Moovly helps education and corporate clients to easily convert slides to video via PowerPoint import10/26/2020 Moovly helps education and corporate clients to easily convert slides to video via PowerPoint importVANCOUVER, CANADA — (October 22, 2020) Moovly Media Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MVY) (OTC: MVVYF) (FRANKFURT: 0PV2) (“Moovly” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has introduced a time saving wizard whereby PowerPoint presentations can be imported into Moovly’s editor and easily converted to video. Educators and corporations have vast quantities of stories and content made in PowerPoint. Converting this slides based content to a new engaging format like a video or video presentation is tedious as it typically means recreating that content from scratch in a video editor. Moovly’s new feature allows users to kickstart this conversion by uploading their PowerPoint presentation into Moovly. The wizard-based process imports all elements from their slide deck and lets the user choose presets such as music and animations. Once imported, users can further fine-tune and enhance their content, add voice and animations, and save it as an attractive video or an online video presentation. To try it out, visit: https://www.moovly.com/moovly-for-powerpoint Geert Coppens, CTO, commented: “This feature is particularly important for our growing number of education and corporate clients, who seek to migrate their many PowerPoint-based stories, courses or presentations to a new more engaging video format without the hassle of having to recreate them from scratch. This is yet again an example of Moovly developing features that are meaningful to our clients, increasing our value to them and our competitive position.” About Moovly: Moovly is the leading provider of creative cloud-based tools to tell marketing, communications and training stories using videos and video presentations. Moovly’s advanced Studio Editor with millions of assets seamlessly integrated (via partnerships with Getty Images & Storyblocks) is all you need to make engaging video content to promote, communicate or explain your product, service or message. Moovly’s API and Automator technologies allow third parties to automate parts or all of the content creation process, including mass video customization, personalized videos (video version of mail merge), automatic content creation or updating by connecting data sources. With clients including users from over 300 of the Fortune 500, small businesses, freelancers and Ivy league universities, Moovly is an intuitive, cost effective choice for DIY creation of engaging video-based content. “Your story begins with Moovly” For additional information about Moovly, please refer to moovly.com. Brendon Grunewald Kelsey Chin Reader Advisory – ### – Reader Advisory This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words “expect”, “anticipate”, “continue”, “estimate”, “objective”, “ongoing”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “should”, “believe”, “plans”, “intends” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward looking statements and information with respect to Moovly’s future business plans and the expected benefits of its products. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Moovly’s inability to continue to commercialize its products or demand for its products decreases or disappears. Other risk factors are set forth in detail in the Company’s Management Information Circular dated March 31, 2020 which is available for review under the Company’s corporate profile at www.sedar.com. Some other risks and factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information also include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and globally; industry conditions, unanticipated operating events; failure to obtain any necessary third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, capital and skilled personnel; changes in tax laws; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward-looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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Do I recommend it? Yes! SiteGround is a great web host for websites of all sizes. SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosting services out there—and for very good reason. They offer hosting options and plans suitable for a wide range of websites and businesses. Small personal websites, business websites, and large ecommerce sites alike can all use SiteGround. That’s why more than 2 million websites trust SiteGround for their hosting needs. For those of you who are looking to find a hosting provider for your new website, it is definitely a top option for you to consider.
Normally $14.99/month It’s also a great choice for anyone who wants to switch hosting providers. They offer a great WP Migrator plugin. This is a free plugin that makes the transfer of WordPress sites very easy. Let’s dive into the plans, types of hosting, and top benefits offered by SiteGround. Use this guide to make an informed decision to determine if SiteGround is the best web hosting plan for your needs. Benefits of Using SiteGround Web HostingThere is plenty of upside to using SiteGround as a web hosting service. I just want to quickly highlight and explain why this platform stands out from its competitors. High uptimesWhen it comes to measuring how good a web host is, uptime is the ultimate metric. This is the amount of time that a server stays up and running. A recent study shows that SiteGround has exceptionally high uptimes, on average, over a twelve-month stretch. In 2018, SiteGround ranked fourth compared to other web hosts judging by average uptime. As you can see, they were just barely beat out for the third place spot by a one-thousandth percentage point. Overall, the average uptime for the 32 shared web hosting services in the study was 99.59%. SiteGround was significantly higher than the average and near the top of the list. High uptimes ensure that your site will nearly always be up and running around the clock. Fast load timesJust because your site is up, it doesn’t always mean that it will be fast. But take a look at the response time for this SiteGround test website that was set up by Hosting Facts. We already talked about the great uptime, but now you can refer to the response time column. The average response time for these months in 2020 was 653 ms. That’s phenomenal. In addition to using a good web host, you should also know the other top principles that boost website loading times. Great customer supportHopefully, you don’t have any issues with SiteGround. But in the event that you run into a problem, have a question, or need some assistance, it’s nice to know that they provide excellent customer support. You can access phone support as well as live chat 24/7. As I mentioned earlier, you’ll have priority support if you have a GoGeek plan. This means that you’ll be connected with the most experienced SiteGround technicians whenever you need help. Free featuresWeb hosting services will always try to hit you with add-ons at an upcharge. But SiteGround throws in some great features at no extra charge. Your membership comes with one free site migration. This can be done with their migrator plugin, which we talked about earlier. SiteGround plans also come with a free CDN and free SSL certificate. Cloudflare CDN keeps images, videos, and other large files off of your server. As a result, your server is always fast. Since SiteGround users servers all over the globe, the CDN makes sure that files are stored closer to website visitors for fast delivery. The SSL certificate is required for all websites. It protects private information being transmitted between devices and websites. SiteGround throwing this in for free is a nice touch since you’d need to get one regardless. FlexibleNearly any website can be hosted on SiteGround. It’s a great web hosting service for beginners and experienced users alike. You don’t need to be too tech-savvy to understand how the platform works and get your site hosted. But on the other hand, if you like to be more hands-on with the server and take advantage of certain features, SiteGround has plans with you in mind. There are also enough options on SiteGround to accommodate different web hosting needs, such as shared hosting and cloud hosting. They have plans suitable for a wide range of average site traffic as well. So as your website scales, you can always upgrade to a plan that will meet your needs. Money back guaranteeSiteGround offers a 30-day money back guarantee for their shared hosting plans. This shows that they stand behind the services that are offered. Dedicated servers and cloud hosting plans have a 14-day money back guarantee, which is still enough time to tell if you’re happy with your service. SiteGround will also refund you if they fail to meet a 99.9% uptime rate. This is clearly written in their terms of service. This relates back to what we talked about earlier, in terms of their high uptime rates. There’s a reason why it’s so high—SiteGround has a promise to stand behind. Other considerationsThere’s no such thing as a perfect web hosting service. While SiteGround is great, there are a few downsides that you should be made aware of before you proceed. Renewal ratesAt first glance, SiteGround’s pricing is very attractive. But those are only promotional rates. When you renew, your rates will jump as follows:
The cost essentially triples across the board. So I’d recommend locking in the longest contract possible when you first sign up, which is 36 months. This will guarantee you a low rate for a while before you’re forced to renew. Limited budget planFor those of looking for the best cheap web hosting service, SiteGround’s StartUp plan for $6.99 per month is definitely attention-grabbing. It’s a great choice for those of you with smaller websites, but it’s fairly limited for anyone who plans on getting more than 10,000 visitors per month. You may have to upgrade faster than you anticipated if you start with their lowest priced web hosting plan. Compare SiteGround Web Hosting PlansSiteGround offers three tiers for their hosting sites:
With the exception of cloud hosting, the prices of these three plans will remain the same across the board for shared hosting, WordPress hosting, and Woocommerce hosting. We’ll dive deeper into those plans later in this guide. For now, I’ll focus on the pricing and features of the three most popular plan options offered by SiteGround. StartUpAs the name implies, the SiteGround StartUp plan is ideal for new or smaller websites (less than 10,000 monthly visits). Rates start at $6.99 per month. You can only host one website with the StartUp plan, and it comes with 10 GB of web space. Other top features include:
It’s a basic plan, but definitely appropriate for new websites that are starting from scratch. For those of you who want more features and better performance, you’ll need to upgrade. You’ll also outgrow the StartUp plan as your traffic increases (which is a good thing). GrowBigThe GrowBig plan starts at $9.99 per month. This is ideal for medium-sized websites averaging up to 25,000 monthly visits. GrowBig has 20 GB of web space and can host an unlimited number of sites. Unlike the StartUp plan, GrowBig has enhanced caching ability. The SiteGround Supercacher has three levels.
StartUp only caches at the first level, but GrowBig caches on all three levels. If you sign up for the middle-tier plan offered by SiteGround, you’ll also get free on-demand backups, as well as a staging feature for WordPress and Joomla sites. I’d say that the GrowBig plan will be suitable for most of you who are reading this guide. GoGeekGoGeek can accommodate up to 100,000 monthly visits and has 40 GB of web space. Obviously, this plan is made for bigger websites with high volumes of traffic. Rates for GoGeek start at $14.99 per month, but the plan comes with all of the bells and whistles. In addition to everything that’s available in the GrowBig plan, GoGeek offers:
The name for this plan was inspired by technology geeks. So it’s made for those of you who want more control of your site. If you don’t understand some of the tech lingo that’s being mentioned in the GoGeek plan, it’s probably not for you. The only other reason why you’d need to upgrade to GoGeek is if you’re getting tons of monthly site traffic. WordPress hostingSiteGround offers hosting options specifically designed for WordPress users. This will save you time since you won’t need to manually download, install, and configure WordPress. With SiteGround, you can take advantage of their automated process that’s as simple as clicking a button. This plan also makes it easier for you to customize your WordPress site by choosing a theme, picking your site functionalities, and installing marketing tools. The WordPress Starter Kit from SiteGround is a great added feature for new WordPress sites. You don’t need any technical knowledge or experience to set this up. If you have an existing WordPress site, SiteGround offers a free WordPress transfer. The SiteGround Migrator plugin takes care of everything for you. This is a secure way to transfer your site. Alternatively, you can get your WordPress site migrated by one of the experts at SiteGround. This is a paid feature but could be worth the price if it’s in your budget. WooCommerce hostingSiteGround also has hosting options for ecommerce shops using WooCommerce. The quick install and integration with WooCommerce is an easy way for you to create a professional theme for your online store. You can get the site up and running in minutes. Just migrate your WooCommerce site using the migrator plugin. Just like WordPress hosting, WooCommerce migrations done by a SiteGround expert is free for one website if you’re on the GrowBig or GoGeek plan. Then you’ll have to pay $30 per each additional site. Cloud hostingCloud hosting is a new way to host websites. The process uses multiple remote servers and is a great option for those of you who have websites that have outgrown the shared hosting plans. With cloud hosting, SiteGround gives you guaranteed resources to meet your needs. Your own RAM and CPU won’t be shared with any other websites. It’s also easy for you to scale your website with this type of web hosting. You can upgrade your RAM, CPU, and disk space on-demand at any time. You don’t need to get approval to do this, and it happens without any website downtime. Rather than always doing this manually, you can set up automatic scaling with SiteGround. It will adjust your CPU and RAM to meet the needs of unexpected traffic surges, but you still have control of all the parameters. There are four plans for SiteGround Cloud hosting. As you can see from the image above, the plans range from $80 to $240 per month. So there’s definitely plenty of options to choose from. I’d say that the business plan will likely be a suitable choice for most of you who are using a cloud hosting service for the first time. ConclusionI’ll get straight to the point—I would definitely recommend SiteGround for web hosting. This platform offers a wide range of hosting types and plans to accommodate the needs of nearly any website, large or small. SiteGround stacks up well compared to its competitors in terms of features and performance. While the hosting service it’s perfect, it still gets the nod from us here at Quick Sprout. I’m confident that it will fulfill your web hosting needs. Normally $11.95/month via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/siteground-web-hosting-review/ WordPress plugins allow you to endlessly customize your website. But which one is the best? And which one will do the most for your website?
There are more than 54,300 WordPress plugins. It’s an overwhelming number to say the least. That’s why I took the time to identify the best WordPress plugins for the most popular categories. I’ve already created extensive guides for each one of these 13 categories. Every guide contains a list of the best WordPress plugins in each segment. And if you’re after something specific, you should check out that post — many of plugins I recommend are for particular use cases. In-Depth Reviews of the Best WordPress Plugins in 13 CategoriesThis my the complete list of my in-depth plugin reviews for…
The Best of the Best WordPress PluginsEach of those posts reviews multiple plugins in each category. But most people don’t need to go that deep. That’s why I made this best of the best list. This is a resource to identify the top must-have plugin for each category. The plugins on this list are not the niche options; these are the plugins that will appeal to the masses. They’re the WordPress plugins I’d recommend broadly. Best SEO Plugin for WordPress — Yoast SEOThere are hundreds of WordPress plugins that will help improve your SEO strategy, but one stands above the rest. Yoast SEOYoast SEO is an all-in-one solution for your WordPress SEO needs. With more than five million active installations, it’s one of the most popular WordPress plugins on the market. I’m not saying you should always follow the crowd, but a number that big is a great indication of quality. Why I like it:
Cost: Free; $89 per year for premium Best Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress — MonsterInsightsMonsterInsights is the best WordPress plugin for Google Analytics. Google Analytics gives you in-depth knowledge and insights about your website traffic. By installing a plugin, you can have access to all of your Google Analytics reports without leaving your WordPress dashboard. This plugin lets you add your Google Analytics code to your website without any manual coding required. It’s advanced and versatile enough to handle analytics for all websites, including ecommerce shops. No wonder it has two million active installations. Why I like it:
Cost: $99.50 for a basic website, $199.50 for ecommerce sites, and $499.50 for agencies and developers — all plans billed annually Best Membership Plugin for WordPress — MemberPressMembership websites drive recurring revenue with a subscription business model. Think of those blogs or web newspapers you see online that ask you to subscribe for their content. You can offer premium features and content to your paid members. In order to set this up, you’ll need to install a plugin to manage memberships and payments on your WordPress site. MemberPress is the best plugin for this category. It makes it easy for you to convert your existing website into a membership site, without having to start from scratch. All you have to do is add the details of your payment gateway and set up your products and content in a members-only area. Why I like it:
Cost: $129 per year for Basic, $249 per year for Plus, and $349 per year for Pro Best WordPress Backup Plugin — VaultPressIn the event of a crash or malicious attack on your website, a backup plugin will be there to restore your content and minimize downtime. It will also act as a fail-safe against human error on your WordPress dashboard. We’ve been using VaultPress here on Quick Sprout since 2011. So naturally, I think it’s the best WordPress backup plugin, or else I’d switch to something else. It’s so easy for you to set up and automatically back up your website content. You don’t need to be a tech wizard to use this plugin. Why I like it:
Cost: Plans range from $39 to $299 per year Best WordPress Cache Plugin — WP RocketAdding a cache plugin to your website will help you speed up your page loading times. Out of more than 900 cache plugins available, one stands out as the best. The WP Rocket WordPress plugin is extremely versatile. It’s simple enough for beginners to figure it out, but has advanced features that can meet the needs of developers with more technical experience. Why I like it:
Cost: $49 per year for one website, $99 per year for three websites, and $249 per year for unlimited websites Best WordPress Security Plugin — WordFence SecurityRoughly 90,000 websites get hacked every day — 83% of those websites use WordPress. Clearly, security needs to be at the top of your priority list. You can install a WordPress plugin to help beef up your website security. More than two million WordPress websites are currently using the WordFence Security plugin as a security solution. The plugin fights against malware, spam, and other threats in real time. It’s a great option for those of you who don’t have a background in IT or cybersecurity. You’ll still be able to secure your website with WordFence Security. Why I like it:
Cost: Free; premium version starts at $99 per year with other add-ons available for purchase Best Form Plugin for WordPress — Ninja FormsWebsite forms are crucial for collecting information. It’s the best way to get your website visitors to sign up for something, like your email subscription list. Ninja Forms is great because of its seamless integration into your WordPress dashboard. Once you have this plugin installed, you can create your first form in just minutes. That’s why it’s no surprise that more than one million websites use Ninja Forms. Why I like it:
Cost: Free; $99 per year for Personal, $199 per year for Professional, $499 per year for Agency. Add-ons range from $29 to $129 per year. Best WordPress Gallery Plugin — NextGEN GalleryWordPress has a basic image gallery. However, I wouldn’t recommend using it because it’s so limited. For truly improving the visual appeal of your website, you’ll need something extra. A gallery plugin is ideal. NextGEN Gallery is one of the best WordPress plugins because you’ll have so many different gallery options to choose from. Other plugins just give you a couple of basic templates for adding images. It’s a great option for photographers and artists. Why I like it:
Cost: Free; paid versions available for $79, $99, and $139 per year Best WordPress Slider Plugin — Smart Slider 3Do you want to add a slider to your website? You can make sliders, carousels and blocks using a slider plugin. My favorite is Smart Slider 3, because it’s easy to use, reliable and super flexible. Using Smart Slider 3, you’re able to create a slider on your WordPress website using powerful design tools, and pre-built templates. There’s a free version and a pro version. Why I like it:
Cost: Free; aid versions available for $35-$250 depending on how many sites you want to implement the plugin on. Best Social Media WordPress Plugin — Super SocializerYour website needs to be integrated with your social media profiles. Otherwise, you’re not maximizing the potential of your social media. WordPress plugins can help you increase the exposure of your website content on social media. There are so many social media WordPress plugins designed for specific features. But Super Socializer is more of an all-in-one solution. So if you don’t want to install multiple social media plugins, I’d definitely recommend Super Socializer. Why I like it:
Cost: Free Best WordPress Calendar Plugin — EventONEvery business needs to stay organized. Calendar plugins can help you manage events, tasks, and bookings on your website. Some of these plugins are more advanced than others, but overall, there’s one that shines above the rest. EventON allows you to create calendars that will “wow” your website visitors. We’ve all seen websites with boring calendars that look like they were designed a decade ago without any updates. That definitely isn’t be the case here. EventON has modern designs that are visually appealing and fully functional. Why I like it:
Cost: $24; add-ons sold separately Best WordPress Directory Plugin — Directories ProDirectories are extremely versatile. Whether you want to add a directory to your site for internal purposes or create a global platform of business directories, the right WordPress plugin can help you meet those needs. No matter what type of directory you want to add to your website, the Directories Pro WordPress plugin will make it possible. This plugin is highly responsive and uses caching to boost your website’s performance. Make sure to enable reviews for your directory to enhance the content. You can even integrate listings with Google Maps. Why I like it:
Cost: $39 Best WordPress Popup Plugin — Layered PopupsDo you want to add popups to your website? Popups can be great for getting email subscribers, driving downloads, generating sales, or enticing other actions on your website. Regardless of your intention, you’ll need a WordPress plugin to make it work. Layered Popups is great because you can create popups that are visually appealing, so you have a chance to get creative. These popups will clearly stand out to your website visitors. It’s a chance for you to make unique popups compared to what people are used to seeing on other websites. Why I like it:
Cost: $21 Best WordPress Booking Plugin — BooklyBooking plugins are necessary for any website that takes appointments or reservations. Online booking systems will optimize your process on the back end while simultaneously improving the customer experience. If you’re not allowing online bookings, you’re ignoring the preferences of the majority of your customers — 70% of people prefer to book appointments online with service providers. Bookly has a sleek and modern design on both the frontend and backend. Booking options are completely customizable and fully responsive. You’ll definitely want to install Bookly if you’d like to take your customers through a quick and easy booking process. Why I like it:
Cost: $89; add-ons sold separately Best Website Builder Plugins — ZeGutenZeGuten is a website builder plugin. Instead of building your site line-by-line with code, you’ll use “blocks” to put it altogether. It works with everything from an online store to a fitness blog. It’s also responsiveness right out of the box so your website will looks great on mobile. There are 17 easy-to-customize blocks that you’ll work with to build each page on your site. This is the perfect option if you want to customize your WordPress site beyond a basic theme but don’t want to code the whole thing yourself. Why I like it:
Cost: $15 What exactly is a WordPress plugin?It’s essentially an app for your website. I love how WordPress is designed to be lean out of the box. This prevents code bloat — your website isn’t dragged down by bulky code for things you don’t need or use. The core of WordPress is simple. You can customize it with plugins.
Installing a plugin to your WordPress site provides you with advanced features that aren’t available with the bare bones version of WordPress. Where can you get a plugin? There are a number of places, but the primary source is the Official WordPress Plugins Repository. Conclusion: What’s the best WordPress plugin?These are the best overall options for each of the essential categories. Keep in mind, I identified these as the best because they appeal to the widest possible audience. Some of you may want plugins that have more specific features and functionality within each category. For example, you might want an SEO plugin that specifically helps you identify relevant keywords while you’re blogging. Or maybe you want a social media plugin that just adds your Instagram feed to your website. Do you want a Google Analytics WordPress that’s made for tracking specific events on your website? There’s a plugin for that too. There are caching plugins that are better for things like the cloning and migrating content between servers. The list goes on and on. So I’d definitely recommend reviewing the individual guides for each category as well. That way you’ll know for sure that you’re installing a plugin that meets your specific needs. More WordPress Plugin Guides
via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/best-wordpress-plugins/ Want to jump straight to the answer? The best business credit card for most people is definitely the Chase Ink Business Cash. A good business credit card goes beyond day-to-day purchases. They can give you high spending limits, fantastic rewards like airline points and cashback, and useful tools to grow your business. In many instances, you don’t even need a formal business structure to apply for a small business credit card. If you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur without a registered LLC, you can still apply for cards using your social security number as opposed to a tax ID or EIN.
This guide is perfect for anyone interested in a small business credit card. I’ll show you the top options and explain how to find the best business credit card for your situation. Top 8 Best Business Credit Cards for 2020There are hundreds of business credit cards on the market today. It seems like they all claim to be “the best” for something. But really, there are only eight business credit cards that I recommend:
I’ll highlight the top features, benefits, costs, and any other considerations for each one below. The Best Business Credit Card ReviewsChase Ink Business CashChase Ink Business Cash is the best overall business credit card. We love their benefits and flexibility for a wide range of business purposes. Chase offers outstanding rewards for things you’re already spending money on.
You get up to $1,750 cash back each year if you max out those first two categories. Chase offers built-in protection for instances using your Ink Business Cash card. You can decline collision insurance offered by rental companies when you’re renting a car. Chase Ink Business Cash has you covered. The card also provides purchase protection against theft or damage to items for 120 days, up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. It also extends qualified manufacturer’s warranties on purchases for an additional year. You can get extra cards for your employees at no cost, and set individual spending limits for each cardholder and the Ink Business Cash card does not have an annual fee. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineBlue Business Cash Card From American ExpressBlue Business Cash Card gives you the benefits of American Express without the annual fees. You’ll earn 2% cash back on purchases up to $50,000 in a calendar year. After that, you’ll receive 1% cash back on your purchases. Rewards will automatically be credited to your statement, so you don’t have to worry about manual redemption. One unique feature of this card is the spending capacity terms. You have the ability to spend above your credit limit with Amex’s expanded buying power. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll have unlimited spending freedom. The amount available above your limit varies based on things like your payment history, usage, and other factors. American Express offers outstanding travel and transportation benefits with this card. In addition to car rental loss and damage insurance, you’ll also have access to 24/7 services with global hotline assist whenever you’re more than 100 miles from home. This program gives you access to legal, financial, medical, and other emergency services coordination, such as helping you travel with a lost passport. Other Blue Business Card highlights include:
American Express has a long history of providing exceptional service to its cardholders. Their dispute resolution services are second to none. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineChase Ink Business PreferredThe Chase Ink Business Preferred card offers better benefits and rewards than the Ink Business Cash card. However, customers need to pay a $95 annual fee. It’s a better option for business owners who spend more money regularly and prefer rewards points as opposed to cash back. Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on the first $150,000 in combined purchases on:
Earn up to 450,000 points per year if you spend money in those categories. You’ll get 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases, unlimited. If you redeem your travel points with Chase Ultimate Rewards, the points are worth up to 25% more. For example, 80,000 points will get you roughly $1,000 toward travel. You can even transfer qualified points to your favorite frequent travel programs at a 1:1 value. Chase Ink Business Preferred gives you protection for auto rental collision, cell phone protection, as well as trip cancellation or trip interruption insurance. If you miss a business trip or need to cut it short due to sickness, weather, or other situations, Chase will reimburse you up to $5,000 for prepaid, non-refundable expenses. This includes hotels, airfare, and tours. If you refer other business owners to an Ink Business Preferred card, you can earn up to 100,000 bonus points per year (20,000 per approved referral). *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineCitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select World MastercardThe CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard is the best business credit card for frequent American Airlines travelers. If you or your employees frequently fly with American, you definitely need to consider this card. Their benefits offering might make you want to consider flying exclusively with American Airlines after you read it. Travel Benefits:
Rewards Benefits:
You’ll also earn an American Airlines Companion Certificate for domestic travel after spending $30,000 per year. That’s easy to do if your business has a lot of routine spending. The certificate is worth a free round-trip domestic flight for someone else on your itinerary. NOTE: You’ll still be on the hook for taxes and fees. It’s easy to justify the annual fee is you travel with American Airlines often enough. Assuming you check a bag when flying, two round-trip tickets would normally cost $100 in bag fees. The card pays for itself right there. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineAmerican Express Business GoldAmerican Express Business Gold is one of the most premier business credit cards on the market today. The card allows you to earn 4x membership points on the top two categories where your business spends the most money each billing cycle. Those categories are:
The 4x points are valid for the first $150,000 spent per year combined on your top two categories. You’ll earn unlimited one point for every $1 spent after that. American Express has an outstanding membership rewards program for redemption. Your points will transfer to the majority of popular loyalty programs. If you book a flight using American Express Travel and pay with your points, you’ll get 25% of those points back to your account. You also get all of the exceptional American Express travel perks like no foreign transaction fees, car rental loss and damage insurance, baggage insurance, and the global assist hotline. Furthermore, the Amex Business Gold card offers room upgrades and a $100 hotel credit for dining, spa, and other resort activities when you stay at a participating property for at least two consecutive nights. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineChase Ink Business UnlimitedThe Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card is very similar to the Ink Business cash card that we reviewed earlier. The most significant difference between the two cards is the way rewards get earned. With the Ink Business Cash card, you’ll get a different percentage of cash back based on your spending category with certain limits and restrictions for how much can be earned in a year. The Ink Business Unlimited card is much more straightforward. You earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases; no limit. All of the other features and benefits are the same as the Ink Business Cash card. You’ll get a $500 cash back bonus after spending $3,000 in the first three months using the card. There is no annual fee for the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineCapital One Spark CashCapital One Spark Cash offers unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases. There is a $95 annual fee for this card, but it’s waived for the first year. Some of the top features and benefits for Capital One Spark Cash include:
I like the fact that you can immediately lock a card from the mobile app if it’s lost or stolen. You’ll also benefit from a detailed year-end summary report that’s perfect for budgeting and tax preparation. It’s easy to integrate your purchase records with Quickbooks to simplify your accounting tasks. Capital One provides emergency card replacement, as well as emergency cash 24/7 at locations throughout the world. Not everyone will be eligible for this card. To apply, you’ll need an excellent credit score and a business registered in the US. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineCapital One Spark Miles For BusinessIf you’re a frequent business traveler, the Capital One Spark Miles cards will reward you with miles instead of cash or points. There are actually two options to choose here. One card is free with decent perks, and the other has a $95 annual fee with better rewards. Beyond that, the two cards are basically identical. Here’s an overview of each one: Capital One Spark Miles
Capital One Spark Miles Select
The Spark Miles Select card will best for those of you who don’t want to pay the annual fee. But if you travel often enough, the $95 is justifiable for Spark Miles card. *Terms apply – Learn how to apply onlineHow to Choose The Best Business Credit CardNow that you’ve had the chance to review the top business credit cards, you’ll need to choose one for yourself. But the best business card for me might not be the best for you. Everyone’s situation is different. This is the methodology that we used to come up with the cards on this list. You can use the same process to evaluate the best option for your business. FeesOne of the first things you should look at is how much the card will cost you. The cards we reviewed ranged from $0 to $295 in annual fees. An annual fee is easy to justify if you’re going to be spending enough to get the most out of the perks and rewards. But if you’re a single-member sole-proprietor working out of your home office, you probably don’t need a card with an annual fee. Beyond that, look for APR, cash advance fees, foreign transaction fees, transfer fees, and late payment fees. Personally, I always pay my cards in-full each month, so the late fees and APR aren’t really relevant to me. But things like foreign transaction fees can add up quickly during international travel. RewardsWhat type of rewards do you want? Some cards offer cash back, while others offer points or miles. Cash back will likely be the best option for most of you. If you travel often for business, cards that reward you with miles should definitely be taken into consideration. Just make sure you understand how rewards get earned and if there are any stipulations. Some cards will limit the number of rewards you can earn in a year. Qualification TermsSome cards require you and your business to have excellent credit. You won’t get approved for certain cards if your credit score is below 700. You’ll also need to have an incorporated business to be eligible for certain cards. Other cards allow you to apply using just your name and social security number. Loyalty ProgramsThere are certain business credit cards that are tied to a specific loyalty partner. For example, the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select World Mastercard is an American Airlines card. In most cases, it’s best to stay away from those airline or hotel-specific cards because you won’t be rewarded as much for purchases with another company. So you’re better off with general miles, cash back, or points that can be used with any airline or hotel. With that said, if you know that you’ll be flying a specific airline often, these types of loyalty programs will give you the most rewarding benefits. So if you fly from Chicago to Dallas once a month (both American Airlines hubs), it makes perfect sense to get a card tied to AAdvantage. Spending HabitsA business spending $10,000 per year shouldn’t have the same credit card as a company charging $100,000 per year. Your spending categories can also influence your decision when choosing a card. Certain cards offer better rewards for purchases at restaurants or gas stations. Others will give you extra benefits for money spent on advertising or your phone bill. PerksThere are dozens and dozens of potential perks that could sway you to choose one card over another. Some of these include:
The list goes on and on. Find a card with perks that align with your business and spending habits. For example, the American Express Business Gold card has a 50,000 point sign up bonus if you spend $5,000 in the first three months using the card. But if you don’t normally spend $5,000 in three months, this card isn’t for you. The $295 annual fee won’t be worth it. ConclusionEvery business owner needs a credit card. Fortunately, the credit card companies have created cards with a wide range of benefits, rewards, and perks to accommodate your needs. Here’s a quick recap of the best business credit cards on our list:
Whether you want cash back, miles, or points, I made sure to include something for everyone on this list. Some of these cards are best for larger businesses that travel frequently, while others are suitable for small business owners and sole proprietors. via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/best-business-credit-cards/ Want to jump straight to the answer? My top pick for the best business checking account is Novo Bank. Your business needs a checking account. Whether you’re running a large company or a side hustle, you’ll need to separate your business transactions from your personal finances. For the most part, a business checking account functions very similarly to a personal checking account. However, business checking accounts typically have extra fees, minimum balance requirements, and monthly transaction limits. So before you open a new account, it’s important that you find a bank that meets the needs of your business.
Top 11 Best Business Checking Accounts For 2020There are hundreds, if not thousands, of business checking accounts on the market today. From small local banks to large national chains and online-only banking, there are really only eleven accounts that I would consider.
The majority of these are free business checking accounts. Some do have a monthly fee, but it’s fairly easy to get those waived by meeting reasonable requirements. I’ll give you an in-depth review of the top business checking accounts below. We’ll cover the top features, benefits, prices, and any potential drawbacks that should be taken into consideration. The Best Business Checking Account ReviewsNovo – Best online-only business checking account for freelancers and entrepreneursNovo is an alternative to traditional banking. It’s an online-exclusive business checking account intended for freelancers and entrepreneurs. They’re a straightforward solution with transparent pricing and no hidden fees. You can apply for a Novo account in less than ten minutes online. These are some of the notable highlights for Novo business checking:
Novo lets you open a new business checking account with just $50. This is a modern banking solution. You can integrate your account with Zapier, Xero, Slack, and other tools that your small business is currently using. Since it’s online, you can’t walk into a physical branch. So if your business has in-person banking needs, then Novo isn’t for you. However, Novo will reimburse you for ATM fees imposed by other banks. So you’ll still be able to access cash from anywhere without paying an extra fee. Axos Basic Business Checking – Best online-only business checking account with no monthly feesAxos is another online-only bank. So if you don’t have any in-person banking needs, you should definitely consider Axos Basic Business Checking. Here’s an overview of the account:
The online and mobile banking solutions from Axos are exceptional, as you would expect from an online-exclusive bank. You can deposit a check from anywhere using your mobile device. Overall, Axos Basic Business Checking is suitable for small business owners with modest banking needs. Chase Total Business Checking – Best checking account for small businessesChase Total Business Checking is perfect for entrepreneurs and small business owners. You’ll have access to 4,900 branches and 16,000 ATMs throughout the country. There is a $15 service fee with the account. But the fee waived if you maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance or link a personal Chase checking account. Top benefits and highlights of Chase Total Business Checking include:
You can earn $200 by opening the account. Simply deposit $1,000 within the first 20 days, and make five qualifying transactions while maintaining that balance for 60 days. Chase also offers 24/7 customer service for customers. This is fantastic for those any issues, big or small, that might come up. They offer the tools you need to manage your growing business, including some of the best business credit cards on the market today. Citizens Bank Clearly Better Business Checking – Best free business checking account with no minimum balanceFor those of you seeking a free business checking account, look no further than Citizens Clearly Better Business Checking. You won’t have to worry about meeting any minimum balance requirements because there are no maintenance fees. This makes Clearly Better Business Checking a top choice for business owners who maintain a lower bank balance. Other top features include:
One potential drawback of Citizens Bank is its size. While the company has more than 1,000 branches and 3,100+ ATMs nationwide, most of them are located on the east coast. So if you’ll need to visit a branch, for anything, verify that there is a Citizens Bank near your business before opening an account. Unlike other business checking accounts, Citizens does not offer a sign-up incentive for Clearly Better Business Checking. TD Business Convenience Checking Plus – Best checking account with up to 500 free transactions a monthYou can open a TD Business Convenience Checking Plus account with just $100. However, you’ll need to maintain a $1,500 daily balance to waive the $25 monthly maintenance fee. If you link a personal checking account to your Business Checking Plus account, TD Bank counts your combined balance between the two accounts toward the daily minimum. So this is a great choice for business owners who already have an account at TD Bank. Let’s review some of the account benefits:
While TD Business Convenience Checking Plus does have a high maintenance fee, you’ll benefit from more free monthly transactions. For comparison purposes, Chase Total Business Checking has a $15 fee for just 100 free transactions each month. Plus, it’s easy to waive TD’s $25 fee by maintaining a low combined balance between two accounts. Even though you’re limited to $5,000 free cash deposits each month, you’re only charged $0.25 per $100 thereafter. So an additional $5,000 cash deposited in a cycle ($10,000 total) would cost you $12.50. That’s just 0.13% of your deposits, which is next to nothing. TD Bank gives you access to other services, like merchant solutions, business loans, and business lines of credit. US Bank Silver Business Checking – Best free checking account for low transaction volumesUS Bank Silver Business Checking is 100% free. They do impose a $5 monthly fee for paper statements, but you can waive that charge by going paperless. Here’s an overview of the account benefits:
One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the strange wording US Bank uses to limit cash deposits. The account allows 25 “units” of free cash deposits each billing cycle. After reading the fine print, you’ll learn that a unit is calculated by dividing each deposit by 100 and rounding the value to the closest whole number. Here’s an example. Let’s say you deposit $920. 920 100 =9.2 Round 9.2 down to 9, and you just used 9 of your 25 credits for the month. This credit system is a complex way of saying you’ll get up to $2,500 in free cash deposits each billing cycle. So if you’re making cash deposits on a regular basis, this account might not be the best option for you. Huntington Unlimited Business Checking – Best business checking for large businesses with high cash flowHuntington Unlimited Business Checking is a top option for larger organizations. If you have a higher monthly transaction volume, some of the other accounts on our list won’t fit your needs. The top features and benefits of Unlimited Business Checking from Huntington include:
Huntington does charge a $20 monthly maintenance fee for this account. But it’s waived with a $10,000 combined balance between all of your eligible Huntington Bank accounts. With an Unlimited Business Checking account, Huntington Bank allows you to choose one of the following bonus services as well:
This bank also has a tool called “The Hub” for business checking accounts. It comes with several digital tools for things like cash positioning and cash flow forecasting. The Hub is a great resource for managing your revenue and expenses. Navy Federal Business Checking – Best business checking account for veteransNavy Federal Business Checking is a top choice to consider if you or someone in your family is a member of the armed forces, National Guard, or DoD. It’s a straightforward and basic account, best for startups with a low transaction volume. The best part about this account is that it’s 100% free. You’ll never be charged a monthly maintenance or service fee. Your first 30 non-electronic transactions are free. After that, it’s $0.25 for any in-branch deposits, withdrawals, or transfers. But you can deposit up to 12 checks at the same time, and it will count as a single transaction. Another reason why I like Navy Federal Business Checking is because they have other banking solutions to meet your needs as the business grows. Once your banking activity increases, consider upgrading to:
Those accounts cost $8 and $20 per month, respectively. The Premium Checking maintenance fee is waived if you maintain a $5,000 daily balance. BBVA Business Connect Checking – Best business banking for sole proprietorsBBVA has free banking solutions for small businesses. Sole proprietors can apply online for a BBVA Business Connect Checking account. Other business types need must apply at a branch. Here’s an overview of the account advantages and highlights:
BBVA gives you free unlimited transactions every month, sort of. You’ll get two in-branch deposits, and five in-branch withdrawals or processed checks free each month. All other transactions are unlimited at no charge. You’ll only find BBVA branches in the following states:
However, you’ll have access to a network of 55,000+ ATMs nationwide. That’s because BBVA is an Allpoint partner. There are no ATM fees at Allpoint ATMs and participating 7-Eleven locations. Azlo Business Checking – Best online bank for freelancers accepting digital paymentsAzlo Business Checking is a bit unique compared to the other options on our list. This online-only banking solution is made for freelancers and entrepreneurs. The company is very straightforward in saying that they are not right for all businesses. Azlo doesn’t accept cash deposits or offer checkbooks. So it’s only suitable for businesses that send and receive digital payments. With that said, the account definitely has its advantages:
Azlo integrates with platforms like Stripe, PayPal, Square, QuickBooks, and Xero. Overall, Azlo is a modern way for freelancers to access their banking needs online. But it’s definitely not suitable for everyone. BlueVine – Best business checking for small businesses and startupsBlueVine Business Checking offers an excellent business checking account that’s optimal for small businesses. That’s because they include the benefits that help small business owners such as:
Easily set up one-time or recurring payments through their dashboard. Also, you’ll be able to easily pay vendors via ACH, wire, or check. As for downsides, there aren’t many. They have a 38,000 ATM network—though it might be difficult to find an ATM within network depending on your location. BlueVine also gives you live support, though advisors are only available during office hours. That’s Monday through Friday 8am – 8pm ET. How to Find the Best Business Checking Account For YouAll business checking accounts are not created equally. The best choice for one business might not be ideal for yours. This is the methodology that you should use when you’re evaluating business checking accounts. I’ll explain each feature in greater detail below. FeesService fees and monthly maintenance fees are common for business checking accounts. In most cases, these fees fall somewhere in the $10 to $50 range. But there are still plenty of free business banking solutions. In fact, seven of the eleven accounts on our list don’t have monthly fees. While the remaining four contain fees, you can easily waive them by maintaining a minimum account balance. There’s no reason to pay these fees if you can avoid them. Balance RequirementsSome banks require a minimum opening deposit. So choose a bank with a reasonable opening deposit minimum based on your situation. If you’re launching a startup and don’t have a ton of cash on hand, you can open some accounts with as little as $50 or $100. Some banks don’t require a minimum opening deposit at all. In addition to the opening deposit requirement, some accounts will charge for you falling below a certain minimum daily balance. Make sure that your cash flow is enough to maintain your minimum requirements without getting penalized. Transaction LimitsPersonal checking accounts will rarely if ever, cap the number of transactions you can make in a billing cycle. But that’s not the case for most business checking accounts. Depending on the bank, activities like deposits, withdrawals, and transfers count toward a monthly limit. Some banks will restrict the number of in-person transactions you can make while offering free unlimited electronic transactions. For the most part, free monthly transaction limits start at 100. TD Business Convenience Checking allows for 500 free transactions per month. Other banks give you unlimited transactions, with a few contingencies. You’ll pay a small fee for each transaction over your monthly limit. This is usually somewhere in the $0.25 to $0.50 range. Mobile Banking and Online AccessibilityEvery bank offers some way to access your account online or through a mobile app. But with that said, some of these digital solutions are definitely better than others. Choose a business checking account that lets you deposit checks remotely, set up account alerts, and pay invoices automatically. I do nearly all of my business banking from a mobile app, and I’m sure you’ll want that convenience as well. Branch LocationsSome banks are region-specific, while others are large national chains. It’s important to choose a bank near your business location if you need to access a branch for anything. However, there are several business checking accounts that are online-exclusive. These banks don’t have any physical locations. But those solutions aren’t for everyone. For example, if your business accepts cash, you’ll definitely need access to a physical branch for in-person deposits. Online-only banking is very popular for freelancers and entrepreneurs working remotely and accepting digital payments. Additional Banking ServicesThis may not be important to you immediately, but it’s nice to have a bank that will provide you with additional services as your business grows. Whether it’s merchant services for credit card processing, additional accounts, or a business loan or line of credit, it’s easier to get these from a bank where you have an existing relationship. Always look at what else a bank has to offer beyond your immediate checking account needs today. ConclusionEvery business owner needs a business checking account. But everyone has different banking needs, which is why finding the best business checking solution can be difficult. These are the top eleven best business checking accounts on the market today:
There’s an account for every type of business on this list. From freelancers and startups to small businesses and larger organizations with high transaction volumes, I’m confident that you can find a checking account from one of the options above. via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/best-business-checking-accounts/ Want to jump straight to the answer? The best video conferencing service for most people is definitely RingCentral or GoToMeeting. I consider a great video conferencing service to be critical for any business--especially in this day and age. Whether you have remote employees, clients, prospects, or team members across multiple locations, you need video conferencing software that you can depend on. Tools like Skype or Facetime aren’t robust enough for companies. They lag too often, can’t handle groups well, and are a pain when setting up meetings. If you’re ready to take your conference calls to the next level with video, you need to read this guide.
I’ve already done all the research and heavy-lifting to help you choose the best video conferencing service for your business. Regardless of your company size, industry, or conferencing needs, there’s definitely an option for you below. The 8 Best Video Conferencing ServicesOf the dozens of options available, there are really only eight solutions I would recommend to a business owner. In no particular order, those are:
As I said, these video conferencing services are in no particular order and all have their pros and cons. Use the in-depth reviews below to compare them. RingCentral – Best video conferencing service with VoIP business phone plansFree up to 100 participants RingCentral is our top choice for video conferencing. That’s because they go beyond video conferencing services. They also offer VoIP business phone services. You can get rid of your traditional phone plan too. RingCentral provides video conferencing features as an added bonus. You can always purchase RingCentral Meetings as a standalone product. Those plans are below: Free — $0 per month
Essentials — $14.99 per month per user
Advanced — $19.99 per month per user
The free plan is actually pretty decent if you compare it to others on the list. While you’re capped at 40 minutes per meeting, you can still have up to 100 participants. At the same time, the paid plans are also limited to just 100 participants, which is low compared to the competition. However, you can add-on larger meeting options to your plan for an upcharge. RingCentral also has great enterprise solutions. You’ll need to contact their sales team to get a custom quote. But you can save some money by bundling RingCentral Meetings with a VoIP business phone. GoToMeeting – Best video conferencing service for small businessesFree 14-day trial GoToMeeting makes it easy for you to turn any video conference into a highly collaborative workspace. As such, it’s a top choice for remote workers and clients alike. Everyone from sales managers, to business owners, to IT teams use it. A big reason why: GoToMeeting easily integrate with the systems your business is currently using. They also offer an all-in-one hardware and software kit for those of you who want to transform your physical conference room into a digital one. This hardware is more advanced than the built-in cameras, microphones, and speakers on your current devices. Some other top features and benefits of using GoToMeeting for video conferencing include:
Unlike the other platforms that we’ve reviewed so far, GoToMeeting has just two plans for you to choose from:
The plans are very similar. GoToMeeting offers unlimited meetings and unlimited meeting durations with both options. You’ll also benefit from things like Salesforce integration, Slack meeting launcher, and an admin center with each. The biggest difference between Professional and Business is that they can host up to 150 and 250 participants, respectively. In addition to more participants, the Business plan gives you access to transcripts, keyboard and mouse sharing, unlimited cloud storage, and mobile cloud recording. I think it’s a no-brainer to sign up for the Business option instead of Professional. The added benefits are worth the extra $5 per month. GoToMeeting does offer enterprise-grade plans for up to 3,000 participants. But those prices aren’t available online. You’ll need to speak to a sales rep for a custom quote. Save 16% on your GoToMeeting plan with an annual contract. You can try GoToMeeting for free with up to 250 participants for 14 days. ClickMeeting – Best video conferencing service for webinarsFree 30-day trial ClickMeeting is a bit different compared to some of the other video conferencing services that we’ve reviewed. This platform has a specific standout: webinars. It’s a great option for those of you who want to hold large online events, market your products with video demonstrations, and host online courses or training sessions with live video. They also traditional video conferencing solutions for team meetings and business collaboration. However, if that’s all you need, I’d look towards the other options on this list. Their pricing is complicated too. There are two plans that depend on how many attendees you have. Here’s an overview of those price points per month for each plan: Live
Automated
For video conferences with more than 1,000 attendees, contact the ClickMeeting sales team for a custom enterprise solution. You can try ClickMeeting free for 30 days and run webinars with up to 25 attendees to try it out. Save up to 20% off your with annual billing instead of a month-to-month contract. The Automated plan is your best option for broadcasting professional video webinars. This plan comes with advanced features like auto-streaming to Facebook or YouTube, automated follow-up emails to attendees, Google Analytics integration, and certificates of attendance. As you can see, ClickMeeting is definitely pricey compared to the other options on our list, which is why I wouldn’t recommend it for just basic video conferencing use. But the price is worth it if you’re planning to use the webinar features. Zoho Meeting – Most affordable video conferencing service with basic featuresPlans as low as $8/month Zoho Meeting is arguably the most straightforward video conferencing solution on the market today. There isn’t a bunch of bells a whistles. Just one plan for video conferencing. Pricing is simple; it’s $10 per month per user, or $8 per month for an annual contract. The plan comes with everything you need in a video conferencing service. However, it’s limited to just 100 participants per meeting and storage of up to 10 recordings. This isn’t enterprise-grade software by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s an affordable and suitable choice for lots of small business owners. Some of Zoho’s top features include:
You’ll also have the ability to switch a presenter, give someone control, and remove users from a video conference. As expected, Zoho Meeting integrates seamlessly with Zoho CRM. So if you’re already using a Zoho product, this will be a top option for you to consider. While Zoho Meeting isn’t the most extensive video conferencing service out there, it’s a high-quality solution for small business owners who just need basic features. Zoom – Best video conferencing service for scalabilityFree up to 100 participants Since launching in 2011, Zoom has quickly become an industry leader in the video conferencing space. The software is trusted by large businesses like Ticketmaster, Uber, Pandora, and GoDaddy, to name a few. Where Zoom shines is its simplicity. They have a plan for businesses of all shapes and sizes, including a free option. Zoom has video conferencing capabilities with up to 1,000 participants, and up to 49 videos on the screen simultaneously. The platform is secure, with role-based user security options, password protection, and waiting rooms. Zoom makes it easy for your team to collaborate with screen sharing, filing sharing, and other interactive features. Zoom is modern, so naturally, the service can be accessed from a mobile app as well. This is perfect for participants who are on the go and unable to reach a computer for a meeting. Here’s an overview of Zoom’s pricing model: Basic — Free
Pro — $14.99 per month per host
Business — $19.99 per month per host
Enterprise — $19.99 per month per host
As you can see, there is a plan for everyone. The free option is an excellent choice for an entrepreneur or freelancer who only needs to video chat once in a while for brief meetings. Beyond personal use, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro or Business plans to get the most out of Zoom. Fortunately, Zoom makes it easy for you to scale to another plan as your company grows. Just be aware that your plan will impact the level of customer support you receive. To get premium support, you’ll need to upgrade. Microsoft Teams – Best video conferencing service for internal communicationFree entry level plan Teams is an instant messaging service with video capability, offered by Microsoft. The platform is designed specifically for internal communication in the workplace. With chat, audio, and video capabilities for group sizes of 10 or 10,000, Teams is the ultimate in-house communication solution. Slack is a direct competitor of Teams. But Teams shines with its superior technology and video conferencing features. However, the setup, usage, and onboarding are a bit more complex. So just be aware of that ahead of time. Teams is best when it’s accessed from a desktop device or web app. There is a mobile app, but overall the web version is easier to navigate. Here’s a quick overview of the plans and pricing:
Both paid plans are only available with an annual contract. The Free plan and entry-level paid plan both have a limit of 300 users, while the Office 365 E3 option is unlimited. You’ll still have access to quite a few features with the free version, including video calls. But you’ll need Office 365 Business Premium to get the most out of this software. Paid plans have 140+ app integrations, 1 TB of storage, scheduled meetings, meeting recordings, and administrative support. The biggest downside of Teams is that it’s limited. It’s not really a true video conferencing service. Instead, it’s better for one-on-one video meetings or smaller groups. If you want to host large-scale video conferences and make presentations to clients, you should look elsewhere for a more suitable solution. Join.me – Best annual contract for video conferencing servicesVoice plans start at $10/month Millions of people use Join.me for video conferencing. The platform offers solutions for individuals, teams, and businesses. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, Join.me is a popular choice. The website boasts its best-known customers like like TOMS, Foursquare, OpenTable, and Pinterest. Join.me is easy. The signup process is as quick as it gets. There’s no need to consult with a sales representative or get a custom quote. Just visit their website, and you can start a call in minutes. To start a new video conference, simply invite others to “join” your meeting (hence the name). You can invite people via email or with a custom link. With Join.me, you can customize the video conferencing background, customize the URL, and share your screen with just one click. You can invite people to your meeting even if they aren’t already using the Join.me platform. Here’s an overview of the plans and pricing options: Lite — $10 per month per user
Pro — $20 per month per user
Business — $30 per month per user
Unfortunately, the Lite plan doesn’t include video conferencing, so you can skip over that one. It’s also worth noting that all plans are offered with an annual contract only. Month-to-month plans are unavailable. However, you can try Join.me free with a 14-day free trial. Compared to other options on the list, Join.me is a bit limited in terms of meeting participants and the number of video streams per meeting. But it’s a fine option for those of you who won’t need more than ten simultaneous video streams per conference. Webex – Best video conferencing service for cloud collaborationFree up to 50 participants Cisco is a brand name that’s synonymous with superior technology. So it should be no surprise that Cisco Webex ranks so highly on our list for video conferencing software. With Webex, you can host massive virtual events with up to 100,000 participants and run an interactive webinar for 3,000-person audiences. Webex is perfect if you need to run on-demand training lessons for large groups as well. This is a great tool for onboarding employees at scale throughout multiple locations. The Webex mobile app is another standout feature of the platform. Hosting and joining meetings are both simple and accessible from anywhere. Webex is built for teams. Arguably the best part about this video conferencing software is the cloud collaboration features. It’s easy to share files and screens with other meeting participants to stay organized and make the conference more interactive. Cisco offers four different plans for you to choose from, including a basic free option. Free — $0 per month
Starter — $16.95 per month per host
Plus — $22.95 per month per host
Business — $32.95 per month per host
At first glance, the Webex prices appear to be higher than Zoom. However, you can save 20% per month with an annual contract. It’s also worth noting that the Webex Plus plan doesn’t have any host minimums, and the business plan has just a five license minimum. Zoom has a 10 and 50 host minimum for their plans at similar price points. So Webex will be a better option if you want those business or enterprise-level features for a smaller team. How to Find the Best Video Conferencing ServicesCompare Quotes From The Best Video Conferencing Services Get matched up with a video conferencing service that fits your specific needs. Compare Quotes
Now that you’ve had a chance to review the top solutions on the market, how can you find the best option for your unique situation? This is the methodology that I used to come up with this guide. I’ve identified each feature set that matters the most and why you need to take it into consideration when you’re evaluating prospective platforms. Conference SizeEvery video conferencing plan has some limit on the number of participants who can join a meeting. This can be as 25 or as high as 100,000. Make sure you choose a service and plan that can accommodate the number of people you need for your video conferences. You don’t want to overpay for a plan that has participant limits that you’ll never reach. But more importantly, you don’t want to be in a situation where your participant list is too large for your platform and plan. Video StreamsYou might be able to have a large number of participants in a conference, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every user will be able to broadcast a video stream. For example, RingCentral plans have up to 100 participants per meeting, but limit you to just ten simultaneous video streams. So don’t be swayed by the participant limits alone. Always check to see how many users can actually stream a video at the same time. Collaboration ToolsCollaboration tools are crucial for groups and teams. Features like screen sharing, built-in chat, file sharing, and cloud collaboration are very useful for presentations and group projects. It’s also helpful when a video conferencing service integrates with existing tools and platforms that you’re already using to run a business. You can look for features like Salesforce integration or Google Analytics integration. PriceObviously, the cost will play a roll in your decision-making process. For the most part, video conferencing services are billed on a monthly basis per user. Prices typically fall in the $10 to $40 range per month per user for traditional video conferencing. However, you can pay significantly more than that for advanced features like video conference webinars. Solutions like ClickMeeting has plans starting at over $300 per month. ConclusionTake your virtual meetings to the next level with video conferencing software. What’s the best video conference service on the market? The answer depends on who you ask and what you’re looking for. Here’s a quick recap of the platforms reviewed above.
Based on this guide, I’m confident that you can find the best choice for your business. No matter how unique your situation might be, these options can accommodate your needs. If you are still not sure which one is right for you then complete the short form below to compare the best solutions further. Compare Quotes From The Best Video Conferencing Services Get matched up with a video conferencing service that fits your specific needs. Compare Quotesvia Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/best-video-conferencing-services/ Bottom line: I highly recommend WP Engine. It’s a great web host that’s perfect for WordPress users. Finding the best web hosting provider for your website can challenging. But if you’re an experienced WordPress user, it will be much easier for you to narrow down your choices. WP Engine should definitely be on your shortlist of web hosting options to consider. In fact, WP Engine ranks high on my list of the best web hosting for WordPress. This is the hosting provider that we use here at Quick Sprout, and we’re very happy with it.
Normally $30/month People who want reliability and stellar service go to WP Engine.. I’ve reviewed all of the different WP Engine plan options. I’ll also explain why WP Engine stands out as a top web host, and cover any potential drawbacks as well. The Benefits of Using WP Engine Web HostingUsing WP Engine as your hosting provider definitely has its fair share of perks. I’ve identified and explained the top benefits of signing up for one of their hosting plans below. Risk-free trialLet’s be honest: WP Engine is pricey when compared to competitors. To get the best possible rate, you need to commit to an annual contract. Some of you might be hesitant to commit for so long at a high rate. Fortunately, WP Engine has a 60-day risk free period for their hosting plans. If you’re not happy with the service, you can opt-out and get refunded. 60 days is double the standard guarantee for most hosting providers in the industry. Furthermore, the fact that WP Engine offers this is a testament to how they feel about their services. They wouldn’t offer it if they didn’t think you’d be satisfied. That’s reason enough to give them a try. Transparent pricingI love the fact that WP Engine’s pricing is straightforward and transparent. That can’t be said for the majority of web hosting providers in the industry. It’s pretty common for hosting providers to advertise really low rates but only apply them to 36 or 48 month contracts that are prepaid in-full. Then when those contracts expire, the renewal rates will double, triple, or even quadruple. WP Engine doesn’t do that. The monthly contracts remain the same price even after your first contract is up. You can get two months free if you prepay for a year, but they’ll never force you to commit longer than that. Outstanding serviceAs a managed WordPress hosting provider, WP Engine really stands out amongst the competition in terms of its service. This more than justifies the cost in my eyes. You won’t have to do anything aside from running your website. The team over at WP Engine will maintain everything at the server level, including the security. WP Engine has hundreds of employees on their support team as well as on their outreach and development team. Other providers with less than 30 employees just can’t match that level of technical support. You’ll never have to worry about updates, security, your tech stack, or server optimizations. All of this is handled for you. The 24/7 live chat with every plan is a huge bonus as well. 24/7 phone support also comes free with every plan except for the Startup option. As a WP Engine customer, I’ve been impressed with the quick and informed responses whenever I’ve reached out to the support team. Strong performanceNo matter how impressive the features and bonuses are, a web hosting provider is useless if the performance of your website is lacking. This is definitely not an area where WP Engine falls short. Each plan has more than enough resources to accommodate the appropriate website sizes and volumes of traffic. This translates to high uptime rates and blazing fast loading speed. Since their hosting solutions are built for WordPress, everything is optimized for peak performance. Other hosting providers with cookie-cutter hosting for any CMS just can’t deliver as well in this area. SecurityWordPress is the world’s most popular CMS. This means that WordPress sites are vulnerable to attacks. In fact, as of 2019, 90% of all hacked sites run on WordPress. That number is up from 83% in 2018. But WP Engine goes the extra mile to protect your site at every level. They block more than 150 million attacks per day. One of the reasons why WordPress sites get hacked is because their software isn’t up to date. You won’t have to worry about maintaining these updates manually. WP Engine will handle it for you to ensure that old software isn’t making your site a target to malware. Developer friendlyWP Engine has tools and resources that make it easy for developers to host a website. They provide easy and automated on-click setups for faster deployment. You’ll also benefit from an integrated DevKit for the WordPress framework. This translates to smoother launches and fluid maintenance.
These are just a handful of the developer-specific benefits provided by WP Engine. Other ConsiderationsWP Engine isn’t perfect. So before you sign up for one of the hosting plans that we’ve discussed above, there are a few drawbacks and other considerations that you should keep in mind. Not for beginnersI do not recommend WP Engine if you’re new to web hosting or WordPress. If this is the first website that you’re launching from scratch, you should look elsewhere. For the price, you can do better with another provider. But WP Engine definitely isn’t trying to appeal to everyone with their pricing structure. This web host is made for pros and experienced webmasters. The developer-friendly tools and benefits are worth it if you know what you’re doing and how to use them. Businesses that are established and running on WordPress already should consider switching to WP Engine if they aren’t satisfied with their current hosting plans. High entry-level pricingAs I’ve mentioned a few times already throughout this review, WP Engine has high prices compared to the competition. Starting at $30 per month, the entry-level plans are ten times higher than some of the alternative hosting options out there. So if this is out of your price range, you can check out my guide on the best cheap web hosting to find another provider. With that said, it’s worth mentioning again that WP Engine doesn’t spike their rates when your contract renews. If you’re comparing entry-level plans, the rate may not seem significantly higher when you factor in the renewal costs and hidden fees charged by other hosts. However, once you get beyond the Starter plan, the price points aren’t even in the same ballpark as other shared web hosting options. WP Engine is expensive. WordPress specificThis should be pretty clear, but I had to mention it to ensure there wasn’t any confusion. If you’re not using WordPress, you can’t consider using WP Engine as a hosting provider. This alienates anyone who is using another CMS to run their website. Overage feesI briefly mentioned this earlier, but I want to talk about it in greater detail. The WP Engine plans have traffic limits. Normally, a web hosting provider will tell you roughly how much traffic your plan can accommodate. If you go over that number, it will impact the performance of your website. But WP Engine has a different approach. Rather than throttling down your website resources to hurt your performance, they simply charge you extra for exceeding your limits. Depending on your plan, you’ll pay an extra $1 to $2 per every 1,000 monthly site visits over your limit. This can be costly, considering the drastic jumps of traffic limits between plans. For example, let’s say you’re on the Growth plan, paying $115 per month for up to 100,000 monthly visits. As your business grows, you may start getting 200,000 visits per month, which would cost you an additional $200 per month. At that point, it would be more cost-effective to upgrade your plan, even though you still aren’t coming close to the 400,000 limit on the next tier. The structure of these overage fees could force you to upgrade to a higher plan from the beginning in order to avoid these extra charges. Compare WP Engine Web Hosting PlansWP Engine offers four hosting plans:
All plans come with more than 35 StudioPress themes, 24/7 chat support, free site transfers, an SSL certificate, and a global CDN. Below you’ll find an in-depth review of each plan that includes the price, features, and benefits. StartupHave a small blog or website? Expecting less than 25,000 visitors per month? Go with the Startup hosting plan. It comes with all of the basic hosting features that you should need to accommodate you. The Startup rate is $30 per month. But if you prepay and sign up for an annual contract, you’ll get two months for free. Your website will have 10 GB of local storage and 50 GB of bandwidth per month. This is pretty good if you compare it to other entry-level hosting plans on the market. It’s a basic plan with straightforward pricing, but WP Engine gives you the option to add-on some extra features during the checkout process. While they may sound appealing, you can skip these. I really can’t justify the additional costs for an entry-level plan. A small personal blog with under 25,000 visitors won’t need these extras to run smoothly. If you’re going to spring for anything, the enhanced site security would be my only recommendation. GrowthThe Growth plan is a big jump from Starter. But it comes with features and tools to justify it. The plan starts at $115 per month. It includes hosting for 10 WordPress sites, 100,000 monthly visits, 20 GB of storage, and 200 GB of bandwidth per month. These features make the Growth plan an appealing option for growing businesses. Another big difference between the Startup and Growth plan is the level of customer support. With Startup, you’re limited 24/7 live chat support (although that’s still good for an entry-level hosting plan). But Growth also comes with 24/7 phone support. So this is a huge bonus for those of you who would rather get on the phone and talk to an agent as opposed to chatting online. Even if you’re only expecting 40,000 or 50,000 monthly visitors, you’ll need to upgrade to the Growth plan. WP Engine charges overages for exceeding monthly traffic limits, but we’ll talk about that in greater detail later on. ScaleAs the name implies, the Scale plan is made for websites that have scaled beyond the limits of other plans. For $290 per month, your plan can accommodate 400,000 visitors per month. You’ll also get 30 GB of storage, 400 GB of bandwidth, and hosting for 15 websites. Those are enough resources to keep your site running smoothly even with increased visitors and traffic surges. The features included with the Scale plan are actually pretty comparable to the Growth plan. So the major difference is really just the ability to accommodate more traffic and the extra resources to support it as well. This plan is best for large websites and WordPress users that want to host multiple sites on one plan. CustomWP Engine offers custom plans for enterprise-level websites. With up to 1 TB of local storage and 400+ GB of bandwidth per month, the custom plans can accommodate millions of monthly visits to your site. Here’s a side by side comparison of the plans to put this into perspective for you. As you can imagine, only a small percentage of websites would be interested in the custom plan. For a higher price point, the plan comes with some free extras that are normally paid add-ons for the other plans. These extras include WordPress multisite, GeoTarget, and content performance. To get rates for the custom pricing solutions, you’ll need to get in touch with a WP Engine sales specialist. They’ll work out the details with you to figure out how much resources your website needs. ConclusionWP Engine is arguably the best managed WordPress hosting provider on the market today. But it isn’t for everyone. If you’re an advanced WordPress user, or if you’re a seasoned pro looking to get the most out of your WordPress website, I highly suggest WP Engine. However, it’s pretty pricey. The high entry-level pricing isn’t worth it for new or small websites. I wouldn’t even recommend the Startup plan because it’s so basic. I’d only consider using WP Engine if you were ready to sign up for the Growth or Scale plans. However WP Engine delivers world-class service if you do sign up. As a satisfied WP Engine customer, I’m happy to recommend this web host to you as well. Normally $30/month via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/wp-engine-web-hosting-review/ Creating a website used to be a massive project. Expensive, too. Everything had to be built by hand and businesses needed to work with an online marketing agency that would charge them tens of thousands of dollars to build the site. If you wanted a professional-looking site, that was your only option. Things have gotten a lot cheaper and easier over the years. Note that there’s a number of approaches you can take to creating a website. More on that later—let’s dive right in. A Step-by-step Guide to Creating a Website With WordPressI’ve broken down the 9 simple steps to create your website from scratch. They are:
You’ll easily be able to run through these steps over the next 120 minutes. Step 1: Pick a name and find a domain for your websiteTime for a tough truth: A lot of the good domain names have been taken. Here’s how a naming session might go for you:
Websites have also become so embedded in our day-to-day lives that it’s better to change the name of the business to match an available domain than it is to pick a poor quality domain. Through this process, I almost always end up with a completely different name than I originally intended. This is why I consider the “naming my business” and “buying the domain” steps for creating a business to be the same step. I try to only lock myself into a name once I have the domain. We put together an in-depth guide on buying domains here. The good news is that the rest of these steps are a breeze once you have your domain purchased. It’s the first and hardest step to create your website. Step 2: Register your domain nameFirst you need to know the difference between a domain registrar and a web host. A domain registrar is a company that specializes in buying and registering domains. A web host, on the other hand, specializes in running servers that host websites. This is where your website “lives.” Every web host will desperately try to get you to also register a domain through them. After all, it’s more money for them. They’ve spent most of their resources building out a hosting service, then they offer domain registration as a convenience, increase the price a bit, and collect a nice chunk of extra profit from you. My philosophy is to buy things from businesses that specialize in that exact thing. Prices will be better and so will quality. That’s why I also use a domain registrar for buying domains and a web host for hosting. I never mix up the two. The best domain registrar is Domain.com. That’s where I have all of my domain names. We put together a detailed review of domain registrars here. Step 3: Decide what kind of site you are creatingMost guides on creating a website will push you into using WordPress. It’s the most popular and flexible website builder. And that’s usually a good recommendation. But there are a few situations where I recommend different options. Simple Portfolio or “Business Card” Sites Many businesses need a simple website that tells people a few things:
You need to communicate basic info—and that’s all. If this is what you need, Wix is your best option for creating your website. It’s incredibly simple to use and will give you a professional site at a very low price. It’s perfect for small businesses. They’ve created the simplest and easiest website builder out there. Truly, it’s a joy to use, and makes the most sense when you just need a clean, professional-looking site that gives some basic info on your business. It’s perfect for small businesses, freelancers, and artists. Ecommerce Sites If you’re planning on building an ecommerce store for your site, don’t use WordPress. We have an entire post here on when to use WordPress for ecommerce and when not to. The short story: it rarely makes sense to use WordPress for ecommerce. You can if you really want to but it’s not really the most optimal way to do so. The best option, by far, is Wix again. There used to be more competition in the ecommerce tool space, but Wix got too far ahead of even Shopify. If you’re going this route, we have a 9-step guide on how to create an ecommerce website. We also have a guide on how to start a store that drives real sales. Both of those guides will get you pointed in the right direction. Blog Sites If you know you want a blog or are planning on doing lots of content, start on WordPress. The majority of this guide is around building a WordPress website. (We also have a detailed guide on starting blogs here.) Most websites are really just blogs. Some of the biggest, and most well-known websites on the Internet are blogs. WordPress powers over 30% of the entire internet. So it’s the only real option for starting a blog these days. What about Joomla or Drupal? Or Typepad? WordPress left all those other platforms in the dust about a decade ago. They’re not even legitimate options at this point. Pick WordPress — there isn’t a single situation where you’ll regret it. When I originally started with this online thing, Drupal sites were still pretty common. I partnered up with an engineer friend of mine and we did a lot of freelance work migrating sites from Drupal to WordPress. Even back then, WordPress was a clear winner. Now when I come across a site on any of these other tools, it’s kind of exciting. It’s like finding an ancient artifact. “This still exists!? How fascinating!” Don’t use any of these other tools, stick to WordPress. Everything Else If you’re not sure or have another vision for your site outside the categories above, use WordPress. It’s the most flexible platform out there. It will do ecommerce, it’ll do simple portfolios, it’ll do massive content sites, it’ll do Fortune 500 marketing sites, it’ll do it all. You might have to customize it more than other platforms in some situations but you can make WordPress do whatever you want it to. And just about anyone in online marketing knows their way around WordPress so you’ll be able to find plenty of people to help you when the time comes. Whether you want to build your site by hand or you have an online marketing agency to do it for you, you should still build on top of WordPress. It’ll shortcut a lot of the programming work and give you the ability to edit basic items on your site without having to edit any code. I’ve managed marketing sites of venture-backed tech startups that employed dozens of engineers — we still had our marketing site built on top of WordPress. It’s the standard choice. Step 4: Get a host for your websiteNow it’s time to get into the weeds a bit. The next steps really depends on your actual goals. If you want an ecommerce site, skip the rest of this guide and follow our guide on creating an ecommerce site. For everything else, keep following this guide! So WordPress is the tool that you’ll use to build your website. But you also need a web host. That’s the actual server that will store your site and make it available to anyone who visits. Every website on the Internet is on web host. And the best place to go for most people is Bluehost. We have an entire guide here that goes through all the best web hosts. Hosting plans usually start around $5/month. Step 5: Install WordPressJust about every website host has a 1-click install of WordPress. Bluehost, the hosting provider I recommend the most has this feature. But if you have trouble finding it, contact support and they’ll be able to walk you through it. Step 6: Point your domain to your hostLet’s do a quick recap.
Now you’re going to connect all that stuff together by pointing your domain to your host. Then when people go to your domain, they’ll end up on your website. There are a few technical settings you need to apply. This involves configuring a few nameserver settings on your domain registrar for your domain. Your host will give you the correct settings; you’re looking for their nameserver settings. If you get stuck, contact your host and they’ll give you all the info you need. Once you have the nameserver info from your host, go into your domain registrar and configure those settings for the domain that you want to point at your site. Once you’re done, it’ll look something like this:
Step 7: Install a WordPress themeThink of WordPress as the guts of your site, it’s all the pumping that makes your site work. WordPress uses themes to determine how your website looks. This makes it really easy to change how your site looks without having to rebuild your site from scratch. Swap out your old theme for a new one and ta-da! Your design will look completely different. These days, I purchase all my themes from StudioPress. Heads up, WP Engine bought StudioPress and now includes all the StudioPress themes in its hosting plans. WP Engine is more expensive but it’s perfect for serious bloggers. It’s a great way to save money on your theme if you are planning on building a large site to begin with. WP Engine is another one of our recommended hosts if you’re looking for the best. The downside is that WP Engine tends to be more expensive than other hosts. It’s probably overkill if you are just starting out, or creating your first website. Back to themes, are there other options? You betcha. ThemeForest and Pixelgrade has a marketplace of WordPress themes. There are literally tens of thousands of themes to pick from. They’re usually in the $30–60 price range. When looking for theme, I rank them by the most popular or the highest rating. Then I pick one I personally like. After you’ve purchased a theme, go to the WordPress Theme settings and upload your theme. The Theme settings are under Appearance in the WordPress sidebar menu. You’ll have to click through “Add new” and “Upload Theme” in order to see this option to upload: Go ahead and upload the .zip file you received when you purchased your theme. After it’s uploaded, you’ll also have to click “activate” on the theme in WordPress to make it go live. Step 8: Add content to your websiteNow the fun part — it’s time to create the individual pages of your site. You’ll do this within WordPress. WordPress has two types of content: pages and posts. Think of posts as blog posts that are published under a “blog” section of a site. If you’re not planning on having a blog, then you can skip posts entirely. Pages are the more permanent pages on your website. Like your About or Contact Us pages. When you’re first creating your website, you want to get a batch of pages live so your site feels real. Every website has a few standard pages you should create:
This list will get you started. You can always add more later. Step 9: Continue evolving your websiteAt this point, you have a fully functioning site that looks great. I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot of extra configuration you can do to your site: you can add WordPress plugins that upgrade your site, build out a blog, add an email list, grow traffic, the list is endless. You don’t have to do any of this extra stuff — it’s all optional. It depends on your priorities and goals. A website is an ever evolving thing. The way it looks after you first create it, won’t be how it looks a couple months later. At least that is the case if you are actively working and growing your website. When you’re ready, these guides will walk you through the extra stuff that’s worth considering:
Our General Take On Building a WebsiteDon’t get confused by all of the different options for creating a website. For a more in-depth look at how we think about this, check out our preliminary guide on how to create a website. WordPress is KingIn most cases, we highly recommend to build your website with WordPress. It’s an open source platform that allows you to run your website with very little technical expertise. Some of the biggest websites on the Internet are built on WordPress. TechCrunch, The New Yorker, Variety and MTV News, just to name a few. It’s also the most popular blogging platform, so there are hundreds of thousands of smaller websites that use WordPress. WordPress is used by 33.4% of all the websites, and has a content management system market share of 60.3%. Much of our content is centered around WordPress because we use it for all of our websites outside of Ecommerce. Here’s the guide on how to create your website on WordPress. Wix for EcommerceFor Ecommerce, we like Wix — which is an Ecommerce website builder that allows you to get an online store up and running quickly. The reality is that creating and running an online store can be a huge pain. Wix takes that pain away. That’s probably why they are growing so quickly. Here’s the guide on how to create your website on Wix. The Dozens of Other OptionsIf you’re reading this right now, then you most definitely fall into the category of someone that should be using WordPress or Wix. In rare cases, it might make sense to create a website using Squarespace or a similar website builder. In other (very) rare cases, it might make sense to have a custom-built website. More Guides On Creating and Managing a WebsiteBelow, a master list of all our best resources on creating a website. For general information:How to Plan Out Your New Website How to Buy The RIGHT Domain Name – A Detailed Guide How to Develop Your First Brand Identity on a Budget 10 Trending 2019 Website Color Schemes 9 Places To Get Website Images (Paid and Free) The Best Website Fonts That Go Together in 2019 13 Website Design Best Practices 7 Reasons Why You Do NOT Need to Hire a Website Designer The 22 Key Elements of a High Quality Website How Much Copy Should You Write on Your Homepage? 10 Contact Page Techniques That Make People Contact You How To Create an About Page That Matters How to Make a Wix Website in 6 Easy Steps For useful information on optimization as your site gets up and running:5 Easy Steps to Creating a Sitemap For a Website Should You Switch Your Site to HTTPS? Pros and Cons The Top 10 Principles That Boost Your Website Loading Time More about web hosting:You need a web hosting provider in order to have a website. We recommend Bluehost for most people. For advanced WordPress users, with high traffic websites, it could make sense to move to WP Engine at some point. More about The Best Web Hosting Companies here. Here are some additional guides to help you learn more about web hosting: The Best Web Hosting for WordPress The Hidden Costs of Website Hosting More about analytics and reporting:An analytics tool is important if you want to know what’s happening on your website. It tells you how much traffic you’re getting, where it’s coming from, and what people do on your site. Google Analytics is the standard. That’s what we use for Quick Sprout. Read more about why Google Analytics is the best. Installing Google Analytics is easy. Consuming the reports is a bit more complicated. Here are some guides to help: The 2 Website Analytics Tools Pros Actually Use in 2019 Setup Google Analytics in 3 Steps – The Beginner’s Guide 10 Vital Customizations to Make in Google Analytics A Guide to Google Analytics Add-on for Google Sheets How to Track Your Leads with UTM Parameters More about building and optimizing with WordPress:A WordPress website is basically made from what’s called a WordPress Theme and WordPress Plugins. All of the features of your website will come either from the theme or the plugins you install. To help you get started, we reviewed all of the best WordPress Plugins across the most popular categories. Here’s an in-depth review for each category: Best SEO Plugins for WordPress Best WordPress Security Plugin Best WordPress Calendar Plugin Best Google Analytics Plugins for WordPress Best WordPress Directory Plugin Best Membership Plugins for WordPress Best Social Media WordPress Plugin Useful information for ecommerce websites:If the primary purpose of your website is to sell products, you’ll need an ecommerce website. We recommend keeping it simple and going with Wix. Check out our review of the Best Ecommerce Platforms, to get a comparison to the other options out there. Get the step-by-step on how to start an online store. Our guide on how to create an Ecommerce website. More useful guides on building an Ecommerce website: How to Transfer Your Website to Shopify Best Ecommerce WordPress Themes Best Ecommerce Website Builder How to Create a Trust Seal On Checkout Page Tips on starting a blog:When you really break it down — most websites are blogs, and blogs are websites. They have become one and the same. The most popular blogging platform is WordPress, and that is also the same platform we use for any other website, blog or otherwise. If you’re thinking about starting a blog specifically, and that is why you’re trying to figure out how to create a website…we have over 40 guides on blogging. Here are the blogging guides specific to getting started, and building your blog: Best Blogging Platforms / Blog Sites Best WordPress Themes for Blogs 11 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started My First Blog The Top 12 Tips for Running a Successful Video Blog 10 Lessons Seth Godin Can Teach You About Blogging 100 Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Blogging Creating Your Own Website: In SummaryCreating your website might seem overwhelming at first. It really comes down to starting with these simple steps:
via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/how-to-create-a-wordpress-website/ Want to jump straight in? Click here to learn how to start a blog today. You have every reason to start a blog. Not only does it give you a great creative outlet, but it can also generate extra income for you on the side. The very blog you’re reading now generates hundreds of thousands of dollars and draws in millions of readers every month. It wasn’t always like this. But using a few proven systems, it grew from a tiny little site with a few articles to an income generating powerhouse. And now, we want to share our secrets with you. How to Start a Blog in 11 Steps
Let’s dive into the step-by-step process of starting a blog. Step 1: Discover your nicheIf there’s one step you want to get right, it’s this one. Choosing your blog’s topic (or niche) determines the rest of the website’s future. This is what you’re going to be writing about and — hopefully — making money from. I have good news: The world is HUGE. That means there’s practically an audience out there for any topic. That being said, there are some topics that tend to perform better than others. You need to find the topic that both appeals to a big audience while appealing to you. To find the perfect blog niche, you’ll need to answer two questions: 1. What am I interested in?What topic do you love? What are you obsessed with? This is the basis of your blog niche. After all, if you don’t love the topic, you’re not going to want to write about it day-after-day. To help answer this question, I suggest looking towards several areas:
ACTION STEP: Write down 10 – 15 topics you’re interested in. Pull up a Word document or sheet of paper and actually write this down. It’ll help you keep your ideas focused. Plus, you can refer back to it later when you make your final decision. 2. What are other people interested in?This area is a bit trickier. You need to find out what other people are interested in as well. Otherwise, you might find yourself with a blog that doesn’t draw in a lot of people. For example, you might think that a blog all about how wonderful your dog is is super interesting — but is that going to draw in a lot of people? On the other hand, a blog about how to take care of and train dogs appeals to a much bigger audience of readers. That begs the question: What topics are people interested in? Here are a few popular categories that always do well:
Pro tip: Use Google’s Keyword Planner tool to see how often people search for a specific category or niche. It’ll reveal what people are and aren’t interested in. ACTION STEP: Take a look at your list from before. Do any of them fall under these categories? If not, that’s okay! There’s probably still an audience out there for one of your topics. For now, I want you to choose a topic from your list that you want to turn into a blog. Once you do, you’re going to make it even more specific and niche it down. For example, you might want to start a personal finance website. Niching it down might mean you make a personal finance website for millennials making $100,000 a year. Or for thirty-somethings who want to retire early. Or whatever else Step 2: Find the perfect domain nameNow the fun part: choosing your blog’s name. BUT I have bad and good news:
After all, the Internet has been around for decades now. Of course the best domain names are already taken. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find a perfect one for your blog. Here are a few good rules-of-thumb to keep in mind when choosing a good name:
When you come up with a domain you like, head to BlueHost to see if it’s available using their domain tool. If it is, great! If not, you now have two options:
Your best bet is to keep going until you find a domain that you like and can purchase directly from a domain registrar for about $10. We go into lots of detail on which domain registrar to use here. But I highly suggest you buy a web host that allows you to register a domain for free. That means going with BlueHost. Using your personal name as the domainIf this is your first blog and you’re not completely sure what you want to blog about, I recommend that you use your personal name. The reason is that changing your domain later will mean that you have to start over from scratch. There are a lot of mistakes in blogging that can be corrected later; having the wrong domain isn’t one of them. Let’s say you pick a domain like fitnessfordoctors.com. Then after six months, you realize you’d rather be doing personal finance blogging for doctors. You’d need to get a new domain and start over from scratch. Personal domains are much more flexible — it’s just a name after all. So if you jump categories after a few months, it’s not a big deal. Take down any old content that’s not relevant with your new direction, start posting new content, and you’re good to go. That said, personal domains have two major downsides:
These are pretty advanced problems to have though. So if this is your first blog, the benefits of using your name as the domain greatly outweigh the costs that only show up down the road. ACTION STEP: Pick a domain name and run with it. While it’s important to pick a good, brandable domain name, the most important thing to do in this step is to make a decision and go. You don’t want to be stuck in the dreaded state of “paralysis by analysis.” Instead, just choose one based on the system above and run with it. Go deeper: Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our article on how to buy the right domain name. Step 3: Pick the best web hostA web hosting provider offers server space to host your website. This is where your website “lives.” People who visit your website do so through this server. So as you can imagine, it’s pretty important. Every single website needs a web host. We went through all the main hosts for WordPress sites (by far the best tool for blogging) and put together our recommendations here. While there are a few other choices it really comes down to two options: Best WordPress Host for Beginners: BlueHost• Normally $7.99/month For your first blog, you want a host that is popular, trusted, easy to use, reliable, and reasonably priced. No need for anything fancy. BlueHost fits this need perfectly. The best part is that its plans start at $2.95/month (when using our discount link). That’s a steal considering how many positive reviews it gets. For the vast majority of folks starting blogs, BlueHost is going to be the best bet for hosting their blog. Best WordPress Host for Advanced Bloggers: WP Engine• Normally $30/month In my last few jobs, I managed blogs with hundreds of thousands or millions of visitors per month. They had thousands of posts on them. We always used WP Engine for sites of that size. WP Engine comes with a lot of extra hosting features for security and scalability. For sites of that size, you end up having to do a lot more maintenance in order to keep the site healthy. WP Engine handles all that stuff for you. Their support team is also world-class. They do a great job. But there’s a major downside: it’s more expensive. The lowest plans start at $30/month. This is 7X the price of other hosts. ACTION STEP: Choose a great web host You can’t really go wrong with any of the options. If you’re just starting out and would like very affordable, yet reliable web hosting, BlueHost is perfect. If you’d like something with a bit more scalability, WP Engine is the one for you. Step 4: Install WordPressYour website needs a content management system (CMS). This allows you to create and manage blog posts. There’s only one option for this: WordPress. Seriously, it’s not even a decision. Use WordPress. Years ago, there were a few competitors to WordPress like Joomla, Typepad, or Blogger. No one uses those anymore. This is going to sound kind of bad but whenever I hear of someone using one of those old WordPress competitors, I just laugh. It’s hard to take them seriously. WordPress powers 30% of ALL websites. That’s how popular it is. Use WordPress for your blog, end of story. Because of how popular WordPress is, most web hosts offer a one-click install for WordPress. It’s super easy. ACTION STEP: Install WordPress on your host. Here are the instructions for Bluehost and WPEngine. One-Click Install on Bluehost
One-Click Install on WPEngineIf you’ve decided to go with WP Engine, it comes pre-installed since WP Engine is a hosting company for WordPress specifically, so the process is even simpler.
Step 5: Pick an eye-catching WordPress themeOne of the best parts about WordPress is that it’s really easy to change the way your website looks. On top of that, you don’t need to know anything about coding. WordPress uses “themes,” little packages of code that can be swapped in and out. Whenever you change your theme, your site will also change but your blog content stays the same. This makes it very easy to evolve your site over time without having to rebuild your entire site from scratch. For now, you’ll need to pick your first WordPress theme. The number of themes out there makes me dizzy. There are… a lot. When picking a theme for any of my blogs, I go straight to StudioPress. The themes are a bit more expensive at $130. (Most themes go for $20–50.) But it’s totally worth it. StudioPress was purchased by WP Engine and WP Engine now includes all the StudioPress themes as part of its hosting package. It’s a nice freebie if you are already planning on hosting your site with WP Engine. If you want a wider selection of WordPress themes at standard prices, Themeforest is the most popular WordPress theme marketplace. You’ll find just about anything you want in its selection. ACTION STEP: Purchase a theme and add it to your website. After you purchase your theme, log into your WordPress blog, go to the Theme section which is under Appearance in the WordPress sidebar menu. Then follow the instructions for adding the theme. You’ll have to upload the theme files to WordPress and activate the theme from within WordPress. You can find the upload option by going to Themes > Add New, a button towards the top. Then you’ll see this option to upload: You’ll be able to manage any themes you’ve uploaded to your WordPress blog from your Themes section: Step 6: Install WordPress pluginsOne of the best parts about WordPress is that it’s infinitely customizable. Since it’s open-source, you can change it to do whatever you want. The easiest way to make changes is with plugins. Plugins are little batches of software you can install within WordPress to get extra functionality. This is how you’ll add a bunch of extra features to your site without having to code anything yourself. BUT be careful here and try not to go overboard. Some bloggers will install dozens or even hundreds of plugins on their blog. That can cause a bunch of problems later on. Not only can plugins cause unexpected conflicts with each other, they become a security liability since it’s unlikely that every plugin owner will maintain the plugin over time. They also become a huge headache to manage. When you have that many plugins, you’re never sure which plugin is causing a particular problem. I like to keep my plugins limited to 5–10 amazing plugins. ACTION STEP: Download helpful plugins Here are a few of my favorites:
Step 7: Install Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics is a free website analytics tool from Google. It allows you to do things like:
But it can get very complicated, very quickly. Which is why we’re going to ignore the majority of what’s in Google Analytics for now. All you need to do is create a Google Analytics account and install it on your blog. And while there are plenty of good reasons to install Google Analytics, there are two big ones I’d point to: First, Google Analytics stores your data over time. When you’re ready to dive in later, you’ll be thankful that you’ve been collecting data since the beginning. Second, it’s exhilarating to watch people visit your site in the beginning. I remember the first time Google Analytics recorded a visitor on my first blog. I thought it was a mistake. “Someone visited my site? Really? Why would they do that? Who are they? Did they like it?” Seeing those first visitors come in will give you a huge motivation boost. Even if you only check Google Analytics to see your total traffic, it’s well worth the time it takes to set up. It’s also pretty easy to set up. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help: Step 1: Log into Google AnalyticsThis is simple. Go to Google Analytics and click on Start Measuring. If you’re not logged into a Google account, it’ll ask you to login to your Google account. If you have one, do so. If not, create one and login with that. Step 2: Create your Google Analytics AccountOn this screen, it’ll ask you to provide an account name. Use the name of your website or blog for this. Don’t worry about the boxes with the checkmarks for now. You can always change them later. Once you do that, click on Next at the bottom. Step 3: Choose what you want to measureThis screen asks you to choose whether you want to measure a website, an app, or a combination of both. Choose Web since you’re creating a blog. Then click Next. Step 4: Fill in the property detailsIt’ll now ask you to fill in some details about your website including its name, the URL, your industry category, and your timezone. Once you’ve done that, click on Create at the bottom. Step 5: Copy and paste the tracking code onto your siteOnce your account is created, you’ll have a unique JavaScript tracking code for your site. When you copy and paste that snippet of code into your site, Google Analytics will start collecting data for you. Voila! That’s it. You are now tracking Google Analytics for your website. Step 8: Set up your email listEvery marketing engine I’ve built for companies has relied on emails at its core. And there’s a good reason for that: Email lists are the best marketing tool. Period. Think of your email list as a giant laser ray you can focus on any offer you want. Selling consulting? Pitch your list. Publishing a new blog post? Pitch your list. A podcast just interviewed you? Pitch your list. Of all the marketing channels that have come and gone over the years, nothing compares to the power of a high-quality email list. Even if you’re not sure what to send your email subscribers, that’s okay. The important thing is you start gathering a list of subscribers and build the foundation early. ACTION STEP: Create an email list. Using Constant Contact or other email marketing services, start collecting emails on your blog so that the list is ready for you as soon as you need. It takes time to build a decent size list so your future self will be extremely grateful if you set it up now. Even a super basic opt-in in your blog sidebar is enough to get you started. Don’t even worry about sending any emails yet unless you want to. The main thing is that you’re collecting email subscribers from the beginning. Email lists can be a gold mine once you have a few thousand subscribers, and the money really rolls in once you have 10,000 subscribers and above. Step 9: Pick a blogging cadenceWriting blog posts isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Actually, it’s more like a multi-day backpacking trip. The best bloggers settle into a consistent writing pace they can maintain for a few years. That’s right, years. Here are a few posting frequency rules of thumb:
Look at this chart of blog posting frequency from Orbit Media’s survey of more than 1,000 bloggers. What do you notice? A few takeaways: 14% of bloggers post monthly. But let’s get real, monthly isn’t really consistent enough for your readers to anticipate a new blog post from you. If you post weekly, you’re already posting more regularly than 37% of other blogs — this gives you a huge advantage. ACTION STEP: Start posting at least once a week. I know writing isn’t easy. After writing blog posts full time for three months, I always want to throw my MacBook out the window. It’s a grind for all of us. This is why I recommend starting at one post per week. That still gives you the majority of the week to focus on other aspects of your site while also giving you a break from writing blog posts all the time. A really great post should take you two days to complete. The first day is for research and outlining, along with as much writing as you can complete. The second day is for finishing the writing, proofreading, and publishing the post in WordPress. Also, push quality as hard as you can. The key to building a site and traffic over time is to write posts that are more valuable than what other people have already published in your category. Step 10: Build an audienceThere’s a super famous article in blogging circles: 1,000 True Fans. Basically, getting 1,000 true fans means you can fully support yourself. You can quit your job, work from wherever you like, and be in complete control of your life. All from hitting a very reasonable goal of 1,000 true fans. With blogging, you’ll build your audience of 1,000 true fans slowly and consistently. As long as you keep at it, you will get there. Typically, it takes a few years. ACTION STEP: Use this system to get 1,000 true fans. Here’s what to focus on in order to get there faster:
As your blog audience matures you will want to change your traffic strategies as you grow. Step 11: Monetize your blogThere are three ways blogs make money. Yes, only three. They are:
Here’s a quick primer on how they work: How Infoproducts WorkI could write a book on this. For now, we’ll keep it simple. Here’s the model:
Now, this sounds too good to be true. While there are a few catches, it’s mostly true. What are the catches? First, you’ll need to get extremely good at direct-response copy. Second, it helps to be in the right category. People want money, status, and relationships. How Affiliate Programs WorkIt’s pretty simple: You go about creating as large of an audience as possible. Then, throughout your content, you recommend products that are helpful to that audience. When your audience clicks through the link of that recommendation, they get a special tracking code. If they end up purchasing, you get a cut of the sale. The main downside is that only a small percentage of people will ever click through and an even smaller percentage of people will purchase. So it really helps to have a massive amount of traffic in order to make enough money from your blog. How freelancing and consulting worksWhile infoproducts and affiliates are the main ways to make serious money, you also need serious traffic in order to make them work. At least if you want them to work well enough to make six figures per year… That’s why I believe freelancing and consulting is the best way for beginners to start making money fast blogging. To make money quickly, this is by far your best option. It’s also the easiest to do. When I worked at I Will Teach You To Be Rich, our freelancing programs taught thousands of people how to get started freelancing. What always blew me away was how life-changing those first few freelancing gigs are. I went through that exact change myself. Years ago, I started my personal blog larslofgren.com and got a few freelancing clients doing it. I’ll never forget that first $100 payment sent via PayPal. The amount sounds so small now, but the real impact was knowing that I personally produced that income myself. Guess how much traffic that personal blog of mine has? Only a few thousand visitors per month, spread across about 20 blog posts. Anyone can create a blog that size and use it for freelancing lead generation. It’s enough to build a client base that pays you $3,000 to $5,000 per month. That’s enough to quit your job. That’s life-changing. And it’s a much easier goal to hit than a full-ramped affiliate or infoproduct marketing machine. You always have the option to build that stuff later anyway. What about all those other monetization methods?Most of them are a waste of time. The impact on revenue is marginal, it’s a complete distraction. A few are worth doing for marketing and branding. The rest should be ignored entirely. Here’s the list that bloggers always try at some point:
Don’t let this discourage you though. The important thing is that you get started building your blog and writing. Do it consistently and stick to the system, and you’ll find that success comes quicker than you think. That brings us to our last action step… LAST ACTION STEP: Keep Growing! Read articles on how to start and grow a successful blog We’ve been writing about blogging and how to make money blogging on Quick Sprout for years. Check out Everything About Blogging for an annotated list of what you should read next. via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/how-to-start-a-blog/ Want to jump straight to the answer? The best cPanel web hosting for most people is definitely Bluehost. When it comes to hosting a website, performance is usually the first thing that everyone looks for. You want to find a web hosting provider that delivers strong uptime rates, high speeds, and enough resources to run your website. Performance is important. But you should also keep in mind how you manage your web host. Your current hosting provider may offer strong performance, but if it’s too complicated to manage your account, then you should look for a cPanel web host.
Here are my top 6 picks for the best cPanel web hosting providers for 2020. Top 6 Best cPanel Web Hosting Companies for 2020
Bluehost – Best cPanel for ease of useNormally $7.99/month Bluehost offers a fantastic user experience. So it should be no surprise that they rank high on my list of cPanel web hosts. More than two million websites across the globe rely on Bluehost, so you know that this is a provider that you can trust.
Bluehost lets you manage access control from your cPanel dashboard. This allows you to restrict access to certain areas of your hosting account, which is ideal if you have multiple users logging in. As a small business owner, you may not want to give your blogger access to your billing account or server resources. Looking for a VPS plan or dedicated server? You’ll have root access from cPanel as well. This will give you complete control over your server to make any custom changes, without the need for any additional software or hardware. And dedicated plans allow you to increase storage on-demand from cPanel without any assistance from a server administrator. All Bluehost plans come with a free SSL certificate, 24-7 customer support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check out my full BlueHost hosting review to learn more about the company. HostGator – Best cPanel for scaling resources on-demandNormally $6.95/month HostGator is one of the most popular names in web hosting. They offer affordable plans and deliver quality performance. HostGator’s plans vary depending on what you need:
Altogether, they have 12 different web hosting plans to choose from—all of which come with cPanel. With HostGator, you’ll always get the latest version of cPanel with your hosting plan, as well as additional incentives like:
All shared hosting plans come with a 99.9% uptime promise and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Hostgator is compatible with the most popular CMS platforms including WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento. HostGator is one of the best web hosting providers for websites that need to scale their resources. Having access to cPanel for managing all of this makes everything easier. If you’re interested in cloud hosting, be sure to check out my HostGator Cloud hosting review. InMotion – Best cPanel hosting for small businessesNormally $7.99/month InMotion is a great web host for small businesses. cPanel comes standard for managing your Linux-based server, regardless of which plan you choose. This makes it easy for you to set up your domains, manage resources, handle site automation, and more. InMotion offers one-click app installations with more than 400 applications that can be managed directly in cPanel. Whether you’re using WordPress, Drupal, or other CMS systems and shopping carts, InMotion is an ideal solution for your website. The one-click installer also allows for easy upgrades, convenient maintenance, as well as rollbacks to previous versions. Here’s a look at the introductory pricing rates for InMotion web hosting:
All of these plans give you cPanel for free. Yyou’ll also benefit from data backups, free SSD drives, SSH access, secure email, and other great freebies. InMotion has been using cPanel with their hosting plans for more than a decade. This has allowed their IT team to customize the backend specs to speed up its responsiveness and ultimately allow for a more seamless user experience. My InMotion hosting review also found that plans are backed by a 90-day money-back guarantee, which is an industry-leading offer. So if you’re looking for a reliable web host with a feature-rich cPanel, look no further than InMotion. SiteGround – Best cPanel for cloud hostingNormally $11.95/month SiteGround is a great option if you’re interested in cloud hosting. It’s one of the best and scalable options for cloud hosting out there. Their hosting is fully managed too—allowing you to focus less on the little things like maintenance and more on growing your business. Its cPanel features include:
Managing files through cPanel is something else that SiteGround makes extremely easy for webmasters. All you have to do is upload files and add new folders to keep everything neat and organized. This will ultimately make things easier for you whenever your site needs maintenance. For advanced users, you’ll also be able to manage complex settings, like “Chron Jobs,” in cPanel. This allows you to run specific commands to optimize your disk space. SiteGround offers shared hosting plans starting at just $3.95 per month. They also offer cloud web hosting, which starts at $80 per month. Regardless of which option you choose, you’ll be able to manage everything with ease through the platform’s responsive interface and dashboard. Read more about their different plans and services in my complete SiteGround review. iPage – Best cheap cPanel hosting (for VPS plans)Normally $7.99/month With introductory plan rates starting as low as $1.99 per month, iPage is one of the best cheap web hosting providers on the market today. For such a low price, iPage comes with a surprising amount of benefits like unlimited disk space, scalable bandwidth, unlimited domains, and a free SSL certificate. You also get a free domain for the first year after you sign up. iPage also has a great website builder. But the free version that comes with the shared hosting plan is only good for building six pages, so it’s not realistic for you to create an entire website with it. iPage uses, cPanel, but there is one catch—you need to sign up for one of their VPS hosting plans or dedicated servers in order to get it. Those start at $19.99 per month and $119.99 per month, respectively. Unfortunately, in my iPage hosting review research I found that the shared plans do not come with cPanel. Instead, iPage uses something called vDeck Control Panel as an alternative. vDeck is fine, but it definitely lacking compared to cPanel in terms of its capabilities and interface. Learning how to use it is a bit more challenging as well. That said, the iPage VPS plans are very cost-effective compared to other providers out there. So it won’t cost you too much for an upgrade to get cPanel included with your hosting. A2 Hosting – Fastest cPanel web hostingNormally $7.99/month A2 Hosting isn’t the most well-known name in the web hosting world, but this provider offers the fastest speeds on the market today. Speed, reliability, green hosting, and excellent customer support make A2 a top option for anyone. They also have a wide range of hosting plans and prices.
All of the A2 plans come with cPanel for free. If you recall, iPage’s cheapest plans don’t with cPanel. So being able to get cPanel from A2 for less than $1 more per month is a great deal. With A2 Hosting, cPanel allows you to do things like:
A2 also uses Softaculous, which is made for installing software to your account with just one click. Softaculous and all auto-updates can be handled directly from your cPanel dashboard. Read more about A2’s features in my complete A2 hosting review. How to Find the Best cPanel Web Host For YouAs you can see, every cPanel web hosting provider is unique. Whether it be the price, type of hosting, or other features, some hosts will serve the needs of your website better than others. When you’re evaluating a cPanel web hosting provider, there are a few key elements to consider. Performance metrics like uptime and speed are a given. So rather than focusing on those, I’ve identified some other factors that you should look out for when evaluating prospective web hosts. Free cPanel LicenseFirst and foremost, if you want to use cPanel then you need to find a provider that offers a free cPanel license. There are plenty of hosts out there that offer cPanel for an upcharge, but there’s no reason to do go with them if you can get it for free elsewhere. With the exception of the iPage shared hosting plan, every provider on our list offers cPanel for free. One-Click App InstallationsA major cPanel benefit is its user-friendly dashboard. So for those of you who plan to install third-party apps, it will be easy for you to manage everything in one place. Look for a web hosting provider that advertises one-click app installs. In my experience, this is much easier than complex downloads and installations. Whether it be CMS integration, ecommerce functionality, or anything else, a simple app installation will make your life much easier. Once installed, cPanel usually will allow for one-click or auto-updates as well. Site Builder ToolsThis shouldn’t be a deal-breaker, but it’s a nice feature for those of you who are building a new website from scratch. If your web hosting provider has an adequate site builder, you can essentially benefit from a one-stop-shop for your website needs. Normally, I would not recommend bundling a hosting provider and website builder. I think it’s best to stick with providers that specialize in web hosting and platforms that specialize in website builders. Usually, there isn’t any overlap between the two. That said, if you’re just building a simple website like a small personal site or blog, then you can get away with this for sure. FreebiesPrice always needs to be taken into consideration when you’re looking at different web hosting options. Some hosts appear cheap, but then upcharge you for basic features. So it’s in your best interest to identify the features you need and then look for a host that offers them for free.
These are some common freebies offered by hosting providers. I’d also keep on eye on their money-back guarantees. 30 days seems to be the industry standard. But I’ve seen 45 days, 60 days, and even as high as 90 days. ResourcesIt doesn’t make sense to choose a cPanel hosting plan that doesn’t accommodate the needs of your website. While cPanel is a great tool, it doesn’t make up for poor performance.
You need to make sure that these types of resources accommodate your website traffic. For new or growing sites, it’s in your best interest to find a cPanel hosting provider that gives you the opportunity to scale. Alternatives to cPanel HostingNot every web hosting provider offers cPanel, so you’re not forced to use it. In most cases, people think cPanel is easier to use. But ultimately, it comes down to personal preference. For example, earlier we talked about iPage’s hosting plans. For less than $2 per month, you can sign up for shared hosting, a free website builder, and plenty of other freebies. But this comes with vDeck Control Panel. So if you prioritize price over convenience, you might decide to go with this option instead. Alternatively, DreamHost is a popular web host on the market today. But instead of using cPanel, they have their own custom control panel. I know plenty of webmasters who love it. Hostinger is another great hosting provider that does not offer cPanel. Even so, I would still strongly recommend them. So don’t let cPanel availability be the determining factor in your web hosting decision. While I personally think it’s a great feature, you can still explore alternative solutions. What Is cPanel and Why Do You Need It?cPanel is one of the most popular control panels in the web hosting industry. The interface and dashboard make it easy for webmasters to manage things like domain names, backups, email addresses, files, account preferences, and more. In my experience, once you’ve used cPanel, there is really no looking back. I’ve experimented with other dashboards, but cPanel is the best for beginners and experts alike. One of the reasons why cPanel is so popular is because it’s a web-based control panel, meaning you can manage your website from anywhere with an Internet connection, as opposed to needing software on a specific piece of hardware. Anyone with a website can benefit from cPanel hosting. Whether you’re looking for a shared hosting plan, virtual private server (VPS hosting), or dedicated server, a user-friendly hosting interface will make your life much easier. Top 6 Best cPanel Web Hosts for 2020Here’s a recap of the best cPanel web hosts’ main strengths:
via Quick Sprout https://www.quicksprout.com/best-cpanel-web-hosting/ |
Sean BrianWhile radishes deter certain insects naturally, they require similar growing conditions as carrots. Although the crops both have roots, radishes grow and germinate quicker, allowing carrots to continue growing in the soil space available when the radishes are harvested, Archives
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