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What Should You Know About Website Backup?

Due to our modern technological progress the loss of files or databases can be can be really a tragedy, because in many cases it's like a loss of the income.

The cases of hacking are rare today, because hosting providers are reliable enough, but you can't ignore them. The hosting panels give many ways to backup websites. But here is the questions – can the website be restored from backup copy? Is the backup done regularly? And even does it exist at all? Absolutely, we can't always rely on hosting company for backup, especially for essential data backup, we must do it by our own. If you've not awared of the problem for lack of this good habit, just take a look at the following stats from google search:

"site down" – 90 500 people try to find it every month
"website is down" – 110 000 searches per month
"database corrupted" – 8 600 searches per month
"restore database" – 49 500 searches per month

To bring the site back to life after is has been hacked, you need to get the files and database of the site back on the server the same as they were there before it was infected.

How do we backup account files?

The backup copy can be easily done. You just need to merge the backup files of the website using FTP client such as FileZilla, and creating a dump of the database through PhpMyAdmin – just select your database and click "Import" button.

How does BackupSF simply the  backup process?

Via traditional solution we have to enter various credentials everywhere whenever we would like to make a backup. But we can simply entrust the BackupSF with this routine. The software backups files of the website and database on the local computer. We need to enter username, password, database name, user and password, the address of the database server and then set the regularity of backup. Once setup, it will be placed there forever with no further action needed. Take a look at the interface screenshot below.

As we see, it's pretty simple and user friendly design. We don't have to learn a lot in order to use the solution.

As a result we'll have three copies – a backup done by hosting provider + copy on PC + copy of website in the cloud service.

Do we need to pay for this software? Yes, it's commercial software. They have different license fee for different requirements. If you're going to purchase it, make sure to mention our website to their sales and you will receive some discount.

BackupSF official site: http://www.backupsf.com/

With all the different hosting possibilities, it’s tempting to start thinking about setting up your own web server. Then you are confronted with choices: Cloud, SAN, VPN, or VPS? Which service package do you want and how much do you want to pay for it? Do you need two email addresses or twenty? FTP only or full web access? With all these options, it’s not strange if you start wondering whether it wouldn’t be just as easy to use your own network attached storage (NAS) as a web server.

The main difference between NAS and other servers is that an NAS device is specifically meant for storage, and all parts are chosen to support this: extensive hard drive space, a light, often Linux-based operation system, and no redundant hardware or software. So what makes a server a web server? Basically, a web server allows other computers to connect with its IP address through its port 80, and sends the requested information to their browsers. Some NAS systems have built in web servers or FTP access; others simply function as an extra drive.

The main benefit of opening your NAS up to the internet is that you can access its content from anywhere in the world, rather than hosting websites for other users. However, standard FTP ports are easily hacked, and strong passwords are an absolute necessity. If you do want to allow external parties to access your content, it is possible to set an NAS system up as a server like any other computer: you’ll need a DNS service that refers the web address to your IP address, and the firewalls on your server have to allow access to port 80. The extensive storage functionalities of NAS make them especially useful for database-driven websites. They will work fine for basic, static websites, but for dynamic content, an additional web server, running software like Apache, is required.

Other things to consider are the use of electricity, possible downtime, and back-ups. Websites have to be up 24/7, which means that your web server has to be turned on all the time, consuming a lot of power. If something does happen to your NAS – a software crash, a fire, or just a carelessly spilled cup of coffee, you’ll want to make sure that you have all your data backed up, so you can have your website up again as soon as possible. Of course, this is not exclusive to web servers. Back-ups are always important!

If you really want to go through the effort of hosting your website yourself, you may as well set up an extra server between your NAS and the internet to serve the HTTP requests. NAS systems lack the security and performance required of web servers, and can better be used for their main purpose: storing data.

Green hosting completely changed people's mind for the huge amount electricity consumption by web hosting industry. Since it' focus on green energy such as wind power, there's zero negative effect to environment. Because of the spotlights, it is popularly advertised by the major webhosts. Is green hosting really good choice for us? Are those advertised green webhosts really green?

Green Hosting Definition

The wikipedia site has the best definition "Green hosting or eco-friendly hosting is Internet hosting which involve green technologies to reduce environmental impact". So basically the green hosting is mainly about environment protection and produce less or zero carbon dioxide to atmosphere. What's the targeting customer of green hosting? Definitely those green consumers who are concerning about the environment.

Best Green Hosting rebate

Greengeeks(http://greengeeks.com) offers the best green hosting rebates either from service costs and plan features. Greengeeks is leading web hosting company who cares about environment so much. Not just by implementing popular methods to keep green, they take personal actions to daily life such as building green office, eat home cooking foods to reduce plastic box usage etc, green is already a company culture there. If you care about environment a lot and looking for the leading hosting providers, greengeeks is highly recommended to check out.

Green hosting service is not cheap because of the big investment on hardware/softare. However, greengeeks be able to offer it at very competitive price $3.96/mo! You can not find such great offer from any other green hosting providers! Greengeeks hosting core features including

• Free domain name registration
• Plant a tree for every clients
• 300% green power supply
• Standard cpanel hosting control panel

Visit greengeeks for more advantages at http://greengeeks.com

Requirements to be green hosting provider

Because web hosting service is configured in datacenter and the electricity consumption is huge. In order to be green hosting provider, it requires hosting companies to setup green datacenter at the first place. Generally, the datacenter must be renewable energy powered(wind power is the popular solution). Planting trees, plants and grass around and over Data Centers are also needed to clean up the polluted stuff.

Is that all required? Absolutely not, that's the base to start green hosting business. Once the green DC is setup, we have to optimize the overall structure and reduce power consumption as more as possible. This includes power-saving server equipments, advanced managing technologies etc.

More about green hosting

Green hosting already advertised by all major hosts or even new companies in the business. Is that all true? Absolutely no! Everyone provider has learnt the advantage of green hosting and trying to share some light with it. Visitors might stay longer if they found such features with the service. That means more business opportunities available with the hosting provider. So basically, the green term can be abused easily by hosting providers. After several years' development, it's more like a marketing term beyond it's original purpose. if you search out a hosting company from google and navigate a little more, you will find they're all "green"!

How to check if the hosting is green? Just check where their server located and read the datacenter overall reviews. The current green datacenters can be named directly via fingers so it's easy to find out the hosting is green or not.

Do we really need green hosting?

From the overall environment pollution by hosting industry, it's the responsibility for everybody to use clean energy powered services. We'll finally benefit from the continuing efforts. However, we need to pay a bit more for such service because of the huge investment by hosting company. It's always not acceptable for most novoice when comparing to traditional type service. On this point of view, the actual green hosting providers need to introduce more advanced technologies to reduce the cost so as to get more clients. It's hard to persvade people to buy something expensive while there's cheap choice.

Pursuing an ethical lifestyle is important and, luckily, gaining in popularity. We buy fair trade bananas and trainers, and invest in sustainable housing and agriculture. But, ethical value is often overlooked as factor in the choice of a web host. As you’re buying a digital product, it’s easy to forget about the people and products involved in this service. This article explains some things to keep in mind when you’re choosing a web host.

Well-treated employees

The company that manages your web server may well be local, paying its employees above minimum wage, and offering them health insurance. That’s only the end station of the supply chain, though. Many computer systems are produced and assembled in developing countries, where profit is sometimes chosen over the wellbeing of factory workers. Ethically conscious web hosts don’t just buy any computer to accommodate their server, but encourage good working conditions at the source.

Sustainable technology

Websites have to be online 24/7, so the servers their data is stored on have to be turned on and connected to the internet at all times, inevitably leading to high energy use. Some eco-hosts compensate for this by using only solar-powered servers, or by planting trees to compensate for carbon-emission. A more innovation solution, however, is to look at the core of hosting technology. It’s surprising that the buzz around cloud computing does not often extend to sustainability, because it’s a great way to reduce both use of energy and e-waste.

A server always uses energy, even when it doesn’t handle traffic. Also, it has to have enough resources available to deal with peak loads. Web hosting means that data centres are shared, so processing power and storage space that are not currently required by one client are allocated to whoever needs it at that moment. These servers are used more efficiently than private ones, so fewer are needed to offer the same possibilities.

Another sustainability issue is that technological innovations leave server computers out-dated, so they end up as e-waste that contains toxic materials. Sharing power and space on a network of servers provides a more robust system that is less dependent of the capabilities of individual computers. Similarly, a website that is hosted in the cloud is compatible with any device someone uses to visit it, because not only is the content run centrally, but the software is as well. Using your device as a virtual desktop has the same desirable result: you won’t have to throw it away for one with more impressive specifications.

Transparent policies

Finally, an ethical web host has to take care of you: the customer. It has to be open about its policies, and listen to your suggestions. Transparency gives you the chance to form your own opinion about their methods. Does their website show a list of their suppliers? Where do they get their energy? How do they treat their employees? Maybe you can even contribute to their services by using their open source software.

Find a host you can trust: not just with your applications, but also with your world.

When we create a website, we always spend a lot of time to do keywords research and built seo content for better ranking, most enterprise groups will also seek support from seo companies which is very costly. Since from seo appeared in the world, it's been a long time competetion among webmasters. The competetion is available in both whitehat seo and blackhat seo, that's how we can see so many duplicate and low quality stuff on internet. However, today I would like to share a web succesful story that's completely non-seo based.

Here's the original article

Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO is a subject which gets talked about to death all over the web.

There’s a fairly large group of people who believe that SEO is the be-all and end-all to anything on the web.

They believe that without it, you are nothing and with it, you are everything.

Today we’re going to look at why that isn’t true and why you can create a truly great website which performs well in search engines, without any seedy SEO tactics.

We’ve also included a case study of WooThemes and QA with Adii Pienaar and his views on SEO.

SEO companies use techniques which fall into two categories: “White Hat” and “Black Hat”. Black Hat SEO is the term used to describe questionable SEO practices such where people try to cheat the system with multiple websites and code which exploits loop holes in search engine algorithms. Black Hat SEO is frowned upon but, to be honest, White Hat SEO isn’t much better.

People who do White Hat SEO play by the rules. They don’t break any Google Terms of Service (mostly) and they stick to the techniques which are deemed to be legitimate. The problem is that they go over the top and they entirely miss the point.

SEO companies have one goal and one goal only. To get websites into top positions for highly-search key phrases on major search engines. They generally pay very little attention to the content of the site, so long as it has plenty of keywords. They pay very little attention to the usability of the site, so long as search engines are able to index the pages easily. They pay very little attention to the bounce rate, or how long people actually bother to stay on the site.

Ranking highly in search engines means absolutely nothing if people are just going to press the back button as soon as they’ve spent five seconds on your awful website.

There are SEO companies out there with major investors taking money from clients and then paying untrained staff to create spam blogs with bogus content and links. These companies class themselves as fully White Hat, by-the-book operations, but they’re still using incredibly questionable and ultimately dangerous tactics. I should know, I used to work for one of them and disliked every second of it.

We should probably pause for a moment to add a small disclaimer. Not all SEO companies are the same, and not all of them are trying to screw you. There are a few who believe they genuinely are helping you with some misguided idea of what the web is all about (hint: it’s not spam).

There are fewer still who actually have a huge knowledge on SEO and use it as a very small part of a bigger picture. The difference is that the last group of people rarely refer to themselves with any sort of title containing the letters S, E, and O.

What you should be doing?

Search engines are designed to rank the best and most relevant sites highly. Again: The best, and most relevant sites. Not the “most optimized sites”.

A remarkable amount “Pro SEO Strategies for better rankings” actually coincide with what a good web developer would tell you to do in order to have a good website. Using proper heading tags, creating simple and well structured links to navigate through your site, ensuring that relevant content is well presented and has related content easily available, creating content on your site which other people will want to link to and talk about.

If you want to have a site which performs well in search engines then you need to stop worrying about search engines and start worrying about creating a really great website. Code your site properly, make it accessible, make it usable, make sure it has fantastic content, make sure you have great marketing that has other people talking about it. All of these things contribute to the factors which search engines use to rank your site.

In a nutshell, you can try and win a race with a 1992 Honda Civic that you’ve tuned up and fuel injected and loaded full of Nitrous Oxide… or you can spend the same amount of money on buying a Mercedes.

If you spend time doing the right things when building a site and focusing on your users as you grow that site, then search engine rankings will follow. I guarantee it – something which no SEO company can ever do.

A Case Study: WooThemes

Adii Pienaar built WooThemes with his two co-founders from the ground up just three years ago. They’ve never had a big focus on SEO, instead they’ve focused on their products, their customers and their marketing.

In two years, WooThemes built up an annual revenue of over $2million – so they’ve clearly done something very, very right.

Here’s what Adii had to say on the subject when I asked him to share his experiences:

Adii, you’ve always focused on making WooThemes about great products and marketing without a big focus on SEO. What was it that originally lead you to this method of thinking?

“To be honest, we had two restrictions and we needed to find a way to work around those. The two restrictions were: 1) a complete lack of knowledge or experience related to SEO tacticts; and 2) no advertising to “game” the system by buying links or have an extensive AdWords campaign. Plus, I’ve always been of the opinion that “content is king” and SEO went against that principle.”

“So instead we focused on this that we could control: great products and awesome content. Both of these have been great at generating traffic & linkbacks to the site, which in turn improves our search engine ranking.”

And how has not focusing on SEO impacted your company as a whole, particularly in terms of traffic and on-site statistics?

“I wouldn’t think that this has influenced us negatively at all and instead we’re experiencing that our visitors are viewing 6+ pages on each visit and spending almost 6 minutes browsing the site.”

You still rank extremely highly for most key phrases related to premium WordPress themes, is this something you monitor closely? and do you have strategies or plans for improving on those ranks in the future?

“We do monitor it, but not very closely… 🙂 AdWords is an obvious option in terms of displaying better for particular phrases, but we’ve found the cost per conversion in this regard is exorbitant and thus not worthwhile (hence why we won’t really be pursuing this going forward). So our strategy will stay organic and stay the same: focus on great content and products, which will definitely get our users talking about us, which in turns ranks us higher.”

You recently started offering third party plugin integration for a lot of your Themes, some of the more notable ones were big SEO plugins for WordPress. What made you choose to start supporting these products and has it changed your view in any way?

“We decided to add proper SEO support in our themes, because this was a major request from our users and we didn’t want our own opinion to cloud our judgement in this regard. We probably have a 80% content and 20% SEO-related strategy, but that composition is based on opinion, so we recognize that our users may want to invest their budget & time differently.”

Finally, if you were going to start all over again, would you do anything different with regards to SEO?

“I wish we could reboot the web and make sure that SEO never even existed. 🙂 Seriously though – nope, we wouldn’t change a thing with regards to our SEO policy.”

In Closing

You don’t have to pay through the nose for an SEO company, you definitely don’t need to pay other people to buy links and you shouldn’t even really be focusing all your time on how to get to the top of the rankings. Good rankings aren’t the be-all and end-all of running a website or an online business.

People often use the metaphor of positioning yourself on a high-street in the center of a city when comparing SEO to a retail premises location. The most important thing to remember is that it really doesn’t matter if your store is on a gorgeous marble shopping street nestled in between Gucci and Prada… If it’s a shack with rusty metal racks and a rude shop assistant, nobody is going to go in, and if they do go in then they’ll leave again immediately.

Create a great website, first and foremost. Great websites will always rank highly because that’s what search engines are designed to do. Start focusing on what really matters.

Original article source: Create Great Websites, Without Any SEO

Search engine is playing an important role in our daily life. While you're surfing on the net, are you aware what kind of search engines people use in the world? comScore provided us a valuable report for top 10 search engines as well as their market shares on the globe.

NO.1 Google 62% — The Top search engine with over half market share. Google is providing over 200 millions search queries and works with over 8 billions web pages every day.

NO.2 Yahoo 12.8% — One of the oldest and most valuable search engines. It is being visited by over 1.2 billions people. Yahoo also offers the top rated SEO tools such as yahoo explorer.

NO.3 Baidu 5.2% — The largest search engine in China and actually only used by Chinese users. Baidu can be ranked the third simply because of the large amount users in China. It's also one of the very few search engines that're not ranked for globalmarket occupation.

NO.4 Bing 2.9% — Bing is some part new in the competition, but got quick popularity because Microsoft decided to integrate all their searches to it.

NO.5 NHN 2.4 — NHN is the biggest search engine in south Korea. It's similar to the Baidu that's designed with local language.

NO.6 eBay 2.2% — Unlike all other search engines that offer general searchs with all topics, eBay is 100% ecommerce based for online shopping. eBay has various local brands in all major countries.

NO.7 Timewarner 1.6% — It was the biggest ISP and media service provider in US. Their search engine service was mainly provided by AOL.

NO.8 ASK 1.1% — Ask.com will give you direct answers over 10 million questions. It's the best FAQ search engine to date.

NO.9 Yandex 0.9% — Started in 1993, it's the largest search engine in Russia and the second most popular in Europe. It is sharing over 44% Russia market. The Yandex successful is because of the management over complex Russia grammar.

NO.10 Alibaba 0.8% — Alibaba is most famous to international business providers. It's similar to eBay but it's more international and almost the must choice if you want to open business in China.

The above stats is provided by comScore till 2010. Some small changes might be occur during two year's progress but the general ranking is kept the same.

About comScore: Founded in 1999, it's an international internet information service provider and famous for it's analytics and research over internet information. It's monitoring over 3 million global websites over 170 countries. It has been leading  data source provider for mobile and internet statistics.