Turbo or Non-Turbo?

One of the first questions to ask yourself: Do I need turbo? Adding Turbo to your plan gives you a series of features focused on getting the most out of the speed and performance of your server. Turbo plans come with:

•  NVMe storage: Not only do NVMes speed up your site but they’re also electricity efficient. NVMe hard drives are 3X faster than SSD drives and more than 60X faster than traditional drives.
• 1.5-2X more RAM: RAM is the memory where your website’s data is stored and accessed by the CPU so your operating system can run efficiently. This makes RAM an important part of your website’s performance.
• Turbo Caching: Our turbo caching feature stores the entire HTML output of a page. This offers significant performance benefits as the page can be pulled up without running PHP each time.

NVMe vs SSD?

First of all, here’s the difference between SSDs and NVMes:

• Solid State Drives (SSDs): are a type of nonvolatile storage media. They allow you to store persistent data on flash memory. They increase read-write performance, have high transfer speeds, and have low latency rates.
• Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe): is a software interface for SSDs. It’s essentially a layer between your device drive and your PCI Express device that allows your PCIe to attach directly to the CPU. They provide a fast way to access flash memory.

Deciding on Upgrading:

• NVMes increase read speeds by up to 3X (how fast you can open files on your device) and write speeds (how long it takes to save something to your storage device). If you are willing to invest in speeding up your website using NVMe is one of our top tips on how to get there.

Managed vs Unmanaged?

• Managed Hosting: This means A2 Hosting will help take care of the back end of your site including monitoring your hardware, network, server software, and security. This is the perfect environment if you’re coming from one of our Shared or Managed VPS plans because you will get access to cPanel and support but with the resources of a Dedicated Server. Plus they have a root access option.

• Unmanaged Hosting: This is designed for users that are comfortable managing their sites with command line. Our Unmanaged BMD servers offer root access which will give you complete control over your OS environment. They also come with your choice of OS and managed hardware and network. Unmanaged hosting plans do also require an increased level of technical knowledge to administer effectively.

Backup Options

• CDP Back-Up: Our dedicated servers come with R1Soft Continuous Data (CDP) Backup solution. This will cover your server if there are ever any hardware failures or a user error. They provide continuous backup protection for single files, databases, full sites, and servers. This works by taking snapshots of your files, websites, and MySQL databases.
• Local Backup Drive: These offer fast access with continuous backups with an abundant amount of space.

Cores or Clock Speed?

• Higher Core Count: It would be beneficial to pick the plan with more cores if you are running many applications at once. Cores give your server a better ability to multitask and run different programs at once. They are best able to handle more concurrent users, visitors, and traffic.

• Faster Clock Speed: Clock speed is how fast a server can process data. Higher clock speeds increase the number of tasks a core can run through in a specific period of time. This helps with faster individual pages. It would be beneficial to pick a plan with a higher clock speed in conjunction with higher RAM if you need to run fewer applications faster. This choice can be better for smaller sites.

Dual CPU Advantages:

Having dual CPUs means your server is able to handle more requests and operations concurrently. It also means you will have faster processing options. Both AMD and Intel produce great CPUs, so it is down to customer preference. Some would recommend that AMD is a better choice for entry-level to mid-level users while Intel’s premium chip performs better due to its speed and efficiency. Intel tends to win marginally on speed while AMD is better at overclocking. AMD has a higher core count but Intel uses hyperthreading (meaning that one CPU can do twice as much work).

CPU Cache:

This is the memory that is part of a CPU. It holds instructions and data temporarily to increase load times. This is because it collects data that your CPU is likely to reuse over and over so your server doesn’t have to load every part of a site. The larger a cache is, the faster a site runs because the processor has to wait for fewer instructions to be fetched.

The post Bare Metal Dedicated Specs and Why They’re Important appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Purchasing Decision

Choosing the right hosting provider and plan will have a major impact on your digital experience! Here are some things to consider before purchasing.

1) What’s my budget?

One of the first things to ask yourself is what kind of investment you are willing to make. If your website experiences heavy traffic with lots of information and files, investing in a BMD may be right for you. You need to consider the costs of saving money with a cheaper plan vs not having enough resources and experiencing the potential cost of downtime due to less expensive hosting plans.

2) What sort of reputation does the host have? How long have they been in business (your website/business is heavily reliant on your host)

Now that you’ve decided it’s worth the investment it’s time to start considering your hosting provider. Many people will do an industry search, look at variables like speed, security, uptime, and support. It’s important to note that reviews can also be helpful in order to see what actual customers are saying about each host.

3)What type of site do I have or am I looking to host? (eCommerce? Agency? WordPress site? Reseller?)

There’s no one-size-fits-all for hosting. The range of the best hosting plans vary depending on many different variables. If you’re confused on which level of plan is right for you check out our blog post on important resources to consider when choosing your hosting plan.

Resources

Next, pay attention to the resources each plan comes with. This will help you decide if you need a smaller plan (like Shared or VPS) or if a Bare Metal Dedicated server is the right call for you!

4) What CPU should I choose?

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit and is like the brain of your server. It helps handle requests and processes so your site stays active and available for your visitors. They handle traffic surges and high-volume script requests on larger sites. When looking at new plans take into account how heavy your traffic is and if a higher CPU is something you need to stay running quickly.

5) How many Cores do I need?

CPUs generally have two or more cores which determine processing power and how quickly they can carry any request given. Your site’s traffic volume and amount of dynamic elements can help determine how many CPU and cores you truly need. If you have a site that’s complicated and very active buying a plan with more cores may be right for you.

6) What backups are included? Should I choose local, cloud storage, or both?

Having backups included in your plan is an important part of any hosting experience. Backing up your site is essential for any business. You could accidentally lose your data at any time, so it’s important to research this information when looking at different plans. Here’s a guide from our Knowledge Base on how to backup your data on dedicated and vps servers.

7) What are my resource needs? Is my server scalable? Can I upgrade?

It’s helpful to look at all the plans of the hosting provider you’re researching. Do they grow as you grow? Are there enough upgrades and larger plans available to fit your needs later on? Some important resources to delve into are:

• Storage

Take a look at the different storage options. Are there SSD or NVMe options? How many GB does your plan include? If your website is larger you will need a larger plan.

• Bandwidth/traffic needs

Bandwidth is the rate a server can transfer data affecting how fast visitors can see information on your site. If your site gets heavy amounts of traffic it may be important to invest in a plan with more bandwidth.

• Do I want or need a control panel?

Control panels can be an important factor in how well you navigate the backend of your website. It’s good to take this helpful addition into account when you’re looking at plans.

Performance

Finally, performance is the key to your site’s success! Ask yourself these questions as you look at any prospective BMD plans.

7) Do I have the resource needs for a multi-core processor?

The number of CPU cores sets the limit on how much PHP you can run before your servers reach their maximum capacity. If you experience frequent heavy traffic you may decide you need a multi-core processor.

8) What’s the network port speed?

Port speed measures how fast different interfaces transmit and receive data. This greatly impacts your site’s speed so it is important to look into this on any plans you are researching.

9) Do I want faster individual page load speeds or to be able to handle large numbers of concurrent users? (Cores vs Clock speed)?

Do you have heavy traffic or are you looking to give a greater experience to fewer users? This affects the amount of Cores vs Clock speed you need on your plan. You would need more cores for heavier traffic and more clock speed for a better experience with fewer visitors.

10) Do I want faster page load speeds with the latest technology (NVMe)?

Speed is so important for user experience and for repeated visitors. Why not invest in the latest technology and keep your customers coming back?

Support

Finally, whether you’re just starting or a hosting expert, support is a vital part of any hosting relationship. Make sure you pick a host that cares about you and your business!

11) Will they help me migrate from my current hosting solutions?

Free migrations are one of the greatest parts about transferring over the A2 Hosting! If you are looking at more than one hosting company this is an important perk to check out. You want your website moved efficiently and effectively in order to minimize downtime.

12) What sort of support is offered?

A2 Hosting offers 24/7/365 support! We offer tickets, chats, and calling support and are always available to answer any questions. It’s important to check this for any hosting provider you’re looking at because you want someone who will be around at 3pm and 3am, just in case you have an early morning website emergency. Additionally, our extensive Knowledge Base provides helpful solutions and information on a wide range of topics.

13) Should I choose Managed or Unmanaged?

• What’s included with “Managed” Hosting?

Managed hosting is very helpful for people who don’t have time to take care of the back end of their website and want help from experts to make sure it’s running as efficiently as possible. Check out A2 Hosting’s Managed BMD details here! Ask yourself these questions to help you decide:

• Do I want to handle my own security and software configs?
• How do you keep my server safe? (Firewall, scans, best practices etc.)

This could include security measures like firewalls, scans, and best practices that users and companies should be following.

If you’re interested in learning more about our bare metal dedicated plans click here for details!

The post 13 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Bare Metal Dedicated Server appeared first on The A2 Posting.

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. 

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. 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…”

Continue reading Jesse’s story in our Gemtracks.com Case Study

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

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.”

“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….

Click on the link below to keep reading Houston’s story!

GMH by Design Case Study

The post Case Study: Architecting the Perfect Hosting Solution appeared first on The A2 Posting.

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES, May 25, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — In 2021, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to get online and improve their digital presence and they need performance and speed without the price tag. A2 Hosting has been running Small Business Month activities throughout all of May, creating business guides, highlighting small businesses around the globe through case studies, and hosting a sale with the lowest prices of the season.

“We wanted to take this month to shine a light on some of our customers and their achievements this last year,” said Bryan Muthig, CEO. “We take pride in watching our customers make such positive advancements and we’re proud to share how special they are with the world.” A2 Hosting interviewed a variety of small businesses including Pyrenees Cycling Company from France, children’s author and entrepreneur Katie Davis from Connecticut, architect firm GMH by Design from Colorado, and music producer and e-commerce wiz Gemtracks.com from Australia.

“It was amazing to see people getting on the internet and making the most of their digital presence this last year,” Muthig continued. “One of the greatest things about running a hosting company is the ability to help people find more exposure online and create new lead generation paths as their businesses grow and expand.”

To wrap up Small Business Month, A2 Hosting is offering support and affordable resources to those who need them. They announced their biggest sale of the year over the weekend discounting all hosting plans. With prices as low as $1.99 on their most popular shared hosting plans and sales prices up to 82% off, they are setting an aggressive pace moving into Memorial Day Weekend.

“Small Businesses are so important and we’re trying to do everything we can to give them the prices and plans they need to flourish,” commented Bryan Muthing, CEO. “Everything we do is with the intention to help our customers thrive online, so offering up a sale to celebrate our SMB’s was a great way for us to show our appreciation and give back to our digital community.” A2 Hosting is committed to continuing to champion small businesses worldwide.

About A2 Hosting
Recently awarded Best Cheap Dedicated Web Hosting by Digital.com, A2 Hosting, Inc. is a high-performance hosting services provider located in Ann Arbor, MI. The company delivers ultra-reliable solutions and 24/7/365 US-based support from its Guru Crew team. Since 2003, A2 Hosting has offered innovative, affordable, and developer-friendly hosting for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as web development agencies worldwide. Customers seeking the fastest hosting options in the industry can host websites of any size on A2’s Turbo Performance server platform featuring page load speeds up to 20X faster compared to competing solutions. To learn more, visit https://www.a2hosting.com.

Paris Backston
A2 Hosting
pbackston@a2hosting.com
Visit us on social media:

Facebook
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The post A2 Hosting: Web Hosting’s Small Business Champion Continues Supportive Actions with Customer Spotlights and Discounts appeared first on The A2 Posting.

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.”

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…. 

Continue reading Katie’s story in our Katie Davis Case Study

The post Case Study: For the Love of Writing appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Many businesses start out small and use blogging, social media, and creative content to grow their brand and their online presence. At the beginning, it may be easy to come up with creative ideas and content and post them as they come to you; but as your business starts to grow and you require more and more content it can become challenging to stay organized. A content calendar and well planned social strategy can be helpful when trying to market your growing business strategically.

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site and your social accounts is through consistency and organization. To ensure both of these, try using a content calendar to inform your social strategy. Many businesses use different types of calendars to organize their posts into campaigns and grow their social following. There are different templates you can find online or through applications like Loomly or Trello. We recommend online options because they give you the capability to store links to your graphics, see real time edits from team members, and connect to scheduling apps like Hootsuite.

Once you have chosen your calendar option it is important to take inventory of your resources and ask yourself some important questions before beginning to plan your content. First, identify what resources you are working with:

• What team members are available to help with content creation and planning? (graphic designers, tech writers, social media manager, SEO experts)
• What resources do you have to help you create and organize content? (apps like Penji, Powtoon, Hootsuite etc)

Now it’s time to plan some overarching goals for each platform:

• What’s the main goal you want to achieve from each platform? (things like new lead generation, brand awareness, or thought leadership)
• What’s a way to track your ROI? ( stats like the number of likes, new sales, or follower count)

Next come up with your content workflow strategy. Here is an example:

1. Brainstorm Ideas
2. Create graphics
3. Write copy
4. Edits and checks from other sources
5. Schedule your posts
6. Monitor your audience’s reactions and respond to comments
7. Check social analytics and record new trends
8. Analyze analytics and refine content strategy for next campaign

Once you have your resources accounted for, your goals set, and your content flow down, you can focus on identifying your audience and coming up with ideas for your platform. Your strategy should be a combination of your brand’s purpose, or the value you bring to your customers, and your customers’ interest, or what they care about in relation to your services.

Identifying Your Audience

You need to know your consumers’ wants, what they care about and what they need, in order to understand the content you need to deliver. You can start by doing a deep dive online. Take a look at how people interact with competitors ‘ products. Check social media and see who people are following and what is trending within your field. Look at online forums and the places your customers talk and post. By listening to people: what they say, how they say things, and why they say it, you can start to come up with a list of topics potential customers may want to hear about and where they’ll be more likely to hear it. Once you have identified some trends from your research, you can create personas that represent the different types of buyers you are working with.

For example: Maybe you’re selling web hosting online and you notice that everyone is commenting on the new WordPress Esperanza update. You listen to the feedback and you identify a few different types of users:

• Customers who are confused with the update who’s sites have broken or now have errors they can’t fix
• Customers who love the update and have already improved their sites

You can use this information and how people are discussing it to create two different types of personas and feed content to each of them.

Brainstorming Your Content

A good feed has a solid content mix. This could include blog posts, email drip campaigns, social posts, white papers etc. There are three layers of content that are important to include in any good feed.

The Top Layer

The first, most basic level has the highest amount of content with the least amount of brand value. These posts are based on your customers’ broad interests and are loosely connected to your brand. They should be aimed at people who may not be aware of who you are or what you do, but are interested in the subject you are posting about and will therefore connect with you if they see you posting about it. These posts are to get consumers attention and to lead them to look into your brand.

For example: Based on the previous approach, let’s say you’ve decided to target your less technical crowd who had questions about the latest WordPress update. They may be asking themselves things like: I keep getting these updates with no warning. I don’t understand how to work this new menu. Why are my pictures suddenly not showing up correctly?

There are three main things your top layer of content should do while addressing these problems:

• Get potential customers’ initial attention
• Have a long standing, positive impact on your brand
• Reveal how your business can help consumers with their problems

In order to accomplish this you need to know what types of media your customers are consuming, what will attract their attention, and their demographic information so you can properly target them.

Some examples of types of content that you could use to inform them are:

• Social media post and ads
• Short video content
• Influencers and endorsements
• Blogs with high SEO value
• Introductory emails

The Middle Layer

The middle of your marketing funnel is content that is speaking to customers that have just begun to consider to buy your products or services. There should be less of this content than the previous section, but each post should have a little more value. At this point you have formed some sort of previous relationship with the customers you are targeting and you are running a platform where you are able to  produce educational content for them. Now, each post you make should have some type of call to action to convince the buyer to move to the next stage of the buying process.

For example: At this phase your consumers may be thinking: I found a few different web designers and businesses to help me figure out how to optimize my WordPress off of Instagram and blogs. But maybe I can fix this myself with a google search? That guy on YouTube last week probably submitted a video that could help me too! Or I could look into hosting solutions are well to see if they can help me.

Your next layer of content needs to:

• Explain the problems your customer is having and how you can solve them
• Answer any issues your customer might have about your offered solutions
• Tell your buyers the benefits of going with your solution over someone else’s

The buyers you are targeting with this content are not ready to purchase from your company yet and they need to know you are an intelligent voice in the industry. This is your opportunity to make a good impression on potential customers and prove to them your brand value and expertise.

Some examples of types of content that fit this area are:

• An email drip campaign
• Newsletters
• Blogs that are more in-depth and less SEO based
• How to’s and content that teach your customers something
• News that is relevant to your business area

The Bottom Layer

Finally, the bottom of your marketing funnel is your chance to convince your customers to buy from you. This is where you use your most valuable brand content. This content is meant to convert serious shoppers into buyers. You’ve already created a relationship with this audience and they are already interested in choosing your specific brand for their problem, so this is your chance to close the deal.

For example: At this last phase, your buyer now would be thinking: So I’ve established the guy on YouTube didn’t help and there’s companies online that I could pay to do it right in half the amount of time I would have to spend figuring this out. Should I do a price comparison to pick which one? Maybe take a deep dive into their reviews and go from there?

Here are some main things this content should accomplish:

• Represent your product without directly asking for the sale
• Demonstrate how your solutions work and the specific features you offer
• Explain how your customer would benefit if they bought from you

You want this type of content to naturally flow into a place where you customer is willing to purchase. Did you include a link to your store? A coupon for in purchase discounts?

Here are some examples of content that would fit:

• Customer testimonials
• Case studies
• Webinars
• Products features and demonstrations of how they work
• Coupons
• Giveaways

Now Go Implement that Content Strategy!

Now you have your flourishing business, your employees to help market, you know your audience and how to contact them at each step of the customer buying process… So what’s left?

It’s time to start planning those campaigns! Figure out your posting frequency, the best times to post, and how much of each type of content to post on each platform. You have all the tools and types of content you need for each funnel. You have the calendar ready. Now it’s time to go meet with those marketing teams and start planning out what you want your company to communicate to your audience and when you want to do it!

Click below for more helpful posts on how to push traffic to your site and build up your following! And if you’re looking for blog hosting or fast and reliable web hosting for your new online store, we have you covered as well!

Related Resources:

• How to Conduct a Content Audit for Your Blog
• 7 Ways to Grow Your Blog Traffic with Social Media
• How to Maximize SEO with Permalinks
• How to Install WebCalendar Using Softaculous
• How to Install Booked Using Softaculous

The post How to Create an Effective Content Strategy to Grow Your Brand appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Green Hosting Partnership with Carbonfund.org

One of our first green initiatives was our partnership with Carbonfund.org in 2007. With their help, every year we offset some of our servers’ CO2 emissions and reduce our carbon footprint. We picked Carbonfund.org because they are a leading organization in the fight against global climate change. Their work centers on reforestation and promoting energy efficiency. A2 Hosting’s partnership with Carbonfund.org helps aid us in our green hosting mission and helps Carbonfund.org continue their development of clean, renewable sources of energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions on a global scale.

Our Green Hosting Practices

• Recycling Older Servers – Instead of tossing our older equipment into a landfill, we re-use it! Our retired hardware is used as internal servers, dedicated servers for clients with lower resource requirements, or is resold to the public after being wiped of it’s information, of course.
• Solid State Disk Drives (SSD) and NVMe SSD Drives – SSD’s and NVMe SSD’s use less energy than traditional HDDs. A2 Hosting was one of the first providers to offer SSD Hosting! We’re proud to be one of the leaders in offering more energy efficient options for our customers.

Our Efficient Data Center in Michigan

• Air-Side Economizing – We allow outside air to cool our data center saving electricity.
• Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle Design – We sort our equipment into hot and cold aisles. Our servers and network hardware are installed so heat is always directed into our hot aisles. This allows them to stay warmer and our cool aisles to stay colder with less air temperature control.
• Containment Enclosures – In relation to the bullet above, hot air is never mixed with the cold air inside our data center. All excess heat is exhausted to the outside of our building.
• Variable Speed Drives on all Fans and Motors – Our motors don’t run at 100% capacity at all times. We use variable speed drives to reduce motor speeds so that they only operate at the speed necessary to perform each tasks. This drastically reduces electrical usage.
• Airflow Management – We’ve installed blanking panels in the data center cabinets to maximize the efficiency of our cooling system.

Our Green Initiatives

By working remotely, A2 Hosting has been able to save not only carbon, but other essential resources!

• Telecommuting – Our employees work remotely from their homes and prevent unnecessary CO2 emissions from daily commutes to an office. In the last year we’ve saved about 705 tons of CO2 by skipping the daily commute. That’s equivalent to three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.
• Limiting Water Usage – We’ve also saved over 1,305,000 gallons of water. That’s enough to fill the Cathedral of Brasilia nearly eight times.
• Saving Electricity – Plus, by not powering a large office building, we’ve significantly cut down on our electricity consumption. We’ve saved over 960,000 kWh in the last year. That’s enough energy to power an electric car to drive 376,470 laps of Le Mans in France.
• Reducing Natural Gas Usage – We reduced our natural gas usage and saved over 1,152,000 cubic square feet of natural gas. That’s enough to fill one of the largest malls in the World, the CentralWorld Mall in Thailand.
• Online Communications – Finally, our company communicates solely through digital means. By skipping the printer we’ve saved over one million sheets of paper this year. That’s equivalent to a stack of paper about as tall as the Big Ben.
• Planting Trees – We’ve been known to run special green promotions. This year we’re partnering with Carbonfund.org to plant two trees for every package sold during Earth Week (4/17-4/25)!

Visit our Green Hosting page to learn more about how we’re doing our part to be sustainable!

The post A2 Hosting’s Green Hosting Initiatives appeared first on The A2 Posting.

1) Be Authentic and Use the Right Tone and Voice

As with any major holiday or promotion, it’s important to be authentic to your company’s brand when coming up with a digital marketing campaign. It’s all good fun to come up with holiday puns and green themed campaigns, but above all you must do your research and make sure your posts align with how you want to portray your company to the marketplace.

Know Your Brand’s Personality on Social and be Consistent

Do research on past posts and make sure your tone aligns with what you’ve published previously. It’s important to follow your brand guidelines and be consistent, even as you play with puns that fit the St. Patrick’s Day theme. Posting something that’s drastically different from previous content won’t help in building a strong brand

It’s also important to remember why people follow you. What are they looking for when they come to your site? For example, if you own a crafting store people are likely following you to see the latest trends in crafting materials or what cool things you’ve created with your craft supplies. Likewise if you own an outdoor clothing store, people may follow you to see your clothes in action or find awesome new hiking trails. It’s important you can deliver what your customer wants to see on your social platforms. This will make it easier to keep your followers engaged with your content and refer them back to your site. The perfect combination is:

2) Be Culturally Sensitive

Be creative! Come up with new puns or ways to make old puns fit your brand. Remember to be historically and socially conscious before you post. Don’t be tone deaf and post offensive or charged content. Be relevant and timely while also socially conscious. A good publicity stunt can work wonders on brand identity and public image, but make sure to do it in the right way. Have your public relations team and any marketing members meet before posting and discuss implications of your campaign from all angles in order to uncover any miscommunication or issues that could arise later on.

3) Add Festive Decorations and Go Green

It’s always important to follow online trends and be timely in your advertising, and one of the biggest trends during St. Patrick’s Day is the color green. Historically green was worn to represent the Emerald Isle and the people of Ireland, but today it has turned into a folkloric attempt to avoid the pinch of an errant leprechaun. St. Patrick’s Day marketing is a perfect time to use this color to entice your audience to purchase from your online store!

If you have merchandise that’s green or your brand uses this as one of their colors, this is a great time to highlight this. It’s also a great opportunity for online creativity. Add green banners to your website or pop in some green accent colors here and there.  Reap the rewards of your environmental efforts while joining in on the holiday spirit. Use this opportunity to advertise any “green initiatives” your company is participating in!

4) Help Your Customers Call On the Luck of the Irish

In addition to decorating your store, St. Patrick’s Day is a great time to run discounts and deals on your site! Use this opportunity to give a percentage off on all green items (color or environmentally sound) or create a custom sales item with your favorite St. Patrick’s day slogan or image. Create a sense of urgency and run your sale for a limited amount of time. Encourage User Generated Content (UGC) by creating drawings or picture-sharing promotions asking followers to participate if they’re “feeling lucky.” This is a great way to create talk about your brand and encourages followers to interact with your posts.

5) Don’t Miss an Opportunity to Go Live!

You could use St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to do live video on your social accounts by sharing real time updates with your followers. Dress up and stream your live reactions as they send their selfies in or record as you contact the winners of your promotional contest. Create a funny behind the scenes video of your employees as they grant wishes or chase the rainbow. This is a great way to personalize your accounts and share the people behind your brand!

6) Send Out a Holiday Themed Email Campaign

To increase touches, send out a holiday themed email campaign. You could stick a shamrock themed logo on your header and cross-promote any social media campaigns you have running. Increase your marketing reach by requiring email sign ups to enter social promotions you have planned. Then attach a secret promo code that can be used by people who subscribe! The possibilities are endless and it works well to coordinate your overall marketing strategies across all marketing channels and promotional materials.

7) Do Research on Other Successful Campaigns to Help Plan Your Own

We know all of this might sound like a lot, but sometimes it helps to look at successful campaigns when trying to come up with some ideas of your own. We’ve got three examples below that may help spark some ideas for your own festive campaigns.

Guinness: Make St. Patrick’s Day the Friendliest Day of the Year

Their Friendliest Day of the year campaign was a huge success. By emphasizing coming together with friends and family, they were able to tie the theme of community to their product, eliciting warm feelings when followers thought of their brand. They included infographics with St. Patrick’s Day facts that could be shared worldwide, helping spread their brand awareness through increased follower interaction. They were timely, relevant, and socially aware as they ran their St. Patrick’s Day campaign.

M&M’s: Ms. Green Campaign

M&M used their iconic candy personas to bring their brand to life. Ms. Green embarked on a spokes candy campaign around Ireland, stopping off in famous cities to meet the locals and see the sights. Her tour was documented and shared as she educated her followers on Irish history and phenomena. Not only was the campaign relevant and shared accurate cultural details, but it encouraged fans to interact with their brand by posting selfies in order to win a trip to New York. They used ‘here for the craic, not as a snack’ as their tagline, an Irish pun that had the right comedic tone to spark laughs rather than controversy.

McDonald’s: Shamrock Shake

Finally, shamrock shake season. Every year McDonald’s releases their limited edition shamrock shake, a mixture of chocolate and minty goodness. Their timely release, limited timeline, and extensive media coverage creates a sense of urgency as people line up every year to get a green milkshake while it’s available. Rather than just releasing a mint chocolate chip shake they were able to turn their St. Patrick’s Day campaign into a hot commodity.

Conclusion

Most importantly, make sure you use this holiday as a point of connection with all of your customers. You want your brand to be engaging and personal, so celebrating this holiday together is a great way to achieve this! Personalize your campaign and share any employees with Irish descent. Use real time trends  as a way to connect with your socially savvy customers. Run video marketing campaigns and highlight topics relating to St. Patrick’s Day. Holidays are a great time to gain new customers and connect with loyal followers. Personalize your marketing content this year and make this the best celebration yet!

The post 7 St. Patrick’s Day Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Ecommerce Sales appeared first on The A2 Posting.