand, will pinpoint the exact server that contains the needed IP address.

Authoritative Nameserver

The Authoritative Nameserver is the one that actually gives the entire information. This is typically the last stop of the query before the browser finds your website. If the user had made a mistake in writing the domain name, this would be the step to find it out. So, if there is a spelling error or the wrong TLD was entered, the domain won’t be found on this nameserver.

For example, if your domain name is domain.com and you type domain.us by mistake, the authoritative nameserver won’t find any logs, or you will receive the wrong server’s IP address if domain.us is registered.

This may sound like a long and tedious process, but in fact, DNS takes only a few milliseconds to complete the eight steps, from writing the query to opening the website.

The 8 steps of opening a website

Getting your website to a user’s computer is an entire adventure if you look at it step by step. Thankfully it only takes a blink of an eye to have all the listed processes done, so you can have the website up and running in just a few seconds.

Step One

Naturally, the whole journey begins with a simple request. The user usually makes this request via their browser’s search bar. The browser will check its own cache, and if there is no log with your website, it will start the process. The first step is to transmit the query to the local DNS server, which is the Recursive nameserver.

Step Two

The recursive nameserver, also known as the resolver, will also check for a cached version of the resolution. If it has one, the browser will receive an immediate answer. If it does not, the recursive nameserver will send a query to the Root Nameserver.

Step Three

The root nameserver will search for which TLD Server is the sought-after IP address. As already mentioned, each TLD has its own nameserver. After it finds the correct TLD nameserver, the root server translates the information to the Recursive server.

Step Four

The Recursive server once again sends the query, this time to the TLD nameserver. That’s why it’s essential to write the correct extension of your domain name, so the Recursive server can communicate with the correct TLD nameserver.

Step Five

During this step, the TLD nameserver checks its records and finds the location of the specific authoritative nameserver with the IP address stored. After that, it sends the information back to the Recursive server.

Step Six

During this step, the Recursive nameserver has finally reached the Authoritative nameserver and requests the A record of the website.

Step Seven

The Authoritative nameserver will find the requested website’s IP address and send it back to the recursive nameserver. During the process, the local DNS server will create a cached record of the website, so it won’t have to go through all the steps each time someone searches for this website.

Step Eight

This is the last step of the search when the Recursive DNS nameserver sends the requested IP address to the browser. After it has the information, the browser will send an HTTP request to the server containing the website’s data. If there are no problems with the logs and records, the browser will receive the requested data and upload it on the user’s screen. Moreover, the browser will save a copy of the record for future use, so if the user wants to get to the same domain name again, the browser won’t have to go through all these steps, but it will directly request the data from the IP.

What is DNS Cache?

As you can see, this whole process depends on who has the IP address of the requested website. Therefore, the further down the chain a request must go, the longer the load time.

You may have noticed we often used the term cache. The cache is a locally stored log about a specific website. Once a browser requests a particular IP address, each server down the chain creates a cache to resolve any future requests faster. However, not only the DNS nameservers collect this information for future use. The browser also creates a log with the information on the user’s computer. That’s why you can open a website you’ve already visited much faster (if you haven’t deleted your browser’s cache or you’re not using the Incognito mode). The browser skips all eight steps and directly requests the data from the cached IP address.

Furthermore, each user’s OS has its own DNS cache. This is the last try of the operating system to resolve the query locally without sending any requests through the internet. If it has no record of the website, the browser will send a request to your local Internet Service Provider (ISP), where the Recursive nameserver will start the entire journey. So, if you were wondering, yes, your internet provider has a log of everything you searched on the internet if you don’t use protection.

What are the types of DNS queries?

When we are talking about the DNS servers and how they operate, we must also address the term DNS queries. There are three main types of DNS queries, each having a specific task.

The Recursive query is the request your browser sends to the recursive nameserver or from the recursive nameserver to the authoritative nameserver. These types of queries have only two possible resolutions. The responder can either provide the needed record if it has it stored or, if it doesn’t, to deliver an error. For example, if you send a request for a website that doesn’t exist, the authoritative server will send an error to the recursive nameserver, which will then deliver it to the browser. This will result in a message on your screen stating that there weren’t any DNS records found for this specific website.

The Iterative queries are usually done by the recursive nameserver toward the Root or TLD nameservers. If the request recipients have a cache record, they can send it back to the recursive nameserver, which will transfer it to the browser. If they don’t, however, they won’t send an error, but instead will point to where the record may be found.

Non-recursive queries are done by clients that already have access to the record. Usually, this happens when a server down the chain already has the resolution cached locally or when an authoritative nameserver sends the request. Either way, the query is resolved instantly.

You are probably wondering about these records we’ve mentioned several times now. Well, let’s have a look at them.

What types of DNS records are there?

As you might have guessed, a domain name does not respond to a specific IP address out of the blue. This information needs to be shared with the DNS servers, so they know how to look for the correct IP address. This is where the DNS records come into play.

A DNS record is a piece of text stored in the DNS zone of your domain name on the web hosting server. That alone is quite an extensive topic to cover, but we will keep it simple for this article and will only mention that the DNS zone is stored on the web hosting server. So whenever DNS looks up your domain name it reaches that zone at the end and retrieves the corresponding DNS record which most commonly is the A type of record. There are actually about 50 different DNS record types. However, we will explain only the most important of them.

The A Record

The Address Mapping record, better known as the A record, stores the hostname and the corresponding IPv4 address. This is by far the most important DNS record, as it’s the glue that sticks the domain name to the web hosting server’s IP address. The A record is usually what DNS servers, browsers, and OS store as a cache to provide a faster resolution to the query.

The Quad A Record

You will often see the quad A record as the AAAA record. Its role is the same as the A Record, but it gives the IPv6 address to the DNS.

The CNAME Record

The Canonical Name Record (CNAME) is usually used for redirection. The value of this record can only be another domain name or any hostname. It is typically used when one domain/subdomain should display the content of another.

For example, if you have a domain name, “domain.com,” and you want subdomains such as “www.domain.com” to lead to the same webpage, the CNAME record will provide the DNS lookup with a resolution. This way, if you need to switch your web hosting server or your website’s IP address changes, you will only have to change your primary A record, and all CNAME records that were pointing to your main domain will automatically resolve on the new location.

The MX Record

The Mail Exchanger record will let DNS know which email server is responsible for receiving messages for your domain. Just like you can have more than one email account for your domain, you can have more than one MX record. Still, you will have to prioritize one as primary, as the record is hierarchical. It’s typically a good idea to have at least 2 MX records as if your primary mail server fails to respond, the secondary will.

NS Record

The Nameserver Record shows either the DNS zone of the IP or the authoritative nameserver containing the IP address. This helps the TLD nameserver to pinpoint the correct authoritative nameserver and relay the information to the recursive nameserver.

TXT record

The TXT record is usually used to communicate with other machines. It’s a record that allows text information in the DNS zone of your domain. The TXT record has a variety of applications, but most often, third parties, like Google, use it to verify website ownership.

Configuring these DNS records is by no means an easy task. Even the slightest mistake can render your website useless and unfindable. Needless to say, many issues are generated precisely because of the DNS records. Fortunately, you will get a fully correct and functional DNS zone with each and every web hosting plan that you have with us.

What are the most common DNS issues?

Although DNS is not perfect, the number of DNS-related cases we receive is low. Based on reason, we can separate the most common DNS issues into two types – Internal and External.

Internal DNS Issues

As we mentioned already, with every web hosting plan we offer, we also set up a fully correct and functional DNS zone for your domains internally. If you do not perform DNS changes on the DNS zone, the probability of a DNS issue is 0, except in the single case where there is a connectivity issue with the server. In that case, DNS cannot connect to the DNS zone, resulting in an error.

External DNS Issues

Letting your DNS zone untouched is a certain way to ensure your domain will always be available. However, at a certain point, you might need to perform some changes. There is nothing wrong with that and we provide all the tools you will need to execute the changes correctly. Still, here are some common issues you might face:

• Messing up the DNS protocols is among the most common problems people face. Therefore, you should always double-check if you entered the correct values in the accurate record. For example, if you fail to enter the proper MX record, you won’t be able to send or receive emails. On the other hand, if you make a mistake while entering the A record, the user’s browser will receive a false IP address, which will send them to a different website, or they will receive an error.
• Granting access to third parties to your domain’s DNS zone. Allowing someone else to make edits to the DNS zone of your domain is a recipe for disaster. There are countless cases in which we repair broken DNS zones just because proclaimed DNS experts said they could help a customer.

Here at HostArmada, you will always find help with nearly anything web hosting related. Our experts are available 24/7 over the Phone, via Chat, or a Ticket. So whenever you face DNS-related issues, simply get in touch with us, and we will have it all sorted out for you.

Let’s wrap it up

Not everyone feels comfortable swimming in the deep waters of the web-hosting ocean where DNS lurks. Becoming more familiar with it will open new possibilities and might even improve certain aspects of the web hosting service, like, for example, email, accessibility, and website reputation, but more on that in another post.

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While choosing a fully-managed Cloud Web Hosting provider like HostArmada is the right choice, often, the overwhelming amount of information on the web will make you think that Self-Hosting your website is easy and will save you a lot of money. While that can be true, creating your own web hosting environment matching the quality of a web hosting provider will be a challenging task no matter your technical background.

Today we will give you seven reasons why you should restrain from Self-Hosting and trust professional hosting instead, but before that, let’s talk a bit more about Self-Hosting.

What is self-hosting?

Self-hosting is when you own the entire infrastructure that contains your website’s data. At first glance, that means you will only need a powerful server, and you’re done, but there is far more to it. In general, self-hosting is an acceptable solution only for governmental agencies and big corporations which don’t want any of their crucial data stored outside the security of their offices. Needless to say, they have entire divisions which take care of the process, and while it’s highly expensive, they deem the information they have much more valuable.

On the other hand, self-hosting for personal websites or small businesses is not only overkill, but it can be much worse for the website and its security. To illustrate our point, we created a list of the top 7 reasons why self-hosting is bad. Don’t get us wrong, though. There are far more reasons, but to be brief, we will showcase only the top 7 of them.

Self-hosting is very complicated

While at first glance, self-hosting might sound like an easy task, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Understanding the entire infrastructure behind how your website works requires much knowledge. In addition, you need to know how to configure the web hosting environment for your specific needs. If that doesn’t sound like a challenge, understanding every aspect of DNS, Databases, web servers, security, control panel, and a ton of other terms will probably deter you from pursuing a self-hosting option.

If you want to self-host, you must be prepared to climb the extremely steep learning curve. However, once you have conquered it, you will realize that delegating your hosting to a professional hosting service provider is the best option.

You will need truly expensive infrastructure

Often the web hosting service is built on top of a server. That very powerful computer stores your website’s data and delivers it when asked. Naturally, the more users you receive and the heavier the data packages that need to be transferred, the more influential the server must be.

For example, if you have a blog post with little designer decorations, a single requested data package will be small (1-2 MB per post). While the text is not that heavy, according to current standards, you need high-quality pictures that pump the size. So, whenever a user asks to see the blog post, your server will have to transfer this information. Naturally, if you have videos, the package sizes can skyrocket pretty quickly. Thus you will need one extremely powerful machine to compensate. Can you imagine if your server gets 100 requests for 500 MB packages? You don’t need to imagine it. This happens every day. If your server is not powerful enough to keep up, it will simply crash and turn off, rendering your website useless.

While each server consists of only five main components – a motherboard, a processor, storage, RAM, and networking, all of them must be top-shelf. A good server may cost between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars. For those expecting more massive audiences, the price might even go higher.

Self-hosting demands an enterprise-grade internet connection

If you think you can manage to self-host with your regular consumer-grade internet, you are not on the right path. You may have the highest package your operator provides, but if your website goes viral, this will hardly be enough. Instead, if you want to grow your audience and keep your website up all the time, you will need a stable internet connection that goes beyond the regular consumer plans. Your server needs to be connected via redundant connections to the internet. Only this way can you guarantee continuous uptime for your server and, more importantly, fast and unobstructed delivery of data packages to many users.

Naturally, these types of connections are not very cheap. The market varies depending on locations and size, but typically it goes between $1000 and $2000 a month.

Self-hosting is way more expensive

As it has become evident, self-hosting can be pretty expensive. While the server alone costs a lot, its components will have to be changed over time, so you must allocate an annual budget for substitutes and repairs. Moreover, as already mentioned, the internet will bump the cost significantly. That, however, is not the only cost you need to consider. To be able to self-host, you will also need a static IP, which costs more than the regular one.

Furthermore, you will need to buy licenses to several software products, which, although not shockingly expensive, add to the total cost.

Another spend you will have to make in regard to your backups. You can decide whether to keep them offline on hard drives or in the cloud. Either way, you will have to allocate another $100 or so for this service. Still, we recommend having your backup on a hard drive and in the cloud. It’s a bit more expensive but much more secure.

Finally, assume you will have to hire a person to deal with the maintenance of your self-hosting. Otherwise, it will truly take all of your time.

The maintenance is a nightmare

There is no better way to describe the tedious and overloading work that is server maintenance. Remember when we mentioned that you would need to consider an annual budget for service repairs and replacement parts? Well, someone has to make these repairs and switch the broken hardware with the new one. Depending on your server’s load, this can happen quite often, as servers are not like regular computers. They need to operate 24/7, which indeed takes its toll on their parts. Obviously, the server hardware is much better when it comes to quality, but still, it has a lifespan, and the more users you get, the less the lifespan will be.

Moreover, you will have to keep an eye on software updates. If you skip them, you can compromise your server’s security, or it may lead to technical issues, which will result in downtime for your website.

You must take care of security

Almost anything you do on the internet carries a risk. Even if you don’t do anything, but your computer connects to the Internet, there is a small risk of malicious attacks. However, these risks are low as no one will actually go through several billion computers hoping they will find something useful that hasn’t been protected with a password.

On the other hand, hosting an entire website (or more) makes you a prime target for dozens of hackers and other criminals. Regardless of the purpose of your website, if you are not careful, people will want to take it down or steal your or your customer’s info. If you are a retailer, this may lead to a lot of legal troubles, as almost anywhere in the world, you are liable to protect your customers’ private data. So, if you don’t know the first thing about protecting your server and website, it’s much better to leave it to the professionals.

You are the support

Finally, when you are self-hosting, there is no one to ask for help. Well, there is, but it will cost you more than what you’d pay for an entire year of hosting services. If something goes wrong at 2:00 am, there is no one to take care of it. You will have to be on call 24/7, 365 days a year. Otherwise, your website will simply disappear from the internet, significantly reducing revenues and customer flow. You will have to hire a whole team to take care of your server, as they will have to take shifts looking after your hosting. Needless to say, this will be much more expensive than the alternative.

The Alternative

If you haven’t guessed your other option, let us spell it out—regular professional hosting. Although the price is not everything, with HostArmada, you can have one incredibly fast, secure, and stable hosting service without hiring an entire team to take care of a single server. Moreover, with our products, you can choose exactly what you need for the time being and upgrade your features when your business takes some traction. HostArmada has been acknowledged as an industry leader and has also been reviewed by one of the most authoritative Web Hosting review sites – HostingAdvice. You can read more about that in their recent article about us.  So don’t waste your time finding out that self-hosting is a bad idea on your own. Contact our representatives, who will help you choose the best plan for your needs.

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On the other hand, you can’t just leave your website untouched for the duration of its existence. But how would you follow trends, add new content, apply new features, change the look, and fix bugs and crashes? In such cases, you definitely need a way to test how any change you make will look before implementing it. That is possible thanks to a feature called website staging, and today we will help you decide whether to use it or not when applying new changes to your WordPress website. 

What is Website Staging?

Simply put, a website staging environment (also known as staging version) is a replica of your exact website, which, however, is not accessible by outside users.

Nothing is more repulsive to a user than a website that crashes, especially if they have to add their personal information or credit card number. Imagine how they will feel if the crash happens right after they’ve clicked the buy button and their money is already gone, but they haven’t received a confirmation. Naturally, you will reimburse them or send them the product or service, but that little mishap will damage your reputation and lead to some bad reviews online.  

So essentially, a staging environment for your website is where you can apply all the changes you need and make your final check if the added features, plugins, or code works as predicted. This eliminates all bugs, issues, and cracks on your website before its new version reaches the end visitor. Ensuring your website is fully operational will retain your brand’s good name and won’t embarrass you in front of your potential customers.

On a more fundamental level, the stage environment can be where your developers combine their work to check if everything works as intended. It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together with several people. Everyone has their little corner that they are working on. Naturally, before you glue the whole thing, you put it on a table and check if everyone’s work fits. If something is messed up, you bring it back to the “developer”, who will have to fix their part so it can fit perfectly. The same is with any website feature or process. The developers, although working side by side, need a place where they can put everything together and see if it will fit. Doing that on a live website is not ideal by a long shot. It brings way too many risks, and the additional time that will be spent testing is well worth it. 

When do you need Website Staging?

There are many reasons, despite the already mentioned, when you will need a website staging environment.

When you are introducing new content on your website

The obvious one is adding new crucial features or refurbishing your website. It’s a no-brainer that changing places of buttons, for example, while someone is trying to click on them, is not a great idea. Not to mention the potential bugs, code mistakes, and even CSS incompatibilities with WordPress themes.

When you cannot afford to have your website down

Issues with your website are truly devastating to your business, especially if you are just starting. This may result in some drawbacks and customer loss for a huge company, but for a startup, it may be the difference between success and failure. On average, every website is down three hours each month. This is mainly due to server problems, overloads, or malicious attacks. According to Small Business Trends, this costs $10.6 million annually.

Moreover, it leads to lost profits and customers. For example, 9% of all users never return to a website they couldn’t reach. Additionally, the downtime will negatively affect your SEO efforts, further hindering your income. 

To avoid this, at least partially, you need a strong and trusted hosting provider, and lucky for you HostArmada is precisely what you’ve been looking for. We offer cloud-based hosting, meaning that all our servers are virtual, and your information is spread across all of them. If one stops working, the stream of requests is automatically rerouted to another server, eliminating the chance of downtime altogether. In addition, we offer many other features that are simply impossible with a physical server. Check them out here.

When WordPress Automatic Updates are on

WordPress is known for the great option to have automatic updates enabled. However, sometimes the automated updates may decimate your website, and trying it first in a secure environment is always a good idea. WordPress usually does its job meticulously, but when they have a core update, the chances of something breaking are there because WordPress cannot guarantee.

When you would like to experiment

Furthermore, the website staging environment it’s a great room to experiment with the functionality and your design as a whole. People often wonder if a widget would look better in the footer or right next to the Headline in the header. Moving it around while there are thousands of potential buyers on your website is a recipe for disaster. You can do it safely in a staging environment, knowing that you (and your team) will be the only ones to see it. 

How to get Website Staging for your WordPress website?

Creating a staging environment for your website is definitely not a simple task. It requires certain knowledge to be acquired to handle it proficiently. Generally, it involves the process of copying your website and its database to an entirely new location (for example, a subdomain – staging.domain.com). All this should be handled on a Web Hosting service level since copying files, creating databases, creating subdomains, and reconfiguring WordPress are features delivered by the hosting web service.

So probably, you might have figured it out already, but it is not uncommon for your Web Hosting service provider to ease this process for you. In fact, many of the Managed WordPress Hosting providers already include Website Staging as a standard feature either done by their Technical Support staff or by some useful web interface that you can use to do it on your own with a few clicks. Our Managed Cloud WordPress Hosting is no different in that regard. We provide Website Staging for WordPress both as a standalone feature you can use on your own and as part of our 24/7, Chat/Phone/Ticket Technical Support service.

If you are in need of Website Staging, simply drop us a line, and our representatives will guide you further.

Benefits

There are three main reasons why everyone should use a Website Staging environment, even if they are making something as simple as installing a new plugin.

Risk Control

Typically, plugins are well-developed and don’t mess up your website, but at times they are known to contradict other plugins, and that’s when you start to have problems. So, one of the biggest benefits is the risk control staging provides. Checking how the new changes will behave before they go public allows you to react swiftly without enduring any downtime. 

Quality Control

Furthermore, staging allows you to improve your website meticulously without the need to do it fast and sloppy. Such changes need a lot of time, and although a small change in the font may look like a minimal inconvenience at first, it may change the whole outlay of the WordPress template. Thus having the chance to do all changes step by step in a secure environment guarantees the quality of the end product. 

Savings

This will save you a lot of money, which you will otherwise lose due to customer withdrawal. Furthermore, a crucial error on your live website may effectively put you out of business or at least cost you dearly by hiring developers to fix the problem. 

Naturally, if you can implement upgrades, new features, and better design without any downtime (or just a tiny controlled blackout time window), you are guaranteed to have improved business performance that will help you grow.

Downsides

Unsurprisingly, there are some drawbacks to using a website staging environment mostly due to the lack of technical understanding of this feature.

Inconsistency

When you create a copy of your website today, the copy is not in sync with the live version. It simply represents the content and the design of your website at the point in time when the copy was created. So naturally, if you add information to your Live Website, that information will not be present in the staging environment.

Responsibility and Organization

Staging blurs responsibility. While website staging makes the changes on your website much safer, the accountability when something goes wrong is almost nonexistent because you can always simply recreate the staging and start over. Moreover, the whole process of applying changes can be delayed, and it can even become excessive if, for example, several projects run simultaneously. A good organization is key in such cases. Otherwise, the pipeline will get clogged by tasks that need to be tested. 

Of course, these downsides are relevant only if your team’s organizational skills and leadership are not at the level your website needs.

Who is Website Staging for?

There isn’t a website owner who wouldn’t benefit from a staging environment, as the whole idea of having a safe and risk-free place where you can make changes without bringing down your website is genuinely a good decision. In a sense, people with one-pager websites, portfolios or just a passion project that doesn’t generate money and has little traffic can afford to restrain from investing time and effort in a staging environment. However, if you have a website filled with data, with many visitors, keeping your website online is crucial. So if you are making money out of your website, then having a staging environment is mandatory.

Let’s wrap it up!

As you’ve read, having a staging environment on your WordPress is not just a fancy addition, but it brings many benefits by reducing the risks of your website going down due to some theme or plugin update. Of course, if you are running an online store, this would give you peace of mind that any change won’t result in a crash, loss of data, or even worse. So, should you use a staging environment on your WordPress? Definitely yes!

The post What is Website Staging and should you use it for your WordPress website? appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

Website visitors have become impatient

With the rise of modernity, many people have become increasingly disillusioned with the concept of having patience. Especially younger people who are used to society providing speedy and efficient solutions to their needs and wants. However, it is not limited to them because of the dynamic lives we live and the needs of their business projects. Time has also become a scarce resource and valuable commodity. Users are already living busy lives, so convoluted and hard-to-navigate websites are more likely to leave them with a bad impression and scare them off.

Always try to streamline every part of your website so that your visitors don’t have to feel impatient while reading your content or making use of your website’s function. This will truly help you improve the user experience because beating around the bush is honestly going to increase your bounce rate!

The Internet Generation

Those born after the 1980s to the late 1990s, known as Millennials, and those born after the 2000s known as Generation Z are what compromise the majority of the “Internet Generation”. These youngsters are known for being there during and after the rise of the internet. As such, the internet and information technology are integral parts of their day-to-day lives. As they are beginning to grow up and join the market, they will be attracted by sleeker and more modern approaches. Traditional website building will not cut it anymore. Making sure to cater to the Internet Generation will only serve you in the long term!

Some good ideas to do just that is to feature videos and infographics because those are rising in popularity and use. And the best way to attract the attention of the Internet Generation is with consistent social media marketing. So it’s important to really look into that sooner or later.

Modern website visitors process information differently

And now we are building off what we began talking about earlier. These days it is rare for a website visitor to read every single line written on a page. It is even rarer for these visitors to read your content attentively. The longer, repetitive, and continuous the content on your website is, the higher chance it will just end up being ignored. This will impact your website bounce rate negatively. You really don’t want that!

Visitors these days, especially those who are part of the Internet Generation, are more likely to scan for essential information in simple words. This is why sub-headings play a more important role in content than most people think. Our advice is to have short and informative paragraphs. With proper spacing in-between to make it easier to read!

Shopping behavior has changed

Website visitors of today are on average more technical-savvy than before. These potential customers and service users are more likely to be concerned with speed, efficiency, and availability of features (as well as pricing) rather than with accessibility. Although, you should always aim to be improving your ease of use regardless of that fact. What is most important to consider is providing a secure platform and various payment methods, as well as user contingencies and quality of life improvements.

Depending on the kind of service that you offer that could be something as simple as offering payment plans or allowing the shopping cart to save the products that the website visitor has added even if they leave the site. Some examples of advanced features are integrating the possibility for leaving reviews directly on your website, creating customer accounts, and among others!

Mobile devices dominate as platforms for browsing

We don’t have to look far to confirm that one of the most popular trends in recent human development is mobile technology. Almost everyone, and their grandparents, are now using phones with greater efficiency than before. These devices have become more and more advanced over the years. They have turned into miniature computers that can fit in your pocket. Many of these mobile users are also browsing the internet on their devices. Whether it be on the way to work or simply relaxing somewhere outside, the statistics are clear about this.

So what does this mean for you? It means that a great hurdle to your growing business is being able to provide a mobile-friendly version of your website. If you provide content then the content must scale and be readable. And if you are providing services, they must function properly and without interruptions or mistakes.

Conclusion

We hope that you have found our research and analysis into how website visitors are changing. If you are wondering if we apply similar principles with our own business then the answer would be a resounding yes. This is all current data that serves as a guide and framework for innovation and business plans to be built around. Don’t miss out or alienate all the younger audiences because they will soon become the bulk of visitors and customers that you will be dealing with in the end.

If you have any questions, suggestions or concerns feel free to reach back to us at any time. HostArmada remains ready to be deployed 24/7!

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