What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. Use Domain Authority when comparing one site to another or tracking the “strength” of your website over time. We calculate this metric by combining all of our other link metrics—linking root domains, number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc.—into a single score.

To determine Domain Authority, we employ machine learning against Google's algorithm to best model how search engine results are generated. Over 40 signals are included in this calculation. This means your website's Domain Authority score will often fluctuate. For this reason, it's best to use Domain Authority as a competitive metric against other sites as opposed to a historic measure of your internal SEO efforts.

How is Domain Authority Scored?

We score Domain Authority on a 100-point, logarithmic scale. Thus, it's easier to grow your score from 20 to 30 than it would be to grow from 70 to 80.

Domain Authority vs. Page Authority

Whereas Domain Authority measures the predictive ranking strength of entire domains or subdomains, Page Authority measures the strength of individual page. The same is true for metrics such as MozRank and MozTrust.

Where can you Find Domain Authority?

Domain Authority metrics are incorporated into dozens of SEO and online marketing platforms across the web.

You can measure Domain Authority using Open Site Explorer or the MozBar, Moz's free SEO toolbar. Moz incorporates Authority metrics into all Moz Analytics campaigns, as well as the Mozscape API.

Technical Definition of Domain Authority

Domain Authority is Moz's calculated metric for how well a given domain is likely to rank in Google's search results. It is based off data from the Mozscape web index and includes link counts, MozRank and MozTrust scores, and dozens of other factors. It uses a machine learning model to predictively find an algorithm that best correlates with rankings across thousands of search results that we predict against.

It's best to use Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA) as comparative metrics when doing research in the search results and determining which sites/pages may have more powerful/important link profiles than others. While specific metrics like MozRank can answer questions of raw link popularity—and link counts can show the raw quantities of pages/sites linking—the authority numbers are high-level metrics that attempt to answer the question, "How strong are this page's links in terms of helping them rank for queries in Google.com?"

SEO Best Practice

How do I influence this metric?

Unlike other SEO metrics, Domain Authority is difficult to influence directly. It is made up of an aggregate of metrics (MozRank,MozTrust, link profile, and more) that each have an impact on this score. This was done intentionally; this metric is meant to approximate how competitive a given site is in Google.com. Since Google takes a lot of factors into account, a metric that tries to calculate it must incorporate a lot of factors, as well.

The best way to influence this metric is to improve your overall SEO. In particular, you should focus on your link profile—which influences MozRank and MozTrust—by getting more links from other well-linked-to pages

Domain Name Hosting

Over two billion people around the globe use the World Wide Web each day. Indeed, we live in an age when going on the Internet is more frequent than going to the supermarket. Websites have become an important part of people’s lifestyles and the way industry conducts business.

Can you believe that, as of 2011, there were close to 400 million websites? Websites are integral to today’s business. People get a good sense of a company by looking at its corporate website. A well-designed and user-friendly site is good for credibility, marketing, and sales conversion.

If you are reading this, you are probably in the process of a starting a website. There are one or two things you should learn before jumping into the online world. Besides, if you are going to make an entrance, you should do what you can to make a big splash!

What’s in a name?

Building a website is a lot of work. You have to make sure all the key components come together to send the message you want people to see. You must plan the content, graphics, and the overall design. Once you have these major building blocks covered and ready to go, it is time to get your website some traffic.

What’s in a name? If you are talking about business, a name means everything. An effective website compresses its entire business into 15 characters or less. Your name has to be catchy and easy to remember. Remember that the more people visit a site, the higher the chances of converting this traffic into sales. In other words, a domain name is very important.

Once you have chosen a name, it’s time to consider domain name hosting. Every computer has its own unique IP address, much like people have their very own mobile numbers. But we really can’t go around asking people to visit a site called 217.26.62.137, can we?

Domain name web hosting gives your website a space on the Internet so people can find your website. In a nutshell, here’s how the magic works: When someone enters your website on an Internet browser, the Domain Name System or DNS matches your domain name to your IP address and then directs that person to your website.

Domain name hosting 101

Domain name web hosting is not something you do on your own, unless you are large company with the time and resources to do so. It can be quite difficult, as this basic checklist will show.

Things you need to host your own website

• Technology skills.
• A fast broadband connection that will support heavy traffic.
• An efficient, high-quality computer that will run 24/7, and that will be used solely as a web server.

With all these requirements, it is no wonder that most individuals and businesses opt to go to providers who offer the best domain name hosting. As a consumer, you’re in a good place, as many companies offer reliable and affordable domain name web hosting.

Think economies of scale: Domain name hosting companies go into battle with an army of dedicated web servers that can support the needs of many clients. Because of their capacity, they will givr the public access to your domain all day and every day.

The DNS has an important job

You might not know it, but you use the Domain Name System or DNS every day. You benefit from the DNS every time you go online and key in a website onto the browser. Without the DNS, the World Wide Web would be a very busy and confusing place. It would be hard for the average person to visit a website if he or she had to memorize sequences of numbers instead of a domain name.

There are many DNS servers working at any given time. Internet technology has a series of processes that assign a particular user to a specific DNS site. After that, it is the domain name hosting service’s job to direct the flow of traffic to a specific website.

Money talk

Just how much will it cost to get your website up and running? Let’s look at some of the costs of registering a domain name and subscribing to domain name web hosting.

Consumers today have the advantage of choosing from many companies that offer the best domain name hosting. The first step is to choose a provider that will suit your needs and budget.

Registering a domain name can start as low as $6 per year, and skyrocket up to the thousands. The more in-demand the name, the higher the price you will pay. When it comes to domain name web hosting, be ready to pay from $3-30 dollars a month. Be sure to check out the company’s subscription plans as the fee usually goes down the longer you sign up with them.

Ready to get your website up and running? Build it and name it well, and claim the online space your company deserves.

What is managed hosting and how it can help your eCommerce business?

Before trying to explain what managed hosting is, I am going to explain what different kinds of hosting are.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is similar to managed hosting in that the service provider leases a particular server to just one client.

However, the chief difference lies in the fact that these servers come pre configured and you do not get much choice when setting up the servers.

Cloud hosting

With cloud hosting the consumer can access various hosting resources via the internet.
Cloud hosting networks provide a great deal of flexibility in adding or removing memory as and when needed with ease.

A lot of the headache that goes along with configuring servers and calculating space requirements and changes in advance isn’t simply there.

Now let’s try to understand what managed hosting is.

What does managed hosting service imply?

Managed hosting refers to the hosting service where the service provider sets up, monitors, maintains, secures and patches the hosting servers for you.

The servers are owned by the hosting provider but instead of hosting several websites it hosts only websites from your network and is leased to only or only to one single customer.
Managed hosting lends more flexibility to hosting your site than shared hosting services. You have full control on the server, the choice of operating system and the hardware that goes along with it.

When it comes to the operating system managed hosting services may use one among the two kinds of operating systems:

a.) Windows Operating System- commonly the Windows 2008 server

b.) Linux Operating System- commonly the CentosOS

Generally the hosting provider also sets you up with the following services, namely

1. Set up — Full installation of the control panel and OS. The buyer has administrative access but rarely accesses that. Generally the managed hosting is accessed by the client via the control panel virtually.

2. Monitoring — Server, network, databases, and Apache monitoring. Ping monitors run simultaneously for server and network uptime, and monitors website uptime.

3. Security Scans — Most managed hosting companies offer monthly security scan. These scans ensure that no virus or bug hosts itself in the system. The reports are reviewed too.

4. Application Support — Installation and update of supported applications.

5. Patching — Official operating system and application patches, updates, and bug fixes. 

6. Trouble shooting— If the server faces any problem a dedicated staff would take of those problems.

7. On call maintenance— Pick your phone and call the staff at the hosting company to do the maintenance work on the servers

8. Hardware upgrading— You need not worry about maintaining the hardware or upgrading it.

9. Software upgrading— The IT staff at the hosting company takes care of the software upgrades for you in a timely manner.

10. Backup services— Most managed hosting providers take daily or weekly backups of the site data. In case of an emergency you can contact them to get the files back.

What benefits does a managed hosting service provide?

Managed hosting is proactive in its nature. To understand what the term means we must first understand the difference between reactive and proactive.

The support that a webhosting company provides in managing a disaster is the reactive nature of the industry. However, with managed hosting, the service tends to be proactive in nature. In other words it manages the service in such a way that problems do not crop up.

With compatibility checks, patching, security scans and other such measures a managed hosting provider tends to avoid problems as much as possible.

Who should consider managed hosting?

If you aren’t fully aware of the technical details behind configuring servers and setting up your hosting then a managed hosting service where the provider takes care of most things for you will be perfectly suited to your needs.

Managed hosting solutions work best for clients who cannot spare the time to learn the tech behind hosting or run behind it whenever they face a problem.

If you are running an eCommerce venture then it’s likely that you’d want to spend more time on business generating activities rather than managing hosting servers. 

Concluding thoughts

Managed hosting takes the pain out of running and hosting your business. You can run your business while the experts take care of the traffic problems for you.

Improving Customer Loyalty in Web Hosting

Let’s face it - a lot of companies are offering very similar products and services, and that’s especially true in the web hosting industry. Simply do a search for ‘shared web hosting’ and up comes a seemingly endless list of companies whose offerings could meet your needs. There really is nothing in it – many companies offer an unlimited number of websites, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth and 24/7 support, thinking that somehow this differentiates them from the next “unlimited” company in the list. 

As someone who has been in the Internet field for over 2 decades, I have met a lot of people using web hosting companies. While often people seem to be happy to have an opportunity to bitch about their web hosts, others are fascinatingly loyal to their providers. It is almost as if there is a sense of pride in the fact they have they found a web host that provides the type of service people want. 

Whether that’s an indictment of the web hosting industry in general, I don’t know, but I can tell you what people who are happy with their hosts have said to me. Here then is a list of the comments they have made -  comments that perhaps you should think about if you are going to make your web hosting company different from the next. As you can see, much of it revolves around customer service.

1. They answer the phone

Possibly some of the most prolific complainers I have experienced have given expletive-laden descriptions of being told their call is important, being told “all our operators are busy – please hold”, and being stuck in a telephone queue ad infinitum. Whether they are fishermen tales, I don’t know, but people have told me they have been on hold for up to 2 hours at a time. My record is 45 minutes. Offering people 24/7 support is nothing more than a cruel joke if in fact someone is placed in a Kafkaesque maze of pressing numbers only to be brought back to the beginning of a process and having to listen to the same song indefinitely. When people answer the phone quickly, it really does make a lasting impression!

2. They answer emails

From what people say, they call a web hosting company when they haven’t been able to get what they want from an email enquiry. Almost invariably people get an immediate autoresponse which explains someone will be in contact shortly. Some of the follow up times I have experienced from web hosts are genuinely appalling, and it seems I am not alone. Without exaggeration, weeks can pass without an email response from some companies, and when one comes, there’s not even an apology for the delay. Obviously, people are happy when responses are given in a timely fashion.

3. They read emails

Ranking up there with phone and email delays is the fact that when people get email replies their queries haven’t been read properly and the only relationship replies have to the questions originally asked is that they both involve web hosting. It seems in the age of the Call Center, people are too busy (too stressed?) to even consider an appropriate answer to a query. Support staff seem to only read keywords in an email, and dump a link to a video or to a page of information in a reply that has virtually nothing to do with what you are enquiring about. When people get the answers they need they find it easier to give praise to a provider.

4. There’s continuity

Once an inappropriate email reply has been received, people write back to their web hosting companies and whereas they were originally dealing with “Mike”, they are now dealing with “Omar” who would like to know “How can I help you?” As a result, the same issue has to be explained again, and if it is not resolved, the chances are that even more people have to get involved to address an issue, raising blood pressure and making tempers boil over. Companies with the top marks appear to have allocated customers to certain staff, meaning there is at least a chance support staff can remember the original issue as it was initially raised. 

5. When they don’t know the answer, they don’t just make things up

I once asked a provider why my credit card had been charged for a service that was due for repayment the following month. The answer was that payments are charged up to a month in advance. However, the provider’s Terms of Service suggested that payments were made 10 days before a due date. Once this was pointed out, rather than getting an apology, I got the same email I was sent before with “10 days” added where “one month” had previously been. Obviously this didn’t exactly address the issue I had brought up. Companies with top marks generally give “Can I look into this for you?” as a reply and then follow up in a proper fashion. 

6. They speak my language

This is not a problem because their Call Center is in India – as we know, the bulk of Indians have impeccable English. The problem is that India (and the rest of the subcontinent) has the highest proportion of people with Master’s degrees and PhD’s in the world. The result is they get only the best people as technical support and a basic query might end up with an imponderable reply such as “the problem is the native client has a mongrel backend” ... Or, at least I think that’s what he said. The bulk of people I know who utilize web hosting services are NOT technical people. They need proper advice, and often would benefit from being talked through a process rather than being given a link to a tutorial they don’t understand. Top marks to people who solve problems using the common touch.

7. They appreciate my custom

The problem for web hosting customers is that when their websites are up and running, and there are no issues, that’s it - they become invisible. Some people I have known have been web hosting customers for multiple years, and except for the occasional email offering a seasonal discount on domain names, that’s all they ever hear from their web host (except when payment is due of course). The people I have known that have been happiest with their web providers have regular contact with their companies. Often they receive deals that have nothing to do with web hosting – a free cup of coffee at Starbucks for having been a customer for two years. That sort of thing. It matters. People talk about it.

8. They offer a good customer experience

Some studies show that customers with the best customer experience of a company will pay around 150% more than a customer who has received the worst customer experience with the same company. That’s a lot, and of course, bad news travels faster than good news. A good customer experience means that signup forms work, that pages load quickly, and information is easily accessible. Good customer experience means that a customer receives requests for payment in a timely fashion and the email they receive offers a one-click experience that leads directly to the page they need to pay for a service again. In short, everything is made as easy as possible for a customer, so they can do what they need to do when they need to do it and execution is effortless.

Although everything I have written seems commonsense, the fact that people complain in this fashion suggests companies find commonsense difficult. Obviously there are costs involved. But what I have written expresses what I have heard time and time again. Smaller margins? Yes, possibly. But returning customers must be where it is at for web hosting companies. And unless you and your staff collectively put your heads together and address what your customers need, the result might be losing out to companies that address their customers’ requirements better than you do.

FREE WEB HOSTING - GETTING STARTED

Domain name. Hosting. Content. These are the three essentials to putting your website on the Internet. With all the different domain name extensions, registration terms, hosting packages and technical jargons (ie. FTP, SMTP, PHP, etc.) - the simple vision of your own website online has now turned into something mind boggling, confusing and intimidating.

Let's help you break the entire process down into simple, easy-to-follow (and understandable) steps.

1. THE PURPOSE OF YOUR WEBSITE

The first thing you need to do is make a list of why you want a website. Do you want a website because you want to share your writings or photos with friends or family? Or do you want to sell your products online?

2. DECIDE ON A DOMAIN NAME

When you've determined the purpose of your website then it'll be easy to come up with a suitable domain name (ie. name for the website). Don't fall into the "free" trap - many free web hosting service providers gives you a free website name. But what you don't realize is, your website name will be a derivative of"http://www.serviceprovider.com/subfolder/.../yourMemberID". Not exactly the most user-friendly nor professional name now.

A common misunderstanding is that you can get a domain name for free.

While completely free web hosting services exist, domain name registrations are not free. In order to use "http://www.yourname.com", you need to pay the .COM Registry registration fee. This fee guarantees that your name will be yours to use for the duration of your registration term.

If the .COM version of your desired name is not available, you have the option to get the .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .US, .INFO or even .CA, .UK, etc. The list goes on and on... Most people usually go for the .NET version if the .COM is not available. It's completely up to you. If your website is about sharing information, then you should consider .INFO. If your website is for your business, then a .BIZ would be good, too.

3. YOUR NEEDS

Will you be expecting a lot of visitors a day? By a lot, we're talking about in the thousands. Do you have a lot of photos or files to share with your visitors? If yes, then ample bandwidth and disk space will be on your shopping list.

If you're setting up an online store AND will be accepting credit card information from your customers, then you'll need to consider advanced security options (ie. SSL certificate). For more information on setting up an online store, click here (link to "Free Web Hosting and Ecommerce" article).

If this is your first website and you're just experimenting, then your list will be shorter - all you need is a free web hosting plan. A free web hosting plan will offer you the basic necessities to have a website on the Internet without any of the fancy bells and whistles.

4. FIND A REPUTABLE FREE WEB HOSTING SERVICE

Once you have an idea of what you need, you need to find a reputable web hosting service. There are many places you can go to find a service provider. You can do a search for "free web hosting companies" on Google, but do keep in mind that just because a company is listed on the first page of Google doesn't mean it's 100% safe and legit. It's always best to shop around or ask people for referrals and references.

Basic things to look for in a free web hosting service plan:

1. It allows you to use your own domain name. Again, you don't want a website name that's "http://www.notyourcompany.com/notyourfolder/.../yourMemberID"
2. There are no forced ad banners
3. It comes with web hosting storage (for beginners, 100MB is more than enough)
4. It comes with bandwidth/data transfer (for beginners, 1000MB is ample)
5. It comes with email services. With your own domain name, you'll want to be able to setup @yourdomain.com accounts

Once you've found the free web hosting service that best suits your needs, then you can go ahead and start designing your new website and enjoy the fun and joy that a website can bring.