GoDaddy’s Security challenges in 2020 haven’t ended. KrebsOnSecurity has found that hackers tricked many GoDaddy employees into transferring ownership or control of the web domains of several cryptocurrency services, inadvertently assisting in site shut down attacks. It is not known how many companies have fallen victim to these efforts, but Liquid.com and NiceHash have reported issues within days of each other. Bibox, Celsius, and Wirex could also be among the targets, although they have not confirmed anything at the time of this writing.
Exclusive: Fraudsters changed the email and DNS records for a number of cryptocurrency trading platforms this week, after successfully social engineering employees at GoDaddy, the world's largest domain name registrar. https://t.co/LYCdowb71Qpic.twitter.com/vlbSPsxPwI
It is unclear how the hackers succeeded, but the successful March campaign against sites like Escrow.com likely relied on Vishing, or voice calls aimed at phishing sites designed to harvest account logins. Attackers often try to convince employees that they are from the company’s IT department and simply want to solve technical problems.
A GoDaddy spokesman confirmed that “a limited number of employees” have been the victim of “social engineering” attacks that allow attackers to make unauthorized changes to domains and accounts. In response, he canceled the changes, blocked accounts, and helped the victims regain access.
This happened about a year after a data breach affecting 28,000 hosting accounts and didn’t help with GoDaddy’s image. Please be aware that it may have been difficult for the company to cancel the vishing. GoDaddy has joined many other companies to keep employees working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. This can make it difficult to verify the legitimacy of the caller or website. Thus, it can become a problem for many companies, even if it is safe to return to the offices.
HostArmada is quite a new player in the web hosting field. They are a privately owned, US-based company, launched in the last quarter of 2019. The primary driving factor of the company founders was to develop a service with high quality at reasonable prices. Instead of relying on morally outdated technologies, HostArmada’s team always aims to implement the predominant tech innovations in their services.
Thanks to their solid past experience in the hosting field, the team managed to take the good and the bad and channel their efforts into creating a truly exceptional service. That combined with a strong customer-oriented focus covers two of the most important elements – reliable service and satisfactory support. Taking this into account, their rapid growth and constantly increasing popularity are not surprising at all.
HostArmada Services and Pricing
HostArmada offers three types of fully-managed hosting solutions – Cloud SSD Shared Hosting, Cloud SSD VPS Hosting, and Dedicated CPU Cloud Servers. The high variety of their plans can suffice any resource consumption needs and budget range, from small personal blogs to heavily-loaded and resource-hungry projects.
Their servers are built on top of stable and reliable infrastructure, redundant network, the latest AMD CPUs, native SSD storage and configured with stable CentOS, LiteSpeed/NGINX web servers, and latest cPanel/WHM.
To ensure top-notch security, they utilize Advanced Network Firewall, Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS protection service, and OS Patch Management feature. In addition, they imply Malware scanning, Live Security Event monitoring, Proactive Zero-day attack detection, and Connections Level Limits.
Thanks to the technologies they use, HostArmada guarantees 99.9% uptime on all their hosting solutions. They have also put the extra effort to optimize their server environment for the most popular open-source applications, such as WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop, Ghost, and Laravel. Furthermore, you can expect an individual website optimization performed by their tech team based on the particular needs of your website. The final result you could expect is an outstanding performance and loading speed.
Managed Cloud SSD Shared Hosting
HostArmada offers three shared hosting plans. Namely – Start Dock, Web Wrap, and Speed Reaper. For the Star Dock and Web Wrap plans, HostArmada chose the popular NGINX Web Server, while their Speed Reaper plans are empowered by the famous LiteSpeed server. To ensure optimal performance and resource availability they maintain a low number of clients per server.
One of the best advantages of HostArmada is their extremely affordable pricing. In fact, they offer amongst the lowest rates on the market, compared to providers offering the same service quality. Without exaggerating, the price-quality ratio is among the best we have seen. On top of that, their plans come packed with everything a customer might need to run their project hassle-free. This includes a free domain, free SSL, free email service, and free daily backups.
Another great thing is that HostArmada offers an extended 45-day Money Back Period. During this period, customers can safely test their service and if unsatisfied for one reason or another request a full refund of the hosting plan. In our opinion, 45 days are enough to test each aspect of the service and ensure whether it is suitable for your needs or not.
Perks included in HostArmada Cloud SSD Shared Hosting plans:
cPanel Control Panel
Free Daily Backups
Free Domain Name (Registration or Transfer)
Free Email Service (Unlimited Email Accounts)
Free SSL for all domains
Free Website Migration
Softaculous One-Click App Installer
Drag&Drop SiteBuilder
Start Dock
Start Dock is HostArmada’s base plan ideal for beginners. Its price is extremely reasonable and it allows users to host a single website, which makes it perfect for everyone who is looking forward to starting their new project. Even if you have an existing website, HostArmada offers a free website migration and they will be pleased to move it for you.
The plan comes with a fair amount of resources and all essential web hosting perks that will make your experience smooth despite being a newbie in the hosting area. Start Dock is NGINX-powered, which allows visitors to benefit from powerful static caching and enjoy excellent website speed and performance.
Start Dock Capacity and Features:
1 Website
15 GB Cloud SSD Storage
2 Cores CPU
2 GB RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
FREE Domain Name
~10 000 Unique Visitors
7 Daily Backups
Free Website Transfer
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Unlimited Databases
Unlimited Email Accounts
Unlimited Subdomains
Multiple PHP Versions
24/7 Human Support
Free Drag&Drop SiteBuilder
Free App Install & Upgrade
1-click WordPress Install
Free Loading Speed Optimization
Web Wrap
Web Wrap is HostArmada’s second shared plan. Along with the bigger resource capacity, it also allows users to host multiple websites. If you have several small or mid-sized websites, you can enjoy the convenience to manage everything together for a fair price. Their Web Wrap plan is also NGINX powered, so you can expect nothing less than a great loading speed and overall performance.
Web Wrap Capacity and Features:
Unlimited Websites
30 GB Cloud SSD Storage
4 Cores CPU
4 GB RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
FREE Domain Name
~60 000 Unique Visitors
14 Daily Backups
3 Free Website Transfers
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Unlimited Databases
Unlimited Email Accounts
Unlimited Subdomains
Multiple PHP Versions
24/7 Human Support
Free Drag&Drop SiteBuilder
Free App Install & Upgrade
1-click WordPress Install
Free Loading Speed Optimization
2x CPU and RAM
Unlimited Addon Domains
1-Click Restore Manager
Free Private DNS
Speed Reaper
Speed Reaper is HostArmada’s third and biggest shared hosting plan. Empowered by the famous LiteSpeed web server, it is where the true magic happens. With several caching systems for static and dynamic caching and the HTTP3 protocol, you can expect blazingly fast loading speed. Considering the plan specifications and the attractive price, we can conclude that the Speed Reaper plan is the right choice for everyone who’s a top priority is speed.
Speed Reaper Capacity and Features:
Unlimited Websites
40 GB Cloud SSD Storage
6 Cores CPU
6 GB RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
FREE Domain Name
~120 000 Unique Visitors
21 Daily Backups
5 Free Website Transfers
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Unlimited Databases
Unlimited Email Accounts
Unlimited Subdomains
Multiple PHP Versions
24/7 Human Support
Free Drag&Drop SiteBuilder
Free App Install & Upgrade
1-click WordPress Install
Free Loading Speed Optimization
3x More CPU & RAM
3x Fewer clients per server
LiteSpeed Web Server
HTTP/3 (HTTP over QUICK by Google)
APC & OPcode Cache
Memcached
LS Cache for WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, Prestashop, Laravel
Managed Cloud SSD VPS Hosting
For users who need more resources, HostArmada also offers fully-managed Cloud SSD Virtual Private Servers. The standard setup of their VPS plans is with Apache and NGINX as a reverse proxy and WHM/cPanel control panels. They also offer LiteSpeed-based setup, which comes as an addon service covering the license fee. Furthermore, they can take the extra mile and perform a custom configuration no matter how compound it could be. Upon a request, they can even provide root access to the server for anyone who needs full control over the server. With a fully managed solution, you can have peace of mind that if you ever mess up something, they will fix it for you. Also, you eliminate the need to maintain the server, therefore, if you do not have a system administration knowledge, be sure you will be in good hands.
The prices of their VPS plans are really competitive considering the resources you will get, the 24/7 technical support and all nice perks included for free. This includes Free Website Migration, Free SSL, Free Domain Name, Free Backups, Free Email Service, and last but not least, Free cPanel Admin license for up to 5 accounts.
The Money-Back Period for HostArmada’s VPS plans is 7 days. You can test risk-free how everything is working for your project(s) and if you are not satisfied with the service, you can request a full refund for the hosting plan.
HostArmada also offers fully-managed Dedicated CPU Servers for users with extremely large and resource-consuming projects. They do have three default Dedicated CPU plans. However, upon demand, they can configure a custom server with up to 96 GB RAM, 48 CPU Cores, and 1920 GB SSD. Similar to their VPS plans, the server configuration, updates, and maintenance are handled by them, so you can fully focus on your websites. With their experienced Technical Support Crew and Sysadmins, you can be sure you will be in good hands.
The standard Dedicated Server configuration is also with Apache and NGINX as a reverse proxy and WHM/cPanel control panels. LiteSpeed Web Server is again an option as an add-on service. Of course, if you require a custom server setup, do not hesitate to discuss it with their sales specialists. The money-back period for their Dedicated CPU Server is 7 days. If something does not turn out to be as expected, you can request a full refund.
To conclude, their pricing is quite fair, considering you will get a fully-managed server, including free cPanel licenses for up to 5 accounts, website migration, email service, and a domain name.
HostArmada is one of the hosting providers with the highest data center availability. They offer 9 available data center locations strategically situated all around the world, so their clients can enjoy the best possible speed and connectivity.
Fremont, CA, USA
Dallas, TX, USA
Newark, NJ, USA
Toronto, ON, Canada
London, UK
Frankfurt, Germany
Bangalore, India
Singapore, Singapore
Sydney, Australia
Client Area and Control Panel
The management of services and web data is an integral part of the user experience. HostArmada offers the industry-leading cPanel Control Panel and custom internally developed Client Area.
For users who are already familiar with cPanel, there is not much to say. If, however, you are not accustomed to it. It is one of the most popular and widely used control panels. cPanel is favored by many users due to its rich toolset, simple interface, and efficiency.
With all HostArmada plans, you will get your personal cPanel, which contains all necessary features to maintain your web files and databases, restore backups with one click; manage your email accounts, DNS records; track your metrics, and install the most popular open-source applications with one click.
The Client Area, on the other hand, is where you get to manage your services, domain names, invoices, billing information, and support tickets. It is simple and easy to navigate through, therefore, you will be able to manage everything in an effective way.
HostArmada Support
HostArmada offers 24/7/365 available support over Phone, Chat, and Tickets. While this is something standard for most companies, there are several factors that distinguish them from their competitors. First, their response time is uncommonly fast. Chat support inquiries are addressed literally immediately and support ticket requests are initially answered within 10-15 minutes. Second, their staff is experienced and they know what they are doing, so you can expect a satisfactory resolution of anything hosting-related inquiry. Third, the support is utterly free, and compared to many other providers you will not be charged for requests like backup restorations, theme installations, website optimizations, application upgrades, etc. Last but not least, the representatives are really friendly and you can always expect a professional and respectful attitude.
Users Feedback
The user reviews of HostArmada are, mildly put, excellent. With a 5.0 out of 5.0 rating on Facebook and 4.8 out of 5.0 on Trustpilot, there is nothing much left to say. To summarize, most of the users point out the following advantages:
Great Customer and Technical Support
Improvement of the website loading speed
Flawless website migration
Reliable Uptime
Pros and Cons
Pros
Free cPanel/WHM control panel
Free Daily Backups
Free Domain Name Registration/Transfer
Free Email Service
Free SSL Certificates
Free Website Migration
Free Website Optimizations
Affordable Prices
Cons
No monthly subscription for their shared hosting plans
Increased renewal rates for their shared hosting plans
LiteSpeed web server available only on Speed Reaper plan
Final Verdict
In conclusion, we could say that HostArmada manages to cover the most important aspects of a high standard hosting service. Combined with their competitive prices, we would recommend them to anyone who is after quality hosting for a reasonable price.
With their versatile plans, they can suffice the requirements of any personal or business project. Even with the few downsides of their solutions, such as the lack of a monthly billing cycle for shared hosting and higher renewal rates, we still think they are a reliable choice. In our opinion, even though they are quite new, they have the true potential to be seen along with the leading hosting companies on the market.
Its never been easier to stream a live video, with there being an abundance of platforms offering users the ability to go live to large audiences entirely free. Despite this, if you want to generate success from your streams and build an audience, they have to be professional and offer value. Gamers, musicians, teachers, personal trainers, and more, all can utilize live video for generating revenue and boosting their online presence, but how can you make sure you do it right?
Whether you’re a beginner to the concept of live streaming or you have years of experience but are looking to elevate your setup, here are some tips and tricks to having a professional live streaming setup.
Choose your platform
Where you plan to offer your stream will heavily affect its format and the equipment you may need. While social platforms offer free live features, if you want to stream for unlimited amounts of time or offer a more high-production video, you are quite limited to what you can do on social media. Using a professional and dedicated live streaming platform like Zidivo allows you to go live from any device and share your live video on as many webpages as you like. You can even monetise your streams by charging people to view and sharing private links for your audience. What’s more, you don’t have to invest a fortune in working with a professional team or platform either, you can usually pay an affordable monthly fee in exchange for complete access to a range of broadcasting and video hosting features.
Set up your equipment
The next piece of the puzzle for a professional live stream is your setup. Don’t get ahead of yourself and start investing in tons of expensive recording equipment and microphones if its your first time hosting a live stream. It’s far better to start with what you’ve got and work on the quality of your streams before investing any money. A simple smartphone or IP webcamera will suffice for recording your streams, along with an affordable external microphone, both of which can connect directly with a software encoder and live streaming platform and allow you to go live at high-resolution for as long as you like.
Another key aspect to keep in mind is the internet. A strong internet connection is crucial to a successful live video; if your internet dips in and out, your audience will end up watching a video that constantly buffers and are likely to leave in frustration setting a bad name for your brand. Make sure no one else is connected to your internet or use an ethernet connection to make sure you are ready to go.
Plan your stream
As much as you might want to go live with little to no planning beforehand, this can end up leaving awkward silences or causing you to go off on a tangent in your streams. Plan a rough timetable for your stream, whether you’re gaming, interviewing someone or simply having a chat, so you can stick to a rough roadmap of conversation and not expect your audience to stick around for a video that’s hours long.
While it’s important to plan, it’s also valuable to stay relaxed and interactive. Engage with your audience’s comments and respond to them in real-time rather than sticking to a strict script and not showing off your personality or making your videos unique.
Promote your content
Last but not least, promotion is essential. If no one knows about your live streams, you won’t have an audience to talk to and engage with. Make sure to promote your streams in the run-up to the date and time and give your target audience plenty of reminders to avoid your hard work being wasted.
Endurance International Group Holdings, which traded in NASDAQ under the ticker EIGI, entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by the private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group in an all-cash deal valued at ~$3B.
“We are pleased with this agreement which recognizes the value of our multi-brand scale platform. We are proud to serve approximately 5 million customers worldwide as a provider of solutions that help small and medium businesses succeed online and enhance the value of their customer relationships”
Said Jeff Fox, President and Chief Executive Officer of Endurance.
“The Endurance family of brands has built a leading position in the large and growing cloud hosting, domain, and digital marketing software space. We look forward to partnering with this talented team and supporting its long-term strategic plan to drive growth through its focus on customer value. We are excited to leverage Clearlake’s O.P.S.® framework to help the Company fuel growth both organically and through acquisitions”
Said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and James Pade, Partner at Clearlake.
Transaction expected to get finalized in the first quarter of 2021, when it will become a wholly owned affiliate of Clearlake.
Endurance International Group Holdings, which we all refer to as EIG, is a holding company of many web hosting related brands such as BlueHost, HostGator, iPage, and more, for which it’s widely accepted that she cut costs by overselling host packages, provide weak support and the outages they have are much higher then what is normal in the hosting industry.
You may be confused because you see many EIG companies like BlueHost and HostGator referred to as the best hosting companies out there when the reality is different because those who review them are doing it mostly for the big affiliate commissions without any ethics to their audience.
This year has been filled with some pretty serious ups and downs. So if you are apprehensive about taking the leap into entrepreneurship, those feelings of anxiety make sense. While approaching the decision to open a new business should be a thoughtful process, you don’t have to let the pandemic sidetrack your goals. Especially since this year could be full of unseen potential for entrepreneurs. In fact, here are four things you can in 2020 to make your dreams of owning a business come true.
You Could Earn Your Business Degree
So maybe you’re not sure if you have the right knowledge and experience to open your own business? If this is the case, you may want to consider completing an online business degree to sharpen your business prowess and gain the skills you need to succeed as an entrepreneur. If you already have a bachelor’s, WGU’s online MBA program could be the perfect fit and will help you boost your business knowledge, enhance your management and leadership skills and provide you with the tools needed self-assessment and self-awareness in business. While you can start a new business without a degree, business degrees rank as a top credential for entrepreneurs to have for success. Earning your degree could give your startup a serious edge.
You Could Establish an Online Business
Worried about how you will practice social-distancing and still establish a new business? Well you really shouldn’t be! That’s because starting an online business can be so simple, if you have the right tools at your disposal. The Online Tools Expert blog can provide you with all of the steps and tricks you need to create a successful online business from the comfort of your living room. Whether you need a website builder for your startup or simply need to know how to set up a domain, the Online Tools Expert has you covered. Not to mention that with more people shopping online than ever before, opening an online business could be a very wise decision.
You Could Score Low Rates on a Loan
If you need funding to back your new business idea, now may also be the perfect time to apply for a small business loan. That’s because interest rates on loans are lower than any time in recent history and those rates are likely to stick around for quite some time. So even if you open your business and need additional funding in the coming months, you could end up scoring a killer deal on your loan. If your startup expenses are minimal, you could also take advantage of business credit cards that are offering low interest rates. Many of these cards also offer rewards and other perks to boost your new business. Depending on the type of business you plan on opening, you may also be eligible to apply for business grants to help out with startup costs.
You Could Buy Equipment at Lower Prices
One of the most unfortunate impacts of the COVID-19 impact is that so many small businesses have been forced to close their doors permanently. In fact, up to 41% of businesses that were listed as closed at the beginning of the pandemic have made the heartbreaking decision to shut down for good. While this may give you pause when it comes to starting a new business, you should know that certain types of businesses are actually booming right now. So if your idea for a business is on the list, you could search your town to see if closing businesses are selling off their tech and equipment. Try not to feel guilty about scoring used equipment from these businesses and keep in mind that by purchasing items from them you are indeed helping them.
Opening a new business is never without risk. So don’t let fear keep you from reaching your full potential as an entrepreneur. Times may be uncertain but this could also be the perfect time to earn a business degree, start an online business or find the resources you need to successfully establish a new startup and watch your profits soar.
Shopify, a leading eCommerce platform reveals an incident where two “rogue” employees stole data from fewer than 200 merchants in a breach that might have exposed customer emails, names, and order information.
Probably, no payment card numbers and other billing information was exposed. It’s important to mention that in a security sense, it’s not a ‘breach’, but more an internal leak. Now, it depends on what kind of 200 customers were leaked – if those are the top 200 Shopify merchants, it could be serious and devastating to those businesses.
Shopify terminated the employees and is working with the FBI and international agencies investigating the breach.
Our investigation determined that two rogue members of our support team were engaged in a scheme to obtain customer transactional records of certain merchants. We immediately terminated these individuals’ access to our Shopify network and referred the incident to law enforcement. We are currently working with the FBI and other international agencies in their investigation of these criminal acts. While we do not have evidence of the data being utilized, we are in the early stages of the investigation and will be updating affected merchants as relevant.
Shopify is one of the leading eCommerce platforms these days, and was a highly recommended platform to start an online store with, together with WooCommerce. Let’s see what the investigation will find.
GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), announced today that it had entered to a merger and acquisition agreement to acquire SkyVerge, a WooCommerce extension developer with more than 60 premium WooCommerce extensions, spanning email marketing, memberships, payments & billing, and many more and used by over 100,000 online store merchants for their eCommerce sites.
SkyVerge is a highly favorite WoCommerce plugin developer among WordPress users and it’s plugins have been downloaded more than 3 million times. SkyVerge will continue to support its existing customers and product portfolio, as well as continue its contributions to other open-source software.
SkyVerge offering for WooCommerce plugins
Why is it important for GoDaddy? As you know, WordPress powers more than 30% of websites on the Internet, and about 17% of all WordPress sites use WooCommerce, making it one of the largest eCommerce platforms out there, together with Shopify and others. GoDaddy seeks a more vertical integration into the eCommerce stack, providing the hosting, domain services (which we recommended to avoid and use the alternatives and always separate hosting and domain registrar), and the site-level WordPress plugins.
As part of the M&A, All SkyVerge employees, including its co-founders and leadership team, will join GoDaddy.
According to GoDaddy team:
“SkyVerge advances GoDaddy’s WordPress strategy and enhances our ability to deliver intuitive eCommerce experiences that help everyday entrepreneurs sell online,” said Patrick Pulvermüller, President of the Partners Business at GoDaddy. “The SkyVerge team is incredibly talented and its WooCommerce expertise will play an instrumental role in accelerating the development of future WordPress eCommerce solutions.”
The SkyVerge team said:
“We’re thrilled to join GoDaddy, a company that shares our passion for helping everyday entrepreneurs succeed online,” said Max Rice, cofounder of SkyVerge. “Our team is excited to bring our top-rated WooCommerce extensions to GoDaddy customers and continue to innovate and push the future of eCommerce on WordPress forward.”
EDIT:
It’s worth mentioning the update SkyVerge pushed on the 24/08/2020 (version 1.18.0) of its Membership extension that adds a SkyVerge dashboard as a root menu on the administrator page, a few weeks before this acquisition is announced, which could lead to its use by GoDaddy as a platform to up-sell hosting (which we recommend to avoid, together with hosting offerings by EIG) and other services they offer.
As the world continues to evolve, the technology and lifestyle of people also evolve. Everything has gone through so many changes as time goes by. Regardless of whether these changes are good or bad, they impact people’s lives. With a growing number of opportunities for everyone in various industries, it’s only right to take this chance to do something worthwhile and beneficial for everyone’s needs.
In these times, many individuals have gotten to learn the ropes of business and entrepreneurship. Owning a business allows an individual the opportunity to take control of what they need to do. And it’s worth noting that owning a business also allows them to share their skills and other knowledge to potential customers in exchange for profit.
With the advent of the digital age and the many advantages of the internet, it seemed to have made everything accessible, convenient, and efficient. Because of its constant presence in people’s lives, it only makes sense that the world of business enters the world wide web. Companies need to be up to date with the trend because it is one way to keep it afloat and profitable. And, thus, the emergence of online businesses.
Why You Should Start an Online Business
Online businesses continue to grow globally and have become so ubiquitous that almost every industry, company, and brand can be found online. And it’s only a matter of time that even small and mid-size enterprises (SME) will make their mark in the world of the internet.
However, while it does look easy to start an online business, there are several factors to consider before starting one. The beginnings or startups will always be a struggle. As mentioned, since the online business industry is growing, there is a lot of competition. It can get overwhelming to see potential competitors also out in the open. It will also be a challenge for any business owner to gain the first, initial, customers, and build a loyal following (later, it becomes easier as you get your word-to-mouth up and running).
Before diving into this endeavor, what do you need to consider and do to start an online business?
Identify Your Niche
When you want to start an online business, you may want to ask yourself what you know, which can help other people? It is easier to start in this endeavor if you can identify your specialization. Identify something related to your skills, talents, or knowledge about a particular industry, platform, product, or even a service. Because if you can identify your niche or something that you are good at, it will become more comfortable for you and even less taxing than starting on something that you have no prior knowledge or experience.
As you identify your niche or specialization, this will help you classify your target audience or market. This way, you will know what their demands are, their spending habits, and other factors that will help your business startup. It is easier to promote and sell first your product or service to customers who are interested in what you can offer.
Creating Your Brand
With your established niche and specialization, it will be easier now to create your brand. Your branding is what will be your business’s identity as you enter the online marketplace. Effective branding will help you gain potential customers as you sell your products or services. It will also set you apart from your competitors.
Decide on a Business Name
One of the first things to do when you create your brand is to decide on a name appropriate for your business. You may want to think of a name that is simple but memorable. Nothing too long or complicated or even overly unique. While you want to stand out among hundreds of other businesses with something unique, you may want to keep in mind that your business name must have a recall and something easy to remember.
Once a name has established, it will be easier to think of the next steps in building your brand. The logo, design, business profile, and even core values are other factors to plan and decide in establishing a reputable brand for your business.
Register a Domain
As the business owner, think of a domain name for your website. As much as possible, align it with your brand or service. Domain names are like the addresses for your website, allowing an individual to gain access. Sites available will let you register your domain name for a fee, though some will offer it free for at least a year. Your domain name must be unique as there are no two domains that are alike.
It’s important to mention, that having an online presence with a registered domain name, is important not only for an online business but to offline, low investment small business, as well.
Choosing and Developing a Business Model
Every business owner should have a business model if they want to start an online business. Think of it as having a blueprint or an outline for whatever plans you have for your entire business. A business model will let you see how the whole company operates. It will also allow you to study on ways how to sell your product or service effectively to your target market. There is also the matter of earning more profit for your online business as there are various ways to do it.
There are several business models out there, but you will need to decide what you think will work best for your business. Here are some examples:
E-commerce – This is one of the most popular online business platforms. Think of it as an online marketplace for various products. Some big names on this platform are Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and Alibaba. It is the most direct and straightforward way to connect to your customers.
Affiliate Marketing – This is the usual go-to platform of bloggers that allows them to earn an income online. Through this type of model, a business or company can sell their product or service through a blog or website through a referral link.
Online courses – This usually targets those who are in the educational industry or service. But if your business provides informative content such as webinars or teaching courses, this model will work best for you.
Membership and Subscription sites – This specific business model will let the company charge its customers a recurring fee, whether monthly, annually, etc. It is useful, especially if you want to have long-term contracts with your customers, as this will secure revenue from these recurring purchases.
Freemium model or Software as a Service (SaaS) – This platform is a mixture of free and paid services. It will allow your customers to unlimited access to the basic features of the service and then charge them if they want additional and advanced functions and add-ons.
It is up to you as the business owner what sort of business model you think will suit your online business the best. It will help lay down every aspect that comprises your business, including demographics, marketing, operations, finance, and revenue. You may even want to include some research about your competitors and lay down some strategies to provide better products, services, or alternatives.
The whole planning process may seem intimidating, especially as a beginner; there are various resources available online to help you start, for example, look into this list of online business ideas.
Select Your Web-Hosting Package
You have your name, business model ready in gear. It is time to go on the internet and start your online business. Enter web hosting. Web hosting is a service that allows a user, be it an organization or business owner, to create and post a website on the internet. Various web hosts provide the technology and services that the user will need to create a website.
There are various web hosting packages provided by different web host providers. Your task here is to select among your options that will provide the service you need for your online business while also getting the value for your money. Consider the components and features that every package will offer before taking that dive. Think of it as if you are canvassing for the best one out there.
Many web host packages will offer their lowest prices, so you will need to be extra careful when choosing the right package for you. You will need to be as thorough as possible to check and identify the features and add-ons your website will need. Also, keep in mind that you might need to invest in other offers that will cost more and ensure excellent performance for your website.
Building Your Website with WordPress
WordPress offers one of the easiest ways to create your website. A considerable percentage of sites you will find WordPress powers online. Just like other web hosts, WordPress has features that are designed to be user-friendly and will not require advanced web development and design skills. They have available tools to manage your web content, has customization options and plugins you can use to start building your website.
WordPress is a good starting point for online businesses. While it started as a simple blogging site, it has expanded and developed to cater to more functions that a website will need. It just means that you can create a website for e-commerce sites, online portfolios, membership sites, auction sites, chatrooms, and many others. While the Software is free to use, you will need to pay extra for the hosting since it is self-hosted. Depending on the website’s scale, you may want to check the different hosting plans of WordPress.
Marketing Your Website
Here comes the fun part. To start gaining traction for your business, you will need to market and promote your business through your website. Once your online business is up and running, you will need to find ways to get more than just visitors to your websites. You need customers to earn income for your business.
Now, there are ways to do it. Below are some examples.
Social Media marketing – At this time, almost everyone can be found on any social media platform being glued to their phones. Social media is an effective way to gain an audience and potential customers for your business. All these social media networks will allow you to connect with these customers.
Email marketing – Sending newsletters through email is one way to keep your customers up-to-date with your products or service. With the use of a marketing automation tool, it will help you create content for your customers.
SEO – This is the process of letting your website rank highly in search engines such as Google or Bing. It is essential to optimize your content so that it will rank as one of the top results, and that way, you will gain more traffic for your website. Optimize your content while using specific keywords within your site, persuasive copywriting, and enhancing your website performance.
Paid Advertisement – You will need to have some extra budget to do this kind of promotion for your business. Various platforms will let you promote, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and even YouTube.
Online Directories – Since they cover a wide range of audiences, you may want to submit your URL or website address, and other details to these online directories. They, in turn, will store these details and incorporate this information into their data banks. Once it has registered with them, they can appear in search engines every time an individual searches for a relevant, if not similar, content.
Content Marketing – This is sharing and distributing online content, which can be done through various methods. There are infographics, video content, and even blogging. It will stimulate interest from the audience to a particular product or service.
Affiliate Marketing – it’s a process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. So, as the name says, you become an affiliate of the seller.
For affiliate networks example, check out our Repixel review, which is an ad network that allows you to earn money by placing retargeting pixels on your website. ShareASale, one of the world’s leading affiliate marketers based in the USA. Fiverr affiliate program, the world’s biggest marketplace for freelancers with over 12 million users in almost 200 countries, or ClickBank, a leading digital affiliate market.
Turn Your Website Visitors into Customers
It is not enough to only attract visitors to your website to check what your product or service can offer to them. You need some sort of call to action to ensure that every visit will be at least give you something in return. Ensure that your website encourages these visitors to purchase your product or service. You may also want to add on some offers or future promos through a newsletter subscription. That way, you are at least guaranteed that they will be back for more. Also, make sure that your contact details are visible so that they can easily reach you.
You may want to add some analytics tools on your website. That way, you can determine and analyze the peak time for your website, how many visitors are coming in, what features your business is attracting interest and whatnot. It will also help you with what needs to be improved.
Final Thoughts
Every beginning of any endeavor will always be challenging. But, always keep in mind that even the most successful entrepreneur or most significant business has also started from nothing. More than determination and commitment, you will need to do your research and do your best to enhance your skills and knowledge. No one can be successful in just one night. Every step of the way is essential, so enjoy it and, at the same time, learn from it.
Telemedicine, robotic technology, technologies using big data and artificial intelligence, mobile health and augmented reality. Medicine is far ahead of many other areas in mastering technology. And the changes that these technologies bring are noticeable to many, since they allow early detection of diseases, prevent their development, give access to medicine for more people and ultimately improve the quality of life of people. The authorities are investigating how new technologies have already changed and will change the medical sphere, everywhere in the world.
Telemedicine, Drones, and Big Data
Today, telemedicine allows doctors to continuously monitor patients’ medical indicators, broadcast surgeries, undergo tele-education, and conduct online consultations. The advantages of telemedicine are considered to be the ability to reduce costs and solve the problem of inequality in access to medical care – when people from small settlements have less opportunity to see a qualified doctor than residents of large cities. All of this has the potential to fundamentally transform the existing healthcare system through improved quality and patient satisfaction.
Essentially, telemedicine is virtual health care. In the States, this market began to form a couple of years ago with the arrival of large technology companies. Despite the fact that virtual health care is at its initial stage, = a law on telemedicine came into force, which defines the procedure for providing medical care using telemedicine technologies. It also reduces the need for self-research for the potential patients, about healthcare and nutrition habits, from blogs and sites like nutritionofenergy.com
There are other ways to expand access to health services around the world. For example, Rwanda has established a high-quality national blood service that delivers blood via drones. For 18 years they managed to triple blood donation rates. Drones are also used in the Indian state of Telangana. Their advantage is that they can significantly reduce transport times. “The use of drones to deliver blood and other medical supplies to people in remote and inaccessible areas is an exemplary project demonstrating the use of technology for the public good,” said Rama Rao, Minister of Information Technology, Electronics, Communications, Industry, and Municipal Administration. and urban development.
Technology for Better Health-Related Processes
Patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations are increasingly using technology to better understand health-related processes – from tools that report blood glucose levels to wearable devices like smartwatches that can detect a wearer’s fall and send an emergency message. service. All these systems involve the accumulation of a huge amount of information. Subsequently, big data in the field of medicine helps experts see patterns of patient morbidity.
Andrey Beklemishev, vice president of International Data Corporation (IDC), international research, analytics, information technology, and digitalization consulting company, believes that the focus should be shifted from the digitalization of healthcare to digital transformation. “We are no longer talking about the introduction of digital technologies in medicine, this is already the past century, we are talking about the digital transformation of the healthcare system. The goal of digital transformation should be to create value for the patient, “Beklemishev noted, speaking at the Healthcare Forum 2019.
Digital transformation should mean the allocation of a separate budget, he is sure. “The most important barrier to digitalization in healthcare is people. As a result of digital transformation, you will come to cost savings, but if you look at digitalization as, first of all, savings, you will not have good results. Secondly, if digital transformation is carried out at the expense of something else, then again the process will be slowed down. Conventionally, if digitalization is carried out by reducing the number of nurses, they will not accept it but will oppose it in every possible way. However, when digitalization comes from above, as something that should help you, then it will be perceived, ” he believes.
Talking about digital transformation, he cited the example of the children’s hospital in Copenhagen – BørneRiget, where a whole system is built around the patient, primarily based on data. “Even during the construction phase of the hospital, they were based on data analysis. To the extent that they used colors, music that creates a more comfortable mood. Since this is a children’s hospital, everything is based on the game, because it is more interesting for children to play. Before arriving at the hospital, the child begins to play the game either through the app or online with a doctor. The child is not afraid, he knows what to expect, he becomes more inclined, but at the same time, they collect data about the child through this game, and the parent is also involved in this process. A hospital can collect a lot of information about a patient even before he is admitted unless it is an emergency. “
In 2020, IDC predicts that 25% of the data used by organizations will be collected and shared with the healthcare system by patients themselves through apps, wearables, and test collection systems. “But we will also see a lot of data that will be collected inside the hospitals themselves. Artificial intelligence will be used, all sorts of visual systems that will be able to read how, for example, a nurse in the operating room is behaving for further analysis by artificial intelligence. These solutions already exist, but they are not yet presented in many parts of the world, ” he said.
Tech Giants Going Into Medicine
Researchers are now wondering how much wearable technology, like the Apple Watch, is the answer to our health problems. In recent years, Apple has considered public health as one of the main parts of its services, introducing it into the politics of technology and wearable devices. Earlier this month, the company announced groundbreaking health research that will enable Apple Watch users “to contribute to potential medical discoveries and help create the next generation of innovative health products.”
Thus, one of the studies is Apple’s Heart and Movement Research, a continuation of the work that the company has been doing for a long time in collaboration with the American Heart Association. The research is aimed at understanding how walking speed and climbing stairs are associated with hospitalizations, falls, heart health, and overall quality of life, which are also indicators of the fight against chronic disease.
Another giant, Amazon, is also trying to enter the healthcare market. Last June, the company acquired the online pharmacy PillPack, and a joint venture with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway called Haven to improve access to primary health care, simplify the insurance process and increase the availability of prescription drugs. All of these steps must be combined in the service that promises to revolutionize healthcare – Amazon Care.
Amazon Care is currently only available for Amazon employees in Seattle in a pilot mode. Through a dedicated app, you can get basic medical care, doctor’s advice, and symptom analysis. The service, using telemedicine services, will allow employees to communicate with medical personnel through video and built-in chat, as well as schedule follow-up visits to the doctor and delivery of prescription drugs to the address.
Mobile health and Does Technology Have Boundaries
Mobile health (mhealth) is a relatively new term that refers to the interaction between the healthcare system and wireless mobile technologies. It is also used to promote a healthy lifestyle for a person. Mobile health services are extremely useful for chronic disease management, diagnostics, medical inquiries, and weight management.
There are no services that would include all these components, but there are platforms that are ready to offer separate services due to the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) that continues to grow, and the amount of data is expected to only increase. The introduction of 5G technologies can help solve these problems. Earlier this year, China had already performed the first remote surgery – a doctor in the southeastern province of Fujian removed the liver of a laboratory test animal by operating surgical robotic arms via a 5G connection. And in 2016, an international team of researchers developed a miniature wireless electronic device that can monitor temperature and pressure when implanted in the brain. Since implantation always carries the risk of infection or additional surgery, the new device is subsequently dissolved.
In recent years, virtually all medical players have been talking about how the Internet infrastructure has become an integral part of affordable healthcare. One of the world’s leading suppliers of medical technologies Siemens Healthineers, is engaged in the production of heavy medical equipment – magnetic resonance imaging machines, computed tomography, X-ray machines, angiography, mammography, ultrasound machines. The company also deals with laboratory diagnostics. Siemens equipment is presented in almost all public clinics and in many private medical institutions. Any device, regardless of its location, can be connected to the Internet. So the service and training of doctors can be carried out from anywhere in the world.
Since 2017, Siemens Health has launched a pilot project at the request of the Ministry of Health – the implementation of a system for monitoring the effectiveness of the use of medical equipment. It allows you to monitor the status of equipment 24/7 – what happens to it, how it works, what research it conducts, how many patients. Siemens has such solutions, it is also vendor-neutral, i.e. We can make a system for monitoring the efficiency of equipment used not only for Siemens equipment but also for any other manufacturer.
In the same 2017, the Ministry of Health, together with IBM Corporation, planned a pilot project on the use of artificial intelligence in the field of oncology. The project has not yet been launched because of the ongoing negotiations with IBM regarding its cost.
This is not a problem with this product, it is probably more a problem with our current system and cancer service and digitalization, as far as we are now ready for such products and projects. The main issue is not the amount of data, but the quality of the data we have in the system. It is clear that given the fact that there are old data that we have accumulated in the system, they represent a transfer from paper media to electronic. New data is being generated at an intense pace. It is difficult for us to say so far that we can make some very serious breakthroughs in this area. You need to go through a certain evolution.
The amount of data and the requirements from it’s hosting is growing rapidly, but we need to ensure the quality of the data. Therefore, we decided to focus as a regulator and provide a framework of norms and standards to ensure the quality of this data and other related issues. In the new code, one of the big sections deals with the digitalization of healthcare, the rights, and obligations of system participants, including responsibility for the quality of the data, entered. When we are ready to a certain extent, of course, it will be possible to accept such finished products. But at the same time, we are open and work with the private sector on other models, i.e. if there are any interesting initiatives on the use of artificial intelligence, we are ready to integrate them now.
Meanwhile, at the end of September, IBM Watson Health entered into a joint development agreement with the French company Guerbert, one of the world leaders in the development and manufacture of radiopaque agents, to create software based on artificial intelligence. It should help diagnose and monitor patients with prostate cancer. The company previously partnered with Guerbert to develop artificial intelligence software for liver cancer treatment in 2018.
Potentially, because AI can store and analyze every detail in real-time, including the medical records of thousands of patients, their nutrition habits such as do they have enough proteins in your diet, of fish, and correlate this information with their vast medical knowledge, doctors will be able to make more accurate diagnoses, prescribe optimal medications at specific doses, or suggest lifestyle changes that can prevent the need for costly treatments. Primarily, the interest of medical professionals in using artificial intelligence lies in preventive medicine, because applications based on machine learning will prevent and prevent disease, offering a more personalized picture, rather than just a reaction to symptoms.
In many places in the world today there are various initiatives for the development of software based on artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector. While they are not yet widely represented, many are only accumulating information and creating a primary database. The market of smaller countries is not a priority for everyone, but, this makes it quite promising and interesting for young entrepreneurs and founders of startups.
If you are in a smaller country, you have a general understanding of the existing IT infrastructure of the market, and you understand what is missing, then from my point of view, it is necessary to identify these gaps and offer solutions at the local level. There is no need to be afraid of large companies, we need to develop these solutions.
eCommerce apps are becoming much more popular these days. Contact-less and speedy deliveries are the factors contributing to the high usage of these apps. Users find it much easier to shop things online and not having to step out to get necessities delivered. These apps are everywhere and they go and deliver products everywhere. eCommerce saves traveling time, gives more options, and allows users to shop from anywhere and everywhere.
You are traveling and want to shop? You are waiting in a queue to get your coffee or sub and want to shop? Want to shop while watching TV? Well, with an app, you can do that. Apps provide great convenience to the users and a great opportunity for the developers to generate revenue from it. This is why mobile app development is in great trend.
Here are some of the interesting facts and figures about eCommerce app development showing revenue, growth rate, and users in this sector:
Revenue is expected to reach the US $2,258,801 Million in 2020.
eCommerce revenue is expected to show a growth rate of 8.1% showing a market volume of US $3,084,899 Million by the year 2024.
User penetration is 46.6% in 2020 and expected to reach 60.3% by the year 2024.
The average revenue per person is expected to reach US$651.29.
The largest market is for fashion with an expected market volume of US $578,392 Million by the year 2020.
Clearly, the demand, usage, and popularity of eCommerce applications are very high. So, if you are looking to develop one, now is the time.
Features to have in an eCommerce Application
1) Easy Login
The first and basic feature of any app is easy registration and login. Complex and lengthy registration processes annoy users and at times make them leave the app. It is very important to keep the registration process as simple and smooth as possible. Don’t make your users lose interest in your app with a complex process. Keep the details simple and limited like name, email ID or phone number, and password.
2) Notifications
Push notification helps the user to stay updated with the addition of the latest features, any discount or deals, and promotional offers. Users get instant notification from the app and they will make a purchase if interested. Users and app owners never miss the opportunity of sharing promotions or getting benefits from the offer with the push notification feature. It is a great tool for increasing sales of an application.
3) Social Media Integration
Everyone these days is on social media. It is one of the biggest tools in the tech world. Social media integration helps the user to login easily and also share products. Social media integration can also work as a great tool for marketing. A user likes something and shares it with their friends and relatives. This will also encourage other users to download an eCommerce mobile app and make the purchase. They can share the promo codes for discounts. This will create a brand image and more people will know about the app and in turn, increase the sales.
4) Filter and Search
The search and filter option makes using the app easy. eCommerce mobile apps have plenty of products of different types. Search will enable the users to find exactly what they are looking for. The filter will enable the users to pick the size, budget, colors, and get results accordingly. Users can apply different filters for different products to save time, effort, and energy.
5) Synchronization
It is very time-consuming and irritating for the eCommerce app developers to do the same work twice, one for the app and another for the website. The synchronization feature helps solve that issue. It will automatically make changes in the mobile app that are made on the website. Without synchronization, there are chances of the app to look clumsy. This is highly possible when the website has new features and the app doesn’t.
6) Wishlist
Well, it is one of the popular features of the eCommerce app. This feature allows the user to add multiple items they like and compare them at a later date. They can compare the product and its price and order the one they like.
7) Return Policy
The app must have a return policy. At times, the user purchases the product and does not like it or doesn’t get a proper size, or desired look. In this situation, the user can exchange or return the product from the app.
8) Multiple Payment Option
The user can pay through their desired mode with an eCommerce application. The app must provide all the options to the user. The user can make cash on delivery, pay through debit or credit card, or pay through UPI.
9) Multi-Lingual Support
Well, this feature is not a must-have one but a good add-on to your app. It allows the user to access the app in their convenient language and enhance their shopping experience.
10) Show Related Products
If the user is searching for a product, they get suggestions relating to that product. The app shows relevant suggestions. This will ease their shopping experience and allow them to get the desired result without searching more.
11) Product Categorization
Every experienced mobile app development company integrates this feature into their application. This feature divides the products into different categories making it easy for the user to look for products easily.
12) Live Order Tracking
This feature helps the user to know where their order has reached. It keeps the user updated about the status whether it has been packed, dispatched, or delivered.
Conclusion
You know the scope for revenue, hype in the users over time, and trending feature to have in the app. Now, you just need to look for an eCommerce app development company and start developing your app.
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