Aube Creative

How to Choose the Right Kind of Web Hosting for Your Business

Pixelriff — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 15:15:32 +0000

How to Choose the Right Kind of Web Hosting for Your Business (Shared, Dedicated, Cloud, VPS)

Image by Maxkabakov on Depositphotos.com

Your business website is your company’s digital face. It needs to be aesthetically pleasing, easy to read, simple to navigate and give your visitor all the information they need to know about you, your products, and your services.

But the back end is important too. And it all starts with knowing how to choose the right kind of web hosting for your business. Your web host is like the landlord of your website. They’re responsible for security, reliability, and keeping your website performing at its best. If they aren’t doing their job effectively, it’s your business that suffers.

Don’t think this is something you should only look into if you’re launching a new website. Even if you’ve already been with a hosting company for years, it’s worth making sure they’re ticking all the boxes your business needs… So now could be the time for a web host audit.

Here’s how to make sure your web host is the right one for you… And how to choose the right kind of web hosting for your business if they aren’t.

Determine Your Business Needs

No two businesses are the same. The key to finding a web host that matches your business needs is nailing down those needs yourself first. Not just your present business needs, either—consider future needs that might arise as your business scales.

Some things to consider may be:

What’s your website traffic like? (and is that likely to increase?)
Where’s your main target market located?
What’s your budget for web hosting?
Do you need 24/7 tech support?
Are you anticipating growth in the future?
What sort of security do you need?

Types of Web Hosting

Once you’re clear on your business needs when it comes to website hosting, you can start considering web hosts. The options are many—from hosting giants like WP Engine, SiteGround, and BlueHost, to newer companies who are eager to make their mark.

But before you choose one, you need to settle on what type of hosting is going to work for you. This is step number one—the strong foundation on which you’ll build your website.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting is a common option, mainly due to its attractive price point. Don’t be drawn in by that—as they say, you get what you pay for! This kind of hosting works for certain websites, specifically those that are light on resources.

Here’s how they work. Your website goes onto a server that also plays host to multiple others. The resources on the server get split between every site it houses, which could be 10, or could be 100. You never know quite what resources you have, and if one site gets a big spike of traffic, your site may go down completely as it draws all the resources away.

As you can imagine, this isn’t optimal for business websites, which need to be up and running with a full set of resources at all times or risk missing out on sales. It’s well-priced but not worthwhile for most businesses. If you’re already on shared hosting, consider changing to a different type.

Dedicated Web Hosting

Dedicated web hosting gives your website its own server. All the resources on that server go toward your site—it can’t go to anyone else. This makes it a whole lot more stable, and much more secure than shared hosting, and your site speed will increase, which is always a good thing.

It’s more pricey than shared hosting, but you can’t really put a price on keeping your business site stable and secure. This is an excellent choice for businesses if you have the budget. Most web hosts will offer each one of these types, so make sure you’re getting the right information for the type you’re interested in.

VPS Hosting

VPS web hosting—virtual private servers—are the perfect in-between option. Priced closer to shared hosting but with the benefits of dedicated hosting, it’s a great choice for those who don’t want to share resources but find dedicated hosting a bit on the expensive side.

In this case, a single server gets split up into sections, complete with a set of its own resources. Your site is hosted on a section and doesn’t share any resources with other websites. It’s more stable and secure than shared hosting but less customisable than dedicated, so weigh up your options before choosing.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is the latest trend, and for good reason. It’s way above the others in almost all ways—it’s extremely secure, impressively stable, flexible, and can be scaled almost without limit. The downside? It was expensive. But that being said, you do get the best value for your money here.

What You Need to Consider

Whether you’re launching a new site or looking for a new host to switch to, here’s what you should look for. If you can’t find this info on their own website or in their package offerings, ask about it before you make the decision.

Reliability and uptime guarantee: The more your site goes down, the more money-making opportunities you’re missing. Anything above 99% is considered a good uptime guarantee.
Scalability and flexibility: If your business is likely to grow, your web host needs to be able to grow with you. Ask about scalability options before deciding, as you don’t want to be held back by your host if business starts booming.
Security measures: Ask for details about what security measures they have in place. You can’t afford to be lax, especially when sensitive business information or customers’ personal information is at stake.
Control panel & ease of use: If you want to manage your own hosting, find out how user-friendly the control panel is. If not, you might want to ask about managed hosting options, where they take care of all the backed stuff for you.
Content delivery network (CDN): If you’re putting out content on your website, a CDN is a necessity. This hosts your content on a separate network so it doesn’t take up memory on your site and is more easily accessible by your visitors.
Server resources: What resources is the package offering (bandwidth, storage, etc)? Will they be enough for your business needs?
Backup and customer support: Unless you specifically want to perform your own backups, make sure to choose a host who does it regularly for you. Also, customer support should be readily available should you need it.

Conclusion

Web hosting is a decision you make once, and then you either reap the benefits or deal with the consequences. If you’re setting up a new business site, it’s not a decision that should be taken lightly. And if you’ve been running with the same host for years, it’s never a bad time for an audit—you might find that some things are no longer serving your business.

About our Guest Author

Paul Wheeler runs a web design agency that helps small businesses optimise their websites for business success. He aims to educate business owners on all things website-related on his own website, Reviews for Website Hosting.

Selling Online using an Ecommerce Website

Pixelriff — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 12:44:42 +0000

Selling Online using an Ecommerce Website

There has been a huge shift in consumer behaviour and preferences over the last 2 years. Now, more people choose to shop online and look for businesses that have a strong digital presence. This has led to the growth of the ecommerce industry and a global revenue of trillions in online sales. For many small to mid-range businesses and startups, there are a lot more opportunities to compete with corporations and find their target audience. With a well-designed and responsive website or ecommerce platform, you can easily boost sales and create brand awareness as well.

This is one of the first things that people are likely to visit and find out more information. In the ecommerce world, it’s how you can sell your products online and promote your business effectively. Now, the competition is quite tough so you need to make sure that your website stands out from others in the industry.

Now, it can be slightly tricky to understand how to generate higher sales with the platform. To make this easier, here are a few ways that you can use your ecommerce website to sell online.

Attractive Brand Visuals

This is another factor that can help create a positive perception of your business or brand. You need to make an impact on the visitor immediately and tell them what makes the website unique from the others in the market. The visual branding elements can highlight the core values of a company or startup and make it easier for people to recall or remember the product or solution.

So it’s essential for you to choose a relevant colour scheme, font styles or typography, and images that send out the right message to consumers. You can incorporate the brand colors to maintain consistency and create familiarity with potential customers. The logo design should be prominent and visible from the first look. If you are yet to design a symbol for the website, you can consider a tool such as a FreeLogoCreator.com.

Appealing brand visuals can also help you establish credibility in the industry and make it easier for consumers to purchase a product or subscribe for more information.

User-friendly Layout

It’s a hugely important factor that can influence the success of your website and business. When people visit the page, they expect to find the relevant information instantly and navigate the store without getting confused. With a user-friendly layout, you can attract their attention from the first look and keep them on the website for a long time. Include ample white and remove all the clutter from the home page. Add high-quality visuals that tell people about the business and showcase two or three products.

You can also make the website interactive by incorporating an animation or short video. This way it's easier to create a user-friendly layout that convinces people to scroll down or browse through the website. In the end, visitors might end up making a purchase or recommending the ecommerce platform to family or friends.

Optimised Product Listings

Most people may search for certain products directly on the website or use specific keywords to find what they are looking for. To grab their attention, it's important to optimise the product listings across the store. This is a great way that you can use your ecommerce website to sell online. It can also help you provide a good user experience. Include certain keywords in the title of product listings so that visitors can easily find them with the search option on the website.

You should also include all the relevant information and details in the description as it can them make a well-informed decision. Optimising the listings could also help you boost the visibility of the website in search engine rankings. It might show up in the top results if the content is valuable and optimised for a platform such as Google.

Social Media Profile Links

This can prove to be highly useful for engaging a wider audience and boosting sales online. It’s a good idea to include links to social media pages for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn or Youtube. People might be interested in looking through the platforms to get an insight into the business or products. Social media profiles could help them engage or interact with the brand and build trust as well. So add the links in the footer or contact page on the website where people can easily access them.

Today, many people do not consider businesses without a strong social media presence credible. By directing them to profiles or pages on Instagram or Facebook, you can also increase your following and show that the business is trustworthy. Make sure that the content is updated and that visitors can find the latest offers, deals, or products on all social media profiles.

A Great User Experience

It’s how you can convince first-time visitors to make a purchase quickly. The user experience can help them differentiate your website from the competitors. With a clear-cut headline, high-quality visuals, and a responsive page, you can improve the user experience for potential customers. Add a contact form that does not require a lot of information or time. Simplify the process for checkout and include different payment options such as PayPal, Venmo and Google Pay, or Amazon Pay.

This can help people add products to their cart and complete the user journey without leaving the website. It’s also a good way to build a loyal clientele and convince people to keep coming back.

Summing Up

These are some ways that you can use your ecommerce website to sell online. It’s a good idea to keep these in mind when you are designing one or looking to make improvements. Ensure that your website is modern and accelerate it's loading speed as well. This can help you boost traffic to the page in a short time and create a positive perception of the brand as well.

Stock Photos vs. Original Photos (What to use for your Website)

Pixelriff — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:41:34 +0000

Stock Photos vs. Original Photos (What to use for your Website)

Whether you are developing a new website, writing a blog, or running a new marketing campaign, you cannot underestimate the power of strong imagery. Photos not only add life to your content but also help your audience comprehend your message better. And when we say photos, we don't mean just any photos. We mean, high-quality and excellent photographs.

According to MDG Advertising, 67% of online shoppers consider the quality of images "very important" while making a purchasing decision.

So, where do we get these exceptional images? We have two options:

● Stock photos

● Original photos

What are Stock Photos?

Stock photos are existing photos that have been already created and are available for use on different stock image websites. These photos can be purchased by paying a license fee to the creator and the stock agencies that have made them available on their platforms. When you buy stock photos, you acquire the legal right to use them as you want, while the artists who produced them retain the copyrights of their work.

What are Original Photos?

As the name suggests, these pictures are original works that belong solely to you unless you sell them to another party. Original photos include images that you snap yourself or hire a professional photographer to capture for your project.

Stock Photos or Original Photos?

While it may seem like an easy question, it isn't. Deciding what kind of images you should be using for your project is a daunting job. Because there is no sharp right or wrong answer, it all boils down to what you are looking to sell and what purpose you will be using the images for.

So, what should it be? Stock photos or original ones? To make the decision easier for you, we will talk about the pros and cons of each.

Advantages of Using Stock Photos

Budget-Friendly Option

Stock photos can really be easy on the pocket. Many stock image banks offer several price packages that you can choose from. Some of these packages are pretty reasonable. You can download one image or an assortment of images at a cheap cost. Moreover, some websites also offer free trials.

Readily Available Images

Another great advantage of using stock photos is that they are just a couple of clicks away. With their simple search feature, stock image websites give you a vast range of diverse images. You can purchase them instantly, download them, and put them to use immediately.

Disadvantages of Using Stock Photos

Lack of Originality

Have you ever landed on the "Contact Us" page of a website and found a picture of a representative that seemed too familiar? You saw the same person's picture on another website as well. The representative can't be working in two places at once, can he? Well, that happens when you use stock photos.

Stock photos are not unique and lack originality, which can be problematic, especially when running an online business website.

Too Generic and Cliched

One thing that makes stock photos a not-so-ideal choice is that sometimes they are too generic, and almost everyone is using them, owing to their easy availability. The creators produce numerous similar photos that could serve an array of companies and businesses.

Moreover, these cliched photos may not be able to accurately demonstrate what you are selling. Stock photos also reduce your chances of standing out among your peers.

Advantages of Using Original Photos

Moreover, these cliched photos may not be able to accurately demonstrate what you are selling. Stock photos also reduce your chances of standing out among your peers.

Advantages of Using Original Photos

Unique and Highly Personalised

The greatest advantage of getting original photos taken either by yourself or a paid professional is that the content will be unique. It will be original and hence, help build trust for your website.

Original photos are highly personalised too. You can get them captured as you like by choosing the location and other settings of your liking. You can also be fully in control of what you do with your original photos.

No License Issues

Say goodbye to the fear of violating copyrights or other laws when using free stock photos. Your original pictures will be your very own intellectual property that you can showcase however you like.

If you are getting these photographs taken from a photographer, you will need to decide the copyrights, of course. But once the artist signs the release form and gives you all the rights, the photos will be yours completely.

Disadvantages of Using Original Photos

High Cost

Well, original things mostly come with a high price tag, and it is totally understandable. If you hire a professional photographer to get your photos taken, it's definitely going to cost you a lot. Not to mention the equipment you'd need to rent, editing software, and personnel. There could be a need for models, too, and the list could go on, depending on the kind of content you are looking to generate.

Time Consuming

Another disadvantage of using original photos is that getting them taken is a time-consuming game. And we certainly cannot ignore the amount of planning, preparation, and hard work you would need to put in for the photoshoot.

If you are looking to get pictures instantly for your project, then original photos will not be an ideal option for you.

The Final Verdict

Whatever you end up choosing, stock photos or original photos, bear in mind the importance of high-quality images for web design, blogs, marketing projects, etc.

Both types have their pluses and minuses, and it all comes down to deciding which factors you can work with and which you cannot compromise on. If you are in immediate need of photos for your project, go for stock photos, but if you can really invest the time and the money, getting your original pictures taken is your best bet!

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Google’s 2021 Updates – what we know now

Pixelriff — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 09:55:34 +0000

Google's 2021 Updates - what we know now

WOW! What happened? Have you experienced a general "drop" in organic Google traffic throughout 2021?

Has your website suddenly disappeared off PAGE ONE overnight?

Well, this may well be due to Google's Page Experience update?

Digital Marketing Agency Attrock share their guide to Google's big 2021 update, and how to adapt your SEO strategy for 2022 going forwards, in this easy to understand infographic. They detail...

Crucial "core" web structure

Mobile (smartphone etc) usability

HTTPS

Intrusive interstitials (popups and stuff)

Best practices to follow

Have a look at this infographic to learn more about it

WordPress or Wix?

Pixelriff — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 13:37:15 +0000

Which one is the best match for your Business: WordPress or WIX?

A lot of people are starting their own business these days. And as with all new ventures it's always best to begin the right way. Similarly, when it comes to your company's website you need to start it as you mean to go on using a strong CMS (content management system) platform.

Two of the most popular CMS options are WordPress and WIX. But which one is right for your business?

WordPress

WordPress has been around for over 15 years now. It's always been one of the biggest names in web design. Currently there are some 75 million WordPress websites published globally.

Why do people like WordPress?

- It has a good track record: You can see all sorts of reviews (professional and personal) so that you can get a good feel for how it would work with your own business-to-be. This is great for those who are looking for something they can really get to know.

- You don't need to have experience with HTML: A huge turn off for the inexperienced web designer is the use of HTML or other sophisticated software that are required when formatting a website and its pages. WordPress takes care of all of that by doing it all behind the scenes and simply allowing you to focus on creating pages, adding images and publishing them without immersing yourself in the admittedly chaotic world of HTML.

- It's a great search engine booster: Since the goal of putting your website up there is to get it noticed, WordPress makes it easy on you. Due to its long-term status, search engines work seamlessly with this platform's code. This all means that your website will be indexed easier and faster. You can even add to that by easily using meta tags or image descriptions.

- The site can grow alongside your business: Yet another perk is that WordPress isn't a "one size fits all" options. It works with you as a small business and grows as you do. You can get your feet wet in a supportive environment and then expand the website when you and your business are ready to do. WordPress will adapt and shift as you ask it to, helping you to grow at your own pace.

WIX

WIX is often thought to be the simplest starting point being is well-known for being streamlined and focused visually and easy to use. As soon as you open an account with WIX their system will will ask you a series of targeted questions in order to provide you with a website theme which is tailored to your business needs. It may be very basic, but some people prefer this.

What so good about WIX?

- Edit the mobile view until you like it: Since mobile viewing is critical to get right with most of the world researching and shopping on their smartphones, the mobile version of your website is where you'll want to tweak the most. WIX focuses on adaptability here, allowing users to change, shift and tweak to their heart's content. If you're looking specifically at mobile viewing, this is a great feature.

- Add all sorts of features: From adding a blog, to putting together an online store, to booking appointments, WIX focuses on allowing you to make your website the way you want to. You start with the basics and then add on as you find a need developing. Or, change as your business does. It's all there at your fingertips.

- Designed for users of all skill levels: WIX is designed to work with both newbies and experienced professionals alike. From the initial sign-up questionnaire to the new websites' overall design, it's a user-friendly experience all-around.

WordPress vs WIX

They both sound great, but which is better? The best way to determine that for your needs is to put them head to head and see which one comes out the winner on the other side.

- Overall flexibility / scalability: WordPress takes the prize here, with its ability to offer a customised website for your needs with as much breathing space as you need. Whereas many people find WIX a little restricting in this department, you can do so much with WordPress

- Design ease of use: WIX is simplest because it doesn't rely on plugins or other add-ons, whereas the more sophisticated WordPress plugins available can add complication to the new website owner's site building experience.

- Website extras: When looking at plug-ins and other additional features for a website, WordPress reigns champion once again. Since it's been around for a while, it has thousands and thousands of extra options available that you can add to your website in order to make it into the best version of itself.

When looking at both WIX and WordPress, both offer pros and cons. Everyone's experience and expectations are different, of course, so these platforms both need to be considered. When looking specifically for an easy, sophisticated and established platform, WordPress comes out over WIX. It's true that WordPress can be a little tricky at the start, especially for the first time user, but the all the other other benefits and extra features can't be ignored. For a small business looking for the right CMS platform, we feel WordPress always offers the most potential.

Why Do You Need a Mobile-Friendly Website?

Pixelriff — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 11:54:18 +0000

Why Do You Need a Mobile-Friendly Website?

As smartphones become ever more affordable and certainly more widespread, studies show consumers prefer to use them to access the internet instead of using more bulkier desktop or laptop devices. In fact, desktop web traffic has been decreasing for over ten years, while mobile web traffic has continued to grow exponentially!

Yes, in recent years, online activity has increased tremendously mobile devices. Since 2015, Google has been emphasising the importance of mobile-friendly websites and persuading website owners to add these features to their sites in order to maintain their search engine rankings. Many local service-based industries are dependent on mobile accessibility.

Many local service-based industries like Locksmith services and Emergency Roadside Recovery are both businesses that clearly need mobile-friendly websites. According to Google, 40% of users visit a competitor's site if they can't access a site from their mobile device, and 61% are unlikely to return to a site that was not mobile-friendly.

If your website isn't responsive (mobile-friendly) most website visitors may find your site is too hard to use and decide to take their trade elsewhere - often to a business that has a more user-friendly site - which automatically gives them a real competitive advantage. Your competitors will never let on!

But keep in mind that while ensuring that your site works well for your users is vitally important, there's more to consider than user preference and browsing habits when you're thinking about your website design. Search engines also look for mobile-friendliness when ranking websites, so for this reason it's also well worth considering how you site works on mobile platforms.

Search Engines and Mobile-Friendliness

Google currently considers mobile usability to be the third most important factor in how a website is ranked. In 2016, Google stated that their bots / spiders would be indexing / crawling mobile versions of websites before the desktop counterparts. This means that any website that is not mobile-friendly will not be ranked as well in Google.

Did you know? Google analytics provides you with a breakdown of which devices your visitors are using when they visit your site.

Create Mobile-Friendly Content

While design and technical functioning are the main considerations so far, let's talk about your content now. When you're creating content for your mobile site, remember that screen space is limited. You need to keep your text concise and to the point, making sure your key information is up front and accessible. Calls to action should be made more prominent, buttons should be bigger and easy to read, and navigation options should be crystal-clear.

Keeping your content mobile-friendly will also improve the user experience when they visit on a desktop browser too. Remember less is ofter more - no one wants to read a wall of text and be forced to search for the information they're looking for.

Improve Your Bottom Line

Mobile-friendliness has proven to be good for business. A recent case study of a retail business showed a 77.59% increase in search engine rankings by converting the company's website to use responsive design. Their conversion rate from mobile devices increased by 15.19%. Elements like a large search bar and a "sticky" header that stays at the top of the screen while scrolling helped make the site more usable on mobile devices. This resulted in people staying on the site longer, which in turn led to more sales.

Implementation

Now that we've discussed the importance of mobile-friendly design, let's look at the different ways it can be implemented.

In general, your site can be considered mobile-friendly as long as it adjusts itself to accommodate smaller screens on mobile devices, like phones and tablets. There's a lot of different terminology that refers to different approaches with the same goal: creating a good user experience for mobile device users.

Let's take a look at what these different terms mean...

Mobile Friendly

A mobile friendly (or responsive) website loads the same pages on a mobile device as it does on a computer, not shrunk down to fit the screen but built using blocks which stack correctly - one block underneath the next.

Responsive design uses elements with relative sizes that resize to fit the screen they're on, rather than elements with fixed sizes. This reduces scrolling and zooming on smaller screens. Sites that use responsive design should function well and look good on any size screen. If a website is using a responsive design, you can see it in action by resizing the browser window on your computer. Instead of a horizontal scrollbar, columns will shift, images will resize, and navigation will adjust to fit.

Mobile First

Mobile first web design focuses on creating a website that works well on the smallest, least powerful devices, such as basic entry-level smartphones with internet access. As phones become a more and more common way for people to access the internet, mobile first design is a useful approach because it ensures that those users will have a great browsing experience.

It's possible to add new design elements along the way, specifically for display on mobile only screens, taking advantage of better mobile processing power, screen size and resolution improvements. Mobile first approach ensures that the most basic functions will be available for any mobile user, even if they don't have a state-of-the-art new phone.

In order to achieve this, the website is first constructed with the HTML, CSS, and Javascript required for the smallest screens, and then adds exceptions that overwrite that basic code with other options that will only load on a desktop or laptop computer browser. This lets people using their laptop or desktop access more complex functions or large graphics, while keeping the experience streamlined for mobile users.

Adaptive Design

Adaptive design is similar to responsive design, but instead of simply resizing and adjusting its elements, it has different layouts that are specifically designed for different devices. While a responsive website delivers the same pages no matter the device, and they resize to fit, an adaptive website serves the version of each page that is designed for the device it detects.

An adaptive site is likely to use predefined layout sizes, rather than flexible elements designed to be resized. For more information and a demonstration, here's a good look at the difference between adaptive and responsive design.

Separate Mobile Site (or m dot site)

Sometimes it's not feasible to convert an existing website to use responsive or adaptive design. But there's still a good option for a mobile-friendly site. You can redirect mobile users to a subdomain with a separate version of the website. One benefit of a separate mobile site is that it can look different than the main site, highlighting the features that mobile users are more likely to need.

Mobile App

Finally, many businesses have a mobile app in addition to their mobile-friendly website. Customers can install an app on their device that often provides a better user experience than the mobile website. Large retailers like Amazon have an app as well as a functional mobile site, so that they can meet particular device-specific needs.

A mobile app requires a higher degree of buy-in from customers, who have to download and install it on their device using a third party supplier like Apple's App Store or Android's Play. Consumers often prefer apps over mobile websites in most cases, but it's very dependent on the business, and is usually only the case for large brands like Amazon, the BBC, eBay etc that are visited frequently.

Conclusion

If you've created or redesigned your website in the past couple of years, chances are your developer used responsive design. If your site hasn't had a redesign in a while, it's well worth it to have its mobile-friendliness evaluated.

Whether your business is highly dependent on mobile traffic or not, a mobile-friendly website will improve your search engine rankings and create a more user-friendly experience for your customers. Whether you opt for a responsive design or a separate mobile site, it's worth exploring your options to make sure that you're not missing out on potential traffic and sales opportunities.

Interested?

Let's get in touch! Drop us a line to say hello and we'll arrange an initial chat over the phone or via Zoom.

If we feel we can add value to your brand then we generally arrange a free in-depth consultation, face to face if possible. Complete this form and let's get the ball rolling...

What is an E-Commerce website? Do I need one?

Pixelriff — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 16:37:43 +0000

What is an E-Commerce Website?

Since the early 1990's it has become widely accepted worldwide, becoming a popular operational modern business mode. It is also known to one and all as online shopping.

The first online purchase in the history of the internet was made in 1994 by NetMarket. These pioneering endeavours took off, what started as a promising platform for new businesses became a phenomenon in its own right. Even before the global Covid-19 pandemic lockdown boosted online sales beyond anyone's wildest dreams, global e-commerce growth rate for 2020 was already expected to top 19%, bringing total e-commerce sales worldwide in 2020 to $4.206 trillion (Oberlo).

New technologies have made online shopping more convenient and more enjoyable than ever before. Customers can now purchase virtually anything online from items to services to training courses to digital downloads from the comfort of their own homes, using their favourite device, without ever having to go to a physical location. Smart devices and wi-fi connectivity have taken it up to a whole new level by enabling shoppers to make purchases from any location, at any time of the night or day.

How do E-Commerce Websites Work?

E-Commerce websites automate online transactions by simplifying the exchange of goods, data and funds necessary for online vendors to secure, sell, and deliver their goods and services via the internet.

Shoppers and vendors are no longer weighed down by unnecessary formalities and complicated interfaces. Making a purchase over the internet really simple, and in many cases much faster, easier, and cheaper than purchases made in high street stores. Shoppers can view a store's entire selection, choose items, and make their purchases immediately. Also, vendors can now manage their business and fulfil sales remotely without the need for a physical location. They can advertise, display, promote, and complete transactions from any internet-accessible location of their choice.

With all the benefits for both you and your customers, here are a few reasons to make the jump to an e-commerce platform:

An International Marketplace

An e-commerce website isn't tied down to one location. A single website can be accessed by the entire world, broadening your scope of potential customers and making international business a viable option.

Open All Hours

E-Commerce websites never close. Customers get the pleasure of placing orders or making purchases exactly when they want to. You can now be open all day, every day, without costly operational expenses.

Brand Awareness

Without the pressure of limited inventory and an often quite costly physical shopfront rent and rates, you can now offer a much wider range of products. If you already have a shop or boutique you can amplify your revenue potential by adding E-commerce to reach a wider audience. You may also consider diversifying into digital products, eBooks, apps, media, online workshops and more.

Take Your Marketing Campaign Online

A major bonus of the online environment is that potential new customers can find your businesses website by searching for your products, deliberately. If your website has good search engine optimisation these internet users will find your website and purchase from you. Successful vendors engage with their customers by encouraging and acting on their valuable feedback and product reviews. This helps to build customer loyalty and gives your business a competitive advantage.

Making it easy

Internet shoppers enjoy instant gratification, often buying on impulse. In our fast-paced world, many jump at the opportunity to make shopping even more convenient. For example, not everyone has the time to visit a high street store or shopping mall during working hours. The desired item might even only be found in a specialised store which is located too far away to conveniently travel to. There are countless personal reasons to consider. Most people would rather make their purchase as quickly and painlessly as possible. People no longer view shopping centres as a major source of entertainment, and for many they may even be a hassle. Nowadays physical stores insist on social distancing, setting restrictions on accessibility. E-Commerce options alleviate much of these pressures.

Reduced Overhead

The costs associated with physical stores are endless: staff recruitment and training, rent and business rates, utilities, post lockdown safe shopping requirements an so on. A well-designed e-commerce website can bypass many of these expenses. The money saved here can be in sales and marketing to help you grow your businesses and brand.

Less Risk

There is no concern for theft, natural disasters, display product damages, customer injury, etc.

Personalisation

An E-commerce website allows your customers to engage more closely with your brand by providing personalised shopping experiences for them. For example, tracking viewing or ordering history in their account dashboard, bookmarking (or favouriting) items for future purchases can really make a huge difference to your bottom line.

More Visibility Online

Even if you own a brick and mortar store, a solid online presence through an e-commerce website can help customers learn more about your brand and products. This gives you the opportunity to convince them of your relevance and stay in their mind as they shop around.

Interested?

Let's get in touch! Drop us a line to say hello and we'll arrange an initial chat over the phone or via Zoom.

If we feel we can add value to your brand then we generally arrange a free in-depth consultation, face to face if possible. Complete this form and let's get the ball rolling...

What is Web Hosting and SSL?

Pixelriff — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 17:40:38 +0000

WHAT IS WEB HOSTING AND SSL?

Nowadays everybody knows that every business needs a website because of the crucial role a website plays in a brand's success. Only a lot of new business owners hold back because they are aware of the technicalities and all the many moving parts involved in the web design process. Allow us to clear all that up for you...

After choosing your Domain Name, two of the most important technical elements are WEB HOSTING and SSL

WHAT IS WEB HOSTING?

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organisations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. It is the place where all files that are relevant to your website are stored. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server owned or leased for use by clients, as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data centre. A web hosting company usually provides this service for business owners for which they charge a fee which is billed monthly or annually.

HOW DOES WEB HOSTING WORK?

Your next questions are probably, "So how do web hosting providers operate?" and "How does web hosting work?"

These companies (web hosting providers) store a website's information on servers. Whenever visitors type your domain name on their PC, it will automatically connect to your webspace on the server to automatically download your site's page content into their into their internet browser on demand.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT WEB HOSTING COMPANY

Choosing your web hosting service provider is very important. The truth is that many web hosting companies have different terms and conditions of service with regards to pricing, service plans, hosting duration, and privacy policy.

Most hosting plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee enabling you to evaluate the service to see if it meets your needs. As a startup, you may choose the starter plan or any other affordable package. As your business begins to evolve your digital requirements will often become entirely more sophisticated. As soon as your website gains traction (and attracts more visitors) suddenly you'll discover the budget hosting account you signed up for is beginning to struggle: website loading speed may drop, website performance becomes sluggish, which might drive visitors away. And you don't want that! The best thing to do is upgrade your hosting plan and buy more server space with more resources to accommodate the increasing traffic.

TYPES OF WEB HOSTING

Most web hosting companies provide different levels of hosting to meet the diverse needs of their customers. As your business evolves, you might need to move from one type of hosting to another. Here are the basic hosting types.

Shared hosting

This is the perfect solution to the hosting needs of many small businesses and organisations. Your business will be sharing its server with other clients - usually clients whose company or domain name begins with the same letter as your own does. It is an entry-level hosting type, and the business owner does not require any technical knowledge to operate its control panel. However, because all these website share the same server resources traffic surges (or spikes) on other sites using the same server as yours can slow down your own website.

VPS hosting

VPS or Virtual Private Server is similar to shared. The only difference is that your website will have access to a separate partition on the server with more resources allocated. Although it's more expensive, it's perfect for medium-sized businesses expecting a reasonable amount of traffic.

WordPress Hosting

Ideal for WordPress site owners. You will have access to preinstalled plugins, which you can use to perform some tasks. It comes with a special WordPress-optimised configuration which all helps to run your WordPress website smoothly.

Dedicated hosting

This type of hosting is all you need if you want an individual server dedicated to hosting your own website alone. It comes with great flexibility and control, as well. Big Players like Google, Facebook, eBay and Amazon all own their own independent hosting services.

Cloud hosting

This hosting type is very popular because of the little or no downtime it offers website. How so? As the name suggests, everything is stored in multiple locations in The Cloud. This is called a Cluster. If one server encounters a problem, your website will be able to draw on resources redirected from another server, automatically.

Security and Trust

It's important to mention here that one of the criteria for operating a successful business online is to provide a safe environment where clients feel, for example, confident to make purchases from you. This brings us to the next important concept you should know after choosing your hosting provider and plan - SSL certificate.

WHAT IS SSL?

SSL, meaning Secure Server Layer, describes a standard security model that connects a website server and its client (browser). It establishes an encrypted link that protects data shared on the site. With SSL, sensitive information such as credit card numbers and credentials can be transmitted securely on the website without it being vulnerable to hackers and malware. Online scammers can quickly target a website without SSL encryption and use sensitive data on the site for fraudulent purposes.

HOW DOES SSL WORK?

Even if all browsers are fully compatible with SSL protocol, both the browser and the server need an SSL certificate to gain the needed connection. For the SSL connection to be activated, three essential keys are required. These are the private, public and session keys. After the secured connection is accessed, all data is securely transmitted using this unique session key.

SSL AND YOUR SMALL BUSINESSES

You should consider getting an SSL for your website if your business involves any exchange of visitor data, not just buying or selling of goods or services online. As far as eCommerce is concerned, SSL provides your users with the confidence they need to release sensitive information such as names, social security numbers, and credit card details on your website without the fear that cybercriminals would steal such data.

Today, nearly all internet users systematically check for the SSL (green padlock) icon on a website before trusting it with their details. Such URLs also begin with httpS and not simply http.

NB anything you enter on the address bar of any browser is open for hacking unless it is secured. Your customers will be fearful of this if you don't have SSL in place. With an SSL certificate, any information entered on the browser is protected. It gives your potential customers an all-important "safety" signal.

CONCLUSION

Whilst purchasing an SSL certificate for your domain is still optional, its importance cannot be overemphasised. Fortunately, many hosting companies can help you to purchase an SSL certificate for your domain before hosting it on any server. We hope this information on what is web hosting and SSL helps you get the best out of your business website.

New Beauty Salon / Laser Clinic Website

Pixelriff — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 15:45:29 +0000

New Masham Beauty Salon and Laser Clinic eCommerce Website

THE BRIEF

Named after local owner Elizabeth's late grandmother, Jennifer Holmes Hair & Beauty is located in the small market town of Masham, North Yorkshire. It provides a uniquely relaxing, unforgettable Salon Experience with fully heated beauty couches, reclined hair wash basins and much more. In 2019 Elizabeth took the salon to the next level and opened up the Laser Skin Clinic.

Their previous website was an entry-level "Moonfruit" website (built in-house) which had definitely served its purpose in the early days, however its usefulness was soon outgrown. The salon had evolved a lot since it first opened in 2015. Now it needed a far more sophisticated, more modern, mobile-friendly looking website.

OUR APPROACH

After recommending she purchase one of our new TEN PAGE STARTER SITE PACKAGES we helped Elizabeth to choose the right Base Theme (we have a selection of 80+) before surging forwards to transform this into something entirely unique based on her own salon's very creative decor. We use the amazing Beaver Builder to create the page layouts, once again basing the website's content on her brochure, so everything looked gloriously harmonious, as if everything had been cut from the same piece of cloth...

COVID-19 / ECOMMERCE UPGRADE

The site was published to great success. Customers loved it! Then came the Covid-19 outbreak, a pandemic which forced the salon to close along practically with every other high street establishment in the UK and throughout the world.

Elizabeth was quick to realise that she could still provide her customers with an excellent Mail Order service for the deluxe Hair, Beauty and Skin care products she sold in the shop. We used WooCommerce to quickly set up an online boutique which now displays over 8o different Top Brand lines from shampoos to conditioners to skin care products to pro class hairdryers and much, much more. This is just the beginning of something very big.

We made sure the admin area behind the scenes was really easy to use, helping Elizabeth to spend more time developing her business rather than lose it stuck in front of her computer screen! We also provide a suite of short bite-sized WORDPRESS VIDEO TUTORIALS to show her how to easily work every eCommerce element behind the scenes.

New Mental Health Consultants’ Website

Pixelriff — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:17:32 +0000

New Mobile-friendly Website for Mental Health Consulting Charity

THE BRIEF

NECS provides counselling and other mental wellbeing services to 4 different mar- kets: NECS CIC and NECS Private, NECS For Business, NECS For Schools and NECS For Counsellors throughout the North East of England.

The organisation has operated a basic "homegrown" website for some years. With advancing technology, changing consumer trends and the rapid evolution of the organisation itself, NECS now needs to completely redesign their website in order for it to align with the organisation's future goals and the requirements of its various different target audiences.

NECS needs a more sophisticates, easier to navigate website which functions as a powerful, informative marketing and communications tool to attract new clients, position itself as a thought leader in its sector and provide credibility to potential new stakeholders and investors.

SPECIFIC BUSINESS NEEDS

Specifically, the new website needs to fulfil the following business needs:

Increase the number of new enquiries coming through via the website with a view to delivering NECS services to 500 clients within the next 12 months Clearly showcase all the different services provided to all 4 markets
Help raise NECS brand awareness nationally and across the North East

Also required is an intuitive content management system (CMS) that will allow NECS to easily manage its own website content and to quickly add new sections to the site as new provisions are created within their service portfolio.

SPECIFIC TARGET AUDIENCE REQUIREMENTS

The 4 different target audiences for the NECS website is defined as a) CIC and Private Clients b) Businesses c) Schools and d) Counsellors

The new website needs to assist these target audiences do the following:

Quickly identify the service(s) they require

Locate information about specific resources

Learn more about the services provided

Easily engage with the NECS team

Discover upcoming NECS workshops and courses

Learn about extra services provided by NECS

Keep up to date with new developments

Find directions to the different NECS office locations

PROPOSED SOLUTION

We recommend the development of a completely new, completely restructured website, built from the ground up, with a custom design to convey the value that NECS adds to each of its 4 different audiences

The new website will be designed to:

Present NECS as the obvious choice for all 4 audiences

Provide NECS with a flexible marketing platform

Educate users and encourage them to get in touch

Provide users with all the information they need whilst in "research mode" • Inform users of upcoming workshop and courses

Additionally the following "behind the scenes" features will be built-in

Regular pings to Google, Yahoo and Bing

Google analytics performance reporting

High speed page loading

Anti-spam features on contact forms

Regular monthly software updates

THE RESULT

The NECS website now owns a useful, valuable digital educational resource for existing clients, potential new clients, new business partners and staff to use.

Would you like something similar?

Let's get in touch! Drop us a line to say hello and we'll arrange an initial chat over the phone or via Zoom.

If we feel we can add value to your brand then we generally arrange a free in-depth consultation, face to face if possible. Complete this form and let's get the ball rolling...