Popular forms of the media can seemingly change at a dime as new interests and new technology continue to push the different options forward for content creators – where once the only option may have been to rely on vlogging for example, many can now turn to livestreaming or broadcasting options to deliver the same content. But there are some forms of media online that are timeless, that are a little more difficult to replace entirely – one of those is certainly the humble blog, being a key tool for many since really the start of the internet, but are they still as popular, and as important as they once were? [Read more…] about Is Blogging Still as Popular as It Once Was?
General
Choosing the Best Web Host for Your Ecommerce Business
A small number of businesses can get away with any old host as long as they have a website that works reasonably well. If you are running an online store, however, issues such as level of security, the problem of downtime and the facility for fast downloads become much more important.
Choosing the right ecommerce web hosting service is not only good for your customers but is vital in developing an online store with a solid reputation. Choose the wrong one,which, for instance, has security issues on a regular basis, and it can be very difficult to rebuild your brand standing in the online community. Customers are fickle creatures at the best of times and technical issues can have them turning to your competitors quicker than you may like to think.
According to ShopSafe.co.uk, ecommerce is continuing to grow in the UK and 2016 is already looking as though it is going to outpace 2015 by a significant margin. This growth has no doubt been largely facilitated by many of us now having smartphones, allowing us to shop on the move, anytime and anyway.
If you are setting up an ecommerce business, then you need a web host that is responsive to this trend and up to date with the latest software.
Secure Payments
We want to pay in different ways nowadays and the ecommerce sites that provide a good mix of different payment methods are more likely to succeed than ones which only except debit or credit cards. There’s PayPal and other online banks that need to be taken into account as well as currencies such as bitcoins. Check out how your hosting company delivers this service through its software but don’t forget to make sure they have a good reputation for keeping customer details safe.
The Right Hosting Package
The volume of traffic that is going to come to your site is important and something you need to have a good idea of. Shared hosting might not be the best option because you can end up with the site being unavailable or at best slow at important busy times. Opt for a VPS, Dedicated or Cloud server if you want the kind of responsiveness a busy ecommerce site needs. They may cost more but they’ll pack the punch you need. [Read more…] about Choosing the Best Web Host for Your Ecommerce Business
Good webdesign will help your business
Many hotels in Oberstdorf and hotels in Allgäu have started to make online advertising an integral part of their marketing campaigns. As a matter of fact, plenty of them have seen a significant increase in sales when they started establishing an internet presence through creating their own home page and website.
Most of them have hired web designers to ensure that their web design would be able to bring in more visitors and potentially more business.
One of the strategies that they used in creating their web design would be including detailed descriptions of the various services, amenities and facilities offered by each hotel. They also included a number of pictures to give online visitors the chance to assess the hotel’s services before they book a room.
They also list down the different features of the different hotel rooms. Some of the hotels even create a video which is like a virtual tour of each of the room types that they offer. This can help potential visitors in deciding which room would be suitable for them.
Aside from these, web designers of the hotels’ websites also make sure that they are optimized for search engines to ensure a good amount of traffic coming in. They add numerous articles relevant to the hotel as well as to traveling to Oberstdorf and Allgäu. This can include travel guides and tips as to which tourist spots and attractions they can visit as well as what to expect and what to bring when they visit the regions. As they add these articles, they strategically embed keywords which would be read by search engines, possibly giving the website a higher ranking.
They also do a couple of internet marketing methods such as link building, article marketing and social media marketing. This would effectively boost the amount of traffic generated by the website, which could mean more business for the hotels.
Any company, particularly the hotels in Germany know that having good web design on their website is a crucial part of establishing an effective internet presence. By having a great website, they are able to generate more sales as well as reach a wider market all over the world.
If you would like to find more about web design and online marketing, make sure to visit http://www.londonwebdesigner.co.uk/
Why Should I Set Up a Business Continuity Plan?
Any business can be susceptible to a disaster which unexpectedly disrupts day-to-day business activities. In an age where businesses rely on technology to remain competitive, operating without a disaster recovery plan is a risky business and a serious threat to business continuity for any organization.
The increased reliance on IT infrastructure to streamline business processes and maintain a competitive advantage has made planning for business continuity more important than ever. Planning for business continuity requires a comprehensive assessment of potential losses from a disaster and this can often take quite a bit of time, particularly if there is no recovery plan in place.
The old adage, “Failure to plan means you plan to fail” is quite true when it comes to business continuity. Organizations that do not plan in advance for a disaster typically suffer a significant amount of downtime depending upon the nature and effects of the disaster itself. In fact, failing to plan for business continuity is the number one reason most businesses close their doors following a catastrophe while others that have a disaster recovery plan in place continue to flourish.
What is Business Continuity?
Business continuity is sometimes known as business continuance and is a process which defines the procedures which are to be followed by an organization to ensure critical business processes will continue to function during and following a disaster. A business continuity plan includes a solid disaster recovery plan which helps a business to prevent the disruption of services which are mission-critical to business processes.
The process of planning for business continuity involves a decision making process. The plan begins with deciding which functions are the most critical to enable failover systems to be put in place. This is followed by a plan for maintaining critical services at an alternative location along with a contingency plan which outlines events which can seriously impact a business following an unexpected disaster.
Why and How Important Is It for a Business To Have a Strategic Business Continuity Solution in Place?
The importance of a business continuity plan should never be underestimated. In fact, with the increased reliance on technology infrastructures for critical business operations, planning for disaster recovery should be placed very high on the priority list.
Statistical analysis studies have shown that more than 80 percent of organizations which encounter a disaster can expect to go out of business within a year following the event. Regardless of whether disasters occur as the result of a manmade reason or via an act of nature, they can occur anywhere and at any time.
Substantial evidence also shows that businesses which implement business continuity plans prior to a disaster often ride out catastrophes with minimal or no loss of data, hardware, or business revenue. This in turn allows organizations to maintain business continuity and consumer confidence as well as the support of company shareholders.
When you think about it, what would you do if your business facilities were damaged or destroyed during a disaster? How would you relocate in time to continue serving your customer base? Would you be prepared by having the proper resources, databases, contact information and other necessary items to adapt to these changes?
Having a solid business continuity plan provides answers to these questions by helping you to identify the critical business components. Investing the time in advance will ensure business survival following an unanticipated disaster.
Who Can Help You Setup A Business Continuity Solution For Your Business?
Implementing a business continuity plan will affect your business on many different levels, which is why it is essential to ensure the inception of disaster recovery technologies is done correctly from the very start.
As more companies seek effective business continuity solutions, there is an increased number of business continuity and disaster recovery solution providers which employ a staff of experienced professionals which hold accreditation from Microsoft, Citrix, Cisco, VMware, and other IT sources. Additionally, if you are already using a cloud solutions provider, many of the cloud vendors provide consultants, which have extensive expertise in business continuity solutions.
There is also a host of independent consultants which specialize in helping businesses develop business continuity and disaster recovery plans, like this company for example. In this case, it is important to invest the time to research the company before choosing to employ a business continuity consultant since you want to ensure business processes will continue in the most reliable and effective way possible following a disaster.
What Plans Need To Be Put In Place Before Disaster Strikes? What Are Some of the Best Practices?
Business continuity and disaster recovery plans typically follow common standard procedures, with variations added according to the individual requirements of an organization. The following areas are common considerations which are included in a solid plan for recovery: [Read more…] about Why Should I Set Up a Business Continuity Plan?
Review of a casino site from web design point of view
A big shift is underway in online casino web design, and 2014 will be the year that many more online casinos such as http://www.gamingclub.com/au/casino-games engage responsive design.
Already mobile betting is a huge revenue earner for the online casino industry and the current growth in mobile betting is expected to pick up pace in the New Year. Between 2011 and 2013 some operators were reporting a 260% increase.
In the past the approach to mobile casinos has tended to produce an independent mobile website optimised for tablets and smartphones. However there are many drawbacks to this approach, an important one being that it fails to deliver a uniform client experience when clients switch between devices. For instance many mobile casinos provide only a fraction of the games that are available on conventional online casinos.
The “new” approach is to use “responsive” design in which a single online casino is able to adapt its content dynamically according to what kind of device the client is using, whether that might be a laptop, a smartphone, or a tablet. This approach has huge advantages. The client received a much improved experience while the developer need produce and maintain just a single website rather than multiple ones.
The approach is to use CSS media queries to interrogate the browser, determine its width, and serve up content appropriately. That isn’t the only factor, when designing a responsive online casino it is important to address performance issues dictated by the lower data speed on mobile devices, to optimise the performance of buttons and other controls, and to maintain properly scaled images which means much more than just making them larger or smaller.
It is likely that in the future responsive web design will become dominant, but in the interim selecting online casinos that offer this new is going to give you the best online gambling experience independent of the device you are using.
Live Casino is Really Where It’s At
Some people write in talking about how bored they are with the casino world online. The truth is that people aren’t precisely bored to the point where they want to quit the games entirely. They’re just looking at trying to get a different experience than what they honestly are used to. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but you do need to start thinking about the bigger picture — and acting accordingly, of course!
For example, have you ever looked at a live casino? This isn’t just a casino where you’re going to have games run by computerized dealers. This is an online casino where live dealers steal the show. If you haven’t been to a live casino you’re in luck — this is the best way to bring the intensity of casino portals like Vegas to life…without the expensive trip to Vegas of course. If you’re looking at trying to really get yourself the best experience possible, you can’t skip over the live action.
The dealers tend to be pretty hot. Is there anything better than having a hot dealer give you your blackjack cards? Of course there is — you get to win against her and pocket extra cash! Now, we’re not saying that you’re going to be able to win every single time but there will come a point where you do have some options. We think that options are pretty good so you don’t have to get too worked up — you just need to be in the right place.
Not only will the dealer give you your cards, she’ll actually talk to everyone in the audience. It’s possible to have a little chat with the dealer while the games are playing. It’s just another way to really drive home that this is a true event that you can’t miss out on. After all, do you really just want to have another night on the couch watching television? Probably not.
No, it doesn’t fully replace going to a big casino, but you will save a lot of money compared to what it really costs to travel these days. And we’ve got news for you: those costs aren’t going down anytime soon. Make the affordable choice and put your bankroll towards the games, rather than getting sucked into a lot of expenses.
Are you ready to check it out? Go out there and see what a live casino brings to the table. You will not be disappointed at all!