March 6, 2014

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

It can take a lot of time to properly research a web host and there is still a certain probability that you may end up with a bad one. The servers may go offline, it may be hard to reach a human being there, they may let their server get overloaded causing it to slow down , or the company could be bought and sold. For those reasons and possibly many more, you might find yourself having to move your website to a good web host; for example 4GoodHosting. ; ) Wordpress is the most popular blogging platform, is is offered by most web hosts; although there a several other popular choices as well. When relocating your Wordpress blog, you will need to go through the following steps. These steps also serve as a general outline for other blogging scripts too: Make/download a backup of your site/blog, including: Theme directories/files Uploads directory Plugins directory read_more Database (you need to export this through mySQL using phpMyAdmin in your hosting account control panel ) Copy your database (“db”) You can do this manually or use a program like phpMyAdmin to explore the database and the import it into your new hosting account using phpMyAdmin in your hosting account control panel. Create an installation of WordPress in your new hosting account. Configure WordPress to use your imported database Upload theme files, uploads and plugins direct directories Test that everything is working correctly. Extra information: WordPress has a built-in export/import tool that you can try instead of this manual method. You will still need to copy your upload directory manually. Make sure you have the latest version of WordPress on both hosting account. Migrating from one version to a different version might cause errors, especially if it involves a major version jump. A bad web host can be a nightmare, but it is not one you have to endure. Find another host and move your blog as soon as you can. Dealing with a negligent web host can be a nightmare; but you don't need to suffer any more. Bring your or your friend's blog or website to 4GoodHosting. We offer free website transfers,...

February 25, 2014

Hosting Related

Reading Time: 1 minutes

As you probably already know, about 2 months ago many core net neutrality rules were struck down in a case involving Verizon and the FCC has proclaimed that it will not appeal the ruling. The decision was a powerful victory for Verizon, as it ok'd the company's right to favor some types of internet traffic and services over other packets of data. So for example, ISPs are free to choose to block or slow down websites such as Netflix; or any others at any time. That just sucks rotten eggs, eh? In essence free speech just went to potentially limited speech as it seems. Although the FCC won't appeal the ruling, a spokesperson said chairman Tom Wheeler promises to establish new rules that ISPs from charging other companies, like 4GoodHosting?, a fee to get the highest performance speeds. Yet, will that turn out to be an empty promise? Something said to quiet people down for a while about the issue? The FCC's new rules will reportedly debut in late spring or early summer of this year. One of many petition links: http://act.credoaction.com/sign/verizon_netneutrality Like you, 4GoodHosting supports the free and open ideals of net neutrality.

February 18, 2014

SEO Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

With Google's recent updates, there has been constant doubts, uncertainty and fear among webmasters. They are not sure which tactics to use to build backlinks to your site and which tactics should be avoided? But, there are some old-school SEO tactics that still work if done in the right way. 1. Forum backlinks How not to do it: Backlinks that are created automatically from forum will get you penalized by Google. To get automatic forum accounts that have keyword rich links, there are many tools and services that point to the sites of the visitors. But these links are of no use because they no longer work. How to do it right: If a good quality forum is related to the topic of your site, then a link from that forum can be of a positive influence for your web pages on the search engine positions. read_more 2. Directories How not to do it: Submitting your website to directories in bulk that accepts any kind of site will not improve your rankings. How to do it right: A directory which is of high quality and which delivers targeted visitors to your site, then you should submit your website to such directories. Links that come from authoritative directories that follow submission guidelines that are strict then such directories are good for your site. 3. Guest blogging How not to do it: Using the same article on different blogs will not work and using keyword rich links in the article may get a Google penalty. If you are guest blogging only for the purpose of getting links then better not to do it. How to do it right: If you write guest blogs that are related to your business then it will drive targeted visitors to your site. Your guest blog should offer the readers some valuable information and insights they are looking for. By doing so it will bring a positive influence on your website's performance. 4. Link pages How not to do it: If the link pages of your website has links to websites that is not related to your business, then these link pages are not helpful for your...

February 11, 2014

Domain Related, Hosting Related, SEO Related

Reading Time: 1 minutes

Singapore has the highest number of IPv6 certified engineers as well as the highest percentage of IPv6 capable networks (38.57 percent) compared to other countries around the world, according to an infographic released on Monday. Network Utility Force, an organization that provides IPv6 training and IPv6 network design and implementation, released the infographic to provide a look at the IPv6 migration landscape and some challenges in IPv4 exhaustion this year. “Based on our IPv6 work to date, including work for our current customers, 2014 appears to be the year ARIN will have no more IPv4 addresses to allocate,” Brandon Ross, co-founder, CEO and Chief Network Architect of Network Utility Force said. “To that end, we expect 2014 to be a growth year for IPv6 migrations and deployments, and thus, forecasting and budgeting at the beginning of the year will be important, as engineering resources are limited.” While Network Utility Force has an obvious motive for releasing the infographic, it does provide an interesting look at international adoption of IPv6. According to the infographic, IPv4 addresses will be depleted by December 2014. read_more

February 5, 2014

SEO Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Dear 4GoodHosting Customers and Prospective Customers and general website visitors, It is with great pleasure that we tell you about some recent additions to 4GoodHosting over this past month. For registered charities and non-profits, we are giving back to the community by offering a free website hosting package, and optional larger packages with a 15% discount over our already low hosting package prices. Therefore to serve them for what they do for others, we also become a non-profit of sorts for non-profits and charity customers. For more information on our lasting pledge for Canadian charities and non-profits, please see: our free-charity-web-hosting page. Also new on the 4GoodHosting menu is Windows Reseller Hosting. For those that require specialized Windows server hosting requiring Asp, .net , IIS 7.0, MsSql 2008, MySql 5 or other windows applications, we do Windows! Please see our Windows reseller page for more information on our Windows reseller program. Perhaps the most exciting development is the extra security you can feel knowing that we just opened a new datacenter in Toronto. Perhaps you prefer East coast hosting over West coast hosting; then we have a solution for you. Everyone will benefit from our transcontinental backups. Even if an unexpected power blackout (or an earthquake perhaps?) took out Vancouver, our Toronto data center will still serve your website to the world; or vice-versa. Technically, this is called 'fault-tolerance' or trans-continental 'redundancy'. Hopefully no large-scale disasters ever happen, but we cover it in any case. And if the above wasn't cool enough... how about $4.95 .CA domain for this entire month of February! At that incredible special price why not gift a .CA domain to yourself or a special sweetheart or good friend this month? : ) It is our pleasure to continue serving you!

January 28, 2014

SEO Related

Reading Time: 3 minutes

With recent Google algorithm updates, it is not that easy to get great rankings. But, fortunately it is possible to get good rankings if you preform right things and it depends on your targeting keywords. To rank high, you need to do various things. 1. On-page optimization has a big impact with long keywords The degree of on-page optimization will be high, if you are able to target long keywords and with little external competition. If you want to be listed for the search term "the nashville etymologists club t-shirts" then, it is sufficient to optimize only the web page that is having the search term because there is not much competition for that key phrase. If you target more of competitive keywords, you should have more backlinks that are of good quality or non-spammy in order to rank high in the search results of Google. 2. On-page optimization is important even for more competitive keywords To rank high in the Google and other search engines on-page optimization is the main factor, it is the foundation. read_more With particular keyword or phrase if you optimize the web page then this shows that you are instructing the search engine that the web page is highly relevant to that particular key phrase. If you are optimizing more number of web pages which is usually more than one for the same keyword or phrase then the web page which is having best inbound links will rank higher in the search results. 3. Start with content optimization, then move to backlinks The first step to rank high in the Google for a particular keyword is to optimize the web page for that keyword. Know work on the links that is linked to the page that is optimized to outrank other sites which are optimized for the same keyword. 4. The more you optimize the better When you are optimizing your website, start optimizing different pages of your website for various keywords or phrases. To do it, start with long keywords or phrases that are not much of competition and then move with more competitive keywords. As Google is able to identify that your website...

January 14, 2014

SEO Related

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a continuous journey, it's not a destination. In order to rank high on search engine results, you need to do several things that can help you rank. Some of them are listed below: Search engine optimization (SEO) is a continuous journey, it's not a destination. In order to rank high on search engine results, you need to do several things that can help you rank. Some of them are listed below: 1. Willing to change and work hard You need to improve your website by implementing certain things and making changes on your website. Take help and advice of your SEO provider, as they will tell you what works best for your website and it is upto you to implement. You need to work on certain things to bring your website into shape. 2. Stay true to yourself When coming to making changes in your website, you should not do things that you like, instead do things that are recommended by the SEO provider. In this way it will help you rank high on Google. read_more 3. Having the right equipment helps a lot Your work becomes easy if you have the right equipment. If you want your website to rank first on Google's result page, you need to have a good domain name, clean web pages, good SEO tool and a good server. By doing so will help you get good results. 4. Stop trying to game the system To get quick search engine optimization results, you may consider some spammy techniques that may show you immediate results. But these methods will work only for some time, because Google will sooner or later detect the spam methods and your website will be de-indexed. If you are ready to bring the change in your website, you will get the rankings that it deserves. Though getting top 10 rankings on Google isn't that easy, but it's not that difficult either. You only have to do things that are right for your website. If you haven't done it yet, try 4GoodHosting's SEO services now. We will help you to get your website in shape and it will...

January 9, 2014

Hosting Related, SEO Related

Reading Time: 13 minutes

Just think of your website thermometer rustling its wings comfortably in waters crowded with competitors all aiming at the same goal – to attract the buyers’ attention. But here is the catch: Your website is embarking on quite the convoy with many other websites and not all of them will be the best at handling their ships (in this case, sites). Sounds chaotic, right? It is where dedicated IP addresses come into the play! Picture this: You have wrought hours, days, weeks, possibly months, selecting content, designing, and searching out the perfect keywords and SEO and have nicely waked up to find another site shamelessly sharing your IP indulge in spamming. All of a sudden, your ship gets capsized and your website rankings take the plunge too… Oh no! Well, worry not because in this blog we’re going to demystify dedicated IP addresses further and how they can be the secret ingredient for your SEO! This is a blog dedicated to explaining dedicated IP addresses in the context of SEO while telling you about 4GoodHosting – a reliable web hosting provider in Canada that makes dreams into realities. So, sit tight and prepare your selves to embark on a comic strip across the cyber-sea of search engine optimization! What is Dedicated IP address? A dedicated IP address may be compared with your personal parking space in the great avenues consisting of Internet freeway where everyone has own space. This is in contrast to the general shared hosting where many websites are hosted over a single IP address; the IP address that will be assigned to you will be a unique one since you’ll have the site to yourself. We are aware that it is the only one the world and it can be accessed only if your website is the one to turn to it. Cool, right? Using the shared hosting method, you may be given a plan whereby all the sites are given a single IP address. At other times, these other sites may be spamming, or may be on a blacklist and this can have a detrimental effect on your SEO. This risk, however, can be eliminated through...

January 7, 2014

SEO Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It will no longer be possible to build a link just by spamming, thanks to Google's latest updates. This is a move initiated by Google. Now, some wise moves have to be made in order to achieve victory in 2014. It's more fun to build links in 2014 You might have came across a few articles on the Internet stating that building links is not possible any longer. These are the people who do not know any other means of building a link other than spamming. Speaking concisely, the traditional ways of buildings links through creating backlinks automatically in bulk and creating fake profiles on social media to get backlinks are not going to work today. Older techniques like spamming article websites and forums with cheap and unreliable matter and automated link networks do not work today.In short: spamming does not work anymore. read_more So much have been lost since the Google's recent updates but the basic necessity of building links stands still in order to achieve high rankings on Google. This has been made clear by Google's Matt Cutts in an interview. “Links are still the best way that we’ve found to discover [how relevant or important somebody is], and maybe over time social or authorship or other types of markup will give us a lot more information about that.” 2. Relevance is more important One of the important concepts introduced by Google last year, one is “Things, not strings”. The need and cause of a link has become further made important with this concept. The context has become important. There is now a demand for synchronization between your website and the web pages that provide links to your website in terms of topics and purpose. Though Google has been reiterating these things for years, it now seems to be serious about it. “Natural” is the motto adopted by the Google. Google wants that the keywords entered by the user should relate your website in close approximations. It does not want your websites should contain the exact keywords. Such an event will put filters into action that will eliminate your website in search results based on being “Unnatural”. Google...