8 Ways to Increase Website Traffic

With a global pandemic upon us all, it is even more essential for businesses to implement digital-first initiatives. There have been some great highlights during these difficult times, like restaurants and grocery businesses have led the way for online orders and distanced fulfilment. 

Yes, that means it is more important now than ever to have an online website that can allow you to receive, make and deliver your products or services to your customers.

A website is essentially space for your business on the Internet allowing visitors to learn more about your business and solutions which you can offer to them.

Having a website solves one-half of the puzzle of a digital-first initiative. The other more important half is focusing on obtaining a higher conversion rate.

Let's take a step back here. A higher conversion rate just means new visitors who are looking for your product or service which would be more likely to find your website first and for them to purchase what you have on offer.

You've likely heard that growing a website takes time. Requires consistent sharing of great content for months and months on end. And usually, it takes around 2 years of disciplined committed work for your website to get big.

It's slow. Not very thrilling.

This article isn't about to be boring. It'll cover some great ways to help your website gain spikes in traffic as and when you carry out any of the following suggestions. Read on.

Here's 8 ways you can increase your website traffic:

1. Make use of your email list

There are so many content marketing strategies available today, and it can be confusing. However, email marketing is the simplest, most cost-effective, and effective way to advertise your website.

As it is generally inexpensive email is more likely to drive a favourable ROI while being versatile. Create campaigns which encourage your email subscribers to share your content with their friends and family.

2. Build a presence on social media

Social media is the future. Don't take this lightly, as many businesses are already monetising from their social profiles. Social media worldwide is increasing at a rapid rate, and there hasn't been any sign of a slowdown yet.

Think outside the box. Don't just rely on Facebook. There are plenty of other alternatives such as Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Do more than just create a profile. Make sure you spend time to curate valuable and useful information or content that encourage engagement as these actions will make it much easier for you to generate new sales opportunities.

3. Start blogging

Make sure you create a blog and treat this as a priority because it doesn't matter what type of business you are in, blogging is one of the best ways to increase your website's traffic and generate new sales opportunities.

When you blog, you're taking steps to improve your SEO. As you continue to consistently add new content to your page, your SEO factor is improved. Yes, the success of this is directly related to the frequency of your posts. Stronger results came from more frequent blog posts.

4. Use influencer marketing to establish digital credibility

A website is only as credible as other people say it is. A fast way to hack this is to leverage your relationships with influencers. There are 2 ways to this (1) established celebrities (2) micro-influencers. 

5. Improve your backend infrastructure for more streamlined search engine optimisation

One of the key elements to discoverability on any search engine is website speed. Make sure you are with a reliable hosting partner to ensure your website loads fast, and is optimised for key target regions. You can find more information about this here.

6. Leverage long-tail SEO

You might have heard a big emphasis on including key search phrases in your SEO strategy. Who doesn't want to rank for terms like "web hosting" and "Kuala Lumpur's Best Web Hosting Company". Although those terms are lucrative they are also very difficult to rank for. Because of a large competitive base tussling for those keywords.

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are much less competitive and could drive the majority of website traffic to your website.

7. Writing a high-quality guest post

One of the hottest and easiest ways to give your traffic a significant bump is to write a guest article for an already popular blog.

Here's how you can do this:

1. Establish and build a relationship with the blog's owner. 
2. Contact them via Twitter, and comment on their postings.
3. Leave high-quality comments on their website.
4. Get introduced by another guest writer.
5. Meet them face-to-face.

Here are some great tips for your guest post:

1. Use simple words
2. Write advanced how-to blog posts
3. Links
4. Create conversations
5. Prove you are the authority
6. Create powerful headlines

8. Create a giveaway worth wanting

There are many free giveaways, but very few take the time to craft a great giveaway that people actually want. Remember people are not signing up to your list because they like you, they're signing up because they believe you can help them with their problem. 

Conclusion

We get really excited just talking about all of these tactics because these are tactics that anybody can use, and some of the tactics that we also use. If you have any other findings that work for you do share them in the comments below.

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How to Import or Export Your MySQL Database?

Usually MySQL is imported for the following reasons:

• Switching from a web hosting provider to another
• Implementing a new third-party database
• Backing up your database

This article explores how you can switch, implement or backup a MySQL database.

To start, briefly we'll rediscover reasons to choose MySQL, challenges MySQL faces, and how we manage these challenges.

What is MySQL Database?

MySQL is an open-source software system that enables users to define, create, maintain and control access to the database (Connolly and Begg, 2014).

The best 5 reasons to choose MySQL database:

1. Safe money transactions
• Transactions in MySQL work as a grouped unit, and unless every operational function is successfully completed, a transaction will not clear. Meaning, if an operation fails at any stage, an entire transaction occurring within that group collapses.
2. Scale on-demand
• MySQL has complete customisation enabled. Everything from big data centers to an E-commerce business, MySQL is able to match the database needs.
3. High availability
• A reliable feature of MySQL is its consistent availability through its wide variety of configurations enabling instant failover or uninterrupted access.
4. Reliable
• MySQL supports SSH and SSL encryptions to ensure safer connections. Combined with restricted user access (even at the machine level) and a backup feature facilitating point-in-time recovery.
5. Quick-start capable
• From download to installation within 15 minutes. Implementation of this robust, free database is exceptionally quick, regardless of the underlying platform.

Challenges of MySQL and how to manage these challenges

Some of the challenges faced by MySQL:

• Development time
• Replication
• Database logging costs
• Query caches
• High connection churn

How to manage these challenges?

Implementation of database load balancing software. Enabled automatic read / write split so you can a host of advantages (includes: readable replicas, augment failover, analytical visibility, and one-click caching).

The benefit of implementing a database load balancing software is the ability to upgrade your apps quickly and remain up all year round.

How to export your MySQL database?

To export your MySQL database, use:

1. phpMyAdmin, or
2. 'mysqldump' database command line program.

Here's a quick note on how I've organised this guide:

• green highlight = an action you need to take
• blue highlight = location reference

If your choice to export your database is to use phpMyAdmin

This can be done through the phpMyAdmin web interface, and can be accomplished following the steps below:

1. Login to your cPanel.
2. Under the DATABASES section of the cPanel home screen, select phpMyAdmin.
3. At the left pane of your phpMyAdmin page, select the database that you want to export.
4. When you have selected the database you wish to export, click on the Export tab to begin the exporting process.
5. A prompt for you to choose an Export method will appear, confirm that Quick is selected.
6. Under Format, confirm that SQL is selected.
7. Select Go.
8. In the Save File dialog box, choose where on your computer you would like to save your exported database to.
9. Select Save, and the export process will start.

If your choice to export your database is to use the 'mysqldump database program'

1. Transfer the dbexport.sql file to your hosting account using SCP, SFTP, or FTP.
2. Login to your hosting account using SSH.
3. Change to the directory where you uploaded the dbexport.sql file.
4. Type the following command, and press Enter.
• [ mysql -u username -p dbname > dbexport.sql ]
5. Enter your password.
6. The dbexport.sql file now contains the data for the dbname database 
• (if your dbexport.sql file was saved on your servers download the file to your local computer).
7. Your export is complete.

How to import your MySQL Database

After you have created a new database in cPanel, and similar to importing your MySQL database you can import the contents of your exported database by using either:

1. phpMyAdmin, or
2. 'mysqldump' database command line program.

If your choice to import your database is to use phpMyAdmin

1. Login to your cPanel.
2. Under the DATABASES section of the cPanel home screen, select phpMyAdmin.
3. At the left pane of your phpMyAdmin page, select the database that you want to export.
4. When you have selected the database you wish to export, click on the Import tab to begin the exporting process.
5. Under File to Import, select Browse.
6. Choose your exported dbexport.sql file.
7. Select Go.
8. The import process has started and should show in your database.

If your choice to export your database is to use the 'mysqldump database program'

1. Transfer the dbexport.sql file to your hosting account using SCP, SFTP, or FTP.
2. Login to your hosting account using SSH.
3. Change to the directory where you uploaded the dbexport.sql file.
4. Type the following command, and press Enter.
• [ mysql -u username -p dbname < dbexport.sql ]
5. Enter your password.
6. The dbexport.sql file now contains the data for the dbname database 
• (if your dbexport.sql file was saved on your servers download the file to your local computer).

Further reading 

• For more information about the mysqldump database command line program.
• For more information about the mysql command line program.
• For more information about phpMyAdmin.

Find attractive packages on Malaysia's leading hosting provider here.

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How to Access Your Webmail through cPanel

Webmail applications enable you to check your e-mail accounts by using your web browser. You can compose and read e-mail messages, maintain an address book, and perform other common tasks.

When and why would you want to use Webmail to access your email accounts?

Common email services like Yahoo Mail and Gmail are accessed through webmail. Every major hosting company provides web-based access to their email accounts, webmail. It is a convenient way to access your email account from any computer anywhere in the world so long it is connected to the internet.

Common reasons to why webmail is useful:

1. All it takes is for your primary computer to face a problem that hinders you from using your email application effectively.
2. When you are on holiday and traveling without a computer or laptop with you.

What are the two common webmail applications cPanel uses?

Usually there are two webmail applications that you can used to help you access your webmail using your web browser:

1. Horde 
2. Roundcube

Steps to How You Can Access Your Webmail through cPanel

To access your e-mail account using webmail from within cPanel, follow these steps:

1. Log in to cPanel. 
2. In the EMAIL section of the cPanel home screen, click Email Accounts. 
3. Under Email Accounts, locate the e-mail account that you want to access and click the CHECK EMAIL button. 
4. If this is the first time you are accessing webmail for the account, select the webmail application that you want to use. 
5. Now you can access your email through the Webmail interface through cPanel.

How to access webmail without cPanel?

If you can't remember your cPanel login alternatively you can access your webmail through:

• [ example.com:2096 ]

Host your business email with reliable, scalable, email hosting from Malaysia.

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6 Steps to Becoming an Influencer in Your Industry

The way purchasing decisions are being made has changed since the age of social media and Influencer Marketing has skyrocketed since it first made its mark. The behavior of today's customers have shifted from sales presentations to collective recommendations from honest and credible people who have had an experience with the product.

"These qualities represent more of a trust in peers as compared with industry experts. And today, these are being transpired by influencers on social media."

Now with technology being easily accessible by every modern consumer, the landscape for sales and marketing is evolving.

Influencer marketing is important, however being an influencer in your own field is pure gold. Do not confuse being an influencer to being a celebrity. Influencers are not celebrities, they represent a group of ordinary people who have earned a loyal following because of either their expertise and/or transparency. While celebrities actively endorse products or services, influencers share valuable information with their followers.

The shorter strategy would be to advertise through influencers, however being your own social media influencer has great upside potential for you.

In this post, we will explore the necessary steps for you to become a social media influencer.

What are the steps you should take to become an influencer on social media in your industry?

Step 1: Find your niche

First, decide on a specific niche where you want to be known. This can be challenging as there are many topics that can be covered, but it is important to only focus on a specific niche. Normally, what sets different influencers apart is the tendency for an influencer to be known on a particular niche within the industry that they are truly passionate about.

To narrow down your topic of influence you can ask yourself what are the challenges your ideal reader faces and how you can help by sharing more on the topic to help solve and address this.

Step 2: Break the status quo

Commonly most people reason based on what happened in the past, what was successfully done, or what something no one else is doing. The evidence for this is everywhere. All you have to do is take notice of any particular industry, they are doing nearly the same thing, talking about the same topics, and even using similar formats when it comes to publishing and promoting their content.

Alternatively, you could break the status quo by following Elon Musk's thinking process instead. This forcefully makes you disregard the status quo, the main objective of doing this. As mentioned you want to set yourself apart from other celebrities and especially influencers in your niche.

Stand out with new and fresh information for your target audience.

Step 3: Choose your channel

Social media comes in different forms and delivery. For example, YouTube allows you to share video, Instagram is a great place to share photos, LinkedIn keeps you connected professionally, and more.

Although every channel has varying statistics on performance, (click-through-rates, reach, engagement, etc.) having the best statistically performing social channel may not be right for your target audience.

Your ideal audience may spend most of their time researching through blogs (learn how you can start online with web hosting here), learning about latest trends and events through Instagram, and following a walkthrough on YouTube. Knowing where your ideal audience is in the stages of their consumer behavior will help you position your valuable information.

Step 4: Develop your content strategy

As you know influencers may not be celebrities, and what sets them apart is their intent to share valuable information with their followers.

There are many effective suggestions on content strategy, however what we've found is giving a balance of informative and personal content is effective in developing a successful content strategy.

Here is a great read on how to become a great content creator.

Step 5: Distribute your content

Your content is only as good as how many people it has helped. If you are not getting people to see it and engage with it, it is not exactly useful.

It's just as critical to know how to distribute your content, as developing great content. Here's a great way to learn how you can make your social sharing explode.

Post snippets of your content on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. and customise your message depending on the social media channel you are interacting with.

A great place to share this is through LinkedIn as you continue to be a thought leader.

Step 6: Be consistent

This doesn't just apply to when your followers leave a question or comment on your posts, take the time to acknowledge and respond to them.

A major factor on most platforms is consistency. Quality does matter but you need to ensure that you deliver quality on a consistent basis. If you don't online platforms will assume your low engagement is a sign of a lack of relevance.

What are you doing to be an influencer in your industry?

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The Unconventional Guide to Web Hosting

Guess how many people surf the Internet everyday?

Any ideas?

Google alone has 63,000 searches per second. That means 630,000 searches would have already been done, while you were reading these words.

Why should this matter to you? The increasing demand for the Internet - 4.39 billion users - creates opportunities on the web and in tandem the need to deliver these web solutions.

And, in all likelihood, you know web hosting helps you to deliver these web solutions. You are reading this guide to learn which option is best suited for you.

For those who are new, to deliver web solutions, web hosting is required. Simply, your web hosting acts as a storage place for your website, web application, and anything you need to deliver through the web.

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to web hosting because of the options available in the market.

In this guide, you will learn where web hosting differs, how to work around a fixed budget, and ultimately which web hosting option is best suited for you.

Below we will be digging deep into web hosting and to deal with the complexities to follow, systematically. Feel free to skim through to sections which interests you most.

Overview

Before choosing a web hosting option, you first need to know the 6 common options for web hosting you will commonly come across:

Shared hosting	Web hosting you share with other users.
Virtual private server hosting (VPS hosting)	Private web hosting, where you share the infrastructure with other users.
Dedicated server hosting	Exclusive web hosting rented by you.
Cloud hosting	Flexible web hosting allowing you to scale when required.
Managed hosting	Web hosting which provides technical services such as hardware and software setup and configuration, maintenance, hardware replacement, technical support, patching, updating and monitoring.
Colocation hosting	Space you can rent to fully manage your web hosting (hardware, software and services).

To systematically identify which option suits you best, we recommend a framework that you can use to analyze, prepare for, and narrow down almost any situation you may encounter.

To better understand our framework, we've simplified it into 3-steps.

Step 1: Distinguish your needs
Step 2: Narrow down your options (through elimination)
Step 3: Discover your true goal

Step 1: Distinguish your needs

To start, consider the following. What are your core needs?

An analysis of your needs is crucial, because it allows you to define what is the lowest acceptable service you would accept and your highest best option.

Consider the following questions you should be critically assessing:

1. Is your business relatively new?
2. Do you depend on the web solely / partially to carry out its business model?
3. How much speed do you need? How can you determine the amount?
4. How much space do you need? Will you need to push this in the near future?
5. Would you require technical assistance?

Depending on how you assess the above questions, you can frame a needs profile that will form a sheet for you to compare which options to narrow to.

A great read on determining how much speed you need is covered by Jonathan at WhoIsHostingThis.

In summary, estimate the average page site using Pingdom's Load Time test, multiply this value by the average number of visitors, and multiply the result of this with the average number of page views per visitor.

Space largely depends on the nature of business you plan to carry out on the web. Hosting Manual has a great guide on space required here.

Step 2: Narrow down your options

Industry jargon:

• Space = Amount of # GB HDD
• Speed = Amount of # Mbps (also known as bandwidth)

Shared hosting	► Great for new entrants to the worldwide web. ► If your business is relatively new, and only partially depends on the web to carry out your business model. ► There is not much need for space and speed can be at a minimal because of small number of page views.
Virtual private server hosting (VPS hosting)	► The environment for this mimics a Dedicated Server, but shares the features of a Shared Hosting. ► What this means is, the Web Hosting is divided into virtual partitions, however, you still share the physical server with other users. ► Great, if you have been in business for some time and actively using but need more control. ► If you require technical assistance. ► Budget limits or just not willing to pay for the high price of a Dedicated Server Hosting.
Dedicated server hosting	► For you if your business is very matured on the web. ► You expect / continue to see an increase in page views. ► You don't need technical assistance. ► Require full control. ► Enhanced security.
Cloud hosting	► Great for you if you expect your business to scale in space and speed requirements in a short period of time. ► Pay only for what you need (some providers have a base package you can start from). ► You can scale without having to build and maintain your own computing infrastructure.
Managed hosting	► Most web hosting options will likely be managed. ► You should always opt for this if you require technical services such as, hardware setup, software installations, maintenance, hardware replacements, technical support and more.
Colocation hosting	► When you need a large amounts of speed at a lower cost. ► The major disadvantage is you will be left to your own devices (your web hosting is not managed).

Conclusion

The choice of which web hosting option relies on your current situation. This post has provided to you the required framework to choosing a suitable web host.

Where web hosting differs is, in the amount storage space, the level of control, requirements for technical assistance, speed, and reliability.

In the end, which web hosting option did you choose?

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The Ultimate Explosive Guide for Small Business Marketing in Malaysia

This is big news for you as a small business owner in Malaysia. The Internet is the number 1 place customers turn to before making any purchase.

This is important to digest, regardless whether you're in the process of launching a new startup in Malaysia or have an existing business thinking of venturing online, having a strong online presence is important.

There is a collective understanding and awareness that brand development and digital marketing is important. However, measurability of ROI is always the major hurdle that most small business owners in Malaysia struggle to get past.

The most common and frequently asked question that's raised amongst the business owners in Malaysia we meet is; Is there a way for business owners to track ROI?

Just to get this done and dusted from the very beginning. As long as your small business does not appear on the 1st page of search, 90% of searchers won't find you. And to ensure that your efforts online do not go to waste, there's some groundwork that needs to be done (including the dreaded topic of SEO and keyword research).

Local businesses, need to constantly monitor that they have their information always up-to-date and readily available when potential clients were to search for them. For example, new phone numbers, store operating hours, new locations, etc.

Register your local business for free on Google Maps to appear on searches easily.

Below we'll help you cover the basics, and intricate details to guide you in getting started on Marketing on the Internet, to benefit from visitors searching for products and services online.

Questions this article will answer are:

1. How can I make a website, with no coding experience and with little budget?
2. Is there a reason why my website isn't appearing on Google?
3. What is blogging and why does it matter?
4. Why do I need social accounts?
5. How do I get more traffic to my website?

Let's start ...

The core of small business marketing in Malaysia

3, 2, 1 ... Your business has been established. You've filled up the necessary paperworks and understand that the most important things you'll need to begin leveraging your marketing online is by acquiring new customers from organic search.

Also, compiled below are some great suggestions of FREE apps for your startup / small business ~

1. How can I make a website (with no coding experience and with little budget)?

A website now is equivalent to your shopfront. And any good first impression your small business can make is valuable.

Your website shows who you are, what you offer, where you are, and how a potential customer can get in touch with you.

The Internet has matured where services now cater for the DIY business owner (helps when you have a small budget). 

Popular suggestions from us:

1. Website: Shopify.com. wix.com, squarespace.com
2. Website hosting: Everworks, Shinjuru, Exabytes
3. Payment gateways: iPay88, MOLPay

Most of these options come with pre-made website design templates for your website that you can either purchase or use for free.

For business owners with a small budget, opt for freelancers or agencies willing to bundle a package for you. Speak with a sales rep from Everworks to learn more about options available to you.

If time / computer technology do not work in your favor, consider using a freelancer or a small marketing agency which specializes in web design.

You can find freelancers here at Upwork / Freelancer. 

2. Is there a reason why my website isn't appearing on Google?

If you already have a business, try searching for yourself (product / services you offer).

One quick reason that can be commonly solved could be due to your hosting solution. Find out how choosing the best web host instantly improves your SEO here.

However, there are a lot of factors that affect your ranking on Google. Essentially, Google tries to find the best content to present to a person searching for a particular piece of information. 

For example, If I am looking for the best place to host a birthday party in KL, Google would want to present me with results of locations in KL that are available for me to host a birthday party.

And the most important factor is SEO. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's a technique to help your website rank better on Google making your website more visible to people who are looking to solve a particular question they have in mind. 

Simply, it is a method of structuring your website / blog posts to be in the best shape for appearing on the first page of search results.

The best way to take advantage of SEO is through your blog content. Content on your blog doesn't just help to inform and educate your buyers, but also it helps Google to match search words with relevant words in your blog post.

3. What is blogging and why does it matter?

As discussed above, blogging helps your website to appear on Google. Most importantly on the first page. Getting ranked No 1 is the ultimate goal.

Frequency and quality of content which appear to solve a searcher's queries is imperative. and a great way to do this through your blog.

To start a blog, you can use inexpensive options, and just to list a few suggestions: 

1. Wordpress.org, 
2. Wordpress.com, 
3. Blogger.com

Once you start writing blog posts for your small business, you can add a call-to-action on your posts to encourage visitors to interact with your business.

A great way to capture new leads is by encouraging them to subscribe to newsletter updates through email. Learn more about how email is everyone's number 1 tool here (44x ROI for every $1 spent, this is a hidden secret that all small business owners should take advantage of). 

Great suggestions to email tools include: 

1. Mailchimp, 
2. ActiveCampaign, 
3. AWeber

4. Why do I need social accounts?

Social is powerful. It helps you to increase traffic, improve your search rankings, and empowers your customers to engage / interact with you.

For your small business in Malaysia ensuring that you maintain current information online, only helps to encourage discoverability for your business.

Important social accounts your small business in Malaysia that can be claimed (for free): 

1. Facebook Business Page, 
2. Instagram Business, 
3. Twitter Business Account, 
4. LinkedIn for Business

5. How do I get more traffic to my website?

Using the tools above to introduce your business, the advantages your product / service provides and retaining interest in your business if the need isn't present to purchase at this moment.

Step 1: Build content which provide value above and beyond to your potential customers.

Step 2: Share that value through social

Step 3: Retain interest through your email, because 72% of adults prefer communicating through email. Email converts, and here's a great resource on how to get started on your email marketing strategy. 

Step 4: Convert on your website

Persist in your discovery online to be discovered.

The road sounds long, but any steps you make will surely have an impact on your small business. Don't expect instant results, but demand consistent achievements. Blogging will take a few months to start sending you traffic, but paid social accounts can have immediate effects.

Congratulations on starting / updating your small business in Malaysia! Let us know if our tools above have helped you.

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How to Choose A Managed Hosting Provider (Industry Tips Inside)

Managed Hosting is complicated, but there is an easy way to understand it. The term is ambiguous and because of this, it is common for every service provider to deliver different solutions.

Managed hosting is in essence an extension to dedicated hosting, where hardware is owned by the service provider and is leased to a single client. This client manages the day-to-day management and maintenance of its servers.

Dedicated hosting is different, by its day-to-day management and maintenance of its servers, as it is handled by the service provider compared to the clients themselves.

Due to the ambiguous defnition, many different business offer different ‘levels’ of management to its clients.

Your managed hosting should include:

Server Monitoring – 

The process of scanning servers in search of any irregularities or potential failures.

Security – 

This includes virus scanning, spam filtering, firewall configuration and operating system updates in addition to standard physical data centre security measures.

Full Back-up and Storage – 

Imagine deleting a file by accident and having no way to recover it. Now think of it on a  company wide scale. Losing data can be costly in every sense of the word; it can cause a loss of money, time and customer trust.

Managed Hosting Providers are far more likely to have both the physical and technical capabilities in place to carry out the back-up/storage process correctly.

Server Configuration and Maintenance – 

Managed hosting providers can offer specialist staff with the expertise to ensure that the hosting solution is initially configured to meet the customer’s requirements effectively and subsequently, to perform the necessary server maintenance to keep the platform running smoothly

Support – 

An attractive benefit of managed hosting is that – if there ever is an issue – there is always qualified support on hand. In ideal cases, companies make human telephone support available 24/7/365, however in some, support is offered via email.

There are also business benefits to managed hosting, which usually include, but once again are not limited to, the following:

Flexibility - 

Managed Hosting is a flexible solution – not a one size fits all service – and providers can work with customers to achieve a solution tailored to suit the budget and individual requirements of their business.

Reduced cost of operation – 

The hardware and expertise required to manage hosting in-house can be very costly; with many businesses, the cost outweighs the benefits.

More effective use of resource – 

If your company employs IT staff then you know better than anyone that skilled IT employees can be costly. With this in mind, it makes sense to make sure that you put this resource to the best possible use.

Learn more about Everworks dedicated hosting here.

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Learn The Secret to Unlocking the Content Marketing Treasure-trove

The phrase ‘content is king’ gets thrown around very frequently to highlight how important content is. In my view interactivity plays an important role and should not be discounted from the content creation process.

Interactive content is extremely beneficial for business as it attracts audience, boosts engagement, increases web traffic, and increases conversion rate. Businesses often neglect the importance of the interactive element as they are too driven to produce more content. Producing excessive content will make it seem generic and even make your audience lose interest when you see them swimming off to other competitors that are most focused on content that are engaging.

Think of it this way, if you’re planning to buy something online, what is the first thing you do? You'll want to make sure you check online to read reviews and when convinced you will try your level best to find the best deals you can get in the marketplace. Access to an array of information freely has caused today's consumers to be more savvy when making a purchase with online research taking a foothold in the decision making process before a buying decision is even made. This is different from conventional purchasing habits. However traditional recommendations from high-value connections in your network which consumers view and trust highly still play an integral role in the buying decision too. This is why ever more so you should facilitate a consumer's behavior by servicing their need for information with interactive thoughtful ideas to further enhance their decision to purchase from you.

Interactive content is the fundamentals of lead generation and conversion. It enriches your marketing plan as it elevates it to a different tier that creates an engaging experience for your customers.

Interactive content is different from traditional content as it seeks to engage and entertain its users. The mechanics of the internet and websites have allowed content to exist in different forms that can be presented in various ways.

The few common and effective interactive content are:

i) Infographics

ii) GIFs,

iii) Videos

iv) Podcasts

v) Webinars

The examples above do not represent the boundaries of interactive content. Interactivity should be embodied by creative freedom. Innovative elements with the guide of thought to engage the audience by providing an experience can unlock a lot of potential in the content you produce. Rather than taking the side of the informant, why not gamify, request for an opinion, or start a conversation, because these are some of the building blocks to making highly successful interactive content. Have your audience engage and interact with your content and you would have developed a valuable community that shares and relies on the information you recommend to them, and this can indirectly lead to better sales opportunities and strong positive brand perceptions.

Now, the million dollar question: Why, and how is interactive content beneficial?

Enriches The Appeal Of Your Website

Interactive content contributes heavily to make a website seem well-designed. We cannot deny that humans like to be satisfied visually. We like seeing beautiful things and are always mesmerised by things that are visually stunning. This is why the way a website looks is crucial in attracting and sustaining your audience.

With that being said, the thing that truly engages them is the interactive content you have distributed over your website. Interactive content emphasises more on visual elements, which is much more appealing than normal content. It enhances the overall ‘beauty’ of your website and has a higher chance in making page visitors to explore your website because let’s face it, no one would be interested in navigating through a boring website that is lackluster in its design and content.

Entices Your Audience To Buy

Interactive content grabs an online user’s attention. Furthermore, it’s extremely informative and educative. The interactive mechanism allows users to understand the product more in an innovative way, along with relevant information that drives the users to purchase.

It also important to intelligently incorporate your interactive content with your website’s call-to-action (CTAs) widgets. Delivering content that entices your audience should also be capitalized, build content so that it translates to measurable goals. By incorporating these in your strategy your audience will be more convinced to interact with the product or service in which you have to offer.

Increases Social Sharings & Engagements

When people had hands-on experience on how remarkable your interactive content is, they will surely share it with friends, either by mouth or through social media. Word of your business will reach more people, increasing brand awareness.

Keep up the momentum and provide updates constantly to entertain your audience and keep them on the hook. Utilise social media as a tool to spread the news about your interactive content and get more people to visit it.

Boosts Your Business Revenues

Successfully improving readership and website visits means that there are more people who will mostly likely end up buying your products/services. It exposes your content to more visibility and more people will visit it and experience it themselves. The increase in readers/viewership automatically translate it to higher sales for your business as the chances of people buying your products/services are higher.

Most companies put attracting customers/readers/viewership as their utmost priority because your business needs to get a notable amount of visibility and exposure in order to reach the right people that are interested in your products/services.

Interactive content is the key to acing your content marketing strategy. It drives leads and conversions, which ultimately results in the boost of business revenue. Devise your content marketing plan carefully and be sure to produce interactive content that will lay an impact to your audience.

You can find more information on how you can deploy your interactive content here through EVERWORKS unique mobile distribution gateways.

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Website Redesign ROI

The ROI of website redesign can be hard to quantify with no concrete metric that can be used to directly relate to ROI measurement. Like any ROI the calculations are based on cost and results.

Costs

Website pricing really varies. The costs range from free DIY tools to millions of dollars for high-end digital agencies. Web designers can start low for a freelancer or expensive for a complex website from a big web development firm. Generally the price of a website relates to the amount of time it takes to create it, as there are very little or no material costs, since pixels and code aren't bought like inventory the costs are based on the estimates of time required for design, programming, communication, and license purchase.

The content (writing and images) also takes time, whether handled by the web firm or a freelance team or the company itself. This adds up to a total amount of hours that must be used multiply with the hourly rate equating to the total project fee.

Here are some of the major cost factors:

• Project management and communication: How many people required to work on your project.
• Design: Is this an off-the-shelf template being used or something made custom.
• Programming: Is it a standard feature or more custom?
• Team: Are there a lot of specialists required?
• Content: Is it a site that requires a lot of new writing? Is there photography or video production needed?
• CMS Platform: This isn't really a factor because different platforms can still be made use to achieve complex things. WordPress is also used for sites like CNN.com
• Licenses: Important thing to factor in when using some features or functions or images on your site. This can incur an additional cost to the project.

Results

There is a clear distinction between the objectives of the website where revenue generating metrics can be calculated directly from e-commerce sites or in the value of leads for a lead generation website.

There are many factors that affect the calculation for the return on investment, but generally they are:

• The cost of creating the website
• The cost of maintaining the website - post-launch operating expense (content marketing and advertising)
• The traffic - number of visitors is normally a measure of a successful marketing activity not web design.
• Conversion rate - this is a web design metric and not a marketing activity as this has an impact on conversions but together the traffic times the conversion rate equals results.
• The website lifespan.

Just compare objectively costs and returns over a period of time to identify if the right marketing strategies are in place to drive relevant traffic for conversion to occur.

Ensure that you suffer from very little downtime to ensure that your website investment is given sufficient opportunity to display its potential conversion capabilities to your target customers here.

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How to Choose a Programming Language for Your Business

With technology now central to most business processes and as a business owner you might be asking  how do I know that the developers I have engaged is using the programming language that's best for my business? To solve this let's do it in a few bite-sized steps:

What should you ask first?

An early easy check is to just ask the appointed developer if he has done this kind of work before and find out if it was successful. Just check their references and you have to understand that you can't treat all technology you are asking for as a one size fits all solution to work just straight out of the box. Shoes have different sizes and technology also has different fits depending on the specific requirements your business might have. As a result you need to choose a programming language that is flexible and scalable to adapt along with your business needs. This can take a few different versions before it actually gets right.

Are there any specific requirements you need to get from your lead programmer?

First ask what programming language and framework are going to be used and what the thought process is behind that decision. Second ask if they have already checked out third-party libraries for ready made code that can be used off the rack so the programming team isn't spending unnecessary time  to reinvent the wheel when the wheel has already been invented.

Which languages are the safest?

1. Web apps, use Ruby on Rails
2. For iPhone apps use Swift or Objective C
3. For Android use Native Development Kit
4. For a simple website, go with WordPress
5. For e-commerce, use WordPress and WooCommerce or Shopify if you are looking for an all-in-one solution (This is a simple web-store that can function perform most tasks well).

Get online and host with a reliable and affordable web host so you can get any of your ideas online and in front of your targeted audience.

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10 Effortless Ways to Secure Your Wordpress Website

I've had my website hacked once, and believe me it isn't anyone else should experience. When your website gets hacked you end up spending a good amount of time trying to fix things that you don't necessarily understand. Thankfully the hack wasn't deep it and if it was, that would mean all of the effort that I have previously put into my website going up in smoke in a flash. I learned things the hard way, I had to patch multiple things and change my web host and that did the trick and fixed everything. More on the importance of choosing the right hosting plan later below. I do acknowledge that not everyone is as lucky as me. I've got a friend that had not just his site taken down but his whole domain blacklisted.

I did some research and it seems that WordPress site hacking is much more common than we would like it to be and it is steadily rising. A lot of people, like me, have their sites hacked too. Although I shouldn't sound so enthusiastic over this, but it is a sad fact.

Wait didn't we all ask this one question before:

Why would anyone want to hack my site? It is worth nothing.

I know, I know our site isn't up there in with the stars of the show. But after reading up a bit it seems that a great majority of attacks are automated where hackers (people who hack our websites) create bots (pieces of software) to crawl the online web space and look for vulnerable websites. Why would they do that? It seems that if they are successful the hacked website gets added to their portfolio, so to speak, and used for whatever objectives that they might have.

Wordpress is awesome, and popular, but it does have its problems. So to say WordPress security doesn't happen automatically. Think of it this way, why go after a CMS that nobody really uses. Going after the most popular one makes the most "hacking sense".

This is the beginner's guide. An absolute must just to make sure that bots don't find you too easy to hack.

This you must do:

1. Secure your Admin account

Don't use an obvious login/username for your administrator account like "admin" for example. This is too easy for anyone to guess, instead try "darth-vader" or "king-alexander". You might be wondering right now hey wait a sec, doesn't Wordpress not allow you to change WordPress once installation has been set? Don't worry there is a way around it all you have to do is:

Create a new user account (Users > Add New), then assign the new user an Administrator role;
Delete your original administrator account (also in users) then you are good to go!

2. Use an Editor account for content work

Using your main Administrator account for editing/publishing work can be risky especially if you are using wifi at a cafe or a public space. You should instead work on an Editor account for all content work you do making the login not so obvious. To do this go back again to creating a new user account (Users > Add New), then assign a new user to be an Editor. Now you are good to go!

3. Use secure passwords

1. Don't use passwords that are easy to guess. 
2. You can sign up for LastPass (don't worry it's free) and set that ultra secure password as your main password.
3. Then use LastPass to generate safe passwords for everything going on with your site.

4. Limit login attempts

Password guessing is a big threat. A bot, or human can make multiple attempts at guessing your password combinations until they get it right. They might not succeed in 10-20 attempts but if you are using a semi-complex password the 100,000th attempt can be successful.

5. Secure your own machine 

Securing your website would be pointless if the machine you are using to access the site is compromised. This is a simple solution that most people overlook. Install good anti-virus software and take good care of your computer.

6. Update WordPress regularly

Updating WordPress is one of those things that everyone knows it is important to do, but it still ends up being forgotten. For every change of a new release of WordPress they release a change log, every bug that has been fixed is listed. Look at it as a manual for hackers who want to target older versions of WordPress. The solution is simpler than you would think it is. Just enable auto-updates for your WordPress sites or make an update manually as soon as you see a notification on your dashboard.

7. Update plugins regularly

Updates shouldn't just be on WordPress make sure you repeat the update process for your plugins.

8. Backup.

Backups won't secure your site from being hacked, but it is an absolute necessity in case things do get out of hand. Backups are invaluable. You can restore your site back to normal no matter what bad things might happen.

I use a free plugin WordPress Backup to Dropbox; or you could do it through a more feature-rich solution VaultPress (this costs money).

9. Choose the best web host you can afford.

Cheap hosting can lead to a host of problems. Think of it as renting a computer that has little management on it. This may not be the issue with your site but it can be the server itself that got hacked.

Some quality recommendations:

1. EVERWORKS
2. Bluehost

10. Download plugins and themes from known sources

Same old rule with email. Only download email you know rule. Same applies with themes and plugins. Go for the tried and tested reputable offers such as ThemeForest and CodeCanyon. They do a fair bit of reviewing for each new theme and plugin submitted there so you should be fine.

Is this a bit too overwhelming to implement all at once? Don't sweat it. Make sure you update your WordPress it is by far the easiest thing to do.

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Easy ECommerce Content Marketing for Absolute Beginners

Ecommerce is gaining momentum in Malaysia these days.

The chances of whatever you are selling is going up against some tough competition. It can feel daunting like David against Goliath. The great thing about it is David won and so can you.

Sure you need traffic that means getting backlinks and getting links to product pages is tough. So you should be excited to know that there is a proven and predictable way to build backlinks, build authority and increase your website traffic. This isn't a buy leads advertisement. This is 100% legit and should increase traffic to your website.

What is it? It's called Ecommerce Content Marketing and it involves a six step sequence of actions you are about to discover below. 

1. Buyer personas

You should start with creating a persona. The chances are that you already have a picture in your mind of who they are. The only thing is you now need to know where they live, what their income, their job, their needs and everything about them to know them better. Don't worry if it isn't 100% accurate but the main idea is to get the ideal so that you know what content you will be creating an most importantly for who.

2. Identify influencers

You can have the best of everything but you won't have anything if no one is interested or pays an attention to you. It is very crucial to develop a valid audience that will keep up with what you have to offerings and eventually become active buyers. There is a slow boring way to build up a slow following but there's a faster way than that.

This involves influencers. People in your niche who are going to help you with the heavy lifting when it comes to promoting your content. There are some common characteristics such as a blog with an engaged audience, an active social media presence, or they operate in the same niche that has the same audience with you but is non-competitive in nature.

One you got that list going you need to start an outreach campaign that could start with simply following them on social media and subscribing to their blogs, commenting on their blogs and interacting with their audience and promoting them whenever possible.

Over time as you get better at creating content and your authority grows so will your confidence grow and you could probably get away with a more direct approach.

3. Content for traffic

Before that there is a fact that in 2012 Google does not endorse websites with little content and questionable linking profiles. You should invest into obtaining backlinks from reputable, high quality, authority sites; but as you should know these don't come easily you gotta earn it.

Example:

1. List based content - example: top 20 hosting companies in Malaysia.
2. Side by side comparisons - which is better managed hosting or do-it-yourself hosting.

4. conversion content

Content can get you more than just traffic. There are proven content that work hard at the business end of the funnel where when you have already engaged your visitor they engage your visitor to consider converting to purchase. These content examples include: Buyers guide, How to guides, Product videos, Case studies, etc.

Running an Ecommerce store is tough especially when you live or die through traffic generation. This means you need links and these are not easy to come by. A proven way is to get backlinks and social shares from authority sites.

So what types of content do you like? Are you using any of these types of content already? Please share your experience on what works best for you.

Host your Ecommerce now. Find out how you can - click here.

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