SEO Hosting Blog

If you’re thinking about launching a new website or redesigning your current site, you might be tempted to try to save a few bucks by using a free or cheap template design. You can download these pre-designed websites, plug in your content and images, and have a new website up all without paying a web designer. Sounds great, right?

Well, while there might be some small benefits to using a web template (I admit it, I’ve used them), there are several drawbacks that might make you think twice about going this route. Here are 5 good reasons not to use a template design.

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If you’re a movie nerd like me, chances are you’ve visited Ain’t It Cool News on at least one occasion (or in my case, a few thousand occasions). It’s the leading source for entertainment news targeted at the “geek” crowd. It gets thousands of daily hits and has an Alexa Traffic Rank of 5,082.

In short, it’s a popular site.

And that’s why I was so surprised to see the site fail so miserably at launching a new design. Just this past week, AintItCool.com rolled out a new look for its website, and the results have been nothing short of disastrous.

Their homepage which displays news in a few different categories is all miscategorized and out of whack. The comments section is screwed up. There are all sorts of server issues. Content seems to disappear and reappear at random times.

To sum it up in internet geek terms: It’s a FAIL on every level. An EPIC FAIL, if you will.

So how could such a popular brand do such a terrible job at launching a new version of its site?

Apparently, they didn’t do a whole lot of testing before putting the new site up. In the site owner’s own words, it was a “hurried launch.” While I don’t know everything that’s going on behind the scenes at AintItCool.com, I can’t imagine why they’d hurry to launch their new website without taking the time to make sure it works the way it should.

Look, it’s understandable for there to be a few kinks here and there whenever you put up a new website. These things happen. But you can minimize the kinks by testing the site as much as possible before you put it live. And once it goes live and you notice the problems, you have to fix them as quickly as possible. You can’t expect visitors to idly sit by for days, waiting for it to be fixed.

There are lessons all of us can learn from AintItCool.com’s relaunch failures. It all boils down to paying attention to details, doing as much testing as possible, and correcting issues in a timely manner.

What tips would you offer to someone thinking about launching a website redesign?

Are people leaving your website almost as quickly as they arrived? Bounces happen, but if you have an exceptionally high bounce rate, that’s an indication that your website isn’t functioning the way it should. Something is just not right, and until you correct it, you’ll never build a truly profitable and effective online presence.

So, what are some of the most common reasons visitors quickly bounce from a website?

1. You’re targeting the wrong keywords—It’s quite possible that you’re targeting keywords that don’t exactly match the products or services you offer. In other words, people could be searching for one thing but end up finding your website instead. For example, someone might be searching for information on “windows” for their home and end up on a website about “Microsoft Windows.” Make sure you’re really targeting keywords that bring targeted visitors.
2. Your website takes too long to load—If your website doesn’t display within a few seconds of someone clicking on it, you’re going to lose a lot of visitors. Web users are an impatient bunch. They want instant satisfaction, and if you can’t deliver it, they’ll find someone else who can.
3. Your content doesn’t deliver on the link’s promise—You see this happen a lot with PPC ads. The ad will promise one thing, but when the user clicks the link, they’re taken to a page that has almost no connection with the ad’s promise. Always make sure you’re delivering what the visitors expect.
4. They can’t find the information they’re looking for—Again, web users are impatient and want their information as quickly as possible. This means your website needs to have simple navigation, easy to scan content, and even a search bar if your website is large enough.
5. They don’t trust you—Online shoppers are very skeptical by nature. And for good reason. With so many scams plaguing the internet, you can never be too careful. So how can you earn their trust? Having testimonials helps. So does eliminating risk and ditching the spammy copy. Check out more tips for convincing skeptical customers.
6. You do something annoying—Pop-ups, autoplay audio and video, and walk-on spokespeople are just a few things that annoy me to no end. If you’re doing something intrusive and annoying when people land on your website, you can bet a lot of people will instantly back out.
7. Your content doesn’t hook the reader—You only have a few short seconds to grab the attention of your website visitors. You need to hook them in with a strong, benefit-rich headline and powerful copy that demands to be read.

What are some other reasons visitors bounce quickly from websites?

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy computing. I’m a junkie when it comes to computers. Even more, I really enjoy operating systems. For most of my life I have been using Microsoft operating systems. My generation is pretty cool because I got started right during the peek of things. In school, I used early versions of Windows including Windows 3.1.

When Windows 95 was released, I was truly impressed. Amazingly, Windows today still has that same format but dressed up significantly. Over the years though, I have become less tolerate of Windows. As more time went by, slowly I started to prefer other operating systems. I purchased my first Apple computer about two years ago and I think that was the moment when I finally realized that there was more to computers than just Microsoft Windows. Today, I prefer Linux, specifically Debian/Ubuntu. I now consider purchasing my MacBook Pro as a stepping stone to migrating away from Windows. I do like Mac OS X, but for me, I like to build and customize things. I don’t want to sound like I am downing Mac OS X, because I’m not. The operating system is absolutely amazing, and in my opinion, flawless!

The reason why I prefer Linux is because I’m a builder. I’m creative and I enjoy customizing and tweaking things. You can’t really do that with Mac OS. With my MacBook PRO, you push the power button and it just works. Which is great, but Apple is responsible for its greatness, not me. When I build a Linux OS, I’m responsible for making it work. Linux is much like art. You can customize your computer and include the programs you want, all from scratch. Getting everything to work right depends on you. In other words, your computer is built right when you have everything you want, the way you want. Working with Linux is a challenge, it’s rewarding, and it’s amazing once you have things running the way you want.

But what about Webmasters? What is the best operating system to use for webmastering? I’ve considered this question for quite some time. I guess it’s something that could be debated without a final conclusion, simply because it’s based on the opinion of individual users. With the three common operating systems available (Windows, Mac, and Linux) which one do you think provides the best user functionality for webmasters?

In my opinion, I can say that it’s between Mac and Linux. Windows is completely out of the equation. If you feel differently, I totally welcome you to express your thoughts on why you think its best operating. My opinion why Windows doesn’t compare to either Mac or Linux is lack of speed, security, and stability. Even with Windows completely optimized for maximum performance, it’s still much slower than Mac or Linux. I don’t like to keep my computers running when I’m not using them. I power them down and turn them off. I’m pretty sure that components and CPU processors are only rated for so many hours of use, plus it wastes electricity. I believe that my computers will last longer if I turn them off then they are not in use. And admittedly, I look more at it towards trying to reduce my electric bill compared to the “Green” aspects. Sorry!

On both Mac and Linux setups, you’re going to see super fast startup times. Mac, in my opinion, is the fastest. Linux out of the box, tends to come with a lot of programs installed, thus slowing it down slightly. Linux is still faster than Windows though. Another consideration is security. Windows computers are buggy and always subject to failure. That’s not a very comforting feeling as a webmaster who stores important content, data, and graphics on a personal computer.

But enough about what I think… what are your thoughts? As a webmaster, what is the best operating system to use and why? What tools do you have that are only available on the operating system use? Lastly, if you could no longer use your favorite operating system, which of the other two would you prefer to use and why? I welcome your comments and invite you to share your opinions.

If you want to know how to get a dedicated IP address on a shared web hosting account, here is an easy and affordable way to do that. Before I reveal the solution, first I think it’s important to understand why a dedicated IP address is needed. If you have a website for sharing pictures with mom and dad, or just for random things, getting a dedicated IP address really isn’t needed. If you are creating multiple sites for profit and depend on traffic from search engines, it’s possible that getting a dedicated IP can help increase your rankings.

Please note: I can not prove this to be true. In fact, people from Google deny that having a dedicated IP makes a difference compared to hosting sites with shared IP addresses. But, in my opinion… why risk it when it’s not really too difficult or expensive to have a dedicated IP address?

I suspect that when a website shares the same IP address with other websites, it can suffer from not having the best search engine visibility compared to being hosted with a dedicated IP address. In other words, if your website shares the same IP address with a website that has questionable content, I suspect that search engines won’t exactly BLACKLIST the IP address, but instead adjustments will be made to prevent the site with questionable content from gaining excellent search engine visibility. In my opinion, this puts your site at risk because it’s very possible that the adjustments made are based on the IP address rather than the actual site (domain name) using the IP address. Again, Google denies this as being true, but once again… in my opinion, why take a chance?

The solution around this is to get a web hosting account that offers a dedicated IP address. That way, all of your websites are separated and unaffected from websites that you don’t own or control. The problem is finding a cheap web hosting plan that offers a dedicated IP address. Most upgraded plans such as VPS hosting offer this, but with an increased price. Again, we’re looking for cheap and affordable. Shared web hosting is the way to go!

But while shared hosting is simple and affordable, unfortunately it isn’t often that shared accounts come with a dedicated IP address option. Many shared web hosting plans include an option to order an additional IP address, but those addresses are also shared too. The solution is to look for a web hosting plan that offers the option to order a dedicated IP address and/or an affordable SSL option.

A great example is HostGator’s shared Business Plan. This plan has a low cost and it includes a free dedicated IP address and private SSL. If you don’t want to order or upgrade to the business plan, you can also order their standard plan and request a dedicated IP address for an additional but very small fee. Do some research, because other companies offer a dedicated IP address options too. Many have high prices though, so keep a close eye on what you’re ordering.

Another trick is to look closely at the features and see if a private SSL option is available. If the private SSL option happens to be cheaper than the annual cost of having a dedicated IP address, then order the private SSL. The reason is because in order to have a private SSL setup, a dedicated IP address needs to be established. If this doesn’t occur, then the information is misleading. Even if the cost is slightly higher, it’s still worth it because you get a private SSL and a dedicated IP for a price slightly higher than the individual cost for one.

Of course, if you’re looking for some IP addresses on multiple C Classes (diversified), you should check out the hosting plans offered here at SEO Hosting. At the time of writing this article, you can get a class C IP address plan for $35/month. In my opinion, that is well worth the money. Especially, if you’re serious about search engine optimization and keeping your sites hosted in a secure environment that you have total control over.