If you’re running a web site you need to know how it is doing, in particular how you’re performing against your competitors, and where you can improve.These useful tools will help you to monitor and (hopefully) improve the performance of your site according to generally recognized web site marketing criteria.

SEOmoz Trifecta Page Strength Tool

If you would like to measure the strength of a certain page on a site, blog, or an entire domain, then check out the SEOmoz Trifecta Page Strength Tool (free registration required).

Based on various factors you will see your impact within your industry and can compare it to others. Note that free accounts are limited to one report per day. Read the rest of this entry »

Google recently released a beta version of their new Internet Browser called Chrome in more than 100 countries. Their approach is to provide a web browser better suited to handle the media rich experience that users now expect on the Internet.Chrome boasts a host of features including enhanced stability through a multi-processer design and increased security from malware and phishing through concepts like sandboxing. It’s no surprise that enhanced search features have been carefully integrated into the user experience. Despite the unique direction Google is taking, Chrome will remain an open source project, allowing developers to build upon the application. Read the rest of this entry »

Too many Singapore small business owners ignore the importance of having a professional online presence. As a small business owner, how much value can your website bring to your company? You may already have a professionally designed, robust e-commerce site filled with dynamic information that is updated on a daily basis. Instead, maybe you have a simple site filled with static content such as your mission statement or contact information. Or are you among the majority of Singaporean small business owners who have no web presence at all?

A recent blog post titled Being online IS worth the time and money addresses the common misconceptions many small business owners have regarding the value of their web presence. This post highlights several factors unique to the small business market and addresses the key myth surrounding online sales.

In addition to these factors, there are several other potential benefits you should consider:

Making Your Business Seem Larger

A professional site with valuable content will help your customers take your business serious. It’s important to remember that most potential customers and clients are unaware of your small business status. If the design and content of your website is on par with those of larger competitors, your business will be perceived as a larger entity.

Meeting Expectations

Today’s average shopper expects business to have a web site. If your target market is young, mobile, or tech savvy, the expectations for impressive, feature-rich design and dynamic content are even greater. If your top competitors have web sites, you must ensure yours is equivalent at the very least if you wish to attract new clientele. Ideally, your website should strive to top those websites in all aspects. You should also determine if your clients have web sites. If your clients understand the value of a web presence, they are more likely to expect the same from you.

Lowering Marketing Costs

Obviously, selling products and services online are a great way to increase revenue. However, not all small businesses are interested in pursing this option. Instead you should consider an investment in marketing your products and services on your web site. Web savvy consumers often begin their research by reviewing products and service information on your website. If this information is unavailable, this group may pass you by. Once this information is available on your web site, it can be easily distributed to potential clients without the need to print excessively.

In today’s Information Age, a web site is no longer an option, no matter how large or small your business may be. Ensure your online strategy is reviewed and updated at regular intervals. And remember, the only thing worse than not having a website is having an unprofessional and poorly maintained site that lowers the reputation of your business.

Find out how HostSG’s Web Development & Search Marketing can help you create a successful Online Strategy.

Shared Hosting is very popular because it is economical - the service allows multiple customers to share the resources of one computer, thereby spreading out costs among many. In order to protect the integrity of information, file security schemes are used. In order to insulate one customer from another, some key processes are mapped to a specific domain (customer). These solutions are workable, but the bottom line is that being on a shared server is like living in an apartment with a lot of common areas.The Virtual Private Server (VPS) is designed to be economical, by allowing multiple customers to share the resources of one computer, yet with an extremely high degree of privacy and insulation. The separation is achieved by running a complete separate operating system for each customer. VPS customers have “root” level access and can enjoy many of the benefits of a dedicated server, at a much lower cost. VPS is like living in a town house, without the long term house payment!

HostSG is pleased to offer VPS hosting for all plans, starting with our entry level S$60 per month plan all the way up through our Enterprise level plans! We use state of the art hosting management software, called Virtuozzo, to implement our VPS environments.

Here are some key advantages that VPS offers over shared hosting.

1. Security - VPS accounts are insulated from each other, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access from hackers as well as other customers. The isolation of your account also minimizes the risk of being impacted by a DoS attack that was intended for someone else.

2. Performance - All resources can be regulated in the VPS environment. One customer can not run away with a large share of the resources. You service will run reliably and predictably.

3. Protected Mail Service - Each VPS account has its own private mail server. This eliminates the risk that your mail service will be blacklisted due to abuses of others sharing the same mail service. It also allows you to take your inbox back from the SPAMMERS.

4. Customer Installed Applications - With our VPS you have your own partition and root access. You have the ability to install applications that we do not offer. Please note that we do not provide support for customer installed applications. You also must assume the responsibility to update any applications that you install in the event that a security vulnerability is discovered in the verson you install.

5. Flexibility - Some applications require that certain ports and/or protocols be opened or closed in the firewall. With Shared hosting, custom firewall configurations are not advisable for security reasons.

6. Growth Path - Our VPS system allows us to manage your VPS as an image. This means that your entire environment can be restored from backup to any physical server with no changes to your configuration. You can also easily downgrade or upgrade your service with no downtime!

HostSG provides reliable and affordable VPS hosting service in Singapore and is trusted by more than 10,000 businesses. Since 1997, HostSG remains the top choice for businesses and large corporate in managed hosting services due to her highly reliable service reputation.

New Look and Feel

Your website may be the first encounter potential customers have with your business. Does it accurately portray your corporate culture? Your design can be whimsical, sophisticated, high tech, elegant, or modern. On the flip side, it can be sloppy, thoughtless, or unorganized. Or perhaps your company has recently restructured or updated their image. Don’t forget to include your website’s design. A good first impression is important, but an accurate impression is just as critical.

Effective and User-Friendly Navigation

Over time, your usage metrics and customer feedback will help determine the success of your site’s navigation. This information will help you understand which pages are useful, which ones are ignored, and which critical pieces of information are missing. As you adjust your content, you should also review your navigation and ensure customers can quickly and easily find the content they need. Read the rest of this entry »

Web design is not book design, it is not poster design, it is not illustration, and the highest achievements of those disciplines are not what web design aims for. Although websites can be delivery systems for games and videos, and although those delivery systems can be lovely to look at, such sites are exemplars of game design and video storytelling, not of web design. So what is web design? Read the rest of this entry »

Is Cheap Web Hosting Service in Singapore Possible?

With inflation issues and rising cost in Singapore, finding a quality service provider that is cheap is a tedious task. For some users, the one big downside of having an unmanaged dedicated host is that you must be your own server administrator.

These hosting services are with cheap rates. So,what things that should be keep in mind while looking for cheap web hosting services? Read the rest of this entry »

In context of the web world, email has become lifeblood of businesses having been the most obligatory connection between them and their clients. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to assume that email has been the source of inspiration for many a business to operate courtesy websites.Looking at email hosting from an inquisitive perspective, one might question its importance in web marketing and doing business over the internet. Doing business on internet might leave you with several things to deal with but with the existence of email hosting, things have become lot easier. You may even start a business on web along with an email server devoid of full emailing proficiency. As much startling as that might be, it is solely email hosting deserving the credit.

Need more elaboration on email hosting? Putting it very simply, email hosting is basically the component of internet hosting service that deals with operating email servers. Users can send and receive emails and while you could find a lot of services catering email hosting packages, predominantly, the service is meant for support to big sized business concerns. Best part of email hosting - you get to have certified email addresses without being involved in the complexities of web hosting. There is absolutely no need to have an e-commerce site. All you need is a program on your computer to retrieve and send emails or any computer with an internet connection. There are no barriers on the number of emails you would want to send or receive. There is an obvious advantage of managing your corporate emails with expediency and convenience. A mere email could open your doors to an extremely successful business.

Then comes the big question as always - How to look for the most appropriate Singapore email hosting company? List down your requirements and begin the search. Evaluate what your short-listed companies have to offer you. Be clear in identifying your priorities. Once you hand over your emails to an email hosting company, you may be relieved on a major front unless you have picked up the wrong option. This way, you can concentrate much better on all the other aspects of your business that require your vigilance.

HostSG provides email hosting services to more than 20,000 business users in Singapore and Asia.

Too often, customers asked what is the difference between Singapore web hosting and overseas (US web hosting). The pricing between having your web site hosted in Singapore and in US can be quite a big difference. This is mainly because in the United States, bandwidth is considered as local bandwidth, while bandwidth in Singapore is considered as international bandwidth.

Though with the price difference for web hosting plans, there are however many advantages of having your web site hosted in Singapore. Generally, when your audience is mainly based in Singapore, you would like to have local support from a Singapore web hosting company in the same time zone, which most Singapore businesses do not want to make an international call to their web hosting company in the United States just for minor issue such as password change that requires immediate attention. As of such, a Singapore web hosting company offers you better support needs in comparison to overseas hosting company.

Next, the speed access for your customers in Singapore would definately be faster when you use a Singapore web hosting company, due to the fact that they do not have to make additional internet connection hops to United  States when they surf your web site.

HostSG offers web hosting in Singapore since 1997 and is the leading choice of many MNCs and SME businesses. Our datacentre is located in Singtel Somerset Datacentre which provides the fastest and more reliable hosting service in Singapore.

Every businesses understand the frustration when your workstations break down, it stop work production and can drastically affects business revenues. Effective communication with your customers is badly affected. When such happened, it is time for you to consider taking up a preventive maintenance contract by outsourcing your IT support to a third party vendor. Read the rest of this entry »