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Online Marketing – Page 24 – Reginald Chan

Category: Online Marketing

Web Hosting Today: How Much Should I Pay for Web Hosting?
If I’m new to the blogging industry, my first thought would be how much should I pay for web hosting before going through other questions such as how much can I make from blogging and how to find relevant keywords to rank on Google.

In this article, I’ll share with you some simple guidelines in terms of web hosting pricing, so that you won’t get cheated or disappointed.

The different types of web hosting (and pricing)

Web hosting comes in many forms and here are the most common ones that you will come across.
- Shared hosting
- Semi-dedicated hosting
- Managed hosting
- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
- Dedicated hosting
- Cloud hosting
Let’s go deep into each of them, and how much you should be paying for them monthly.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting or shared web hosting is the most common and cheapest hosting package you can find in the market.

Shared hosting is best for beginners who are just starting out in the blogging industry and doesn’t require much server performance.

Question: How much should I pay for shared hosting?

On average, you will be paying anywhere between $2 to $15 per month. Major web hosting companies such as BlueHost offers shared hosting as low as $2.99 per month.

As shared hosting is the lowest tier in the hosting world, you can easily start a blog on a shared web hosting without burning a hole in your wallet.

Question: How to choose the best shared hosting service?

Do not be tempted with the super low price for shared web hosting services. Low prices often results in overselling the server (cramping 10x more customers into a server than what the server can take) which leads to massive performance issues such as server uptime.

Only bad web hosting companies will oversell the servers to maximize the profit. Paying a few dollars extra every month for shared web hosting could easily give you peaceful sleep at night and close to zero downtime. And if you are looking for a good web hosting service, I recommend using my own shared hosting service here, Host With Me with 60 days money back guarantee (no questions asked).

Semi-dedicated hosting

Only a handful of web hosting companies like this one offer semi-dedicated package. Semi-dedicated hosting is very popular especially for website owners who are not entirely newbie/beginner and would prefer a stronger server to manage the traffic.

Semi-dedicated web hosting is best for website owners who doesn’t want a sardine-packed server which will affects the website performance (loading speed).

Question: How much should I pay for semi-dedicated web hosting?

Semi-dedicated web hosting will costs you around $15 to $25 per month. You are still using a shared web hosting environment but you will be in an environment where there is lesser accounts which helps a lot in terms of website security and server performance.

Question: How to choose the best semi-dedicated web hosting?

For me, it is all about the reviews and performance. If you are looking for a good semi-dedicated web hosting, HostWithLove (starts at only $14.93 per month) is the best in the market in terms of performance, pricing and stellar support.

Do you really need a semi-dedicated web hosting?

Probably not. If you are using a good shared web hosting, it is much cheaper (affordable) and much similar to other performance metrics such as uptime and support.

Not sure where to start? Try this web hosting service for only $6.99 per month and with 60-days money back guarantee!

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is popular, and I mean P-O-P-U-L-A-R especially for enterprise and medium/big websites.

Managed hosting is often the best option for you if you are geeky, dead serious about website performance and security matters.

Examples of managed hosting are managed WordPress hosting and managed Magento hosting.

Managed hosting (for example managed WordPress hosting) comes with WordPress optimized environment (shared) and virtual private servers (VPS or dedicated servers).

Question: How much should I pay for managed hosting services?

Managed hosting services are often priced at a higher range and you should be expecting to pay around $15 to $30 per month for a small to medium website.

Question: How to choose the best managed hosting service?

WPEngine is often regarded as one of the best managed hosting service for both small and enterprise websites. WPEngine pricing is often priced higher than most of the managed WordPress hosting in the market but they guarantee excellent performance, great support and security features. WPEngine pricing starts at $30 per month and comes with inbuilt cache plugin and integration with MaxCDN (click here to see how you can get 2 months free web hosting with WPEngine).

FlyWheel is another great option when it comes to managed hosting services. FlyWheel pricing is much affordable at only $15 per month and they provide pretty much similar features as WPEngine except for the Content Delivery Network (CDN) services which is an addon feature. You can register a free account with FlyWheel using this link.

Editor’s Note

Looking for a managed hosting that works on Google Cloud Platform? Try Kinsta highly optimized servers for super fast website loading speed and performance.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

VPS is a great web hosting solution for both small and big websites. VPS allows you to have 100% control over the server and you will enjoy 100% of the server performance.

While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself.

Question: How much should I pay for a Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

VPS costs as low as $5 per month for unmanaged VPS and above $10 for managed VPS.

What is the differences between unmanaged and managed VPS?

Unmanaged VPS means that you need to do all the coding works. As VPS doesn’t come with cPanel or WHM by default, you would need to install everything through coding. Unmanaged VPS is often considered messy because you need to have the expertise to maintain and manage your VPS. Unmanaged VPS starts around $5 per month on Digital Ocean.

Managed VPS is a web hosting option where everything is managed by a third party (in this case, it is the web hosting company). You don’t have to install anything, including maintenance and security features. Cloudways is a best option for affordability and performance for managed VPS. Cloudways pricing starts at $10 per month.

“While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself. Meaning, that you must do a proper research on VPS hosting providers before buying anything.”

Question: What is the best Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

There are a few answers to this question and here goes.
- Digital Ocean if you know coding and server maintenance
- Cloudways if you are looking for affordable managed VPS service
- SiteGround offers decent pricing and performance managed VPS service
- FlyWheel offers value-for-money managed VPS services for WordPress
- WPEngine if you are looking VPS solution for enterprise
Dedicated Hosting

If you are looking for massive server performance and high traffic website, dedicated hosting is right for you.

Dedicated hosting works like a Virtual Private Server (VPS) and the only differences are the performance and pricing structure.

With a higher price tag, dedicated hosting offers the best server uptime and performance beyond most of the competitors.

Question: How much should I pay for dedicated hosting?

On average, you should be expecting to pay at least $100 a month for a dedicated web hosting service.

The good side about dedicated web hosting is that everything is unmetered. From bandwidth or visits, you don’t have to worry about being overcharged.

Question: What is the best dedicated hosting service?

Most dedicated hosting in the market today are pretty much on par. If I have to choose, it would be the following:
- BlueHost offers the cheapest dedicated web hosting with serves around the world
- SiteGround offers decent dedicated web hosting with live chat support and databases around the world
- FlyWheel offers cheaper dedicated hosting solution for high traffic WordPress websites
- WPEngine if you are running on WordPress and cares a lot about server performance
Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is something new and rather than being hosted on one single instances of a physical server, hosting is delivered on a virtual partition which draws its resource, such as disk space, from an extensive network of underlying physical servers.

Cloud hosting is a great option especially when dedicated hosting pricing is too expensive for you.

Question: How much should I pay for cloud hosting?

The cheapest cloud hosting service is BlueHost at $9.99 $6.95 per month. There are also higher range cloud hosting which is around the $100 per month mark.

Question: Which is the best cloud hosting service?

The answer is simple. If you are looking for super cheap cloud hosting service, BlueHost is definitely a great option. At $6.95 per month, there is no denial that it is going to be really easy on your wallet.

If you are looking for more server firepower, Kinsta is a great option as it runs on Google Cloud Platform. You can try Kinsta for free here (limited time only).

Alternatively, SiteGround also offers affordable cloud hosting which starts at $80 per month.

Summary: How much should I pay for web hosting?

The answer to this depends heavily on your needs. For example, shared web hosting is a great choice for bloggers and beginners who don’t want to spend a whole lot of money. VPS and managed hosting on the other hand are better fit for bigger websites and enterprises who run their business online.

Not sure where to start? Start with shared web hosting and scale from there on!
May 4, 2024
How To Manage A Blog To Success

Are you ready to manage a blog to success?

Starting a blog is more than just talking out your credit card, installing WordPress and publishing blog posts on a regular basis. It requires a lot of work especially in managing the blog and making it a huge success.

How to start a blog fast?

Starting a blog is always the first step and it is often the step which is overlooked by many beginners.

Most of them start with free blogging site such as Blogspot only to discover that their blogs are deleted without notice after 6 months of hardwork.

If you want to manage a blog like a professional, then here’s what you need to do.

The last step involves installing WordPress, a good WordPress theme like this one and essential plugins for SEO and email list building.

The process of starting a blog is very short and it doesn’t take long. With this guide, you can easily start a blog under 5 minutes.

Manage a blog: Traffic versus conversion

In blogging, I am a huge believer that conversion matters the most. You may have 10,000 visitors a day but if you are not converting them into sales, you are not getting any richer (anytime soon).

When it comes to managing a blog, focus on conversion because conversion is going to help you make money and fast.

When you manage a blog and aims for success, always focus on conversion as this will help you drive more sales and help you grow your blogging business.

What type of content should I be publishing?

I love to answer this (even though I had answered this probably thousands of times). There must be a healthy mix of self-promotional, knowledge/information and comparison posts.

Self-promotional blog posts can be considered as sales posts. These content are focused heavily in closing sales and selling the benefits of a single product. Here’s a sample of a self-promotional blog post: Thrive Themes Review

A knowledge and information blog post is slightly different where it is meant to share information and provide education. Affiliate links are located within the blog posts to encourage readers to click on and with the hope of getting some commission generated from the sales. Here’s a sample of a knowledge and information blog post: How To Start A Web Design Business With No Experience (And From Home)

Comparison posts involve comparing two or more products of the same nature. As buyers, we are often making comparison before making a purchase. Thus, publishing comparison posts allow you to have a better chance of converting website visitors into paying customers. Here’s a sample of a comparison blog post: Beaver Builder vs Divi vs Thrive Architect: Which is the best site builder for you?

Are you ready to manage a blog to success?

As a recap, managing a blog to success is simple and comes with these several steps.

Always remember that the success of a blog is measured through the revenue generated from it and not through the traffic alone.

May 4, 2024
Bad Web Host: The What, Why and How
How do you know if your web host sucks? How do you check if you are using a bad web host for your website? Or even worst, are you struggling to keep your server uptime on a positive side?

In today’s web hosting market, there are just too many web hosting services that are under performing. Searching for the term “cheap WordPress hosting” on Google will gives you an approximately 1,010,000 search results.

The truth is, there are many (and I mean M-A-N-Y) web hosting companies that offer super cheap hosting services but comes with subpar performance. Downtimes, inaccessible websites and above all, unsecured ports that leads to website hacks are just a few to name.

I’m sure you get the point and even heard about them!

How do you determine a web host is bad?

The million dollar question, if you ask me.

I used a fair share of shared web hosting services and this often comes lingerring in my head.

How do I know the web host I’m using is a bad web host?

How do I determine if the web hosting service I use is not ideal?

Carry on reading below on some of the ways you can determine if the website is good (or bad) for your website.

1. Bad web host makes your website slow (slow website loading speed)

How fast does your website loads? Does it takes over 5 seconds to load or under 1.5 seconds?

Here’s what Google says.

2 seconds or less — that’s how fast your website should load if you want to retain the happiness of your website visitors and getting love from Google.

And here’s a BIG, BIG fact to take note.

You don’t need to use premium WordPress hosting like WP Engine (click here to see its latest pricing review) to make your website loads under 1.5 seconds. You can achieve that simply by using a shared web hosting like I do in the test below.

As you can see above, my homepage is massively 2 MB and it takes 1.37 seconds to load completely. So, how do I achieve such results?
- checkI used an optimized web hosting build specially for me and my tribe (click here for more information)
- checkServers are based on LiteSpeed servers for better speed
- checkLiteSpeed Cache plugin (that works extremely well with the server)
- checkAutoptimize plugin
- checkOptimized images
- checkRemoval of unwanted plugins (I use Thrive plugins heavily as they are 100% optimized for speed)
- checkStudioPress theme which offers super fast website loading and inbuilt SEO features
It is important to understand that the above combination is required to achieve the fastest loading speed for your website. Of course, a good web host will outdo the bad web host at anytime of the day!

If you want to dive more into website loading speed, here’s a quick video for you.

How to check for website loading speed?

My favorite go to tool would be Pingdom Website Speed Test. It is free to use and works like charm. It also comes with a good reporting feature that allows you to understand which part is slowing down your website and how you can solve the issue for a faster website.

Diving through the reports will give you an idea especially if you are using a bad web host. The response time (in milliseconds or ms) will help you to easily weed out the bad web hosting services.

2. Bad web host gives you a lot of errors on Google Search Console

Another way to check if you are using a bad web host is through Google Search Console.

Head over to Google Search Console and select your account/website of choice.

This is what you will see on the dashboard.

A bad website hosting company will often lead to many errors including server errors and 404’s. At some cases, you will also get server connectivity issues which means website visitors will have problem trying to access your site.

If you are a freelance website developer, freelance writer or affiliate marketer who uses website to generate leads, you are going to literally cry because you are not getting sales!

I’m using a bad web host! What should I do now?

You are at the cross road and I totally get it. We all make mistakes and the pain is real. You might also feel sad and disappointed with the current web host because they are making you lose business.

If you are looking for a good web hosting service that doesn’t burn a hole in your wallet, Host With me (web hosting for beginners) is a great option to start with. At only $6.99 per month, you are going to get a way much better shared web hosting performance and experience — and I can guarantee you that or 60 days money back guarantee no matter what your reason!

If you are looking for an enterprise web hosting or web hosting for high traffic sites, WP Engine is an excellent choice. The performance, security and support levels provided by WP Engine is best to none that I have tested.
May 4, 2024
Start A Web Design Business With No Experience: How To Find Your First Client?
With many businesses digitizing their operations and shifting their focus to the online market, there are several opportunities created for the computer-savvy. For one, more web designers are needed to meet the rising demands for such services. As you’d expect, every business that’s joining the current trends needs a functional website to boost its online presence.

Therefore, if you have the necessary skills, you can make a killing in this field. However, like any other industry, competition is an expected barrier for any beginner. Inasmuch as starting a web design business with no experience can be difficult, and sometimes frustrating, there are few tips to keep in mind for long-term success.

In this article, you will discover the exact steps you can start a web design business with no experience at all. This article will give you insights on how to start your very own website, run your own ads on social media, and even work with other professionals that can help you.

I recommend you to bookmark this article because I’m going to share some important facts and tips not shared anywhere else — and more importantly, I don’t see anyone is talking about this because it will affect their business!

*P.S. Web design business often requires some level of copywriting/essay writing skills. If you don’t have it, make an essay for me using DoMyEssay.

How To Start A Web Design Business With No Experience?

The most important keyword here is not “web design business” but it is “no experience. How can anyone start a web design business successfully, let alone without experience? It can be intimidating at first, but it’s not an impossible dream. With proper strategy and framework, you can achieve a lot of fame within a short time period.

As you prepare your strategy, keep in mind that web design and digital marketing go hand in hand. Therefore, as someone with no experience in the field, it would be a good idea to outsource marketing-related tasks to reputable agencies like Black Digital Group. This way, you can concentrate on matters design and integrate digital marketing tools here and there as advised by your selected agency.

Important note: The goal is to start a web design business with the shortest time possible without experience. As your business grows, you need to start focusing and growing your company (hiring web designers for more advanced features etc.)

Question: Can I really make money as a web designer without experience?

Absolutely! You will not get tons of business when you just start, probably just one or two for the first month. From there on, you will need to sharpen your skills in lead generation and converting leads to paying customers.

Ultimately, the goal is to convert the home-based web designer business into a full-fledged, thriving business. This can only be achieved when you have the right strategy and the right team member to support your work.

Getting Started As A Fresh Web Designer

With zero testimonial and nothing to show in your portfolio, it can be very challenging to find a client. It’s important, though, that you don’t panic, especially when you can’t find a single person or company to work for.

What should you do? Freelancing is your best way because it instantly expose you to thousands of potential clients. More importantly, you can start for free.

The first step is to sign up for a freelancer account. Make sure you create a new account to enjoy the free upgrade to Professional for 30 days. Again, click here to sign up.

Verify your account and make your profile as complete as possible. Be descriptive of what you can offer — always remember that clients hire you because of what you can offer them.

Here’s a sample profile for you to refer to. Of course, I only offer copywriting and marketing on Freelancer.

Why choose Freelancer?

It is a professional and prominent platform where clients are often looking for freelancers. And at one given time, there are thousands of web designing projects up for bidding.

Take a look at the image above. 2,231 web design projects are up for bidding at this point of time!

Do you know that the average web design project is approximately $300?

Imagine you have one project per week. That’s $1,200 for you per month, even without you leaving your day job!

Crazy right?

Cold Calling/Email To The Local Businesses

You should be bold and be daring to reach out the local businesses to help them create an online identity.

The easiest way to start this is rather simple. Randomly search on Google for joints or businesses in your area.

If the Google search results show only Facebook or Twitter account, I’m pretty confident that they do not have a website.

What you do next is to reach out to them and focus in speaking or emailing directly to the person in charge.

While cold calling is one of the best ways to make get clients for your web designing services, be prepared as this is one of the toughest ways as a sales person.

Nonetheless, if you are desperate to get for sales, you should use cold calling (with a template) to ensure that you are using the right words and convincing the potential clients on your services.

Get web designing clients using the Internet

There are over a billion questions asked every day on Google and it makes all the sense for you to rank on Google.

After all, organic traffic from Google is one of the best ways to get sales and clients for your web designing business.

But, how how to start a web design business with no experience?

Solution #1: Start by creating a website

A blog serves as your online branding machine and I love to consider my blog as my PR Manager.

You don’t have to create 500 pages WordPress blog to talk about your experience and skills in web designing.

You can start with only under 5 pages website that showcase your skills.

My favorite go-to website builder is Thrive Architect and it allows me to create simple, beautiful and high converting single page website designs in minutes (see below).

By having an online presence, you will stand a better chance to get more clients directly from Google when you are targeting on the right search terms.

With proper strategy, you can easily increase your Google ranking by multiple folds.

Looking for alternatives to Thrive Architect? Here’s a complete comparison between Thrive Architect vs Divi vs WP Beaver Builder.

Solution #2: Social media advertising to the rescue

The second solution to starting a web design business with no experience is through social media advertising.

After creation of a website, you should create ads to drive traffic back to your site.

Social media advertising can be costly if you have messed up the targeting. Therefore, be really specific on who your target audience are and the interest groups that most likely to convert.

Generally, you should have a complete persona which includes:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Work experience
- Work title
- Industry
- Company size
With proper targeting, you can reduce the cost of advertising by multiple folds at the very least!

Why Work With A Web Design Agency?

Once you’ve grown your web design business and you gain many clients, you might want to consider working with a web design agency. For instance, you can work with FatCat Studios or any other reliable web design firm while you’re still hiring and building your in-house marketing team.

In this way, you can assign other tasks from your clients to them without worrying about the output result. You’re confident that the digital marketing agency will provide excellent services that you also aim for your clients.

Summary: How to start a web design business with no experience?

There are many ways you can start a web design business with little to no experience. While the start is often rocky, there shouldn’t be any reason stopping you to achieve your dream!

If you don’t have formal training or background in web design, it makes sense to learn from the best web design agencies in the market. There are many free tutorials, certification courses, and training seminars that web design agencies offer nowadays. Some agencies even have a dedicated section on their website that provides design tips and how-to guides that you can read or download for free or for a small fee. You can get started from there.
May 4, 2024
Website Design Proposal: Your ULTIMATE Guide To Close More Sales
How do you create (if that’s the right team) a great website design proposal?

As an entrepreneur, I’m always finding for quick ways to make money online, on the side and without leaving my day job.

Managing a website design company on the side is definitely one of the easiest ways to achieve such. It is also one of the highly recommended tips especially if you are looking for small business ideas under $50 and something that you can start this weekend.

Without further adieu, let’s dive right into creating a website design proposal.

What is a website design proposal?

There are many versions to this and for me, the definition of a website design proposal is simple.

A web design proposal is your opportunity to sell yourself as well as your work.

This is the only platform you need to convince your potential client on your skills, expertise and knowledge in this field.

And your website design proposal will determine whether you make it (or you don’t).

How to create a website design proposal?

These are the steps you need to do before, during and after creating a website design proposal.

Step 1: Creating a website design proposal template

Template creation allows you to churn out web design proposals fast and without needing to spend hours creating one from scratch.

The template should includes information such as:
- Introduction of yourself (and your team)
- Advantages/Benefits working with you
- What you can offer
- check-circle-oSamples of your work (or mock ups)
- check-circle-oContacting you for quote
Step 2: Getting started with the website design proposal

You should start by introducing yourself. A professional photo of yourself and your team is critical to create the great first impression.

In this part, avoid selling yourself or the services. Instead, focus to be as human as possible and being real is important.

Give a short and interesting summary to avoid your potential clients getting bored.

Step 3: What are the benefits working with you?

Website development projects are always similar and what makes them different is the experience before, during and after the project.

If you want to be a successful freelance website developer, you need to wear many hats including being a sales person.

Always remember that having the best skills is not effective if you are unable to produce sales.

Here are some of the benefits you can consider:
- Fast turnover
- Affordable prices
- Addons and perks which are free of charge
- checkMultiple website design revisions without charge
- checkInclusive of web hosting and domain name
- checkSSL certificate and other security features
- checkInstallation of plugins
Step 4: What are you offer (more than your competitors)?

You are not the only one in the market and you should know your competitors.

In this case, your website design proposal should include offers and benefits which are not offered by your competitors.

These are your unique selling points (or known as “USP”) which can possibly make your clients say “Yes!”

Include these USP in your website design proposal to ensure that you stay a higher chance of closing the deal.

Step 5: Samples of your previous web designing work or provide web design mock ups

The next step is to show your clients on your previous works. If you are brand new in this industry and struggling to get your first web design client, consider using web design mock ups to portray your skills.

How to create your web design portfolio?
- 1Purchase a domain from Namecheap
- 2Get a web hosting service from BlueHost
- 3Install WordPress as your website content management system (CMS)
- 4Install a professional website theme (I recommend Thrive Themes)
- 5Create a landing page that serves as your portfolio
Important note: I recommend Thrive Themes because it is easy to use and comes with 9 Thrive plugins that allows you to market your website and help you increase your sales. Read my 2018 Thrive Themes review or click here to see the Thrive Themes demo page.

Step 6: Make it easy for your clients to contact you

This is one of the biggest mistakes done by web developers when they are sending their website design proposal. They did not provide a point of contact for the clients!

I’m a huge believer in making it easy for your clients to contact you. You need to provide these in all your website design proposal:
- 1-click email (use mailto:email@yourwebsite.com)
- Direct number
- WhatsApp or WeChat phone number
- check-square-oPhysical address (if applicable) for clients to find you
There are clients who are less ‘techie’ and therefore, you need to make it really easy for them to reach you.

Take a look at my digital marketing agency website, Marketing Lancers. There’s an automated chat box for them to contact me or my team at any time!

The whole idea is simple. You need to reduce any barriers or reasons for them NOT to contact you for further discussion.

Are you ready to send your first website design proposal?

I hope you find this guide useful especially in creating your own freelance website design business.

Need help in starting a web design business? Click here to read the guide!
May 4, 2024
5 Side Hustle Ideas For Single Mums

May 4, 2024