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E-Commerce Trends for the 2020 Holiday Season

The global pandemic has accelerated online shopping. 2020 is posed to be a different year in terms of holiday shopping. Businesses will have to step up their online efforts in order to drive more sales. Following the trend is one of the best ways to keep your business afloat this holiday season. There are many e-commerce holiday season trends that are likely to have a drastic effect on online and overall sales this year.

Here are some e-commerce trends for the 2020 holiday season.

Online businesses should expect more return this year

Due to the increase in online ordering and shipping, e-commerce returns are expected to increase. Businesses should update their websites and inform their prospective consumers regarding procedures and policies. This will help to deflect inquiries and give consumers peace of mind before they purchase your product. Also, businesses should update product descriptions, and visual designs of the graphics on their e-commerce websites to help their target market understand what they are buying and prevent surprises that results in returns. It is also important to test the process of refunding payments and handling return shipments before the holiday rush.

Shoppers will look for sales

Majority of consumers wait for holiday sales before they purchase their gifts in advance. As early as October, there are many online sales for shoppers. Consumers prefer online sales as an effect of the pandemic. If you have a business online it is recommended to join holiday sales to attract more consumers to purchase your products.

Online shopping will increase this holiday season

85% of businesses believe that online sales will definitely increase this holiday season compared to previous years. Consumers these days prefer online shopping than going to the physical store. Online will be the best platform for the buyers to shop, compare prices, and read reviews of their fellow customers. According to Bazaar Voice Network, 61% of businesses expect higher purchasing through social media platforms because of the COVID-19.

Users will use UGC for gift research

According to a Bazaar Voice Network survey, July, August and September so far have a high rate of UGC interaction. UGC highlights that shoppers are engaged with customer reviews, photos, questions and answers as they search for their gift online. Businesses should consider their UGC strategy for the holiday season since purchasers look to this content prior to buying the product.

These are the e-commerce holiday trends for 2020 that businesses should keep in mind in order to stand out this coming holiday season. If you’ve never had the chance to upgrade your website, take this chance to boost your sales and marketing during the holidays in the time of Covid 19,  because many consumers prefer to purchase their needs and wants online. If you want your website to stand out this coming holiday season, iManila is equipped to help you make your website more appealing to your potential consumers. Visit us at www.imanila.ph to learn more.

10 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Christmas Season

We’re all in the midst of planning our marketing campaigns for this coming holiday season. This means having to update our websites with promotions and even writing more content geared towards the coming season. Though we’re still in the midst of the global pandemic – the truth is, business owners and consumers alike have stood up to these challenges with resiliency and adaptation to change.

But one thing’s for sure – that one of the most successful strategies that many businesses have adapted this year is a strong online presence through their website and through various digital marketing strategies. Companies who have adapted early even before the pandemic are now reaping the benefits of not having to stop operations despite the pandemic.

For those who are only starting to think about their Christmas strategies, this blog is for you! Here, we’ll share some tips on how to get your website holiday ready for this coming season!

Tip 1: Create a Calendar for Marketing Plan and Execution

Creating a cohesive calendar for your digital marketing plan should be implemented – this will track both you and your customers’ progress and to guarantee that you are ready for the holiday season.

In plotting the calendar, highlight important dates then work your way backward to leave enough room for other execution. Along with plotting comes planning your creatives in advance. What creative direction will you use for your ad visuals? For your email marketing? What about other promotions? Then provide a specific amount on how much marketing Dollars you would want to spend and which channels you want to spend it on. Doing this will give you a clear goal that will help you to stay focused and deliver the best campaigns targeting different consumers.

Tip 2: Be in the know for the Latest eCommerce Trends

In the past years, eCommerce websites have emerged at the top with many consumers preferring to purchase online directly on a company’s website. In the recent months (and we’re predicting in the years to come) many small businesses would venture to eCommerce to increase their reach and to virtually make it easier for consumers to purchase their products.

For a few tactical ideas that you can try to boost more traffic to and engagement to your online store, look for trending products to add to your store using Google trends and also look for “most popular” search in the biggest eCommerce platform. Another is opting for using hashtags to your products and tapping influencers to get social love and maximum online presence.

Tip 3: Plan Your SEO Strategy

SEO may be a slower burn than paid advertising when it comes to generating traffic for a website, but trust us, it helps to maintain strong digital presence in the long run. It takes time to build presence with SEO through keyword-rich web pages and well-written content. That’s why integrating a blog page with written articles can help customers search on google on specific topics they want.

Create blogs that will increase internal linking within your pages. This will be able to let your customers explore your website fully.

Tip 4: Design & Implement an Engaging Website Experience

Visualize yourself as a customer, what would you like to see, receive or check when looking at your website for information, products or services? Have a clear goal of what your website looks like for easier navigation – from design elements to site layout, to call-to-action and more. Remember that poor web design can cost your business.

For more design tips and better customer experience, have a personalized approach website message with top bar notification messages, pop-ups and more according to time, location, number of previous visits and more. ay also consider writing dedicated messages for new and returning customers. Remember that

Tip 5: Ensure the Website & Online Store ar­e Optimized for Fast-Loading

This is quite critical yet needs to be run in a smooth and no-glitch process. Always make sure that your homepage loads quickly as it affects the bottom line of your business. Keep your homepage clean from any widgets, like photo or product galleries, Facebook Messenger, Google Maps, YouTube iframes, etc. You can place them anywhere else on the website – but just don’t bombard your website with unnecessary widgets.

In this day and age, having a fast-loading website is a PLUS. Slow website loading not only increases your website’s bounce rate but it digresses consumers away from having a great shopping experience on your website.

Tip 6: Create a Loyalty Plan

This technique works wonders all the time: give someone something like loyalty points, which makes them more likely to do something for you in return — like share a commodity or service with their friends. A loyalty plan can be in any form as everyone will follow the same basic principle.

Tip 7: Budget, Create & Optimize Digital Ads & Social Campaigns

The holiday season is truly a time for preparing a budget only for this season. Be ready to optimize your digital ads and social campaigns. Don’t get left behind and make use of the effective seasonal marketing strategies. In order to successfully implement a campaign, track both impressions and clicks of ads, email blasts and social media campaigns results from different user groups to adjust effectively in the coming months.

Tip 8: Let Customers Contact You Easily

It is very important to be alert to your customer’s needs and issues and be ready to address every website or marketing conversation with your customers. Even though we miss the face-to-face experience of going to a store and speaking with an actual person, it’s always good practice to communicate via online messaging.

To have clear and smooth transactions with customers, suggest personalized rules that show contact forms during off-hours or an alternative off-hours phone number.

Tip 9: Turn Curious Shoppers into Repeat Customers

All retailers love new customers who are curious to know what your product is all about. But the key here is to turning them into repeat buyers who love and who will endorse your product. In order to generate more repeat customers into your website, let your customers experience being important when they visit by giving them gift vouchers. This will encourage them to shop more and return as frequent as they want.

Just as well, target your digital campaigns towards customers who have purchased from or visited your website before. This will remind them of your product and naturally if they were happy with their first visit or purchase – most likely they will make a repeat purchase!

Tip 10: Persistently Create Valuable Content

Managing a website is truly a challenge, but with proper navigation and original content, you’re keeping your website unique and fresh to everyone who visits.

Keep in mind that your audience should be excited to hear from and engage with your business. It’s also vital to be interactive whenever possible — create competitions, hold special promos, etc. One other tip is to create content that is always up-to-date and in line with current events and holidays. This keeps readers on their toes knowing that content is made with the right circumstances in mind and that each content is new and fresh!

The holiday season is fast approaching. Don’t let your business get left behind during this Christmas season. A website with a great design is crucial especially in this day and age. iManila can create an exceptional yet easy to navigate website that will convert curious customers into repeat buyers. Learn more by contacting us now!

Sales and Marketing During the Holidays, in the time of COVID-19

The pandemic has turned the whole business world upside down. People staying indoors and being more cautious has significantly limited operations of many establishments. While many retail merchants have been affected by this turn, it doesn’t mean your business should too.

Luckily, there are many tools and solutions available at our disposal to still connect with consumers and stay relevant even when meeting physically has become difficult. With the holidays coming up, what businesses can do is to gear up on their online marketing presence to interact with their prospective customers. The holiday season is still much anticipated by both buyers and sellers alike so here are some useful strategies for your business to keep up with the changing times.

Boost your eCommerce (it’s never too late) 

If you had previously not thought of launching an eCommerce site or platform, then now is absolutely the best time to do so. Research shows that mid-April saw a rise in online shopping orders by 146%, while in February the online conversion rates were only at 8.8%. This shows that even at the early stages of the pandemic, consumers were already adapting online to mitigate the risks of traditional shopping. Adobe’s study shows that 78% of customers still plan to spend the same amount of money for the holidays and even more.

If you were not convinced by online shopping then, then these numbers should convince you, given the positive outlook for many online merchants even at a time of the pandemic. It’s never too late to join the eCommerce bandwagon

Get with the Times, Encourage Contactless Transactions 

Appealing to what is the norm can win you over some customers. Social distancing has now become a norm for many people, along with minimizing as much travelling and contact as possible. Seeing businesses do the same shows customers that you don’t just mean business but that you are also sensitive about what they need. Successful online sellers have been encouraging their customers to purchase online to help customers feel safe. While this calls for greater effort on the part of the businesses, it is something that will pay off.

If you plan to capture a younger target market, Gen Z are actually the widest adopters of contactless activities. Ads that target this younger crowd make it more likely for them to take advantage of this type of transaction.

Have Your Brand in Multiple Channels 

Studies have shown that many channels affect customers while they are in their customer journey from researching all the way to purchasing. In this day and age, one channel is not enough. A key takeaway here is knowing how each of your channels can work together to help customers in their journey. They may go to your Facebook or Instagram account and check your posts and customer reviews, but it is through your eCommerce website that they close and make the deal.

60% of all e-commerce visits have been through mobile, so that is another factor to consider. Is your website mobile-friendly? Do you have social media presence that any customer can just look up with their phones?

Exploring many channels is great in also being able to expand your brand’s reach. Know your different audiences on Facebook, Instagram, your website, and so on.

Plan Special Holiday Promotions 

There is nothing more enticing than a special offer. Some tactics such as limited sales, promo codes, free samples, e-gift cards, or early access, are ones you can use for your business to catch the eye of many new customers. This is also great in creating touchpoints with existing customers and showing them that you are offering them something new and valuable.

You can time your campaigns with dates customers already associate with promotions such as November 11 or December 12. This can show your customers that you are going with the times, since customers may already be ready to spend during these times.

In Conclusion

Don’t let your business get left behind in the hustle and bustle of online marketing and sales campaigns over the holidays. Think of this as a great opportunity for your business to explore new territory and hopefully find a place to stay even during these uncertain times. A takeaway with all these strategies is to be open and flexible so that even when challenges such as a pandemic arises, your business is still rolling with the times. There is no true one-size-fits-all solution to each business as each one is unique, so being willing to try and adapt is one trait that all businesses should have in order to survive. Jumping right into digital marketing can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be, especially with the right partner such as iManila. Learn how we can work together when it comes to crafting you an effective holiday online campaign.

Digital Marketing 101 For The Holiday Season

While many of us may be feeling indifferent about celebrating such a drastic year, there’s essentially nothing else we can do but make it count. After all, having survived a pandemic with our loved ones in tact is something also worth celebrating.

From a business perspective, the holidays should be too worrisome because people will continually consume and Filipinos, naturally, aren’t the type of people to shelf a holiday season.

The only problem is that the most effective marketing campaigns you could potentially use are particularly costly especially during the holidays. But for businesses who badly want to top its competitors off, you can do so without breaking the bank.

Here, we have rounded down four of the most effective marketing strategies to single-handedly rocket your promotional campaigns this coming holiday season.

Put your social media pages to work

One of the many reasons why businesses have thrived amid the pandemic is through social media, especially through Facebook. For one, in the Philippines alone, we already have more than 74 million Facebook users as of 2019 and still rapidly increasing. On top of that, Facebook held a staggering 93% of the country’s market share of users this year. The Philippines isn’t called the Social Media capital of the world for four straight years for no reason.

Every businessman can attest to how they furthered substantially because of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms, especially in the holiday shopping season.

Get more people to know about your holiday promos, discounts, perks, deals or have them purchase your product directly through Social Media Advertising. Set up your campaigns according to your objectives. If your goal is to build your presence online, well then Awareness ads will make that possible for you. Or if you want to acquire new audiences, generate leads, or get them to message you, then Consideration or Acquisition ads are your go-to. But if your main objective is to boost your sales, Facebook has made a way to reach people who are most likely to purchase or retarget people who have once viewed your product but didn’t purchase through Conversion ads. Facebook’s algorithm will make sure that you target the right people at the right time.

However, these ads may not possibly work spot on without having compelling, timely and mobile-first creatives, correct messaging and the right timing of your ads. These factors play together to give you the best possible outcome.

Also, don’t try to spam them with your discounts or by doing any false advertisements. You don’t honestly expect them to just sit around and do nothing, do you? Sincerity and authenticity can assure your business repeat purchases.

If this is something you are finding too hard to navigate, just leave us a message so we can help you.

Understand SEO and blog often

With the growing concerns about transportation and contracting the virus easily while outside, more and more people are compelled to just shop online.

This is one good reason as to why you should build a website or an e-commerce platform for your brand ASAP.

Once you have built the website, optimize it for SEO. This way, you get to be visible on the search engine results pages without having to run ads. You need to vie for certain keywords that you would want your website to show up to if people would search for it.

One important key tip to further increase your visibility in SERP’s is to publish an article at least once a week to pull in consistent visitors that would eventually translate to customers. The most successful SEO campaigns require captivating content, appealing visuals and few tricks and skills to make your website rank in no-time.

SEO would also work best if done alongside Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-Per-Click Ads. Note that Google prioritizes ads over organic ones so it would be for the best if you let the two digital marketing strategies work side by side.

Maximize Google search, display and YouTube ads

Google is the most popular search engine in the world, especially in the Philippines where it covers 95.43% of our total search engine market share according to Global stats.  This a huge business opportunity that you should look into especially that website traffic surges dramatically during the holidays.

If you want to target the right people at the right time and get a more meaningful business outcome, you should probably try doing Search ads. Once people search for the keywords that you bid for, it would only take a click to get them to inquire about your services or best – to buy your product immediately through your e-commerce website. This is intent-based, meaning people come to you instead of you coming to them.

A display ad, on the other hand, is the other way around. You introduce your ad to a more diverse set of people around your area of targeting. This ad shows up to Google’s audience networks, and partner sites like national news sites, popular sports or fashion sites, etc.

YouTube ads are ads that we usually see while streaming in the site. There are a number of ad placements that you can choose from depending on your liking. YouTube ads guarantee to boost your brand awareness or increase your YouTube following, if done right.

Shopping ads, on other ad, are highly relevant during the holidays. The ads appear before the search results, and once your audiences click them, they will automatically be sent to your website giving users a chance to complete their purchase easily.

Try Email Marketing

If you are trying to target people who habitually check their emails like professionals, businessmen, or people in organizations, then you probably try email marketing.

Send a monthly newsletter carrying all the announcements, news, stories, and blogs that you would like to promote during the holidays. Make it as short and sweet or as comprehensive as possible or lure them to click the “Read more” button directed to your website. This way, you can increase your website traffic and have them recall your brand.

Another important touchpoint is that you should keep as many email addresses as possible on your database. Grow your company database through website sign-ups or by running Leads Generation ads on Facebook. Whichever strategy you decide to use in order to grow your user list, make sure to keep this in confidentiality because a healthy database and information are one of the most golden assets of a company these days!

We are only a few days away from Halloween and a few weeks away from December so we suggest that you start working on these recommendations – pronto!

The good thing is that you don’t need to stress yourself in learning these holiday marketing strategies we have laid out for you. Have an expert that you can absolutely trust like iManila to do the work for you.

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, SEO services or Email Marketing services today. You can also leave us a message or email us at [email protected] to learn more!

iManila is now a Microsoft Partner!

The year isn’t over for iManila just yet! Recently, we received news that we are now officially a part of the Microsoft Partner Network or (MPN). Being a Microsoft Partner in our industry is important as this gives us more access to tools and information that will help expand our business, the way we engage with customers, and eventually help drive more clients.

This new honor once again only proves that time and time again iManila has stood to withstand the cycle of evolution, by constantly adapting to changing economic situations, market behavior, and consumer preferences. Getting local support from an internationally renowned company such as Microsoft is a huge deal for our company as we consider ourselves a small fish in a big pond in the industry of IT and Digital Marketing.

What are the benefits of being part of the MPN?

First off, as a Microsoft Partner, we’ll now be able to gain instant access to exclusive resources, programs, tools, and connections to foster business growth and possible opportunities. Microsoft offers different business opportunities to help support and evolve the businesses of companies in their Partner Network.

Microsoft is also the best platform to connect with and reach out to other partners through blogs, case studies, stories, and social networks. Being part of the MPN allows our Technical Support team access to different kinds of trainings that will allow us to keep our goals and visions up to date.

There is power in partnership. Moving forward, we know for sure that together, we can accomplish more. We’re looking forward to the resources, programs, and tools that will help train all of us and at the same time build some more innovative solutions, help us connect with customers, and differentiate our company in the marketplace.

We’re excited about what the future brings for us especially now that we’re officially part of the Microsoft Partner community. If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s top-of-the-line and highly secure collaboration tools, business emails and cloud solutions, we would be happy to help! Our dedicated technical support team have the expertise to support your business’ needs. Get help from a Microsoft partner such as iManila. Visit our website at https://imanila.ph/hosting/microsoft-365/ to learn more.

Effective Seasonal Marketing Strategies  

As September comes, it’s as if the world is programmed to go all crazy. The streets are full, establishments are overly crowded, traffic is unimaginable, and loud noises are everywhere. Indeed, the busiest time of the year and the luckiest time for business owners.  

The season has just begun. So if you haven’t planned your marketing strategies yet, we got you.  

Build an email list  

May it be seasonal or all year-round, building your database for your email marketing campaigns should be one of your top priorities. Take advantage of the high number of traffic in an internet-busy and profit-rich season like this by segmenting new signups or retargeting the leads in your old database.  

You also need to highlight the seasonal deals on your newsletter or announce to your subscribers that you are giving them an early access those deals.  

Promote special product categories  

Another great strategy to consider is categorizing your product by season or by occasion. You should know which among your products people are most likely going to buy. This is to keep your customers away from the hassle of browsing your catalogs of products that aren’t fit for the occasion. 

In short words, choose a relevant product to do the front act. 

Set up a countdown timer 

Is there anything else that excites people more than a big event coming? Building anticipation for an upcoming event builds hype and interests among people. So, don’t forget to advertise ahead of time and set up a timer for people to see.  

Create seasonal testimonials and games 

A businessman could attest to how a testimonial could drive more sales. Before checking out, a consumer would usually look for testimonials, ratings or reviews about the product. Have someone review the product you are planning to highlight and post it on your media channels.  

A seasonal game could also work. Always induce fun and adventure to your audiences. Do not just aim for profit but for good customer interaction and experience as well. You can create quizzes, mind games, user-generated content, or anything that requires people to share your brand across social media sites. And don’t forget about the prizes! A reward is what excites them mostly.  

Create daily or weekly offers 

It’s always a good idea to attract people to continuously engage on your social media pages or website. Creating daily or weekly offers could make that possible for you. You may also create daily rewards if they interact or visit your sites.  

Inspect what could go wrong and resolve it 

Seasonal events bring huge traffic. If you sell on your website, be prepared to encounter potential technical issues, checkout errors, or your site crashing. We don’t want things like these to occur but they do happen unexpectedly so buckle up.  

You should ask yourself, is my current hosting plan able to handle a huge traffic? If you don’t know the answer, that’s something we can help you with.  

Just remember that giving consumers a smooth, fast and unproblematic shopping experience is always the key to a successful business.  

Seasonalize your brand 

Aside from making deals or special rewards for the season, you may also customize the look of your brand. Give people the feel of the season by creating relevant content, designs, graphics, and more.  

Play around your packaging as well. Just remember to give your customers an extra something for free. 

Capitalize on advertising 

The spirit of Christmas is around the corner. People are already starting to shop gifts online or offline. 

And what greater way to dominate online than doing ads? Get double or triple your ad investments from running ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google.  

If you are having a hard time planning your seasonal marketing strategies or running these ad options, you just need a little management investment to have an agency do it for you.  

Don’t miss out this huge opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. Let iManila do the magic for you.  

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, and other website services now. You may also leave us a message or email us at [email protected]. 

‘BER’ Months Marketing Guide for all Digital Marketers

The most wonderful time of the year is coming up! ‘Tis the season to be jolly!

BER months starts from September to December and are the most important months to look at and get excited about as a marketer. These months help fuel up every business to raise more brand awareness, sales initiatives, and engage with customers.

Don’t miss out on the season to grow your brand. Here’s a quick guide to help you during the most anticipated time of the year:

 

  1. CREATE EFFECTIVE SEASONAL OFFERS AND PROMOTIONS

What best way to spark joy and entice customers and potential buyers to buy than by adding the “Best Offer” and “% Discount” tags? Seasonal fluctuations in consumer buying behavior always increase during special seasons, particularly the most loved BER months. It’s best to grab the chance.

There are a lot of offers that are doable but always keep in mind that it should be extraordinary from what is usual. Our situation now is different; your special offers should also be. Start with free shipping, shipping voucher codes, followed by 50% off, cashback deals, additional points/rewards, limited-time deals, freebies, and other promotional bundles to induce the buyers.

You should seize the seasonal advantages as well such as gift card deals, holiday bundles, holiday QR Codes, exclusive holiday treats, promo contests, and the famous, free gift wrapping. Make sure that every seasonal promo that you have will always stand out above all other competitors.

 

  1. CREATE SEASONAL CONTENTS

It is easier to grab the customer’s attention when you create the best seasonal content. Build up your content for the holidays and highlight the products and categories that are traditionally the most popular during the holiday seasons.

We all know that people tend to look at designs more than the texts, so make sure to create content that is in line with the season, showcasing creative trends and highlighting brand innovation and flexibility. Creative and up-to-date content drives awareness and interest, leading and influencing the customers to decide their way into buying.

Brands that are always in line with the season receive the best kind of word-of-mouth marketing. It engages many consumers to take suggestions, reviews, and then relay it to their family, relatives, and, friends especially when shared on social media.

Let your brand, products, and offers be heard through the use of holiday contents that are just as loud as Christmas jingles.

 

  1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND TARGET MARKET TO ADVERTISE YOUR BRAND AND PRODUCTS

 

Effective and successful marketing is knowing the right people that will buy your product and the right place wherein you can advertise your seasonal offers, promotions and, contents.

Design your brand and products directed to as many consumers as possible since people are most likely to spend during the holiday season. As marketers, it’s just our job to make them more aware that your brand exists and is something they need to buy during the holidays.

Get to know your target audience’s interests and make use of that knowledge for your branding to be more effective and specific.  Focus on the customers and potential buyers who are actively in pursuit of products related to your industry or who share interest in what you’re selling.

 

To wrap-it-up, it’s time for your brand to rise and be ready for this season. Although the times now are quite different and even though a lot of people say that Christmas this year may not be the same – let’s keep our hopes up and continue to work towards the objective of ensuring that our brands are holiday-ready.

As we continue to stay at home, let’s keep our businesses moving through digital marketing. There are plenty of ways to reach your target market whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, through Search Engines like Google, through your website, email and other digital marketing platforms.

iManila is the best Web Development and Digital Marketing Agency, and has helped different brands through Website design and development, Apps Development, and Digital Marketing. We’d love to help your brand sleigh BER months. *wink*

Get in touch with us and Contact us to learn more!

Cloud Hosting Vs Shared Hosting: Which is better?

Hosting is crucial when setting up your website and emails for the first time – but it can also be confusing. Shared hosting and cloud hosting have three things in common: web hosting provider, servers, and websites. Though shared hosting is deemed to be more popular than all hosting plans, understanding the new features of cloud hosting might give you second thoughts.  

In this blog, we will be looking into each of their key features like uptime, support, security, pricing, performance, and other benefits.  

Shared Hosting  

Shared hosting has long been part of the web history. Its main difference from cloud hosting is that multiple websites are hosted together and share all the resources available. Such resources shared includes disk space, storage, bandwidth, and databases all in one server. It generally requires a dedicated web server. Although this is cheaper and easier to use than cloud hosting, it may not be the best option for websites with a lot of traffic and that are content heavy.  

Cloud Hosting 

Since its inception back in 1996, cloud hosting services has been gaining attention – and rightly so! In comparison to shared hosting, cloud hosting allows your website to be hosted on multiple servers. What’s good about this is that if an issue comes along with one of the servers, you’re safe from downtime as multiple servers will allow your information to be accessible online. Cloud computing technology allows numerous machines to work in synchrony. Aside from its proven flexibility, its ultra-fast speed is also one to look out for.  

Features 

Uptime 

Shared hosting, in its very nature, may assure you 99.5% uptimes but you can expect that when you get a spike in website traffic, you’ll probably experience some downtime. 

With cloud hosting, on the other hand, you’re guaranteed impeccable uptimes despite surges in traffic. 

Support 

Cloud hosting has unlimited everything, from storage, bandwidth, and databases. It may only get more advanced in the following years. Shared hosting, in contrast, has many limits. Overusing its limited resources could cause suspensions.  

Bonuses 

Shared hosting could get the upper hand this time. There are always free bonuses waiting for you if you get shared hosting plans. This can range from free domain names to web transfers and website builders – this would all depend on your preferred supplier. But, cloud hosting, alternately, isn’t really that generous.  

Security 

The security protocols of shared hosting are often based on applications and databases as these are the most vulnerable to hackers. 

 

A hacker that has access to one shared hosting server automatically gives him access to all the websites on it. And once a website is hacked into, the intruder could invade the site time and again. 

That being said, you must keep your computers safe by using reliable antiviruses, strong passwords and keeping your cPanel away from any files on your account.  

Cloud hosting, on the other hand, has usually four major security controls: 

  1. Deterrent Controls 
  2. Preventative Controls 
  3. Detective Controls 
  4. Corrective Controls 

Cloud hosting incorporates encrypted algorithms to further protect your data. It also prioritizes data confidentiality, data access control, and data integrity to protect you from traditional security issues like network eavesdropping, invasion and cloud-specific ones.  

Performance  

Most shared web hosts often struggle in selling this feature to clients. Shared hosting’s limited features impede its speed. You also need to be ready with frequent downtimes and outages. 

With cloud hosting, you can guarantee ultra-fast, auto-scalable and customizable platform. High traffic doesn’t budge the servers. In fact, cloud hosting is highly recommended for sites with high traffic.  

Pricing 

Sharing servers always translate to cheaper costs. So naturally, shared hosting services are the most affordable type of hosting services there is around. This is recommended for start-up businesses or for simple informational or catalogue-type of websites that don’t expect too much traffic.  

While, naturally given the difference in technology and the speed as well as the guaranteed uptime, cloud hosting would generally be significantly more costly. Essentially with cloud hosting, you pay more to get more.  

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Shared hosting is definitely a go to for those who are on a tight budget. If you are a new industry player, shared hosting could be a start. But if you want to advance your security, features, performance and speed, cloud hosting could do that for you.  

If you have an e-commerce site or looking to expand your website into a full system, definitely cloud hosting is the best decision to make sure that you don’t get any downtime with spikes in traffic. With cloud hosting too, you assure users of a faster loading speed on your website.  

If you are having trouble choosing which is better, we’ll gladly guide you through. Drop us a line or shoot us a message today to know more about our hosting services! For more information, visit our website at www.imanila.ph/hosting/. 

IMPORTANT REMINDER: How To Spot Spam And Phishing Emails

In the recent days, we’ve received a lot of inquiries and concerns from clients regarding spam and phishing emails.  

You’ve probably heard of “spam” or “phishing” before. On a regular basis, companies big and small often send out precautions to their employees and tips on how to avoid this. This is because most of the time, our emails are the targets of these scams and oftentimes, we don’t even know it! A single click of a button may cause big trouble if we unapologetically continue to ignore these types of emails. Here we’ve listed down some important tips to avoid your emails from being compromised and what you should do if you’ve suddenly become a victim!   

Tips on how to avoid being a victim 

By being meticulous with our emails, we can determine which are spam emails and which are phishing emails. Here’s important tips to keep in mind especially if you’re the type who likes to keep a clean inbox on a daily basis:  

  • Check your email account to see if you have a tool to filter out potential spam and phishing emails; if so, channel them into a bulk email folder. 
  • Never reveal personal or financial information in an email as this is an opportunity for criminals to get further into your email account. 
  • Always check the security of a website before entering sensitive or personal information online. If Google Chrome doesn’t allow you to enter the website, it’s probably best that you don’t!  
  • Pay attention to the website’s URL because malicious websites usually look identical and these URLs use variation in spelling or a different domain. 
  • If you’re unsure if the email is legitimate or not, try contacting the company and ask if they’re sending out emails heavily for a large amount of contacts including yours.
  • Diligently inspect the email address of the sender since some phishing emails tend to show that their email address is legitimate. 
  • Do not instantly open emails from unknown or suspicious senders. 
  • Do not open or download suspicious email attachments with suspicious filenames. 
  • Immediately delete suspicious emails and remember to empty your trash. 
  • Use strong passwords, please.
  • Ask your IT Admin to secure your computers with the latest OS versions, patches and security software.
  • If you are using email clients, make sure you are using Secure SSL/TLS settings.
  • Scan your cPanel or hosting account for malware using Virus Scanner tool.

 

What to do if you are a victim 

If you’ve fallen and have unavoidably become a victim of spam or phishing, take these security measures into action immediately to avoid future problems: 

  • When you receive emails from your bank containing activities you haven’t done, call your bank to block your card/s immediately. 
  • Change your password and other confidential information in an instant if you’ve received notifications for an account in an online service.
  • In the event that you clicked a suspicious link or downloadable malicious software, use antivirus software to scan your computer and quarantine any viruses.
  • You may contact the nearest IT professional in your company to help handle the situation and to ask for guidance on how to go about the problem.
  • Report malicious content to authorities if possible.
  • Be an online informer and spread precautionary information to everyone to avoid scams and phishing in the future. 

 

For any clarifications or concerns please do not hesitate to email our Technical Support Team at support@imanila.ph or to contact us in our mobile numbers at +63 947 427 3011 or +63 947 427 3012 or in our new trunkline number at (+632) 8876-1925. Our Technical Support Team is open to help you with your website and email concerns from Monday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  

To learn more about how to manage your cPanel and emails, visit our iManila Help Center at https://imanila.ph/help/.