AKKHOR SOFT blog

Choosing a host for your web-site is no small decision. Once committed to one, it will become very difficult to move your business elsewhere – not to mention the damage that can be done to your business if you make the wrong choice. This makes it very important to “get it right the first time”. Find out as much as you can about your prospective host before making any decisions.

When evaluating your host, you will obviously be considering price. But price is, of course, not the only important factor. You will also need to take into consideration:

1. the speed and reliability of the servers and hardware
2. the features the host offers and whether these mesh with your own requirements, and, of course
3. the quality of their support services.

Let’s look at each of these in turn:

1. Speed and Reliability of the Servers and Hardware
The speed and reliability of your host’s servers will depend on several factors, including the quality of their connection to the internet, bandwidth, and the availability of back-up systems in case things go wrong. Here’s a checklist of points to consider when checking out your prospective host’s servers and hardware:

* A T3 Connection (or better), close to a primary internet backbone.
A T3 connection is approx 30 times as fast as a T1 connection. Smaller hosting providers – for example, the proverbial “garage operations” — will often use T1 connections, with no backup at all. They may be very cheap – but, be careful here, you can get what you pay for!

* Effective Bandwidth Management
In addition to having a fast connection to the internet, your host should be able to manage how its available bandwidth is used . As a guide, it should typically not be using more than 50 percent of its bandwidth.

* Backup Systems
If there is a systems, network or power failure, the last thing you want is to lose your data or to have your web-site go down for a long period. Good hosts will have back up systems in place to guard against this.

Look for a host who can provide:

* Regular, daily back up of your data
* Backup power supplies

Look for an uninterruptible power supply system (often referred to as “UPS”) – a back up power generator available in case of emergencies.

* Redundancy
Do they have more than one connection to the internet, in case one of their connections goes down.

* An “Uptime” Guarantee
These typically state “We guarantee 99% (or 99.5%) uptime”.

Here’s a sample of the kind of information that the web host should be supplying

“Our Internet connectivity is supplied by three separate diverse backbone providers: UUNET, SAAVIS and Goodnet. If one of these lines goes down, traffic is automatically routed through the lines that are still online. Our data center is supplied by multiple redundant power sources – centralized automatic UPS system with a battery-powered backup system. The batteries are also connected to three diesel power generators in the event of a power outage to the building.”

2. Features
As well as checking out the reliability of the servers and hardware you will also need to evaluate and compare the features provided by your host.

A full range of hosting features in http://akkhorsoft.com/linux-server-hosting-plan.php, which compares hosting providers on both price and features. This is an excellent facility for comparing features when choosing a host – but to make the best use of it, you will need first to prepare a list of features you require.

Here’s a checklist of things to consider:

* Shared or Dedicated Server?
Depending on your requirements, you may be better off with a dedicated server than a shared server. Dedicated servers are typically used in cases where there is a high level of traffic, there is a strong need for security, or the user wishes to run their own customised software and applications rather than the standard ones supplied by the host.

* Compatibility with Existing Software and Skills
Is your host’s server, software and support services compatible will the skills and software that you (or your design team) are using? If, for instance, you are used to working in a Unix environment, then it probably makes little sense to choose an NT host.

* Flexibility and Room for Growth
You do not need a database solution now, perhaps, but you may need one in the future. Similarly, a shared hosting arrangement may be fine for you now, but what if your traffic levels explode, and you need one in a years’ time? It is much easier to remain with one host than to change. So, when choosing a host, keep in mind your possible future needs, and whether the host will be able to accommodate them.

3. Support and Service
Once you have checked out the reliability of the servers and hardware, and located a host that provides the features you want, the final task is to evaluate the quality of their support services.

Most hosts now promise 24/7 support as a standard feature — but, do they really live up to that promise? It will be a good idea to find out before committing to them! Here’s a checklist of things to consider before making that all-important decision

* Quality of existing customers
What is the quality and calibre of the sites currently served by this host? If they generally host high-calibre commercial clients, then, if you are running a commercial web-site, they may be a better bet for you than if they mainly host, for instance, or small businesses with 2 or 3 page static web-sites. (There may, of course, be cost trade-off here.)

* Opinions of existing customers
A host may boast of its popularity, the fact that it hosts lots of web-sites. However, the most “popular” are not necessarily the best — they may just be the ones with the largest advertising budget!

Indeed “popularity” can be a double-edged sword — support resources may more thinly spread, and bandwidth may be squeezed as a result of the numbers hosted.

So don’t go on numbers alone. Get in touch with some of the host’s existing (or past) customers, and ask them what they really think of the service and reliability of their host.

* Stability
The last thing you want is for your host to go out of business. So try to get some idea of how stable they are. Number of years in business is sometimes (not always, of course) a good indicator.

* Support and Responsiveness
Try asking the support staff a few technical questions of the type you anticipate you will be asking when you host with them. Then monitor how quickly and efficiently they respond.

Spam your pages with keywords
When it comes to search engine ranking, ’spamming’ is trying to fool the search engine into ranking your site higher. Key words are crucial to your search engine rankings but it’s equally crucial that you don’t go overboard with your keywords or you risk being penalised. Your keywords should relate directly to the content of your webpage. Don’t gratuitiously list keywords one after the other (except in your keyword meta-tag). Instead, they should be integrated into your body text as naturally as possible.

Repeat the same keywords repeatedly
While it used to be common practice to load your meta-tags (and visible copy) with the same crucial keywords repeatedly, websites are now being penalised or removed from search engines for this practice. Don’t repeat a word in your meta-tags more than half a dozen times.

Similarly, don’t use the same title in more than one page. I know I often do this by accident by forgetting to change the title for each new page. This means you don’t need to repeat the business or website name in every subpage’s title. Effectively, what you’re telling the search bots is the content on all your pages is the same. Less pages on your site will get indexed and hence less traffic.

Don’t duplicate any pages on your website – search engines view this as spam. Also don’t repeat tags in your HTML. For example, using the TITLE tag more than once.

Repeatedly submit your page
Theoretically, you shouldn’t even need to submit your site to search engines. If you have other websites linking to you (which should be a priority in your online marketing), eventually a search engine’s spider should follow that link to your website and index your pages. It can speed up the submission process if you manually submit your site (and who wants to wait?) But be patient – search engines have cycles where they crawl the web, indexing new sites. Don’t resubmit your URL if it isn’t appearing immediately – it can take up to 2 months for your site to get listed (submit-it.com have a table of the estimated listing time for the major search engines). If you submit your site more than once within 24 hours, you may be penalised.

Dynamic URLs
Many search engines won’t index dynamic URLs. These are webpages (usually database driven) with %, &, Session ID’s in the URL. For example, http://www.akkhorsoft.net/categories.php?category=Computing&parent_id=877 If you are using database driven pages where you need to pass parameters through the URL, use mod_rewrite or some other URL rewriting technique to convert all your URLs to a search engine friendlier version.

Use frames
There are many reasons not to use frames, attractiveness and functionality not being the least. However, just the fact that search engines have trouble indexing framed websites is enough reason for me to give them a wide berth. Google explains their own troubles with frames in their page explaining why your site isn’t listed.

Make your text invisible
An old-hat technique to trick search engines was to hide paragraphs worth of keywords by making the text the same colour as the background. Nowadays this can also be achieved with layers by hiding text behind pictures or other objects. Search engines have wised up to this trick and if they find invisible text, may penalize or black-list your site. Don’t risk it – even accidental invisible text can burn you.

Use a splash screen for your homepage
A splash screen (also called doorway page, bridge page, etc) is a ‘welcome’ page visitors are forced to view (usually animated) before taken to the ‘real’ website. Two good reasons not to use them: firstly, many users (including myself) are frustrated by these time wasters which serve little practical purpose. Secondly, many search engines visiting your homepage won’t go further, resulting in none of your webpages being listed. But if you really, really want one, at least include a ’skip introduction’ link (it’ll be the most clicked link on your website).

Use graphic intensive design
A latest trend in web design has been the use of text links in navigation rather than graphics. Two good reasons to opt for text links over graphic links is they load quicker and search engines are more likely to follow the links to other pages in your site (and index them). Using keywords in your text links doesn’t hurt either – both for the page with the link and to improve the ‘relevancy’ of the page being linked to. But if you do have to use graphics in your design, at least insert a couple of keywords in the ALT tag used to describe the images.

A new year always brings up new hopes and wishes. These days everyone is occupied with things we want to accomplish in the next 12 months. We here at Akkhor are occupied too. Occupied with the future of web design and the changes and challenges the new year will bring.

We don’t want to try and predict what 2011 would look like on the web, but we sure have some hopes for it. These are our top five resolutions for web design.
Wishing you’ll  you a sensational and creative 2011!

1. Return of the Text:
While we certainly don’t want to resurrect 90′s style full text pages we’d definitely love to see some more text integrated into web design. The greatest benefit here is that more text means more typography, and more typography means a lot more experimentation and fun.

2. No More Distasteful Embedding:
The post-modern website is a dynamic one. It adds and drops embedded elements so fast, with each element leaving its mark on the design. We’re always sad to see beautiful websites turning bad for using an app that simply doesn’t blend in with their layout.

To avoid misfortunes, both embedded object and website should correspond with each other. Embedded widgets and apps should be designed compliment each other. True, new usabilities are important, but not at the cost of scarifying basic design principles.

3. Space it Out:
No, we don’t mean adding Star Wars clip art. We’re talking about leaving reasonable spaces between elements. Cramming too much information together is tasteless and extremely disorienting for site visitors. In 2011, give each element of your design enough room to make an impression.

4. Effects & Animation? Less Is more:
While some animations are cute and some effects really are useful, the popular use of animations and effects is mostly wrong. We keep running into websites that look like 4th of July gone wrong – too much motion and too much commotion. If you don’t want to scare your visitors away or leave the impression that you’re a Justin Bieber fan, please remove your animations or at least tone them down.

5. Abolish Automatic Audio Players:
Despite what some web designers believe, music is not always a fun addition to a site. Most internet users feel helpless when they open a page and, out of nowhere, strange music is coming out of their speakers. It is extremely uncomfortable in public spaces, not too mention that it slows down the loading of the website.

If you feel convinced that an auto-player will contribute to your website, please use a visible player that will be easy to turn off and on.

An effective Web site structure enhances user experience and allows search engines to determine the subject matter and relevancy of your site. You should create a blueprint of your site before you begin your design and content creation. It is important to keep all related Web site content grouped together into categories.

For example, if your Web site is about gourmet food, you would have a cheese section, a sauce section, and a section on dry goods. Each of your categories should have unique directory and file name structures, so that when your Web site is indexed by search engines, your site demonstrates a wide breadth of content related to the subject.

By doing this, your Web site can be viewed by the search engines as an authority across various areas of gourmet food. You need to spend time working on your Web site structure. Failure to have a properly structured site can make it difficult if not impossible for search engines to properly index your Web site. Such a failure may lead search engines to omit your Web site from the search results and conclude that you are not an authority on the subject matter of your site.

You have a well designed website with perfect usage of flash banners and graphic designs, with proper site navigation and easy accessibility. Still do you feel that you are not getting the desired visitors and sales to your site? I suggest you probably need to work on the content in the site. I believe it is essential to have effective web content in a website, to attract the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization
Search engines ranking or position websites based on two factors:

1. Is your site relevant to the search words? (Optimized)
2. Is your site important? (Many links back to your website from other websites)

Only when you address both of these are you guaranteed of making an impact. Your degree of success depends on how hard you try and how many other people you’re competing against and how hard they’re trying. This is the process that we follow at Doug Williams and Associates.

So how can one write effective content for their websites? Read it as “effective writing” and not “lengthy writing”. Out of my experience as an SEO consultant and professional content writer, the more crisp and easy to understand the content is, the greater are the chances for it to become a hit among the readers. Also I am of the opinion that regularly updating your website with data that is useful for the visitors would divert more traffic to your site. When do you think one needs to consider re-writing their website content? I have come across the following observations that I have mentioned below:

* Traffic inflow is good, but the conversion is not as expected, because the visitors are probably not getting what they expected out of the contents.
* When the content is very less and the site is filled with only graphics and Flash designs
* The content in the website is not explaining more about your business and gives irrelevant information to your visitors.

I have found the following tips highly helpful in maintaining effective SEO web copy for websites:

* Know your audience: Understand who are your audience and write keeping them in mind. Also write stuff that they can relate themselves to and what is realistic.
* Give a clear picture of your business: The content in your website should give exact details of your business. This helps in your audience getting a better idea of your business, thereby encouraging an inflow of website-relevant traffic.
* Make the content heading more appealing: Now that you know your audience well, next try writing stuff that will appeal to them. For example, if your visitors are going to be more of careful and budget-conscious family ladies, then you could write articles like “Top 8 ways to organize your household budget effectively”(Gosh! Am sure I myself would be interested to read it as well, and am not even married!) The heading has a striking impact to attract readers and wins a main part of the battle of bringing in traffic.
* Give them some useful information: Well you have clearly understood who your visitors are going to be and you have catchy headings as well. But what if the content inside is of no use to the audience. Write stuff that contains utilitarian information to your clients.
* Choose apt keywords: You have got to think from a normal layman’s point of view, who is searching for products. Choose probable keywords that your audience would search in the search engines.
* Use Keyword phrases: Bank on phrases and not single words as keywords, because the probability of searchers using phrases of words is more.
* Keyword phrases in Meta tags, links and headings: Now that you have frozen on the keyword phrases, use them in Meta tags, link them with text links, so that the pages get related to one another. This increases the probability of search engines spotting them out. Also use these phrases in headings as well
* Check and re-check! And more importantly, check and recheck whatever you have written, to overrule any spelling or grammatical errors.

According to me, these are certain ideal steps that you can follow from the SEO point of view, to optimize your site. I am sure, if written smartly and relevantly, web contents would help give a boost to your website, thereby increasing relevant traffic and sales conversion.

Search engine optimization process:
* Understanding your marketing plan, products / services, competition, etc. prior to the start of any work.
* Choosing the right keywords or phrases that describe your product or service.
* Using these keywords and phrases with the right prominence and frequency throughout the text. Having the right amount of text to satisfy the search engines.
* Placing these keywords in meta tags, and alt tags with the right prominence and frequency in the HTML code.
* The analysis of the HTML code and the debugging for errors that many sites have.
* Creating links from other relevant websites to yours to improve your link popularity and therefore improving of your ranking with many of the search engines

Estimates are that only 2-5% of the websites today have been optimized. With the growing number of websites being added by businesses and individuals, the only way to stay visible in the World Wide Web is SEO. Optimization helps your site to obtain top rankings.

Website optimization is not cheap, it requires many hours of analysis and investigation by experts. But the results can be astounding. Your website visibility can increase dramatically, saving you a lot of money that you would constantly need to spend on advertising otherwise.

Remember SEO is not using trickery to fool the search engines. It is not using spamming techniques that will only improve your chances of being dropped from search results altogether. It does not involve the use of “throwaway” domains or “shadow” domains. Such tricks will cause you to be dropped completely and at best only work for a short time.