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...

December 28, 2023

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Coming End for Tracking Cookies in Google Chrome There’s all sorts of examples where something that was once an extra, an addition, or whatever else it is you’d call it becomes much more integral. That’s definitely the case with cookies, and of course we’re not talking about anything edible at all considering what we write about here each week always has some relation to websites and web hosting. Instead we’re talking http cookies, and if you’re not familiar with what they are here is a brief explanation. Cookies are text files with small pieces of data used to identify your computer as you use a computer network, and HTTP cookies are used to identify specific users and improve a person’s web browsing experience. Now in that sense they are something of an extra, as the extent to which a person is pleased with their browsing has no relation to whether they can literally browse or not. There are factors that will determine that, and this is where any Canadian web hosting provider will chime in and say that none of that even gets off the ground unless you’ve quality Linux-based web hosting behind the sites you direct your browser of-choice to. But cookies themselves haven’t been such an integral component of a website. Until recently that is, as what has happened is that for some websites they are unable to function properly without them. And so all of this is relevant now with news that tracking cookies will no longer be utilized with Google Chrome – the browser of-choice for most nowadays and likely to continue as it – and the reason for that being to improve user privacy and stop websites from tracking people as they visit different URLs. The last part of that is something that many people have put a lot of emphasis on when it comes privacy concerns related to how they use the Internet. So this is what we are going to dig deeper into with this blog entry. Option to Re-Enable All this is happening as part of Google’s Privacy Sandbox project. January 4th of next month is when they...

December 18, 2023

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The 25% rise of Global Internet Traffic for 2024 There are plenty of things we all become aware of that come as no surprise. Seeing ever greater parts of our lives moving into the digital realm is to be expected, and it’s increasingly common for people to be online because of their need for productivity rather than simply browsing the web for whatever it is that interests them. The growth of the Internet of Things is something that very much goes alongside all of this, and there are likely to be other major trends and developments in the future that will increase our reliance on the World Wide Web. That’s something that is very relevant for us here at 4GoodHosting in the same way it would be for any good Canadian web hosting provider, and as this year comes close to ending it seems that Internet traffic has gone up quite considerably over the last 12 months. The 25% rise in global internet traffic definitely reflects an increased reliance on online services, and it’s also not surprising that Google retained its position as the most popular internet site. The other leaders were Facebook, Apple, and TikTok, and Instagram and Twitter/X also ranked high for where Internet users are spending most of their time. Another noteworthy trend seen with Internet use over the year is the way financial organizations were prime targets for cyberattacks. The most common of these threats were deceptive links and extortion attempts in emails. The fact that were so many Internet outages - over 180 incidents worldwide – is something that is more of a problem because of the increased reliance we talked about earlier. There ere only 150 reported internet shutdowns in 2022, and it’s been reported that a lot of the increase is attributable to government-imposed shutdowns Also not surprising is seeing that smartphones are the primary way people access the internet. In 2023 more than 40% of users who went on the Internet did so via a mobile device, and one-third of the with an Apple device. Another contributor in all of this is the way SpaceX Starlink is becoming...

November 27, 2023

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

If you say you’ve got a lot riding on something, it doesn’t necessarily mean someone or something is in the saddle or anything of the sort. There’s no actual riding going on, and instead what it means there is the potential to be successful or unsuccessful with something you have value in. For any business of any size these days they will have a lot riding on their website, and the value they’ll have it is growth and profitability. You go into business to make money, and a website is increasingly how your customers are going to find you these days. So reliable Linux web hosting in Canada is going to be a priority for these folks. And fortunately consumers do have options as there are many web hosts in Canada that have reasonable pricing for reliable web hosting. Competition exists in any business, but in ours here we need to have exceptional customers service to go along with everything else people will want to be assured of with their web hosting – uptime guarantees, dedicated Linux server hosting for large e-commerce websites with heavy traffic from online customers, SSL certificates for transaction security, and much more. And that’s what we strive to do here. The majority of Canadian web hosting providers will have online help feature for customers and you get live real-time assistance related to anything with your web hosting package. We do too, and we also make a point of offering a money-back guarantee that our Linux web hosting in Canada is as rock-solid and affordably priced as you’ll find anywhere in the country. Right Touch Customer trust when it comes to web hosting isn’t built exclusively on technical capabilities. Yes, you need to be known for web hosting that has sites alongside the information superhighway all day every day and reliably, but there also needs to be a very responsive human element to the way you offer customer service. We see customer service as a term that encompasses the overall perception and interactions a customer has with a company during the time that they are receiving a paid service. The majority of customers like the affordability...

November 20, 2023

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Unveiling SSD Storage: Enhancing Performance in Our Hosting Plans There was once when tubes were on the top of the electrical circuit kingdom but since then solid state drives have really taken over based on their reliability. Vintage guitar amp enthusiasts will argue otherwise, but everyone else who has an understanding and appreciation of this kind of engineering will know that solid state really is tops for working reliability and the ability to withstand shocks to the system. Without going into too much detail that’s the reason that SSD storage is a big part of why SSD web hosting is superior for most. That reliable performance has everything to do with these drives’ integrated circuit assemblies and the way the make data storage different – and better. Traditional hard disk drives wouldn’t have had tubes, but that’s not the point here. What is the point is that the reason SSD drives are better is because they don’t run as hot, they don’t run as loudly, and they are a lot more shock resistant. But what is even more important as it relates to being better is that they use less power, are much less likely to fail mechanically, and – last but not least – you don’t need to defragment them. Your Canadian web hosting provider will need to be writing them over, and sometimes much more frequently than you’d think so using these drives in Canada is the sensical choice to be offering hosting customers who only have one priority with this – reliable uptime for their website and reasonable prices on SSD web hosting in Canada. These compact storage devices have become the backbone of modern hosting plans, and they’ve given websites a whole new level of performance and reliability. NAND Flash Plus 1 A simple definition for SSD drives is that they are a type of storage device that uses semiconductor memory technology equipped with NAND Flash memory rather than spinning disks to store and retrieve data. They are almost like a larger-scale and speedier version of the USB flash drives you have at home, but sitting in a computer instead. Faste access...

November 14, 2023

Domain Related, Hosting Related

Reading Time: 9 minutes

For many people, their high level of proficiency with whatever they’re good at is the result of their growing up with it. Now to have grown up with web development and operations you’d have to be a fairly young person right now given the Internet isn’t even quite 30 yet. Those youngsters are going to be the most capable of being a webmaster and operating/managing a website, but for those of us who were born decades before the advent of the information superhighway that may not be such an easy thing to do. Here at 4GoodHosting , we’re like any good Canadian web hosting provider in the fact that we get that, and that’s why most of us will provide our recipients with cPanel controls that make the processes a lot easier and doable. The ease of use and far-reaching functionality of cPanel is the reason it has become as ubiquitous as it is for website management through a web host. Others are good, and some would even say equally good but cPanel is the industry standard for anyone enjoying the best Linux shared hosting. We’re inclined to say it’s intuitive, but we realize that some may not take to it as easily or get a handle on it as fast as we might. So for this entry, we’re going to provide a comprehensive guide to efficient website management with cPanel. And for anyone weighing their options for the best Linux web hosting in Canada, it may be that this demonstration is part of what makes going with either shared or VPS hosting here even more convincing. So let’s get into it. Ideal Interface cPanel controls and sets various aspects of your website, and that’s a necessity as ever website needs an interface operating behind it and used to tailor the site preferences so that it runs and displays exactly as you’d like it to. This includes email accounts, database connections, and FTP settings available through cPanel’s easy-to-use interface. It’s a WHCP – web hosting control panel – and as we mentioned every web hosting provider will have one that they make available to customers. The reason being they’d be...

November 7, 2023

Hosting Related, SEO Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

It’s hard to think of examples where complexity is preferable to simplicity, at least when you look at whatever it is for an end-user perspective. There are times when architectural complexity is needed for any number of different interests, but when it’s you that is doing the building and using of it then you probably want everything to be as simple as possible. That certainly applies to websites, as most people who don’t need anything too fancy with theirs are going to be fine with a simple yet functional and fairly good looking one too. For many that’s a WordPress website, and the ease of use with putting one together and maintaining or upgrading it is why WordPress websites are more numerous that other type of site. Good Canadian web hosting providers like us here at 4GoodHosting are receptive to that popularity and will offer managed WordPress web hosting plans that are optimized for these types of sites. They are also decidedly affordable for people who aren’t leaning on a website to be the most focal point of whatever is they’re promoting for themselves with Toronto web hosting So going the simple route with a WordPress website is a great place to start if you’re claiming a domain name for the first time and you’re ready and eager to make yourself visible on the information superhighway. There are also ways to make your WordPress site function ever better despite it’s barer-bones simplicity, and that’s what we’re going to look at with this blog entry. Speedier is Important Optimizing website speed isn’t a nice-to-have for WordPress website owners, and nowadays it’s really something that you can’t do without at all. There’s been research that’s indicated nearly half (47%) of consumers won’t give a web page any longer than two seconds to load. This is something nearly everyone can relate to, as no one is willing to tolerate or be patient with a page that doesn’t load sufficiently quickly. There are several strategies you can implement to speed up your WordPress website to go along with the speed benefits that come with Toronto web hosting optimized for WordPress sites. So without any...