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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Website Builders

Website builders are tools or platforms that enable you to construct a website fast and simply. You will be able to build your online presence through the website, and the platform will allow you to showcase your content, brand components, and offers. Website builders are fantastic for quickly creating a site without the need for assistance, but will they be beneficial for your needs and in the long run? Why don’t we have a look at our findings below so you can make the best selection possible?

Advantages of website builders

Affordable and fast- Website builders are here to save the day if you need a quick fix for your website problem. They’re ideal for people who are just getting started with their first website or who wish to start a personal blog for random articles. Using a website builder is less expensive than employing a web designer. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, can be saved. You also don’t have to wait too long. You are able to build and lunch your own website in a few hours
No coding skills required- Writing new code for every aspect of your website doesn’t sound easy. Fortunately, with website builders, you don’t need to have any coding skills; you can make modifications to your site using a drag-and-drop interface. If you want to relocate something, simply drag it to its new place and drop it, which will only take a few seconds. You don’t need the help of experts. You don’t need to learn the basics of programming.
No design skills required- You have a lot of options and freedom when it comes to the design of your website. Even though you have access to the same themes as everyone else, you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing your websites. Aside from selecting a design, you must also decide on the positioning of various components on the page, as well as the formatting, backdrops, fonts, color options, and elements you wish to add. Website builders may not guarantee the best-looking site, but their designs are attractive enough to entice you, the visitor.
No need for training- You won’t require any training to make changes to your website if you use a website builder. Your workers can assist you because your website will require updates from time to time, and it will be much easier if you don’t have to make the adjustments yourself every time. Fortunately, anyone in the organization may make changes to the website without any training using a website builder.

Disadvantages of website builders

Not custom-designed- If you want your website to have a professional appearance, simply establishing a site quickly may not be sufficient. When it comes to picking the proper color themes, logos, and pictures to utilize, menu layout, site design, and pages to build, good preparation is essential. Furthermore, a website cannot go online without genuine content. Even though the drag and drop tool is quite simple to use, you may encounter some issues. You can only accomplish so much with a drag and drop platform, and the lack of customization may be an issue for you. Because you’ll be utilizing themes that other people are using, your site may appear generic.
Speed- While the appearance of your website has a significant impact on your reputation, it isn’t everything. You’ll also want a website that loads quickly. When compared to more firmly designed websites on commercial platforms, sites made with free website builders load excessively slowly.
SEO- Website builder tools lack numerous SEO optimization strategies if you have a long-term SEO plan. With the best website builder tools, you won’t be able to create a good site architecture. The majority of website builders do not completely incorporate lead generating or SEO into the website creation process. When it comes to website builders, messy and unstructured codes are very prevalent, which is bad for SEO. Google prefers websites that are well-organized and follow a set of rules, which you won’t find with website builders. There aren’t many SEO optimization tools available to website builders.
Customer support- You may not receive any sort of customer assistance with a free builder, which is acceptable given that you are not paying anything to utilize the builder. However, if you encounter any difficulties, you will have to solve them on your own. The only thing left for you to do is post a question on an internet forum and hope that someone will respond.

In summary, the best option for you will be determined by your unique requirements. Consider the aims and goals of your website, the tools you’ll need, and how you want to engage with your visitors. If you require a professionally built website and a reliable web host Listed Hosting is your most preferred choice. At our online academy, you can learn how to develop and design your own website and also make money from it

8 Essential Tips To Ensure Your Website Security

Website security is something that individuals and businesses of all sizes cannot overlook. Statistics say that there is an attack every 39 seconds on average on the web and on average 30,000 new websites are hacked every day and 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of cyber attack.

8 essential things you can do to ensure your website security

Updated software– It’s critical to maintain all of your platforms and installed scripts up to date. Hackers are actively pursuing security weaknesses in popular online software, which necessitates program updates to fix security gaps. Every software product you use should be maintained and updated.

Use a secure web host– choosing a web hosting company that takes security seriously is always the first step in ensuring the security of your website. Before choosing a host, make sure the host is aware of potential dangers and is committed to keeping your website safe. In the event that your site is hacked, your host should back up your data to a distant server and make it easy to recover it. Choose a host that will provide you with continuous technical assistance if you need it. Choose Listed Hosting. Find out some of the essential qualities to look out for when choosing a web host here.

Secure email hosting– Another essential consideration is secure email hosting. It is essential to keep security in mind whether you choose a hosting provider only for email hosting or whether you run your website and email from the same location. Automatically scanning all emails (inbound and outbound) for viruses and email should be included in email security. Using the latest version of webmail clients is very effective.

Use secure passwords– It’s critical to use strong passwords for your server and website admin area, but it’s also critical to enforce proper password habits for your users to safeguard their accounts’ security. Even though users dislike it, implementing password restrictions such as a minimum of eight characters with an uppercase letter and a number will assist to safeguard their data in the long run. You can use password management tools to help with the suggestion of complex passwords and also to save them so that you don’t have to always remember.

Backups– Back up your website regularly. In the event that your website becomes inaccessible or your data is destroyed, you should keep backups of all of your website files. Although your web host provider should back up their own servers, you should always back up your files on a regular basis. Some content management systems include plugins or extensions that can back up your site automatically, and you should also be able to back up your site manually.

Keep your pc up to date- While the majority of your site security efforts will be concentrated on your hosting server, it is still critical to keep your PC safe. The majority of website issues may be traced back to one of the administrators’ computers. Allowing your computer’s operating system to get out-of-date puts it at danger of becoming infected with a virus or malware. That virus or malware may be configured to upload itself to the web server when you access your website. It will then seek to infect more visitors to your page. To avoid this from happening, make sure your operating system and any other applications on your computer are constantly up to date.

Use HTTPS– HTTPS is a protocol that encrypts data sent over the internet. HTTPS ensures that users are communicating with the server they expect and that no one else may intercept or alter the data in transit. If you have anything that your users would wish to keep secret, it’s best to transmit it via HTTPS. Of course, this includes payment card and login pages (as well as the URLs they submit to), but it also includes a lot more of your site.

In conclusion, consistent practice of these tips will ensure the security of your website. At Listed Hosting, we understand that you trust us by putting the hosting of your website in our hands, and we will do all necessary to secure your data, as well as the data of your visitors.

Tips On How To Effectively Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate

A bounce is defined in Analytics as a session that only sends one request to the Analytics server, such as when a visitor visits one page on your site and then leaves without sending any additional queries to the Analytics server during that session. Bounce Rate is defined as the percentage of visitors that leave a webpage without taking an action, such as clicking on a link, filling out a form, or making a purchase.

Someone who bounces from your site did not convert. As a result, if you can keep a visitor from bouncing, you can improve your conversion rate. A high bounce rate indicates that your website’s copywriting, page structure, user experience, or content are all in need of improvement. Finally, bounce rates can be employed as a ranking element by Google.

How to Determine Your Website Bounce Rate

A high bounce rate is undesirable if your site’s success depends on people viewing more than one page. For example, if your home page serves as a portal to the rest of your site, you don’t want a high bounce rate. A high bounce rate, on the other hand, is entirely acceptable if you run a single-page site, such as a blog, or offer other sorts of material where single-page sessions are anticipated.

To view your bounce rate, connect your site to Google Search Console. Then, using Google Analytics, go through each page on your site and look at the bounce rate for each one. If you don’t already have Google Analytics installed on your site, do so now and allow it some time to collect the necessary data.

Tips for Reducing Bounce Rate on Your Website

1. Improve Your Website Speed- Your website must have a great design and fantastic content, but there is one thing that is very necessary: it must load speedily. People nowadays are accustomed to lightning-fast internet connections and powerful computers and phones, so they want every website to function flawlessly and swiftly. Using tools like Pingdom and Google Page Speed, you can optimize every landing page on your site, you can also add better caching, and also consider switching to a faster hosting provider

2. Provide a better overall user experience- The term “user experience” refers to the end-interactions users with an organization, its services, and its goods. The total sensation of a user when engaging with your website is referred to as user experience.

When a person discovers a website that is not only easy to use but also appealing, it is considered a good user experience. The first step in the right path is to create a functional website that looks beautiful on all platforms and devices. Keep a close eye on how your users act and what impacts their choices.

3. Use Videos and Images that Capture Attention- Videos are more compelling than words or even images at capturing attention. A full-screen video may be used as a background to capture the attention of your visitors. The user will be able to skim or read your material more quickly if you include visuals, as large blocks of text can be exhausting. Using a picture in the middle of a few lines might make readers feel less overwhelmed by your material.

4. Make your website easy to search- Site search, while being an afterthought for many sites, is a very crucial step. It’s critical to provide your users with tools that allow them to discover anything they’re looking for in order to decrease bounce rate. When you try to search for a website and get a “No results” or “Page not page” page, it may be quite annoying, especially if the website should have a lot of results. Users are more likely to stick around if they can find what they are looking for.

5. Make the website more readable- On most websites, the majority of the material is in text format. Unfortunately, this crucial aspect of any website’s user experience is frequently overlooked. You must ensure that your website’s text is easily visible on all devices. Users will have to strain or zoom in to read it if it is too small.

On lower displays, choose font sizes that are large enough. Typography, often known as readability, encompasses more than simply font size and color. You must also ensure that the text on your website is attractive. To make the text seem clean and attractive, there should be enough line spacing, padding, and margins.

6. Display Credibility- People’s perceptions of a website’s credibility are heavily influenced by its design. A good design ensures that you are regarded seriously, but a bad design creates suspicion. Make an effort to invest in a clean, uncomplicated design. It’s critical to maintain consistency in terms of fonts, colors, and layout. You can also display credibility by showing your products reviews.

Summarily, the suggestions in this article can yield rapid benefits, but don’t expect them right away. Maintain consistency and continue to expand your audience. Listed Hosting offers safe, fast hosting options for businesses wanting to minimize bounce rates by boosting website performance, so be sure to have a look at what we have to offer on our website.

What Is HTTPS And Why Is It Very Important

HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Protocol Secure and is the encrypted version of HTTP. It is used to communicate securely via the internet or a network. Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is used to encrypt the communication protocol (SSL). Generally, sites running over HTTPS will have a redirect in place so even if you type in http:// it will redirect to deliver over a secured connection.

WHAT IS HTTP

HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol The most frequent application of HTTP is to send data from a web server to a browser, allowing users to view web pages.

When you enter http:// in your address bar in front of the domain, it tells the browser to connect over HTTP. HTTP uses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), generally over port 80, to send and receive data packets over the web.

Differences Between HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP URL in your browser’s address bar is http:// and the HTTPS URL is https://.
HTTP is unsecured while HTTPS is secured.
HTTP sends data over port 80 while HTTPS uses port 443.
HTTP operates at the application layer, while HTTPS operates at the transport layer.
No SSL certificates are required for HTTP, with HTTPS it is required that you have an SSL certificate and it is signed by a CA.
HTTP doesn’t require domain validation, whereas HTTPS requires at least domain validation and certain certificates even require legal document validation.
No encryption in HTTP, with HTTPS the data is encrypted before sending

Any data you enter into a website (your credit card or bank details, username and password, or any other data you submit) will be transferred in plaintext, leaving it exposed to eavesdropping or interception if you don’t utilize HTTPS.

Why Is HTTPS Important

What are the benefits of migrating your website to a secure environment? Despite the steps taken by telecommunications carriers, the internet is an open and free-to-use platform, which means that there is no actual monitoring of existing material or how it is made available and traded. As a result, it’s critical to safeguard your data and those of your users from cyber-attacks, fraud, and identity theft.

The HTTPS protocol adds a degree of security by encrypting data and rendering it inaccessible to anybody attempting to see it. It’s important to have the HTTPS protocol enabled on every page of your site if you want your site to be entirely safe and benefit from SSL / TLS as well as gain an SEO boost.

Google has said that websites that use the HTTPS client would get a little ranking advantage over those that use HTTP, (SEO benefits). If two websites had the same technical specs and content relevancy, Google would give the HTTPS client a higher ranking than the HTTP client. In the future, this might become a more powerful signal.

Users will benefit from faster browsing speeds as well as data encryption when HTTPS is enabled. TSL (Transport Layer Security) has seen significant advancements, making encryption more efficient and adding little CPU burden to HTTPS servers.

HTTPS is not only better for your organization, but it is also better for your consumers. You want the data of your existing and future clients to be protected, whether your company relies on online sales or generating leads.

Most clients would avoid doing business with a company that had their money or personal information stolen. Visitors will not only have their sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, protected, they will also have privacy and protection on their browsing history.

At Listed Hosting, we offer different types of hosting plans that will suit your needs. Besides many other development resources, we also offer SSL certificates on our plans.

5 Web Hosting Factors That Affect Your SEO Ranking

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a broad phrase that refers to the actions you may take to increase your website’s search engine rankings. Since websites have become an integral part of any organization and everyone wants their website to be ranked on the first page of search engines, regardless of their sector or company size, SEO has become an important phenomenon.

The SEO of your website will affect how high you rank on search engine results pages such as Google and therefore plays a significant part in the reach and engagement of your site because a great majority of consumers now use search engines before purchasing a product or service.

Many SEO fundamentals, including keyword placement, mobile optimization, and link-building, creating relevant content, optimizing pages, are well-known and often engaged by SEO experts and website owners. However, the importance of web servers and how it affects SEO rank of a website is what is less popular in the SEO business.

HOW DOES WEB HOSTING AFFECT SEO

Website Loading Speed- The time it takes for your website to load has a significant impact on the user experience. Your users are likely to jump off your website if it does not load within two seconds, negatively affecting your SEO. Choosing a cheap and ineffective website host may mean a slow-loading website that will be penalized by search engines, making your rankings drop. You should also think about how you might optimize your pages to make them load as quickly as possible. This includes eliminating non-essential scripts, compressing images, and removing third-party widgets you are not using. You can use tools like Google Webmaster to diagnose and address the cause of website speed issues.
Uptime and Downtime- Your site suffering frequent downtime is evidence that you have an unreliable hosting provider and this will not only discourage your customers and site visitors but will negatively affect your SEO. Google algorithms do not prioritize websites that frequently suffer downtime. To stay on the top page of Google search results, it’s suggested that you keep your uptime at about 99.9%. One of the most significant actions you can take to ensure a good SEO position is to select high-quality and trustworthy web hosting situated in secure areas.
Domain Name- Google has also indicated that domain names affect SEO rankings, with grammatically accurate, straightforward, and trustworthy domains generally performing well. The domain name you choose is also influenced by the location of your web server. A server in the United Kingdom will give you the ‘.uk’ suffix, whereas a server in Finland will give you the ‘.fi’ suffix. You want a domain name that offers your website a trustworthy image while also helping you rank well in search results for the people and locations you’re after. As a result, the ideal approach to select a domain name is to start with the right server and hosting.
Hosting Location- The type of web hosting to choose will critically depend on the audience you want to reach and whether you want to appeal to a really global audience. The location of your hosting server plays a very key role when it comes to SEO ranking because server location affects loading speed. Visitors to your site who are physically distant from where your server is situated will suffer greater latency while visiting your site if it is hosted on a shared, VPN, or dedicated server. It is recommended that you opt for a cloud server so that physical distance from the server is no longer an issue.
Tech/Customer Support- If your domain gets hijacked or your website is down due to an issue with your account, you will require immediate and helpful assistance. A committed and skilled team will assist you with whatever you need and make sure your website is up and running. Your SEO will certainly benefit from a well-functioning website that is free of errors.

Conclusion

With the tremendous competition that every business confronts today, ranking higher on search engines should be your top priority. There are a variety of ways to improve your SEO which includes choosing a competent hosting provider, but most of them require time to see results. At listed hosting, we do not only offer reliable hosting our team includes SEO experts with many years of experience that can help improve your website’s ranking on search engines.

The New And Exciting Features Of WordPress 5.8

WordPress 5.8 Tatum is now available, and it is a significant update. WordPress 5.8 provides a new approach to developing websites by providing the initial features within the larger project known as Full Site Editing. With the major update, a number of new features have been included. Some provide new features, while others improve on what’s already there.

The goal of Full Site Editing is to provide a set of tools and capabilities that allow WordPress users to utilize blocks to create a full website. We’ll see various blocks available to construct any element on the page using Full Site Editing, including navigation menus, site branding, sidebar widgets, templates, and much more.

FEATURES OF WORDPRESS 5.8

Template Editing Mode

Template Editing Mode allows you to use blocks to construct post/page templates. It’s a wonderful approach to simplify site creation by allowing people to access numerous site editing capabilities from outside the site editor interface while learning how to work with blocks. This is also useful for users who don’t use block-based themes but want a quick way to generate and edit templates from the block editor’s UI.

Customizing themes in WordPress has never been easier. You no longer need to create a child theme to generate custom templates. With WordPress 5.8, Template Editing is no longer limited to block themes; you can now use it with traditional themes as well, however, you must opt-in to use it with classic themes.

Block As Widgets

The new blocks as widgets interface is a major step toward a full-site editing experience. Navigate to wp-admin > Appearance > Widgets to find the updated settings. Blocks as widgets extend the block editor’s versatility to your WordPress sidebar widgets. Colors, spacing, font, and other design elements will be simple to use.

Template Editor

The new template editor is available in WordPress 5.8. It may not provide a complete site editing experience, but it does allow you power over the creation of your Template. You may build and store reusable templates for your website using the template editor. You may also reuse them in the future for any post or page you make. You may add Site Editing blocks by switching to the template editor. You will find the following blocks

Site Logo
Site Tagline
Site Title
Query Loop
Post Title
Post Content
Post Date
Post Excerpt
Post Featured Image
Post Categories
Post Tags
Login/out
Page List

WebP Images Support

WebP is a new picture file format. Your photos will be almost 35 percent less in size than PNG and JPEG without sacrificing quality if you use the WebP image format. However, WebP pictures were not previously supported by WordPress. That is beginning to change. You may now post WebP pictures to your WordPress website with WordPress 5.8.

Editors Improvements

Each WordPress version includes several enhancements, bug fixes, and new features aimed at improving the Gutenberg editor’s editing experience. The following are some of the editing enhancements in WordPress 5.8:

In nested blocks, you may easily choose the parent block.

You can simply organize blocks using nested blocks like columns and groups.

In the toolbar of WordPress 5.8, there will now be an always visible parent block button.

List View Improvements

The list view in WordPress 5.8 has been enhanced. It will display the whole list of blocks available for your post or page. This would make it simpler for users to search for a certain block. You may use the list panel to traverse several paragraphs in a given column, for example.

Duotone Filters For Images And Media Blocks

Another exciting feature in WordPress 5.8 is the Duotone filters. You’ll be able to use these filters over your media blocks like images, galleries, and cover images. It comes with a few pre-sets and you can create your own pre-sets as well by choosing the colors you want to apply. WordPress themes will also be able to add their own pre-sets to match theme color schemes.

We hope this post gives you a sneak peek at what WordPress 5.8 has in store. Tell us about the features you like and what you’d want to see in a future WordPress release. WordPress 5.8 will have a significant impact on the WordPress business and the people that work in it.

You may test out the official release by upgrading WordPress core from your site’s dashboard to see what new features are coming soon. If you want to learn how to develop a WordPress website or an e-commerce website join Listed Hosting Academy to learn at your own pace and become an expert web developer.

At Listed Hosting we are here to meet your hosting and website maintenance needs.

Control Panel Options For Your Web Server

The creation of control panels was one of the major inventions that have helped with the successful operation of a website without any technological knowledge in recent years. Control panel is a common tool for managing your hosting plan. You may use it to manage your domain names, install apps, establish and manage email accounts, and upload website files, among other things. Control panels allow you to deal with your web hosting server directly. You’ll be able to do things like perform backup processes, upload files, configure custom email addresses, and install content management systems, among other things.

In this article, we will discuss the major and commonly used control panel options you can choose from.

Control Panel Options

cPanel

cPanel is a web hosting control panel software developed by cPanel, LLC. cPanel is the Linux-based tool that is used to manage the website from the back end. Because it is entirely picture and menu-based, most individuals who use cPanel will find it incredibly simple to navigate.

It gives the website owner or “end-user” a graphical interface and automated tools to make the process of hosting a website easier. It has a three-tier structure that allows management to use a regular web browser.

It provides a variety of categories to help you discover precisely what you’re looking for fast and simple. There are several features in cPanel and they’re all on one page, which is convenient since you won’t have to go through many menus to get what you’re looking for. Furthermore, all of the features include brief explanations that explain what they can accomplish. Some of its features and categories include-

Databases– Create and manage the databases for your website in just seconds with no technical knowledge needed.
Domains– Manage multiple domains and subdomains with just a few clicks.
Security– Set up advanced security options including SSH access, IP blockers, SSL certificates, more to keep your site safe.
Files– Easily upload, delete, and move files around to make them easily available on your hosting server.
File manager and FTP user creation
Backup creation and automation

Plesk

Plesk is a control panel designed for use with Windows-based hosting systems. Plesk, particularly its icon-based display system, is quite simple to use for those who are familiar with the Windows operating system. Apart from being designed for Windows, it is also available for Linux. The interface is quite simple and intuitive; everything can be created in a few clicks. The diversity of automation tools is one of its distinguishing qualities. They will free up your time and resources so you can concentrate on the growth of your website rather than worrying about server maintenance.

Plesk provides a simple interface for managing files, establishing databases, and keeping a website up and running. While Windows web hosting is not nearly as effective or popular as Linux web hosting, it is popular for certain sorts of websites. The Plesk control panel system is likely to satisfy those that want Windows-based hosting.

ISP Manager

It is a Linux-based control panel widely used among Eastern European hosting companies. Has a very simple and basic design but that does not make it less comfortable. This web panel is available in two versions: Lite and Business. The first, Lite, may be used for web-server management, establishing users with different access levels, importing data from distant servers, and so on, in addition to other functions that are more or less typical for each panel. As a result, the Lite panel is mostly utilized on dedicated and virtual private servers. Business ISPmanager is excellent for shared or reseller hosting since it allows you to manage numerous servers (clusters) and create and manage user accounts quickly.

To conclude, each of the panels listed above has its unique set of characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. It’s difficult to tell which one is the greatest. This is a question of personal preference. These web panels, on the other hand, all have one thing in common: they make operating servers and hosting easier and faster. As a result, they are suitable for both beginners and developers.

There’s a reason cPanel is the most popular and widely used control panel system available today. The creators of cPanel have done an excellent job of adding new features, keeping everything user-friendly, and guaranteeing that their system is stable for every sort of site.

Here at Listed Hosting, we provide full cPanel access to all of our clients as part of their hosting service since we feel it is the finest. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any queries concerning cPanel or anything else connected to hosting.

Is Free Web Hosting Really Better Than Paid Web Hosting?

For companies and corporate organizations, the significance of having an online presence is now a well-known reality. Getting a decent website up and running with all of the necessary attributes and features is a big step toward achieving this crucial internet presence.

Finding a web hosting that matches the quirks and originality of your website is the next step once you’ve decided to establish a website for your business. When it comes to selecting a web host, there are several aspects to consider. You may learn more about it here. You may choose between free and paid hosting services depending on your needs, and for the sake of this post, I’ll look at the pros and cons of both free and paid web hosting

FREE WEB HOSTING

For new websites that are unlikely to receive a lot of traffic, the total cost of building and hosting the site may be prohibitive, and as a result, many individuals resort to free hosting. On the surface, free hosting appears to be a better value and a better option, but in most situations, premium hosting is superior to free hosting.

Free hosting might be a good idea in some rare circumstances. For example, if you have a website that is only visited by a small number of people and dependability and speed are not crucial, free hosting may be a suitable alternative.

Before you take advantage of a free hosting offer, you should understand how and why a hosting business gives free hosting in the first place, given that everything nowadays costs money.

The fact is that these firms who provide free hosting services generate money by providing additional services in addition to hosting. Most free hosting providers, for example, will include numerous adverts on your site so that they may profit from every visitor, and irrespective of how much revenue these adverts generate, you will not be paid even though it is being generated on your site. These hosting companies will also place affiliate links on your website so that they can earn money from it when anyone clicks the link.

Also because you are being provided with a free service, the obligations usually attached to a paid subscription no longer exist, and you are usually left to your own devices when things go wrong.

Worse yet, some free hosting providers’ websites are not always secure, which speaks volumes about the level of security they can provide for your website. The negatives of utilizing a free web host outnumber the benefits by a large margin. Free hosts cannot give the kind of customer service that a premium host can, and they only offer restricted bandwidth and pages.

PAID WEB HOSTING

For websites that need to portray professionalism and expect a lot of traffic, then paid hosting is the best option. Paid hosting is just the opposite of free hosting and it is expected to provide all the qualities and features a free hosting will not provide to ensure the smooth running of your website.

One of the most significant benefits of paying for a web server is that your site visitors will not be disturbed by advertisements from the provider. When you choose premium hosting, your visitors will have a better time on your site.

While it may not seem important when you’re just getting started, having the choice of a big or limitless data storage space may save you a lot of time and aggravation in the long run. Free hosting often provides 5 to 10 MB of space. You’ll have to go through the processes to migrate everything to a paying host if you wish to grow your site later.

Also, if you want to offer products or services through your website, you’ll need a secure server. Without it, customers will not trust any site with their credit card information. Secure web servers are not available on free hosts. Paid hosting also guarantees 99.9% uptime for your website. For example, an eCommerce website like amazon cannot afford to use a free hosting service.

WHICH HOSTING IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Free web hosting is appealing, but it is nearly never the best option. First and foremost, if you want to create a website that will attract visitors and give a positive user experience, you’ll need to choose the hosting that can deliver on performance.

However, using free hosting exposes both you and your site’s visitors to a variety of security risks, including data breaches and more. While you may save money, you are putting yourself in a position to face major issues in the future.

Here at Listed Hosting, we offer the best hosting services at very affordable prices. We also offer some incentives for our products and services. For example, you can get a free domain name when you pay for a one-year hosting plan with us. We provide all the exceptional qualities of a web host at an affordable price.

WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal; Which Is Safer?

WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal are instant messaging applications that provide a superior alternative to the traditional means of messaging like emails and text messages. Instant messaging apps now provide more social features like video calls, enhanced security which are not readily available on emails.

Also, asides from internet charges you do not have to pay extra to message people outside your country as is the case with text messages. These applications exist as a great tool of communication and directly affect society and the IT industry as a whole.

The safety of any information online is paramount to users and owners of such information. No one would be eager to use any messaging app is they were worried that someone somewhere might be spying on them and reading their messages. This article will consider 3 instant messaging applications comparing their features and security.

SIGNAL

Signal is a cross-platform centralized encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Technology Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC. Users can send one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images, and videos. It can also be used to make one-to-one and group voice and video calls, and the Android version can optionally function as an SMS app.

Signal is the instant messaging app that takes the user’s privacy & security seriously. When it comes to security and privacy it is better than any other messaging app. Signal enforces end-to-end encryption on every form of communication that’s available within the app.

It also uses a sealed sender protocol where no one including signal knows who the sender of a message is. The encryption of local backups is also available on Signal. Although WhatsApp and Signal use the same end-to-end encryption protocol, Signals is better because it’s open source.

Unfortunately, Signal falls short a little bit when it comes to its features when compared to WhatsApp and telegram. Though it has the regular features of a messaging app like chats, calls, it doesn’t have features like status and payments. It also has group chats and group call features just like WhatsApp and telegram.

WHATSAPP

WhatsApp is a mobile messaging application that allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content.

The application is designed to run on both mobile devices and desktop computers, as long as the user’s mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up.

WhatsApp is the leading messaging app on both android and IOS devices. It has some distinctive features like WhatsApp payment, status, and others that other instant messaging applications do not have. However, the number of people that WhatsApp can accommodate on a group chat is a very limited number of 256 compared to Telegram’s 200,000 group chat members.

WhatsApp is also known for its end-to-end encryption which means all voice calls, chats, video calls, photos, and information shared on WhatsApp are secured and encrypted. WhatsApp’s main security challenge is that it doesn’t encrypt any form of backup and backups are stored on goggle or apple cloud. Also, it doesn’t encrypt the metadata used to carry the communication between the two endpoints.

TELEGRAM

Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed. The security provided by Telegram is questionable when compared with telegram and WhatsApp. There is no default encryption for communications on telegram and only chats exchanged through the secret chats icon that is encrypted and regular conversations are not. Telegram uses its own encryption protocol, MTProto.

The protocol is acceptable, but it’s a closed-source protocol. So, security researchers can’t verify the protocol used to encrypt the chats. One advantage telegram offers above WhatsApp and signal is that it allows users to create a group chat that accommodates as many as 200,000 members.

In summary, each of these instant messaging applications has its distinct features and selling point just like different web hosts have their uniqueness.

However, if you are particular about the security of the information you share online; our opinion is that Signal is the best choice. If you love to communicate in groups, then Telegram might be the best pick for you and listed hosting is your guaranteed choice for a web host. I hope this article helped you!

Paystack Selected as Preferred Payments Partner in Africa by WooCommerce

Paystack is the deal of today with the big announcement – Today at Listed Hosting we are very excited to share the great news as another Africa giant is making the global news; Paystack, yes yes, and yes it is official as Paystack is now selected as a partner on the most used eCommerce plugin on WordPress.

According to the Director of Business Development at WooCommerce Mechiel Couvaras “Paystack is leading the charge in bringing a world-class payments experience to African merchants,” “Their contribution to marketing, user skills, and innovation in Africa are some of the key factors in considering the partnership. Receiving funding from Stripe and Visa was also a strong indication of their potential.”

Woocommerce as an eCommerce tool

Woocommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is designed for small to large-sized online merchants using WordPress. Launched on September 27, 2011, the plugin quickly became popular for its simplicity to install and customize and for the market position of the base product as freeware.

Paystack – Africa Payment Gateway Solution Provider

Paystack is the most widely used payment gateway in Africa, accounting for more than half of all online transactions in Nigeria. More than 60,000 stores use the gateway. In October 2020, it was acquired by Stripe for more than $200M. The gateway can be used by businesses in Nigeria and Ghana and last month it added support for South Africa, after a six-month-long pilot program.

WooCommerce made the announcement naming Paystack its preferred payments partner for WooCommerce in Africa with more than 20,000+ merchants that have installed the free Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway plugin, it sure makes perfect sense why the payment gateway was selected.

What this means to users

WordPress users no longer need to search for and download the Paystack plugin separately anymore, just select Paystack during the Woocommerce installation and you will have it up and ready for you inside the WooCommerce dashboard.

The payment gateway also as usual has made some updates to its tutorial for how to set up the gateway in WooCommerce. You can also watch this YouTube video below if you prefer the alternative method.

African online retail has been growing fast in recent years. This trend is predicted to continue. Several factors are contributing to this impressive growth. Africa has the youngest and second-largest population in the world. Thus, there is potential for a vast digital audience. In addition, internet penetration has been rising due to the broad expansion of smartphones and mobile devices in general. Indeed, mobile e-commerce dominates the online shopping scene.

As of 2019, the number of digital buyers in Africa experienced an increase to 233 million. The number of e-commerce users in the continent was projected to grow significantly in the next years, according to a Statista forecast. In 2021, there might be some 334 million online shoppers in Africa. By 2024, they could be roughly 478 million, about double the number in 2019.

As a business that wants to grow in Africa, having an online presence is compulsory, and doing it right is also very important, ensuring that you have:

Great website design
Stable Web Hosting service
Great Brand name – domain name
Online Security via SSL certificates
SEO and SEM plans and much more.

With Listed Hosting we guarantee your website will run quicker on our Cloud SSD than normal hosting because we know that even the best technology is only as good as the people behind it. That’s why we offer expert, 24/7 support, plus a lot more. You can also use our Live Chat or Ticket.

Join the online world today with Listed Hosting and power your eCommerce website on WordPress with Paystack and WooCommerce.

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