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Are you thinking to migrate your WordPress site from the current ones to a new hosting company or a new server? When moving from web hosting or migrating a website to a new server the risk can be associated with data loss and downtime. Both the factors can make the site inaccessible to users temporarily which will eventually result in loss of sales and search engines rankings. In this article, we will be showing you how to migrate your WordPress site safely to a new host without any downtime.

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

Select a New WordPress Host

If you feel like getting stuck with slow web host even after boosting your WordPress speed and performance but it’s the right time to migrate your site to a new host which can handle your growing traffic. There are numerous options when coming to website migration.

Of course, you can always go for AltusHost’s Pure SSD VPS or Dedicated server packages. If you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting then we are here for you also.

Do not try to install WordPress after buying a new hosting as for now you need to completely empty your new web hosting account files and folders in your main directory.

Easy-moving by setting up Duplicator

All you are required to do is install and activate the free Duplicator plugin on your website which you want to migrate. It is a free plugin what allows moving your website to a new domain name without losing SEO. Once you have activated Duplicator, select the packages page from the WordPress admin area. Then after, click on to create new packages and follow a few steps to create the one. The whole process may take up to several minutes to complete.

Import to the New host

After completely downloading your archive and installer files, you need to upload all of them to your new web host by using FTP. In general, you need to enter your website’s domain as host when trying to connect your FTP client. You will need to connect by giving your server’s IP address or hostname if it still points to your old host. You can get this information from the cPanel dashboard of your new hosting account accordingly. If you cannot find out this information than you can ask for support at your new web hosting company to help you out. Just make sure your root directory is totally empty as you need to delete the WordPress first before installing it in your root directory.

Rename the host files

You need to access an installer.php file in a browser after you have uploaded both the files to your new host. However, when you enter any URL into your old web host it will return a 404 error which indicates that your domain name is still pointing to your old web host. It is generally advised to change your domain nameservers and point it to your new hosting company but this can lead to break your website. The host files are used to map your domain names to a specific IP address. This lets you trick your computer in thinking whether the website is moved to a new host or not.

Creating a new SQL database on the new host

Before you run the installer on the new host, you are required to create a MySQL database on your new hosting account. After creating the database, add users to it which will generate username that gives all the permissions to work on that database. Now, your database is ready to be used with WordPress and make sure to secure database name, username and password.

Begin with the Duplicator for the Migration process

Now it seems that you are ready to run the installer by navigating to the following address in your window browser by replacing it with your domain name. This will let the installer run a few tests and show you an option to pass next to archive for validation tests. It is required to check the terms and conditions checkbox by continuing to click on the Next button.

You will be further asked to enter your MySQL host, username, database name, and passcode. Your host can likely be localhost after entering the details of the database you have created above.

Select on a test database to ensure you have entered the correct information. If your duplicator is able to connect then you will notice a string starting with Pass. If not, then you can see the database connection error details. The duplicator will import your WordPress database from the archive zip into your new database.

Further, it will ask you to update your site URL or path as you’re not changing the domain names you don’t really need to change anything else. After this, you can check by logging in your WordPress site on the new host to make sure everything is running well.

Updating your DNS (Domain Name Servers)

It is the point where you have almost created a complete copy of your WordPress database and files from the old server to the new hosting server. To update your domain, you need to switch your DNS nameservers to ensure that the users are taken to the new location of your website when they type the domain into their browsers.

If you are going for Domain.com or GoDaddy then you need to update your nameservers. You will also need the DNS nameserver information from your new web host. This will get you successfully change the nameservers on your domain as DNS changes might take long hours to propagate for all the users.

As you hold the same content on your old host and the new host, in general, your users cannot see any major difference. Furthermore, your WordPress migration will be seamless with no downtime absolutely. Still, to be on a safer side, it is always a better option to cancel your old hosting account after a week to check if it’s running properly on new ones.

Keep on Learning!

About the author: Olivia Diaz is working in WordPress development company eTatvaSoft.com. She is passionate about tech news and loves to share her ideas on different development topics such as Magento, Angular and many more.

Security, Tips & Tutorials

8 simple WordPress tips that will make you a WordPress Pro

May 17, 2019 AltusHost Leave a comment

Since 27 % of the Internet is powered by WordPress, being skillful at it has become a must. Even people who didn’t type a single line of code in their life can find plenty of available pieces of advice online, which can be used to improve one’s website without a developer’s help. Here are our 8 simple yet highly useful tips and tricks that will bring you closer to becoming a true WordPress Pro.

1. Delete unfiltered spam comments efficiently

If comments pass through spam filters they will end up in your “awaiting moderation” list. Reviewing and deleting them manually can take ages. To delete them much faster and to save tons of time, go to phpMyAdmin, then website’s database and finally to SQL, where you can paste this code into SQL command window:

DELETE from wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = '0';

The result of this should be a spam-free website!

2. Use SSL mode for a secure log in

Every serious website should have SSL certificate for multiple reasons, security being obviously the main one, but here is another one connected with WordPress you might have not known. If SSL certificate is installed on your server, by entering a simple code you can use SSL mode for secure user log-in. To do that, enter this code to wp-config.php file.

define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

3. Create “send to Twitter” button

We are all very aware of the fact that there is no website visibility without social media being somehow involved, which is why this next tip can come especially in handy. By installing “Send to Twitter” button, the readers of your post can, by just one click, share your post on Twitter. This line of code should be added anywhere on the post, wherever you choose to put it:

<a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Currently reading <?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="Click to send this page to Twitter!" target="_blank">Share on Twitter</a>

4. Protect your site by limiting login attempts

Normally, users can make unlimited attempts to login at WordPress site, which has one major drawback: somebody other than yourself can guess your password until he or she gets it right. If you want to have greater control over this, you can limit the number of attempts when a user tries to login. By installing Login LockDown, a WordPress plugin, you will restrict the “unlimited attempts policy” and allow for greater security of your site. Here are more detailed instructions to follow if you want to apply the tip.

5. Add multiple authors for a WordPress post

WordPress automatically credits only one author per post. However, if you need to credit a couple of authors for a single post, there is an easy way to make that happen. You will need to install another plugin, Co-Authors Plus. After installing it, go to the specific post, more precisely to the post edit screen. Below the post editor, you will find the new ‘Authors’ box, where you can type the names of all the authors who participated in creating a piece of content.

6. Display random posts in WordPress sidebar

By displaying randomly chosen posts in the WP sidebar, visibility of your posts can be considerably enhanced. You will need Advanced Random Posts Widget plugin. When you activate it, go to Appearance then Widgets page where you can add Random Posts widget to your sidebar.

7. Install SEO Plugin

This free plugin is useful on many levels. It optimizes your keywords, keeps track of your content, checks if it is outdated and how readable it is. Furthermore, it offers a comprehensible overview of your SEO score, analyzing all posts and pages of a website. This tip is recommended by many marketing experts who work with SEO and WordPress.

8. Allow your readers to subscribe to specific category on your website

Finally, if your site contains many categories and diverse content, your audience would probably like to subscribe only to some content on your website, instead of to all of it.

Web Hosting

How to choose the right hosting for Ruby on Rails App?

May 8, 2019 AltusHost Leave a comment

Mobile phones and other portable devices have almost antiquated the desktop. More than ever, the number of mobile users has grown exponentially and people are now spending long hours on their mobile phone. As such, providing an engaging yet seamless experience on mobile devices is extremely important if a business is to retain its competitive advantage. If you are looking to build a hosted app Ruby on Rails (RoR) development company can easily help you.

One of the technologies that have been at the forefront of this increasing demand for intuitive apps and websites is Ruby on Rails, all thanks to its productive and fun nature to work with. However, after building an app, you need to figure out how to deploy it. And that’s where the dilemma of choosing between a plethora of hosting services for your app comes in.

Without clarity of the ruby on rails app hosting service to use, your app deployment will be convoluted, meaning the end result will most likely reflect this as well.

What is Ruby on Rails?

Commonly referred to as RoR, Ruby on Rails leverages on the clarity and adaptability of object-oriented Ruby programming language, a framework designed to allow programmers to rapidly build and deploy hosted applications.

A hosted app is a software as a service solution which allows users to operate a software application from the cloud on a recurring basis. They are hosted and powered remotely via cloud infrastructure although they can be accessed anywhere through the Internet.

They also function as locally installed software but they can be easily and regularly updated.

Factors to Consider when Choosing RoR App Hosting?

When small businesses are starting up, they attempt to come up with groundbreaking solutions to attract customers. This means using different types of tech stack to suit their makes app requirements.

Therefore, there isn’t a clear cut criterion when choosing a ruby on rails hosting service. However, there are some few common denominators to consider.

Here are some of those factors:

Supports the Latest Framework Versions

When shopping for hosting services, ensure that the provider offers a product that is compatible with the latest framework versions. Additionally, understanding the app’s bandwidth requirements ensures that you settle for a product that gives you optimal performance at an affordable cost.

Easy-to-use Control Panel

Another essential requirement you should consider when looking for hosting services is a functional and user-friendly control panel. Whether it’s Plesk, cPanel or any other control panel, it should be easy to navigate. Otherwise, you could be spending countless hours figuring things out on your own or contacting the support team to help you out.

Scalable Environment

Starting small may mean settling for an equally minimalist hosting provider. However, as the business grows, you will need to upgrade your cloud storage needs. To ensure you’re settling for the right plan, always establish the additional storage capacity the service provider offers and the additional costs if any.

Data Security

Given the growing cases of data theft and security breaches, data security should be a top priority. The minimal requirements you should settle for should include 128-bit data encryption, a backup system, and a disaster recovery system.

Now you know the core requirements to consider when picking the best Ruby on Rails hosting services, what are the types?

Types of Ruby on Rails Hostings

There are many types of Ruby on Rails Hosting services. However, not all of them are built equal. Some are free while others are paid versions. However, the main downside of free Ruby on Rails hosting is that you may have to sacrifice on functionality.

Below, we are going to focus on the 3 major types:

Ruby on Rails Shared Hosting

Basically, shared hosting means that different entities get to share the same server although the operation of one entity doesn’t affect the operation of the other. Although less costly, it isn’t particularly the mode of choice for many companies because of the limitations in CPU and RAM allocation. And when you are working with Rails, this may prove a problem as the framework demands for sufficient server memory resources if the app is to perform optimally.

With that said, shared hosting can work for startups operating on a tight budget but looking to scale up as the business grows. Godaddy Ruby on Rails hosting is among the renowned shared hosting platforms although you will need to install additional dependency gems for it to run a rails app.

VPS Ruby on Rails Hosting

Virtual Private Server hosting is a match made in heaven when it comes to Rails applications. For starters, it comes with RAM memory of between 1 and 2 GB which is sufficient enough for any Ruby on Rails apps that require minimal processing requirements and moderate traffic. Moreover, this type of hosting doesn’t require a steep budget to acquire and operate thanks to the SSD drives on the virtual server.

The only downside of VPS hosting is the fact that you have to do some legwork in terms of setting it up, security, and maintenance of the app. This may prove a pain in the butt especially if you have zero experience on how to handle any of this.

PaaS Ruby on Rails Hosting

Metaphorically speaking, PaaS aka cloud hosting is like the new kid on the block. It is probably one of the most scalable hosting methods currently available as it allows you to grow and expand it concurrently. As a result, you get to pay according to the size and progress of your app.

Even better, it allows your development team to test and mimic different environments and gives them room for continuous integration and delivery. As a small startup, this may seem like a big of a bite, but despite the simplicity of your deployment solution. However, placing your bet on a platform that has well maintained and secure servers is a good idea.

With that said, despite the convenience that comes with PaaS Hosting, you may have to shoulder additional costs such as managing the VPS server. All in all, this is an inconsequential trade-off.

The Take Home

As you can see, choosing a hosting service for your app is extremely important. This is because it has the potential to make affect the development, deployment, and success of your app. However, with this guide, you shouldn’t have a problem in choosing the right one. The key lies in being iconoclastic in trying to determine the app’s demand and only then will you have the best match.

Web Hosting

Web hosting vs Website builder – Which one should you use?

April 24, 2019 AltusHost 1 Comment

The journey towards your first website can be a daunting one. There are many things you need to consider – and yes, to match against your existing skill set. There may also be lots of terms and requirements which you may not be familiar with.

One question which I come across frequently is the choice between standard web hosting and a website builder. To answer this, we need to look at what exactly they are and their function in the website development ecosystem.

Once again: What is Web Hosting?

Websites are made up of multiple files and in some cases involve the use of a database. For example, a static site may only be made up of files, but a WordPress site would need a database as well to function properly.

All these files and databases need to be placed somewhere – and that is on the servers that web hosts provide. Just as you keep files on your own PC, your website files need to be on servers accessible via the internet to allow visitors to get to.

The primary role of the web host is to:

Allow you to use space on their servers to store your web pages and databases, and
Give you access to the right infrastructure to serve those files to your visitors.

Anything else is dependant on which web hosting provider you sign up with.

There are key advantages of signing up with a dedicated web host and that is the wide variety of plans you can choose from. You can opt for very basic, low-bandwidth plans up to powerful dedicated servers.

What is a Website Builder?

To have a website for your visitors to use, you need to create it first. Websites are simply a collection of files containing lines of code that tie together various things like text, images and the like. It can be as simple as just one line of text to as complex as a video streaming site.

In early days, the only option to build a website was to code everything yourself, line by line. This required knowledge of specific scripts for you to do. Things nowadays are much easier, and you can use visual interfaces to build websites with little or no coding knowledge.

A website builder is a specific application that allows you to build websites quickly and easily. To run the website you build, you will still require web hosting. For this reason, website builders also include web hosting in their plans.

Most hosting offered by website builders is very basic and their strength lies in the website building tool itself.

What’s the Difference?

Every website on the internet needs web hosting, but not every site is built using a website builder. Take for example the case of Altushost versus Wix. Altushost is a good example of a company that focuses on offering web hosting plans. Wix, one of the popular website builders, on the other hand, is built primarily around the premise of being a website builder – and offers hosting to support sites build using their platform.

The distinction is small but significant at the same time. Because Wix is focused on the website builder aspect of the business, they have fewer plans for you to choose from. There are also limits to what you can use to build your website since they only allow you to use their own website builder.

With a web host, you are free to build a website with any tools at your disposal, from coding it yourself to using a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress.

1. Hosting Plans

Web hosting service providers often have a wide range of plans to choose from. Static or low visitor volume sites can be extremely cheap to host, and plans can start from as little as a dollar or so per month. On the other hand of that scale, large corporate sites or those which handle large volumes of visitors can opt for dedicated servers.

With website builders, your options are more limited. Although some will be able to offer enterprise-scale plans, those are not for general sale and you will need to contact them to discuss specific needs and prices.

2. Technical Aspects

Web hosting service providers focus on offering space and optimizing their servers so that your site can run smoothly. The development of your site is left entirely up to you. This gives you extreme flexibility in your choice of web development, but also require you to know what you are doing. Some may offer automated application installers, but development-wise, it’s all on you.

Website builders require almost zero technical skills and work with extremely visual elements. Building a site can be as easy as choosing a template and then dropping in elements or modifying them where necessary.

3. Site Customization

Because web hosting is basically only space and bandwidth, what functions you want your site to have is up to you – if you are able to build those functions yourself. You can build anything from a small static site to one as complex as a corporate site which includes a forum, blog and whatever else you can think of.

For website builders, your limitations depend on which website builder you opt for. The functions that are offered by your platform are your limit and if you need anything that they do not have, well, you’re out of luck.

Which is Right for You?

Website builders are extremely easy to use and can help you build a site very quickly. Because of the many advanced website builders available in the market today, there is very little in terms of functionality that they cannot really handle.

However, because of the limits to their hosting capabilities, there may be issues with sites that are planning to ‘go big’ after a while. Take for example Wix, which is one of the top site builders around. If you sign up with Wix and plan to scale up your plan as you grow, be cautious. Wix doesn’t allow you to export your website and move it to another platform. Once you hit their web hosting limitations, you’ll be out of luck.

I would say that website builders are ideal for beginners and small businesses that require no more than the token digital presence.

Web hosting, on the other hand, would be good for sites that intend to grow. They are also good for developers or those who need a sandbox experience in order to test out various tools and applications.

Naturally, this serves only as a guideline and which you opt for will depend on your specific needs.

About the author: Jason is a technology enthusiast, marketer, and a full-time dad. He loves exploring new opportunities online. He’s currently associated with BuildThis.io as the site manager.

Tips & Tutorials, Web Hosting

5 Mistakes You Can Make When Switching To A New Web Hosting Service

April 17, 2019 AltusHost 1 Comment

Let’s admit it — Moving to a new website hosting service makes moving houses a lot easier, which is the reason why most site owners choose to live with the deteriorating quality of services being provided by their current web host. Right?

Many times, it’s almost until they can no longer put up that they finally decide to invest their time and energy into switching to a new service provider.

Or some of these things start pilling up:

Suffering from constant downtime? Is your site speed negatively impacting your SEO metrics? Paying too much for a service that fails to deliver? Now might be the right time for you to start learning about the process and challenges associated with switching to a new web hosting service.

Switching to A New Web Hosting Service: Understanding The Process

Are you ready to make the move? It is likely that you will choose one of two routes: A web hosting provider with free migration services; or manual transfer of your database, files, and email accounts.

The Easy Method

Perhaps the most preferred method for beginners and business owners looking for a faster switch is choosing a web hosting provider that offers free migration service. Many companies only require you to sign up for their services and simply add the request for migration. It is typically from there that their support team jumps in and handles the rest of the process in getting you set up.

Putting In The Manual Labor

For those willing to initiate and undertake a host migration on their own, you can compare and evaluate all kinds of web hosting service providers without restricting yourself only to those who offer free migration services.

While choosing the most effective method of migration can contribute towards a smooth switch to your new web host, there are several issues that need to be addressed before you begin.

It is only in an ideal world that we would get to experience a stress-free switch from our current, rather crumbling web host. Being able to experience an affordable rate, no downtime, and superb load times almost seems like imagining the perfect scenario.

Unfortunately, plenty of businesses often experience a hard time when looking for the right web hosting service or moving their site to its new house.

Here are five mistakes you should avoid making when switching to a new web hosting service and a detailed look at how they can affect your business operations.

Mistake #1: Allowing The Price Tag To Cloud Your Judgment

When changing web hosts, businesses are susceptible to losing visitors. However, your business is more likely to experience lower site traffic due to poor performance if you don’t carefully evaluate your choices.

While the adage, ‘the more expensive the better’ is true for conscious consumption, things are not that simple when it comes to web hosting services – unfortunately. When choosing a potential web host, don’t let pricing become the top-most influencing factor. Expensive plans are often made attractive by a bundle of features, but the extra cost is yet to be justified.

Similarly, cheap plans are easier on the pocket, but let’s be honest, with a negligible price tag on a web hosting service, you’re probably getting peanuts instead of quality service. Assuming that a hosting company sells both free and paid services, should businesses opt for the free plan with terrible customer support and no assurance whatsoever of a stable service and guaranteed uptime?

Businesses that settle for a free or cheap hosting plan in efforts to save cash often sacrifice a lot more in profits when compared to those that carefully evaluate their hosting options.

Mistake #2: Clicking “I Agree” Without Reading The Terms

Chances are, if you don’t read the terms and conditions of the host you’re signing up with, your business will land in some sort of trouble sooner or later. Chance for trouble multiplies with free hosts since they try to limit your resource usage through their terms.

It is also important to understand that most hosting services are backed by strict consumer policies. While some might follow a regressive way of charging the customers, others rely on a proportional or even progressive approach. Each hosting service provider has its own policies on data security and assurances against security breaches.

With a whopping 30,000 web sites getting hacked each day, and 86-percent of all websites experiencing at least one serious security occurrence — there are plenty of reasons for you to know exactly how your hosting service plans on minimizing risks and handling security-related matters.

Furthermore, the terms also include details on the host’s refund policy. Having a clear understanding of your potential host’s refund policy is crucial; given that some offer a full refund if you decide to end the contract for any given reason.

Mistake #3: Slower Hosting With Slower Page Load Speed

If your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you’ve already lost two out of five users. With speed being a major factor of productivity, the responsiveness of your hosted site can translate to big business. Research shows that improving loading times from 8 to 2-seconds boosts the conversion rate by 74-percent. At a macro level, slow websites cost the US economy alone, over $500 million every year; with just a single second delay decreasing conversion rates by almost 7%.

As per the facts, your web hosting package can make a huge impact on the page load speed of your website. A hosting service that fails to allocate dedicated resources may entail the sharing of your site’s resource by more than one site, resulting in deteriorating load speed. As a critical SEO performance metric, this can result in a massive loss of potential customers for businesses.

Mistake #4: Adding On Domains & Risking Privacy

It is not unusual for hosting providers to offer their customers the flexibility of adding more than one domain under a single account. With a feature known as “add-on domains” in the cPanel, customers get access to a user-friendly control panel; allowing them to create and host several different domains under one account.

On one hand, this makes it easier for customers to manage and monitor a number of sites without having to pay hefty sums for separate accounts. However, this can create an insecure environment as multiple users gain access to all sites controlled by an account.

Mistake #5: Changing Locations & Affecting SEO

Wondering if changing your website host can affect SEO? As much as you wish it didn’t, the answer is kinda Yes. The whereabouts of your website host play a significant role in quite a few ways; one of which is the management of your website’s positioning on SERPs.

Back in the day, Google relied on Top Level Domain (TLD) to prioritize websites. However, recent changes to Google’s algorithm have shifted the search engine’s focus towards the IP addresses of sites to determine their location and relevance when a search is initiated.

To help you understand this better, it is important to note that any search made in a certain country will give priority to sites located in that specific country. Taking this into consideration, businesses located in, say the United States switching to a cheaper web host with its servers located in China are most likely to experience a negative impact on their search engine rankings in their home country.

The beauty of the Internet comes not only in the macro form of heightened connectivity, but also in THE micro sum of its parts; namely greater exposure, infinite opportunities, and accessible facilitation. By hiring and outsourcing to those passionate and experienced enough in areas where managements lack, businesses can focus on safely leading potential customers through their sales funnel instead of losing them trying their hand at technology.

To make mistakes is human, especially when undertaking tasks that are not in your specific domain. Time and again research have shown the risks businesses pose to themselves with difficult to maneuver, lagging websites. Negative effects to your SEO ranking, increased downtime due to DNS’s lack of propagation, corruption of database, and even missing website pages and add-ons may be experienced if the redirecting of the web hosting is undertaken by someone less than proficient.

Why are these issues so serious? To sum it up, research by Skilled shows that 79% of customers refuse to go back to a website that underperforms while 47% expect a page to load in less than two seconds.

The maxim ‘time is money’ is really put into context when put into the context of website responsiveness. In terms of SEO, a one-second delay in a website’s loading can entail an 11% loss of page views. The same delay can also decrease conversions by 7%, and an increase by the same amount can lead to an increase of $7000 daily.

As the discourse of business and marketing evolves with the assimilation of technology, the digital market seems to be experiencing Adam Smith’s invisible hand of equilibrium. Those that have not been able to catch on with the methods of today have been removed, while those in the race should employ those privies at all times with the changing trends in technology and the impact they can have on your hard-maintained bottom-line.

About the author: Nikola Banicek is an internet marketing specialist at Point Visible, a marketing agency providing custom outreach and link building service. He’s a laid-back guy with experience in PPC, copywriting, and project planning. When he’s not working, he’s either gaming, watching football or anime.

Tips & Tutorials

How to: Conversation with Web Hosting Tech Support (even though you are not a pro)

April 11, 2019 AltusHost 1 Comment

We know, sometimes, contacting support could be a tiring and unpleasant activity for you. Finding the right contact, wading through support options, and actually communicating in a constructive way is all easier said than done. You already have the stress of dealing with a problem with your website or hosting, so the last thing you need is to struggle to actually resolve your issue. Right?

But, Customer support teams are very, very important. According to a survey, service insight and knowledge is the key to a positive experience with 62% of customers today.

Yet, we very rarely walk away from web hosting tech support feeling the problem was taken care of successfully. Much of this comes down to choosing a quality web host that’s known for their service, but it also comes down to poor communication. Luckily, with a few key steps, you can successfully converse with your web hosting tech support to get the problem solved fast.

Start with the Right Host

Of course, most of your basic hosting problems could be solved by choosing the right host in the first place. There are a lot of options today for getting more out of your internet hosting. However, if you don’t do your due diligence, you could end up in a spot where you’re unable to reach tech support at all.

If possible, make a switch to a reputable web host. Today. We’ll wait. The right host will value customer support, and they know challenges pop up for webmasters from time to time. Not only will they have experience solving problems, but they can take a proactive approach.

Use Online Documentation

Before you skip to using tech support, see if you’re able to take some steps first to mitigate the problem. Most web hosts have extensive online documentation to help you solve the problem on your own. This documentation will help you discover the problem and take preliminary steps to solve it. Only if you’re unable to find any success with this method should you move on to the next step.

Find Online Tutorials (or Host’s Knowledge base)

If you’re experiencing a problem, odds are you aren’t the first one. Your host might already be equipped with online tutorials and solutions to walk you through this situation. If you can’t find any through your host, all hope still isn’t lost.

Try a simple Google or YouTube search. Searching “your host + problem” usually will yield a few hundred results with similar problems. There might even be YouTube videos showing you the solution in a step-by-step manner.

Use LiveChat

Online chat is a great resource. We all hate sitting on the phone waiting for the next tech support rep to become available, so why not take advantage of a modern solution. Live chat allows you to talk to your tech support agent in your browser. You can see your messages in real-time and even share supporting documents and images as needed.

Offering online chat is a great option for web hosts, so make sure yours has a chat feature.

Document Your Problem

Finally, make sure you’re ready to actually present your problem clearly and articulately to your host tech support. One of the most common problems is that the webmaster isn’t able to properly explain the problem, so the tech support agent doesn’t know how to solve your concern.

To document the problem, consider including screenshots, written documentation, or error reports. The more information you can compile, the better equipped your tech support team will be to provide the right recommendation. In some cases, these agents might be able to step in and solve the problem for you.

Contacting your web host’s customer support doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience. Most companies are starting to catch on to the fact that making existing customers happy will actually help you sell more than finding new customers from scratch.

If you’re in need of help from tech support, be sure you properly document the problem first. From there, you’ll be in a better spot to succeed with your communications.

Security, Tips & Tutorials

How to Fix 500 Internal Error for your WordPress Site

April 4, 2019 AltusHost 1 Comment

Imagine a scene where you are visiting a site that is functioning perfectly, but suddenly gets so choked up and spits outs the internal server error.

Hm, we are sure you don’t really like seeing the 500 internal server error on your smooth WordPress site either.

The internal server error seems to be more common in WordPress as this type of an error does not really give out any other information which can frustrate the users and turn off from your website. This can cause some serious impacts on your site as the users start to move away from your site leading it to less customer engagement. The WordPress is not an exception when dealing with errors as these sites experience variant types of errors depending on the problem they run into. Few of the errors are resolved by proper web development techniques in a day while others might take up to days for troubleshooting the problem. Let us know at some basics of how these errors can be resolved.

What is an Internal Server Error?

Before running into depth, we need to understand why your site such error. As the name depicts, the 500 internal error takes place on the server level when the server fails to show the requested page to the user. The error itself is an application-side issue that is occurring on your web server. So, when you try to write a specific URL into the address bar or click a link on a website, you actually request the server to show you a page.

In present times, due to some reason, the server cannot show you that specifically searched page which you’re looking for to signifies an internal server error. furthermore, we can also depict the internal server error in WordPress can be caused by the functioning of plugin or theme. This error shows up only when we try to access the admin area where the rest of the site works absolutely fine.

How can you resolve it?

Many of the times, it happens that you choose not to respond to those internal errors on your hosted server which might end up compromising your whole website. Hence, it becomes a very convenient option to back up your website data on your personal server to avoid any such rush. We have mentioned a few fixes that involve tinkering with your website under the hood by making a few specific changes to your website’s root directory. Therefore, it becomes very crucial to run a backup on your WordPress site for better protection. If you have not thought of any backup plugin or some other solution for an alternative then it is a high time to think about it.

For instance, you can consider some popular tools like BackUpWordPress, VaultPress, and BackupBuddy which are used by most of the WordPress sites for data backup. If you wish to backup your database as well, then you can go for WP Migrate DB Pro or WP-CLI for running quick safety reports. To troubleshoot a problem requires a lot of time and effort. But to fix it in a persistent way, one needs to identify the deep cause of the error occurrence.

Recheck .htaccess File

If your site is running on the Apache server, there are high chances to have your .htaccess file getting corrupted. Such a situation arises when you install a few plugins or make any changes to your site. It is an easy fix overall as you just need to replace your corrupted file with the new one.

All you are required to do is create a new .htaccess file for re-saving your permalinks settings in your WordPress dashboard. In case your site is running down, it does not allow you to log into your site and so one needs to rule out this option as you will need to use FTP or cPanel for accessing your site’s files. After that, locate your .htaccess file; it is recommended to create a backup of your name before you go to replace your previous .htaccess file before the new one. For this task, you need to rename your existing file so that WordPress stops recognizing this file. Try to refresh your site and if it loads properly then you got a hint that your .htaccess file has caused the 500 internal server error.

Rise up your PHP memory limit

When you hit up your PHP memory limit, there are possibilities to get the 500 internal server error. Such a situation arises because of the poorly coded plugins when a website makes use of a bunch of plugins or has some resource-intensive plugins. For this, all you need is to fix this issue by increasing the PHP memory limit for your site which can be done in different ways can do this which involves updating your .htaccess file, php.ini file, and wp-config.php file. It is advised to refresh your site to check out if it is working properly so you can see what the reason behind the internal server error is.

Firstly, search for your .htaccessfile in the root directory of your site and type the given line:

php_value memory_limit 256M

The given command line will help to increase the memory limit to 256 MB. But, if you cannot find it then make sure to be able to view hidden files or else paste the above line to create the new one.

Next, you will find your php.ini file in the wp-admin folder in your root directory to look for the line which starts with ‘memory_limit’. If it displays 64 MB or lowers then replace it with below line:

memory_limit = 256M

Even if updating your .htaccess and php.ini files do not work, you can still increase your memory limit from your wp-congif.php file by trying the below-given line.

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);

Save all these above-created files and then try to refresh your site in order to check if it is working or not. Moreover, you can also have a suspicion for your plugins to push your PHP memory limits or get in contact with your web host about increasing memory on the server side.

Check your Plugins and File Permissions

Ever wonder how your plugins can also cause the internal error? The outdated plugins or the ones which are not updated on a timely basis can cause compatibility issues and also the new plugins seem to be coded poorly. Sometimes, it might happen that you receive an internal server error after installing a new plugin. To figure out if any of your plugin is causing you an internal error, you need to deactivate all the plugins on the same time and again reactivate them one by one.

Still, if you cannot access your WordPress dashboard or FTP into your server then open your wp-content folder to find our plugins folder by renaming it to effectively deactivate all of your plugins. Try to refresh your site and if it starts working then the cause of your 500 error is in one of the plugin. to identify which plugin is the culprit, rename your plugins folder and refresh all of them one by one until you get the threat.

When none of the above works, it seems to have the issue with the file permissions. The files in your WordPress directory should be set to 755 or 644 if they are accidentally set to 500 error. To check the file permissions, FTP into your server and check your site’s and check your site’s directory. The below mentioned things should be checked for file permissions that are recommended by WordPress Codex.

All directories should be of 755 or 750.
Check if all the files are of 644 or 640 with an exception being wp-config.php which can be set to 440 or 400 that prevents other users on the server from reading it.
Make sure the directories are never set to 777.

Contact your Web Service Provider

After trying all the above hacks, if you still get the internal server error; it is a better option to contact your web host immediately. As in the end, it is all your host’s server logs which are able to throw some light on what is getting the error to get it resolved. In such way, you can provide your host with a rundown of what you have tried to resolve your error which simply cannot get dismissed with your site’s files. This can happen if you are on a cheaply shared service provider.

There is not an exhaustive list of fixes which you can try out for fixing 500 internal server error. It is a frustrating issue which requires a lot of troubleshooting by trying out the above-mentioned hacks. We hope the tips and tricks in this article helped to fix your internal server error in WordPress. We do expect that a little change in web development techniques for your WordPress site can do wonders for your users. Happy Learning!

About the author: Vikash Chaudhary is responsible for campaign management and planning at a development company Tatvasoft.com. When he is not working he likes to write on new trends on development and design. He has got his bylines published in many big platforms bi Readwrite, Business2community & Many more.

Security, Web Hosting

6 Server-Side Factors That Impact the Performance of Your Blog

March 27, 2019 AltusHost Leave a comment

A blog can be a highly valuable asset.

Whether you are looking to run an independent blog to establish yourself as a blogger or you have a blog section on your business website to boost brand awareness, there are certain things that you need to consider.

The purpose of your blog is to serve as an information hub for your audience and get them to engage, and this is exactly what the best niche blogs aim to achieve. Even though most people focus their efforts on achieving this, they forget about the user experience, which greatly contributes to how their blog will be perceived.

Your website’s speed, and the speed of your blog, is directly affected by your hosting, but how can you know whether a hosting provider is good or not? Here are the 6 server-side factors that you need to consider.

Uptime

Uptime represents the time percentage during which a server has been running effectively. Uptime is a direct indicator of how good a certain web hosting provider is at keeping their servers running. If your blog has good uptime, this means that it will be available to your visitors and this is why it is so important.

However, the issue around uptime is not that simple. Most hosting companies do not provide enough information about how their percentages are calculated. For example, if a hosting provider claims that their uptime is 99% during a day, then it means your blog will be 1% down each day which is around 15 minutes.

This doesn’t seem that much but if you look at it on a yearly basis, it means that your blog will be down for around 85 hours which is more than three days.

Load Time

Page loading time is an essential metric for any kind of website. The obvious reason why your blog needs to load fast is that visitors don’t have the patience to wait for a page to load. On the other hand, Google also favors sites that have good load times and this will have a positive effect on your blog’s SEO and search rankings overall.

Statistics show that over half of all website visitors will leave a site if it needs more than three seconds to open a page. This is a big number and it shows that you can’t afford slow load times as you will lose half of your potential readers. Make sure to check your load time as often as you can and work to improve it in every way possible.

TTFB (Time to First Byte)

The main underlying factor of your blog’s load time is TTFB or Time to First Byte. To put it simply, TTFB is the time required for a server to send the requested information to a user’s browser. Each time someone clicks on a page on your blog, their browser demands bytes from the server the blog is on.

TTFB affects your page load time in great measure and because of this, Google pays a lot of attention to it. Google has even offered guidelines where they recommend that your server’s first-time response must be under 200ms to be in the “green zone”.

TTFB is directly affected by the distance between the communicating servers and this is why AltusHost provides hosting services for customers in Europe and has a wide network of servers located around the EU.

Backups

No matter how good a web hosting provider is, not everything depends on them. Human errors and random power outages can end up disabling servers and sites for a certain period of time. The risk of this happening can never be alleviated, and you can never be 100% certain. So what can you do in these situations?

One thing that hosting providers can do is perform regular data backups and restoration. Data backups are done so that, when a critical error happens on a server, your data won’t be lost and you can continue your work without issues. You won’t lose any of the content you’ve put so some much time and effort into.

Security

Each blog is exposed to many risks such as viruses, spyware, hacker attacks, and so on. Each blog gathers information from their visitors and losing it represents a great liability. Not only will your blog lose all of its credibility, but you might have to face legal charges.

This is why servers, as well as users, need to have security software to protect them from potential risks. Servers also have firewalls and hosting providers use custom security solutions designed for server protection. Additionally, there are also viruses designed to steal a server’s performance, causing your blog to work slower.

Server Limitations

The server itself also affects the performance of your blog. As we mentioned earlier, servers need to be located near users, so if your audience is primarily from Europe, it is best to find a host that has dedicated servers on this continent. The speed of a server is also directly affected by the amount of RAM they have and how good their hard drives are.

Another important server side factor is the type of server. Find a hosting solution with dedicated servers. Dedicated servers are just that, they are designed only for the purpose of running your blog and they don’t waste resources on anything else.

When taking all of these factors into account, it becomes clear that your hosting can greatly affect your blog’s performance. A good server is a starting point, so find a reliable hosting provider that will meet all of your needs.

About the author: Marco Mijatovic is a blogger and one of the guys behind Firstsiteguide.com. Make sure to check out his other work, including in-depth guides and posts that can help you run, start, and grow your online presence.

Tips & Tutorials, Web Hosting

Shared Hosting Vs VPS Hosting: When you should switch

March 25, 2019 AltusHost 1 Comment

The issue of web hosting can be an intimidating one for some and yet for all website owners, it’s an integral part of their site. Rest assured though that you don’t really need to be terribly tech savvy to compare between hosting plans.

Knowing those differences can be a big help when it is time for an upgrade. Most sites are usually on free or shared hosting plans to begin with, so the next logical step up would be towards VPS hosting. VPS hosting offers more power to your site while not costing as much as a full, dedicated server.

The question though, is when do you know it’s time to upgrade? Better hosting plans are usually more expensive and the move itself may involve quite some time and effort, especially if you are considering moving to an entirely different host for the plan you want.

When to Consider Upgrading Your Hosting Plan

To mitigate any issues a shift in hosting plan may cause, it is advisable for you to plan for an upgrade before it’s time to make the move. First, let’s go through some of the indicators which may show it is time for that upgrade;

1. Performance Issues

Normally your site is zipping along smoothly but suddenly, you notice it start to slow down on occasion. Your page load times increase, and you notice visitors start to encounter errors on occasion when loading your site.

Site performance is one of the key things that let you keep visitors happy and an unreliably website can cost you dearly. Most visitors expect sites to load quickly and if it doesn’t, they will just look for an alternative.

To keep an eye on this, test your site performance regularly with tools such as Pingdom or WebPagetest and ideally, keep some records. This not only helps you monitor for sharp performance drops but if you use your records right it may even help you to fine-tune site performance.

2. Increased Security Requirements

Your site has been running for a while and your audience is expanding. You’ve started getting more users subscribing for information or even join your user database for example. This means that you’re now responsible for safekeeping their data and security is coming to the fore of your mind.

While nothing can be 100% safe in terms of security, better hosting plans do usually offer better security features as well. Aside from peace of mind, this also helps you with better accountability should anything happen.

3. Resource Shortages

One you’re really tipping the limits in visitors, you may notice that your site starts cutting visitors off sometimes. This may also be followed by warnings from your host that you are hogging too much resources.

Take these warnings seriously as some hosts will not hesitate to cut off sites on shared hosting which take up too much resources. Remember, all the resources on shared hosting plans are exactly that – shared. If you take up all the time, other sites will suffer as well.

4. Exceeding Allowed Bandwidth

Some shared hosting plans place limits on the amount of bandwidth that your site can use per month. As a rule of thumb, the more visitors you are getting, the more bandwidth is taken up. Of course, there are exceptions such as if you host a lot of multimedia content as that consumes bandwidth as well.

If you see that you are using up your monthly allocation well before time, you urgently need to find a better hosting plan!

5. Your Needs Change

Shared hosts often restrict a lot of things you can do and sometimes, you may find that you need to run some applications that your host just won’t allow on shared plans. If you’re lucky, you may find an alternative that is supported on the plan but more likely than not it is time to upgrade.

Because VPS plans are often more flexible in this, you can opt to upgrade to one which will allow you to run the application you need. VPS hosting is also often better if you want to run a site with specialized needs.

Of course, there are many more reasons to look towards a better hosting plan, but these are some of the core ones. Now that you know what to look out for, let’s examine some of the differences between shared hosting and VPS hosting.

Shared vs VPS Hosting: General Differences

Shared hosting is often cheap and lets you occupy the same server as possibly hundreds of other websites. All of them use the same set of resources, which are allocated according to certain schedules your host defines.

Shared hosting plans do not require much technical knowledge to manage since most administrative and maintenance tasks are handled by the web host.

These are the lowest tier of hosting plans available except perhaps for free web hosting. They are often very limited in the scope of service and provide you the basics and nothing else. It is ideal for smaller websites or those which have static content since they are the most cost-efficient.

VPS hosting still sees you sharing space with other sites, but generally fewer of them. Sites on VPS hosting are given dedicated virtual resources such as CPU and memory and are guaranteed a minimum amount of resources per plan.

VPS hosting plans need a little more experience and expertise to manage than shared hosting plans, but you are often given full support by the host in this.

These plans are better if you have outgrown the resources that shared plans can offer and are the next logical stepping stone for growing websites. They are more expensive than shared hosting plans but much cheaper than what a dedicated server would cost you.

These plans are great for higher volume sites or those which are on a growth trend but whose numbers are not yet able to justify the resources that a dedicated server would offer.

Now that you’re familiar with the basic concepts, you can examine the feasibility of moving hosting plans from shared to VPS hosting. By planning and monitoring your site, you can be ready to move at a moment’s notice and not panic if you suddenly face the potential issues I have mentioned.

Take your time and list down all the activities you may need to carry out a migration, be it with the same provider or a new web hosting service entirely. Remember, choosing the right host, not just the right plan, is also a vital factor when it comes to hosting.

About the author: Jason is a technology enthusiast, marketer, and a full-time dad. He loves exploring new opportunities online. He’s currently associated with BuildThis.io as the site manager.

cPanel Tutorials, Tips & Tutorials

Tips and Tactics: Securing a cPanel Server

March 18, 2019 AltusHost Leave a comment

Nowadays, you can find any business over the internet.
A website is the common showcase portal for any category. Even several corporates are just creating and maintaining sites to show that they do not possess outdated strategies.

A website can’t be online without a proper domain name and extension, and good and reliable web hosting.

Domain: It is the name of the website or a business existence. By clicking the website name, a user can able to reach over the page of a particular business. Numerous intelligent consider key points while selecting a domain for their website.

Hosting: The design and look of each website are only shown through a set of files. And hosting is just like a tenant place where the business website kept those files.

It means that if any hacker wishes to hijack a website, he has to access the file(s) over hosting server. Once, he succeeded to enter the server, he can easily add, edits, or deletes files that harm your website. Therefore, it is necessary to secure the cPanel server to avoid any hacking and attack.

It is another hectic for executives to save their virtual showcase from any attack. For achieving this target, usually, they pay high to a freelance person for this job or hire a guy. Now you don’t need to pay, just follow the below steps and remain protected.

1) cPanel login must be unpredictable

A quite many times, it has been observed that people set the login credentials as simple as they can. This is a practice to remember the login details easily. But why?

Attackers investigate some of the pages and predict numerous possible username. This is the initial and helpful step in the hacking process. Website developing experts suggest changing the login initially. It should be different as compared to your business category. Keep in mind that various folks change the username which looks like the same from the hijacker’s point of view.

Example: If you are a hosting provider, and you have changed the name to “besthosting” or “hostingexpert”, it is still matching with your work. The suggestion is to make it entirely different like “expertguy” or “bestmommy”.

2) Strong password

One of the most security issues happened due to the anticipation of an easy password. The second most essential thing to keep unpredictable is a password. It should be strong. For making it authoritative, you have to include the below points:

a. The allowed length will be 26 characters, but should not be less than 8 characters.

b. At least one character of the password must be uppercase (capital letter).

c. At least one numeric character should be included.

d. A special character must be added within the password. Check the hosting portal instructions because some signs may be obligatory to use in this field. Hence, benefit from the permissible ones.

If the control panel provides a password strength calculator, then try to achieve 100% power or as closest you can.

Tip: Professional friends suggest renewing the password every six months.

2) Update cPanel

Every panel and plugin tries to upgrade their system and make it more secure without affecting the functionality. In fact, they intend to raise efficiency also. That’s why, it is recommended that whenever an update notified to you, visit the plugin channel, read which controls have been updated and what will be the expected results. If all these analyses help you to configure that the upgrading is worthy, install the update.

Furthermore, when you notice any issue, immediately contact the developer and convey the problem so that the concerned guy fix it quickly.

Tip: WHM > cPanel > Upgrade to Latest Version

3) Apply Brute-Force Security Logout

Brute-Force is a method related to trial and error. These trials have been attempted through software or application. The purpose is to decode and know the password.

The application brute-force will allow a particular number of unsuccessful attempts from the same IP. After a failure of the total login trials, the plugin blocked that IP for a specific time. There are several plugins you can use like “cPHulk Brute-Force Protection.” This software also allows exceptions. Through this feature, you can exempt your own IP as well as a list of IPs through “Whitelist Management.”

Tip: Login to WHM > Security Center section > cPHulk Brute Force Protection.

4) Secure Apache & PHP

cPanel allows to build and compile Apache and PHP using EasyApache easily. It is the most readily available way to access a server is the web server application. You must secure your Apache installation.

Tip: Login to WHM > Softwares > EasyApache (Apache Update)

Enabling ModSecurity in your server is another method. You can define rules there. Those rules will check each request trying to access the server. If the call match with defined guidelines then the handler gives permission otherwise block such trial.

Tip: a. Login to WHM > Plugin > ModSecurity

b. Configure suPHP as the PHP handler and suEXEC for executing the CGI scripts in the user privilege. Permit suPHP and suEXCEC through below path:

WHM > Service Configuration > suEXEC

c. Change the PHP handler to suPHP, Turn Apache suEXEC to ‘ON’ and click Save New Configuration.

d. Allow PHP open_basedir safety for preventing PHP scripts from the root directory outside files.

WHM > Security Center > PHP open_basedir Tweak

e. Click the tick box to enable PHP open_basedir security. After enabling the checkbox click a button showing “Save”.

f. Now disable some essential functions by changing to register_globals: Off

passthru
show_source
proc_open
exec
system
phpinfo
allow_url_fopen
shell_exec
popen

WHM > Service Configuration > PHP Configuration Editor > Choose Advanced Mode

g. Hit save button and reboot the Apache server once made all mention above changes.

5) Install a Firewall

I am sure that you have heard about the firewall. It is a barrier for the untraceable hit. Moreover, this shield also blocks all the unidentified software & connections to keep your online data secure. Thus, it is helpful to control such unauthorized accesses.

Malware software and virus affected files harm the systems. Attackers first try to add an infected file. Once they found such incorporation, then undesired data will be executed, and your server might be hacked for adverse consequences.

6) Protect SSH

SSH is the abbreviation of Secure Shell. It is a portal to access the server. The non-technical audience can understand SSH as a gateway to get entrance to the server. Change its default setting carefully as mentioned below:

Change default port

A default setting allotted by hosting company is “Port 22” which is known by numerous attackers. Select another number and change the value of port like Port 2255, Port 125, Port 521, or anything you want.

Disable login “Root”

A predefined login username is “Root” which should be changed to something else. Hacker knew that most people change the passwords but never tend to revise the login name. But professional IT concern always recommends changing it also.

Disable SSH v1

If you investigate for SSH protocol, you surely find the value “Protocol 2,1” that is insecure. Change it to “Protocol 2”.

7) Examine Plugin before Installation

Never assume that you are safe. Until an outside user is connecting with your server regardless of serving purpose or services availing purpose, the chances of being insecure are still possible.

Several folks are recently getting help from plugins established by an unknown developer. You don’t know how much do the programmer cared for the security. In fact, my experience is that most free plugins contain bugs and error. Hacker targets such plugin that will become a gateway for them. Therefore, I recommend either install a paid plugin or read the reviews and check it supports.

Moreover, numerously people integrate a plugin and notice after a few months that it is useless or the alternative is better than this. They use to disable it but not delete. It is one of a big mistake. Occasionally, visit this section and remove the unused plugin for maintaining the prevention.

Incorporate Innovation Carefully

As we all knew that technology is upbringing itself day by day. Inventions are influencing our routine life. We can’t live and survive without these innovations because we may be handicapped. Each assistant must contain both advantageous and harmful effects.

Similarly, the virtual world is introducing a fresh revolution. Thus competitors and attackers upgraded their cruel intentions as well. If we wish to remain safe, we need to avoid those updated but how do we grow the business in the robotic world.

In order to keep your confidential data and complete site secure, you have to set the safety parameters within the server. Mentioned above points are mandatory to keep your hosting server updated and secure.

About the author: Stella Lincoln is a web development engineer at Academist Help. She did her masters in computer science and had a vast experience of web application creation. Stella is scripting blogs at MHR Writer relevant to her field. She often guides young girls as career counseling. She loves cooking and watching IT related movies.