What Is CaaS? Container As A Service Explained

What Is CaaS?

CaaS (also called Container-As-A-Service) is a business model in which the cloud service provider offers container based virtualization services as an online service that is scalable. CaaS enables the users to use the container services without the need of having the required infrastructure.

What Are Container Services?

A container service is offered by a cloud service provider, it enables the users to develop, test, execute or distribute the software in the application containers throughout the IT infrastructures. In a container, the virtualization is done at the level of the operating system. The individual applications including their dependencies like configurations, libraries, files etc. are executed as encapsulated instances within the container.

How Does CaaS Work?

Container as a Service is a computer cluster that is available and can be accessed through the cloud. It is used by the users for uploading, creating, managing and running container-based applications in the cloud platform. The communication with the cloud-based environment is either done through the graphical user interface (GUI) or through API calls. The core of every CaaS platform is the orchestration tool that enables the management of complicated container architectures. The orchestration tools interact between the executed containers and enable the automated operation functions. The orchestrator present in the CaaS framework has a direct effect on the functions that are made available to the cloud service users.

What Differentiates CaaS From The Other Platforms?

Every cloud provider can create their own version of CaaS and some of the CaaS platforms don’t operate in a major public cloud.

There are two ways in which the CaaS providers differentiate their offerings:

First comes the user interface. The on-premises container environments are usually managed through the Docker command line. However, some users opt for a GUI-based management interface in place of the command line. Some of the cloud providers also allow the subscribers to point and click through the container creation process and management process. The second key element that differentiates the CaaS providers is the orchestration and supplementary services that are connected to the orchestration engine. A service provider can make use of an orchestration engine in order to take care of many aspects like for instance to enable automatic scaling for the containerized workloads on the basis of the parameters established by the administrator.

If we go according to the classic model of cloud computing, CaaS lies between IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and PaaS (Platform-as-a-service). However, CaaS can be differentiated from IaaS and PaaS as it works on a fundamentally different virtualization model that uses the container technology. CaaS provides the users complete control over the life cycle of a software application.

Provisioning of virtualized resources in CaaS is not only dependent on hypervisor-based virtualization of individual VMs; instead of this, the Linux kernels native functions are utilized. This enables the isolation of individual processes in the same operating system.

What does this mean for the users?

The software developers who wish to work in a cloud-based environment usually have to rely on the technologies offered by the vendor like programming languages or framework in a PaaS platform. On the other hand, CaaS provides the users with a relatively open and free programming platform. Within this platform, the applications that are encapsulated in the containers can be scaled over the IT infrastructures irrespective of their technical requirements.

What Are The Benefits Of Using CaaS?

One of the most important benefits provided by the CaaS technology is that it simplifies the process of running the applications in the cloud. Applications that are created for use on-premises do not usually function as expected when they are installed on a cloud-based virtual machine. CaaS ensures application portability thus simplifying the tasks like creating new application container, testing the newly created containerized applications on-premises and uploading the application to the public cloud is possible. Ideally, the containerized application should function in the same way in the cloud as it functions on-premises. Another benefit of using CaaS is that it enables the business organizations to endure a greater degree of agility. Agility can be defined as the ability to create a new production workload as quickly as possible.

For instance, if the development team of an organization is building a new application and there is an urgent need for the application to be rolled out quickly. The developers can consider containerization of the application but what if the organization is not yet making the use of containers?  And if the organization is using the containers, what will happen if the container environment of the organization lacks the capacity to host the application? This is where the CaaS technology comes into the picture!

The public cloud providers usually enable you to deploy a container environment with just a few clicks. This eliminates the tasks like deploying container hosts, creating clusters or testing the container infrastructure. The cloud providers make use of automation to provision for the container environments of their subscribers. This automation totally removes the time-consuming set-up and testing process and therefore, it enables the organizations to roll out containerized applications quickly.

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What is the Cost of a Domain Name?

You should be thankful to the Internet as it has made possible for your business to run both locally and internationally. The world is getting closer via the Internet and so, your products and services can be easily tapped into different kinds of markets and audiences. But to make this happen, you need to have a central home – maybe like the online headquarters. What is the solution? It is just an inclusive and professional website. The only way your audience can find you online is your domain name. It’s a part of your online ‘real estate’.

A good domain name can be a key part of your business success. But how much should you pay for the domain name? How much time should you spend to find one? What are your options? Don’t think too much. We have all the answers to your queries.

What is the Cost of a Domain Name?

The price of a domain name is never fixed and is based on different factors:

• The domain extension you select (i.e., .com vs. .store).

• The registrar from where you purchase the domain name (i.e., a reputable registrar, an aftermarket service, a private seller, etc.).

• The time for which you are buying or add-ons you are selecting (i.e., registering for multiple years, electing to include domain privacy, etc.).

Basically speaking, a domain name cost can range from $2 to $20 per year, based on specials or discounts. New domain extensions, such as .app or .dev might cost you high (or above it), as they’ve only recently been introduced in the market.

The highly expensive domain names will be those available on auction houses via aftermarket services or private sellers. You won’t find specific prices for domain names in these avenues. When it comes to buying and selling domains, the prices vary widely.

Ideas to Select a Domain Name

While selecting a domain name, you should consider the below things:

Integrate Keywords

What is your business niche? Do you sell clothes online or do you make handmade jewelry? Or you might be selling services instead of goods – that’s fine too. You can try something such as:

• RossButtonShop.com
• FancyShirts.shop
• UniqueWeb.design

May you do anything, research keywords by using a tool like Google Keyword Planner and check what your target audience is searching for. Then, if possible, include one of the keywords into your domain name.

Don’t Use Hyphens or Odd Spellings

How many times you make use of punctuation while searching for something online? As per me it’s quite rare. The last thing you need is the domain name that your visitors don’t find difficult to type or remember. If you use something similar to the-best-clothes-for-your-baby.com – though it may be compelling – won’t help you.

Don’t use domains with hyphenations or odd spellings as they make it hard for people to search you.

Also, ensure that you don’t use uncommon spellings or numbers. It might confuse you. For example is it a 4 or a four? Is it 2, to, two or too? I hope you got it. In case anyone shares your domain via word-of-mouth, your domain name won’t be conveyed properly via the conversation.

Make it Memorable

You will find nearly 1.7 billion websites live on the internet currently. How will your website stand out from this crowd?

If you are a start-up, you’ll need a domain name that’s outstanding. Use a domain name that speaks about your brand or the services and products you offer. Make sure it can be spelled easily, and also, follow your ideas by friends and family.

Do I Need More than One Domain?

In short, yes. In case you plan to launch one website then too you will need more than one domain. The reason behind this is to protect your brand.

If you own multiple variations of your domain name accounts, it might lead to accidental misspellings and invading competitors.

We have already mentioned the odd spelling examples above. Though you decide to opt for an easier version of your name but the exact domain might still get misunderstood. If you overcome common errors, it is possible to cover your complete base and still point each domain name to the primary site. Now, people that want to search you will actually visit your site, regardless of wrong typos.

Also, if you own multiple domain names, it will help to secure your business sneaking competitors. In case, you own the site BestCakes.com and are popular for your mother’s blueberry cup cakes recipe, you might find that your competitors are eager to create an obstacle with BestBlueberryCakes.com. So, when someone will search for your recipes on internet they will probably end up landing on your competitor’s site.

If it’s within your budget, you should purchase domain names relevant to your brand (even if they’re not immediately recognized as your business’s name) to keep competitors away from your traffic.

Ensure That You Question in a Right Way

Rather than asking yourself, “what is the cost of a domain name,” you should ask, “what would happen if my business didn’t have a domain that matches my brand?”

It isn’t always easy to find an available domain name that matches with your company. But the price spent for immediate recognition, traffic and sales is higher than the price of a domain. If you’ve found an extension that fits for your brand or you’re looking for a broker, don’t wait to register your domain.

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Why Is It Important To Have A Dedicated IP For Email Marketing?

The more you know about email marketing the more you hear about having dedicated IPs. In order to have complete understanding about a dedicated IP and in order to determine if you need one, your first step is to know more about the deliverability of emails and sender reputation.

The deliverability of an email hugely depends on the reputation of the IP through which it is sent. If you are sending emails from an IP address having a good reputation, there are higher chances of your emails getting delivered to your subscribers. However, if your sender scores are low, you stand at a risk of getting filtered out by some email inboxes.

Most of the well known email service providers like MailChimp and HubSpot use a couple of shared IP addresses for processing and sending your emails. In case of the shared IPs, the sender reputation is determined by the actions of all the companies using the same shared IP. Every email service provider proactively monitors the reputation of the shared IPs used for ensuring that their emails have a high deliverability rate. For instance, the shared IPs used by HubSpot makes sure that their scores are in the high 90s thereby increasing the acceptance rate.

What is a dedicated IP?

A dedicated IP is for the use of one user and it is not shared with anyone. As the IP is not shared with the other users, there is no need to worry about any negative impact on the quality and quantity of sending emails. For instance, if one or more users send spam from a shared IP, all the users using that IP are affected and can be termed as spammers. On the other hand, if you opt for a dedicated IP, only you will use that IP and all your email campaigns will solely depend on your actions. A dedicated IP enables you to take complete control of your sending reputation.

How do I know if I should get a dedicated IP?

Dedicated IPs are appropriate for the companies that sends bulk emails on a regular basis. For instance, a dedicated IP should be considered by a company that sends more than hundred thousand email messages in a week. Moreover, as you are the sole influencer over your own sender reputation, it is important for you to make sure that your email list is completely permission-based and engaged. If the hard bounce rates are higher than average (3% or more) or if your emails have irregular sending volumes, having a shared IP is better for you. You can talk to the email service providers for deciding about whether you need a dedicated IP or a shared IP.

What is the main advantage of having a dedicated IP?

Some companies or organizations that send large number of emails prefer to have their own IP address instead of sharing an IP address with some other companies. For the high volume email senders that have engaged subscribers, a dedicated IP ensures more control over the deliverability of the emails. The reputation of emails sent through a dedicated IP is not affected by the actions of any other companies or users. The dedicated IP of a company is a sole influencing factor in terms of determining whether the emails get delivered or not.

Moreover, apart from getting more control, many customers prefer to have a dedicated IP because they do not wish to have a sender appendix like ‘emailer.hubspot.com’ attached to the emails. If a shared IP is used, all the emails sent through the email service provider on behalf of a particular company; whereas, a dedicated IP comes only from the email address of the company from which it is originated and sent.

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Bursting The 5 Biggest Web Hosting Myths

People who wish to buy web hosting for the first time are usually allured by fancy web hosting offers and extra-ordinary web hosting features. The market is flooded by a wide range of web hosts that claim to be the best! Analyzing all the web hosting options available and finalizing the best one can be an intimidating task at times. As a result of abundance of web hosting providers, it is natural for the first time web hosting shoppers to fall prey to a web hosting provider that might not deliver what is promised.

However, if you are a first time web hosting buyer and if you are aware of some basic important concepts, then buying a suitable and affordable web hosting package will be easy for you. It is important to protect yourself against a bad web hosting provider.

Below mentioned are 5 common web hosting myths and the truth about them:

Myth #1 : Any web hosting provider is good to go!

This is the biggest myth that all web hosting providers are the same and you can sign up with any of them. A web host plays a huge role in your website’s success therefore it is important to make a wise decision.

Your decision of selecting a web hosting provider should be based on the following factors:

◈ Server Reliability: You will find that every provider provides an impressive uptime guarantee. It is important to scrutinize these guarantees against the actual uptime records. Even a small drop of 0.5% in your website’s uptime will cost you loss of customers and traffic for two days; this can be a huge loss if your website is your only source of revenue. Look for a 99.9% uptime while selecting a web host.

◈ Website Response Speed: Load time and response time of your website are two extremely critical factors for ensuring a good online customer experience. If your website has a slow response time, your customers will immediately abandon your website and look for some other options. A slow website also has an adverse effect on the search engine rankings. Therefore, ensure that your website is hosted on efficient servers with sufficient resources to keep your website fast and secure.

◈ Cost: There are some web hosting providers out there that take advantage of the first-time shoppers by charging high for their web hosting packages. Beware of such providers. Once you have made up your mind for any particular web hosting package, make sure to compare the price of that same package with many other web hosting providers.

◈ Number Of Domains Allowed: Some web hosting providers allow you to have just one domain while others support multiple domains. For some companies, one domain might be enough but for those companies that would like to launch multiple websites and sub-sites, taking this factor into consideration is important. If you would like to host more than one website, talk to your web host about registering multiple domains first before signing up.

◈ After Sales Services: This is one of the most crucial factors! You are the apple of the eye for the web hosting providers when you purchase the web hosting package, but then they might stop interacting with you as much as they did earlier once you purchase the web hosting package, and this does not sound good at all!

Read More: Top 10 Hosting

Here is a little more information about uptime:

Even a small drop of 0.5% in your website’s uptime will cost you loss of customers and traffic for 3 hours 36 minutes in a month. In order to understand the importance of uptime, refer to the uptime/downtime table mentioned below:

Uptime	Downtime Per Year
99.99%	8 hours 45 minutes 36 seconds
99.98%	1 hour 45 minutes 7 seconds
99.97%	2 hours 37 minutes 41 seconds
99.96%	3 hours 30 minutes 14 seconds
99.95%	4 hours 22 minutes 48 seconds
99.9%	8 hours 45 minutes 36 seconds
99%	3 days 15 hours 36 minutes

Myth #2 : Free web hosting provider is the best!

You might be rejoicing with the fact that you don’t have to pay anything for your web hosting package, but how long is this going to last? No good web host will provide you with free resources to host your website and there might be some disadvantages or short comings to a free web hosting package, it is important to take this into consideration.

If you opt for a free web hosting package, you might not get professional assistance or support and this goes on to say that you might not be able to ensure a good online experience for your customers in terms of fast website load times or response times. This in turn will lead to another disadvantage – paying additional hosting cost without earning any client-based income. The hosting providers that offer free hosting might be having some other source of income. There are chances that along with a free web hosting package, they might place advertisements on your website that you won’t be able to remove. Also, you cannot count on a free web hosting provider as they are not dependable and reputable. If you opt for a free web hosting package, apart from living with the risk of website downtime, there is also a risk of your web hosting provider shutting down overnight, and this means that your website disappears as well.

Therefore, instead of opting for a free web hosting provider look for affordable and budget-friendly hosting providers. It is not at all difficult to find affordable web hosting that provides a decent array of services and features.

Myth #3 : All cheap web hosts are bad!

It is a myth that if it is cheap, it is bad. It is important to take this fact into consideration that a good web host will not cost you a fortune. The web hosts might differ in terms of services and features provided. Therefore, it is important to analyze all of them to find a good and affordable web host.

Myth #4 : You need to be an IT expert and technically sound to host a website!

This is one of the biggest myths of the IT world! For starting a website, your idea about the website and its functioning is enough, the web hosting provider will provide you with all the information and support to make your website live. There is absolutely no need for you to have any IT expertise or technical knowledge to host a website. Many web hosts offer a user-friendly interface to manage your hosting account which is also known as the control panel (cPanel/Plesk). And while there are graphic designing companies that will make your website look beautiful, there are many other content management systems (CMS) that will help you to create your website easily with your preferences.

WordPress and Joomla are two of the most popularly used and user-friendly content management systems (CMS) that provide a wide range of plugins, themes and extensions to design your website and to manage it. They also provide free guides, support articles and forums that can be easily accessed online.

There is no need for you to know about coding in order to create a dynamic website that operates on databases. It is true that knowledge of coding will help you to customize the look and functionality of your website to a great extent; however, you will find a huge range of built-in features in the web hosting platforms and content management systems through which you can create your custom website.

Give it a try….things will start falling in place when you start!

Myth #5: You must find a web host with no negative reviews

Let’s get to the ground reality here! People are not likely to provide any feedback or reviews when they are angry or upset with something and in contrast they will readily oblige to provide a feedback when they are happy and when they have had a positive experience. It is important for you to know that some web hosting shoppers have unrealistic expectations that cannot be always fulfilled by the web hosting providers; and therefore, you are more likely to find negative reviews about some web hosts.

The fact is that every web host provider, irrespective of how good or leading they are, might have negative reviews. This does not mean that you should totally ignore the negative reviews, read those reviews and then also analyze how the web hosting provider has handled the issue and read the reply of the web hosting provider. If you find that the web host took efforts to address the concerns and complaints of the customers, then it is definitely not a bad web host. Moreover, it is also important to note if the web host actually took the time to investigate and address to the negative review or is it just left like that. Also take note of the tone used by the web host while replying to a negative feedback. Investigating the negative reviews will provide you with a better insight on the web hosting provider and you will be in a better position to decide whether you should sign up or not.

Now Get Going!

You will find lots of information on selecting a web host, however, there are some common misconceptions related to choosing a web host which are mentioned above which you should be aware of. Research well about the web host that you would like to sign up with and ask questions. With proper analysis you will surely find a great web host that will comply to all your website needs.

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Internal Server or Hosting in the Cloud: Which one to Choose?

The challenges for a company that wants to stay productive and with reduced costs in the area of technology are increasing. To be more competitive and have optimized internal services, many companies face the dilemma of deploying solutions in an internal,  cloud or hybrid environment. This choice depends on a more optimized and practical use of systems and information.

Each of the solutions has its advantages and disadvantages and it is important to know each one well to define the most appropriate solution for your organization. If you still have questions about which model is the best for your company and want to know the characteristics of each of these solutions, check out our article!

Internal Servers

An internal server is a “computer” designed to gather all the information, applications and websites of a company. It can be located either in the headquarters of a corporation or in a data center of its own. Through it, your employees will access internal programs, e-mail services and any data stored in it. This type of solution typically has a higher installation and maintenance cost than that of an outsourced cloud computing server. The costs of purchasing equipment, hiring maintenance staff and licensing any security program will be borne by the company owning the hardware, other than a cloud server, where costs are diluted among data center customers.

Because it does not rely on an external network to be connected to the organization, this type of server has a much lower chance of becoming unavailable compared to other alternatives. If this is not the case and the server makes use of an internet link, it is necessary to have a good connection, which can keep the device always working. This will prevent critical files and systems from becoming unavailable.

Often, this type of solution is chosen by companies that work with a lot of sensitive information or are looking for more agility in the management of large databases. However, there will always be a need for a rigid and well-built security policy in this case.

Servers are machines that must be maintained in controlled access environments and internal and virtual surveillance systems. If possible, keep backup machines separate from main machines. This prevents you from losing all data if any catastrophe happens. By controlling the people who have access to the servers and designing well the location where the machines are allocated, you can prevent problems of loss and data leakage and attacks by malicious people. Of course, all this will require investments in monitoring equipment, dedicated staff to the management and maintenance of servers, physical space, and infrastructure dedicated to the allocation of servers within your organization.

Cloud Computing

The cloud computing gained momentum in the last decade with the highest popularity of internet and cloud storage services. A service that until recently was expensive and complicated to use, started to have low contracting prices and interfaces increasingly focused on the needs of the user. By using multiple computers in their structure, these companies also allow a server to be hired and prepared for use within seconds without the IT manager having to worry about buying internal devices and bureaucracies.

This technology is also capable of resolving a financially burdensome barrier to a company: storage and maintenance of idle equipment. As the contracting of resources is done on demand, the IT manager can request more or less amount of virtual processing and storage as the company needs. And since most companies offering cloud solutions have plans whose prices vary according to demand, you only pay for what you use on a day-to-day basis.

The decrease in costs occurs through the apportionment of expenses with maintenance, hardware exchange, the hiring of personnel, electricity, and internet among all commercial partners of the cloud computing company. This division also includes sharing the same information storage structure across multiple companies, but with tight identity control and access to information.

Some companies that offer cloud computing services have free or low-cost plans but include in their terms of service clauses telling consumers that the data they have can go through the analysis of artificial intelligence algorithms and classification of information. This collected data is used only for service improvement – or for product sales through targeted advertising.

In the end, this kind of solution has become more interesting compared to local servers, and it’s not too difficult to understand why cloud servers are easier to get, more scalable and require no maintenance and renewal costs. hardware and software. This convenience also comes with automatic backups and faster file restoration. In addition, it requires less long-term investment (compared to a local server) for both maintenance and infrastructure upgrades, which can be done quickly. To complement, support, availability assurance – if you have a stable internet connection – and monitoring capabilities are often better and more dynamic compared to built-in solutions.

What is the best solution: internal server or cloud hosting?

In general, both solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. There are organizations that choose only one type of server, and some end up defining a mixed (hybrid) strategy, migrating some of their services to the cloud and keeping others “in the house“. As such, they can keep their sites and systems hosted in the cloud and their most sensitive systems stored locally.

It is necessary for your company to plan the choice and adoption when choosing a solution. Switching from a local to a cloud server can end up causing harm if it is poorly planned and does not always represent a significant cost reduction. That’s why a consultancy can help you choose the right solution for your company.

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Apply these Secrets to Secure your VPS

Are you planning to purchase VPS hosting?

Or do you already have one?

Whatever the case be, but securing your VPS is a vital part because you are hosting your website on it. As you know your website works for you 24/7 so, it is your responsibility to take its care.

Your VPS hosting provider ensures that you are safe, but still, from your side, you must consider some parameters that ensure everything is secured.

Read More: VPS Hosting

Here are few tips to secure your VPS hosting as per the popular control panels and those are cPanel and Plesk.

Tips for securing both cPanel and Plesk :

1) Use Long Password

The common belief of having a strong password is incorporating special characters to it. But, this isn’t enough as the software can easily guess such passwords. Thus, you must have a long password to make it a strong one. For example, a password as thewebhostingforresellerusers is more difficult for an automated tool in the software to guess or to crack than a password as w#bho3sting.

2) Patch Your Software

Both cPanel and Plesk provide utilities that allow you to update software within their web interface, or if you want you can easily do it via SSH at any time. This ensures that you have the latest performance patches along with the latest security fixes that lead to a more secure server. This saves your server from spam botnet.

3) Security Advisor

Both cPanel and Plesk are incorporated with a Security Advisor tool that provides you quick wins to help you get secured. These incorporate essential things like the use of extra firewall tools, encrypting SSL certificate, and checking the regular server updates.

Essential Tips for cPanel are :

1. CSF (ConfigServer Firewall)

CSF is an outstanding addon for your cPanel servers, which makes the administration work of your firewall very easy. Also, it helps you to manage tasks like IP blocking, whitelisting server-wide and brute force protection. If you seek help to install this addon contact our support team and they will do it for you without any hesitation.

2. CPHulk

CPHulk is a protection tool that comes with cPanel and protects all important system services like email, cPanel, WHM and SSH.

Essential tips for Plesk are :

1. Fail2Ban

You can install a great addon called Fail2Ban on your Plesk. It monitors log files for system services such as SSH, email, Plesk Logins, etc. This is required for the Plesk users, in-order to keep your customers or end-users safe.

2. Keep Things Updated

Plesk doesn’t apply patches automatically. Instead, you receive a message in Plesk when you log in and it lets you know about the updates that are available, and you need to install them manually. This process needs to be done on a regular basis in-order to ensure that you have the latest security patches for your system packages and Plesk. Plesk comes with a great update tool with the Tools & Settings section of the Plesk interface, or you can also run the Plesk installer over SSH.

Let’s now see how you can secure VPS according to your operating systems.

Tips to secure Linux VPS

You must be aware of the risks and tradeoffs so as to maintain a balance between usability and security. This is a great way for you to explore and leverage the power and flexibility of the Linux platform.

1. Use the only SSH while you log in to your server

Using SSH(Secure Shell) is the most secure way to login into a remote server. It is a cryptographic network protocol for network services that offer you an out-most level of encryption. It allows you to direct insure traffic (that comes to your server ) via a secure connection. Secure network connection allows you to take advantage of X-forwarding and running graphics applications remotely.

2. Deactivate the root account

It is an essential step to disable the root login option. Instead of using root access, you can take advantage of pseudo access.

You must also create unique user accounts for every single user and service on your Linux VPS. Provide each of them the permissions needed to do their job.

Everything else like permission and privileges should be inaccessible to them. This will eliminate the chances of involuntary mistakes, that harm your server’s overall security.

Along with that, also disable all the unnecessary user accounts. You can do this, at the time when you install any new software or when you find out that a user no longer needs access to your system.

3. Download software only for official channels

Download the software only if you are well familiar with its source. Otherwise, it might risk your Linux VPS.

4. Avoid unnecessary services

Owning your own VPS server allows you to use various services on a single machine. Hence, we strongly recommend you to install and run only those services that you actually need. The reason is, services are offered by the third party which has the potential to carry a threat to your server. So always check the active services on your server by Present-day Linux distribution service.

5. Configure permission settings

The broader your permission setting gets, the easier it becomes for you and your users to interact with your website. However, very broad permissions are not secure and hence, setting permission task is very tricky. So, you need to find the right balance that will allow your sites and apps to function, without any risk of security. For this implement a balanced unmask i.e. default permission for each new file and or directory policy. Create adequate defaults for it. File permission should be relevant to your specific needs and usage, so set up file permissions as few as possible. The fewer file permissions are better for your overall Linux VPS security.

Tips to secure Windows VPS

Follow the guidelines to secure your Windows VPS hosting or Windows 2012/2016 Cloud VM before you make it available to the public :

1. Intrusion Detection System (IDS)

IDS acts like an alarm for your Windows VPS by keeping a record of the files that have been changed with their time and also alerts you of anything new or altered. Use IDS to save your server from the threats created by hackers those usually try to replace binary applications.

2. Use Bastion Host

A bastion host is a special purpose computer available on the network that is specially designed and configured to withstand against attacks. Bastion host limits the direct access to your server from the public network and also minimizes the chances of penetration.

3. Enable BitLocker for server drive encryption

Enabling BitLocker for server drive encryption provides security to your information. Also, it protects your Windows VPS from offline attacks and protects your data if hacker boots from any alternate operating system, because it requires administrator privileges on the server to install.

4. Use alternate ports for common services

Do you know, default ports for privileged services like RDP, SQL Server are used to break into your server? Hence, you should change the ports to your common ports to avoid such attempts. This reduces the chance of having any services remotely hacked. Also, it secures your Terminal Server or Remote Desktop Server. Anyone who attempts to connect to alternate ports is blocked entirely for a specific span of time.

5. Remove unwanted protocols

Audit the services running on your server and disable all the unnecessary services and their bindings in order to reduce the threat attacks. Instead, you can use a port binding that involves specific information configurations to find out where and how messages are transmitted and delivered within the network. This helps you to keep the track record of unknown activities on your server.

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A Quick Guide For Choosing Between HDD vs. SSD Reseller Hosting

It is important for you to know the various types of drives used in web servers in order to get the best reseller hosting services. There is a huge difference between HDD reseller hosting and SSD reseller hosting. This article will provide information on both the types of web servers and the effects they have on your hosting environment.

If your website requires more than 3-4 seconds to load, then it is slow and you stand a risk of losing your customers. This is why it is important to choose server performance. If your server is backed with powerful hardware, your websites will load quickly and speed is one of the most important factors in the competitive world of today! Along with choosing an efficient web hosting server that is backed by high-performance hardware, it is also important to select the right web hosting company that ensures 24/7 technical support.

Technical Overview

HDD Drives

HDD drives are hardware devices used for storing data and magnetizing. These drives were invented many years ago and they are the most commonly used devices for storing data these days. Here is how HDD drives affect reseller hosting:

Advantages:

◈ HDD drives are the cheapest devices available in the market that are used for storing data

◈ They offer support up to 12 TB per drive

◈ They are best for backup and storage

Disadvantages

◈ HDD drives are slower as compared to the SAS and SSD drives

◈ They have a high failure rate

SSD Drives

SSD drives are a part of the latest next generation media that are used for storing data on a high performance block drive. SSD drives gained popularity 5-6 years ago. SSDs are both, user grade SSDs and enterprise devices that are used in the datacenters under high and continues pressure. The main advantages and disadvantages of SSD reseller hosting are mentioned below:

Advantages:

◈ SSD drives ensure high performance in both read and writes

◈ They can perform many read and write operations within a second

◈ They allow the server owner to utilize 100% capacity of CPU by removing the IO (Input/Output) bottleneck

◈ They are extremely reliable, more reliable than HDD drives

Disadvantages

◈ The SSD drives are priced more as compared to the HDD drives

If you analyze the advantages and disadvantages mentioned above for both the drives, you will know that the best option is to opt for SSD reseller hosting. Even though the SSD reseller hosting is priced more than the HDD reseller hosting, it is still economically priced and not very expensive.

The main reason why SSD drive is a better option is because of the speed offered! An SSD drive outshines an HDD drive by more than 10 times.

A huge difference is made in the web servers through 2 main factors : Latency and Random Writes.

An SSD drive has the capacity to find the data on the device much quicker as compared to the HDD drive. This means that your website will load faster as the MySQL queries will be executed faster; therefore, the issue of latency is taken care of. The second most important factor to be considered is random writes. 80% of IO activity on a web server is through the random writes. The HDD server is comparatively weak in taking care of the random writes. An SSD drive server has the power to do 30-40 times more random writes in a second.

How Do The Drives Affect Your Reseller Hosting Performance?

If the drives in your servers are not fast, they will make the other parts of the server to wait for them as they perform their functions. For instance, if you own a busy online forum with a lot of constant visitor activity. If the users add new posts, it means that your server will be constantly saving the data to your forum database. These writes are random. If the posts are too many and if you utilize an HDD drive, the server speed will reduce much sooner compared to if you were using an SSD drive. Why does this happen? This happens because the server waits for the current write requests that have to be completed before the new ones are served; and since the HDD drive is slow, that limit is quickly reached.

SSD Drive Does Not Mean That You Have Unlimited Power

It is important to take note of the fact that using a reseller hosting account on an SSD server does not provide you a platform for hosting lot of busy high-traffic websites. This is because your websites will exhaust the CPU limits of the web hosting company. If you have a very busy website that gets a huge number of visitors every day, then opting for a cloud server with SSD storage is the best option for you.

It Is Important To Make The Right Choice

SSD servers can also get overcrowded and overloaded. The web hosting company has to be chosen cautiously to take care of the following factors like:

◈ Managing the servers properly

◈ Making sure that too many accounts are not added on the server

◈ Monitoring the servers regularly

◈ Ensuring that single websites are not degrading the performance of the complete server

◈ Ensuring that server security is up-to-date

If all the factors mentioned above are not taken care of, the hackers can get easy access to the server and they can compromise all the websites and use them for spamming activities. Therefore, along with selecting the right SSD reseller hosting, it is also important to make sure that you are opting for a good web hosting company that monitors and maintains the servers on a regular basis. It is also important to consider that round the clock and pro-active technical support is ensured by the web hosting company for ensuring the best performance of your websites and business.

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Boost Your Domain Reseller Business With 5 Simple Tips

Today, reseller hosting is one of the best ways to earn extra income. One doesn’t require having a deep knowledge about web hosting. Also, you don’t need to be technically skilled. All the technicalities and server management tasks are handled by the web hosting provider itself. You don’t need to bang your head on any issues that you or your clients will face. Just concentrate on your business and grow your customer base by making your service unique from others.

Do you know that reseller hosting also allows you to sell only domains? It means you can become a domain reseller.

Who is a Domain Reseller?

An individual or company that buys domains from a domain reselling company and sells the domains at a suitable price to the customers is called a domain reseller. Mostly, clients who want a website but aren’t able to get a desired domain name of their choice, approach the domain registration resellers. Then the reseller helps the clients to get the alternative domain names and obtain the domain name of their choice. Furthermore, a domain reseller business requires minor set up cost while the cost of operation is also unexpectedly low.

Origin of the Domain Reseller Business

Prior to the origin of domain reseller business, becoming a domain registrar required heavy infrastructure investment and it would take a long time to recover the start-up cost. Additionally, since the marketplace was highly competitive and crowded, to start a new domain registration business would be risky. This is because of low margins and requirement of large volumes to make the business sustainable. Alternatively, quite less investment is required to start a domain reseller business and it’s very easy to start this business. Therefore, domain name reselling business came into spotlight and has become a popular business extension and also a divergence for many web hosting companies, web designers, etc.

Getting Started with Your Domain Reseller Business

Becoming a domain reseller is a sound business proposition due to the rapid growth of web services. Since many users are planning to create their online presence, domain reseller business is the most profitable business in the online world today. It is very easy to sell domains and web services. You simply need to select your reseller plan, sign-up for a reseller account and start with your business.

Domain Reseller Account Working

ENOM is a domain registrar from where one can register the domain. With this, they can register the new domains for themselves or their clients. But prior to starting their domain registration business, they need to refill their account with a certain amount.

Resellers can even integrate their ENOM Domain Reseller Account with their billing system such as WHMCS so that the domain registration process becomes automatic. They don’t need to manually register the domain. When the customer completes the order for the domain registration, the reseller just has to accept the order from WHMCS to register that domain.

Tips to Boost Your Domain Reseller Business

Attractive Pricing:

The pricing of your domain reseller plans will have a great impact on your business sales. Therefore, select a reseller plan that offers good discounts on domains formerly. In case the domain registrar charges you heftily, you won’t be able to sell domains at a good price. At what price will you buy the domain? What is the price your customer will pay? What price will get you maximum profit? There are some of the factors that will give an idea about selecting the best plan that helps you earn best profits.

Regular Promos & Offers:

A good offer or a promo is what customers mostly get attracted to. If you want to increase your sales rapidly, don’t forget to give discounts on your packages. There are many organizations that launch discount schemes and offers for boosting up their sales during the festive seasons or other occasions. Promo offers gives your customers a chance to save on their purchases and encourage them to buy more from you.

Features & Value added Benefits:

Are you giving any additional benefits or just offering basic features to your customers? Do you offer customer support? Generally, customers look for complete web solutions that offer more than just the domains. It means you should also provide services such as website designing or web hosting for a better user experience. It’s because you won’t like that your customer gets turned to your competitor for services which you aren’t offering. In order to give your customers a one stop solution to fulfill all their requirements, you can offer several valuable features,benefits or services.

Marketing & Sales Activities:

The marketing and sales activities performed by you decide your business profit. The marketing activities that you should perform are website SEO, online advertising, social media promotion, or offline marketing activities such as participation in events, or trade shows etc. You can even hire sales staff that will actively contact the prospects and convert them into your customers. If you aren’t quite insistent about your business marketing, you would be missing out on a big opportunity for growth.

Customer Satisfaction:

Lastly, customer satisfaction plays a key role in boosting your business and so, you must always aim at keeping your customer happy. For this, you need to provide top-class service, perfect quality of service as these will ensure that customers come back to you. You can even ask your customers’ feedback to bring in improvements in your business. Don’t forget that to acquire a new customer is quite costly instead of retaining the old one.

Bottom Line

Domain reseller business is easy to start because you just need to register with a domain registrar to start selling the domains. Also, you don’t need to have a in-depth technical knowledge of this business. Just concentrate on acquiring customers and marketing activities to boost your domain reseller business.

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Web Hosting: A Business With A Learning Curve

The current status of the market clearly states that if you want your business to survive, setting it up on the internet has become a must. Even if you are not selling your products or services on the internet, a website which talks about your business has become mandatory. In this fast pace world, a very minimal set of people would even care to discover your products and services if you try to showcase them with old methodologies.

If you have a website, it would require a host to put the website on the World Wide Web (WWW), thus we can say that along with web development, web hosting comes into demand as well. If we do not own a website but still want to get into a business related to websites and the internet, becoming a host is certainly a good choice to go ahead with.

Steps You Need To Follow To Become A Web Host

Step 1: Define the Services that You are Going to Offer

Before officially hosting someone’s website you need to define yourself and the services you are going to provide to the website owners as there are various types of web hosting services available in the market.

To name a few web hosting services available:

◈ Shared Hosting: In this type of hosting, various website owners share the same server, though they will have separate and secure login credentials. This is one of the most affordable ways of service currently available.

◈ VPS (Virtual Private Service) Hosting: In this type of service, private and a very powerful server is provided as service to the website owners. These servers are divided into various virtual compartments and each unit is configured to function independently. This service is recommended for websites with a high-security concern.

◈ Dedicated Hosting: This type of service is specially provided to clients who need the entire server for their requirements. It is highly secured and fast but at the same time very costly. This service is highly recommended for big business high website traffic.

◈ Cloud Hosting: This is one of the most convenient of all the services. This service is not dependent on disk space of a single server, instead, it takes the service from various sources. There are very rare chances of downtime in this type of hosting.

Step 2: Find Server Providing Partners

You have to be very much sure about the quality of service provided by the server owners before going ahead with them. Certain things that should be taken into consideration are:

◈ 24*7 support in case of failures.

◈ It should be reliable with negligible downtime.

◈ Should be a premium network provider company.

◈ Should be safe from ever-increasing attacks.

Step 3: Setting Up a Website and Finding Clients

Once you are done with server setup, the website has to be set up for billing and another system like website hosting control panel is to be brought into action. Then comes the important part of finding clients and providing them with the service.

Add-Ons Can Bring You More Customers

Who doesn’t love the word ‘free’? The more free pieces of stuff you provide, more people would be attracted towards what you have to offer. It has been one of the oldest ways yet religiously followed by every organization when they start a new service or a new brand is launched. Distributing free services and products is one of the best ways to promote your business.

Same is the case with web hosting. There are a lot of services which can be provided by you being a web host. Listed below are the services to name a few-

◈ Website Builder: A lot of people want to get online and create their own brand name. Some like to just create a blog website, while some want to set up a new business online or just expand their offline business. And most of them are not tech-savvy to code the website using a coding language. Along with hosting their website, if a simple and user-friendly website builder is provided to such clients, it can certainly be a boost for you as a web host.

◈ Domain Name And Registration: It is one of the basic and the earliest services provided by web hosts. The ‘.in’, ‘.uk’, ‘.us’ extensions are provided to the website owners as per the website owner’s preference based on their location.

◈ SSL Certificate: Securing the owner’s website with SSL certificates would be a cherry on the top of the cake. These certificates won’t be provided by you, instead, you have to communicate with trusted certificate providers. Providing SSL certificates means that sensitive data has to be encrypted.

◈ SEO And Marketing: Helping customers with online marketing solution and optimizing the search engines for customers to help them rank their website with the competitors can turn out to be a blissful addon.

Your Way To Become An Entrepreneur

Every business starts from a small scale and then slowly take leaps and strides towards achieving big goals. In the field of web hosting as well, you can start with a small scale which requires small investments. There are various plans available for beginners as well as for big-scale business.
Web hosting teaches you the art of management starting from a small scale, slowly moving towards big targets and managing more clients and more business. With time your own server’s machine can be set up so that you can host your client’s websites on your own servers.

The Learning Curve

Web hosting teaches you a lot about management but along with that a lot about servers and web development can also be learned. In today’s ever-increasing competitive world having a piece of knowledge about various fields gives you the upper hand to survive.

The main thing that has to be learned is to take care of the machines through which the data is being managed. If the machine goes down, the business goes down. There are a lot of various Machine Insurance plans available which can help us to get us online quickly and smoothly.

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Hybrid Server Vs Dedicated Server: What’s the Big Difference?

While choosing a hosting option for your project, it’s important to pick the right one. Today, hosting involves several options – Shared, Reseller, VPS, Dedicated, Cloud, Hybrid, Cloud VPS, WordPress and so on. You might be aware of all these hosting servers, except hybrid server. There’s a big confusion when talking about a hybrid server and yes one actually jumbles it with a dedicated the server.

Let’s clear the confusion –

What is a Hybrid Server?

A hybrid server can be termed as large, powerful dedicated server that is partitioned into larger chunks with the use of virtualization technology. Each physical server comprises a small number of hybrid servers, wherein each hybrid server has more guaranteed resources in comparison to a typical virtual server.

A hybrid server can be utilized for any project as testing and development servers, backend servers for mobile applications, web hosting server and so on.

Actually, a hybrid server is based on the concept similar to a VPS but is split into larger chunks that deliver the performance of a dedicated server at a lower price.

Hybrid Server: Dedicated Server + Virtualization + Scalability

◈ Is your website generating high-traffic? Hybrid servers are the best for you. Additionally, they are also beneficial to content management systems, databases, eCommerce applications and file storage.

◈ When any hosting scenario requires a more flexible environment in terms of virtualization (development, testing and staging servers, load balanced clusters, continuous integration servers and other applications) where one needs an easy deployment of new servers quickly and reboot or reinstall OS on the server at times, then a hybrid server is highly beneficial.

◈ A hybrid dedicated server is allocated to a limited number of users, unlike other traditional hosting options that are ‘shared’ by several users.

◈ You get complete access privileges to your hybrid server similar to a dedicated server.

◈ The server performance isn’t affected by other websites or users since you get dedicated resources.

◈ You can easily scale your resources as per requirement unlike the dedicated server wherein the server has to be taken offline to perform the upgrade process.

◈ Additionally, the full administrator access control gives you complete control of all the software applications that are installed along with the operating system.

What is a Dedicated Server?

A dedicated server is a type of remote server that is completely dedicated to a single user, organization or application.

Who can opt for a dedicated server?

◈ A website generating heavy traffic

◈ Hosting multiple websites

◈ Hosting critical applications

Dedicated Server: A Physical Server for Single User

◈ Since the dedicated server is used by a single user or for one intention, one gets complete access to the server.

◈ You aren’t sharing resources with anyone, so, all the resources are yours.

◈ With a dedicated server, you get a greater level of security, since the hardware and software firewalls are in place as well as virus and malware scans are done to prevent data breaches and hacks.

◈ If you are looking for the flexible environment on your server, you have chosen the right one. A dedicated server is managed only by you and hence, the restriction on what goes on the server and what doesn’t gets eliminated.

◈ Unlike the shared server, you don’t get limited resources on the server as you can add-in resources by paying a certain cost.

◈ There isn’t any tension about website functioning as you get high performance and stability.

Which One to Choose – Hybrid or Dedicated?

Looking at the features of both hybrid and dedicated server, you might have noticed that there’s no big difference between the two. But, yes with a hybrid server you get a scalability option at low cost than the dedicated server. So, it’s better to go for a hybrid server if you are running out of the budget.

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20 Steps to Follow Before Starting a Web Hosting Business

You might have day-dreamed of starting your own business.

That’s a good idea! And why not?

It’s really amazing as you will be the boss.

No doubt your schedule would be too tight as your working hours will be more than a 9-5 job but you will really love every second of it. Won’t you?

Also, once you start your own business, you won’t be ever hunting for a job.

Is your heart beat increased in excitement? Want this to happen in reality?

The first step in any online business is to develop a website based on your chosen niche and then host it on the server to make it available to all.

There will be several tips and pieces of advice about what you should and shouldn’t do prior to starting your web hosting venture. So, you get stuck at whom to believe and where to start?

To clear your confusion, below is the list of factors that you should consider before starting your web hosting business:

20 Steps to Follow Before Starting Your Web Hosting Business:

1. Identify Your Business Goals

The innovative technology has eliminated almost all the barriers in any online business and so anyone can start their web hosting business. With reseller hosting it’s not at all tough. While starting a business, everyone aims at earning a profit or extra income and web hosting business actually helps in that. You can completely focus on your business growth while you choose to become a reseller.

2. Find Your Target Audience

You should know your target audience prior to starting your hosting business. Since you have chosen your niche as hosting, your target audience would be all the individuals, bloggers, web developers, web designers, professionals, startups, small and medium business owners or anyone who wish to have their own website.

Deciding your target audience and how to reach them easily is a crucial factor that you must study before starting a web hosting business. This will not only help you to attract the audience but also assist in increasing the traffic of your website.

3. Analyse Your Competitors

It is always important to analyze your competitors while you are starting your hosting business. Check what they are offering in their hosting plans and then include the features that are different from them. Identify the pain-points of your target audience and then add the solutions to those in your hosting plans to make your hosting unique. Also, study the trends and promotional activities of your competitors.

4. Decide Your Brand Name

The first and foremost thing that people notice while buying anything online is the business name. So, before finalizing your brand name, a deep research is essential. You will find several companies in the market all with different names. Your brand name shouldn’t be similar to any of your competitor. Remember that a brand name needs to be innovative, creative and should reflect your expertise or niche.

5. Decide the Domain Name and Build Your Website

After you have decided with your business name, you can choose the same for your domain but if it isn’t available select the URL that is easy to spell or relates to your web hosting business. For example, if your brand name is ABC Hosting and abchosting.com isn’t available you can try something like hostingbyabc.com.

Secondly, see that your website is visually appealing as well as easy to navigate.

6. Get Familiar with Features and Software

Initially after selecting hosting as your niche, you need to have the basic knowledge of features such as bandwidth, disk space, domains, control panel, email accounts, etc. This will help you to design the packages for your hosting service as well as explain the features to your clients, if they ask for it.

7. Select the Right Host for Your Reseller Hosting

You will find several hosting companies in the market that offer reseller hosting and so, you need to choose the one that offers the best quality service at reasonable price. Also, check their customer service experience through the reviews as you will need to contact them for your client queries. Don’t miss to check, if they are available 24/7 to resolve your queries.

8. Check for White Label Support

Check if your provider is supporting 100% white labeling. This means they should use an anonymous domain name for the hostname of their servers. With white label support, your client won’t see your hosting provider’s name anywhere in the hosting control panel and will easily sign up with your services. This will help your business to appear as independent from your hosting provider.

9. Buy Reseller Hosting and Create Your Hosting Packages

When you have finalized your website design, you should buy reseller hosting and create your own hosting packages for your clients. You can check your competitors’ pricing and features they have added in their hosting plans. This will help you to create the hosting packages with competitive prices for your clients.

10. Complete Information About Your Business

Your website should have the complete information about your hosting business. This will include an About Us page that describes your company’s story; Contact Us page that contains postal address; email address and phone number; details about your hosting plans and features; etc. Also, add privacy policy pages, terms of service and service level agreement on the website. The information needs to be such that it builds a trust among the visitors of your website.

11. Offer Different and Secure Payment Gateways

Today, security has become the most important factor when it comes to payment gateway. You could be offering different modes for online payment such as credit card, debit card, net-banking, etc. so that the clients can choose the simple and reliable one. But since you are going to deal with monetary transactions,  you need to offer the payment gateways that are highly secured for you as well as your clients.

12. Use a Corporate Billing System

Having an excellent system for handling your billings is also a key factor in a hosting business. You can’t be 24/7 online to activate new orders and also can’t make your clients wait. Therefore, a corporate billing system such as WHMCS will help you to activate the orders of your clients automatically. It allows you to manage your clients with a built-in helpdesk without logging in to multiple systems. WHMCS will make the communication easier and your overall presence would be more professional.

13. Use Private Name Servers

Private name servers make you appear professional as well as allow you to easily switch from one hosting provider to another. You can migrate all web hosting accounts of your customers without asking them to make any changes from their end. After migrating the data, you will only need to change the nameservers’ IPs from the old hosting provider to the new IPs offered by the new hosting provider.

14. Install an SSL certificate

Security is another key factor in a hosting business. Since customers are going to buy the product from you, their personal details such as names, addresses, e-mails, credit cards, debit cards, etc. will be stored in your billing system on your server. Therefore, your clients must get assured that their personal data is secure and no one can steal or misuse it. An SSL certificate helps in encrypting the communication between the server and the visitor. Due to this, no one can steal the important information.

15. Provide 24/7 Technical Support

It is essential to offer 24/7 technical support to your clients as you are running a hosting business. This will help the clients to resolve their issues easily at any time and they would always be happy with your service. Make sure you are offering all the contact options such as live chat, email and phone support. For live chat, you can select tawk.to as it is free and also, lets you monitor chats via its mobile app.

16. Provide Dedicated IP

It is recommended to buy a dedicated IP with your reseller hosting and use it for the domains hosted under your reseller account. The IP provided to you by your host is used by multiple resellers for its clients and if anything goes wrong on any of these domains, it will affect your clients’ domains too. When you provide a dedicated IP to your clients, it helps in securing email usage and reputation from the abuse consequences.

17. Have a Marketing Plan

Once you have built the website with all your hosting packages lined up, you should know the ways to market them. Marketing is important for people to know that you are selling hosting services. Also, with marketing you can present your hosting service in different ways and make it stand unique among competitors. This will help you in gaining the attention of visitors.

18. Create a Buzz

Creating your presence on social media in advance to starting your business is good. This is just to make people aware of your hosting service. You can also display your brand name by saying, “On the way” or “Coming soon”. Or can start a countdown on the social media to create enthusiasm among the customers.

19. Give People a Reason to Buy

The online platform has become the need of every business today. Therefore, there are millions of websites being developed daily and those need to be hosted on the server to make them live. This is where you can give people a reason to buy your hosting service.

20. Add Trust Seals at the Footer of Your Website

The BBB accredited company seal, McAfee, PayPal seal and a seal of a PCI company show that you have passed all e-commerce requirements for selling online. Also, it represents that you are running a company which is active as well as verified. This will help build a trust among your clients. At least you should have one of the seals at the bottom of your website footer.

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