Monat: September 2020

We’ve all been there.

You buy a domain and web hosting. Then browse through hundreds of WordPress themes and try out tens of demos. Finally, you pick a theme that you feel is the perfect fit for your new website.

A few weeks pass and, as you add your content and images, you start to realise that the theme you chose just isn’t working for you. Maybe it doesn’t have the look you want or it’s missing the functionality you need.

What then? After all this time and effort, you find yourself having to go through this selection process all over again. It’s not only frustrating but also a massive waste of time.

Here’s the good news…

You can get it right the first time. How? By simply asking and answering a few questions which allow you to determine whether a theme is a match for your site before you commit to it.

In this post we’ll share the key questions and things to consider before choosing a WordPress theme to ensure it’s not only a great match but also a keeper for years to come.

Let’s get started.

Questions to ask yourself before starting your theme search

1. What’s the purpose of my website?

The first thing to consider when building an online presence is what you want to achieve with your website.

For example:

• Is it a blog where you publish valuable content to inform, educate and entertain readers? Then a blog theme is your best choice, with a homepage that highlights articles with sidebars and categories.
• Is it a portfolio that you want to use to attract potential clients? Then look for an attractive theme where you can showcase your portfolio, experience and testimonials.
• Is it a presentation website? A simple and clean WordPress theme where you can describe your services right on the homepage might work best for you.
• Is it an online shop? Then you need to go with a theme that makes purchasing a product easy.

      2. What’s my business about?

Also take into account the niche or industry you’re in as this helps you to determine the type of ‘look’ that would work best for your site.

For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, a theme with a more delicate and elegant design will give potential clients a feel of what you can achieve for them on their special day.

If you’re selling vinyl records or typewriters, you’ll maybe want a theme that’s a little more old school.

3. Who is my target audience?

Who do you want to attract to your site? Who will be reading your articles, browsing through your portfolio or purchasing your products?

The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to choose a design that gets their attention and makes them feel at home on your site.

Now’s the time to do some research, if you haven’t already, and put together an ideal customer or reader profile where you define who they are, what they’re interested in, what problems they need solving, and more.

Our guide on buyer personas explains why these profiles are so important to your site’s success and how to create yours.

4. What do my competitors’ sites look like?

Just as you research your audience, you should also research your competitors. So take a look at their websites to see what they look like.

How do their homepages look? How is the information – text, images, videos – organised? What kind of colours and fonts do they use?

Take note of the similarities and differences in style, and consider whether you want to use a similar design or try something unexpected.

5. What kind of functionality does my site need?

When building a site, the way it looks is only part of what contributes to its success. So, apart from a nice design, you also need to make sure that your site has the functionality you need.

For example, if you want to sell products online, you’ll need a theme that allows you to showcase product descriptions, images and maybe also videos. You may even want to allow customers to leave reviews directly on your site.

Are you a travel blogger? Then you’ll need a way for readers to find content easily by organising it into different categories such as by country, type of trip, budget, and more. You’ll also want to encourage them to share their experiences, which means having a comments section at the end of each article.

Make a list with the features that your site can’t be without and use it when selecting your WordPress theme.

6. What’s my budget?

Your budget will play an important role in choosing a theme.

Fortunately, there are lots of WordPress themes for all budgets. You can get a free theme from the WordPress.org theme directory or a paid premium theme. Just keep in mind that premium themes aren’t always better. So, make sure you look at both options before deciding on the theme you want to use for your website.

For example, if you use the 123 Reg Website Builder to build your site, you’ll not only get email, hosting and a free domain included in your package but also access to lots of professional free templates for all types of sites, whether you want to build a blog, a portfolio or a business site.

If you want to sell products online, our Ecommerce Website service allows you to easily get your online shop up and running using one of our fully-customisable, professionally-designed templates. The best thing about these templates is that you don’t need any technical skills to customise them.

Things to consider when choosing your WordPress theme

Once you have a clear understanding of your website’s purpose and how you want it to look and function, you can start your theme search. Here’s what to look for when choosing your site’s WordPress theme:

Simplicity

You’re bound to stumble upon lots of flashy, colourful, attention-grabbing WordPress themes that have a complex layout. But here’s the thing: unless you really need all the bells and whistles, stick to a simple, clean, easy to navigate theme for your site.

Your visitors will appreciate it since they’ll have an easier time finding their way around your website.

Responsive design

Responsive themes adjust their layout across different screen sizes and devices. This means that your site will look and function well on all mobile devices and screens.

Now, since a significant number of web traffic is generated from mobile and tablets, having a responsive theme is non-negotiable.

But it’s not just the increasing number of people using handheld devices to go online. It’s also Google’s preference for mobile-friendly websites, which the search engine giant rewards by showing them on top in their mobile search results.

So make sure you choose a WordPress theme that’s responsive. This ensures it works well for anyone visiting your site, whether they’re using a PC or a mobile phone.

Browser compatibility

Apart from devices, your website also needs to look and work well across different browsers.

Some of your visitors will use Firefox or Safari to access your site, but others might use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. So you need to make sure that the theme you choose is compatible with the most popular browsers or the ones that your audience uses most to visit your site.

Supported plugins

No matter how great a theme is, there’s a good chance you’ll need to add extra functionality to it. And how do you do that? By installing WordPress plugins that allow you to add more features to your site from contact forms to maps, image galleries and social media sharing buttons.

So, make sure that you read the WordPress theme’s description carefully to ensure it supports all popular plugins.

SEO friendliness

If you want your visitors to quickly find your site in the search engine results, you’ll need to follow search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices. This also means using a theme that’s SEO-friendly.

Read the description and features of the theme you’re planning to use for your site to ensure it’s optimised for SEO.

Ratings and reviews

Looking at the theme’s ratings and reviews is always a useful indicator of what to expect.  So pay attention to the ratings that your chosen theme has, and read through some of the reviews to get more information about its quality and other people’s experience using it.

Updates and security

The WordPress software is updated and improved constantly. If you want to ensure that your theme not only continues to work well but it’s also safe and secure, you need to choose a theme that’s also constantly updated.

If it’s been more than six months since it’s been updated, you might want to keep looking.

Wrapping up

Your theme plays an important role not just in how your site looks, but also in how well it functions and performs. That’s what makes the task of finding the perfect WordPress theme so difficult and time-consuming.

Hopefully, the tips and advice in this article will help you to choose a theme that will set you up for success both now and in the future.

The post How to choose the right WordPress theme for your website appeared first on Better business online: Tips, insight and advice.

Whether you’re just getting started online and want to build brand awareness, or you’re an already established business and want to reach more prospects, blogging is an effective way to achieve both goals.

But should you blog on your own, relatively unknown or facing stagnating readership domain? Or should you publish content on a popular blogging platform like Medium with a readership that reaches far beyond your sphere of influence?

It’s a tough question (and decision to make) but one we hope we can help to answer in this post.

So, without further ado, let’s look at the pros and cons of blogging on Medium vs on your own website and domain.

Blogging on Medium: Pros and cons

If you’re not familiar with Medium, it’s a blogging platform that has quickly become a major player in the world of startup content marketing.

Because of its massive growth, lots of businesses have either started blogging there or moved their entire existing blogs to the platform. Should you do the same?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of blogging on Medium so you can decide for yourself if it’s the right choice for your business.

Pros

Huge readership

Medium has around 100 million monthly readers.

That means that you can potentially reach a huge mass of people from all over the world. So Medium can (hypothetically) help you to reach a readership that’s not only massive but also far beyond your natural sphere of influence.

That’s one of the top reasons that makes Medium so alluring.

Easy to set up and use

It only takes a few minutes to create an account on Medium, set it up and start writing your first blog post (or “story”, as Medium calls it).

The interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to write and publish a new post, just about as easy as writing it in Word or WordPress.

You can add images or videos to your post with a click of a button. And when you’re done, all you need to do is add a summary, a few tags and hit “Publish”.

Read our guide to learn more about Medium and how to get started on the platform.

You don’t need to worry about technical SEO stuff 

When you own a blog or a website, it’s your responsibility to optimise it for search from a technical perspective. But when you publish on Medium, you don’t need to deal with technical search engine optimisation (SEO) tasks like sitemaps, broken links and images, load time, etc. Medium takes care of all that for you.

Cons

Medium’s traffic is not also your traffic

Medium’s high traffic is what draws most brands and authors to the platform.

But here’s the thing: the fact that Medium has millions of visitors a month doesn’t mean that your blog will, too. You have the potential to reach a percentage of those visitors who might come to your article as well.

So while it’s your hard work and fantastic content that builds part of Medium’s traffic, it’s possible that your competitors will be the ones who get to enjoy the results of your work instead of you.

There’s a lot of competition for attention

Since Medium has become so popular, lots of brands have started using it. That means that, just like on Google, you’re competing with other businesses and bloggers every day.

You know how much time people spend on Medium? Less than two minutes. So they might just as easily read someone else’s story instead of yours, and then leave.

If you think about it, having a blog on your own site is a much better option. Why? Because once a visitor lands on your blog, they’ll only have your posts to read. No other distractions or hundreds of other bloggers or articles to compete for their attention once there.

You’re building Medium’s authority instead of yours

Since you’re publishing content on a domain that’s not yours, you’re actually building SEO authority and backlinks for Medium, not for your site.

What does that mean? It means that the next time people search for your brand name, they might find a Medium article at the top of the search results and they’ll end up on Medium instead of your own blog or website.

You’re building on rented land

We’ve been down this road so many times before. Remember MySpace or Angelfire? What about LiveJournal?

If none of them ring a bell, we’ll sum it up for you: all these platforms are where the party used to be. And what happens when a platform like MySpace stops being cool or suddenly goes offline?

You lose everything. Every word you wrote and all the time and effort you put into writing your articles and building a readership. All of it gone in a blink of an eye and you can’t do or say anything about it because it’s not your platform. It’s theirs and their choice to keep it, take it offline or make whatever changes or restrictions they please.

Here’s a quote from an article called “Why we left Medium, a cautionary tale” that summarises why might happen when you’re publishing content on rented land:

Blogging on your own website: Pros and cons

Pros

You own your land and everything on it

When you get a blog on your own domain, you own it. It’s yours and it’s completely up to you to decide how you want it to look and what you publish on it.

You build traffic to your own domain, not someone else’s

Every piece of content you publish earns you blog traffic, not a third party’s. So, all the effort you put into writing great content for your audience pays off for you and your business in the long run.

Your content gets indexed by Google and you can earn authority and backlinks to your own blog. In addition, people can share your blog posts and talk about your brand instead of “this story I read on Medium”.

You can design your space as you like

You are in control of the design of your blog. This includes the theme as well as the functionality of your blog.

So if you want to add various features to your blog or posts such as social media sharing icons, an email subscription box, or a special offer, you can do whatever you like. No one can prohibit you from making your blog look and function the way you want it to.

You can build a genuine relationship with your audience

When people come to your blog, they come to read your advice and content. And when they’re interested in what you have to say, it’s easier to build trust and a long-term relationship with your readers. You can entice them to subscribe to your mailing list and nurture them to the point of becoming your customers.

That’s a very difficult goal to achieve on a platform like Medium where the audience isn’t yours but the platform’s. And they are the ones building a relationship with their readers, not you.

Cons

Your blog is your responsibility

This means that you’ll be the one taking care of setting it up, choosing a theme, and adding plugins for enhanced functionality. You also need to fix it in case there’s an error or glitch that’s preventing your blog from functioning properly.

You’ll be in charge of optimising your blog posts for SEO

Medium takes care of the technical SEO side of it but when it’s your own blog, you’ll need to take care of optimising your posts for visibility in the search engine results. This means you’ll need to write the meta titles and descriptions, optimise your images and more.

Fortunately, there are lots of easy to use plugins that can help with that, such as Yoast SEO. In addition, we’ve got the perfect resource that explains how to optimise your WordPress blog posts.

You’ll need to promote your blog yourself

It takes time and effort to get traffic to a new blog and build a loyal readership. You will need to work hard to not only publish great content but also to promote it on social media and relevant groups and forums.

Read this post to learn how to drive more traffic to your blog.

Don’t want to choose?

The truth is you don’t have to. If you want, you can blog on your own domain and also publish your blog posts on Medium to enjoy access to the platform’s huge audience.

Medium has an import tool that makes it easy to bring your blog content to their platform.

If you’re worried about duplicate content issues, no need to be. The import tool will add a rel=”canonical” tag to the Medium version to ensure that you don’t get penalised by Google for identical or duplicate content issues. This tag tells Google that the original source of content sits on your blog.

Check out this step by step tutorial that explains how to safely syndicate your blog content to Medium.

So, there you have it: the pros and cons of blogging on Medium vs on your own website. Now it’s up to you to decide if you want to publish content on your own domain, on a social platform like Medium, or both. Tweet us @123Reg to let us know what you decide.

The post Blogging on Medium vs on your own website: Pros and cons appeared first on Better business online: Tips, insight and advice.

Earlier this month, we announced the launch of Cloud Servers. The public cloud computing global market will most likely exceed $330 billion in 2020, according to Hosting Tribunal. Many growing MSPs and emerging enterprises are seeking the benefits that public cloud poses, while not breaking the bank or losing the support they require.

For customers requiring more uptime, faster deployments, easy-to-scale resources, and 24/7/365 support, Cloud Server is the perfect solution.

What is a Cloud Server?

Cloud Server is a high availability and redundant multi-tenant Cloud solution. Cloud Servers are built for customers that want to move to the cloud for easy deployment, scalability, and reduced spend.

Cloud Servers allows us to offer you packaged clusters of workload specific virtual machines, which creates a resilient, easy to use, and fully managed cloud experience.

What is the Cloud?

Cloud computing is the delivery of on-demand computing services. Instead of deploying workloads to dedicated servers in a traditional datacenter, you deploy virtual servers inside a virtual data center where the hardware takes a back seat to deployable resources. Making deployment and changes to the environment easier, quicker, with less expense.

Why Choose Cloud Server?

If you are seeking multiple VMs or an out-of-the-box solution that can host your website, you will find Cloud Servers meet your needs. Those seeking alternative solutions with larger cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure will find the tools they need, but not the support or expertise included to implement their workloads effectively. Alternatively, sticker shock also hits when receiving your first bill from hosting providers that charge on a pay-as-you-go methodology.

Cloud Servers from Liquid Web offer predictable billing and include 24/7/365 Support from the Most Helpful Humans in Hosting on all of our Fully Managed hosting plans.

You will also find Cloud Servers deploy within minutes using OpenStack technology. This allows projects to be spun up when needed, and configured in hours, not days or weeks. This also saves time and money with administrators, while reducing development time.

Services become easier and more cost effective as well. With Cloud Servers, we have integrated Firewall-as-a-Service along with integrated Load Balancing.

How Does Cloud Server Work?

Cloud Servers scale to meet your website, web application, or Managed Service Product needs.

Cloud Servers achieve this with a base cluster consisting of a primary file server and a load balancer virtual appliance. The file server is the primary data store where your database is housed. You can then add additional ephemeral web nodes to your solution as needed.

This configuration is a website-in-a-box that you configure and scale to meet your needs.

Think of Cloud Servers as “resources not hardware.”

What are the Benefits of Cloud Server?

You can expect the following benefits by moving to Cloud Server:

1. Our Cloud Server environment is enterprise-grade redundant at every level; from power to the networking, all the way to the enterprise-class Dell blade servers. This ensures consistency and fault tolerance across the entire cloud.
2. Our engineering team has built the first scalable cPanel cloud solution, allowing you to scale your cPanel websites easily with no manual intervention.
3. Clusters spin up in 30 minutes or less, and resource upgrades take around 10 minutes.
4. No one has to build your server, wire it, or rack it. Deployment work is done automatically with Cloud Servers using OpenStack technology.
5. As your user base grows Cloud Servers grows with you, allowing you to add as many web nodes as you need on-demand. This is extremely critical for websites that generate revenue from high traffic seasons such as the upcoming holiday season, which is expected to be the biggest eCommerce holiday season ever witnessed.
6. The solution is quick and easy to use.
7. Cloud Servers also feature a built-in network file system (NFS) to get your files to your web nodes easily and automatically.

What are the Considerations and Use Cases for Cloud Server?

You will find Cloud Servers a great fit if you are a:

1. Managed Service Provider (MSP) that needs a cost effective, stable solution you can deploy quickly.
2. cPanel customer that has high demand, or periodic events that drive customer demand and website visits.
3. cPanel customer with a growing business looking for an easily scalable solution.
4. Looking to move from dedicated hosting.
5. Public Cloud client with another host looking for reliable monthly expenses you don’t get with usage-based clouds.
6. Dedicated Server customers that need a hybrid approach for scaling workloads.
7. Looking for a cloud solution that includes support out-of-the-box, unlike the large public cloud providers.

Get Started With Cloud Servers

Need quick cPanel scaling or more resources on-demand? Contact our Solutions Team for a free 14-day trial and test drive Cloud Servers today.

The post What is Cloud Server? appeared first on Liquid Web.

Data privacy for remote workers is essential – it always has been – but now, more than ever, it is dominating the cybersecurity strategies of all businesses with a staggering 4.7 million people in the U.S. now working remotely.

But, with increasing levels of cybercrime and remote workers being targeted, it begs the question: How do we protect the privacy of remote workers and company data?

Last year, 4.1 billion data records were exposed due to data breaches, illustrating just how important it is for companies and remote workers to ensure that their data is kept safe and out of the hands of hackers.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the five tips you should follow to ensure the privacy of your data.

1. Store Your Passwords in an Encrypted Vault

Every online account is protected by a password, but just how safe are they? The truth is that most of the passwords we use are not all secure. The reason why: entropy.

Entropy is the measurement of the randomness or diversity of a data-generating function.

Passwords with high entropy are completely random and have no meaningful patterns, making them almost impossible to crack.

Unfortunately, the average person can’t memorize complex random passwords, meaning human-generated ones tend to only be about 40 bits of entropy.

To put this into perspective, a password with 128 bits of entropy is virtually unbreakable; therefore, 40 bits give hackers a much higher possibility to predict the value.

With the average person having 70-80 passwords, the sheer volume that we have to remember makes us prone to unsafe password practices such as recycling old passwords or using the same ones for multiple accounts.

Hackers are well aware of these cyber hygiene pitfalls, and exploit them regularly for financial gain. No country or business is immune, and exposure to cybercrime is rife.

Poor password practices compound remote working risks, as employees often opt for convenience over security, saving sensitive login credentials using unsecured methods including spreadsheets, notes of paper, and sharing them over email.

The most effective way to protect credentials from malicious hackers is to store them in an encrypted password vault, otherwise known as a password manager.

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Password managers facilitate security and convenience by enabling businesses to add, edit, and store an unlimited number of passwords in a securely encrypted vault.

Therefore, your remote team no longer needs to remember long complex passwords. Instead, they can rely on the software to automatically fill the login credentials whenever they need them.

The zero-knowledge security models employed by password managers also lends itself to full data privacy where the software never sees or stores your unencrypted passwords on their servers.

If a hacker managed to hack the servers where your data is stored, they would only see streams of encrypted code that is meaningless and not of any value.

Ultimately, password managers enable remote workers to save unique passwords with high levels of entropy for each account in securely encrypted vaults to strengthen the security of business accounts.

They can also play a key role in ensuring complete data privacy is via single sign-on solutions that make business-critical accounts accessible in one convenient portal.

Remote workers simply need to login to the vault, click on the account they need access to, and they will be logged in automatically without ever seeing the login credentials.

2. Shield Your Data From Prying Eyes

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One of the main challenges that IT staff face with remote workers is the conundrum of providing them with a safe and secure way of accessing company resources while maintaining security and optimal network speeds.

This is where a VPN, or virtual private network, comes into play.

VPNs form the basic backbone of remote working security and provide workers with a secure method to connect to company resources, such as shared files. More than 400 million businesses and consumers are already making use of VPN connections, and this number continues to grow as more people start working from home.

Working remotely without using a VPN poses a serious security risk, since it makes it much easier for hackers to intercept confidential company data as it travels between your remote location and the office.

A VPN can be compared to a private tunnel that links your remote location directly with your office, and since the data that travels in this tunnel is shielded from view, it is much more difficult for hackers to intercept and steal sensitive data.

They can be used to connect to most remote resources, including mail servers, CRM programs and software, and even accounting systems.

It is especially important to use a VPN in cases where remote employees use their computers for both their personal and professional computing needs.

Employees can often unknowingly download emails or other files that have been infected with malware, and in doing so, expose confidential company data.

3. Secure All Your Devices, Not Just Work Ones

Endpoint security, in its simplest form, refers to the practice of securing the individual devices that connect to a network, such as laptops and mobile phones.

While securing you can enhance the protection of your cloud assets through security and compliance add-ons, endpoint security includes software such as antivirus, antimalware, and firewall programs, and it forms an essential part of any remote worker’s security arsenal.

However, it is important to remember that endpoint security does not just refer to the likes of antivirus software, but it also includes the way that we interact with our devices.

In order to reduce security vulnerabilities and the risk posed by hackers, remote workers should adopt safe computing practices, such as avoiding potentially malicious websites and not opening emails that may contain dodgy attachments.

Whilst working from home can often make us less vigilant to the threats that we face, it’s worth noting that endpoint devices are the second most targeted type of asset in data breaches, following servers.

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Remote workers that choose to use their own devices for both work and personal use can create an avenue for hackers to worm their way into company systems if they are not properly protected.

It is therefore essential that remote workers notify IT teams of the devices they use to access business systems.

Because endpoint security solutions are often cloud-based, they can be easily distributed across devices remotely.

Alternatively, if you are not able to install the appropriate security software, it is best to only use the devices granted to you by your business, since these will have already been factored into your company’s IT security network and infrastructure.

The global endpoint security market is predicted to be worth $10.02 billion by the end of 2026, up from 5.30 billion USD in 2018.

This is an indicator of just how important it is for both corporations and end-users to invest in endpoint security if they have not already done so.

4. Use Encrypted Communication Platforms

Communication is key in every business, and it is even more important in remote working environments.

We often hear of hacked email accounts and the exposure of confidential business communications that have serious implications for data privacy.

But as businesses increasingly opt for chat-based and online meeting platforms, it becomes ever-more important to secure these newly adopted communication channels.

For this reason, consider using a secure and customizable CPaaS platform to secure your data and get your messages across.

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Not only do chat applications facilitate higher levels of productivity, thanks to a more seamless communication method than email, but some also offer data privacy.

Secure chat applications, like Keeper Chat, encrypt messages before they are sent to the intended receiver. Should the message be intercepted by a hacker, they cannot be read, and your information stays private.

The benefit of these applications is that they are web-based and, therefore, offer cross-platform and device compatibility, making them ideal for remote working where they can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

5. Protect Yourself Beyond Software

Aside from using security software, there are a few other things that you can do to keep your data safe.

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Log Out Whenever You Leave Your Workspace

It is important to remember that public spaces are not as safe as the office spaces that we are accustomed to working in, and you should never leave your computer unlocked when it is not in your possession. An unlocked computer that is logged into secure company networks is a prime target for hackers, so make sure to log out before you leave.

Do Not Connect to Public Wi-Fi Hotspots

Public Wi-Fi often has little to no security, and you should avoid connecting your computer or smartphone to a public network whenever possible to protect yourself from malicious actors. A good alternative to a public hotspot may be bringing your own mobile data connection with you when you have to work outside of your usual workspace. Or, if you have no choice but to connect to a hotspot, use a VPN.

Physically Secure Your Devices

When you are working in a public space, you should consider using physical security devices such as a kensington lock to secure your laptop.

Ensure Your Business Documents Are Secure

With more businesses signing documents online and keeping important files in the cloud, you need to ensure their security. Use encrypted e-signature software and strong password protection for your business documents.

Adopt Remote Work Security Best Practices Today

Working remotely has become the new reality for many of us and it is somewhat unfamiliar territory.

By adopting these simple security practices, using the appropriate software to protect your data from prying eyes, and most importantly, maintaining good cyber hygiene, you will drastically improve your data privacy.

The post 5 Data Privacy Tips for Remote Workers appeared first on Liquid Web.

Now more than ever, companies are having employees work from home. With technology advances and the growth of businesses worldwide, a remote workforce can help an employer utilize employees, contractors, and even remote partners in ways that were not possible before. There are risks involved with having sensitive company data being accessed over the Internet, but having the right VPN solution can help mitigate security risks, and help keep prying eyes from seeing anything they should not while employees work from home.

6 Reasons Why Employees Need a VPN While They Work From Home

Here are 6 reasons why employees should use a VPN while they work from home:

1. Better Control Over Private Data

Managing desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones within a corporate setting can help control access levels and protect sensitive data, but once a device leaves the building, the risks of that data being seen by someone outside the company increase significantly.

Having an employee connect to the company’s virtual private network (VPN) to access the resources they need to get work done helps keep the data within the company, and helps prevent the need for local copies to be saved and transferred over the Internet. If an employee can only access the private data when connected into a workstation, either in-person or through a VPN while they work from home, then the data would not need to be publicly accessible through the regular Internet.

2. Protect Workers Devices

Remote workers may be connecting from other offices, outside companies, hotels, coffee shop Wi-Fi, public hotspots, or even just working from home. Each network could have it’s own security vulnerabilities, with a larger risk coming from any open public networks.

What are the Risks With Using Open Public Networks?

Some risks with using open public networks include:

• Packet Sniffing: If someone is listening in on the local network, they could see the traffic going to and from the device, and steal any data that is unencrypted, including logins and other private information.
• Man-In-The-Middle Attacks: Often this would be a fake Wi-Fi hotspot that is spoofing a real hotspot. When a client connects, the fake hotspot can pass along any data to the real website while saving a copy for itself.
• DNS Spoofing: If an attacker can compromise or spoof a DNS nameserver, then they could send a false IP address back during a lookup and cause traffic to go to their own server that’s impersonating another site.

Using a secured VPN can bypass those attacks with an encrypted tunnel directly through to the corporate network. With trusted certificates provided by the VPN server, the client would know they are connecting directly to the network, and any traffic that gets intercepted would just be encrypted packets that are not readable without the decryption key.

This can also be useful for workers who travel to other countries, or even if your company has teams overseas. If the VPN connection itself can be made, then it could be used to get around country blocks and filters that could inhibit access to other sites and resources needed by the worker. This can protect the company’s data from being viewed or recorded by any state or country-level monitoring.

Additionally, to help protect the user’s local machine, as well as the company’s private network, there are VPN solutions that scan the local system to make sure there is an active antivirus program running, along with a check for other possible signs of compromises. If any problem is found, it can alert the employee and prevent them from connecting to the network until the issue is resolved. More advanced solutions can monitor the network traffic itself to detect malicious activity that is already on the network. These types of solutions can also help stop it from spreading further than it already has.

3. Allow Access to Internal Systems

Depending on the amount of control allowed to a remote user, they might be able to reach computers and devices that are not available to anyone else outside of the network.

A VPN can access internal IP addresses, allowing users to connect and access internal network drives, shared folders, and local servers, as well as grant remote access to machines.

This allows remote workers to access to all of the tools and resources they need to get the job done. More control can be taken to limit what is safe to go out over the regular Internet versus what data should be protected and only accessible through a VPN connection.

4. Reduce Liabilities

Helping to prevent data from being lost, stolen, or compromised is always in a company’s best interest. A company’s records might include customer information, payment methods, contracts, financial records, and other proprietary information that should not get into the hands of anyone outside the organization.

Depending on the importance of the data, any stolen information could cause consequences such as lost revenue, lawsuits, or even lowered trust in the company itself. Setting up a VPN solution can help reduce the possible vectors of attack by substantially shrinking the number of attacks that could cause a compromise, and limit data that can be gathered from outside of the network.

5. Various Options for Various Prices

To help avoid losses like the ones just mentioned, a business should be willing to spend some amount of money to protect assets if the work is being done remotely. Even a pricier VPN service could be worth the cost if it can help prevent a loss to the company.

Luckily there is a range of products with varying prices to choose from.

• A small business with just a few employees may settle on a free, open-source VPN that is quick and easy to set up, yet will still provide strong encryption protocols to protect the connection.
• A large enterprise that has a team of network administrators might want to look into buying a managed VPN where connections are monitored, data is tracked, and usage is logged. Ensure the VPN can integrate with any existing infrastructure.

6. Test Out VPN Options

With so many VPN options available, there are a large number of guides, documentation, and videos online to make setting up and testing out a whole new system quick and easy.

If time and cost permits, try testing out an option for a week, and see how well it works for your company. If there are any problems, look for another VPN that solves that particular problem and test it out the next week.

If it is a paid service, contact the support team of the company to try to resolve the issue with them. If you don’t have the time to troubleshoot anything, then look for dedicated VPN appliances or even virtual appliances that can help get your team going quickly with minimal setup.

Top 5 Features for a VPN in 2020

Here are the five absolute must-have features for a VPN:

1. Strong Encryption: Some older and cheaper VPN options still use weaker strength encryption. If packets do get intercepted, weaker encryption might be able to be decrypted eventually, but the chances of a higher strength encryption greatly reduce the chances of anyone decoding it without the proper keys. Complex encryption used to cause delays for legitimate users, but modern computers and devices have the power to quickly encrypt and decrypt data without much delay compared to the delays that caused in the past.
2. Two-Factor Authentication: Using a password alone is not enough to properly secure a VPN login. A second method of verification is needed for additional security. Use an app based 2FA authenticator or a physical key, and avoid using text messaging 2FA, as it can be intercepted.
3. Trust in the Service: If you are going through a third-party service that isn’t completely within your own network, make sure you trust their policies, data logging, and control of encryption keys.
4. Active Security: A smart VPN can scan the local machine and help block any potential security threats from getting onto the private network.
5. Reliability: A system that disconnects, crashes, gets overloaded, or locks people out is bad for productivity, and can cost the company in revenue if there is downtime.

Get a VPN While Teams Work From Home in 2020 and Beyond

If you have any remote workers who need access to sensitive information, then you should consider setting them up to connect to a VPN. The privacy and security that a VPN provides to protect the data, the users, and the company itself from outside attacks should be worth the initial investment costs.

Normal protections alone are not always enough, but a VPN paired with security awareness training, other security measures, and set guidelines for anyone who needs access to that data can greatly reduce the risk of attacks, data loss, and financial woes to a company.

Need a VPN? Check Out Liquid Web’s VPN and Get Secure Today.

The post 6 Reasons Why Employees Need a VPN While They Work From Home appeared first on Liquid Web.

Liquid Web’s Testing Engineer on the vast possibilities made reality by tech, how they found themself at Liquid Web, and the power of following your interests.

VCR loves the multifaceted nature of technology. “It’s infinitely versatile. From infrared scanners that help doctors find veins, to prosthetic limbs that restore the sensation of touch, to viewing writings on ancient scrolls without opening and destroying them, technology gives us ways to connect with each other, our shared past, and try to plan for the future.”

That they should revel in the many avenues technology has to offer comes as no surprise to those who know them—VCR is well-versed in versatility. In between crochet projects (currently a gnoll-styled monster doll), and knitting projects including doll clothes and accessories, V also sews. But pursuits outside of their work life aren’t limited to craft making. An avid reader, VCR is also the author of niche fantasy and sci-fi. “I’m slowly learning Hebrew,” they say, “which is fun because I love languages. I always have projects that I look forward to.”

VCR marries their virtuosity to their admiration for the widespread abilities of technology in their work as a Testing Engineer at Liquid Web, where they have worked for over a decade. “I work with a great team to make sure the code we make works and looks as good as possible,” says VCR. “Typically, I define my work like this: I get to break things, duplicate breaking the things, take notes on how I broke the things, and send it back to be fixed. When that’s done, I get to test it again to make certain the problem has been resolved. I love the work.”

But it is not work they came to quickly. “Before Liquid Web, I worked in almost everything but construction,” they quip. “ Fast food, customer service, retail, apartment cleaning, hotel housekeeping, catering, floral arranging—the list goes on. But my first job was thirty years ago at Anastasia’s Greek Doughnuts & Pastries, in Okemos, Michigan.”

It was through the encouragement of their brother and a few friends who worked at Liquid Web that they finally decided to apply and pursue a career in tech. After applying, VCR was relatively certain they wouldn’t get the job, fearing a lack of the computer skills needed to work in a company like Liquid Web. “I was geeky enough, at least,” they laugh. “I learned the computery parts afterwards.”

Before stepping into the current role as a Testing Engineer two years ago, VCR worked in Support for eight-and-a-half years. (“I was on 3rd shift for about six years of that,” they say. “Shout out to 3rds!”) Working in Support, they say, was hectic, but they have a deep appreciation for everything learned from teammates during their time together.

Since taking the leap into tech over ten years ago, VCR has grown to appreciate the pace, the excitement, and the coworkers. “There’s always something new going on,” they say. “There are always improvements to be made. I love the flexibility of my hours (with two kids, random things come up 71% of the time). I also love the eternal co-geek-ness of everyone working at Liquid Web. This is the first place I’ve ever worked where I can make an obscure reference to something, and at least one other person gets it. I’m always learning new things from everyone I work with.” As for the source of motivation, VCR cites their two children, who are six and nine years old. “They get more amazing every day,” they said.

VCR is excited about what’s in store for the tech field. “I think that as more women and non-binary folks get involved in tech,” they say, “it will necessarily grow in diversity, which will provide a larger scope of view for the products and ideas developed and created. It would be nice to have a sea change in the social stigmatization of ‘otherness’; acceptance of people as they are, rather than a value they are meant to prove.”

When encouraging young women to become involved in tech, VCR points again to the power of the tremendous versatility of the field as a way to attract people to the field. “Find something that resonates with you, or that you find especially interesting,” says Collins-Ross, “and then just do the absolute hell out of it. Not sure what you like in tech? Look at what you like to do in other areas of life; there is a way to combine anything.” They point out tech pioneers like Irene Posch, a researcher and artist who has embroidered a programmable computer, and to musician and innovator Imogen Heap who has invented MI.MU gloves, a wearable musical instrument. “If Irene Posch can embroider an actual computer and Imogen Heap can make gloves that are even cooler than a theremin, there is absolutely a way to combine your specialty with some aspect of technology to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts,” says VCR. “And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! The progression of technology is such that if an idea isn’t feasible now, it might be commonplace within ten years. You might be the one to forge that path.”

Pronouns: they/them/their

The post Women in Technology: V Collins-Ross appeared first on Liquid Web.

As many employees continue to do their jobs remotely, it is essential to ensure that everyone feels like a valued member of the team, no matter where they may be. Keeping morale high and building a strong remote work culture has never been more critical.

To keep company culture thriving, we must prioritize creating virtual work settings that are rife with connection. Below are some of the ways the Liquid Web Culture Team has been advocating to maintain a strong, vibrant, and connected company culture for remote work.

Social Interaction

Humans are social beings. Many thrive on face-to-face communication and have found it difficult switching to remote life as it eliminates most office interaction. Creating interesting and themed ways for groups to connect virtually is one of the most beneficial methods to foster remote work culture.

The Information Troll Booth

Our team decided to create an internal entertainment podcast. Each episode will have special employee guests, and showcase various topics ranging from technology and pop culture to food/drink preferences or video games. The goal of the podcast is to offer some lighthearted fun that employees can play in the background while working, which helps colleagues feel like they are back at their desks and hearing others talking around the office.

Hangout Roulette

A company like Liquid Web has workers that span multiple states. Hangout Roulette is an entertaining way to foster interaction between employees near and far. For this activity, employees sign up to participate in small, randomized groups every few weeks to have a 30-minute chat.

You can provide a list of questions and conversation starters, or people can feel free to let the conversation go where it pleases! Employees have found this to be a great way to decompress and break up their days.

Social Spotlights

Employees can submit pictures according to a weekly theme, like Mug with Your Favorite Mug, Unhelpful Coworkers, and I Like to Move It. It is an enjoyable window into employees’ lives and interests, and helps foster more connection for a stronger remote work culture.

Hobby Highlights

Everyone has a hobby or activity to help blow off steam. What better way to recognize employee greatness than by showing off that hobby or activity? Once a month, one employee is selected to show off their favorite skill or hobby in a social media post. We have writers, gardeners, woodworkers, tailors, and more!

Fun and Games

All work and no play is no fun for anyone. Happy employees are productive employees, and Liquid Web is creating new ways to build community by introducing voting championships, role-play gaming events, virtual card tournaments, and even showcasing our furry friends.

Voting Championships

When it comes to favorite foods, everyone has an opinion and wants to voice it. Increase social interaction by creating championships that require employees to vote for their favorites. It brings a bit of fun and frivolity to what can be an otherwise serious or busy day.

Company-wide voting in head-to-head matchups helped determine the best cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), ice cream flavor (Mint Chocolate Chip), and movie snack (buttered popcorn)!

Acting and Role-Play Gaming Events

Several of our employees have been acting out characters and recording stories for collaborative projects with colleagues. Acting is a great way to enjoy stepping out of your usual comfort zones to pretend to be someone else, which helps alleviate stress and build remote work culture.

A group participated in a fairy-tale themed virtual mystery party where everyone played a character and had to work together to solve puzzles and clues to figure out which character was the saboteur.

We also have a group of employees doing an RPG (role-playing game) based on Wendy’s (the fast-food chain). They’re getting a real kick out of playing the characters and being part of different factions like Order of the Frosty and Order of the Baconator.

Summer 2020 Euchre Tournament

We also play card games virtually to blow off some steam. Our second Euchre tournament during social distancing is happening right now! Currently, ten teams are competing for the title of Euchre Champion. Games are played on an app called Trickster. Teams are encouraged to open their favorite chatting app for competitive chatter during games!

Vanity Fur

We all love our pets, so we decided to showcase them! Employees can submit pictures of their pets, which are then paired with the owner’s job title. Do you know how cute it is to see a German shepherd as part of our System Resources team or a salamander in Human Resources?

Health and Fitness

Group gatherings and outings have been decreased or eliminated due to the pandemic. Our employees have turned to exercising and cooking or baking activities as ways to stay engaged and healthy during this time, and showcasing fitness and health-related activities is a great way to build remote work culture.

Virtual Runs

For those feeling cooped up inside, virtual runs or races offer the opportunity for colleagues to join up and run a race near their home while still competing with others virtually. Liquid Web has graciously offered to reimburse employees up to $35 after they have completed a virtual run or race through the remainder of 2020.

Steppin’ in the Dome

Another excellent active option is to start a step-tracking group. It’s easy to participate because you are already moving around, and tracking is done automatically using an app. The top stepper each month wins a prize!

Iron Geeks (Fitness Blog)

As part of staying active and getting fit, we have started an internal fitness blog. We have various posts about topics such as training for an Ironman race, kickboxing classes, and even how to build your own gym in the basement. Any type of post showing how you stay active is welcome, which helps foster remote work culture.

Company Cookbook

We are working on putting together an everyday, healthy recipe cookbook based on recipes submitted by Liquid Web employees. A second cookbook is also in the works and will feature fall tradition and holiday recipes, which will be perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

Try Building a Remote Work Culture Using Fun Events

Strengthening remote work culture and engaging your colleagues is essential. A wide variety of activities that hit multiple interests will increase overall participation and employee interaction. Whichever ideas you try, keeping the atmosphere fun while engaging a variety of interests is crucial for successful participation across the company.

The post 12 Ways to Enhance Company Culture for Remote Teams appeared first on Liquid Web.

Have you ever wondered what a website domain is and how important it is to your business?

What differentiates a website domain from a website URL? What does the IP address of the server have to do with all that?

And in the end, how will a website domain help to bring more visitors to your site?

What is a Website Domain?

A domain name is a string that identifies a space within the Internet allocated to your website.

Since every website “lives” on some type of a server somewhere in the world, we need to have a specific way of accessing it, one way or another. Servers are another type of machine, and like any other machine, they don’t like working with words. They prefer numbers. At least one IP (Internet Protocol) address gets assigned to every server; this of this as the server’s address. If your website is the only website hosted on a web server, you could use the IP address to access it.

Take liquidweb.com for example. It’s definitely easier to say or remember than the IP address of the server it’s hosted on, which is 67.225.187.61.

Now try to imagine having to remember strings of numbers for every web page that comes to your mind. Difficult for a human, easy for a server.

Additionally, a single IP address can host multiple different websites. To access them, you’d need to remember extra identifiable information about each of those websites. It would be almost as if having to remember GPS coordinates for every location you’re trying to reach instead of knowing the street address it’s located on. It’s inconvenient, at the least. That’s where the website domain comes in.

But how are an IP address and a domain name connected?

What is a Domain Name System (DNS)?

A Domain Name System is a virtual directory for the Internet that connects domain names to IP addresses, thereby allowing browsers to load the domain successfully. The DNS also defines what a website domain should look like and what it consists of.

What Does a Website Domain Look Like?

Web browsers show the website’s URL in the address bar on top of the displayed website. The image above shows an example of a valid URL, split into 4 different sections:

1. Protocol – In this case, this is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) , meaning it is a secure connection between the browser and the website.
2. Subdomain – The “www” part of the URL can be used, but it’s not necessary for naming domains today. Originally, the “www” was used to distinguish a website from other potential elements of said domain. It was easily associated with the World Wide Web, so it represented the publicly accessible website, instead of other sections of the website, such as the help.liquidweb.com, in the case of Liquid Web.
3. Second Level Domain (SLD) – This is the part that most are familiar with, and represents your business name digitally online. This is the part directly to the left of the dot com.
4. Top Level Domain (TLD) – This is the ending to your URL, also known as the domain suffix.

Let’s take a look at sections 3 and 4 more closely, since the Second Level Domain and Top Level Domain are what truly make up a domain name.

What is a Second Level Domain?

Second level domains are the most important part of the URL, as that is the part visitors and customers will need to remember, so make sure it is memorable. This part represents your business online. The Second Level Domain is directly to the left of the domain suffix, also known as the top level domain.

How Do You Choose a Second Level Domain?

If you’ve ever thought about owning a website, you’ve most definitely thought about the second level domain. Choosing the best domain for your new business is a tricky process that requires brainstorming and some creative thinking.

Just like choosing the name for your new business in general, you will want your domain name (a combination of the SLD and TLD) to stand out among other competitors. You will want something professional, but also easy to remember, easy to say, and at least slightly original. Maybe catchy, too.

Additionally, for the most professional look, your website and email should use the same domain, and it should resemble the business name as closely as possible. If the actual business name is too long, abbreviations can be used as well.

The thing about domains is that you’d also need to check for the specific domain’s availability. The Internet has become a crowded place. Most of the simplest, self-explanatory domains are already taken, or up for sale, for exuberant prices. You can use tools such as Instant Domain Search to find which names are taken and which are available instantly.

What is a Top Level Domain (TLD)?

A Top Level Domain is the last portion of your domain after the period. There are many different types of top level domains to choose from, each having their own purpose.

What Types of Top Level Domains Can You Choose From?

There are quite a few different TLDs nowadays, including, but not limited to:

• .com – The most popular top level domain, initially intended for commercial websites
• .net – This TLD was created for network providers, but it’s open for other uses as well
• .gov – Used only by government offices, agencies, and agents. For example, an official website of the United States government is usa.gov
• .org – Mainly used by organizations
• .edu – Only educational institutions or universities can use this TLD
• .uk, .mx, .br – Country-coded TLDs (ccTLD)
• .music, .ninja, .store, .sports – These are some examples of newer, generic TLDs

How Do You Choose a Top Level Domain?

Newer TLDs can be more expensive than the traditional TLDs, such as “.net,” but the potential benefits for brand strengthening and market capture can outweigh the cost.

Use the following criteria to evaluate which Top Level Domain is right for you:

• Brand Strength – Owning your business’ URL on multiple TLDs across the Internet can increase name recognition in multiple markets, as well as strengthen the brand. In addition, you can prevent potential competitors from purchasing your business’ URL in combination with a new TLD. This works both for the traditional TLDs, as well as the newer ones.
• Controlling Your Vertical – If your business markets products or services in one particular vertical, such as sporting goods or music, you can capture more of that market by purchasing your domain name with the “.sports” or “.music” TLD.

How Do You Choose an SEO-Friendly Website Domain Name?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a list of various tools and procedures that help make your website one of the first results when searching the web for a specific keyword on a search engine such as Google or Bing. One of the things that can help with SEO is the choice of a domain name as well.

Keep the following in mind for an SEO-friendly domain name:

• Keep It Short – the shorter the domain name is, usually, the easier to remember, type, or search. If you’re using social media, it’s less likely to get additionally shortened when mentioned.
• Intuitive or Brandable – Your domain name should be able to give an idea of what your site is about at-a-glance.
• Append the Name – If a domain name you’ve decided on is not available, it’s okay to add a suffix or a prefix to it such as toysonline.com or, toysonline.eu.
• “.com” or not? – “.com” is still used with the majority of websites online these days. Search engines don’t necessarily have a preference for this specific TDL, but the general population seems to “trust” sites that use “.com” more. If the “.com” TLD is not available for your chosen Second Level Domain, “.net”, or “.org” could be valid choices as well. If those aren’t available, the next best option would be choosing an appropriate ccTDL.
• Careful About Trademarks – Make sure your domain name cannot be confused with another brand, especially in your vertical, as that company can later take legal action against you.

How Do You Obtain a Website Domain Name?

Once you’ve reached a decision about the business name and potential domain names you’d like to use, it’s time to purchase a domain from one of the many domain name registrars, including Liquid Web.

Usually, to keep everything simpler, you will want to choose your web hosting provider as your domain registrar as well. They’ll be able to assist you with any potential issues or questions regarding both.

You can purchase domain name registrations for different periods (usually annually). Depending on the domain name, or the TLD, their prices can vary from free domains to those costing a couple of hundreds of dollars per year.

Choosing Your Business Website Domain Name

Choosing a correct domain for your business is obviously important, just like a good location for your physical storefront would be. You’d want to make sure that your neighbors are people you can work with, or that the banners you’d be using aren’t misleading. It’s the first impression your visitors and potential customers will get on the web.

Just like your website should be made in a professional way, either by professionals or using a professional website builder, the domain should reflect what’s happening behind the scenes effectively. In the end, your unique and clever domain name may make the visitor choose you over your competitors.

The post Domains 101: What is a Website Domain? appeared first on Liquid Web.

SSD vs HDD: The Differences and Which You Need For Your Server

Your business is growing faster than your server can keep up with, and before you know it, your infrastructure is starting to act sluggish, space is running out, and your website or application is slowing down. You have been considering switching to SSD vs HDD, but you aren’t sure if it’s worth the pretty penny.

We give you a breakdown of the pros and cons between SSD vs HDD in terms of speed, capacity, reliability, power, and price, so you can make the best decision for your business.

What is SSD?

A Solid-State Drive (SSD) is a storage device that retains data in flash memory as opposed to a magnetic-based system like a hard disk drive. By definition, “flash memory is an electronic (solid-state) non-volatile computer memory storage medium which can be electrically erased and reprogrammed.”

A solid-state drive is defined by its ability to store information using the reliable attributes of a durable cluster of semiconductors. Because solid-state drives do not depend on moving parts or spinning disks, data is saved to a cluster of memory banks or semiconductors.

What is HDD?

HDD, also known as a traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Fixed Disk Drive (FDD), is a non-volatile, hardware data storage device attached to a computer or server. An HDD magnetically stores, retrieves, and outputs digital information using a series of stacked rotating metallic disks that have been coated with magnetic material. The rotating disks are paired with an actuator arm that reads and writes the digital data to the disks.

How Much Faster is SSD vs HDD?

Regarding speed, SSD continues to dominate the growth of the hard drive market because of the ongoing improvements being made to the solid-state drive sector by the major manufacturers like SanDisk, Samsung, Sun Microsystems, and Toshiba.

In the server market, SSD offers faster read/write times, which increases server speed by an average of 95% in some cases. This increase, in turn, decreases page load times, leading developers to invest more functionality in web-based applications, which allows users to utilize more functional websites.

Using SSD, the data transfer rate will increase your servers’ overall speed and responsiveness, which provides for a more predictable lifespan.

A typical SSD has access speeds of 40 to 100 microseconds, which is nearly 100 times faster than a HDD. Increased access speed means programs can run quicker, and work gets done with less stress on the server.

Because every storage block is available at the same speed as every other storage block, the rate at which data is accessed and provided is exponentially enhanced. This means that SSD throughput is dramatically faster than a HDD.

What are the Capacity Differences Between SSD vs HDD?

There are multiple offerings when it comes to SSD storage space options: portable, pocket-sized flash drives, external SSD drives, and the server-side internal SSD drives.

Western Digital currently offers the world’s highest capacity, pocket-sized, portable SSD at 8 TB. Samsung offers an external SSD with 16 TB of available for a little over $4000.00.

When it comes to HDD, the Seagate Exos X16 HDD is the world’s highest capacity 3.5-inch 16 TB 7200 RPM drive, which comes in at just shy of $400.

Compare the two price tags with the equivalent storage. Different technologies, different speeds, and much different pricing.

Liquid Web offers multiple SSD options for our Dedicated Servers.

Which is More Reliable Between SSD vs HDD?

SSD drives have no moving parts to wear down or break, which provides better performance and improved reliability over regular hard drives. Additionally, SSD provides enhanced data integrity and endurance since they retain data even when not powered up.

Conversely, according to this study by BackBlaze, 78% of HDD drives will last at least four years, if not more, and these HDD are writing 24/7 (which is not true for the HDD on your server).

Additionally, failure rates for HDDs continue at approximately 2-9 percent per year (based on 2016 numbers) versus SSD, which only have a failure rate of 1-3 percent per year.

This being said, SSD do have a downside. There is a finite number of writes available, which will cause the eventual need for a replacement SSD drive to be employed. Some estimates place about 3,000 write cycles average per cell before breakdown.

Additionally, some drives may arrive from the factory with degraded cells, which can cause an exponentially faster breakdown and cause the early failure of the drive.

Here are a few ways cell degradation can be dealt with for SSD drives.

Over Provisioning for SSD

Modern SSD producers are keenly aware of this issue and, in response, usually add additional memory cells to compensate for this loss. This addition is commonly called over-provisioning, and is typically included from most major manufacturers. This fact implies that in a 120 GB SSD drive, an additional amount of eight GB of NAND memory can usually be added. In enterprise-level SSD drives, some makers include up to 100% of additional over-provisioned memory in order to prevent this problem.

Garbage Collection for SSD

Another technique manufacturers use to prevent issues is called garbage collection. This process identifies when pages become stale, and acts to copy an entire block that has both good data and stale pages. Garbage collection then moves the good pages to an alternate block, and finally, it erases the original block entirely.

Trim for SSD

Additionally, the OS can use a command called Trim. Trim is a command that is sent to an SSD to signal that specific pages or blocks no longer contain valid data. This command doesn’t remove the existing data, but it simply lets the OS know that data in that cluster can be overwritten. This process continually frees up space by allowing for additional writes to take place in those “open spaces.”

As with all SSD processes, the continual use of these commands increases the number of writes, which contributes to the overall decline of the drive lifespan.

Are there Different Power Requirements for SSD vs HDD?

SSD drives require less power and cooling than other types of storage media. SSD produce less heat than HDD, which lowers the need for heat dissipation.

HDD drives generate more heat by the mechanical action of the disk. Under load, SSD use anywhere from 2.5 – 3.5W of power.

Because SSD drives perform better, they spend more time in an idle state compared to a HDD This simply means that an SSD delivers an order of magnitude of increased efficiency per watt than a HDD.

Cost Differences Between SSD vs HDD

There continues to exist a significant market share for HDD. As pricing continues to fall and raid array usage provides a large amount of storage space, SMBs often take advantage of the lowered total cost of ownership traditional storage mediums offer.

Typical costs for high-performance enterprise SSD are about $0.07 per GB, and HDD at around $0.03 GB.

The lower costs associated with larger HDD versus the newer SSD medium permit a reliable alternative option for many businesses, depending on their needs.

SSD vs HDD: Who Wins?

The benefits of using an SSD drive in your current server setup will be shown in an overall increase in capacity, performance, and reliability. This means that with the addition of this type of drive, the amount of data you will be able to store will increase, with an overall lower total cost per gigabyte.

If you are rendering graphics or processing video, SSD drives provide a critical time-savings in the overall conversion time of that data. If analyzing significant amounts of information, SSD offers a drastic reduction in processing time and server load.

Additionally, the ability to stream videos in real-time will dramatically increase, which will allow for no-lag video streaming.

Finally, SSD drives provide the required speed, endurance, and stability you need to ensure your information is shared reliably.

Selecting a New Host For Your Next Web Project? Get Our Hosting Buyer’s Guide

The post SSD vs HDD: Which is the Best? appeared first on Liquid Web.

Before we explore what brand voice is all about, take a moment to picture your brand or any brand of your choice. But don’t just imagine it as a business: picture it as a living, breathing entity. See your brand as a person. In the same way people need to look decent, have a good name, and speak with a captivating voice, so too does your brand.

A brand’s voice isn’t just limited to its flamboyant name and dashing logo, but the entire spectrum of words your brand uses while communicating with its clients. Your brand’s voice is the complete embodiment of its personality, and believe it or not; customers can sense the slightest shift in your brand’s voice.

Lately, there’s been so much emphasis on brand logos and names that business owners often forget that customers also pay a great deal of attention to a brand’s voice. Lots of people would be shell-shocked if Apple suddenly changed their calm, simple, and confident nature to embrace Target’s fun and exciting voice.

Your brand’s voice is its nature, its identity, and needs to be carefully considered as you build your brand.

Why Your Brand Needs a Voice

Today, business survival isn’t only dependent on having a great product or offering outstanding services. It’s about creating brilliant marketing strategies, putting your brand out there, and showing the 4.6 billion people on social media what your brand is capable of.

How Top Brands Speak

Every brand has a voice, regardless of whether they choose to, and it can either be authentic or weak. These brands have built their voice so much that if they were human, here’s what they’ll tell you:

• Apple: Think different
• Nike: Just do it
• Dove: Put your best face forward with Dove
• Liquid Web: Most Helpful Humans in Hosting
• Coca-Cola: Taste the feeling
• Amazon: Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

The first step to seizing and maximizing every opportunity and growing your brand’s voice is by getting an awesome name, and the best place to start is with a business name generator. It’ll help you generate countless brand names in a few seconds.

Building and Maintaining Your Brand Voice Across Several Channels

Now that you understand what a brand voice is and why you need one, let’s explore some quick steps that can help you create your voice and maintain that voice in all your platforms. This is where your branding team plays a major role.

1. Know Your Audience

Having a complete understanding of your audience is the first step to building your brand voice. Understand who your target audience is, their preferences, and how they communicate. Take note and learn whether your service is well suited for groups such as:

• Millennials or baby boomers
• Large companies or small startups
• Young singles or married couples

Next, study the psychographic and demographic data of your audience, as this will help your content creators write content that better resonates with them.

2. Create a Short Description

Get your branding team and key members of your business to take a long look at all your previous content and learn which pages got more reader interest. Find out the page’s tone and which personality it communicates because that’s the one your customers have connected with.

You can further simplify this personality so you can see exactly how your future content should sound like. Think of the mood that the words invoke.

Here’s examples from popular brands:

• Authentic: Trustworthy, Direct, and Confident. E.g., Apple
• Passionate: Expressive, Excited, Fun, Action-Minded. E.g., Liquid Web
• Friendly: Happiness, Experience, Joy. E.g., Coca-Cola

You’re not in a competition when it comes to finding your brand’s voice, so there’s no need to copy or sound like your competitors.

Create a Brand Voice Chart

Using the brief descriptions above, you can build a chart similar to the one below. It’ll help you know what direction to take when defining the voice of your brand.

Creating a brand voice chart simplifies the processes involved in establishing a brand voice, and it’ll make it a lot easier for your content creators to maintain one standard across several platforms. When it comes to branding, consistency is key.

Source: Marketects

Write Uniformly

Your content team needs to work with clear guidelines that reflect your brand’s voice. It also helps if you set the standards by creating a bunch of content that reflects your brand personality for several situations and platforms. This would help ensure your voice is uniform across these platforms.

Constantly Review

Don’t make the mistake of abandoning your brand voice. As time goes by and the market changes, take the time to review your voice chart and alter any brand description that hasn’t worked well over time. Over time, your audience will show you what brand voice is compelling and true for your brand.

Two Things That Makes a Brand Voice Compelling

In executing an effective marketing strategy, you need a brand voice that speaks to your target audience and captures your business’s mission and values.

Here are some things that make a brand’s voice sweet to the customer’s ears.

1. Having a Solid Brand Personality Tailored To A Specific Audience

Having a great personality makes a brand’s voice compelling to its target audience, and the easiest way to choose your brand personality is to understand the personalities of your target audience and pick a personality that matches theirs.

A brand hoping to target Millennials would need to have a confident, tech-savvy, and goal-oriented personality.

Your brand must stay true to its personality while it adapts to changing times. Remember, your brand should maintain a constant brand message. Don’t alter based on brand giants or your competitors.

2. Understanding Brand Tones

Content creation is one primary way a brand speaks, and some of the best ways customers get to hear that voice is through:

• Blogs and web content
• Social media content
• Emails

How your message sounds is a lot more important to the customer than what you’re saying.

The best way to reach your customers and grow your business is to set the tone for your brand and communicate emotionally.

You’ll want to make sure that, depending on the niche, your brand’s message is communicated to your customers in either a pragmatic, classic, modern, playful, or emotional tone.

Know that whatever tone you choose must fit your brand’s voice.

Selecting a Brand Tone

One of the best ways your marketing team can set your brand for success is to carefully select the best tone that’s consistent with your brand’s personality. To do this effectively, you must know why customers are excited about your brand.

Understand that a brand’s tone isn’t the same as a brand’s voice. For one, a brand tone can change depending on the message being communicated. A brand’s voice cannot, and should not, change based on message.

Share Your Brand Voice With Everyone

Communicate the voice of your brand across all channels by sharing your brand voice guidelines with all employees across the business. This is a crucial step, as customers will notice if the voice is uniform across the sales team in chats and phone calls, but not when they talk with billing or support.

Ensure all customer-facing teams are aware of brand voice and values.

With all teams in alignment with how your brand is perceived, your customers will enjoy your brand voice across any team they interact with.

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