.Inc Domains Now Available for Business Websites

4GHadmin | 16 April 2019
Reading Time: 3 minutes

For the longest time the .com domain extension was the one and only in the world of domains. In the early days of the Internet that wasn’t an issue, but as ever-greater numbers of sites – literally thousands of them – came onboard there became a need for alternative domain extensions. With a quick nod of acknowledgement to the .org and .net domains of the world, the most noteworthy development was the creation of country-specific domain name extensions. For example, if you’re here in Canada you’ll know that .ca domains are pretty much as numerous as .com ones.

All of this is why news like this is going to be of interest to any leading Canadian web hosting provider, whether their way out west like us here at 4GoodHosting or anywhere between here and St. John’s. And to get right to it, that news is that a new top-level domain is now available for registration.

Introducing .inc domains!

Most will be aware that inc. is short for incorporated, and without going into great detail that means that a business acts and exists independently of its owners.

Back to relevant information, however – the appeal of these new .inc domains is obviously that they’ll be an immediate indicator of a website being a business one. It’s likely that many decision makers will also perceive a greater sense of authority to having a .inc domain. This new option joins Google making the .dev domain name available for developers.

Specifically for Businesses

The new .inc TLD will be operated by Intercap Registry Inc., and their belief is that any business that ends its title with ‘Incorporated’ will be quite keen to have a domain that allows to have the website address end the same way. And it’s not just a select few who’ll be able to go this route if they’d like to. The .inc domain name will be available to register in the official language of more than 190 countries and used by any business—from start-ups to established major players in many different industries.

It’s safe to say that having a .inc at the end of a web address can help businesses gain credibility and, as mentioned, add a certain level of inherent authority to their website.

Bonuses

If that’s not incentive enough for incorporated businesses all over the globe, there’s some perks available for those ready to make the switch – free member benefits worth $2500 from leading brands. Among others, they are:

  • $1,000 in free transaction fee credits from Square
  • Free press release on GlobeNewsWire to announce the new .inc website
  • Free $100 credit for sponsored job listings on Indeed
  • $150 ad spending match for Google Ads

Converts are also encouraged to know that website migration to the .inc domain will not include downtime or a negative impacting of search engine optimization (SEO).

Harder to Cybersquat

Now here’s a term that should be much more foreign to many of you. Cybersquatting is registering, selling, or using a domain name with intent of profiting on the goodwill of another person or organization’s trademark. It’s generally done by buying up domain names that use the name of existing businesses with the intent of selling them for a profit later on.

It is also hoped that these .inc TLDs will prevent cybersquatting, allowing businesses to avoid having to deal with pre-registered domains related to their business name being held for ransom. The .inc TLDs are now available for priority trademark registration till April 30, and can be registered here.

After April 30 and until May 7 they will be available for priority public registration, and then after that for global public registration. Priority trademark registration is expected to set businesses back around $3,500. Definitely not cheap for the average individual, but not doubt a good many businesses will see that as money reasonably well spent all things considered.

If you’d like to know more about these domains, or have any questions about domain names and domain name extensions in general, we’d be happy to answer them for you. Contact us anytime.

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Project Pathfinder for an ‘Even Smarter’ SIRI

4GHadmin | 11 February 2019
Reading Time: 4 minutes

AI continues to be one of the most game-changing developments in computing technology these days, and it’s hard to argue that there’s no more commonplace example of AI than in the digital assistants that have nearly become household names – Apple’s SIRI and Google’s Alexa. Even a decade ago many people would have stated their disbelief at the notion that it might be possible to make spoken queries to a digital device, and then have them provide a to-the-minute accurate reply.

The convenience and practicality of AI has been a hit, and what’s noteworthy about it is the way that folks of all ages have taken to it. After all, it doesn’t even require the slightest bit of digital know-how to address Siri or Alexa and rattle of a question. Indeed, both tech giants have done a great job building the technology for their digital assistants. With regards to Siri in particular, however, it appears that Apple is teaming up with a company that’s made a name for themselves developing chatbots for enterprise clients.

Why? – to make Siri an even better digital assistant and even more the so the beacon of AI made possible for everyday people.

Here at 4GoodHosting, like most Canadian web hosting providers we have the same level of profound interest in major developments in the computing, web hosting, and digital worlds that many of our customers do. This zeal for ‘what’s next’ is very much a part of what makes us tick, and this coming-soon improvement to Siri makes the cut as something worth discussing in our blog here today.

Proven Partnership

The aim is to make it so that Siri gets much better at analyzing and understanding real-world conversations and developing AI models capable of handling their context and complexity. In order to do that, they’ve chosen to work with a developer who they have a track record of success with. That’s Nuance, who is an established major player in conversation-based user interfaces. They collaborated with Apple to begin with Siri, and so this is round 2.

As mentioned, Nuance’s present business is focused on developing chatbots for enterprise clients, and so they’re ideally set up to hit the ground running with Project Pathfinder.

Project Pathfinder

The focus of Project Pathfinder came from Apple’s belief that machine learning and AI can automate the creation of dialog models by learning from logs of actual, natural human conversations.

Pathfinder is able to mine huge collections of conversational transcripts between agents and customers before building dialog models from them and using those models to inform two-way conversations between virtual assistants and consumers. Conversation designers are then more able to develop smarter chatbots. Anomalies in the conversation flow are tracked, and problems in the script can then be identified and addressed.

Conversation Building

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa have inner workings that make it so that your speech is interacting with reference models. The models then try to find a solution to the intent of your question, and accurate replies depend on conversation designers doing two things; 1, having learned from subject matter experts, and 2 – doing the same from a LOT of trial and error process related to query behavior.

As far as Apple’s concerned, giving the nod to Nuance and their conversation designers was the best way to go.

Pathfinder empowers them to build on their existing knowledge base with deep insights gathered from real conversational interactions that have taken place inside call centers. More to the point, however, the software doesn’t only learn what people are discussing, but it also makes determinations on how human agents guide users through the transactions.

Adding more intelligence to voice assistants/chatbots is made possible with this information, and so Siri is primed to build on her IQ in the same way. It certainly sounds promising!

Self-Learning Conversation Analytics

All you need to do is spend a short period of time with Siri or Alexa and you’ll quickly find that they definitely do have limitations. That’s a reflection of the fact that they are built for the mass market, as they must much more diverse requests than chatbots that are primarily built for business. This means that they come with a lack of focus, and it’s more difficult to design AI that can respond to spoken queries on all the thousands of different topics around the globe with sensible responses. Then you have follow-up queries too.

In conclusion, the queries posed to virtual assistants are based in human questions 95+% of the time, and as such they’re less focused and less predictable. So then how do you build AI that’s more capable of handling the kind of complex enquiries that characterize human/machine interactions in the real world?

The answer to that is to start with call center chatbots, and that’s what the Pathfinder Project is doing. It will accelerate development of spoken word interfaces for more narrow vertical intents – like navigation, weather information, or call center conversation – and by doing so it should also speed up the development of more complex conversational models.

It will make these machines capable of handling more complex conversations. It will, however, take some time to come to realization (projected for summer 2019). Assuming it’s successful, it will show how conversational analytics, data analysis and AI have the ability to empower next-generation voice interfaces. And with this we’ll also be able have much more sophisticated human/computer interactions with our virtual assistants.

Seeing the unlocked power of AI with understood context and intent of conversation, rather than primarily asking Siri or Alexa to turn the lights off, etc. etc. promises to be really helpful and a very welcome advance in AI for all of us.

 

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Dedicated IP Addresses and SEO

4GHadmin | 22 January 2019
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Even the most layman of web endeavourers will be familiar with the acronym SEO. We imagine further there’s very few if any individuals anywhere who don’t know it stands for search engine optimization, and understand just how integral SEO is for having success in digital marketing. Most people with a small business that relies on its website for maximum visibility with prospective customers will hire an SEO professional to SEO optimize their site. That continues to be highly recommended, and for 9 out of 10 people it is NOT something you can do effectively on your own, no matter how much you’ve read online or how many YouTube videos you’ve watched.

Here at 4GoodHosting, we are like any other top Canadian web hosting provider in that we offer SEO optimization services for our clients. Some people will think that choosing the best keywords and having them at the ideal density is most integral to having good SEO, and that’s true and by and large. But there are a number of smaller but still significant influence that influence SEO, and they’ll be beyond the wherewithal of most people.

Whether websites benefit from a Dedicated IP address rather that a Shared IP address isn’t something you’ll hear discussed regularly. When you learn that the answer is yes, they do, and exactly why, however, it’s a switch many people will want to consider if they currently have a Shared IP address. Let’s have a look at why that is today.

What Exactly Is an IP address?

For some, we may need to start at the start with all of this so let’s begin be defining what exactly an IP address is. Any device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, and that’s true if it’s a PC, laptop, mobile device, or your web host’s server. It’s made up of a 4-number string which will start at 0 and then go up to 255. Here’s an example of one:

1.25.255.255

This numerical string code makes the machine you are using known. Once it’s identified – and it has to be – the Internet is then able to send data to it. You now can access the hundreds of thousands of websites along the Information Superhighway.

What’s a Shared IP address?



In most instances, the server your web host uses to host your site will be a single machine with a matching single IP address. For most people – and nearly all who go with the most basic hosting package without giving it much thought – you’ll be set up in an arrangement where the server is hosting thousands of websites like yours. It’s not ‘dedicated’ to you and your site exclusively.

Instead, all of the websites hosted it will be represented by the single IP address allocated to the web host’s server. Now if your website is utilized for more of a personal venture or hobby and it’s NOT going to be a leverage point in trying to secure more business, shared hosting will probably be fine. Alternately, if page rankings are a priority for you then shared hosting may be putting you at a disadvantage.

The solution? A dedicated IP address for your Canadian website. If you need one, we can take care of that for you quickly and fairly easily for you. But we imagine you’ll need more convincing, so let’s move now to explaining what constitutes a Dedicated IP address..

The Dedicated IP Address

A dedicated IP address involves you having your own server, and that server only has one website on it – yours. It is common, however, for more than one site reside on a specific server. A Dedicated IP address is an IP address that is allocated to a single website, instead of one being assigned the server and representing every website hosted there by default.

The Purpose of Dedicated IP Addresses

The primary appeal of Dedicated IP addresses is that they promote large ecommerce being more secure, and in particular as it regards sensitive data like credit card numbers, etc. On a more individual scale, though, a dedicated IP address is superior for SEO interests as well.

Why is that? Let’s list all of the reasons here:

1. Speed

When you share space, you share resources and in as far as shared web hosting and shared IP addresses are concerned that means you are sharing bandwidth. The long and short of it is all those other sites on the same server will be slowing yours down. That might be a problem in itself, but if it isn’t then the way slow site speeds push you further down Google’s rankings will be.

While adding a unique IP address to your site will not automatically mean it loads faster, but migrating to a Dedicated Server with a Dedicated IP address definitely will. Sites with a Dedicated IP address are faster, more reliable, and more secure, and that’s a big deal.

2. SSL

For nearly 5 years now Google has been giving preference to websites that have added an SSL 2048-bit key certificate. The easiest way to see whether that’s been done or not is seeing the site’s URL change from HTTP to HTTPS. SSL sites typically utilize unique IP addresses. Google continues to insist that SSL impacts less than 1% of searches, but it’s a factor nonetheless and is another benefit of a Dedicated IP address.

SSL can make your website more visible through public networks and can make websites operate marginally faster, and the benefit of this is in the way visitors get a faster response from the website because it’s not held up by Google the way it would be if it didn’t have an SSL cert. The majority of ecommerce sites with a Dedicated IP address will also have an SSL cert.

3. Malware

Malware is software that’s designed and disseminated for the explicit purpose of throwing wrenches into the gears of a working web system. Unfortunately, the thousands of websites that may be on a shared server drastically increases the risk of being exposed to malware if you’re one of them. Further, when you share an IP address with any site that’s been infected with malware then your site is actually penalized despite the fact it’s not you who’s been infected.

In these cases, you’ll be best served by going with a Dedicated IP address and choosing a more reliable Canadian web hosting provider that has measures in place to protect malware from making its way into the servers in the fist place. A dedicated IP means you’re standing alone, and you’re regarded accordingly.

How Do I Get a Dedicated IP Address?

If you’re with us here at 4GoodHosting, all you need to do is ask. We’ve been setting our customers up with Dedicated IP addresses for quite some time now, and you’ll find that when you do so through us it’s not nearly as pricey as you had expected it to be.

It’s very recommended for any ecommerce site or one that’s utilized for very business-strategic aims, and it’s fair to say that you really can’t go wrong moving to a dedicated server if you’ve made the commitment to do anything and everything to protect your SEO and enjoy the same page rankings moving forward. The vast majority of people see it as a wise investment, and of course you always have option of switching back to a shared hosting arrangement if over time you don’t see any real difference or benefits for you.

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Go Local With Your Web Host Provider – Here’s Why

4GHadmin | 03 May 2017
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Web Hosting written on a wooden cube in a office desk

Here at 4GoodHosting, we take pride in being a premier Canadian web hosting provider that serves customers from Victoria all the way to St. John’s. But we’d like to take a moment to explain why we’re an even better choice for those of you who are also residents of the Lower Mainland and Greater Vancouver. Read on.

The Internet has been of tremendous benefit for nearly everyone on the planet and for pretty much every conceivable objective out there, and accordingly greater and greater numbers of web hosting providers have popped up to meet demand as people realize the value in taking whatever it is they have – be it a business, blog, personal venture, or anything else – onto the web. In the early years of the web, there was not much in the way of any connection to providers outside of your immediate locale

Of course, that’s no longer the case. Your web hosting provider can be located on the other side of the planet if you’re pleased with their rates, service, and the reliability of the web hosting. You may well find that a provider that’s nowhere near where you’re located is offering some very attractive features or offers like more storage, lower price points and other additions. Without a doubt, more than a few web hosting customers in our B.C. backyard have taken their hosting business elsewhere, and that’s honestly as it should have been.

However, more recent developments in the big picture of the world of Internet marketing has made it that there are advantages to having a local web hosting provider. Let’s discuss them.

Impact on Google Ranking

When a website is first created, it will assume an Internet Protocol, or IP address, that is assigned to it. It references the location, geographically, where the website was created, it’s ‘original location’. However, If you are a B.C. company that has acquired your hosting from an American provider, for example, your website’s IP address will be an American based on wherever it is they’re located.

This influences the way Google views your website, as despite the fact you are a BC user, you have an overseas IP address location. The relevance of this is that your webpage isn’t considered as a local one, which influences your SEO and overall google ranking within BC – and your local prospective clientele in particular.

Time Zone Considerations

One of the most tangible benefits of having your website hosted locally in BC is that you and your host will share the same time zone. Should any issues arise, you will be much more likely to be able to get someone on the phone. BC residents that use overseas or cross-continent hosting may find themselves in a situation where support technicians are unavailable , which of course can be a huge disadvantage if a problem occurs with your website and can be very problematic if your site is serving e-commerce aims.

In addition to that consideration, your own website will also be configured to the time zone of your hosting provider. When your site is aligned with a differing time zone, it can be confusing when looking at the analytical side of your website.

Further, an overseas time zone can also result in the website being completely unavailable during the day. How’s that? Well, hosting providers will do routine updates and maintenance overnight from time to time, to avoid clashing with high traffic times of the day for their recipients. Although this isn’t likely to be a major risk, it still is something to consider – particularly if your customer base is global in nature – and a reason to consider going with local hosting.

Variances in Loading Time

Webpage visitors tend to be impatient. That’s common knowledge, and you’re probably somewhat intolerant of slow-to-load pages yourself. All webpages feed off the information that it located within their host. When a visitor wants to view your site, and information request is sent. If that information is housed with an overseas host, it will delay the time it takes for someone back here in BC to gain the information. They may find themselves thinking ‘what the heck, these guys are local and they can’t open a webpage for me within __ seconds? See ya.’

This extra time it takes to load information could be crucial, and lead to potential customers moving on from your site due to slow loading times. Surely most of you will agree that the possibility of losing customers and damaging your reputation isn’t worth the risk.

The Local Trends Factor

Many hosting providers will offer web design or web marketing consulting services. If you choose to take advantage of them, the individuals you’ll be in consultation with will have their thumbs on the pulse of web design trends that are prominent in your area, and that can extend – albeit to a lesser extent – to what’s ‘hot’ locally with regards to Internet Marketing approaches. Take a look, for example, at business websites located in Toronto versus those in Vancouver. There are subtle differences, and they generally surround the different aesthetic preferences of the general public in a certain location.

Unpredictability of Exchange Rates

Not surprisingly, it will be more affordable rates that will woo B.C. website owners away from local providers most of the time. Keep in mind, however, that you are paying the outlined rate to your overseas host, and that will likely depend on the current exchange rate for your Canadian currency. Exchange rates are known to vary, and sometimes wildly so.

Should any change occur, your payment will be automatically recalculated and you won’t necessarily be appraised of the change. Further, it won’t be convenient to discuss it with them unless you’re okay with email exchanges or expensive long distance phone charges. Local hosting providers offer the benefit of working with the same currency you do, which means that you will not be taken by surprise should that exchange rate fluctuate

Ensure your website is always prepared for success, and trust a local web hosting service in Vancouver if this is where you call home as well. We’re but one of the good ones around here, but we do have rock-solid reliable hosting at competitive prices and our service is equally impressive. Let’s keep it local!

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