Archive for January, 2016
Did Your Web Site survive Mobilegeddon? Is your Web Site Mobile-Friendly? no comments
It’s been less than a year since Google’s April 21st change over that created what was thought to be mobilegeddon – where web sites that didn’t meet Google’s design and layout plans for being mobile friendly would be pushed down in the tankings (penalized if you will) to encourage more web sites to be universally accessible and usable. You see, big changes came to Google’s search algorithm. More specifically, the ranking of sites that are mobile-friendly. You may be wondering by what exactly I mean by “mobile-friendly” and how having a “mobile-friendly” website can increase your Google SEO rankings. In order to clear up your confusion on mobile-friendly websites, let me start by asking you another question. Have you ever tried to view your favorite website on your cell phone or your mobile device? Chances are that in this information driven, technological day and age, that you’ve at least attempted to view one website on your mobile device. How was it? Did the site look as you thought it would and work properly? Or did see a funky website with styling’s out of whack and no idea on how to navigate this crazy looking website?
You see, my friend, that site wouldn’t be considered “mobile-friendly”. If you haven’t figured out what a “mobile-friendly” website is by now, then let me enlighten you. A mobile-friendly website is a website that has been designed for your mobile phone. This could mean the website looks completely different, however, the basic functionality of the site is still there. For example, go to yahoo.com in your computer browser and then go yahoo.com on your phone. Notice any difference? You see, yahoo is a great example of how a mobile-friendly website is supposed to function. The site when viewed on your phone may be slightly different, however, the site is still providing the same content.
As more and more users view websites on mobile devices, Google decided that it’s time to make it easier to find relevant, mobile-optimized websites. To do this, Google will now use mobile-friendliness as a factor in ranking search results. If you’ve not created a mobile-friendly website, no worries as Google has provided guides on how to create a mobile friendly website and also a mobile-website friendly tester.
Also, in addition to favoring mobile-friendly websites, Google announced that it will include content from mobile apps when ranking search results. Google is terming this App Indexing and it requires manually activation for your app content to be scanned and appear on search results.
With all of that being said, many people passed over “Mobilegeddon” without realizing it – and maybe now is a good time to re-review what you thought was mobile ready and where google thinks you are, and if you didn’t prepare last year then now is the time to consider revamping your web site.
Is your website mobile-friendly? If not sure or you want some tips check the links below:
Follow Us :
Share :
Will Your Local Grocery Store Be Selling Cloud Hosted Services Next? no comments
Will your local grocery store be selling cloud hosted services next? This may seem like a silly question but the reality is big companies in many markets like HP, Dell, and major telecom companies have chased the cloud services market spending billions. The theory is anyone can get in on the cloud services gold rush.
The great Cloud Services gold rush is real – for the last few years major corporations like HP, AT&T, Verizon, TechData, Dell, and many more have spent billions trying to re-tool their tired business models into new trendy cloud-services models. The unfortunate problem is that they each keep coming up short, and shuttering the doors. HP announced the end of its cloud services at the end of 2015. AT&T already handed over full control of it’s managed hosting to IBM and is rumored to be in talks to sell off the $2B in datacenter and hosting assets shortly. Centurylink one of the nation’s largest telecom companies recently stated they are “considering alternatives to data center ownership” to exit the hosting market. Telecom power house Windstream sold its datacenter and hosting business in 2015 to exit the market. The list goes on, and in 2016 we are sure to see others strategically and not-so-strategically exit the cloud services and datacenter market place
There is no question as to why every company on earth seems to be trying to get into the cloud services market, the perception of great riches and perceived low barrier to entry (people think its as easy as buy or rent some computers and put up your virtual lemonade for sale sign). But the reason why even the deepest of pockets on earth can’t make those cloud services business profitable and viable at the same time cloud service companies continue to flourish, grow, and show industry and sector growth rates and profitability has major hedge fund managers, investors, and CEO’s scratching their heads as each major player unceremoniously exists the market.
The reason for success (and unfortunately failure) is so simple, it’s literally in the name – Cloud Services, and that is the word SERVICE. That would be service you can provide only with experience – when its your core product, your core competency and you have you have been doing it for many years with a customer-focused vision to deliver what the client wants. The word I believe best describes it would be hubris. So many big companies thinking they can successfully translate selling or delivering groceries, cd’s, software, desktop pc’s or computer parts into a cloud infrastructure and cloud services company comes at a large price tag, billions lost by these companies that are shuttering the doors and pulling the plugs on their cloud services gold rush attempts.
When was the last time you called any of the failed ventures from the company names above to ask for help, or get some good old fashioned customer service? Customer Service – talking to someone, hand holding a client as they transition to the cloud and genuinely having someone present to answer questions and help is the corner stone to what made the Web Hosting industry successful for key players over the last 20 years to help those players evolve into today’s cloud services companies that remain successful. When was the last time you called the telephone company for help, how did that go for you? Exactly – and that’s why customers, revenue and growth flock to where there is genuine customer service. Service comes with experience of course, and you don’t just become a successful cloud services company over night.
Don’t get me wrong – there is a place for non customer service oriented offerings in the cloud landscape for do-it-your-selfers and through partnering service companies that add on top that layer of a cloud infrastructure offering. AWS has captured the lion’s share of the market space with that strategy, but that didn’t come over night but evolved over 20 years.
There is a great quote in the 2011 movie Margin Call from actor Jeremy Irons that sums it up – “there are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat.” And I don’t think you are going to see any of these pc makers, or telephone companies accused of cheating their way to the top of the cloud services race while they fight over each other to sell off and unplug their cloud business units in the next few years. The cloud service companies that have been around and made the right investments long ago in people, infrastructure, and culture will continue to succeed by delivering and focusing on what customers want. Those that try to jump into the cloud services gold rush hopefully have the right core competency’s and culture to support a cloud services business model. So next time you are at your grocery store, feel free to ask one of the cashiers or managers if they’ve heard any rumors about their grocery chain expanding into cloud services any time soon. You might be surprised at the answer.
Follow Us :Share :
Ditch the Messy Server Room and Move to Colocation no comments
In the late 80s /early 90s times where starting to change, this wonderful technology era we live in now was just beginning. Businesses now, need to be online in order to stay competitive and grow with this new age.
Like most business a Server Room was built, in a spare room or space in your office or home and today now resembles a pile of mis-colored wires that you could spend days trying to untangle. You purchased equipment that easily fit into your budget, and your team was able to configure the networking without any troubles. This setup was the same in all business across the board. In the beginning of this era, you could get away with this. There was no thought of cooling systems or ventilation. No notion of backup power systems, or any real working order was to be found in your Server Room.
Once again, the era of technology has changed. Businesses need their operations to run with super speeds, be secure, maintained, monitored, and most of all be redundant. The terms Server Room and Data Center could once be used interchangeably, no longer can they now.
A Server Room can be any room, in any building that houses servers. Whereas a Data Center, is a whole building designed to support and provide a secure, power protected, environmentally controlled space, used for accommodating servers, networking, and computer equipment.
Some of the key points to a Data Center, a Server Room does not have.
Security and Monitoring:
Most Server Rooms do not have a high volume of security. Besides the buildings overall security, there may be a lock on the Server Room door.
Data Centers pride themselves in the security features they offer. All entrances and exits are secured with a key coded entry system, as well as alarms. Not just alarms for entry. Alarms for temperature control, air pressure, fire / water control, ect. All Data Centers have network cameras, accessible to their staff and security team in a needed event. The cores / racks the servers are housed in are all locked. Only opened when your team needs to visit or by the Data Center staff, if needed.
Connectivity:
What good is your server if you have a fixed bandwidth rate? Most Server Rooms are capped off by their ISP as they are using a residential internet service.
Data Centers do not use any type of residential internet service and most times are able to set the bandwidth limits as they are needed by the server.
Redundancy:
If there is a power failure at your business, do you have a backup power plan? Most Server Rooms run from the same power source, as the full office. Making your sites and servers go down if there is ever a power failure.
Data Centers have a plan for any type of failure. When it comes to power failures, most Data Centers have battery backups, automatically triggered if the main power supply is not responding. When the system sees the backup batteries are being utilized, another backup power source is engaged, the generator. At this point the battery backups turn off and all power is controlled by the generator until normal power is restored.
Affordability:
With a Server Room, you are accumulating all the costs that go along with it. You may have had to cut advertising short or possibly even lay off good employees as the costs to maintain and house your equipment have risen. At a Data Center all those costs are tied into your package and at a much, much lower cost.
Environment:
Datacenters control the cooling and humidity – to a precise and perfect level to keep your equipment running as long as possible. Storing equipment in non-conditioned environmental space like your server room or office closet will shorten the life of your equipment significantly (meaning it will cost you real money to replace broken equipment sooner). Electronics are sensitive to things like electrical and static shock, which occur due to improper humidity (moisture) and you can even find corrosion on the electronics in some poor environmental conditions. Its crucial if you have valuable equipment to store it in a properly humidified and cooled location like a datacenter.
Green (going Green):
Some modern datacenters, like TurnKey Internet’s Green Datacenter , offer one additional benefit ontop of everything above. Your IT equipment and servers consume less energy in terms of cooling and power draw in a modern green-focused datacenter – and in TurnKey Internet’s datacenter your equipment consumes energy provided by only by the Sun (on-site solar array) and Water (Hydro power) providing zero carbon foot prints for your IT infrastructure versus having it at your office.
Our offices do not look anything like they did 20 years ago. Our businesses are not what they were 20 years ago. Most companies have employees living all around the world, remoting in for work. Your administrative staff is no longer dependent on white out, typewriters, and filing cabinets. You attend conferences and meetings by using a phone, tablet, or even your watch. The majority of your business is conducted over email and most of your sales are placed through your website. In order to keep up with these growing times, we now need to ditch the Server Room and head to the Data Center.
Follow Us :
Share :
