Month: January 2024

January 28, 2024

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Here we are with our last entry for 2020 here, and it’s true that nearly every business seems to use their last blog of the year to do a ‘year in review’ themed or something similar entry. Normally we’d be similarly inclined but this year hasn’t been the best for anyone unless you’re a coronavirus. Then it’s been an unprecedented success. All joking aside, we are like all of you in hoping that 2021 sees all of this come to and end. One subject that has sort of returned to the front burner these days is cryptocurrencies, and it’s gone along with increasing numbers of people thinking that the ‘new’ world will see something of a move away from fiat currencies. Not a fundamental shift, but a greater share of the currency with which goods and services are bought and paid for. Bitcoin has become a household name with this subject, but now there’s a new type of cryptocurrency on the scene – Stablecoin. Now here at 4GoodHosting we’ll go ahead and assume that we’re like every other good Canadian web hosting provider in that there’s not a single bitcoin mining operation anywhere in the office here. But that’s not to say we don’t take an interest in this, and can see the value in a currency that’s not constantly at the mercy of international finance string-pullers and the IMF. So instead of giving a warm glance back on 2020 when likely no one feels very warm about the year that’s past, let’s spend use this post to have a longer look at Stablecoin. What Exactly IS a Stablecoin? Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that better minimize price volatility in comparison to a specific ‘stable’ asset or basket of assets. Unlike the more well-known Bitcoin, a Stablecoin is one that is representative in value for a real-world asset. That could be fiat money or exchange-traded commodities like gold. This gives them steadier and more ‘stable’ value against a target price, making them appealing for investors as well as providing the stability that is making many merchants about operating in the crypto space as it exists right now. Their greater value in being...

January 23, 2024

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Linux Hosting for E-Commerce: Advantages and Features Commerce has been at the heart of economic interests around the world for centuries. But as with anything that start with the ‘E-‘ prefix, the way the Internet arrived on the scene 20+ years ago has made it so that e-commerce has changed the landscape of business forever. It wasn’t all that long ago that taking your business online and selling goods or services there in the e-commerce capacity was optional. Not any more – now being engaged in e-commerce is pretty much a necessity if you want your business to be able to compete. This is the long and short of why businesses have websites, and more often that not the best Linux web hosting is powering these sites courtesy of the Canadian web hosting providers they’re working with. The reason most providers will employ Linux servers is because it is the consensus best choice among web hosting operating systems. It does the best job of accommodating different types of websites and giving them the resources they need. The fact it is an open-source OS also goes a long way in making dedicated Linux hosting so highly recommended to the extent it is. Without going into too much detail, Linux servers contribute to end users paying less for web hosting in Canada and that’s true for the USA and elsewhere too. People who have their websites to further business interests will be operating-cost sensitive a lot of the time, so this another part of what makes Linux best for e-commerce sites. So what we’ll do with this entry here is look at the best Linux web hosting in Canada and what are the advantages that come with the features and contribute to so many e-commerce sites having Linux web hosting behind them. Ideal Adaptability / Dependability Those running an e-commerce site will commonly aim to be with a best Linux web hosting hosting provider that can handle their activity and see to it their location continues to be up and running with the website open alongside the highway of the World Wide Web. For the best in adaptability...

January 19, 2024

Hosting Related, Security, Security Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Things change quickly in the digital world, and what was barely even on the radar can become a front and center issue overnight in some cases. Go back 10 years and the issue of privacy in web browsing wasn’t something the vast majority of people paid even the slightest bit of attention to. Nowadays, however, it’s definitely a hot-button topic given all the news that’s come out about web browsing histories and the like being tracked, monitored, and then made available to whoever doesn’t mind paying for information about what people like YOU search for online. Some people don’t have a problem with that. Other people have quite a significant problem with that. If you’re part of the second group there then you may have already switched over to using a web browser like DuckDuckGo or something similar. It’s a fine privacy-promoting web browser in itself, but it’s a bit of a generalist in that it works suitably well across the board but not especially well for any one framework. And that’s where and why Epic coming onto the scene is as noteworthy as it is. It is a Chromium-based browser designed to ensure privacy without giving up anything i speed or functionality. It blocks ads as well as prevents user tracking, and also includes built-in protection against a wide range of surveillance methods cryptocurrency mining scripts among them. It promises to be just what the Doctor ordered for those who think these types of overwatch activities are unacceptable, and here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any other quality Canadian web hosting provider in that we agree with you wholeheartedly. Let’s take a look at what makes this new no-tracking web browser such a good fit and why it promises to be especially well received. Surfers 1 / Watchers 0 It’s fair to say that it’s really a shame that the innocence and carefreeness of using the world wide web to gain information is gone now, and that government agencies, corporations, and malicious hackers lurking in the shadows and taking notes is entirely unacceptable. Even those who aren’t overly incensed at having their privacy violated will almost certainly choose to stay...

January 19, 2024

SEO Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Now-a-days many businesses are hiring cheap SEO services to cut down costs. But, by hiring cheap SEO services does it really make any sense to use these services and do these SEO firms offer search engine optimization? If you really see, there are many ways to get SEO done at a low price. Read the article to know the most popular cheap SEO services. 1. The CMS (content management system) vendor and the hosting company Some CMS vendors and the hosting companies will add 'SEO' services in their packages. These packages will include automated tools which inserts code and keywords on the web pages and, then these services will submit your website to search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. 2. Someone who is good with computers You may know someone's son/cousin/nephew who is really good with computers, and they may help you with SEO on your website. This will save your money because they don't charge much. 3. Offshore company that does everything for a low price Offshore companies will send some unrequested emails offering great services and will also promise you in building backlinks, optimizing the web pages and a lot more for a very less monthly fee. You may be tempted seeing these offers, as they don't look too bad. Reasons why you should not use cheap SEO services Using cheap SEO services just to cut costs does not make any sense because you are doing it at the expense of lost sales and revenue. The three services that are mentioned above have something in common that can be risky for you to use such services. For instance: The automated solutions that are offered by the CMS vendors and the hosting companies are outdated that have worked in early 2000's, but presently these methods do not work. Some of these automated methods are considered as spam and your website may get penalized for using them. SEO is no more point-and-click. Your nephew may be good at HTML coding and he may create a web page for you, but that doesn't mean that he has knowledge about SEO. Hiring offshore companies to promote your website is not a...

January 16, 2024

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 10 minutes

There is always everything to be said for simplicity and when you need to put something together yourself as much of it as possible is preferable. This can certainly apply to people assembling their own website. If you’re a multinational corporation or anything similarly sized you’ll need the impressive and supremely dynamic website that a professional webmaster will build for you. But for a lot of smaller ventures of all different sorts it makes more sense to do it yourself and nine times out of 10 people do that with a WordPress website. If that’s you then you pretty much need a Canadian web hosting provider like us here at 4GoodHosting that provides Linux server hosting for websites. Linux hosting is optimized for WordPress sites and the fact it’s an open-source OS means that these hosts will be able to offer WordPress hosting Canada for less – something that is going to be very appealing for certain small business owners too. Even VPS hosting with a Linux server may be the best choice for any business website. So the basics of it is that any WordPress site that has Linux server hosting behind it is off to the best start possible when someone is bringing their website online for the first time. It will have the best array of resources made available to it, and of the aspects that makes it even easier to modify your site on your own here is with our cPanel controls. Some of you may be just starting to explore that yourselves, and so what we’re going to do here with this week’s entry is explain some approaches to optimizing WordPress on Linux hosting servers. Page Speeds Prominent And it is wise to make optimizing your WordPress one of your top priorities. Nothing speaks to this more than the importance of page speeds these days and also considering that Google’s ranking algorithm has adapted to this new reality given the importance website browsers will put on it. It is well known that a slow site means less visitors and if you have a WordPress website for a small business or venture you won’t be able...

January 11, 2024

Domain Related

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Choosing Linux hosting for your small business is important There are plenty of people who have extensive business acumen running successful and profitable businesses who at the same time won’t know the slightest thing about web hosting. In fact that’s likely the case the vast majority of the time, but as we all know there isn’t going to be any more than a handful of such businesses that haven’t taken themselves online. The reason businesses put so much emphasis on digital market and search engine optimization for their sites is explicitly in the fact that nowadays the number one way a business secures customers is when they’re prominently visible on the web. We likely don’t need to spell it out here, but without reliable Canadian web hosting any business in the country isn’t going to have their site locatable on the world wide web, but what’s good to understand is that not all web hosting is equal. There is a reason why a cheap linux server is always going to be in demand, and that’s because most of the time Linux cloud hosting is better than Windows web hosting or other types based on the universality of it and how it’s best for reliability, uptime guarantees, as well as promoting maximum performance for websites that have a lot more to their functionality than others. Economy Linux hosting with cPanel is even more of a better choice for small businesses, and in large part that’s because the open-source nature of Linux means that Canadian web hosting providers like us here at 4GoodHosting can offer quality hosting at lower prices. Another part of that, however, is that small businesses may have a WordPress website and Linux web hosting is far and away the best performance fit for WordPress sites. Superior Open-Source Hosting OS Linux cloud hosting got its start in 1991 as something of a spinoff of the Unix operating that eventually became a free operating system for Intel x86-based computers. Since then it has grown in popularity and has become one of the most widely used open-source operating systems in the world. Any discussion of a cheap...

January 5, 2024

SEO Related

Reading Time: 8 minutes

A large percentage of the client websites we host are based on Wordpress. We are sometimes asked for plugin suggestions. Having the right mixture of plugins can help you take your business or otherwise hobby website to the next level. With over 44,000 free plugins available in the WordPress depot, there is no lacking of any amount on utility that can be easily added to your website by installing one of them. There are literally thousands of plugins providing features that you might have not known to exist. However, it can be quite time-consuming to sort the great ones from the bad ones, so we are giving you a list of the best plugins that you must have in the most essential categories. We also list an alternative for many of the categories. All the plugins considered here are free and can be installed on your website within a few minutes. A. W3 Total Cache Speed is one of the most important SEO factors. Faster websites rank higher in Google, this means more visitors for your business website and more conversions. W3 Total Cache allows you to serve compressed and cached files to your visitors. This reduces the load on your server and your website becomes faster. B. Soliloquy Sliders on your WordPress landing pages allow you to easily display your featured content, products, and announcements in a beautiful interactive way. Soliloquy is the best WordPress slider in the market. It allows you to easily create your own beautiful sliders and add them anywhere on your WordPress site. C. OptinMonster OptinMonster is the most popular conversion rate optimization software. It allows you to convert abandoning website visitors into email subscribers. If you want to grow your email list, then this is a must have WordPress plugin in 2016. If you don’t have a firewall on your website, then add one today. D. BackupBuddy While we’re talking about security, there’s no better security than having a reliable backup system. As a business owner, you cannot afford to lose your business and customer data in case of a hardware failure or an attack on your host’s servers. The first thing you should...

January 4, 2024

Hosting Related, Security, Security Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Today, websites mostly run either on a Linux or a Windows based web server. However, a large chunk of sites run using Linux hardware. If your site is a HTML-based static web site, the operating system of your hosting server won't make any difference but, it makes difference when your site uses dynamic scripting languages like ASP or PHP/Perl (Linux technologies). Yet there has been success when websites run on PHP and Perl on Windows OS for years together. But, the licensing and technology for running ASP and Microsoft databases is being ironed out. A Windows server runs an MS Windows IIS (Internet Information Server) and is important for websites based on ASP/.NET scripting languages whereas, a Linux server is used for running the remaining websites, which is more in usage because of its availability at no cost. How the hosting computer is compatible with your home computer? Some people are worried about the compatibility of their system with the web hosting system. They are unnecessarily worried whether their system is compatible with the web hosting system. In reality, you won't run any program from your system on host's web server. And, the host won't run anything on your system. So, it doesn't matter what type of system you use. The only thing that makes a big difference visible is a Windows server runs a Plesk control panel. On the other hand, Linux uses cPanel to manage the hosting accounts of the users. Does your website need Windows technologies ASP or .NET or MS SQL or MS Access? If you need Windows technologies for your website and your website or web applications are executing directly ASP or .NET code, or if it is using MS Access or MS SQL or possibly using advanced databases/interfaces that connect remotely to the required Microsoft-based web servers, it is essential to sign-up for a web hosting package that uses Windows. There are also other ways of using Windows applications on Linux systems. But if your site is depending on the Microsoft technologies, you may face a smaller number of challenges and concerns. If you are going to use a Windows server and if you...

January 3, 2024

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Being known as the software with the cute Penguin mascot may contribute to marginally to the popularity of Linux, but the reason that most Canadian web hosting providers will offer Linux-based hosting to their customers is because of its overall robust nature and reliability as a web hosting OS. Plus it has a greater degree of compatibility with different types of websites, and all three of those advantages along with super flexibility and cost-effectiveness grow out of the fact that Linux has been built on open-source code. That may all sound fine to many who aren’t as tech-inclined as others, but many of those folks who have a website that is front and center for the profitability of their business will need more tangible explanations about why they should choose a Linux web hosting provider in Canada like 4GoodHosting. The obvious answers for those who are in the know will be to tell them that being open-source means that Linux-based hosting tends to be less expensive, and then there’s also the fact you won’t need to add an additional antivirus 99+% of the time. This is just scratching the surface of what makes Linux server hosting the best and most cost-effective choice for a business’ website, and if you compared packages you’ll find that cheap Linux hosting does exist and none more so than with our shared web hosting packages here at 4GH. But many of these sites will need more ‘elbow room’, and in those cases Linux VPS web hosting is unbeatable and will get our nod as the best Linux web hosting in Canada. Programmer / Developer Friendly Continuing with our promotion of Linux server hosting, it really is a robust and versatile operating system and capable of supporting a number of languages and scripts. This is the reason it is one of the most preferred platforms for programmers and developers. Again, that’s wonderful but how does that translate into tangible benefits for the web hosting client who’s looking for maximum return from their website and overall web presence? It's easy to provide an answer to that; if greater and immediate control over your website and the ability...