So, what is the critical role that hosting and maintenance services play in ensuring a seamless, secure, and high-performing online presence?

Reliability Through Professional Hosting Services

Reliable hosting is the backbone of any website. Choosing the right hosting provider is crucial —it sets the stage for stability, uptime, and optimal performance of your site. Whether you’re a small business, an e-commerce store, or a large enterprise, investing in expert hosting services ensures that your website remains accessible, responsive, and reliable for your audience.

Performance Optimization for Enhanced User Experience

Website performance isn’t just about speed—it’s about delivering an exceptional user experience (UX). Professional hosting services employ performance optimization techniques such as content caching, CDN integration, and server-side optimizations. In turn, this minimizes loading times, improves page responsiveness, and enhances overall user satisfaction. A fast and responsive website not only keeps visitors engaged but also contributes to higher search engine rankings and conversions.

Security and Data Protection

Cybersecurity threats are inevitable in the digital world. Hosting and maintenance services go hand in hand to protect your website and data against attacks, vulnerabilities, and data breaches. Features such as SSL certificates, regular security audits, malware scanning, and firewall protection create layers of defense for your site. This instills trust and confidence in your online presence among users and search engines alike.

Seamless Updates and Maintenance

Websites are dynamic and require ongoing updates and maintenance to stay relevant, secure, and functional. Hosting and maintenance services encompass tasks such as software updates, plugin management, backup scheduling, and performance monitoring. By staying on top of these maintenance tasks, businesses can mitigate risks, prevent downtime, and ensure a smooth user experience for their audience.

Scalability and Future-Proofing

As businesses grow and evolve, so do their website needs. Professional hosting services offer scalability options that allow websites to handle increased traffic, expand functionality, and adapt to changing market demands. Whether it’s scaling resources on-demand or migrating to a larger hosting environment, these services ensure that your website remains agile and responsive for continued growth and success.

Elevate Your Online Presence with Hosting and Maintenance Excellence

In this competitive digital age, investing in top-notch hosting and maintenance services is not just a choice—it’s a strategic imperative for your company. By partnering with an experienced provider such as Beanstalk Web Solutions, businesses can unlock the full potential of their online presence, drive user engagement, enhance security, and achieve sustained growth for their company. Hosting and maintenance services are not just technical necessities; they’re the pillars that support and propel your site towards success.

Contact us today and let’s get started!

The post Hosting and Maintenance Services: The Key to Online Success appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

A company website is one of the most important tools that businesses can use to promote their products and services or even make sales. Even if your website is not meant for business purposes, it’s important for it to be easy and engaging for your online visitors to use. Choosing the right web designer is a major investment for your business. These qualities will help you make the right choice:

Niche Industry Experience

A good web designer should have experience designing websites for clients in the industry you’re dealing with. This is an assurance that the web designer is familiar with your type of industry and will help you get the best website for your business. Even though the experience will vary from one web designer to another, even one who has handled one project with a company like yours, then they have a hint of what your business entails. While web designers who do not have an understanding of your industry can help you design your website, the planning will take longer, with lots of editing to be done during the process.

Knowledge, Techniques, and Strategies

Irrespective of the designer that you hire, it’s crucial to know about their knowledge level, their preferred techniques, and  the overall strategy they use when creating a website. If a web design expert has difficulty explaining any of these qualities, then you will definitely have a difficult time working with them. The best professionals will know what they’re doing and they will be ready to tell you what they know, how they work, and the methods they’ll  use to improve your website.

Expansive Web Design Portfolio

Hiring web designers who are just starting up is okay. Everyone has to start somewhere! However, it is also a gamble. New designers may be talented; however, they don’t have experience or a track record. Experienced professionals like Beanstalk will have a detailed portfolio to showcase their past projects. With this, you’re able to get a collection of different website links to showcase the expertise of the designer. These work samples can also help you choose a design that suits your business. You have to get along with the style of the web designer you choose and a portfolio is a great way to screen their work!

Competitive Pricing

You should consider how much a web designer charges for their website design services. This is important because the cost of designing a website varies greatly depending on a number of factors, such as location, site size, customization, etc. To find the best price, you should set a budget before you begin looking for the best designers. With a set budget, you’ll be able to narrow down on web designers that you can afford.

A Clear and Organized Web Development Process

Excellent designers have created countless websites over time. As a result, they have developed clear processes that they have constantly refined with time. They can easily see any pitfalls or mistakes and take the necessary steps to avoid them. Since they’ve handled several websites in the past, they will give you an estimate of the time they will need to finish building your website. Expectations should always be clear. A concise web development process will help you set those expectations when it comes to designing a new site.

Variety of Web Services

Apart from creating websites, most web design companies will offer additional services. Some companies will have departments that offer content creation, SEO, social media campaigns, PPC ads, and much more. All these services complement the needs of your newly created website. With a company that you can rely on whenever you need these services, you’ll never have to hire another company after your website has been created.

Good Communication

Expert website designers will take their time to explain web technologies and terminology in simple terms for clients to understand. They will not assume that you understand this complicated jargon. If a professional is unable to communicate intricate concepts and terms to you, they will not be able to communicate your company’s message. Be sure to get expert designers who are excellent communicators.

Well-Versed Web Design Technologies

Excellent web designers are proficient and knowledgeable about web designing tools and web technologies. Such professionals are active participants in seminars, online groups, forums, and webinars. This helps them to boost their knowledge and continuously upgrade their skills because they get to interact with other designers and learn from them.

Reasonable Web Design Contracts

Before a website designer starts working on your project, you will be required to sign an agreement. It is crucial that you carefully read this contract before signing on the dotted line. If you have a problem interpreting the contract terms and conditions, you can have a lawyer check it out to ensure that your interests are protected. A contract is important, especially when the website is not designed to your exact specifications.

Flexibility

Irrespective of the programming language that you major in, the fact is that the code is usually unpredictable. Web designers should have the flexibility to alter the scope or contexts of a project. Web designers should be able and eager to adapt and deal with problems as they arise. Different businesses or individuals will have different needs and wants when they need a website. A good designer should be able to meet the different needs of different clients with ease.

Set and Meet Deadlines

You want a designer who will tell you the time they need to create your website and make sure that they meet the set deadlines. However, the project can take a longer time than stated and this makes everyone involved in it frustrated. Good designers will inform you in advance whenever they encounter any problems. Ensure that the web design firm that you choose sets deadlines and gives a detailed account of what happens if they fail to meet them.

A good designer should offer continued services for maintaining your website. This will ensure that your site is functioning properly and is at its best while you are using it. It is important for clients to ask about website maintenance services when looking for a designer. Not every company will offer these services. With a designer by your side at all times, any issues that you experience with the website will be handled within the shortest time possible.

For all of your web design needs, contact us.

The post 11 Important Qualities That Every Good Web Designer Possesses appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Taking your business online and creating a website is essential in today’s world. WordPress powers 60.8% of market share in the content management system on the internet and interestingly the most hacked CMS as well. A hacked WordPress website can have a huge impact on a business’s online presence and security.

A significant challenge for every business is to build a secure website and resolve issues if and when hacked. Online presence is an unquestionable requirement. The times have passed when websites were akin to digital yellow pages listing. They now play a crucial role in today’s world as an amazing asset for business communication. With WordPress maintaining 34% of active businesses, you need to recognize a hacked WordPress website and learn some interesting facts on how to save it from hackers. 

However, in this online journey, it tends to be profoundly disappointing to experience hacking. Regardless of the basic widgets running on your website, hackers can, in any case, find access points through numerous tricks and loopholes. Data breaches profoundly affect consumers whose individual data and credit subtleties are stolen. Still, hacking can easily be detected if observed cautiously.

How to Recognize a Hacked WordPress Website

Listed below are a few signs to recognize a hacked WordPress website:

1. Unnecessary pop-ups – To begin with, you will start to see unwanted pop-up advertisements, ones you didn’t install into your site.
2. The website tends to freeze frequently – The site will in general freeze now and again, an indicator of being hacked.
3. Multiple auto-linking – If you see a keyword linked to various other websites without you doing it, it is a red flag.
4. Unwanted text in header and footer – You may likewise discover words or sentences in the header or footer segment of your page.
5. Message from the host– A notification from the hosting provider about dubious and malicious activities on your website is sent.
6. Blacklisting – If you are a well-doing website and it is hacked, you will soon be aware of it as it is blacklisted by pretty much every internet browser like Google, for instance.
7. Readers Reaction – Readers will start complaining, as their desktop AV’s start flagging your site.

Even WordPress refers to a couple from the above rundown. Each hack has an alternate target. WordPress being hacked isn’t the apocalypse, and you won’t lose everything. Concentrate on finding solutions. You can connect with the WordPress forum for an answer but do list down the symptoms before contacting them.

How to Save a Hacked WordPress Website

You have recognized the signs. Now What? Let’s walk you through how to clean a hacked WordPress site and what measures you should take to save it from hackers. 

1. Restore and create a back-up

First things first, if you have taken a back-up of everything, promptly restore to the previous version. After a fruitful restoration, use the opportunity to add some additional security features. This will minimize any additional changes to your website. If you have one, then it will be easy for you to restore before moving to the next phase of cleaning. Keep a customary back-up of your database and files for the future.

2. Contact your hosting provider

Contact your host for their policy with regards to reinforcements. They manage these sorts of issues. The solution to your inquiries, how did it start? What was the pathway? Your host provider even assist you with shutting the indirect access created by the hacker for their future use.

3. Work on your access controls

A significant piece in the riddle of saving your site is password update. The use of long, unique, and complex passwords will do the trick. Incorporate all users that have access to the environment. The various access points include FTP/SFTP, WP-ADMIN, CPANEL (your host panel), and MYSQL. WP recommends a form of Two Factor/Multi-Factor authentication.

4. Scan and reinstall

Give your website a security scan and update all the plugins. Hackers use obsolete files to access your WP website, and once in control, create a comfortable and undetectable section for themself to navigate in the future. WordPress states the step by step form of its security audit log plugin where you can track changes in real-time.

Conclusion

After the in-depth elaboration on recognizing the hacked WordPress website and the significance of saving your site from hackers, certain viewpoints come out clear. The hack is cleaned, and your WordPress site is secure. Yet, that doesn’t imply that hackers won’t attempt it again. WordPress security must be a persistent exertion in light of the fact that those with a malicious plan will always access your site. WP mentions various resources to help you in the process of recovering your website.

After making these strides, you can also hire a website development company to assist you with developing a secure and protected website for your business. A professional can fix issues quickly and guarantee that your site is secure and accessible. Make that broad move, improve your website, and put the best foot forward in this digital world.

The post How To Recognize A Hacked WordPress Website And Save It From Hackers? appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

In today’s world, launching a website is a must for every business. Statistics show that the thirty-percent of consumers will not take a business seriously if they do not have a modern website design.

However, there are requirements that every modern website needs to function. Some of these elements will increase revenue for your business because, according to research by Stanford, forty-six percent of consumers decided to trust and patronize a company based on the website design and layout.

When designing a website, there are so many choices to make. There are plenty of ways to modernize your site. Therefore, you must determine what’s essential for your website, emphasizing design, functionality, and content.

So, to help you focus on what is vital, we have created simple checklist requirements for the modern website.

A Simple Checklist Requirements for Modern Website Design

Ensure Quality Content

As a rule, your website’s content must be original, relevant, engaging, and error-free. But, this is a shortcoming of many marketers and business owners. They place too much emphasis on search engine optimization as opposed to quality content that users will find helpful.

The focus of your website’s content should be about what makes the service or product your company/business offer valuable and helpful. Your content should be original and well thought out. 

However, if you think your business does not have the resources to optimize its website’s content internally, you can easily outsource to professional writers and use reviews from Writing Judge, Pick The Writer, and so on to find excellent writers.

Make The Design Adaptive Across All Devices

Modern website design must be adaptive across all devices. This is because people have several devices for their various needs. Your website must be optimized for mobile phones, tablets, and PCs.

To ensure that your website is optimized correctly, you must test it on all the essential devices, especially mobile phones, because sixty-two percent of consumers have used their mobile phones to make a purchase in the last six months.

Make Website Secure

Keeping your website secure is very important. This is done by keeping your website up to date and implementing secure practices that safeguard your website. Such safe practices include:

• Using an HTTPS encryption
• Installing an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate 
• Hiding your admin folders
• Creating secure passwords 

Double-check Contact and Feedback Forms

Two very crucial things you should never skip on are the email and contact number. You should ensure to avoid any typographical errors. And always add your country code on the call number (e.g., +123-456-XXXX), because you may have international callers. Also, add “mailto” and “callto” tags, so that visitors can mail or call straight from your website.

If your business requires a feedback form, make it simple and easy. The less information there is, the better because loaded forms are tiring.

On the form, add some helpful tips under or inside each row. These tips specify what format to fill in the required information. Also, include a message that tells users what will happen after they fill and submit the form. And then, test-run the form to see whether it works fine.

Include Meta Tags On The Website

Meta tags are the title and description on a website. They help users know what your site is all about during search results. They also help increase page rank on Google.

Below, we will give a brief explanation of the significant Meta tags your website must-have.

• Meta Title: is the unique page name or site name format, e.g., Health care – Wikipedia. It must contain keywords that are relevant to the website content. It’s always best to use the website name (up to 70 symbols).
• Meta Description: is a short overview that gives the user an insight into the website content. It is the short text that follows the title. The description must contain relevant keywords and a call-to-action. It must also have a character limit of 140 to 170 symbols.
• H1: is the title tag used only once for every page. It represents the content heading and contains unique keywords relevant to the content.
• H2: is a title tag too. But it’s used to break and structure the content into subheadings. You can use this tag several times on a page.
• Alt Tags: are the names you give images in the content. These tags are visible on google. It tells visitors the kind of images you have on your website. The alt tags also help make your media visible on Google images.

Note: Always double-check your tags before putting them on your website. This is because, once Google indexes incorrect Meta tags, it may take some time to re-index them.

Use Hamburger Menus

Most websites for businesses always have a long list of options for users. These options can take the web visitor straight to where they need to be. However, long option menus can take up so much screen space, making the page look cluttered. However, the Hamburger menu gives the page a different and clean look.

The Hamburger is the hidden menu we see on modern websites. It is called “Hamburger” because of its signature “three strokes.” These strokes look like a neat stack of hamburgers. And you can find them even on Google Chrome.

Using the hamburger menu for your website removes distractions and amplifies user experience. This helps visitors get the information they need in time and take the desired action.

Add Social Media Buttons

Adding buttons of your social media pages to your website is a great idea. This is because it makes it easy for users to access more of your business and see how other consumers engage with your business. It is the fastest method of promoting your business handles without spending a dime.

Also, this gesture makes your website visitors trust you because you have a presence everywhere. 

Conclusion

With the above checklist, business owners and marketers can now launch their websites with ease. And when it’s done right, the site will help improve the image of your business, causing its growth. The above checklist is not an exhaustive one. So feel free to add other website essentials specific to your niche market when considering modern website design.

Based in Chicago, Ava T. Jones is best known for her contributions to translation and writing. She is currently working as a contributor at PickTheWriter and as a freelance writer at WritingJudge. She entered the writing world to explore her passion for contrastive linguistics, adaptation, and lexicography. Ava also enjoys skiing, social media management, and vegan parties.

The post A Simple Checklist Requirements for Modern Website Design appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

At some point in starting and upgrading your business, you will be tempted to get free or cheap web hosting.

Some people prefer to get free web hosting because it allows them to save a lot of money. On the other hand, getting cheap web hosting can lead your business down the drain quicker than you would have otherwise thought. 

Keep in mind that the right web host plays a vital role in the overall growth of your company. It also helps your business achieve incredible results.

Here are eight benefits of professional web hosting for your business:

Site performance improvement

To succeed online, the performance of your site matters. In fact, you only have a few seconds to capture your audience’s attention before they hit the back button and leave your site. 

So, if your site takes forever to load, then chances are, visitors are not likely going to stick around. 

Your site performance significantly affects your rankings on search as well. When your site has a slow loading speed, it will measure poorly against other user metrics. This can negatively affect your search engine rankings. 

When you pick a high-quality web host, your site’s loading speed will not be an issue. Keep in mind that you could still have a high performing host, and yet your site could still be poorly optimized. But once you fix the loading times of your site, then your site should load incredibly well. 

Reliable technical support

When you are just starting out, technical support might not be your priority. But the thing is, it is an important aspect of your site that you should not ignore. 

Even little, technical details can cause your site to shut down, because of a lack of customer support to help you fix the problem. You might also lose site traffic, which can result in a loss in revenue.

Sometimes, the best way to know which web host has the best customer support is by searching and comparing online reviews.

With professional web hosting, you will have round the clock technical support from experts who will resolve issues should they arise, and help you get maximum uptime. 

Better website security

When you utilize professional web hosting services, you will get a much stronger security preference through more advanced tools. You are also sure that they employ system engineers who will deal with your security concerns. 

Some of the most vital security features used by professional web services are are security audits, virus scanning, OS updates, and spam filtering. They can also help resolve security-related loopholes and helps prevent your server from getting external attacks. 

High website uptime

When finding the right web hosting company, you have probably come across the word “uptime.”

Uptimes are important. Your site’s uptime is how often will your site go online. Most hosts out there will specify in the contract the percentage in which your site will go online. 

There are reputable web companies out there that offer uptimes of 99.5 percent and above. That small percentage that your sites go offline is mainly due to updates, maintenance, and repairs. 

SEO-related opportunities

Free web hosting services will not afford you many SEO-related opportunities, making it quite challenging to rank the top results of search engines.

On the other hand, when you get professional web hosting services, you essentially have complete control over your SEO practices. You can craft content based on your choice, and then optimize it to ensure that it will rank for your target and relevant keywords. 

Domain-associated email address

If you want your site to look professional, then you need a branded email address that utilizes your domain name. When connecting with clients and prospects via email, the last thing that you want to use is your regular email.

A quality web host provider will give you the power to create your domain-specific email address. There will be hosts that will limit you to one, while others let you create an unlimited number of email addresses. Some hosts also have built-in email management tools as well.

By doing so, you will look more professional whenever you are connecting with other people, such as possible collaboration partners or potential clients.

As a result, it is easier for you to send, check, and receive your emails. It is also much easier to set up email forwarders, helping you manage your emails from your preferred email provider. 

Data recovery

Data recovery is one of the greatest benefits of hiring a professional web host service. It is crucial for you to always keep your data secure, with constant, up-to-date backups. 

Remember that losing your data would mean that you could also potentially lose your reputation. Working with a professional web hosting company ensures that all your data will be properly backed-up. It is easier to retrieve it whenever you need them. 

Minimized operating costs

A web hosting service might come off as a bit expensive at first. When you think about it over time, it is a far more efficient and affordable option for your site.

When you pick a free web hosting service, you need to hire a professional to manage it, from a web designer to a full-time admin. The expenses of hiring in-house employees every year can be costly, and even more than the cost of paying for a hosting service. 

For your business, time and money are essential. When hiring a professional web hosting service, you will have the opportunity to save time and money. You will be hiring experts that are responsible for managing your servers. That way, it is easier to concentrate on your business growth.

Final Words

These are the top benefits of having a professionally built site.

By now, you might have fully understood the importance of hiring a professional web hosting provider for your business. 

So, when searching for a professional web hosting provider, it is best to analyze the web hosting provider that you choose with these points we have provided above. 

That way, you know that you will not be compromising your site’s performance which directly relates to your business’ growth.

Beanstalk offers free web hosting to non-profits in the Greater St. Louis area.

The post 8 Great Benefits of Professional Web Hosting for Your Business appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

With all the talk about enterprises adopting cloud computing, much of what’s discussed applies to the usage of public cloud services, such as AWS and Azure. However, other deployments are available, including the hybrid cloud, which has increased in popularity; increasing from 19 to 57 percent of organizations surveyed by Forbes.

The hybrid cloud combines both public cloud infrastructure, accessible over the Internet, and a private cloud, which provides secure computing environments to a single client, often accessible via a private network connection. The difference here is that instead of limiting themselves to one type of cloud deployment, organizations can get the best of both worlds via a connection between public and private clouds.

The connection often comes in the form of a virtual private network, however, for better consistency, a private direct connection between the two clouds is sometimes preferred. Read on to find out about some of the most important pros and cons to better inform you on any potential decision about whether to go hybrid.

Hybrid Cloud Pros

Cost Efficiency

The hybrid cloud can offer great cost-efficiency by ensuring that you only pay for the precise computing or storage resources you need beyond your main private cloud or on-premise data center. The main private cloud services operate on a pay-as-you-use model, and there are no costs associated with powering hardware or maintaining it.

Cloud bursting refers to running your mission-critical app workloads on a high-performance private cloud while directing overflow traffic during peak periods to a public cloud service.

To take a look at the potential cost of public cloud services like Microsoft Azure cloud, you can view some Azure calculators online that highlight the costs of using such services. Some companies, such as Netapp, attempt to save you even more money by optimizing your use of the Azure cloud. Netapp’s Azure calculator displays differences in pricing between standalone, un-optimized Azure deployment and savings from their OnTap optimizations.

Flexibility

When you go “all-in” on a private or public cloud, you restrict the range of available options to your company. Hybrid cloud deployments maximize your flexibility by allowing you to make informed decisions on appropriate workflows, storage, and other processes that might be better suited to different cloud services.

For example, while you might host your website from a private cloud, you can choose the public cloud for backups of important website content.

Improved Disaster Recovery Planning

An important aspect of any successful disaster recovery plan is to take preventative action in exposing your enterprise to a single point-of-failure. For example, with a private cloud alone, you might run a mission-critical application on an application server, and if a natural or human-induced disaster causes an outage on that server, the application goes down with it.

In the hybrid cloud, you have the opportunity to quickly recover from such disasters by rapidly spinning up cloud instances on public services such as AWS EC2, allowing you to resume running your apps on those computing instances. You can further increase the speed at which you recover apps by pre-configuring machine images with your application stacks.

Hybrid Cloud Cons

Data & App Integration

It can become quite complex to integrate an application and its data when using a hybrid cloud setup. For example, the app itself might run in a private cloud while its data may be stored in the public cloud to balance performance with cost.

Since apps and data are both useless without each other, it’s critical to ensure the app can access the data at all times. Issues can occur when the connection between the app’s location and the data is inconsistent, leading to a slew of network concerns in avoiding bottlenecks and slowing down application performance.

Lack of Visibility

When running important IT workloads in a hybrid cloud deployment it can be difficult to maintain visibility over everything you are managing. The visibility problem worsens when you consider that many companies use multiple public cloud providers to serve different functions, such as backup, disaster recovery, primary data storage, web serving, etc. A holistic dashboard providing visibility over your hybrid cloud deployment is a must.

Security

There is no evidence that suggests public clouds are inherently untrustworthy, however, clear security concerns arise when you cede control of data to a third-party and rely on them to keep it safe, as is the case with a public cloud provider.

Any public cloud vendor you choose must pay the highest attention to enforcing strong security policies, including identity access-management and data encryption in case of data breaches. You can also take steps to strengthen security in the public cloud via multi-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security in terms of how people gain access to different services by requiring more evidence beyond standard username/password combinations.

Conclusion

You can view the cons of the hybrid cloud as challenges to overcome as opposed to barriers to entry. Expect this type of deployment to grow even more in popularity as enterprises look to improve flexibility and better balance performance and costs in the cloud.

Author Bio: Limor Leah Wainstein

The post Should You Go Hybrid? Pros and Cons for the Hybrid Cloud appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Whatever the navigation design you prefer for your website it must correspond to the typical web identity and business needs. Naturally, one type of navigation cannot fit into all kinds of websites. With so much to consider you can feel confused about the navigation to choose for your website. Here we are going to guide you through the emerging navigation trends and the way they can fit into various types of websites.

1. Mega menu

Do you have a magazine style blog? Do you have a content rich website with several pages and categories? In that case, this bold and clean menu option can be ideal. By offering multiple columns of a menu in a white drop down menu window, it helps to browse lots of category pages and respective contents easier for the audience.

With bigger menu and exhaustive list of pages and categories, you can give your audience a feel of your website and contents quickly. The only drawback of this menu is that it works great on desktop websites but not so well for mobile versions. The websites offering separate versions for desktop and mobile can find this ideal.

2. Full-Screen Navigation

This navigation design trend is the new kid on the block that became popular in recent times.  It is unique by making the navigation itself a design element for the website. It helps to allow engagement for the user when browsing the pages.  Instead of being concerned about the website navigation the user can continue using the website and still can feel it exceptionally easy to find any content they need.

3. On-screen toggle

What is the biggest draw for toggling menu?  Well, by allowing the users to switch it on and off offers a sense of freedom and more command to the user. Moreover, by allowing the user to toggle the menu as per the context of his use, it saves more space on the screen. It offers more freedom to the user while making the contents easily accessible.

4. Search option is a must

Any navigation design is incomplete without a search box to find the required, contents at any moment.

When a website has too much content and pages a search option can save a lot of time and effort for finding something immediately.

When offering a search option, you must make the experience even better by allowing quicker auto-complete options and suggested results as per the typed letters. The search box must be provided at a visually prominent spot above the fold. Preferably it should be placed in the upper right-hand corner to ensure quick visibility.

5. Fixed navigation

Fixed navigation which is also known as sticky navigation continues to show the user the navigation menu by grabbing a fixed place on the screen. Websites with long pages find it useful because it allows quick access to the navigation menu at any point in time during the browsing. The sticky menu mostly appears when the user scrolls up after scrolling down the page for a while.

6. Universal navigation

If you are a multi-brand business, you may require your brand image to be constantly visible on the pages. Large websites can have a navigation menu on top of the website that remains constant across the pages. It helps business websites to ensure quick and easy access across the web pages for different business purposes. It also maintains the same integrated look and feel through the menu.

To conclude, There are obviously too many navigation design trends that we could not cover in this post. But the above-mentioned navigation design trends explain how ease of navigating through the pages is decisive for user experience.

Author Bio: Keval Padia is a co-founder of Nimblechapps, a prominent AngularJS development company based in India. He follows different tech blogs and current updates of the field lure him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.

The post Designing Website Navigation: Key Trends to Consider appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Keep It Simple, Stupid. That acronym has served to inform web designers the world over for nearly a decade. As the mobile web takes over and more users browse on smartphones and tablets, the need for websites that are easy to browse, aesthetically pleasing, and resource-light has never been greater.

It’s no surprise, then, that minimalist web design has enjoyed such a renaissance – to the extent that some people contend it may have gone too far.

“The issue with flat design is that it has become too powerful,” writes Usabilla’s Oliver McGough. “We’re at a stage where creativity is being stifled in preference of sticking to a template that ‘works’. Where sites are becoming generic, sites are conforming. Usability is being sacrificed because… flat design works, right?”

He’s not wrong. But he’s also not seeing the full picture here. Sure, a minimalist design taken too far is a bad thing. But such a design principle itself doesn’t stifle creativity – not in the least.

Because here’s the thing – minimalist design isn’t just isolated to the web. It’s actually been around a lot longer than computers. A lot longer even than electricity.

Smashing Magazine’s Nick Babich points to Japanese art and culture as one example of minimalism’s origins. Look at traditional art and architecture from the country – it favors balance and simplicity. It relishes in the elegant beauty of minimalism.

Are Japanese works of art less creative because they’re minimalist? Is Japanese architecture inferior to its Western cousins because it’s simpler? No. So why is a flat website less ‘creative’ than a rich one?

Simple answer – it isn’t.

At its core, minimalism is about the effective use of negative space. It’s about focusing exclusively on the essential elements of your site and positioning them as effectively as possible. It’s about striking a balance between simplicity, functionality, and visual appeal.

That word – balance – is key. And Nick Babich offers some excellent advice on how to manage it:

• Have a single focal point per screen. Don’t try to fit more than one element on a page. Each ‘page’ on your site should serve a single purpose, and serve it well.
• Provide excellent content. Minimalist design means you can’t simply flood users with content – you need to offer them only your best. Your best images, your best blog posts, your best pieces of advice…put your best foot forward, always.
• Simplify your navigation – and shape it to how your users browse. Pretty self-explanatory, this one.
• Understand that minimalism doesn’t work for every website. A minimalist aesthetic works well for a portfolio or a landing page, but it’s less functional if you’re hosting an event or a digital storefront. Use minimalism appropriately – and understand that it’s not the be-all and end-all of web design.

So, to get back to our original question. Is there such a thing as too simple? Sure – but if you understand the best practices and principles behind a minimalist design, you won’t need to worry about it.

About Author: Max Emelianov started HostForWeb in 2001. In his role as HostForWeb’s CEO, he focuses on teamwork and providing the best support for his customers while delivering cutting-edge web hosting services.

The post Is There Such A Thing As Too Simple? How You Can Strike A Balance With Minimalist Web Design appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

What is the first thing any newcomer notices about SEO hosting? It is a milieu of traditional and non-traditional hosting services that enhance website search engine optimization. It helps in a wholesome manner. From boosting speed to increasing sales, your website benefits from every single aspect of hosting based SEO services.

According to the SEO gurus of this decade, search engine optimization involves the creation of marketing campaigns that span multiple websites. Modern campaigns also involve multiple IPs, domain names and DNS. Search engines prefer websites that look more authentic. This means multiple IPS for several related sites and blogs with multiple Class-C IPs.

SEO hosting will change the way you look at the world

The right hosting service will help your website achieve faster loading. The customers will be able to access your complete inventory from their mobile and desktop devices, irrespective of their location. A prevalent strategy is to use multiple websites for directing traffic to the main site. This directs the business and money towards the main site as well.

Hosting can bring about a massive change in your revenue if it is good and reliable. An excellent hosting service is a difference between finding a new visitor and finding a new customer. You will never have to worry about losing your sales to your competition when you have an expert hosting service on your team. An expert lead hosting team can help you stay on the right side of internet law and the good books of Google.

Website hosting and its relation with SEO

Website hosting can affect your site performance in every way possible. A good hosting service will help you achieve your sales goals and revenue goals. A bad hosting service will get you in trouble with leading search engines and push you down the SRL.

Uptime and downtime: how long does your hosting service stay down? If it is about 3 hours a year, it does not amount to much. If it is 3 hours per week, you need a better hosting option. Downtime should be as less as possible. Search engines like live websites with almost no downtime. If your users cannot find you in their hour of need, the search engines do not consider your site and services as credible. When you want to hire a SEO consultant, always check their previous uptime-downtime records before signing on the dotted line.

Speed: Matt Cutts from Google stated at least seven years back that the search engine giant would start taking speed into consideration. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. Matt Cutts has left Google, and the search engine giant has declared speed as one of the governing factors for ranking. If your website loads slower than your perfectly matched competition, you will automatically rank lower as well.

Security: Web-hosting services need to make security their priority. In fact, leading hosting services have a dedicated team for website security management. You may want to use an RDBMS for your site and consumer data. Your hosting service needs to provide the security for that data. Security will NOT have a direct effect on your SEO. However, it will directly influence the footfall, sales metrics, and testimonial content.

You should get your dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is one of the best options for websites looking for brilliant SEO. Dedicated hosting not only offers minimum downtime, but it also offers the maximum speed since you will be the only one feeding on the speed juice. Security is also optimum for dedicated hosting. You can employ specific teams to look after the security of your customer database and website backend data. Choosing a secure dedicated hosting service automatically reduces the risks of DNS injection attacks. Brute force attacks also become a remote possibility when you are the only website on that server.

You can try boosting your rank with VPS hosting once you find a dedicated server. Shared hosting can tackle from 2 to 20 websites depending on the size of the server and the sites. If you like exclusive SEO, security, and speed, you should forego your love for a few extra pennies and invest in a private hosting network. You will never again have to worry about traffic peak-times and high volume data downloads. VPS is great for SEO personalization and management.

Why is SEO hosting less popular?

SEO hosting is an “old hat” term that defines the need of a reliable networking service that can support multiple websites with individual IPs that drain into the main money site. This may seem black hat, but the presence of multiple IPs makes it rather gray. Good SEO hosting services can, in fact, help you steer clear of link farms and help you find valuable followership with the aid of reliable link building.

How to choose the right SEO hosting service?

Choosing your first SEO hosting service can be challenging. You can follow these steps to end up with a reliable service that boosts your ranks, traffic, and sales.

1. Defining the necessary parameters

What do you need? Do you need shared hosting or VPS or private hosting? Do you need next to nil downtime? Find out all details about storage, speed, and bandwidth for this step.

1. Reviews and feedbacks

Find out all you need to know about the company on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Find out what genuine customers have to say about your shortlisted hosting service.

• What is your budget?

You need to work with an affordable figure. Going for a yearly hosting package can cost less, but if you have your doubts about the quality of their services, go for a monthly package. If their services are consistent, switch to an annual package later.

Always shortlist a few services before you sign up. Webhosting needs to be a smart and wholesome decision. If this is the first time you are dealing with hosting services, you may want to consult experts on social media or read a few credible blogs before making your purchase.

Author Bio: Maria Jones is a media planner and analyst. She has worked with several leading SEO companies over the last few years. When leading e-commerce sites want to hire a SEO consultant, they visit Maria.

The post Why is SEO hosting important for all online sellers? appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

For a few months during 2012, anyone was able to apply to register a custom or niche top level domain (TLD). This means that if you want to run an eCommerce business, you could register a TLD with the name .shop, or a TLD that names your profession, industry, or services.

Not sure whether a custom TLD is worth your time and money? Check out the infographic below from Hosting Facts and learn more about top level domains and their importance.

The post [Infographic] Top Level Domains Explained: Who Rules this Domain appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.