Personal Finance and Investing

If you’ve spent very much time at all researching SEO, you’ve likely come across the terms “black hat” and “white hat”. What exactly does it mean?

Well if you’ve imagined the good cowboy in the white hat and the bad one in the black, you can be forgiven–that’s certainly the impression people try to give off about the whole deal. But what is black hat SEO, anyway? Is it legal? Does it work?

And what is white hat SEO? Does it have too soft a touch? And, again most importantly, does it work?

The line between black and white hat search engine optimization is sometime a little blurry–in no small part because techniques once considered white hat may not be any longer. Some people will tell you that white hat SEO is ethical while black hat SEO is not. And while there certainly are unethical practices used by some who wear the darker hats, this is a bit of an over simplification.

A general rule of thumb is whether Google likes the practice or not. In its constant effort to return search results it says are relevant, the search company continually updates its search algorithms. Typically, anything that works, but that Google will penalize or ban you for, if found out, is considered black hat.

Why would anyone use black hat techniques, then? For one thing, these techniques can give a page an unduly high ranking, often in a short amount of time. Sure, Google will eventually come down on the page or site, but in the meantime, its owner is making big bucks. At least, that’s the theory.

So if the big bucks are in black hat, why use white hat? “What hat” search engine optimization techniques tend to last longer, for one thing. They may require more work on the front-end, and usually require a little bit of upkeep, but in the long term they bring in traffic (and, if you’re selling/pre-selling right, money). Not only will you have more consistent sales with that one site, but you’ll also have time, once you’re done setting it up, to build another site that could give you long-term, relatively passive income.

With black hat techniques, you’re likely to be making new site after new site after new site.

Another reason to go white hat is for branding purposes. You really don’t want to build your site’s popularity and rankings high using black-hat techniques, only to get your site banned for life by Google when it finds out what you’re doing–which it will, eventually. Being known as a black-hatter is also likely to brand you as a pretty shady fellow, not something you really want in the internet marketing world.

The line between black and white hat search engine optimization is sometimes a little unclear, and sometimes moves around when search engines update their algorithms. If you’re in IM for the long-haul, though, it’s worth keeping up with what is considered white-hat, and sticking to it.

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Virtual private servers are an alternative for those who may be outgrowing a shared web hosting but not ready for a dedicated server. To understand how a virtual private server works it is important to also know what the shared and dedicated hosting do. In gaining a clear understanding of how each work, a web owner can determine which hosting type will best fit business needs of their web page. If the business is already well established and needs more of the resources to run the page then a dedicated server might be the best option. With a dedicated server, one server provides all necessary resources for one web page.

With a dedicated server, the web owner has more power and control of the page. The web owner must also be knowledgeable of technology because they will be doing most of their own page maintenance. Going with a dedicated server will set you back a little financially so it may not be the best choice for those just getting started. Virtual private servers are less expensive than dedicated servers and a shared server the least expensive of them all. A shared server is the most commonly used among new users because of cost and ease of use.

A shared server is one server hosting multiple different pages, as opposed to virtual private servers were each site has dedicated space on a single server. Each web page shares the same central processing unit, disc space, and memory capacity. This works well for most people but because of so many pages sharing one system it can cause the web page to load at a slower rate of speed. There is also the issue of only being able to use the resources that are actually available so if multiple pages start generating more traffic this could cut back on the available resources. When the traffic increases, upgrading to a virtual private server may be a better alternative.

Virtual private servers also share the same central processing unit. The difference between this server and the shared server is that the VPS is partitioned into individual servers giving each web page their own space. Each individual server is allotted certain amounts of memory and disc space. With the VPS the web owner also gains more flexibility in which they can download any software they need. For those ready to move away from a shared server but not ready for a dedicated server, a virtual private server is a great alternative.

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There are hundreds of reasons that you could be looking to build a website, but if you are even considering a VPS chances are you aren’t looking for a personal blog or a site to host your family tree, instead you might be looking for a place to do some web development, a stable place to host your business website or e-commerce site, or perhaps a site to market a product for your company. What it comes down to for you is Shared Hosting vs. vps hosting and whether the costs of each outweigh the benefits

Shared hosting is what most webhosts offer, unless they specify that you are getting your own server or VPS assume that you are getting a shared hosting plan. Shared hosting is exactly what it sounds like, a whole bunch of websites available on the same server, all using the same resources and using just a few different IP addresses amongst them. Many new businesses and people who are starting up personal web pages decide to use shared hosting to cut their expenses, the amount of money that can be saved this way can be significant and the whole process is very easy to use, but what are the costs?

Bad Neighborhood

Your shared hosting account is on a server with a whole bunch of other sites, they may contain content you don’t personally agree with on moral or ethical grounds, or just content that you don’t want associated with your business. People can find out what sites are coming from what servers, and you may be tarred with the same brush. Worse still the other sites may be running malicious scripts and your site could be banned from being accessed, from sending mail or any of a hundred other things that are totally beyond your control.

Greedy Neighbors

Your site will be running on a server getting requests for these other websites, if it turns out that one of them ends up being really popular and gets lots of traffic all at once, your site’s performance will suffer, and if your site’s performance suffers, your users will not be happy. It doesn’t even take a hugely popular site on your server to mess things up, poorly written scripts can eat server resources and leave your site responding slowly or not at all.

Big Fish, Small Pond

Shared hosting will restrict the availability of services, applications and technologies available to you, in addition to often having smaller bandwidth limits than VPS or Dedicated Server hosting plans. This means as your success grows and your website tries to grow with it you may run into serious issues, and the process of transferring a site out of shared hosting and into a VPS is not trivial.

VPS to the rescue! (maybe)

VPS solutions are not perfect, but they do provide many advantages over a conventional Shared Hosting option. If your website represents your business, it is good for your professional image that that website is available as often as possible, and that it responds in a timely manner and is not associated with sites containing illicit or explicit content. VPS Hosting gives you more control, more power, more reliability.

Your website is the online extension of your business, what does your hosting choice say about your company?

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In the online world there are two kings when it comes to running your site and keeping it functional for the people, who support you. In one corner, you have the dedicated server. In the other, you have cloud hosting. There are others, such as the virtual private server and the shared server, but neither compares to the raw computing power, the redundancy, and the maximum uptime that these two choices afford you. If you’re struggling to decide which of these servers is right for your business, then you need to start by looking at the advantages and the disadvantages of each. All good things have a dark side. The important thing is that you look at where you are as a business, and you determine which cons will have the least amount of effect on your business.

Cloud hosting

Cloud servers operate to ensure that you are always operating quickly and efficiently. The way that a cloud host operates is this: your site is “hosted” by several different servers spread out across a geographic region. As a result, you always have the redundancy you need, meaning that if one goes out, your site doesn’t go out. You also have the assurance that your site is always loading quickly no matter where it is accessed from. This ensures that you have the chance to become a global business. You also have peace of mind that comes with knowing that you don’t have to operate the things yourself. On the downside, this form of hosting can be quite expensive, and if you don’t have the traffic for it, you could be wasting a lot of money on something that is, quite frankly, more than you need.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is a hosting option that allows you complete and absolute autonomy over how a dedicated server is used. Instead of sharing costs with several different sites, you can enjoy the full customization option that comes with your very own server. You have the freedom to watch over your server at all times, and you have the final say over how it operates. The downside to dedicated hosting is, like cloud hosting, it can be quite expensive, made doubly so by the fact that you may have to hire a new employee just to manage all of it. For locally based businesses that will not be trying to roll out globally, these servers make the most sense. However, if you are trying to appeal to someone in another state or country, then your best bet may be to go with the cloud provider.

In both cases, your hosting company may allow both options. Look at your business, weigh the pros and cons, and decide which is best for you.

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As you get your web venture off the ground and notice the first signs of growth, you may want to consider the best type of server to help run your site into the future. While many prefer shared hosting in the early stages, this avenue is fraught with difficulties. For starters, your site is limited by what it can store and accomplish for its users. Secondly, you never know what other forms of risk taking software that the other sites on that server are running. If a virus gets into the server then it can spread to other sites under the umbrella. Essentially, you could get hacked without ever actually doing anything wrong. If you don’t generate much traffic, a shared host may be just fine, but it’s only a matter of time, as you continue to grow, that the need for something bigger will arise.

When that need does arise, most turn to budget dedicated servers for support. These particular types of servers carry with them many pros and a few cons that you need to be aware of before you upgrade. First, the bad news. Budget dedicated servers may be affordable, but they are still going to require that you pay more than what you may be used to paying. After all, you have the entire server and its resources to yourself versus splitting the costs with other sites on a shared plan. Another possible con of the budget dedicated server is that you may end up paying for power that goes far beyond what you actually need to run your site. But if you are thinking about this in a negative light, it is important to note that you most likely do the same thing when finding a personal computer. How many of you are actually going to need a full terabyte at any time in your computing career, for instance?

The advantages of the budget dedicated host are many, far outweighing the drawbacks. Firstly, expansion and fluctuations in traffic are easier to handle. Your visitors get a more reliable web experience, and the chances of them contracting a virus or getting hacked as a result of activities occurring on your site are nil. Rather than all out dedicated hosting, budget dedicated servers actually allow you to pay less than what you would have to pay if you ran everything on your own. With budget dedicated hosting, you can often take advantage of the expertise of a server manager, who can ensure your web properties are taken care of and safe from viruses at all times.

While you may currently be content with your server, consider where you are going to be in 10 years. It may be that a budget dedicated server is in your future.

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