Siwa Host Blog » Visitors http://www.hostsiwa.com Sat, 19 May 2012 19:18:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 3 Ways To Redirect Blog or Website Visitors http://www.hostsiwa.com/3-ways-to-redirect-blog-or-website-visitors/ http://www.hostsiwa.com/3-ways-to-redirect-blog-or-website-visitors/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:33:09 +0000 admin http://www.hostsiwa.com/3-ways-to-redirect-blog-or-website-visitors/ Just like when you change your home address after a move, it is common for websites to change URLs. It may be because you have implemented some new SEO technology, switched to a different content management system, or simply changed your website domain altogether. In any case, you will need to redirect your users to the new address.

There are benefits and drawbacks redirecting users, but that is a discussion best left to a search engine or marketing expert. From a technical standpoint, the only concern you should have is making sure every browser will redirect so that you do not alienate some users. Therefore, it is a good idea to avoid something like a javascript redirect, as it requires users to have that feature enabled in their browsers. The following redirect methods should work on most browsers.

1. HTTP redirect

The most basic method of redirection often employed is a standard meta refresh. You would use code within the <head></head> tags of the index.html file on the site to look like this:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;url=http://www.new-url.tld">

It is possible, however, that some browsers may ignore this, especially if the user has intentionally disabled it.

2. PHP redirect

If your server supports PHP, you can use a PHP as your site’s index and place the following code in it:

<?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.tld" );
?>

Since PHP files are always server-side scripts, all browsers should respond to this the same way.

3. Htaccess redirect

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^new-url.tld [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.new-url.tld/$ 1 [r=301,nc]

An .htaccess file will send directives to an Apache web server and tell it to follow whatever instructions are inside. In this case, it will use the mod_rewrite engine to turn any URL requests into the new domain you have specified. This is particularly useful if you need to redirect several URLs to a new site.

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3 Ways To Redirect Blog or Website Visitors

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]]> http://www.hostsiwa.com/3-ways-to-redirect-blog-or-website-visitors/feed/ 0 5 Simple Ways to Retain Website Visitors http://www.hostsiwa.com/5-simple-ways-to-retain-website-visitors/ http://www.hostsiwa.com/5-simple-ways-to-retain-website-visitors/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:29:45 +0000 admin http://www.hostsiwa.com/5-simple-ways-to-retain-website-visitors/ Whether you’re a seasoned website designer or a novice web developer with the hopes of launching an impressive web presence to make your competition envious, it’s quiet easy to fall into the trap of making careless mistakes that could potentially cost your online business venture loss profits but also your company’s reputation.

Issue #1 – Missing Contact Information 

Perhaps one of the most annoying experiences when visiting a website is not being able to locate the relative contact information.  Whether an e-mail address, physical address, driving directions or a toll-free telephone number, information should be readily available to share with website visitors.  Doing so could potentially mean the difference between a strong sales lead and an actual purchase.  Ideally, contact information should be placed above the fold in a conspicuous location with at least three different methods of contacting the company for various inquiries.

Issue #2 – Slow Server Download Time

In today’s fast-paced world – time equals money.  Ask anyone viewing a website connecting via a 56k modem that takes longer than 10 seconds to download pages and see exactly how long they will wait around for the rest of the site to download at the speed of molasses.

When developing a website, it’s important to keep in mind that every website visitor may not have access to high-speed Internet connections, therefore, it’s always a good idea to keep graphics and data files small so web pages have the ability to download at a much quicker rate.  It’s easy to test the download speed of your website by simply connecting on a 56k modem, and then start your stop watch to determine exactly how long it takes for the entire site to download.

Issue #3 – Usability

Along the lines of efficient webpage download speeds, website visitors also appreciate usability features incorporated into the website.  Features such as skip navigation, title bars, site maps, Contact Us page, driving directions, hours of operation, and so on and so forth goes a long way when accommodating an array of needs for various website visitors seeking pertinent information.

Other useful information that you may consider advertising is product or service guarantees, customer support features, and a website privacy policy.  Although such usability features may not seem much on the grand scheme of the overall website, however, website visitors are sure to appreciate the extra time and devotion spent addressing their individual needs.

Issue #4 – Requiring Website/Newsletter Subscriptions

As a website owner, keeping track of a subscription base is considered a good way to keep website visitors in the loop as to special promotions, discounts and other exclusive offers.  On the other hand, website visitors being prompted to first subscribe to a site or newsletter before actually turning the golden key to access what lies beneath the cyber gates of splendor is a sure bet of turning away the masses of visitors and potential sales leads.  Although some website visitors may not mind subscribing to your website, however, the choice should always be left up to the individual as to whether or not they wish to divulge personal contact information.   Leave the reigns of control in the hands of the website visitors.

Issue #5 – Hassel-Free Checkout

Just as shoppers in a grocery store expect a quick and speedy checkout when purchasing items, online shoppers don’t expect anything less when making an online purchase transaction.  The online storefront should be neat and clutter free, with no more than three or four up-sell items in the attempts of trying to sell a related item a shopper has dropped in the shopping cart.  Shoppers shouldn’t be bombarded with non-relevant items or services just in the hopes of making a sale.  Additionally, all items and services should be described in great detail along with any money back guarantees, preferred payment methods, shipping and handling charges, sales tax, special promotional discounts, return policies, and any other relevant information beneficial to the customer.

Conclusion

With a little thought and consideration when developing your website, it’s simple to implement strategies to help retain website traffic and keep them coming back to visit often!

 

Related articles:

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]]> http://www.hostsiwa.com/5-simple-ways-to-retain-website-visitors/feed/ 0 How To Increase Traffic to Your Website? http://www.hostsiwa.com/how-to-increase-traffic-to-your-website/ http://www.hostsiwa.com/how-to-increase-traffic-to-your-website/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:15:38 +0000 admin http://www.digitalhostblog.com/?p=323

To succeed in online business you need to get more visitors for your website. The more number of visitors for you site will surely increase the number of customers for your product and services. Online marketing is a new medium for the expansion of a business. In this world of technology this is a relevant mode of communication and marketing.

The number of visitors in your website can increase the page rank of your site which again can benefit you in many ways. If it is difficult for you to spend time to increase traffic, without any doubt you can hire an online marketing company for it. There are many online marketing companies in India that will provide dedicated service for the money you pay. You can also suggest the methods to be adopted for increasing the traffic.

Given below are the practices which will increase the number of visitors to your website:

Article writing

Forum posting

Blog writing

Directory submission

Link exchange

Social networking

Search engine optimization will perform these all for your website. They will surely increase the visitors and also the customers for your business establishment. Search engine will index you website faster if you have more traffic. Keyword optimization is yet another task performed by them to increase the number of visitors. For a person to perform all these tasks along with the business dealings will be difficult. And this works need a lot of time also, so it is always advisable to hire a SEO service for this.

An SEO will promote you site by working with the site and by interacting with the regular customers and others. Maintaining a good relation with the customers and also the business promotion will be a problem for busy business men, so hire a professional SEO for increasing the traffic.


Sharkspace Web Hosting

Source: ezinearticles.com

]]> http://www.hostsiwa.com/how-to-increase-traffic-to-your-website/feed/ 0 Ten Places You Must Submit Your Site http://www.hostsiwa.com/ten-places-you-must-submit-your-site/ http://www.hostsiwa.com/ten-places-you-must-submit-your-site/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:30:01 +0000 admin http://www.digitalhostblog.com/?p=171 Ten Places You Must Submit Your Site
By Jim Daniels

This tutorial will not promise you a top search engine position. It will also not reveal how to get your site into thousands of search engines.

Instead, you will discover the exact locations where you can submit your website for free and the few “paid submissions” that are actually worth the price.

Yes, there ARE still places where you can submit your website for free. There are actually even extremely busy search engines that have not (not yet anyway) migrated to requiring payment for listings.

Here’s a listing of these engines along with the URLs where you can add your site(s) for free:

1. Lycos
Add URL: (http://home.lycos.com/addasite.html)

2. Google
Add URL: (http://www.google.com/addurl.html)

3. HotBot
Add URL: (http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp)

4. Northern Light
Add URL: (http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html)

5. DMOZ – The Open Directory Project
Add URL: (http://dmoz.org/add.html)

6. Direct Hit – An Ask Jeeves Service
Add URL: (http://www.directhit.com/util/addurl.html)

7. Fast – (Formerly “All the Web”)
(http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php3)

Those seven search engines above have been responsible for sending literally thousands of visitors to my website over the past year. And they will send thousands more. And perhaps the best part is that I didn’t have to pay them a dime.

But that’s not to say that paying for a listing in a search engine is a bad thing. Sure, lots of “purists” have been bashing the search engines’ move to charging for listings. But let’s face it, they are in business to make money too. And advertising revenue is not what it used to be for many of these companies. Their CPM (cost per 1000 banner impressions) rate has dropped significantly and they need other revenue sources. So why not charge businesses for a listing?

Now as a small business owner you cannot go around and start paying every search engine that wants a hundred bucks or more just for the privilege of listing your site (or just considering it!) So you have to concentrate your budget on just the search engines that can deliver serious website traffic. Those are the engines, or networks of engines with the most traffic themselves.

After researching the field, I’ve narrowed this down to just three that are undoubtedly worth the price. They are:

8. Yahoo! Business Express
(http://help.yahoo.com/help/bizex/)

Currently $199 for non-adult sites, Yahoo! still has the busiest directory by far and you’ll get lots of traffic from a decent listing.

9. The Looksmart Network’s Express Submit
(http://submit.looksmart.com/)

Also $199, this network powers over 1/2 million websites including AltaVista, CNN, Excite, iWon, Microsoft Network, Netscape Netcenter, NetZero and WebCrawler.

10. Inktomi’s Search/Submit service
(www.networksolutions.com/catalog/searchsubmit/welcome.jhtml)

At just $30 a year for the first URL and $15 for each additional, this is a cheaper solution to the Looksmart Network submission. Inktomi powers searches through AOL, iWon, MSN and the Looksmart directory itself. The best part is that the network updates every 48 hours so you get your listing in quickly.

OK, there you have it. A quick, cut to the chase, search engine submission guide. Just be sure that before you submit your site to ANY search engine or network that your site is ready to be listed favorably. This means adding targeted keywords to your content, META tags and title as well as spell checking and browser checking your site. Once you are sure everything is set to go, visit those 10 URLs and submit your site!


Host Unlimited Domains on 1 Account

Source: cyberindian.com

]]> http://www.hostsiwa.com/ten-places-you-must-submit-your-site/feed/ 0 Steps to Changing Web Hosting Providers http://www.hostsiwa.com/steps-to-changing-web-hosting-providers/ http://www.hostsiwa.com/steps-to-changing-web-hosting-providers/#comments Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:17:08 +0000 admin http://www.digitalhostblog.com/?p=146 Steps to Changing Web Hosts

Every webmaster cringes at the thought of moving hosts. Like moving your home it can be messy and sometimes problems arise. But if you follow these simple steps, your move will be less painful.

Backup:

If you’ve been diligent with your backups, you’ve got a lot of insurance to fall back on yet always make the latest backup. If you haven’t, before you do anything else, do a backup now. Backup anything and everything you can and don’t forget your database if your site relies on it. Save at least 2 copies and store them separately. One for you to work with, and the other as an archive. Do not underestimate how easy it is to copy over these files as you make changes or simply mess it up.

If you’re moving to a host who has as different control panel, make a manual backup by downloading all your files because different control panels may not be able to restore the backups made by your old host. They also have different directory structures so your file trees will be in a mess. If you need to, make a small note file with notepad with memos for you to remember the old server configurations. This will help you as you make changes on your new host server and save the confusion moving back and forth between hosts. Remember to make the correct transfer type (ASCII or Binary) as you download. If your download is not right chances are you’ll have a tough time getting your site to work on the new host server.

If server logs are especially important, remember to backup those too. There is no good way of moving logs yet because different hosts may log statistics differently. So the best thing to do is to download it and use a log analyzer on your computer to make references to later on.

Gather Odds & Ends

1. A Good FTP program which you should have by now
2. Get your new host server’s DNS
3. It’s also helpful to have a script that tells you the server environments installed on your new host server for quick references.
4. Get the temporary URL on your new host so you can check your site before you make a DNS change.
5. If you have your host control the domain inform them not to change your DNS until you tell them to.
6. If you run scripts:
- Get a copy of the original installation guide and the script. Sometimes after moving the scripts just do not work right so you might need to install the script from scratch.
- Get a list of all the server paths such as Perl, Sendmail and home directory on your new server.
- If your script needs special server modules or programs ensure they are installed and where. Even though these might be covered before you ordered the account with the host but sometimes your host has removed it or haven’t installed it yet.

Inform Your Visitors

It is common and good practice to inform your visitors and customers of the server move. If you run a e-store, this helps assure your customers you have not fled with their money if there is any downtime. Also give an alternate email so you won’t lose emails in the transfer. You might also want to give periodic updates prior, during (if there is downtime) and after. If your site is large, doing this is helpful because your visitors can alert you whenever there is a part of the site not working.

Moving Day

Try to schedule the move at a time where there’s least traffic. Backup again just before you do the move so you’ll have the latest data. Start by first copying or creating your custom error pages onto the new host server. Put a small note in there about the move. You can always remove it later. Then upload the most visible parts of the site first i.e the main pages then move on to the less critical parts of the site. If you have a large site with many divisions you might want to split them across different days and instead move the least critical first. Just ensure you always do a backup before you do any moving. Use the temporary URL to check your site, visiting as many pages as you can.

Changing DNS

Once you’re satisfied, change your DNS over. This typically takes about 24-48 hours so you have time to make some minor changes if need be. You might want to also take this time to modify your old site’s error pages to inform your visitors of the move and give a new URL if there are URL changes. To help you determine if the DNS has resolved, make a small change on the new pages to differentiate between the old and the new.

Monitor

After you’ve moved and the DNS resolved, do not release the old account yet. Keep it as long as two weeks running concurrently. Go back and check the old servers for activity. Check your old email account and if you have a web based contact method on the old server check to see if any communication is left there. Once you’re comfortable all email and traffic is correctly directed to the new host server, you can cancel that account.


Great Servers from The Planet

Source: webhostingttalk.com

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