Category Archives: Web Hosting

Five Things: About Google Apps

March 2nd, 2010

There are many paths business owners take to reach success – innovation, determination, creativity – but as diverse as business owners are, there are common characteristics of a sound, successful company. Google offers an application package that provides businesses with an affordable, compact way to manage operations, and there are many components of running a solid enterprise that the upgraded Google Apps can support.

  1. Organization
    Google Calendar makes it easy to schedule appointments and integrate with your email. Employees can work online without attachments and create organized spreadsheets using Google Docs. Arrange company information, create presentations and coordinate team projects through Google Sites.
  2. Security and Privacy
    All Google Apps accounts have enhanced levels of customization and privacy. Google Video allows employees to share confidential information safely. Security, on both a system and site level, lets administrators set regulations on Google Sites. Upgraded Gmail spam filtering helps keep your employee’s email accounts and computers secure.
  3. Collaboration
    Employees can share and publish events through Google Calendars. Google enables instant messaging and video chat, and coworkers can share information through Google Video sharing. Set up Google Groups where members can exchange content and search topical archives.
  4. Cost-Control
    With Google Apps, each user is charged a flat yearly fee of $50 for Premium accounts – business owners don’t have to worry about licensing associated with other application packages. If your company is growing or expecting fluctuation, Google Apps is an affordable management solution that doesn’t require high software costs.
  5. Efficiency
    With Google Apps, business owners have all the applications they need to resourcefully handle company operations in one place. Manage websites, administer employees, organize schedules and control the day-to-day processes of your company compactly and affordably.

Fore more information about Google Apps, feel free to contact us.

5 Things You Should Know About Web Hosting

February 13th, 2010

Atlanta web hostingContinuing our “5 Things” series, we’re taking a look at web hosting.  While there are many factors to consider in a web host, here are a few important factors that you shouldn’t miss:

  • Free Web Hosting vs. Not-Free Web Hosting
    Several companies offer free Web hosting services, often sustained by advertisements, but users can expect relatively limited services. Paid Web hosting providers are more likely to have the expanded bandwidth, backup servers and features necessary to provide its users’ websites with more uptime and accessibility.
  • Backups
    Investigate the backup and security policies of potential Web hosting providers. How often do they backup? How long is backup data stored? You want to guarantee that your website is protected on a daily basis in the event of a server crash or unexpected high volume of downtime.

    Tip: As a rule, you should request a copy of your website from your web developer. In the event that you part ways with your web developer, you’ll want to make sure you have access to all your files.

  • Commitment Periods
    Carefully consider commitment periods when selecting a Web hosting service. Many companies offer discounts and rate reductions in order to draw customers into extended contracts. This most often becomes an issue for business owners if the provider’s services fall short in attaining desired results.
  • Compare Features
    Research the features offered by different Web hosting providers before selecting the best one for you. Compare and contrast email options, subdomain additions, technical support departments, domain name registration options, account activation timeframes and conversion tracking tools.
  • Know Your Needs
    Some Web hosting companies have only the ability to support basic web programming, such as HTML and static Web pages. For many businesses, the ability to hold more advanced programming, such as PHP, SQL database operations, Flash animation and secured payment functionality is essential. Have an understanding of what your company’s needs are, and let them be a determinant in selecting the proper Web hosting provider.

What Type of Personality Does Your Blog Have?

March 26th, 2009

You have a fabulous idea for an online business. You registered a catchy domain name, found reliable web hosting, put together a stellar website design and linked it to an awesome WordPress blog. Now that you defined your target market, you’re ready to take the Internet world by storm, right? Well, maybe not.

Much like people, websites and blogs have their own ‘personality’. The language we use reflects what motivates and interests us. The key is to figure out the patterns that interest various personalities as they relate to your brand, product and content. In other words, if you’re not talking your visitors’ language, you’re not likely to experience major success.

The research surrounding these personality variables is called psychographics. Let’s consider the Wikipedia definition: ‘In the field of marketing, demographics, opinion research and social research in general, psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (for Interests, Attitudes and Opinions).’

So how can you find out more about the current personality of your blog? Check out a new tool called Typealyzer. The website is dedicated to a research project about how the language reflect our psychological type. By entering your blog address at the Typealizer website, you find out your blog’s ‘personality’. This useful info lets you know if you are reaching your target market or just striking out in another direction.

Now that an increasing amount of business is done online, your website and blog have to speak to people. In days gone by, you would personally make the presentation made on your website today. Think about if you had to speak to your prospective customers face-to-face. What would they want to know? What are their interests? How can you be more approachable and likable?

If your blog doesn’t have the sparkling ‘personality’ you want, let the experts at Southern Web Group perform a website review analysis. We will help you tweak your website design and create a custom WordPress blog to really speak to your visitors. When your blogs speaks in a language your customers understand, you’ll see profits soar.