web hosting

Optimizing Your Website for MSN

Although SEO guidelines are generally the same for all search engines, MSN is one that has an identity all its on.  There are many tricks to increasing visibility but Microsoft has gone on the record to stress the importance of a well designed, optimized website.  The software giant even went on to say that you may want to consider hiring a reputable SEO firm to boost your chances of being properly indexed by the MSN search engine.  This makes perfect sense as the MSNBot, Microsoft’s aptly named search engine spider, is attracted to web pages that are easy to read and navigate.  Realizing that everyone cannot afford to invest in an SEO service, we have provided a few valuable tips for making an impression on the MSNBot.

Take Advantage of Meta Tegas

The MSNBot actively uses meta tags a part of its web page analysis.  Like other search engines, the title tag is weighed the heaviest within the indexing algorithm, followed up by the meta description tag.  It is recommended to insert your chosen keywords into both areas.  Although Microsoft has never stated that the MSNBot utilizes keyword meta tags, experts strongly suggest that keywords should be included in the title, description, tags and content.  In addition, keywords placed in these areas should all adhere to one another.

Keep Page Size to a Minimum

The MSN search engine requires that your pages are no more than 150k in size.  This gives indication that the bot with either stop scanning or may simply skip over the page entirely.  The good thing is that a web page with a size of 150k has enough room to contain a considerable amount of relative text.  Keep in mind that if you plan to add a lot of fancy graphics, the size of your pages will expand greatly.  Similar to other search engines, MSN prefers text over graphics so you always want to keep them to a minimum.

Efficient Linking

As you would expect, links are an important equation of the MSNBot’s indexing algorithm.  Microsoft offers two suggestions on what type of links will be deemed the most essential: links on the home page or your website, and links that are no more than three levels deep.  This simply means that all the links on your site should be accessible within three or less clicks from one another for maximum efficiency.  Although this could be a problem for larger sites, MSN says its bot will offer a deeper crawl as the search engine becomes more sophisticated.

Submit Your Site

Some of the experts will tell you that search engine submissions are no longer significant while others say they are still important.  We will tell you that every effort helps.  Microsoft allows you to submit your site at no cost but there are some factors to consider.  First, you should check and see if your site is already indexed in the MSN database.  If so, resubmitting will be nothing but a waste of time.  Secondly, MSN requires that you manually submit your website.  This is a fairly simple process as all you have to do is enter the provided code along with your URL into the appropriate field.

Google and Yahoo are the leading search engines, but increasing your visibility in MSN can help you attract a broader range of targeted traffic.  Growing more popular by the year, optimizing for this search engine is definitely worth it.

Fighting Back Against Website Attacks

Despite all the advancements that have been made in information security, hacking attacks continue to be a major problem, inflicting damage on some of the biggest companies.  Every year, it seems as if we hear a story where some major company has been hacked and thieved of invaluable information. Although large corporations make better targets, small businesses are not exempt from such attacks.   You may feel that the data on your website is not all that confidential or mission-critical, but an ambitious hacker might think otherwise.

What Motivates a Hacker?

Hackers hack websites for a number of reasons.  Some are after personal information while others merely do it for the thrill and gaining stripes in the hacker community.  While every hacker has their own motivation, a successful attack boils down to one factor – the webmaster’s lack of knowledge.  Even an intermediate hacker can break into your website, change your home page and steal sensitive information all by downloading readily available tools from the internet.  Whether you are a beginner or seasoned webmaster, the best way to protect yourself against website hacking is knowing how a hacker operates.

A Two-step Approach

The first step a hacker will take is to scan your web applications for any known vulnerabilities.  This can be done with a penetrating test process that is performed either manually are automated by certain programs or scripts.  Finding an insecure application is the most crucial step in any website attack and translates to holes you can’t afford to leave open.

The next step in website hacking is coming up with an exploit able to take advantage of the vulnerabilities.  There are many exploits but all share the similar goal of allowing an intruder to penetrate your website.  Here is where you need to be aggressive and take steps to prevent an exploit rather than trying to bounce back after the attack.  If you scripted your own applications, you need to go back carefully and look them over to process any modifications that may be needed to the source codes to close the gaps.  When done correctly, you can dramatically reduce the probability of a website attack.

Practicing Website Security

Properly securing your applications is something that can be accomplished even if you are not an expert in the security field or simply do not have the money required to hire a thorough, experienced web developer.  In fact, security knowledge comes at an inexpensive price and is worth looking into when considering that it can keep your website safe.  Basic knowledge can be obtained by keeping yourself informed on the web applications you are using along with all known vulnerabilities that relate to them.  Additionally, you can minimize vulnerabilities by applying the latest updates and patches to your applications and using the best security practices.

Aside from practicing website security, it also a good idea to have a basic understanding of common techniques attackers employ to hack websites.  Some of the most popular methods include SQL injection and cross site scripting to name a few.  The best way to deter the attempts of a savvy hacker is to defeat them with your own knowledge.

Fasthosts Takes on a New Green Initiative

Green web hosting services are emerging as more companies come to realize the negative affect data centers of the world have on the environment.  Some of the industry’s biggest names are making the switch to green energy, a trend that is being seen throughout North America and Europe as well.

Based in the United Kingdom, reseller hosting provider Fasthosts is actively participating in a green initiative to reduce its impact on the environment.  The move is said to ensure that all web hosting services will be run out of a green data center, making it the only provider that offers unlimited green reseller hosting solutions.

On Tuesday February 17, Fasthosts was announced as being a part of United Internet’s Global Green Initiative, a program that uses renewable energy to prevent an estimated 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment.  Additionally, Fasthosts is deemed a certified green host by Green-e, a voluntary non-profit certification organization that specializes in programs for renewable energy.  The UK reseller host also announced that it would be purchasing  enough RECs (renewable energy credits) from the non-profit BEF (Bonneville Environmental Foundation) to entirely offset electricity usage at its data center located in Kansas.

Steve Holford, Chief Marketing Officer at Fasthosts, says it is important for the company to deliver its resellers a service that allows them to succeed.   Holford’s statement also touched on how environmentally hosting products and services are in great demand, leading to the provider’s decision to offer customers the ability to sell their own green hosting packages at no additional cost.  Aside from being a valuable selling point for resellers, Fasthosts prides itself on being a company that is running an environmentally responsible service.

Many companies are boasting green hosting but not all are making the efforts required to run an eco-friendly service.  In fact, several web hosts simply offset their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in green initiatives in other locations, ultimately facing criticism for merely paying someone else to pollute the environment.  The Fasthost partnership with BEF gives the assurance that revenue generated from RECs provides direct support for new watershed ecosystem restoration and renewable energy projects.  According to an October announcement, the majority of the RECs will be contributed to the Power Company and Bowersock Mills facilities in Lawrence, Kansas.

Considered a veteran in the industry, Fasthost has being serving small and medium sized businesses in the UK for nearly 10 years, making it one of the largest providers in the region.  The company launched its service in the United States back in September of 2008, hoping to use its market experience to garner success in North America.  Fasthosts claims that its U.S. customers are provided with around the clock service as well as localized support agents that can be reached via phone or email.  All of its U.S. customers get the benefit of the provider’s state of the art green data facility in Lenexa, Kansas and an infrastructure that delivers 30 gigabit high-speed internet connectivity.

Three Steps to Finding a New Web Host

Because nothing lasts forever, there may come a time when you need to break it off with your web hosting company.  This could be for a number of reasons.  Perhaps the customer service and technical support isn’t up to your standards.  Maybe the host doesn’t necessarily provide all the services as advertised.  It could be that your website has grown considerably and the provider can no longer meet your needs.  Whatever the reason, you must find yourself a new host before cutting ties with the old one.

Test the Support

If your web hosting company isn’t providing you with quality, responsive support, that is all the more reason to get out on the hunt for a new service.  In order to avoid making the same mistake, you must be very selective when choosing a new host.  It is best to sign up with a company that offers various means of support, not just email.  Think support ticket, live chat and most importantly, toll-free phone.  You may also want to look for a host that offers self-help resources such as a knowledge base, FAQ page or video tutorials.  How will you know if the company offers good support?  Send them an email during the late night hours or call the toll-free line over the weekend.  If you get fast, satisfactory answers, there is a good chance the host will be responsive throughout the relationship.

Check Out the Reputation

There are literally thousands of web hosts in existence and it is impossible for you to know about each and everyone of them.  Most of these companies will be foreign to you.  With that said, it is important to do your research and learn more about the provider’s reputation.  Some companies have been in the industry since the very beginning while others are relatively new.  Although every host has to start somewhere, it is best to choose one that is more likely to be around in the future.  You would be surprised at the number of web hosting companies that have failed and taken their customers down with them.

Know How to Research

Sometimes, customers find themselves in a bad situation because they rushed into purchasing service without investigating first.  In order to learn a company’s background, you must know how to perform the necessary research.  A good place to start would be discussion forums that focus on web hosting.  Another option you have is reading web hosting reviews.  Both will provide you with customer feedback about particular web hosting companies.  They generally tell you about the costs, features, methods of support and the overall quality of service. To get a few expert opinions, you can refer to editorial reviews.  This is great way to get a good mix of views and decipher genuine feedback from biased spins.

Even if you have a good relationship with your web host, there still may come a point where you feel it is time to move.  Whatever drives you to a new host, always seek out a provider that is able to meet your needs in terms of features, reliability and support.

Introduction to VDS Hosting?

The great demand for more secure, reliable services has made virtualization technology increasingly popular in the web hosting industry.  While many customers are not ready to handle the costs and responsibility that comes along with a dedicated server, more are discovering that the shared hosting platform isn’t necessarily the best choice for mission-critical operations.  VDS is the latest in virtualization, a technology that offers more control than shared hosting and the power of a dedicated server at a fraction of the cost.

What is a VDS?

Short for Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS), a VDS is created by virtualization software that partitions a single physical server into multiple isolated servers.  The result is a powerful platform that gives you the enhanced security of a dedicated server at a price that it isn’t too far off from shared hosting.  After being partitioned, a VDS is allocated with its own disk storage and data transfer for added stability.   The server has its own operating system along with isolated web server instances, a mail server and root access for custom software installations. This technology functions in a way that no matter what occurs on another customer’s VDS, it will have absolutely no impact on your environment.   Unlike its virtual counterpart VPS, a VDS is virtually like having the resources of an entire server.

VDS vs Shared Hosting

In a shared hosting arrangement, multiple websites are generally stored in a single directory.

The mere structure makes this a security risk.  With the average setup, shared customers have a dangerous level read and write access, meaning they could possibly access and modify your files. Other issues relate to stability as customers are required to share a variety of critical resources.  This includes the operating system, disk drive, CPU, memory and applications.  Depending on the severity, an error on a single account could force the entire server to run slow or even crash.  With VDS, the servers are completely isolated, giving you a level of privacy that is equivalent to running the server all by yourself.  In a VDS environment, you are completely protected from all the actions of other users hosting on the machine.

On a shared server, performance can still be an issue when no malicious actions or mistakes have been made.  For example, if one customer starts to experience a heavy load of traffic, their excessive bandwidth usage could slow down the entire machine.  This could result in a loss of HTTP requests and ultimately visitors for other customers on the server.  Additionally, the possibility of their being hundreds or thousands of domain owners on a single machine makes shared hosting very susceptible to sluggish performance.  This is especially true when many of them are using memory-hogging applications.

VDS is the perfect alternative to shared hosting as you are assured critical resources and the privacy you need from other customers.  In this environment, you will not have to worry about anyone consuming all the server’s memory and bandwidth or having the ability to view and edit your sensitive files.  The additional stability and security you get with VDS hosting makes it the next best thing to a dedicated server.