What is URL Masking?

URL masking, also known as domain masking or URL cloaking, is a technique that displays one URL in the browser’s address bar while loading content from a different URL. This is often used for branding, domain forwarding, and affiliate marketing. However, domain masking comes with advantages and risks that website owners should carefully consider.

URL cloaking can be implemented in several ways, depending on the use case and technical setup. The core idea is to hide the actual destination URL from users while displaying an alternate, often more user-friendly, URL in the browser’s address bar.

The most common masking methods include:

1. Domain Forwarding with Masking: When a domain is forwarded to another URL but the original domain remains visible in the address bar.
2. HTML iframe Embedding: A webpage is embedded inside an iframe to display content from another URL while keeping the address bar unchanged.
3. Server-Side Masking: Using .htaccess, JavaScript, or other server-side methods to manipulate the URL structure.

URL masking can be an important tool for privacy and security, but there are also some potential downsides to consider. Developers mask URLs to obscure the true destination of a link.

Cloaking or masking is related to URL redirection and forwarding. However, the use cases are typically different. Masking if often used to keep a consistent brand, while 301 and 302 URL redirects signify that specific content has moved or been removed from your website.

What Are the Benefits of URL and Domain Masking?

While URL masking has its drawbacks, it also offers several advantages for businesses and individuals looking to improve branding and user experience. Below are some of the key benefits of using URL or domain masking:

• Enhanced Branding: Masking allows businesses to present a clean and professional-looking URL instead of a long or complex one. This helps maintain brand consistency and improves user trust.
• Improved User Experience: Shorter and more recognizable URLs make navigation easier for users. Instead of seeing a confusing or unfamiliar URL, users can interact with a branded, easy-to-remember link.
• Better Click-Through Rates (CTR): Masked URLs often lead to better engagement and click-through rates because they appear more trustworthy compared to long, messy, or affiliate URLs.
• Seamless Domain Forwarding: Businesses that use multiple domains can forward them to a single website while maintaining the original domain name in the address bar, providing a seamless experience for visitors.
• Affiliate Link Protection: Affiliate marketers use URL masking to protect their commission-earning links from being altered or bypassed. Masking also prevents users from directly modifying referral URLs.
• Easier A/B Testing & Marketing Campaigns: By using masked URLs, businesses can track marketing campaign performance without revealing long URLs with tracking parameters, making it easier to analyze and optimize campaigns.

What Are the Risks of URL Masking?

While URL masking can offer benefits in specific cases, it also comes with several drawbacks and risks that website owners should be aware of. Understanding these potential issues can help you make an informed decision about whether or not to implement masking. Below are some of the most significant concerns associated with this practice.

• SEO Issues: Search engines may penalize masked URLs, as they can be seen as deceptive or duplicate content. If search engines cannot properly index your content, it may harm your rankings.
• Security Risks: URL masking is often exploited by scammers and phishing attackers to disguise malicious websites. Some browsers and security software flag masked URLs as suspicious.
• User Trust Issues: If visitors expect to be on one domain but realize they’re viewing another’s content, it can cause distrust or confusion.
• Functionality Limitations: Some web applications, such as login forms and payment gateways, may not function properly when masked through an iframe.

Before implementing masking, consider alternative approaches such as redirects, branded short URLs, or subdomains. If you choose to use masking, do so transparently and test thoroughly to ensure a positive user experience.

Best Practices for URL Masking

If you decide to use URL or domain masking, follow these best practices:

• Use it transparently – Inform users why masking is in place to maintain trust.
• Ensure it doesn’t violate search engine guidelines – Avoid deceptive practices that could lead to penalties.
• Test for broken functionality – Make sure all site features work correctly under masking.
• Use alternative methods where possible – Consider using proper redirects (301, 302) instead of masking for a better SEO-friendly approach.

Common Use Cases for URL or Domain Masking

URL masking serves various purposes, depending on the needs of businesses and individuals. From enhancing branding to securing affiliate links, masking URLs can provide significant advantages. Below are some of the most common scenarios where it is applied.

1. Branding and Aesthetic Appeal

Long, complex URLs (such as those with query parameters or tracking codes) can be replaced with cleaner, branded URLs to enhance user experience. For example, instead of affiliatesite.com/?ref=12345, users see yourwebsite.com/special-offer/.

2. Domain Forwarding Without Changing URLs

Some businesses forward a domain to another location while keeping the original domain in the browser’s address bar. In this example, yourwebsite.com redirects to yourwebsite.someotherdomainname.com but visitors still see yourwebsite.com in the address bar of their web browser.

3. Affiliate Marketing and Link Tracking

Affiliate marketers often mask referral URLs to prevent commission theft and improve click-through rates. In this case, yourwebsite.com/discounts redirects to merchant.com?ref=affiliate123 but visitors still see yourwebsite.com/discounts in the address bar of their browser.

4. Framing Third-Party Content

Some companies use URL masking to embed external content on their domain without revealing the original source. In this example, a SaaS company embedding an external dashboard on their domain using an iframe.

5. Consistent URL Structure

Businesses migrating to a new domain may temporarily use masking to ensure a seamless transition without breaking bookmarks or backlinks.

Frequently Asked Questions About URL Masking

Understanding URL cloaking or masking can raise several questions, especially regarding its implementation, benefits, and risks. Below are some of the most commonly asked questions to help clarify key aspects of this technique.

Is URL masking bad for SEO?

Yes, in most cases. Search engines may penalize sites using masking because it can be misleading and affect content indexing.

How do I set up URL masking?

You can use:

• HTML iframes (<iframe src="https://targetsite.com"></iframe>)
• cPanel domain forwarding with masking
• .htaccess rules (mod_rewrite or mod_proxy)

When should I avoid URL masking?

Avoid it when SEO is a priority, when security is a concern, or when functionality issues arise (e.g., payment portals, login pages).

Is there a better alternative to URL masking?

Yes, using 301 or 302 redirects is usually a better approach for SEO and user experience.

Can URL masking be detected?

Yes, security tools and search engines can detect masked URLs and may flag them as deceptive or harmful.

A2 Hosting supports URL masking and other methods of redirecting pages and displaying content on more user-friendly domains. Get 99.9% reliable web hosting today. Compare our hosting plans, all backed by our no-risk money back guarantee and our 24/7/365 global customer support.

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In short, when you utilize free AI tools for web development, you’re taking steps to make your website the best it can be. Read on to discover more about this cutting-edge technology. Plus, get the inside scoop on ten of the best AI tools for web development.

The Popularity of AI Tools in Web Design

According to a 2024 McKinsey Global Survey, “…65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago.” The survey goes on to reveal that, “Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year, with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.”

Furthermore, the survey found that the use of AI tools is especially common in the marketing and sales fields. However, this new technology has made its way into other industries, including product and service development, service operations, IT, software engineering, and others. With all of the AI innovations popping up, there seems to be no limit to what these tools can do in the realm of web development.

Counting Down the Ten Best AI Tools for Web Development

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how websites are designed, optimized, and maintained. From generating compelling content to enhancing site performance and creating visually stunning images, AI tools have become essential for developers and website owners alike. But with so many options available, finding the best tools for your needs can be overwhelming.

ChatGPT is undeniably an important AI tool that can do many different tasks, like writing articles, creating images, and even writing website code. While it is a tool you should use for web development, there are a number of specialized AI tools that can also make a big impact.

Below are ten AI tools that can take your web development to the next level. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Best for SEO and Content Creation: Framer – Easy to use, fast, and affordable that creates content that drives traffic and conversions
• Best for Site Optimization & Performance: TurboHub for WordPress from A2 Hosting – Ultrafast and reliable for optimizing site performance and speed
• Best for Creating Dynamic Images: TIE: Canva and DeepAI – Both create dynamic images for your site with each offering unique advantages

Now, let’s look at the top 10 AI tools you should consider using and how they can help with web development.

10. Uizard

Uizard helps you to design your website by offering a collection of hundreds of templates to choose from. An AI design assistant leads you through the process of building a website. Access a tool that lets you use your phone to scan a hand-drawn sketch and transform it into a prototype.

Other highlights:

• Create a theme for your website by entering a simple text prompt
• Both free and paid plans are available

Finally, using artificial intelligence in web development can give your website an advantage over competitors in your niche. Furthermore, the wide availability of these tools makes it easy to find the ones that will benefit your website the most. So, dive in and start using AI to bring your vision for your website to life!

9. Framer

Framer has one plan that is free of cost for AI for web development as well as a selection of paid plans offering additional features. One of its AI tools rewrites content to make it sharper and more appealing for your site. It also helps you establish the tone and style you prefer for your content.

Other highlights:

• Generates new pages for your site
• Translates your content to different languages
• Offers tools that are easy to use

8. Wix

Wix has several AI tools for web design. For example, it has a catalog of more than 500 templates you can customize for your site. It is easy to use and allows you to preview your website on a variety of devices.

Other highlights:

• SEO tools are built into the design process
• Its AI writing tool assists with your text or creates fresh content
• Offers a selection of price plans tailored to your needs

7. JungleScout

The AI tools available on JungleScout help in the development of eCommerce websites. Its tools perform targeted keyword research as well as various marketing tasks. Take advantage of valuable information on product trends that can increase your sales. Though these AI tools are especially valuable for Amazon sellers, they are useful in developing other eCommerce websites.

Other highlights:

• Conducts searches for popular product niches
• Easy to use for both experienced and non-experienced sellers
• Offers a selection of plans for purchase

6. WordLift

WordLift uses artificial intelligence to help your website with SEO in order to increase its traffic. Also, it generates quality content in your preferred style.

Other highlights:

• Pricing plans for different types of websites
• A free trial is available allowing you to sample its features

5. DeepAI

This is an AI tool for web design that helps you create images or artwork for your website. The process involves filling out a short form with a text prompt, preferred style, and shape as well as a few other features. Many designers value it as a quick way to generate unique images.

Other highlights:

• Explore this AI tool for free
• Offers creative images tailored to your preferences
• Its image creator is easy to use

4. ContentBot

ContentBot provides automated content with writing tailored to your specific topics. This frees up time allowing you to focus on other aspects of the site while maintaining the quality of your content.

Other highlights:

• AI tools can help with SEO
• Assists with an array of content from marketing to product descriptions
• Gives you the opportunity to increase the amount of content you produce

3. Canva

Canva offers free AI tools for web development that are suitable for use in a wide range of industries. Choose from an assortment of colorful templates to find one that flows with the tone of your site. These AI tools help you edit images, change the language of your text, and even add animation to a design.

Other highlights:

• Provides safety measures that keep your designs secure
• Its user-friendly AI tools are great for beginners and experts alike
• Free and paid plans available for a selection of AI design tools

2. Grammarly

Grammarly is a well-known AI tool that corrects the grammar, spelling, and punctuation of all types of content. This convenient tool allows web developers and designers to convey clear content while avoiding mistakes that could distract from their message.

Other highlights:

• Corrects large blocks of content with one click
• Monitors for plagiarism

1. TurboHub

A2 Hosting’s TurboHub features a versatile, easy-to-use control panel that streamlines multiple tasks. With a single click, AI tools can conduct a thorough analysis of your website to optimize its performance.

Other highlights:

• Monitors the health and security of your website and efficiently resolves issues
• Makes onboarding your customers fast and convenient
• Offers high-speed hosting with a money back guarantee

Why Use AI Tools for Web Development?

AI tools are transforming web development by saving time, reducing costs, and enhancing user experiences. Here’s why integrating AI into your workflow is a game-changer:

1. Speed and Efficiency – AI tools automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks like coding, debugging, and content creation, allowing developers to focus on complex, creative challenges. This accelerates project timelines and increases productivity.
2. Enhanced User Experience – AI-driven insights enable developers to optimize websites for performance, personalization, and accessibility. From adaptive designs to predictive user interactions, AI ensures sites meet and exceed user expectations.
3. Cost-Effective Solutions – AI tools eliminate the need for extensive manual effort, reducing labor costs while delivering high-quality results. They also help optimize resources, ensuring maximum ROI for businesses.
4. Improved Accuracy and Quality – AI minimizes human error by automatically identifying and correcting issues, from broken links to inefficient code. It also provides data-driven recommendations to improve site performance and design.
5. Access to Cutting-Edge Technology – AI tools leverage advanced technologies like machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics. This allows developers to create smarter, more dynamic websites that adapt to user behavior.
6. Scalability – AI tools make it easier to manage and scale projects, whether it’s generating large amounts of content, analyzing vast datasets, or optimizing multiple sites at once.
7. Competitive Advantage – Using AI tools keeps you ahead of the competition by enabling faster development cycles, smarter decision-making, and superior user experiences that drive conversions and customer satisfaction.

Incorporating AI into your web development process is no longer just an option; it’s a necessity for staying relevant in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

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What Is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting, or regular web hosting, is one of the most popular and affordable types of hosting. At its core, a shared web hosting allows you to rent space on a web server shared by multiple websites.

This means you share resources like processor power and memory with other sites on the same physical server. Since several sites are on the same server, this is a cost-effective option for small business websites, personal sites, and blogs.

Shared hosting can start at around $15 per month, depending on the provider and resources offered. With seasonal incentives, you can often get started for as low as $1.95 per month.

Pros of Shared Hosting:

1. Affordability: Shared hosting is the most budget-friendly option, making it perfect for personal websites, small businesses, or beginners.
2. Ease of Use: Most shared plans come with user-friendly control panels that allow easy management of your website, databases, and email accounts.
3. One-Click Installations: Shared hosting often includes easy installations of popular platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and more.

Cons of Shared Hosting:

1. Limited Resources: Since you’re sharing a server with many other websites, high traffic or resource usage by one site can affect the performance of all websites on the server.
2. Basic Security: Shared hosting usually comes with standard security features, but you’re still vulnerable to security breaches affecting other sites on the server.
3. Lack of Customization: Shared hosting typically limits customization options for advanced users looking to optimize their server configurations.

Despite these limitations, most quality hosting providers take steps to minimize their impact and provide you with the best performance, reliability, and security.

They will often balance their shared web hosting servers to prevent traffic spikes from causing a slowdown on multiple sites. They also take security precautions to prevent data breaches and other cyber threats.

What is WordPress Hosting?

WordPress hosting is a type of shared hosting that is specifically optimized for the performance, security, and management of WordPress websites.

While WordPress can run on any standard web hosting service, WordPress-specific hosting offers features and optimizations that enhance the overall experience. As a result, you get better performance and faster site load times over shared plans.

As with regular shared web hosting, your provider manages the technical aspects of the server. However, you are still responsible for updating plugins and themes for your WordPress installation.

Pros of WordPress Hosting:

1. WordPress Optimization: WordPress hosting is optimized for the best WordPress performance. Features like caching, content delivery network (CDN) integration, and SSD storage for ultra-fast site loads.
2. Automated Backups and Updates: Most WordPress-specific plans include automatic core, theme, and plugin updates, and daily backups, keeping your website secure and up-to-date.
3. Enhanced Security: These plans often include advanced security features like malware scanning, firewalls, and DDoS protection, giving your site an extra layer of protection.
4. Expert Support: Plans typically come with expert WordPress support, so you can get help from professionals who specialize in WordPress.

Cons of WordPress Hosting:

1. Higher Cost: WordPress hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, as it includes advanced features and premium support.
2. Limited Flexibility: Since these plans are optimized for WordPress, they may limit the use of other CMSs or custom configurations that aren’t WordPress-specific.

A main concern about WordPress hosting is the additional cost. Basic plans tend to start between $10 and $15, with managed plans costing $20 to $30. With promotional incentives, you can often get started for as low as $1.95 a month.

Another thing to consider is that WordPress plans frequently include more than regular web hosting. Plans usually include better catching services, more storage space, or even more system resources.

Key Features of WordPress Hosting

The exact features will vary from host to host or even by plan, but most WordPress hosting plans include:

1. Optimized Performance: WordPress hosting is optimized to improve the speed and performance of your site through caching, CDNs, and faster servers. Caching stores static copies of pages for faster load times. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) distribute content globally to improve load speeds. Servers are often optimized with additional resources and features to handle WordPress’s unique demands.
2. Automatic WordPress Updates: WordPress hosting often includes automatic updates for the WordPress core or even your themes and plugins. This ensures your site stays secure and runs on the latest versions of WordPress.
3. Enhanced Security: WordPress hosting providers understand the risks associated with WordPress and implement comprehensive security measures like Firewall protections, malware scanning, and DDoS and brute force attack protection.
4. Managed Services: With many WordPress hosting solutions, particularly Managed WordPress Hosting, the host takes care of most technical aspects for you. This can include automatic site backups, monitoring, and support from WordPress experts.
5. Scalability: WordPress plans are built to handle the growth of your website. Whether you’re starting a small blog or managing an e-commerce store, WordPress hosting can scale with your site’s traffic demands and resource needs.

You should carefully review the details about WordPress hosting plans before deciding which host and plan is best for your needs.

What Are the Types of WordPress Hosting?

WordPress is a popular content management system and virtually all types of web hosting support it.

• Shared WordPress Hosting: Sometimes just called WordPress hosting, this is the most affordable option and is ideal for smaller websites or personal blogs. Like other regular shared web hosting plans, your website shares server resources with other WordPress websites. While it’s a cost-effective solution, it may not be as fast or secure as other options if your site grows or requires more resources.
• Managed WordPress Hosting: In managed WordPress hosting, the hosting provider handles all the backend tasks, such as updates, security, performance optimization, and backups. This allows you to focus solely on content creation and managing your site. Managed hosting is often the choice for high-traffic websites, e-commerce stores, or businesses that need reliable performance and security.
• VPS or Dedicated WordPress Hosting: For websites that require more power, Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Hosting options are available. These hosting types provide dedicated resources and more control over the server environment, which is ideal for developers, businesses, or high-traffic sites that require maximum performance.

If you are just starting and plan to use WordPress for your website, a basic plan will offer more than enough resources to ensure your website performs.

A managed WordPress plan is recommended for midsize websites or anyone who expects to handle a relatively large amount of content and traffic.

VPS and Dedicated host with WordPress backends are usually for medium to larger companies that need more control over their hosting environment.

Shared Web Hosting vs. WordPress Hosting: Understanding the Differences

WordPress and regular web hosting are both reliable and affordable options for anyone with limited technical skills. Aside from the cost, the main difference is performance.

Shared web hosting plans are a cost-effective solution for launching a website and getting started on the web. You can build a custom website, use a website builder, or install a content management system. But you may find that you quickly outgrow these plans.

WordPress hosting offers superior speed, security, and ease of management, but limits you to using WordPress for your website. Many plans include built-in caching, optimized PHP environments, and staging environments for testing updates before going live.

• Performance: WordPress hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress sites, offering faster load times and better overall performance. Shared hosting, may not deliver the same speed or performance as your site grows.
• Security: While both offer security features, WordPress hosting usually includes advanced protection, automatic updates, and more frequently backups. With shared hosting, updates and additional security measures are your responsibility.
• Ease of Management: WordPress hosting takes care of much of the technical work for you, including updates, backups, and optimizations. In shared hosting, you’re responsible for many of these tasks, which can be challenging for some users.
• Cost: Shared hosting is a budget-friendly option best suited for small websites or personal projects. WordPress hosting costs more, but the added features and performance can be worth the investment for more complex sites.
• Scalability: WordPress hosting typically offers better scalability, with resources that can handle growing traffic without compromising performance. Shared hosting may struggle as your website traffic increases, which could result in slower load times or downtime.

Ultimately, it comes down to your needs and budget. Look for a hosting provider that offers easy upgrades if you need better performance or more resources.

Why Choose WordPress Hosting?

WordPress hosting is ideal for users who want a high-performance and secure website without needing to handle complex technical details.

One of the key benefits of WordPress plans is the speed boost it provides. With features like built-in caching, CDN integration, and database optimization, your website will load faster, improving your Core Web Vitals, which are essential for SEO.

This type of hosting is particularly well-suited for:

• New WordPress users: WordPress hosting simplifies the process by handling updates, security, and performance optimization for you.
• Businesses and eCommerce sites: Enhanced security and performance ensure your site stays fast and secure, which is critical for online businesses.

Why Choose Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting remains a popular choice due to its low cost, making it a solid option for:

• Small websites and personal blogs: If you’re just starting and your traffic needs are low, shared hosting provides everything you need to get online affordably.
• Budget-conscious users: The affordability of shared hosting makes it accessible to anyone looking to create a website with minimal upfront costs.

However, it’s important to consider that shared hosting can offer a balance between affordability and optimization. Many shared WordPress hosting plans come with pre-configured WordPress, security enhancements, and better performance than traditional shared hosting without a significant price increase.

WordPress is the most popular CMS and a great option for any website. No matter your needs, A2 Hosting offers premium WordPress Hosting and regular Shared Web Hosting.

You can easily install WordPress on our regular Web Hosting plans or choose our optimized WordPress Hosting for better page load speeds and performance.

Our hosting plans use premium hardware and come with our 99.9% uptime commitment, no-hassle money back guarantee, and 24/7/365 Guru Crew support.

We offer a range of WordPress hosting solutions, including managed and shared options. With fast servers, WordPress-optimized environments, and expert support, A2 Hosting can help ensure your WordPress site performs at its best.

And if you need better performance, we offer Turbo Hosting for up to 40% processor speeds and 3X faster read/write speeds. Tubro plans are available for both regular web hosting and WordPress hosting.

Hero Image by Pixabay.

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With so many provider plans to choose from, every website owner needs to understand they get on a shared hosting plan before making their decision. Don’t worry, though – we’ve got you covered! In this article, we’ll explore the main features, advantages, and drawbacks of shared plans. We’ll also give you the scoop on shared hosting alternatives, so you can find the best fit for your online venture.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is a web hosting service where multiple sites share the same physical server and its resources, such as CPU, RAM, and bandwidth. The most common type of web hosting, it allows individual users to start and maintain a website without the cost of paying for the upkeep of a full server.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Shared Web Hosting?

There are several benefits that make shared hosting an excellent choice for many websites. No hosting plan is 100% perfect of course. Here are the pros and cons to consider when looking at shared web hosting.

Pro: Cost-Effective

Shared hosting is one of the most cost-effective hosting options. Multiple websites share resources on the same server, making it much cheaper than dedicated or VPS hosting. It’s a cost-effective option for anyone just starting out.

Pro: Easy to Use

A further advantage of shared hosting is its user-friendliness. Many shared hosting providers offer intuitive control panels like cPanel, which make it easy to manage your website files and databases.

These control panels offer one-click installations for popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. This allows you to launch your website quickly and easily, even if you have limited technical knowledge.

Pro: Maintenance and Management

When you opt for shared hosting, you benefit from your provider’s expertise in server maintenance, security updates, and technical support.

It is your hosting provider’s responsibility to monitor for security threats, update software, and address technical issues. This allows you to focus on creating content, growing your business, and engaging with your audience, without worrying about the technical aspects.

Con: Less Control and Flexibility

One of the main drawbacks of shared hosting is the limited control and flexibility you have over server configurations and customizations.

The shared nature of the server can make performance optimization challenging and may prevent you from installing custom applications required for your website.

You still have complete control over your website, but you cannot make specific changes, like the specific version of PHP the server uses. This usually isn’t an issue for those just starting, but it can be a limitation as you grow.

Con: Limited Resources

With shared hosting, you’ll be sharing the same system resources like RAM and CPU with other websites on the same server.

Those resources are divided between users, so your website may load slower during high-traffic periods. Slow loading times can negatively affect your visitor’s experience and even your SEO rankings.

Hosting companies typically balance their shared servers by putting several low-traffic websites and only one or two moderate-traffic websites on the same system.

This usually prevents slowdowns due to traffic spikes, but the limited resources can still impact your page load speeds.

Con: Security Risks

Although rare, there is still an increased risk of malware and virus infections. Since your website shares the same server with others, a security breach in one site could potentially compromise the security of all websites, including yours.

Hosting providers have comprehensive security measures in place to limit these security risks. But it is something you should consider, especially if you collect personal information or store sensitive data on your website.

What to Look for When Choosing a Shared Hosting Plan

When shopping around for a hosting company, you should evaluate the following options before deciding.

Uptime

Uptime is the amount of time the server – and your website – are accessible on the Internet. Conversely, downtown is the time your website is not accessible from the Internet

Low or inconsistent uptime can negatively impact your website. Not only will your visitors have a hard time loading your site, but frequent stretches of downtime can cause your site to appear lower in search results.

A standard benchmark for most hosting providers is 99.9% uptime. Putting that in simple terms,  your website might not be available for roughly 45 minutes over the course of an entire month.

But even that much downtime is unlikely and it’s even more rare that that you would see even a few minutes of consecutive downtime. In most cases, the actual amount of downtime is almost unnoticeable.

However, you should always look for an uptime guarantee. It’s a trust signal that your host is committed to providing consistent, reliable service.

A2 Hosting offers a 99.9% uptime commitment to ensure your website is always accessible.

Customer Support

Customer support can significantly impact your overall hosting experience, especially when issues arise.

Obviously, your website not loading is a significant issue and most support teams can address and resolve those issues quickly.

But it’s more likely that you will have issues where your website loads, but not exactly how you want it to.

This is where a knowledgeable support team is important. They can help solve your problem so your website looks great and works for your visitors.

Look for a host that has great reviews specifically about their support team. They should also have a comprehensive knowledge base so you can troubleshoot minor issues on your own.

Our in-house Guru Crew customer support team are available 24/7/365 by phone, chat, ticketing system, and email to help resolve any issue. Plus, we have a robust knowledgebase with tips and how-tos on almost any topic.

Scalability

Scalability is key for allowing your website to adapt to changes in traffic or resource needs. A scalable hosting plan lets you grow without interruptions or complicated migrations.

Whether you need more system resources for better site performance or want to launch more websites, look for a host that allows you to easily upgrade your plan.

A2 Hosting offers several Web Hosting plans that allow you to balance your needs with the cost. If you need better performance, we have Turbo Hosting plans that are up to 20X faster.

For more control over your hosting environment, we also offer Virtual Private Server (VPS) and Dedicated Server plans.

You can quickly and easily upgrade your service anytime with virtually no downtime or interruptions in service.

Performance and Speed

When choosing a shared hosting plan, consider the hosting infrastructure, including server hardware, and whether they use SSD storage and caching tehcnology.

Factors greatly impact your site’s speed and performance and visitors are more likely to leave your site if the pages load too slowly.

Speed also affects SEO, as the average loading time for a first-page result on Google is 1.65 seconds—much faster than the overall average of 2.5 seconds.

A2 Hosting uses premium hardware like ultra-fast CPUs and SSD storage and includes LiteSpeed Web Servers with all hosting plans.

Choose a hosting provider like A2 Hosting, which offers fast and reliable services, including NVMe SSD storage and caching systems. NVMe SSDs are significantly faster than traditional SATA SSDs, using the PCIe interface for more bandwidth and lower latency. This translates into superior performance for your website.

Storage

Sometimes still called disk space, storage is another important thing to consider when choosing a web host. You want to look at the amount of space included as well as the type of storage.

Between 5 and 10 GB is usually plenty of storage space for even the most robust website or WordPress blog. You really only need unlimited storage if you are hosting extremely large files or have a huge database of information.

Perhaps more important than the amount, you also need to check what type of storage the host uses. Spinning disk-based hard drives (HDDs) are becoming obsolete in hosting because they are much slower than modern alternatives.

SSDs, or solid-state drives, offer faster read/write speeds, which means your website loads faster than traditional HDDs. If speed really matters, look for ultra-fast NVMe storage, that offers up to 3X faster read/write speeds.

Our Web Hosting plans start with 10 GB of storage, with many unlimited plans available. We use SSD storage for all files, databases, and software on our basic hosting tier. Our Turbo Hosting plans use NVMe storage for significantly fast page load speeds.

Transfer Limit and LVEs

Another thing to consider when choosing a host are transfer limits and LVEs.

Sometimes called bandwidth, the transfer limit is the maximum amount of data your website can use each month. While limits were common years ago, most hosts now offer unlimited transfers.

LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) allows services to isolate resources in shared web hosting. Not all hosts list their LVEs, so it’s important to read the specifications carefully.

A2 Hosting includes specs on our servers and our LVE limits in our web hosting comparisons for full transparency.

Security Features

Security should be a priority when picking a shared hosting plan. Look for features like malware scanning, DDoS protection, and firewalls. Not all hosting companies offer the same level of protection.

SSL certificates are another security feature to consider. Most hosts offer free Domain Verification certificates, but you may need to upgrade to another type of SSL for better protection and trust with your site visitors.

A2 Hosting provides comprehensive security protection and a free Domain Verification SSL certificate. If you need additional encryption, we offer all levels of SSLs as add-ons for all hosting plans.

Email Hosting

If you need email accounts for your website, check what the hosting plan includes.

Some plans include a fixed number of email addresses, while others include unlimited accounts.

Also look for specifics about features like webmail access, spam filters, and email forwarders.

A2 Hosting’s shared plans come with unlimited email accounts, allowing you to create as many addresses as you need for personal or business use.

You can log in to your accounts through webmail or use standard IMAP or POP3 to sync messages with popular email programs.

Value

Many hosting providers focus on the price of their plans, but you should consider the value of the features offered.

Consider how much you will pay for the resources, performance, and support you get. You should also take into account promotional pricing and renewal costs.

A2 Hosting offers a premium hosting experience at a highly competitive price point. All of our plans are built for speed, performance, and reliability.

How to Know When to Upgrade Your Hosting Plan

As your website grows and evolves, there may come a point when your shared hosting plan can no longer meet its demands. Here are some indicators that it might be time to consider an upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting:

• Resource demands: The first sign it’s time to upgrade is you run out of resources. If your site regularly loads slowly, you need more system resources like CPU and RAM. Higher-tier plans offer dedicated resources that will significantly boost performance.
• Security concerns: If security is a primary concern, upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can offer better isolation and control over security measures. With dedicated resources, you can implement advanced security protocols and have greater control over software updates and patches.
• Customization needs: If you need specific software configurations or administrative control, shared hosting can be too restrictive. VPS or dedicated hosting provides greater flexibility to install custom software, modify server settings, and tailor the environment to your unique requirements.
• High traffic: Shared plans are designed to handle a lot of traffic, but there may come a time when you have too many visitors. High traffic can create a poor user experience. Upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can provide the necessary resources and performance to handle increased traffic.
• Business growth: As your business grows, your website may outgrow the limitations of shared hosting. Upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can accommodate increased traffic and resource needs, and ensure your website can continue to scale and support your business’s growth.

Should you find yourself outgrowing your shared hosting plan, A2 Hosting offers expert migration assistance to help you transition to a VPS or dedicated hosting plan that better suits your needs.

If you are ready to get started with premium web hosting, A2 Hosting has affordable plans to fit your needs.

Explore our Shared Web Hosting plans now, starting as low as $1.95 per month with current incentives.

All our plans include premium hardware and enough resources to launch a successful website. If you need better performance, consider our Turbo Hosting options, with up to 40%faster CPUs and ultra-fast NVMe storage.

If you are not sure that shared web hosting is right for you, we also offer VPS and Dedicated Hosting at competitive prices.

The post What Are the Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

So, how much does it cost to keep a website running? Well, at the very least, you have the cost of website hosting and domain name renewals. But unless you are doing all the updates yourself, you need to account for regular website maintenance costs.

When you think of website maintenance, you are probably thinking of updating plugins and software. But it also includes renewing domain names and SSL certificates and even creating more content to help your business grow. Here is everything you need to know about website maintenance costs and how much it could cost to keep your website running.

Does It Cost to Keep a Website Running?

With rare exceptions, every website has a monthly upkeep cost. Exactly how much does it cost to keep your website running? Well, it really depends on the type of website you have.

Website maintenance costs for basic brochure websites are extremely low. You basically have the cost of your website hosting and your domain name renewal. The total cost could easily range from $65 to $120 per year, depending on your needs. That’s roughly $5 to $10 a month.

But that doesn’t take into account the cost of premium plugins, eCommerce systems, email hosting, search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, content creation, and so much more. Not to mention regular website maintenance tasks like updating software and plugins.

The more tools, features, and support you need, the greater the cost of keeping your website running. As a small business, you might need to budget between $25 and $100 per month. Medium and larger businesses might cost upwards of $1,500 to $5,000 per month or more.

And a note about those rare exceptions. Yes, there are so-called free website options out there, but they usually come with significant limitations. They might work if you are setting up a personal site to share limited information with friends and family. However, they are not a reliable option for businesses.

What Is a Reasonable Budget for a Website?

There are a variety of different costs associated with keeping your website running. From hosting and domain renewals to site maintenance, plugins, themes, and content, you can spend anywhere from less than $15 a month for a personal or hobby website to well over $1,000 for an enterprise business site.

That said, most hobbiests, small businesses, and beginner eCommerce sites can expect to spend between $25 to $100 a month. Medium to large businesses can spend upwards of $500 a month and major eCommerce sites and large businesses will spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 or more.

But before you start worrying about your website budget, it’s important to review all the potential costs and determine which apply in your circumstances.

We have a detailed list of potential maintenance and recurring costs associated with websites below. They explain what the service includes, why it’s important, and what you can expect to pay for them.

Website Maintenance Costs to Include in Your Budget

To estimate the cost of upkeep on your website, you need to look at all the factors and evaluate your needs. Here are the most common ongoing website maintenance costs you may need to pay for:

Domain Name Renewal

The domain name is the URL or address that directs visitors to your website. The cost of a domain name ranges from $12 to $75 for the first year because of sales incentives. However, you can expect to pay between 50% and 80% more each year afterward.

The total cost also depends on the top-level domain (TLD) you choose. This is the domain extension after your unique name, for example, .com, .net, .io, or .shop. Certain TLDs are more expensive than others.

Domain name registration is one website maintenance cost you need to include in your budget. You don’t have a website without a domain name, so there is no getting around the cost.

While most website maintenance fees are monthly, you usually pay for domain names yearly. You can expect to pay anywhere from $20 to $250 a year for your domain registration renewal. The exact price depends on your TLD, the term of the renewal, and other add-ons like domain privacy.

Web Hosting

Like domain renewals, website hosting is another inescapable maintenance cost. While yearly rates are available, monthly hosting charges are more common.

The exact cost depends on your needs. Shared web hosting usually costs between $5 and $25 per month, while virtual private servers (VPS) and dedicated hosting start around $50 and go up from there.

Hosting costs include storage space for your website along with various tools and systems to easily build, maintain, and update your website. Plans vary by hosting company, so check what is included in your package.

The average maintenance cost for web hosting ranges from $5 a month for a basic plan to over $500 per month for a high-powered dedicated server plan.

Website Updates and Maintenace

Another cost factor to consider is regular website updates and maintenance. Even if don’t need to update any of the information on your website, you might still need site backups or updates.

Thankfully, updating your CMS, plugins, or theme is usually relatively easy for basic web hosting packages. However, some systems are more complex. If you are on unmanaged VSP or dedicated hosting plans, you are responsible for maintaining your own web server. And that can take some specialized skills.

Developers may charge flat fees or low hourly rates for basic hosting maintenance but expect to pay higher hourly rates for detailed server maintenance. Assuming you do yearly maintenance, costs can range from $50 or $100 to well into the thousands.

More frequent maintenance might be more affordable upfront, but you will ultimately pay more overtime. That said, some services may offer discounted rates or incentives to sign up for regular system maintenance packages.

SSL Certificate

Although not required, an SSL certificate is strongly recommended for both security and to improve your ranking in search engines. A secure sockets layer, SSL for short, is a digital security certificate that encrypts data transferred between your visitors and the web server.

Many hosting companies include basic Domain Validated (DV) SSL certificates with their hosting plans. However, this provides the lowest level of trust for your visitors.

Higher-level SSLs can increase trust with your customers, but they come with monthly or yearly maintenance fees. And, like domains, you have to renew them every year.

Depending on the type of SSL certificate you need, the average yearly maintenance cost is between $50 and $2,500 or more.

Content Management System or Website Builder

Content management systems (CMSs) and website builders are tools that make designing and updating a website easy. While they are very similar, CMSs usually offer more robust features and customizations than website builders.

Most hosting plans include a free website builder, and nearly all of the main CMSs, including the extremely popular WordPress CMS, are available for free. That said, some tools do cost extra.

Specialty and eCommerce CMSs, premium add-ons and packages, and certain tools have recurring monthly maintenance costs that increase the overall cost of your website.

Depending on your needs, basic tools start at a few dollars per month. However, enterprise solutions typically cost tens of thousands of dollars to set up and may include recurring monthly fees.

Plug-ins, Themes, and Extensions

The biggest benefit of using a CMS is that they are extremely customizable. Plug-ins, themes, and extensions make doing so many things easier- usually with very little technical know-how.

From image optimization to custom social widgets, there is usually a tool for everything. While some of them are free, the most helpful ones have a yearly cost or a monthly subscription fee.

Strictly speaking, you do not need any of these tools, but they can offer significant advantages. Costs vary widely from developer to developer.

You can expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $100 or more per premium tool, so weigh their pros and cons before purchasing.

Email Hosting

Some website hosting plans include a few custom email addresses and a simple email tool for sending and receiving email messages. However, these are extremely basic accounts and tools that lack the features most businesses need.

Email hosting plans offer the tools, flexibility, and mailbox space that most organizations and businesses need. They offer the resources and credibility you need to stand out.

Depending on your needs, monthly email hosting costs range from as low as $3 per month. The cost of larger enterprise plans is usually based on the total number of users.

eCommerce Transaction Fees

If you are selling items on your website, you need to account for your eCommerce transaction fees in addition to the cost of hosting. These fees are usually based on a percentage of the sale plus a fixed transition cost.

It’s also important to note that these transaction fees are separate from the cost of eCommerce hosting. With eCommerce hosting, you are paying for specific website tools that allow you to operate your web storefront. These fees are for each individual sale.

The monthly cost of website maintenance for eCommerce transitions depends largely on how many items you sell. Most services charge around 5% of the item cost and a flat fee of 50¢ to $1 per transaction. While you should account for these fees when pricing your goods, be aware this can easily add hundreds or thousands to the cost of running your website every month.

Also, if you sell items on your website, you should consider an Organization Validated (OV) SSL certificate. Extended Validation (EV) certificates are recommended for larger eCommerce stores.

Content Creation and SEO

Another regular website maintenance cost you should consider is SEO strategy and content creation. To a certain extent, you might be able to create your own content for free. There are also plenty of free SEO resources available. However, not everyone has the time or skill to run an effective content marketing strategy.

Blog articles usually start at $25 to $50, while photo and video content can easily cost $50 to $100 or more. SEO and content strategy costs vary widely based on the scope of the project, the level of expertise, and other factors. However, you can easily spend $250 to $1,500 a month or more.

The total monthly website maintenance costs associated with content creation and SEO range from as low as $50 or $100 to well into the thousands.

What Website Maintenance Includes:

How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website?

So, how much does it cost to run a website? Well, it varies widely based on your needs. At the bare minimum, recurring website maintenance costs include web hosting and domain name renewals.

Other common recurring costs include SSL certificate renewals, premium plugins and themes, eCommerce transaction fees, content creation, SEO strategy, and more.

With all these different website maintenance charges to keep in mind, here are the estimated costs of running a website for some of the most common types of sites.

It’s also important to remember these are only estimates. You should research your needs, then compare prices for tools and features for the most accurate estimate.

Also, remember that you can always start with entry-level hosting plans, features, and tools, then scale up your services as you grow. And if you already have and established site, remember to review your website costs every year and adjust them to fit your needs.

Personal Websites and Blogs: Less than $15 per month

Running a personal site or blog typically costs less than $15 per month. That cost includes your monthly hosting fee and your domain name. In some cases, you may want to pay for a premium website theme or plugin, which can raise the monthly total depending on your needs.

Hobby Blogs and Special Interest Websites: $25 to $50 per month

Hobby blogs and websites for small special interest groups usually cost between $25 and $100 per month. The costs include hosting and domain name, along with one or two premium features like a website theme, specialty plugins, or an OV SSL certificate.

Small Business Informational Website: $25 to $100 per month

The cost of a simple informational, brochure-style website for a small business will usually run between $25 and $100 per month. This includes the hosting plan and domain renewal, along with an upgraded SSL certificate and a few specialty themes or plugins.

Small Business eCommerce Website: $75 to $300 per month

Small businesses with an eCommerce website can expect to pay anywhere from $75 to $300 a month or more, depending on your sales. The costs include eCommerce website hosting, domain renewal, and transaction fees at the minimum. However, you may also need premium shop themes or plugins that cost extra. Again, the total monthly operational cost depends primarily on the volume of your sales.

Small to Medium Business Website: $200 to $1,000+ per month

Running a small to medium business website costs around $200 and goes up depending on your specific needs. The basic costs are your hosting plan, domain name, email hosting, and upgraded OV SSL certificate. You are also likely to need one or two premium plugins or extensions. While you might be able to use a premium theme, you also might want to pay for a custom theme to set your business apart. Your total cost will scale as you grow, upgrading to higher-tier hosting plans, more email users, premium features, and additional website tools.

Medium to Large eCommerce Websites: $300 to $3,000+ per month

Pinning down specific operating costs gets more complex as the size of a business grows. Medium to large eCommerce businesses might only need to pay for eCommerce hosting, annual domain name and SSL renewals, transaction fees, and a few premium tools. In the same regard, you could also need custom themes, proprietary web solutions, or enterprise-level email hosting. As such, your monthly website maintenance costs could range anywhere from $300 on the low end up to $3,000 or more.

Corporate Websites: $300 to $5,000+ per month

Similar to the larger eCommerce monthly web costs, there are a lot of variables in hosting a corporate website. VPS hosting with an OV or EV SSL certificate and yearly domain renewals may cost as low as $300. However, upgrading to a managed dedicated webserver with premium plugins and tools can cost $5,000 a month or more. Your total cost depends on the services you need, so consider your options carefully.

Government, Non-Profit, or Organization Websites: $100 to $5,000+ per month

Some government, non-profit, or organization websites can cost as low as $100 per month for web hosting and domain name and SSL renewals. But more than likely, you will need at least some premium features. And depending on the size of your organization, you might need enterprise-level products and services. That can dramatically increase how much it costs to run your website. Again, review your options and choose wisely to get the tools you need at an affordable cost.

When it comes to how much it costs to run a website, getting started can be extremely overwhelming. But that is why we made scaling with our hosting plans so easy.

Whether you are just getting started with Shared Web Hosting, a specialty business that needs eCommerce Hosting, or a corporate website that needs Managed Dedicated Server Hosting, we have a plan that fits any need. Plus, you can scale your hosting services up or down as your business changes.

Plus, we make it easy to add all the services you need. Easily add Domain and SSL Certificate registration, a site builder or popular CMSs like WordPress, or email hosting to any service.

With A2 Hosting, you also get our free migration services, money back guarantee, 99.9% uptime commitment, and 24/7/365 Guru Crew support to ensure you get the maximum out of our hosting plans.

Hero Photo by Markus Spiske / Pexels

The post Understanding Website Maintenance Costs: How Much Does It Cost to Keep a Website Running? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

As a beginner, you’ll want a blog hosting platform that’s simple and user-friendly yet powerful enough to grow with you. But with so many options out there, how do you choose the perfect one?

In this article, we’ll cover the top features you need to look for in a blogging platform, compare popular options like WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix, and discuss the benefits of hosting with a dedicated provider.

Choosing the Right Blogging Platform: What to Consider

From cost and customization to control and scalability, each of these elements plays an important role in the success and growth of your blog:

Price

Balancing cost with features is crucial when selecting a blogging platform. While there are plenty of free and cheap options available, not all of them offer comprehensive tools or flexibility.

If you’re a beginner, you’ll want to prioritize your budget, but also keep in mind that you may need to upgrade as your blog grows. Look for platforms that offer scalable pricing options, so you can adjust your plan as needed without breaking the bank.

Themes and Templates

By choosing a responsive and professional-looking theme, you can make a great first impression on your readers.

Setting up your website is much easier if you have access to pre-built themes and templates. Instead of starting from scratch, you just need to choose a theme that fits your niche and customize it to match your branding. Platforms that offer a wide range of customization options, including the ability to change colors, fonts, and layouts, will be your best bet.

When your blog grows, you may need to add new pages or sections. Being able to reuse templates simplifies this process, allowing you to maintain a consistent look and feel across your site.

Content Editor

The content editor is where you’ll spend most of your time creating and formatting your blog posts, so choose a platform with a reliable editing system.

WordPress is a popular choice for its user-friendly editor that’s perfect for beginners and experienced bloggers. With a wide range of formatting options and customization features, WordPress makes it easy to create engaging and visually appealing content.

Storage

When you start blogging, you’ll need plenty of storage for all your multimedia content. That’s why it’s important to choose a platform that offers scalable storage options so you can upgrade your blog’s storage capacity without having to switch to a different platform.

To ensure scalability, opt for a platform that offers Solid-State Drive (SSD) and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) storage options. These types of storage offer faster performance, which can help your blog load faster and improve the user experience.

Security Features

To protect your content and your readers’ information from threats like data breaches and malware, you’ll need to adopt some essential security measures.

For starters, a free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is a must-have for every blogger. This certificate encrypts the data between your blog and your readers’ devices, ensuring that any sensitive information is protected.

Another essential security feature is protection against DDoS attacks, which can overwhelm your blog with bot traffic, causing it to crash or become unavailable. By having security measures in place to prevent DDoS attacks, your blog remains accessible, even during high-traffic periods.

Security features also play a crucial role in building trust with your readers. If your blog isn’t secure, it can damage your reputation and discourage readers from visiting your site.

SEO Features

Once your blog is live, you might find yourself wondering how to attract the right visitors. That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.

SEO is all about optimizing your blog to rank higher in search engine results, which can bring you more traffic. But SEO can be a bit tricky to navigate, especially for beginners.

That’s why you should choose a blogging platform that offers SEO features, such as customizable meta tags, SEO-friendly URLs, and sitemap generation. These features can help you optimize your blog for search engines and improve your visibility online.

Scalability

When you start a blog, there’s no way to tell how much it’ll grow or how much traffic it might receive. Therefore, it’s crucial to choose blog hosting platforms that prioritize scalability and can easily accommodate more traffic as you grow.

Opting for scalable hosting solutions means you’ll never have to worry about website downtime or losing visitors due to other technical issues.

Extensions and Integrations

Extensions and integrations can really take your blog to the next level, as they allow you to add new features and functionality.

One of the great things about platforms like WordPress is their vast ecosystem of plugins. These plugins cover every functionality you can imagine, from SEO and analytics to eCommerce and social media. Some useful plugins for bloggers include:

• • Rank Math: Optimize your blog for search engines, making it easier for readers to find your content.
  • Akismet: Protect your blog from spam comments, ensuring a clean and user-friendly experience for your readers.

• • Jetpack: Optimize site speed, bolster security, and enhance your blog’s functionality with features like improved search capabilities, social media sharing, and customizable content delivery.

Analytics

Analytics offer valuable insights into your audience’s behavior, giving you the power to make data-driven decisions about your content strategy.

By using analytics to track your blog’s performance, you can identify trends and patterns using real-time data, such as which types of content are most popular and which times of day your audience is most active.

Many blogging platforms, including WordPress, provide robust analytics support and integrations, allowing you to track your blog’s performance easily.

Monetization Tools

Monetizing your blog can be a great way to earn income from your content. For instance, you can display ads on your blog to earn money based on clicks or impressions, or collaborate with brands to create paid posts.

One of the most straightforward ways of monetizing your website is to set up an eCommerce store. For example, if you’re using WordPress, you’d achieve this by installing the WooCommerce plugin, which integrates with various payment gateways and other extensions.  This way, you can easily sell products and services directly from your website and set up different pricing structures, such as one-time payments and subscriptions.

Exploring the Top Blogging Platforms

To help you find the perfect platform for your blogging needs, we’ve put together a list of the best blogging platforms and highlighted their unique features.

WordPress

WordPress Homepage

WordPress is a popular platform for bloggers of all skill levels. Its extensive range of themes, plugins, and customization options cater to various blogging needs, making it a versatile choice for building a WordPress site. Additionally, the platform’s large community provides constant support and updates.

Top features: 

• Extensive Plugin Library: Enhance your blog’s functionality, security, and design with a wide range of plugins.

• SEO Tools: Boost your blog’s visibility in search engine results.

• Blogging-Specific Themes: Choose from a variety of professional-looking themes designed specifically for blogging.

• Community Support: Seek help and guidance from a large community of users whenever you need it.

• Easy Content Management: Manage your blog’s content with ease, thanks to WordPress’ user-friendly interface.

Drupal

Drupal Homepage

Drupal is the top choice for bloggers who need advanced customization. Although it may have a steeper learning curve than other platforms, developers favor Drupal for its scalability and adaptability, making it ideal for large projects and growing blogs.

Top features: 

• Advanced Content Management Capabilities: Use Drupal’s powerful tools to manage your blog’s content with ease.

• Customizable User Permissions: Collaborate with multiple authors by adjusting user permissions to suit your needs.

• Scalability for Growing Blogs: As your blog grows, Drupal manages high traffic volumes without affecting performance.

• Robust Security Features: Protect your blog with advanced security features and enjoy peace of mind.

Joomla

Joomla Homepage

Joomla strikes a balance between WordPress’s ease of use and Drupal’s complexity. It’s perfect for bloggers wanting more flexibility than what WordPress provides but without diving into Drupal’s intricacies. With its user-friendly interface and strong community support, Joomla is a reliable choice.

Top features:

• Flexible Content Management System (CMS): Easily manage your blog’s content, thanks to Joomla’s versatility.
• Built-In Blogging Features: Enjoy convenient blogging features right out of the box.
• Customizable Templates: Joomla offers thousands of high-quality templates so you can create attractive designs without touching a single line of code.
• Multilingual Support: Reach a wider audience with built-in multilingual capabilities.
• Powerful User Management Options: Manage multiple users with ease and control.

Wix

Wix Homepage

Wix is famous for its drag-and-drop simplicity, making it perfect for beginners or those who aren’t as familiar with technical aspects. It offers a variety of stunning templates and integrated features, simplifying the process of setting up a blog. However, keep in mind that its customization options are more limited compared to other platforms.

Top features:

• Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Editor: Wix’s user-friendly interface makes it a breeze to edit your blog’s layout, fonts, colors, and imagery.
• Integrated Blogging Tools: Use Wix’s built-in tools to share your content on social media and automatically notify your email subscribers when you post.
• SEO Features: Boost your blog’s visibility and reach the right people with advanced SEO tools built directly into your site.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure your blog looks great on all devices.
• Reliable Hosting Services: Wix offers advanced security monitoring, automatic setup, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Squarespace

Squarespace Homepage

Known for its beautiful designs and user-friendly interface, Squarespace is a great choice for bloggers who value aesthetics and want a polished, professional-looking website without having to worry about the technical details. However, you may find its customization options are more limited than other platforms.

Top features:

• Stunning Templates: Take your pick from a variety of customizable templates designed specifically for blogging.
• Integrated Analytics: Get insights into who’s visiting your blog and how it’s performing with built-in analytics.
• Social Sharing Features: Share your content on social media with ease.
• eCommerce Functionality: Monetize your blog by offering custom merchandise, creating subscriber-exclusive content, and selling digital services.
• 24/7 Customer Support: Get help whenever you need it with Squarespace’s reliable customer support.

Weebly

Weebly Homepage

Similar to Wix, Weebly is an easy-to-use platform that offers a drag-and-drop functionality. It’s perfect for beginners and small-scale bloggers who prioritize simplicity and ease of use over advanced features. However, it’s not as flexible or customizable as other platforms.

Top features:

• Drag-and-Drop Website Builder: Customize your blog easily by dragging elements like text, images, and videos onto your page and dropping them exactly where you want them.
• Blogging Features: Schedule posts and engage with your audience through commenting options.
• Integrated SEO Tools: Improve your blog’s visibility and reach the right people.
• Mobile-Responsive Designs: Ensure your blog looks great on all devices.
• Reliable Hosting Services: Weebly’s free, dedicated hosting infrastructure ensures that your site loads fast and gives visitors a great experience.

Ghost

Ghost Homepage

Ghost is a minimalist platform designed specifically for bloggers and publishers. Its clean interface and focus on content make it perfect for writers who want to prioritize their writing without getting distracted by complex features.

Top features:

• Markdown Support: Write without distractions using Markdown.
• Email Newsletter Features: Grow your email list with built-in newsletter tools.
• Membership and Subscription Options: Monetize your blog with membership and subscription options.
• Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) support: Improve your blog’s loading times.
• Automatic Content Backups: Keep your content safe with automatic backups.

Substack

Substack Homepage

Compared to other blogging platforms, Substack is a unique choice because it’s mainly designed for newsletter publishing. With its straightforward setup and integrated payment options, Substack is perfect for bloggers who want to monetize their content through email subscriptions. However, it doesn’t let you customize your website like other blog hosting sites.

Top features:

• Integrated Payment Processing: Easily monetize your content through subscription-based payments.
• Customizable Email Newsletter Templates: Engage your readers with professional-looking newsletters.
• Audience Engagement Analytics: Track your newsletter’s performance and audience engagement.
• Content Gating: Offer premium content to paying subscribers.
• Social Media Integration: Share your content easily on social media platforms.

Why WordPress is the Recommended Choice for Most Bloggers

While you can’t go wrong with any of the platforms we’ve covered above, WordPress is the ideal choice for most people, especially beginner bloggers. It offers the best balance of features, affordability, and user-friendliness compared to WordPress alternatives like Drupal and Joomla.

Here are a few reasons why WordPress is the best platform for beginners and experienced bloggers alike:

• Blog-Specific Themes: A blog’s design is the first thing that captures a reader’s attention, so you’ll want to ensure it looks good. WordPress offers a wide variety of customizable, high-quality themes specifically designed for blogging. You can even design your own theme by selecting patterns to create your homepage layout and pairing it with premium colors and fonts.
• Vast Plugin Ecosystem: WordPress offers thousands of free plugins to enhance your blog’s functionality and improve the user experience. From anti-spam protection to SEO optimization, there’s a plugin for almost every need. Plus, you have the option to purchase premium plugins for even more advanced features.
• Native Gutenberg Editor: WordPress’ intuitive Gutenberg block editor makes it easy to create and format your content, even if you don’t have any technical experience. You can personalize every aspect of your blog to suit your preferences.

WordPress Gutenberg Editor

The Role Your Hosting Provider Plays in Your Blogging Set-Up

While blogging platforms like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace automatically host your website, others like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla require a separate hosting solution. This means you’ll need to buy a plan from a hosting provider, which will offer allocated server space to install your preferred blog hosting platform and set up your website.

Though this might seem like an extra step, it’s actually an advantage, and it’s one of the reasons why we recommend choosing platforms like WordPress.

Hosting providers specialize in optimizing server performance, ensuring fast page loading times, reliable uptime, and robust security measures. By hosting your blogging site with a reputable provider, you can get effortless integration, automatic updates, and dedicated support, freeing you from technical hassles and allowing you to focus on creating content.

When you choose a hosting provider, you also get additional features and services tailored to bloggers, such as one-click software installation, domain registration, SSL certificates, automated backups, and advanced analytics tools. These features streamline the blogging process, enhance site functionality, and improve user experience, which contribute to the success and growth of your blog.

Another major consideration is scalability. As your blog grows, you’ll begin to receive more traffic, and your website should be able to handle it. Using a hosting provider with tiered plans ensures that bloggers can scale their resources up or down as required, ensuring that the blog can handle increased traffic without experiencing downtime or slow loading speeds.

“Hosting is a vital aspect of blogging that should not be overlooked. A reliable hosting provider can make a world of difference in terms of site speed, security, and user satisfaction.” 

– Corey Hammond, A2 Hosting

Host Your Blog with A2: Premium Hosting at Beginner-Friendly Prices

With A2 Hosting, you can bring your blog to life without worrying about the technical details.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced blogger, our shared web hosting plans are more than powerful enough to meet your needs, and they start at extremely low prices. If you’re set on using WordPress as your CMS, consider our managed WordPress hosting, which includes pre-installed WordPress and various WordPress-specific features such as the A2 Optimized plugin, which offers features such as CAPTCHA, image compression, and caching.

Take a look at some of our standout features: 

• Blazing-Fast Speed: Our Turbo Server options offer faster loading times, which are crucial for your blog’s success and SEO ranking. While new bloggers may not need a Turbo plan right away, it’s a great upgrade for sites experiencing high traffic.

• Always Reliable: We offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, so you can count on us to ensure your blog is always accessible to your readers.

• User-Friendly Dashboards: We make managing your blog a breeze. With cPanel offered on all managed plans, you can easily manage your emails, domains, and software installations. You also get a proprietary dashboard called TurboHub, which allows you to check your site health, get personalized recommendations to optimize your site, and manage plugins.
• Regular Security Updates: We offer free SSL certificates to help you build trust with your readers, and we regularly update our servers with the latest security patches to protect your blog against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

And, if anything goes wrong, our 24/7/365 in-house Guru Crew will be on hand to support you.

One of our satisfied customers, Jairo A., said, “The customer service at A2 Hosting is amazing. Whenever I have a question, I can find the answer within minutes. The experience has always been pleasant, and I can’t recall a time when my server was down or had a problem. My website has always been up and running even in the middle of an outage, something none of my other competitors can do.”

Ready to start your blogging journey? Check out A2 Hosting’s blog hosting solutions today!

Blog Hosting Platforms FAQs

Can you make money as a blogger?

Absolutely! Many bloggers earn a living through their blogs by monetizing with ads, sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, or selling their own products or services. It takes time and effort to build a successful blog, but with dedication and a clear strategy, it’s possible to make a profit.

What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

At their core, both are blogging Content Management Systems (CMS), but there are distinct differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.org is a self-hosted platform that offers more customization and flexibility, while WordPress.com is a fully-hosted platform that’s easier to get started with but has limited features. With WordPress.org, you have more control over your blog’s design, functionality, and monetization options.

Which platform is best for blogging?

The best blogging platform will depend on your specific needs and goals. WordPress is a popular choice due to its flexibility, customization options, and a large community of users and developers. Other options include Wix, Squarespace, and Ghost.

What is the best website to host a blog?

WordPress powers more than 40% of websites, so it’s a highly recommended choice. To host a WordPress blog, you’ll need to choose a hosting provider that offers reliable and secure hosting services.

With A2 Hosting, you can pick between shared web hosting and managed WordPress hosting. Managed WordPress hosting is a great choice if your site receives a lot of traffic and you prefer a hands-off approach to backend management.

Are there free blog hosting sites?

Yes, there are free blog hosting sites like Blogger, Medium, and WordPress.com. However, these platforms have limitations in terms of customization, monetization, and control over your blog’s design and functionality. A2 Hosting offers affordable hosting plans that provide more control and flexibility, as well as the ability to monetize your blog and grow your audience.

What blog platform has the most traffic?

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform and has a large community of users and developers. This means that there are more resources and plugins available to help you optimize your blog for search engines and drive traffic to your site.

A2 Hosting offers managed WordPress hosting plans that make it easy to set up and manage your self-hosted WordPress blog. Our hosting plans are also optimized for WordPress to ensure fast loading times and reliable performance.

The post Essential Features to Look for in Blogging Platforms appeared first on The A2 Posting.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building a WordPress site in three easy steps, so you can share your ideas with the world.

Step 1: Choose a Hosting Plan and Domain Name

The foundation of any successful website is a reliable hosting plan and a memorable domain name. Here’s how to get started:

Selecting a Hosting Plan:

Research Hosting Providers: There are numerous hosting providers available, each offering different plans with various features. All hosting providers are not the same so make sure to do your research to find the best fit for you. Hosting companies should be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Speed and performance
• Ability and track record to keep your site secure.
• Scalability to grow with you as needed
• Cost effective

WordPress is the most extensible and widely used platform on the web, so it’s important to choose a hosting partner for your WordPress site that knows what they’re doing. Both A2 Hosting and WordPress were established 20 years ago and from our inception, our focus has remained the same: providing our customers with the ultimate hosting experience. Renowned for our speed and reliability, we offer plans to fit various budgets and the flexibility to scale as your website grows. By choosing A2 Hosting, you ensure you have reliable and fast hosting to set your website up for success. Don’t just take our word for it– check out what other customers have said on TrustPilot and see why our customers choose us!

Choose a Plan: Hosting plans typically come in different tiers, catering to various levels of website traffic and requirements. If you’re just starting, a shared hosting plan is usually sufficient. As your website grows, you can upgrade to more robust options.

At A2 Hosting, we have plans for all different levels and budgets: from shared, to VPS, to Dedicated Servers. For super easy setup, choose Managed WordPress hosting. These plans are geared towards WordPress users and offer fast and easy setup for WordPress sites.

Register a Domain Name:

• Brainstorm Domain Names: Your domain name is your online identity – make sure to choose one that reflects your website. The best domain names are memorable and would be relevant to your website content.
• Check Domain Availability: Use a domain search tool to ensure that your desired domain name is available. If your first choice is taken, get creative with variations or consider using different domain extensions (.com, .net, .org, etc.).
• Complete the Registration: Once you’ve found an available domain name, complete the registration process.

By the end of this step, you’ll have secured a hosting plan and a unique domain name which will lay the groundwork for building your WordPress site.

Step 2: Building Your WordPress Website

Install WordPress and Create Site:

Before you start building your site you will first need to install WordPress. If you have selected a plan like our Managed WordPress hosting plan, the installation is done for you. Otherwise follow the instructions here to get started.

In addition to installing WordPress, If you want to take the hassle out of setting up a new site, all our managed plans come with a quick site launcher preinstalled. It will guide you through building and launching your site and allow you to get started in minutes! Choose the type of site you want to build, its goals, your design preferences and the pages you want to build. You can even choose from thousands of responsive WordPress templates right in the launcher.

Choosing a Theme:

Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Appearance’ tab and select ‘Themes’ Here, you can browse through a variety of free and premium themes. Make sure to choose a theme that aligns with the purpose, style, and functionality of your website. Once you’ve found the perfect theme, click the “Install” button, followed by the “Activate” button. Your website will now have a new look based on the selected theme.

Select and Install WordPress Plugins:

WordPress plugins are like apps for your website and can add extra features and functionality to your site. To explore the plugin library, navigate to “Plugins” in the dashboard and click “Add New”.  You can also use the search bar to find specific plugins you want to install and activate.

Whether you want to enhance SEO, add a contact form, or integrate social media, there’s likely a plugin for it. Here are some of our favorites:

• Forms – Ninja Forms, Gravity Forms
• SEO – RankMath, All in One
• Page Builder – BeaverBuilder, Guten, Elementor

Once you find the plugins you want to use, you will want to make sure you look over the customization settings as most plugins come with options that allow you to tailor your site and optimize performance.

Step 3: Set Your Website Up for Success!

Elevate your WordPress site with these proactive measures for a seamlessly optimized and secure website. Here are some things to look at and adjust to ensure your WordPress site is operating at its best:

• Performance: Make sure to utilize things like page caching and image optimization, as well as Minify CSS,HTML & Javascript. Optimizing your site is important and will greatly improve your site performance, create the best user experience, and will help improve your search engine rankings.
• Regular Updates: It is important to keep your WordPress core, themes, and plugins up to date. This helps secure your website if you have the latest security patches. This also ensures that you have all new features available.
• Regular Backups: Set up automatic backups of your site for peace of mind.
• Utilize TurboHub: We have created a WordPress Dashboard for our WordPress users. This makes it easier for people to make many of the optimizations above as easy as a click! It’s now offered on all shared and managed WordPress plans.

Congratulations! You now have a WordPress site!

In conclusion, opting for our managed WordPress hosting provides a seamless and efficient solution for website owners. By auto-installing WordPress, the initial setup becomes a breeze and by utilizing TurboHub, it simplifies the process of implementing crucial optimizations for your WordPress site.

Get started today with managed WordPress hosting!

By following these easy steps, you’ve successfully built a WordPress site from the ground up! As you navigate your WordPress site, experiment with different themes, plugins, and customization options to make your site truly unique. Happy WordPressing!

The post Build a WordPress Site in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Many artists have transitioned and began to find new ways to share their talents in order to stay afloat when in-person events and programs were put on pause.

Finding the right hosting plan for your website is essential when starting an e-commerce business. As more people transition to online shopping, especially during a year like 2020, selling goods and services online has become critically important to stay afloat in the modern economic climate. For the music industry, the last year has been a difficult time to connect and create due to lockdowns and limited public events. Many artists have transitioned and began to find new ways to share their talents in order to stay afloat when in-person events and programs were put on pause.

Jesse Neo, a DJ, and entrepreneur, decided to combine his musical and technological talents to create a platform where artists can connect and collaborate online in a new way. Gemtracks is a music and singing website that provides a range of song instrumentals and articles, as well as an exclusive online store that produces unique backing tracks for bands, singers, and songwriters.

Through Neo’s story, you will learn how a man with musical talent, technological skill, and a powerful dedicated server was able to shift the way musicians collaborate and create music digitally.

A Business that is Changing the Tune of Musical Collaboration

Jesse Neo has been blogging and developing web content since 2006. His vision to create Gemtracks, a music-industry marketplace best known for buying and selling instrumental backing tracks (also known as beats), began when he was in college. He wanted to create an online store so that he could sell the tracks that he was composing. When he first began his store, he was selling his music on a first-come-first-sold model and his customers would have full ownership and copyrights placed in their names.

In 2019 Neo moved to Los Angeles and, through the advice from the local talent there, realized that this e-commerce business model might be very lucrative long term. He transitioned his small business from a private store into a public marketplace for freelance musicians to sell their own songs. He also created the capability for artists to book recording studios and submit their songs to other curators that might be interested in the artist. “I am the sole founder of Gemtracks. I personally programmed, designed, and marketed Gemtracks from scratch,” said Neo. “From time to time, I take on interns and contractors, but the major bulk of the company is done with my own two hands.”

Building a Musical Digital Presence

Finding the right hosting provider for Gemtracks was critical when Neo first began to envision his company. “Everything about Gemtracks depends on the website. Without a website, Gemtracks would not exist. This is why I was very concerned about where my server was hosted.”

When he first began searching for a hosting provider, Neo had a few server requirements that he felt were essential to the eventual success of his site, including ensuring sufficient processor capacity to meet business demands, great support, uptime, and reliability. He originally learned about A2 Hosting off of a recommendation from a friend back in 2006. “I remember a friend operating a small blog telling me she paid only a few dollars a month for hosting. She gave me the name of A2 Hosting – and I have been a loyal customer ever since,” said Neo. “ I have also developed friendships with some staff at A2 Hosting; that has also contributed to my reason for staying.”

When asked about his experiences over the years dealing with A2’s support, Neo commented, “I have worked with support many times, to the point I even remember them, and I’m pretty sure they remember me too. A2’s support has always been fast, and I usually get the first reply within an hour.”

Why Dedicated Hosting Works for Gemtracks

Since Neo was a technical user who was able to anticipate rapid growth and lots of content, a dedicated server was the best solution for his burgeoning company. “Gemtracks has turned into, almost like, a service-as-a-product kind of business, where the choice of hardware and architecture that runs my server is very important,” said Neo. “The #1 requirement was to have enough CPU power. I needed to make sure that there was enough CPU and resources to handle sudden influxes of visitors. This was because, based on experience, as soon as the number of visitors went up, so did the number of searches visitors would make on my website. This strained the database, CPU, and slowed down the website.”

Neo also needed to make sure his business stayed at peak performance as he scaled and matured. “My server needed to be compatible with all the latest networking trends, such as content delivery networks, and long polling to ensure seamless delivery.” He required resources that were dedicated just to his website, so he wouldn’t have to worry about “neighbors” potentially interrupting his website’s speed or reliability. “The worst thing that could happen was the website going down during the most profitable hour.” A2 Hosting offers a 99.9% uptime commitment. This gave Neo the peace of mind he needed to start his company on one of our dedicated plans.

Lessons Learned

When reflecting on his digital and entrepreneurial journey, Neo shared advice for other small businesses starting out. He said one of the biggest lessons he learned is how important support has been since his business is based solely online. “Whenever I have issues, the support team will always investigate for me, which includes seeing which script is taking up all my resources and what I can do about it,” he said. “It’s comforting to know that the support team at A2 Hosting has the knowledge and skills, not only to solve problems but to help investigate them too.”

The post Gemtracks: Striking a Chord with the Online Music Community appeared first on The A2 Posting.

A fast and reliable website is very important for small business owners, so choosing the right plan for your business is essential for long-term success.

Managed VPS plans, powered by Virtuozzo, can be a great tool to help businesses level up their digital presence as they outgrow the resources available on shared hosting plans. With additional power, security, support, and flexibility, migrating to our Managed VPS plan is easy with the assistance of A2 Hosting’s Guru Crew support. This case study will share the story of Greg Houston, a successful architect with nearly two decades of experience whose website was beginning to experience some lag in speed with the growth of his company, GMH By Design. Read his journey about how choosing the right Managed VPS plan for Greg’s website improved his user experience for his customers.

An Architect on a Mission to Bring His Designs to Life

Greg Houston founded GMH by Design, a residential and commercial architecture practice based out of Denver, Colorado, because of his love of architecture and his passion for working with clients to help bring their visions to life. His company specializes in quality workmanship, simple design, and modern convenience. “We offer the benefits of a large firm at the cost of a small design office,” said Greg. “We work with residential and commercial clients to envision and design their space to suit their needs as we guide them through the process.”

Improving Greg’s Digital Experience

“Our website showcases the work we’ve done, who we work with, and our vision. It’s our salesperson twenty-four hours a day,” Greg shared. “It’s important because it’s the primary way we share our work with potential clients.” His website is one of the main ways his clients find his business, which makes its pictures and content important when optimizing for search engines. As his website has continued to grow over the years he noticed that the speed of his site has been on a steady decline. This led Greg to start looking into changing hosting providers to find a better plan that would improve the performance of his website. Greg shared, “The front end and the backend of our website have been slow which made it hard for our potential clients to navigate and for us to update.”

GMH by Design is currently on WordPress. Greg initially tried to combat the site speed issues with a caching plug-in as well as some other optimization plugins he found. This helped a bit, but it was not enough improvement for his company’s site long term. Because of this, he set out to find a new solution.

When searching for a new provider and plan Greg had some specific requirements he was looking for. “First is reliability, then speed. The website needs to be up for our potential customers to reach and it has to be fast, even with the large images we use on our site to showcase our work. We need to rank well and we want customers to feel the site is professionally hosted,” said Greg.

GMH by Design was looking for a new host that offered stability, speed and was affordable. As a small business owner, Houston wants to prioritize time to devote to his business rather than worrying about the stability of his site or the speed of his page load times.

Greg was initially referred to A2 Hosting by a friend that was already working with us. “I was hesitant to move providers at first because I was worried about the migration process. I eventually decided on A2 because my friend who was a current customer with A2 Hosting recommended your plans. I also read reviews and while searching I saw you had a reputation for fast servers.” He evaluated a few other shared packages with rival hosting companies, but in the end, decided on an A2 Hosting’s Managed VPS plan.

Transferring to a VPS Plan with A2 Hosting

When asked about his experience getting started with A2 Hosting, Greg commented, “It was very easy. The free migration was simple and fairly hands-off and my experiences with the support team so far have been great.”

Greg was interested in A2’s Managed VPS plans (powered by Virtuozzo) because he knew he needed more power overall to improve his website. “I would say investing in a Managed VPS over a Shared Hosting plan had several advantages that I wasn’t aware of, speed being the primary one.” Not only do VPS plans offer more resources over a shared hosting package, but they also can provide GMH by Design with more independence from noisy neighbors on the server who could affect Greg’s site’s performance when they get heavy traffic. “I wasn’t aware of how beneficial dedicated resources can be for a site,” Greg said. “With a VPS the overall function of my website on average is increased because of not sharing resources with other business sites.” VPS servers offer users their own disk space, RAM, and CPU. They come with significantly more space to store website-related files, images, and folders. This is something that will be important for Greg as he continues to work on new projects and post large images to his site.

Lessons Learned

“My best advice would be not to wait to migrate your site to a faster host, even if it seems like it will be a lot of work before you get there,” Greg shared. “I thought migration would be difficult or time-consuming but it wasn’t. If I had known, I would have moved my site much sooner.” Greg’s overall migration took less than a day with no downtime. “Since the move, my website has been faster and much easier to manage.”

The post GMH by Design: Architecting the Perfect Hosting Solution appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Website speed and security are essential in 2021, so finding the right hosting provider and plan is an important task for many small business owners

Katie Davis is an accomplished author, with over a dozen traditionally published books for children, launched two guides for writers at #1 on Amazon, a TEDx and conference speaker, writing coach, and A2 Hosting Customer. She’s the co-founder of the Picture Book Summit, and most recently the founder of The Writers’ Block, a virtual community that helps both experienced and new writers fine-tune their craft through live critiques. She’s known she wanted to be an entrepreneur since the beginning of her career.

“I’ve always wanted to be my own boss,” Katie says. “I didn’t do well working for other people. In my 20s I started my company, Dirty Dishes making hand-painted ceramics. As long as I could pay the bills, I was happy.” She started her career in advertising and marketing, later pivoting to selling hand-painted ceramics, and then moved into writing and illustrating children’s books and novels. She’s sold almost a million copies of her books by this point. Though she has many talents, her secret superpower, and where her passions currently lie, is teaching writers about writing, and coaching them past any procrastinating talents they may have.

Building Katie’s Digital Presence with A2 Hosting

Katie founded her site back in 1999 and she’s been using it to connect with her readers and other writers ever since. When asked, Katie shared, “My website is my home online.” At the beginning of her career, she was in charge of handling the front and back end of her website, but as she progressed she realized that extra help could benefit her business. She hired WPOnline Design to take charge of her site. She had been experiencing a lot of malware and DDoS attacks which were crippling her webpage. Most attacks had been targeted at her previous host so her web developer told her to make a change. Though he also offered hosting through his own company, he recommended A2 Hosting because of its good prices, stability, reliability, and faster load times. We’ve now been working in tandem to ensure Katie the best site. “WP Online Design has had a great experience working with A2’s team on multiple occasions to keep Katie’s site running as smoothly as possible,” they commented.

When selecting her hosting provider, Katie chose A2 Hosting because she said she “wanted to make sure that my site was strong enough to handle growth and able to take the weight of what I put on there.” She’s since stayed with A2 because she “values transparency and honesty in a company” and she continues to see that here. She appreciates her interactions with A2 chat and phone support. Katie said, “I’m techy, but when it comes to hosting issues – forget about it! It can be frustrating so I appreciate A2’s support staff.” She had a situation recently where her SSL certificate had issues due to misconnections with a payment system, and when she called support the issue was resolved in minutes. It’s interactions like these that have kept her with A2 Hosting for the past decade.

The Writers’ Block

Katie’s latest venture is The Writers’ Block, a virtual support community for writers. The Writers’ Block is a place for writers to take their craft to the next level through twice-monthly live critiques (only by her, not the other members) and monthly “Writers Playground” sessions, where she shares tips, give encouragement, and answers questions. Through this community, Katie is able to help fellow writers grow as she reads and annotates their manuscripts. Katie describes it as “a virtual community—a private clubhouse—offering you writing inspiration and support, publishing instruction, experts’ knowledge, marketing skills, and more. It’s a place to get encouragement to keep you going when the going hits a dead stop; it’s a welcoming front porch when you just can’t seem to continue or even get yourself started.” She runs the community through her website, holding bi-monthly workshops, guest expert interviews, and live community sessions. “My business is helping writers develop their skills. My bread and butter is teaching people what they need to know about their work and the business.” To accomplish this every day she relies on optimal performance from her site.

Configuring Her WordPress

Katie chose to migrate to a Turbo Max Shared Hosting plan when moving her WordPress site to A2. For Katie, a faster site is not a “nice to have” portion of her business, it was essential. With faster loading times she gets better SEO rankings, lower bounce rates, and higher visitor satisfaction. Turbo provides her site with up to 20x faster performance. A2’s Turbo Max servers are made faster through a combination of NVMe drives, AMD EPYC Processors, LiteSpeed Servers, and built-in caching with Memcached, turbo caching, and APC/OpCache. All of these in tandem help her site load faster for her writers each day.

As a WordPress user, Katie also has access to the A2 Optimized WordPress plugin that pre-configured her setup to optimize performance and security settings. This includes WordPress login page protection, Easy W3 Total Cache configuration, Minify HTML, CCS, and JS. It also helps with image optimization which is important due to some of the larger images of her books that she houses on her site.

In the last couple of years, Katie has begun to improve her website as she focuses more on her online business, The Writers’ Block. She’s been working on improving site appearance and adding more content. When asked what online tools and plug-ins have been most valuable, she had a few to share with fellow WordPress users. She relies on WooCommerce, Stripe, and LeadPages for her daily use. “Stripe is super easy. It lets me manage and handle all financial transactions, whether just payments or if I need to refund a member. I haven’t had a billing dispute, but everything with Stripe has been easy,” she says. “Simplifying the experience is key for small businesses. I had too many different services and it was too complex and I’ve been working to make it simpler.”

In addition to her efforts, A2 Hosting’s Turbo Shared Plans also help with the backend function of her site. Performance Plus, offering traffic spike protection, applies additional resources so that Katie’s site retains performance even during traffic surges. This is a great service if Katie publishes a popular blog post or offers a new book to her audience. A2’s free SSL certificate provides free HTTPS encryption and contributes to the security of katiedavis.com. Finally, A2’s DropSuite Backups offer offsite backups and are recommended for Katie’s peace of mind that may come from disasters or hardware.

Katie’s Advice to Other Small Businesses

Katie shared advice from her experience as a small business owner of twenty years in order to shed some light on how others can succeed long term: “When you’re a small business owner, it’s easy to work harder than when working for someone else. If you’re your own boss, you still have to tell that boss––aka YOU––when you need a day off. A silver lining of the lockdown for me was learning to de-stress about work,” Katie said. “I don’t have to work every minute of the day.” When asked about starting out she had some great advice for writers trying to make it in 2021. “Figure out who your audience is and build a mailing list. Even if you’re not yet published, it will enable you to keep in touch with your fans. It keeps your fan base connected. And if you’re thinking, ‘Yeah, but I do that on Facebook/IG/Twitter/Whatever, remember that’s just building your house on someone else’s land. Own the land.”

She also recommends taking the time to choose the right hosting provider for your needs. For Katie, A2 Hosting has been the right choice for the last ten years and counting. Between Katie, her web designer, and A2 Hosting, her small business has continued to thrive through 2021.

The post Katie Davis: For the Love of Writing appeared first on The A2 Posting.