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What is Website Hosting?

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What You Need To Know About Web Hosting

Whether you have products or services to sell or ideas to share, you need to have a website. The internet is everywhere and over 5 billion people use it regularly. A website puts you and your business in front of millions of customers, improving your visibility, credibility, and reach. The right website looks professional, loads quickly, and connects you to the right people. While having a plan for custom web development is important, one of the most important factors is how and where your site will be hosted. Here’s what you should know about web hosting.

Understanding Web Hosting 

When you think of a store or other business you can visit, there will be products or services the owner wants to sell to clients or customers. That store or business needs a facility to conduct its business, including equipment to conduct transactions, spaces to display goods or information about services, and a building that houses operations. You can think of web hosting as the service that makes your site and its elements accessible to internet users. Web hosts provide the space and technology necessary for your site to operate according to its purposes.

Taking a Closer Look

A web hosting service provides the server, which is a physical computer that stores the data, images, and other elements used for your website. When a user types a specific address or URL, your web host transfers all the files needed for your site. Your web host is responsible for making sure the right elements are transferred each time. Web hosting also covers security for site use as well as the maintenance necessary to keep the site running.  While you could build or operate a computer to act as a server for self-hosting, that could be a very expensive option. Many individuals and organizations use a third-party hosting service that takes care of the costs and responsibility of server maintenance and security.

Exploring Web Hosting Options

When it comes to third-party web hosting, there are different options available, each with its own advantages:

  • Shared hosting: This option involves multiple users sharing the same server resources, such as storage, memory, and computing power. Shared hosting is usually quite affordable and requires no technical expertise; however, you don’t have access to server settings and your site performance is impacted by other website traffic.
  • Virtual private servers: Generally more expensive than shared hosting, VPS hosting dedicates space and resources to your site’s files. Although you enjoy much more freedom to customize, you’ll likely need to hire a custom web development service to manage the technical details.
  • Dedicated hosting: This web hosting option comes with dedicated server space and boosted functionality. While you do have root access to the server, this type of service is usually very expensive and better suited for large businesses.
  • Managed hosting: This option comes with dedicated server space, but less control and responsibility than dedicated hosting. Typically you manage your site’s content using networked computer communication rules, also known as a file transfer protocol.
  • Cloud hosting: Although more expensive than shared and VPS hosting, cloud hosting uses multiple virtual servers reducing the chance that your website will be impacted by hardware failure or high traffic. Depending on your provider, you may not have root access to these services.

Finding the Right Custom Web Development Solution

You may seem overwhelmed by what’s available for web hosting. The good news is that Unwired Web Solutions offers a full suite of services to make your website dreams a beautiful and functional reality. Not only do we help you develop a website, but we also specialize in search engine optimization, helping to ensure your site is visible and accessible by the users that are in most need of the products or information you provide. Contact us today to get started!

The Importance of Good Website Design for Your Business

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When was the last time you updated the overall look and feel of your website? If you do not yet have a website built, do you plan to hire a professional for the web development process? The ideal answers to these questions are that you update your website regularly and rely on professional services to do so.

Why You Need a Professional Website for Your Business

Almost anyone can learn the skill sets to create a basic website. Because of this, most brands have a website to match, no matter how small they are. That makes a professional website the bare minimum consumers expect of companies when it comes to establishing an online presence. However, just any website won’t do.

Boosts Credibility

Because a website is a bare minimum requirement, it affects a company’s credibility when it does not have a good one. A company can use social media profiles to do business, but consumers view social media more as necessary add-ons than suitable replacements. In fact, 84% of customers believe a company with a website is more credible than one with only social media profiles.

Provides Ownership

When you use another company’s platform for your business, you are constantly at the mercy of that platform and how it develops. For instance, consider the brands that relied heavily or exclusively on TikTok or Google Plus. When you have a website, you can create a central hub where you control all the information that goes out about the brand.

Improves Search Engine Ranking

Control over the information on your website puts you in an ideal position to improve the SEO ranking of your overall brand. News agencies, brand partners and reviewers finally have a website to link to, which improves your link-building strategy. By upgrading other functional aspects of the website, you can further improve your SEO ranking over time.

Why Web Design Plays Such a Crucial Role in Web Development

Website Design for Your Business

When developing a website, the functional aspects are the most important. However, the design determines how well these functions work for potential and current customers.

Improves Customer Experience

Web design dictates how easy and fun it is for customers to find the information they need. Factors that contribute to this include logical site maps, fast loading speeds, no random music, no obtrusive ads and legible fonts. How much customers enjoy using the website also determines your bounce rates, session lengths and conversion rates.

Contributes to Branding

How much branding work has your team put into your company so far? When customers hear your jingle on the radio, come across your web pages and see your billboard ads, is it obvious they all belong to the same company? How clearly does your product line up? A website can create a starting point from which all the rest of your branding efforts can flow.

Affects the Functionality

The more bells and whistles you add to your website, the more data it takes to load and the slower it does so. Are there videos that start automatically or large photos to load? These and many other factors can slow down the rendering of the website, which makes for an unpleasant viewing experience. Website design can also affect how well the site adapts to different screen sizes.

How To Get Started

By working with a professional web development team and SEO specialists, you put your website in the best position to attract visitors and create customers. A professional team considers your business needs, the demographic of your audience and your customer preferences when creating a design that works.

Unwired Web Solutions can provide the skills and experience you need to make your new or improved website a success. Reach out for more information.

What You Need To Know About Mobile App Development for E-Commerce

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Even when websites are mobile-friendly, it is generally much easier to purchase items online using apps. Consider, for instance, the difference in using the Amazon shopping app over its website on your phone. Because of this, web development teams are now pushing to create more apps for e-commerce websites. Should your company invest in this?

What the Data Says About Smartphone Use

The data on smartphone ownership and usage differs across national and cultural lines. However, most indicators point to smart devices taking over the market in the near future:

  • Pew Research estimates that 84% of men and 79% of women own a smartphone.
  • The higher a person’s disposable income, the more likely someone is to own a smartphone.
  • Statista reports that in the third quarter of 2019, 52% of the world’s population had recently bought something online using a mobile device. 
  • In Canada, a third of the population had bought something online; meanwhile, in Indonesia, 80% have done so.
  • CNBC estimates that by 2025, almost three-quarters of the world will use only their smartphones to get online.

What the Most Common Challenges for App Development Are

Building an app for your business requires high levels of skill and creativity. You need professionals who know the ins and outs of not only your business but also your industry. Otherwise, the team may create an app that does not solve the pain points your products or services address for your customers.

To hire the necessary level of experience and skill, cost becomes an obstacle many small businesses struggle with. However, if you believe an app can take your business to the next level, a business loan can help make it happen. You may even have the opportunity for creative payment options, such as a commission basis.

Finally, apps require ongoing maintenance to function properly. As customers provide feedback on how well they operate across multiple platforms, making changes is important. This adds to the cost of the investment in both time and money.

mobile app development for e-commerce

Why You Should Get Your Own App

Many business owners feel intimidated by the success of Amazon and other large e-commerce platforms. After all, if these companies already sell everything imaginable, why should customers use small business apps that only provide a limited supply of items?

1. Brand Loyalty

Even if the checkout process simply takes the buyer to Amazon or eBay, your app makes it easier for buyers to pinpoint all the products and services you provide. They may discover new ones along the way and begin to choose your products over available options. This works especially well when companies offer lower shipping rates for bigger orders or subscriptions.

2. Personalization Opportunities

How well do you know your customers? Can you tie specific orders to names and addresses? When companies can do this easily, it becomes much easier to personalize communications, offers and other key aspects of your marketing campaign. Encouraging people to make accounts when using your app makes this possible.

3. Potential for Ad Revenue

Businesses that diversify their incomes stand a much better chance of weathering economic storms. One way to do so is to pitch partnerships with other companies. An excellent example of this is when apps that allow you to find vehicles for sale also incorporate offers for financing. Lenders may offer commissions or pay to run ads on the platform.

How To Create an App for Your Business

The first step is hiring qualified professionals for the design, creation and ongoing support work necessary to create a successful app. You should also write down your goals for the app and how it will integrate with other aspects of your marketing plan, such as SEO.

Unwired Web Solutions has a team of qualified professionals eager to assist with web development and the SEO process. Contact us for more information on how we can assist with your app development.