Archive for the ‘Web Hosting’ Category

We often get asked is it worth using a budget overseas company to host a website, in short the answer is NO, here is a brief conversation I had recently to emphasise the point when asked about using a budget hosting company based not in the UK.

They are one of a huge amount of hosting companies that have their servers situated somewhere other than UK. Having UK based servers is one of the SEO basics, its one of the essentials we check for when reviewing websites. I would say that out of over 450 domains we have created and optimised only 3 are not hosted by us and all our SEO successes are with websites hosted on our award winning UK servers.

We are happy for you to arrange your own hosting and for you to provide us with the codes to access the website but in general you will find they are cheap for a reason. We have spend 5 years finding the best hosting company and this has been confirmed by PC Pro who have put the company we use in the top 3 for the last 3 years since they have been rating them. You will find that by saving a few £ early on will always either cost you more long term or cost you more in website downtime or extra stress and hassle

Perhaps the most important part of any online business, Domain Names can easily be lost track of – especially if you have many different variations of your company name with several different extensions.

You can list your domains, create and manage your domains’ DNS, create and manage DNS templates, and maintain Domain Contacts (the Users whose names appear on new Domain registrations) to save yourself time at the point of registering a new Domain.

As part of the services we offer our clients we can either offer you the following options for your website domain or complete them for you:

List Your Domains View a list of all the domain names you have with Delicious Webdesign, along with their Registration and Expiry dates. You can also export these domains to a file for your reference.
Manage Your DNS You can manage all aspects of your domains from this section, including DNS
DNS Templates Manage your companies DNS templates. DNS templates can be used for the creation of new zones.
Domain Contacts Add/edit and delete domain contacts in control of any domain on your accounts. You can also see a history of changes to your domain contacts.

A domain contact represents an individual whom can be assigned as the owner, admin, billing or technical contact for any domains registered through Delicious Webdesign and our hosting companies. A domain contact cannot log into the website like a regular user.

If you have previously created a domain contact whom you would now like access to your customer account, you can upgrade any domain contact to a fully fledged user. Simple use the link next to the domain contact in the table above. We will generate a new password and email to that contact, so please make sure their email address is correct before upgrading them

This feature of your control panel allows you to change the IPS TAG (Nominet Tag) for your domain name. An IPS TAG is a way of Nominet (the not for profit company who governs the .uk domain names) giving control of a domain name to a certain company. For example the domain name you have with Delicious Webdesign might currently has the IPS TAG of ENOM. If you want to move your domain name to another provider you would need to change the IPS TAG to that of your new provider.

To change the IPS TAG on this domain name ask your new web hosting provider what their IPS TAG is and then enter it in the transfer form. IPS TAGS are usually all in capitals and are not the same as an Internic handle.

WARNING: This action is not reversible without interaction from a third party (either Nominet UK or the holder of the new IPS TAG). If you change the tag, you will not be able to modify the nameservers through the control panel.

Because .uk domain management is not instantaneous, if you submitted a nameserver change within the last 30 minutes, you should delay changing the IPS TAG as it may cause the nameserver update to fail

Our latest website design package offers you full e-commerce capabilities, a fully featured content management system, three user access levels, and a beautifully designed, artistic website which you can easily maintain from anywhere in the world, at any time.

No previous web experienced is required from yourselves. You do not need to be able to use confusing software like Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or Expression to make your updates. We offer full training for your new website – which can be simply done over the phone. It’s not at all complicated! You can also just call a member of our creative or technical team if you need extra support.

All you pay is a one-off fee, with NO HIDDEN EXTRA COSTS. Once the site is built, with our training you can grow the site yourself with as much content as you like with no expensive designer fees.
We will even brand the site to your specification, or if you don’t have any ideas, we will create unique branding from scratch. Whatever you need, our creative director will work closely with you throughout the build of your site, ensuring we include all your design requirements.

Recently we got contacted by Trading Standards over an ex-client and were happy to provide all details requested, we complied with this request completely and told them that prior to their contact with us the client had phoned us and asked us to close his website and agreed that I could  keep the website online but remove his details from it, I have now put a warning message at the top of every page and confirm that no email / contact details are on the website and the contact form enquiries goes to my company email account now.  As they didnt pay for their website we do not have any bank account or other contact details for the business but  will forward on any if he contacts us again. Here is the request in full:
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UNDER SECTION 29(3) DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

I am making enquiries that are concerned with:

(a) The prevention or detection of crime;
(b) The apprehension or prosecution of offenders;

n order to assist with these enquiries would you please provide the following information in relation t he website http://www.pavestone-patios.co.uk/ which you have designed and host:

1. The name and address of the persons or company who commissioned the site and any contact telephone numbers you might hold
2. Their method of payment for services and any subsequent bank accounts etc that you may hold
3. Whether you do the hosting any other websites on their behalf and their web addresses
4. Any other data which you may hold which would assist in locating the traders behind this website

The personal data that has been requested is required to assist with a criminal investigation being conducted by this office and failure to provide this information, will in my view, be likely to prejudice he investigation and/or any prosecution.

This investigation is of a confidential nature and it is therefore crucial that you do not disclose any information concerning our enquiries. Should you have any queries or wish to discuss the position further, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

I am contacting you in relation to a trader, for whom you have designed and arranged hosting of their website.

This department has received a complaint involving the taking of monies from a consumer in order to pay for ‘materials’ following an unsolicited visit by them  Following payment of the monies the trader has not provided any cancellation rights, other contractual paperwork or returned to carry out the works.  Consequently there are probable breaches of the Consumer Protection (Cancellation of Contracts Concluded away from Business Premises) Regulations 1987, Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPR’s) and Fraud Act 2006.  I am therefore requesting the details of the persons/company behind the site and I enclose a Data Protection Act request for those details.  I am empowered to request this information by the above legislation and failure to provide it could constitute obstruction under the above Act.

I would be grateful therefore if you could provide those details as soon as possible.

Also, on flyers distributed by the company, an address was provided and I note that, according to Whois, this is also the address provided for the registrant.  This is an address of a mail forwarding and virtual office and the owners have stated that they are not aware of this company as a client, so it is believed that this address is being used fraudulantly.  Having reviewed the web site it is also clear that the site is complying with the requirements of the Electronic Commerce Regulations in that a geographic address, and VAT number etc is provided.  In light of this I would request that you give consideration to suspending this website forthwith.

I look forward to receiving your reply, however if you wish to discuss this further please contact me.

Its important to comply with trading standards to ensure corrupt and fraudulent behaviour is stopped.

For website redesigns, updates and SEO projects we need access to your website, also its possible we need access to your website’s code and CMS system to give an idea how much work is required. In trying to work out exactly what your site needs in terms of work we need a full view of it and to get that we need to see all the bits of it to make the best recommendations, its a bit like doing a survey on a house but cant go inside all the rooms without the correct keys.

The following gives an idea of what we ask from you if we do not host your website:

As part of your Website Changes / SEO campaign with us it is imperative that we receive FTP Access Details, CMS Access Details & Google Analytics logins for your website  as soon as possible. This will enable us to update your website with on-site SEO changes to make maximum impact to your campaign with us.  If you are unsure of how to obtain any of this information please see below:

•         FTP access can be obtained by speaking to your web developer. They may ask why you want it, once you have explained the work we are doing for you they will most likely release this. Should you incur any delay or reluctance in the release in the information, please feel free to get in touch and we will do what we can to assist. You should expect to receive a “Host” e.g. website address, username and password.

•         CMS (Content Management System) is simply the way you access your site to make editorial changes to the live site, whether that be pictures, wording or product quantities where applicable. If you are unsure of how to obtain this, please also refer to your web developer. Once again details should be very similar to FTP details in the form of “URL” e.g. website address/admin, username and password.

•         Google Analytics logins are just the Username/Email and password you use to access your Google account. If you do not have a Google account it is important you create one and supply us with the login information.

Please note that the sooner we receive these details the sooner the work can be completed, and the quicker the campaign can get moving in the right direction. Thank you in anticipation for your response, should you have any questions or wish to discuss this request further or want me to call you, please feel free to get in touch and I will endeavour to help in whatever way I can. Once we have these details on how to access your website we can give you a precise idea how much work is required to get you where you want to be (ranking higher / more visitors).

Here is a bit of information about transferring .uk domains (.co.uk) that could save you some confusion. .uk domains cannot be renewed on transfer unless they are within 3 months of expiry, therefore additional years are not added on transfer.

A good recommendation would be to NOT transfer .uk domains until they are within 3 months of expiry. If the .uk domain has more than 3 months to run, change the IPS tag and setup an arrangement with your registrar where you can send them an email so we they can submit the transfer for you free, and then you just pay on the renewal date.

This .uk domain ‘anomaly’ is the same with every registrar that deals with .uk domains – they cannot be renewed until they have less than 3 months to run.

Currently have a website but worrying about the service you receive from your existing website design / hosting company then please find below details and prices of how Delicious Webdesign can assist you with your website maintenance.

We could take your site, as is, and host it on our server. We would prefer it if the site is written in PHP/Mysql but we can do ASP/MSSQL if need be. It will normally take us 2 days of setting up and coding. This is still cheaper than setting up a new site.

Hosting is charged at £45 for a database site, per year. This yearly hosting  fee includes monthly server management and Google Analytics. It does not include any hourly charges of £30 / £35 for content management or SEO for the site (these are charged separately each month as requested).

Note: our hosting is based on a shared server and normal site traffic in the region of 5000 – 10000 page views per month. If your site is wildly popular we may need to quote you on a dedicated hosting solution.

If you need a site redesign, our website packages are as per standard rates as follows:

£400-£1299 Basic Site
This is a business grade, professional 4-12 page site custom built from a design of your choice.

£1000 Business Starter Site
As per the Basic Site, but built with a content management system, allowing you to edit the content of each page on the site.

£1500 – £4000 Bespoke Business Site
As per the Business Starter Site, but with a bespoke design, database design, developed according to your specifications.

£1500 -£2000 Bespoke Ecommerce Site
As per the Bespoke Business Site, but with additional bespoke database functionality, eg: user logins, user account management, advanced listing or search functionality, special reports, etc.

Let us make the web work for you by building you the best, most efficient and search engine friendly website that earns you money.

Was recently asked about the website hosting fee that is currently £45 per year and was told by a client that they thought that is expensive, we charge below average for hosting and offer a much fuller service on UK based award winning servers that have an incredible uptime.

My Response to client in brief: Really dont think £45 is expensive and of course you are at liberty to change to any provider you wish but I think its hard not to be easily swayed by these offers and not to see the big picture, you should realise that not only do you need hosting /domain / email but also a specific type of server and then one that uses the most up-to-date MySql and PHP to cater for your blog database and upgrades and backups of that. Since you have had your blog we have upgrade this 5 times to the latest / most secure version.

I think you get unbelievable value for money from our website hosting which is currently less than £4 per month, please check the amount of support we give you and tell me how many times your website / email has been unavailable. If I had done exactly what was asked of me previously your whole blog would have been lost. we have your best interests at heart.

We have many clients that we update and promote / maintain the site for and looking at your site you have gone from nothing to having over 950 visitors a month due to the sites build and its SEO (promotion) with the links we have provided to your site. we really value you as a clients and we do our best to make your changes quickly and efficiently. I know how badly some people get treated by other agencies and know we give a first class service.

We can only work on an hourly basis as your changes are so irregular and infrequent but if you wanted 10 hours a year we could come to a discounted hourly rate agreement and also if you batch your changes up we can do them quicker and more cheaply for you

So you have your website files on your computer and you wish to get them live on the Internet. There are two ways of achieving this. The easiest is to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol), or you can use the File Manager tool found in your control panel.

To upload using FTP you will require an FTP program. There are many free FTP programs available on the Internet. Once you have an FTP program you need to login to your hosting space, We can provide you with the details you will need to login.

FTP server address (Host address)
Username
Password

If you do not know your password or if you just wish to update your password, please use these easy to follow steps:

- Firstly, login to your control panel
- Great! Now that you are logged in, click on ‘Domain Names’ found in the left menu.
- In the middle of the screen there will be a list of your domains, please click on your domain name.
- On the left menu select the option ‘FTP’
- On the next page click on the Site Admin username.
- Set a new password for your FTP in the boxes ‘New password’ and ‘Confirm password’.
- Ensure FTP is enabled by selecting ‘Yes’ for the option ‘FTP enabled?’
- Finally, once you are happy with your changes please clicks ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page.

Now that you are logged in with your chosen FTP program simply drag and drop your website files into the ‘web’ directory on the server.

If you would prefer to use our File Manager tool in your Online Control Panel, please follow the easy steps I have provided below.

- Firstly, login to your control panel
- Great! Now that you are logged in, click on ‘Domain Names’ found in the left menu.
- In the middle of the screen there will be a list of your domains, please click on your domain name.
- On the left menu select the option ‘File Manager’
- Click on the ‘web’ directory
- Use the symbol represented by an ‘up arrow’ to upload individual files.